The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-10-08

It was little more than a formal
confirmation of a victory that had
been arranged some moments be-
fore, when Tommy Bridges, not
much bigger than a hickory boot
Jack, showed the way-showed it
both physically and spiritually.
Old time baseball men are say
ing today that Tommy from Ten
nessee gave the greatest exhibition
Of pitching under pressure the SER
les has ever seen. Which may or
may not be so. Old-time baseball
men have way of getting hys-
terical about dramatic performances
and to them the newest one is al
ways the greatest.
But Bridges performance didn't
have to be the greatest of all time
to grip the emotions of $4,000 GUS
toners and 400 more or less hard
boiled reporters. 1t was impossible
not to react to his high bravery
and high skill as he stood out there
on the hill throwing baseballs past
the Cub hitters a thin, pasty faced
little fellow creating the illusion
that he was fighting a whole ball
club single handed.
Hack Sets the Stage
And that's Just about what he
was doing at the moment, too. You
probably are familiar with the de-
tails. The score was tied at three
all going into the ninth. Stanley
Hack, the Cubs third baSeman, was
the first man up. He hit the second
pitch to the f1agpole in deep center
for three bases, thus setting the
stage for what seemed certain scor-
ing.
The odds were to 1 at least one
run would score. Under the CIR
cumstanceS, what, with more thu n
$4,000 riding on every thrown bal.
this being the difference between
the individual winners and losers
share, the odds were probably Is to
l. A passed ball, wild pitch. an
ordinary fly, an infield error-any
one of these could produce a run.
The second hitter was Bill Jurges,
the Cubs shortstop. He had al
ready made a single and hit an
other ball on the nose that had
been caught. The partisan home
stands were chilled in silence. Some
Of them had been waiting ever since
the American League was formed
back in 1901 to see the Tigers win
a World Series. This had seemed
the year. At one stage the Tigers
had led the Cubs three games to
one.
Just Small Way From Victory
And now the Cubs had fought
their way back until they stood on
the threshold of victory. Literally
the margin separating them from
the championship was the distance
between third base and home plate;
because everybody agreed that if
they won this game the Tigers
would be so disorganized and spirit
ually low they would be helpless in
the finale.
So, it wasn't hard to understand
why the thousands sat in the sharp
October air like so many clothing
store dummies, motionless,, tone
less frozen by an awful, growing
fear. Bridges buzzed a curve past
urges and the umpire called it a
strike. There was a faint cheer
Bridges threw another curve, urges
swung and missed. This time the
cheer was more audible. Another
curve, another miss and now the
stands boiled with frenzy Maybe
the series wasn't lost after all
French Follows urges
Maybe the guy from Tennes.
see could hold EN-. One was down
but Hack still stood over there on
third base casting a shadow in the
shifting sun that reached freakish
ly half way across the diamond
There seemed something grimly for
bidding in this shadow to the Tigers
Big Larry French, the Cubs pitcher
was now at bat. He is a loose
slashing hitter and when he meets
ball it goes. He had already hit
Bridges for a solid single in the
fifth.
This time Bridges threw him a
curve. French swung and missed
Bridges was throwing nothing but
curves now. You could see them
slither across the plate from the
press box, like strange, grayish rep
tiles. Bridges threw another curve
and again French missed. Everybody
in the park seemed to be standing
up now shouting incoherently. Even
the reporters were moved by the
stirring one-man drama and paused
in the dictation of their pieces to
remark to one another, That the
little So-and-So is pitching one he'll
of a game"
Tension Relieved
French hit the next pitch and it
rolled meekly, almost apologetically,
to Bridges, who picked it up, threw
a challenging look at Hack, still on
third base, and then tossed to first
for the second out. This relieved
the tension. Only one more out and
what probably would be the Cubs
last challenge would be turned back.
Little Augie Galan, the Cubs
lead-off man, was the next hitter.
The first pitch to him was bail,
the first ball Bridges had thrown
since Hack opened the inning. And
it looked close enough to be called
either way at that. The next was a
called strike, the next missed
curve and then Galan lifted an easy
fly to old Goose Goslin ont in LETT
and to all intents and purposes the
series was over.