The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals: the World Champion Gas House Gang (The Sabr Digital Library) (Volume 20)

The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals were one of the most colorful crews ever to play the National Pastime. Sportswriters delighted in assigning nicknames to the players, based on their real or imagined qualities. What a cast of characters it was! None was more picturesque than Pepper Martin, the ?Wild Horse of the Osage,? who ran the bases with reckless abandon, led his team­mates in off­ the­field hi­jinks, and organized a hillbilly band called the Mississippi Mudcats. He was quite a baseball player, the star of the 1931 World Series and a significant contributor to the 1934 championship. The harmonica player for the Mudcats was the irrepressible Dizzy Dean. Full of braggadocio, Dean delivered on his boasts by winning 30 games in 1934, the last National League hurler to achieve that feat. Dizzy and his brother Paul accounted for all of the Cardinal victories in the 1934 World Series. Some writers tried to pin the moniker Daffy on Paul, but that name didn?t fit the younger and much quieter brother. The club?s hitters were led by the New Jersey strong boy, Joe ?Ducky? Medwick, who hated the nickname, preferring to be called ?Muscles.? Presiding over this aggregation was the ?Fordham Flash,? Frankie Frisch. Rounding out the club were worthies bearing such nicknames as Ripper, ?Leo the Lip,? Spud, Kiddo, Pop, Dazzy, Ol? Stubblebeard, Wild Bill, Buster, Chick, Red, and Tex. Some of these were aging stars, past their prime, and others were youngsters, on their way up. Together they comprised a championship ball club. ?The Gas House Gang was the greatest baseball club I ever saw. They thought they could beat any ballclub and they just about could too. When they got on that ballfield, they played baseball, and they played it to the hilt too. When they slid, they slid hard. There was no good fellowship between them and the opposition. They were just good, tough ballplayers.? ? Cardinals infielder Burgess Whitehead on "When It Was A Game," HBO Sports, 1991 Introductory Articles Brief History of the pre-1934 Cardinals by Parker J. Bena Assembling the Team by John J. Watkins Sportsman?s Park by Scott Ferkovich St. Louis in 1934 by Eric Aron 1934 St. Louis Cardinals Season Timeline The Cardinals in the 1934 Pennant Race by Charles F. Faber The 1934 World Series by Matthew Silverman The Players Tex Carleton by Gregory H. Wolf Ripper Collins by Cort Vitty Pat Crawford by Gregory H. Wolf Kiddo Davis by Don Harrison Spud Davis by Andy Sturgill Dizzy Dean by Joseph Wancho Paul Dean by Paul Geisler Bill DeLancey by Thomas Ayers Leo Durocher by Jeffrey Marlett Frankie Frisch by Fred Stein Chick Fullis by Jack Morris Burleigh Grimes by Charles F. Faber Jesse Haines by Gregory H. Wolf Bill Hallahan by Gregory H. Wolf Francis Healy by Greg Erion Clarence Heise by J. G. Preston Jim Lindsey by Alan Cohen Pepper Martin by Norm King Joe Medwick by Charles F. Faber Buster Mills by Bill Nowlin Jim Mooney by Charlie Weatherly and Gregory H. Wolf Gene Moore by Greg Erion Ernie Orsatti by Lawrence Baldassaro Flint Rhem by Nancy Snell Griffith Lew Riggs by Bob Webster Jack Rothrock by Bill Nowlin Dazzy Vance by Charles F. Faber Bill Walker by Gregory H. Wolf Burgess Whitehead by C. Paul Rogers III Jim Winford by Clayton J. Trutor Red Worthington by Jimmy Keenan Executives Sam Breadon by Mark Armour Bill DeWitt by Dwayne Isgrig Branch Rickey by Andy McCue Coaches Mike Gonzalez by Joseph Girard Buzzy Wares by Charles F. Faber