By Bartee Haile
With his suddenly famous fiancée watching from the grandstand on Sept. 17, 1934, Lynwood “Schoolboy” Rowe kept his winning streak alive by pitching a near-perfect shut-out against the Washington Senators.
The Waco native and son of a trapeze artist was 23, when the Tigers brought him up from their Beaumont farm team in 1933. The lanky six-foot four-inch hurler passed his major-league test winning seven and losing four in 15 starts, a respectable showing on a so-so club that finished fifth in the American League.
To end Detroit’s 24-year pennant drought, owner Frank Navin shelled out $100,000 for catcher-manager Mickey Cochrane. The investment paid off handsomely as “Iron Mike” lit a fire under the lackadaisical Tigers, who left the hated Yankees in the dust with 101 victories, the most in club history.
Under the demanding skipper’s expert care, Schoolboy Rowe – not to be confused with Preacher Row, also a pitcher – blossomed into the ace of the pitching staff. He won 16 consecutive games on his way to a 24-8 record. Far from the traditional pushover at the plate, the natural athlete also hit .303 with two home runs and 22 runs batted in.
In the final days of the season, the Tigers brought the down-home Texan’s bride-to-be to the Motor City. An appearance on Eddie Cantor’s radio show turned the couple into instant celebrities when the likable Preacher asked his future wife on the air, “How am I doing, Edna honey?
The Tigers’ post-season opponents in 1934 were the colorful Gashouse Gang from St. Louis. Led by the Dean brothers, whose combined triumphs totaled 49, the Cardinals grabbed the National League crown on the last weekend of the season.
Home field proved to be no advantage in the opener, as 30-game winner Dizzy Dean tamed the Tigers 8-3. After giving up six hits and two runs the next afternoon, Rowe was right on target retiring 22 batters in a row. He held the Cards in check until Goose Goslin drove in the tie-breaking tally with a 12th-inning single.
With Detroit ahead three games to two, Rowe dueled the younger Dean. Schoolboy had good stuff, but Paul was a shade better.
The seventh game of the seesaw Series was an anticlimactic massacre. Dizzy Dean shut out the toothless Tigers on half a dozen hits, and 11 teammates paraded across home plate. For the Cardinals it was their third world championship in five tries, while dismal Detroit extended their losing streak to four.
The Tigers lived up to the high expectations of their long suffering fans in 1935 by repeating as AL champions. Although Tommy Bridges moved ahead of Rowe as the most productive pitcher with 21 wins, Schoolboy was no slouch with a 19-13 performance.
Cochrane opened with the runner-up against the red-hot Chicago Cubs, who had won their last 21 contests to capture the NL flag. Rowe went the distance surrendering four runs on seven hits but took the loss as his teammates never broke the ice.
Schoolboy came out of the bull pen two days later and overpowered Chicago for four innings. After Detroit scored the go-ahead run in the top of 11th, he struck out the last two batters to chalk up his second Series victory.
Facing elimination in the fifth game, the Cubs stayed alive at Rowe’s expense. Again he pitched well enough to win only to wind up on the wrong end of the 3-1 final. But nobody cared 24 hours later, when the Tigers finally broke their World Series jinx.
A sore arm that was slow to respond to treatment kept Rowe on the bench for most of 1937 and ’38. He pitched a mere 52 innings and figured in just seven decisions, all but one defeats. Meanwhile, Manager Cochrane suffered a nervous breakdown and a fractured skull from a beanball, as the club slumped to a disappointing second in both seasons.
Under new management in 1939, Rowe started 24 games but lost (12) more than he won (10). The Tigers did not fare much better sliding to fourth place a full 26 games behind the Yankees.
Nineteen forty was a comeback year for all concerned, as Detroit battled the Cleveland Indians down to the wire and Rowe regained his old form to post the highest winning percentage of his up-and-down career.
With the pennant on the line, 16-3 Schoolboy was the logical choice in the finale against the Indians. But Manager Del Baker pulled a rabbit out of his cap, rookie Floyd Giebel who pitched the game of his life to propel the underdogs into first place.
After the Cincinnati Reds declawed the Tigers in the Series, Rowe was traded to Brooklyn. The Dodgers kept the aging veteran less than half a season before dealing him to Philadelphia, where he threw his last pitch in 1949 at the age of 39.
Rowe’s lifetime stats of 158 wins and 101 losses are not up to Cooperstown’s standards at least in the eyes of the voters. He does, however, qualify for induction into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, and it is inexcusable that half a century after his death Schoolboy is still on the outside looking in.
Do you have your autographed first edition of Bartee’s book “Texas Depression-Era Desperadoes”? Only a few are left so order today at barteehaile.com or mail a check for $26.65 to “Bartee Haile,” P.O. Box 152, Friendswood, TX 77549.
