The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals: The World Champion Gas House Gang

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, resulting in a cast of characters that was quite picturesque. None was more so than Pepper Martin, the "Wild Horse of the Osage," who ran the bases with reckless abandon, led his teammates in off-the-field 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.

Presiding over this aggregation was the "Fordham Flash," Frankie Frisch. The club's hitters were led by the New Jersey strong boy, Joe "Ducky" Medwick, who hated the nickname, preferring to be called "Muscles." The harmonica player for the Mudcats was the irrepressible Dizzy Dean, full of braggadocio, who 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.

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.

As Cardinals infielder Burgess Whitehead said on "When It Was A Game," HBO Sports, 1991, "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."

The introductory articles provide a brief history of the pre-1934 Cardinals, how the team was assembled, a look at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, and the 1934 season timeline. The 1934 pennant race and World Series are also covered. The player profiles offer detailed information on the key members of the Cardinals, including Tex Carleton, Ripper Collins, Pat Crawford, Kiddo Davis, Spud Davis, Dizzy Dean, Paul Dean, Bill DeLancey, Leo Durocher, Frankie Frisch, Chick Fullis, Burleigh Grimes, Jesse Haines, Bill Hallahan, Francis Healy, Clarence Heise, Jim Lindsey, Pepper Martin, Joe Medwick, Buster Mills, Jim Mooney, Gene Moore, Ernie Orsatti, Flint Rhem, Lew Riggs, Jack Rothrock, Dazzy Vance, Bill Walker, Burgess Whitehead, and Jim Winford. The executive and coaching staff, including Sam Breadon, Bill DeWitt, Branch Rickey, Mike Gonzalez, and Buzzy Wares, are also profiled.

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