1935 BOSTON RED SOX ...
THE SOX HAVE TWO 20 GAME WINNERS ...

Tom Yawkey was excited about his ball club and wanted to further improve it. The man Yawkey wanted to mange the Red Sox was Babe Ruth, who had slowed down considerably as a player and the Yankees were willing to move on from. Eddie Collins on the other hand believed that the sluggers like Lou Gehrig, Hank Greenberg and Jimmie Foxx were the future of baseball. Besides, the Red Sox needed pitching.

But Yawkey was told that Joe Cronin was the best ballplayer in the league and was scrappy, tough and had a hustling attitude on the field.  Cronin was an all star and had led Washington to its first pennant in 1933 as manager. Yawkey also realized that Cronin, who had known his way around the city and had made many speeches at dinners that he had attended. He would be a draw for the large Irish population in Boston. And so, with the idea of more people coming through the gate, he became adamant that he wanted Cronin.

Yawkey personally called Washington's owner Clark Griffith, who like most owners, were operating at a loss. Griffith owed $124K and unlike Connie Mack, didn't have a surplus of talent to sell off. Yawkey offered him cash and therefore a way to bring his books into balance. Yawkey traded him the Sox shortstop Lyn Lary, plus $250K to get Joe Cronin on October 26th. He further offered Cronin a five year contract to be player-manager for $30K per year.

When Cronin joined the Red Sox, dubbed the “Gold Sox” or the “Millionaires” by the nation’s press corps, the club was expected to win. Cronin was only a few years younger than Yawkey, so when they did not win, the fans and the press around the country typically blamed the high-priced help, including Cronin. 

Babe Dahlgren who had had a great year in the Pacific Coast League with 20 homers and a .302 batting average had been picked up before the end of the 1934 season on September 10th. On February 10, 1935, at a charity event featuring two teams of major leaguers to raise money for sandlotters facing medical bills, Joe Cronin had Dahlgren play first base. Babe was 2-for-3 with an RBI.

The next move made by Yawkey was to buy outfielder, Bing Miller from Connie Mack. That deal was consummated on January 15th.

On the way to Sarasota, the Cronins stopped in Biloxi, Mississippi. There, Joe Cronin talked his mentor, Washington coach and clown prince Al Schacht, to come to Boston as one of the Red Sox coaches.

In the spring Lefty Grove's arm showed signs of coming to life. As wily and ingenious as ever, Grove spent three weeks at Hot Springs, Arkansas during the off-season, playing 36 holes of golf a day or using a rowing machine when it rained. He pitched only four innings against major leaguers in spring training and found that his arm hurt less when he threw curve balls rather than throwing a fastball. He had thrown the fastball so hard previously that when he threw the curve, it hadn't broke much. Now with a slower arm speed, the curve ball became a weapon. He also learned how to throw the forkball, and so, with a full arsenal of pitches, Lefty proclaimed himself fully recovered for 1935. 

Wes Ferrell and Fritz Ostermueller pitched well and Johnny Welch had a great spring. The hot tempered players like Wes Ferrell, Lefty Grove and Billy Werber did not like or respect their new manager, who was younger than most of them. This should not have been a big surprise; Grove did not like it when Connie Mack had told him what to do, and he certainly was not prepared to listen to the rich kid shortstop who was making way too many errors that hurt the team. His players, many of whom had played against him, openly criticized him as their manager.

Babe Dahlgren had earned raves for his fielding during the springtime; the hope was that his work at bat would be adequate. Mel Almada went to his first spring training with the big league team and came out strong. Cronin selected Dusty Cooke to play center field for the Red Sox, though he split his time mostly between center and right, and pinch-hit a fair amount, too.

