Cochrane wound up and fired the ball across the room as hard as he could. Rowe ducked just in time. Then he went out on the field and shut out the Yankees 3 to nothing. There was no stopping Detroit after that. Baseball during the Depression years provided a rough and tumble sport.
Players spit tobacco juice into gaping spike wounds, and harping fans kept on the players.
Pitchers scuffed dirt on the ball to make it do stronge things on the way to the plate. The league embraced tough and scrappy characters. But Rowe, always a gentleman, attracted the fans, especially the women fans who loved his Southern mannerisms. Mrs. Walter O. Briggs Sr., Dorothy Cox, Mrs. James Cox and Janet Briggs in October, 1940. During his days in Detroit, fans followed his romance with his high school sweetheart and May Queen, Edna Mary Skinner.