Led by the colorful pitcher Dizzy Dean, the 1934 St. Louis Cardinals personified Depression-era America. The players were underpaid, wore uniforms that were almost always torn and dirty, and had wandered into professional baseball from small towns in the Midwest where other jobs were scarce. Despite their lack of resources, however, and despite coming off two mediocre seasons, the Cardinals emerged triumphant in '34, winning the pennant by two games over the Giants and the World Series in seven games over the Tigers. The book chronicles that championship team which came to be known in baseball lore as the famous "Gas House Gang." This work brings to life the legendary exploits of player manager Frankie Frisch and the Dean brothers--Dizzy and Paul--who combined for 49 wins that season. The era, the team, the season, and the Series are all fully covered.
Doug Feldmann is an American author of thirteen books, focusing mainly upon baseball history and the sport's sociological impact on urban and small-town America. His work has been recognized in multiple-time nominations for the Casey Award and the Seymour Medal from the Society for American Baseball Research. He is a professor in the College of Education at Northern Kentucky University and a former baseball scout for the Cincinnati Reds, Seattle Mariners, and San Diego Padres. He completed his Ph.D. in Curriculum Studies at Indiana University (1999), his master's degree in Secondary Education at Rockford University (1995), and his bachelor's degree in English and History at Northern Illinois University (1992), where he was an outfielder on the baseball team and a walk-on punter on the football team.