At the very start of the season, the Red Sox signed another ex-Washington player, catcher Moe Berg, whose secret work as a spy, became a part of defeating Japan in World War II. In the previous fall of 1934, as a member of the team of Americans that took baseball to Japan, he presumably walked the streets of Tokyo dressed in a long black kimono. He entered St. Luke’s Hospital carrying a bouquet of flowers intended for Ambassador Joseph Grew’s daughter (Mrs. Cecil Burton), who had recently given birth to a daughter. He introduced himself as a friend of Mrs. Burton but instead of going to her room went up to the roof and using a motion picture camera shot the skyline and other important parts of Tokyo. He never visited Mrs. Burton. In 1942, General Jimmy Doolittle’s pilots viewed Berg’s photos before their famous raid on Tokyo in April 1942. However, the pictures were too old to be useful to the pilots.

Wes Ferrell was the starter on on Opening Day in New York, on April 16th and tossed a two-hitter, winning 1-0. Dahlgren was spectacular in the field. He saved his manager out of at least three errors as he leaped, stretched and dug like a steam shovel to take everything that came his way. In the eighth inning, for example, Cronin uncorked two wide throws after one was out and Dahlgren handled them nonchalantly.

Bing Miller delivered a key single with runners on second and third, that won the second game for the Red Sox in the 10th inning, 4-3.  The Red Sox were in first place for the first time, 1/2 game ahead of the pack in the American League.

JOE CRONIN

On April 19th. the Sox came from behind to beat Washington in a sixth run seventh inning, 10-4. Lefty Grove retired the last six batters he faced on only twelve pitches before leaving the game following the sixth inning.

Mel Almada had three hits in support of Johnny Welch, who shut out the Nats, 4-0, on four scattered hits in the second game of the series, on April 20th. The Sox made a clean sweep in Washington, winning 4 to 2 behind Wes Ferrell, who gave up four hits.

Fenway Park's season opener was a huge success as the Sox thumped the Yankees, 7 to 4. At 6-1, and four straight wins, the Red Sox had reached their high-water mark for the season.

On April 26th, just a week into Cronin’s first season in Boston, the Senators beat Lefty Grove, 10-5, thanks to five errors, three by Cronin, which led to eight unearned runs. Grove did not hide his irritation at each bobbled ball, or his anger when Cronin removed him in the seventh. When Cronin came to bat the next inning the Fenway Park crowd showered him with boos. Cronin tripled, which provided a temporary respite.

But two days later, Wes Ferrell took a 3-1 lead into the ninth inning against Washington. Two Cronin errors and four singles, led to four runs. Ferrell was beside himself and Cronin was not going to be able to calm him down. It cost them the game. Cronin went on to commit seven errors over the four games.

Cronin's image and reputation had now crossed into a new realm. No longer was he the scrappy overachieving kid who drove himself to baseball stardom. His extraordinary sale price and salary led the fans and media to expect him to play like the best player in baseball. The flaws in his game became magnified because of the temperamental natures of both Grove and Ferrell. Both players also did not take too kindly to Cronin telling them how to pitch to certain batters and visiting them on the mound. All the flaws that the team had, were his fault.

In Philadelphia on April 29th, Bing Miller came to bat in the 11th inning with the bases loaded and the score tied at 8-8. He lined a single that pushed across two runs and gave the Sox a 10-8 victory.

On May 1st, Yawkey purchased infielder Dib Williams from the A's as a utility infielder. On the field, a ninth inning base hit by Rick Ferrell with two outs, scored Cronin, breaking a 6-6 tie with the A's in Philly.

Fritz Ostermueller limited the Indians to six hits in Cleveland on May 6th. He missed a shutout when Mel Almada and Roy Johnson let a pop fly fall between them safely. Osty won his own game by slapping a single to center in the seventh inning, pushing across what proved the be the game winner.

Lefty Grove limited the Tribe to six hits, but was outpitched by Monte Pearson, losing the game 2-0 on May 8th. Grove stopped a line drive back to the box and split the third finger on his glove hand. literally knocking him out of the game.

The next day the Red Sox were in Chicago and Wes Ferrell shut the first place White Sox out, until the ninth inning, winning 10-1. Almada had three hits, including a pair of doubles. Roy Johnson (.405 BA) had a pair of hits, one being a triple and driving in three runs.

The Red Sox continued their assault on the White Sox in the next game on May 10th. Cronin collected two singles and a triple, while Dahlgren slugged two homers, winning for the Red Sox, 12 to 2.

Wes Ferrell was a one-man show when the Sox traveled to St. Louis on May 13th. He limited the Browns to five hits, belting a home run himself. The Sox concluded the road trip winning six of the ten games.

Almada truly starred in a May 16th exhibition game in Syracuse. The Sox beat the Chiefs, 10-6, largely on the strength of Almada’s two-run double in the sixth and grand slam in the seventh. 

The return to Fenway, on May 17th, saw the game go 13 innings before it was decided by a dropped throw to the plate, allowing Babe Dahlgren to score the winning run, 2 to 1. Wes Ferrell pitched a two-hitter for eight innings before giving up a game-tying homer in the ninth to the White Sox.

Joe Cronin's triple with two men on, started the Sox on their way to beating the Indians, 7 to 2, on May 21st. Wes Ferrell (6-2) enjoyed beating his old team, when the Sox worked two six-run rallies in the fifth and eighth innings, winning 12-5, the next day. Cronin doubled and homered, bringing home five runs in four trips to the plate.

On May 26th, the Sox were tailing the St. Louis Browns 6-0, yet the Red Sox pecked away at the lead, winning 8 to 6 with a four-run explosion in the seventh inning. Billy Werber knocked in the go-ahead runs, completing a perfect day at the plate with four hits and a walk.

The Sox next traded Moose Solters to the Browns for the veteran secondbaseman, Oscar Melillo, on May 27th. Melillo had only been hitting .210 before the trade. After he landed with the Red Sox, he hit .260. 

Down 6-1, the Red Sox knocked the Philadelphia A's pitchers around for eight runs in the seventh inning, winning at the end by a 10-9 score on May 29th. Dahlgren homered and doubled in three runs, while every member of the Sox starting lineup chipped in with a base hit.

On Memorial Day, Wes Ferrell hurled the Sox to a 7 to 4 win in the first game of a doubleheader. Then he returned to pitch the ninth inning of the second game. That one was sent into extra innings, when his ninth inning double scored Carl Reynolds to tie the game at 8-8. But three singles that sandwiched two free passes, cost him the double victory, losing 13-8.

Meanwhile, over at Braves Field, Babe Ruth was given his unconditional release by the Boston Braves and retired as a player after 21 years. He was batting .181 with 6 home runs. On May 25th, he had his greatest day of the season, hitting three home runs, going 4-for-4 in Pittsburgh against the Pirates.

June started off with a visit to Yankee Stadium by the Red Sox, where Lefty Grove shutout the Bombers, 6-0 on June 1st, using all the finesse he now had learned.

On June 4th, Wes Ferrell won his eighth game in Washington, 3 to 2. He owed the victory to Washington outfielder, Johnny Stone, who committed a two base error that allowed the deciding run to score.

On June 5th. Lefty Grove pitched into the 10th inning, but the Nats rallied to beat him, 5 to 4. The important thing for grove was that his arm was strong enought to be able to pitch ten innings.

Both Grove and Ferrell were on the mound when the Sox swept a doubleheader in Detroit on June 11th. Grove held the Tigers to five hits in the opener, winning 3 to 1. Ferrell (9-5) also limited Detroit to five hits, winning the second game, 5 to 2. Roy Johnson (.338 BA) had four hits including a home run for the day.

Grove (5-4) got the win in the series finale on June 14th, when the Sox rallied for two runs in the eighth and one in the ninth, for a 10-8 victory. Billy Werber had three hits, including two home runs, in six at bats, driving in five runs.

On June 19th, the Sox split a doubleheader in St. Louis. Ferrell won his tenth game of the year, but it was his hitting that had a bigger impact than his work on the mound. He had three singles and a double in five times up, driving in two runs. The final game of the series was a rain-shortened, 3-0 win for Grove. He allowed three hits and didn't issue a free pass.

The Sox swept a doubleheader in Philadelphia on June 20th. Oscar Melillo banged our three hits in the opener, driving home three runs in the 6-4 win and three more hits in the second game. The Sox won that one, 13-6, while Billy Werber banged out a pair of homers and a double.

On June 30th pitcher Joe Cascarella, was purchased from the A's, after finishing their June road trip with nine wins in 20 games.

Joe Cronin put a ball over the left field fence in the fifth inning to put his Red Sox out front, winning 8 to 3, on July 1st. A slam-bang seventh inning, where five runs were scored with five hits, wiped out a four run deficit established by the Washington Nationals, and led to a 6-5 Red Sox win on July 2nd. Roy Johnson made a single and two doubles, Cronin came through with two triples and Werber had a single and a double, as the Sox completed their series sweep of Washington, 14 to 7 on July 3rd.

On July 4th, the Sox played a doubleheader with the Yankees in New York and split. Grove (8-6) beat them for the second time this season in the first game, holding them to seven hits in a 4-2 win.

Werber raced all the way around from second base on an infield out, to reward a remarkable relief job by Grove on July 7th. The Red Sox shaded the Philadelphia Athletics, 7 to 6, in an exciting 13-inning struggle that opened a doubleheader at Fenway Park.

The All Star Game was played in Cleveland on July 8th. The American Leaguers beat the National League, 4 to 1. Joe Cronin started at shortstop without a hit in the game, but played all nine innings. Rick Ferrell and Lefty Grove were also on the A.L. team but didn't play.

Wes Ferrell limited the Chicago White Sox to two hits in chalking up his 13th victory of the season on July 10th. The Red Sox beat Chicago 7-0, making Wes the top winning pitcher in the majors. On of the hits was a low roller to Werber, whose throw couldn't beat the runner. The other was clean single to center. Wes also started a sixth inning outburst with a homer over the wall. He drove in another run with a single to center the following inning.

Lefty Grove picked up his 10th win the next day. After a shaky start where he gave up three runs in the first three innings, Grove set down the White Sox without a hit during the last six innings. He retired 17 straight batters during that stretch, before an error put a Chicago runner on first. With the score tied at three, Lefty led off the ninth with a base hit, was sacrificed to second, moved over to third on a ground out, and scored the walk-off run, on Dib Williams' single to center, for a 4-3 win.

On July 17th, Werber tied an American League record with four doubles in one game. It was the first game in a doubleheader that the Sox swept from the Indians at Fenway, 13 to 5. The second game belong to Grove (11-6), winning 3 to 1.

The bad blood between Joe Cronin and his hot-tempered pitchers reached it climax on July 21st. Facing the Tigers after a few lead changes, Lefty Grove had a 4-3 lead going into the ninth inning. With two outs and a man on second, Cronin decided to intentionally walk Hank Greenberg, despite the strong objection of Grove, who then gave up three straight hits before getting the final out, now trailing 6-4.

WES FERRELL

As he walked off the field, Grove threw his glove into the crowd, ripped off his jersey and smashed one of Cronin's bats on the dugout steps. Wes Ferrell came up to pinch hit for Grove in the bottom of the ninth inning. There were two outs and on base was Werber and Cronin. The Sox were behind 6 to 4. Wes clouted a storybook home run over the left field wall to give his team a walk-off 7 to 6 victory, and give Grove his 12th win of the season.

Ferrell slugged a game-winning home run for the second straight game, beating the St. Louis Browns, 2 to 1 and winning his 15th game on July 22nd. He went to bat in the ninth inning with the score tied at 1-1 and took the ball over the left field wall to end a game where he had given up seven hits, three of which scored a run for the Browns in the fifth inning.

In his next start on July 27th, Ferrell's only heroics were on the mound, as he shut-out the Philadelphia A's, 2-0. Ferrell (16-10) allowed just three hits. Three straight singles accounted for the first Sox run in the 6th inning and Dusty Cooke's solo homer put the Sox second run on the scoreboard.

Cooke starred in the next game, an 11-3 victory over the A's. He had three hits, including a pair of doubles, that chased home three runs.

It seemed that Wes Ferrell (17-9) was becoming the whole story of the Red Sox season. He put the Sox on his back once again in Washington on July 31st, beating the Nats on the mound and belting out two home runs, that drove across four runs in his 6 to 4 victory.

The Philadelphia A's took the lead in the 11th inning on August 3rd, 4-3, and handed the game back to the Sox in the bottom of the inning. Two walks and a wild pitch set things up for the Sox. Then Cooke singled to center to tie the game back up. Mel Almada followed with a double off the wall that brought home the game winner, 5 to 4. The walk-off win gave Grove his 13th victory.

The Sox tied the first game of a doubleheader, on a hit by Dib Williams with two out in the last of the ninth inning on August 4th. They won the game 7-6, on Roy Johnson's hit in the 10th inning.

Joe Cronin hit a three run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Yankees on August 7th and won a game for Lefty Grove that he did not deserve to win. The score was 6 to 5. He had the same opportunity in the second game, but could not duplicate his heroics and the Sox lost 6 to 4.

On August 11th, the Sox and Nationals split a doubleheader. Woeful support cost Grove in the first game. But the second game netted Ferrell with his 19th victory, 5 to 4, in the first game of a doubleheader.

Home runs from Cronin, Werber and Dusty Cooke were all Grove needed to notch his 15th win in Chicago on August 15th, 3 to 1.

The Red Sox stormed back in Detroit against the first place Tigers, winning 10-9 on August 22nd. Their dramatic uphill rally was climaxed by a six-run eighth inning. Trailing 8 to 4, Dib Williams first clouted a homer. Babe Dahlgren doubled and Carl Reynolds singled up the middle scoring Babe. Oscar Melillo grounded out but Reynolds made it over to second. Mel Almada hit a line drive at Hank Greenberg that he knocked down but couldn't get to first in time. Roy Johnson walked to fill the bases. Cronin lined a single to left scoring Reynolds and Almada to tie the score. Rick Ferrell blooped a single to right loading the bases once again. Cooke slashed a single over shortstop that scored two more to put the Sox ahead by two. The Tigers rallied for one run but that wasn't enough.

Backed by home runs by Cronin and Cooke, Lefty won his 20th game in Philadelphia on August 29th.

The Sox split a doubleheader with Washington to start the month of September on the 2nd. In the opener, Cronin hit a grandslam homer paving the way for a 9 to 8 victory. He drove home six of the nine runs, but the biggest thrill came in the 11th inning, when rookie pitcher Jack Wilson belted a ball into the center field bleachers for a walk-off win.

On September 5th, the "Heavenly Twins" Grove and Ferrell, both started games of a doubleheader for the sixth time this season. Grove lost, but Ferrell (21-11) pitched a fantastic game, winning 6 to 1. Werber stole home in the games, the second time he had done so this season.

On September 7th, the Red Sox were playing the Indians at Fenway and trailing 5-1 going into the ninth inning in the first game of a doubleheader. They rallied and scored two runs, but with the bases loaded and no outs, Cronin ripped a line drive toward third. The ball struck thirdbaseman Odell Hall on the head and ricocheted over to shortstop Bill Knickerbocker. He grabbed the deflected ball, before it hit the ground, to put out Cronin then threw to secondbaseman Roy Hughes, doubling up Werber. Hughes then threw out Mel Almada at first before he could get back, and that triple play ended the game.

The Sox swept a doubleheader from the White Sox on September 8th. Ferrell won his 22nd game, 6-2, and young Jack Wilson put together his second win, 5-2, with the relief help of Grove.

The Red Sox finally gave Lefty some major batting and fielding support in his fifth attempt to register his 17th victory, with a 4-3 decision over the White Sox on September 10th. Dib Williams drove in the deciding runs when he socked a double off the wall with the bases loaded in the last of the sixth.

The Sox pounded out 15 hits in the opening game of a September 13th doubleheader to help Ferrell earn his 23rd triumph in a 1304 breeze over the St. Louis Browns. Then in the second game, Rube Walberg limited the Brownies to four hits, assuming a 2-0 lead for seven innings. Then they came alive and beat him 4 to 2.

Dusty Cooke led the Red Sox in an uphill battle that gave Lefty his 18th victory, 9 to 5 over St. Louis. The score was 5-1 going into the sixth inning when the Sox took the lead by scoring six runs. Cooke's bases loaded double was they key hit.

Ferrell won his 24th game on September 17th, his fifth straight winning decision. He got Charlie Gehringer, Hank Greenberg and struck out Goose Goslin in the ninth inning to end the game. Cronin helped the cause with two doubles and a single. Ferrell drove across the winning run with the bases loaded, pinch-hitting of Oscar Melillo in the ninth inning of the game against the Tigers the next day. The Sox won again 4 to 3. The following day, the Sox made it three straight against the first place Tigers, 4 to 1, with Grove winning his 19th game. Roy Johnson banged out his third hit of the afternoon with the bases loaded and the score tied, driving home two runs in the eighth inning.

Lefty won his 20th against the Philadelphia A's at Fenway on September 24th, 8 to 2, and Ferrell won his 25th the next day, 7 to 2.

Ferrell was 25-14, with a 3.52 ERA on the mound, using his “nuttin’ ball,” to compensate for an over-worked, lame arm.  At the plate, he had a .347BA, 7 home runs, and 32 RBIs in 75 games in 1935. Figures like these would be impressive for a position player, let alone a pitcher. He finished second in the voting for the Baseball Writers Association of America MVP award in 1935, losing out to Hank Greenberg, and finished fifth in the balloting for the Sporting News MVP.

Grove, now 35, had a marvelous comeback season and went 20-12 with a league-leading 2.70 ERA.

Only two other pitchers won more than five games. Johnny Welch was third in wins (10-9, 4.47 ERA). He’d worked in 31 games, 19 of them starts. Gordon Rhodes only won two games in all of 1935. He lost 10 games and recorded a 5.41 ERA. 

Three physical maladies ruined Fritz Ostermueller's season. In April he was hit on the knee in batting practice, and on May 25th he took a shot in the face off the bat of the Tigers’ Hank Greenberg, damaging his nose, jaw, and some teeth. And on August 18th, a liner by the Browns’ Moose Solters fractured a fibula in Fritz’s leg. His season record was 7-8; he beat Cleveland three times, and lost to both the Yankees and Tigers on three occasions. 

Joe Cronin's first year as manager was not an easy one. While praising him to the press, neither Tom Yawkey nor Eddie Collins had his back in reality, because they did not want to alienate their star players. On the field, after a slow start, Cronin batted .295 with 60 extra base hits and 95 RBIs. The arm injury he had incurred the previous season hampered his game at the beginning of the year, but he also had put on weight and began playing first base at the end of the season.

Rick Ferrell got 138 hits for a .301 season and was again selected to the American League All-Star team. Babe Dahlgren hit nine home runs, to go with his 63 RBIs (third on the team) and .263 batting average, one which built gradually over the course of the season, in which he played in 149 games. His fielding percentage was .988 in his rookie year.

Left fielder, Mel Almada’s .290BA included three homers and 59 RBIs, plus nine triples, and he stole 20 bases. He missed playing in only three games all season. Dusty Cooke came through with a .306 batting average in 100 games and a .400 on-base percentage, with 34 RBIs. Carl Reynolds and Moose Solters saw much less playing time. 

According to Billy Werber, who roomed with Cooke for four years with the Red Sox, he would occasionally get depressed about the effect of an injury on his playing ability and quietly nurse a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. The result was that Cooke would inevitably pass out and fall out of bed. Werber couldn’t lift Cooke and so would cover him with blankets and let him sleep on the floor. The next day Cooke would be his normal outgoing self with no mention of the previous evening.

In 1935 Werber slipped to a .255 batting average in 124 games. His toe had calcified, making it impossible to flex. That made it difficult to walk and run, and he pulled leg muscles by favoring the toe, which caused him to miss a number of games. Still, Werber again led the league in stolen bases with 29.

Bing Miller led the league in pinch hits with 13 on the season. 

The Red Sox, in spite of spending $300K+ on ballplayers, finished the year in fourth place with a record of 78-75, only slightly better than the year before, 16 games behind Detroit.