Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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Cleveland Indians at Detroit Tigers, Tiger Stadium, Detroit, MI
August 6, 1936

Introduction

The Detroit Tigers won the American League pennant in 1934 and 1935 and the first World Series win in franchise history in 1935. The 19361936 season, however, had not gone quite so well, and the Tigers entered play on August 6th in fourth place, 13-1/2 games out of first place with a record of 55-48. Their opponent, the 1936Cleveland Indians were in second place, 2-1/2 games ahead of the Tigers (and 11 games behind the 1936New York Yankees).

One interesting feature of a game in August between two first-division clubs. Both of the game's starting pitchers entered play without a win on the season.

In the case of Tigers' lefthander Jake Wade, the lack of a win was simply due to a lack of opportunity. The 24-year-old had made his major-league debut that season and had made only one major-league start before this one.

The Indians' Willis Hudlin, on the other hand, had won 15 games in each of the previous two seasons and 125 games overall in his previous 10-year major-league career. His 1936 season, however, had been hampered by a sore arm and he entered play on August 6th with a record of 0-2 and an ERA of 10.22 in 34-1/3 innings pitched across 19 games (only 3 starts).

Hudlin would have his work cut out for him on this day. The Tigers batted future Hall of Famers 3-4-5 in their lineup: Charlie Gehringer, Goose Goslin, and Al Simmons.

First Inning

Jake Wade looked good in the top of the first inning, working around a two-out single by Hall-of-Famer Earl Averill by striking out Hal Trosky to end the inning.

Hudlin got two quick outs before getting a bit bogged down in the stretch of Hall of Famers. Gehringer walked and Goslin singled. But Hudlin got Simmons on a ground ball to third base and the game was scoreless through one.

Second Inning

Wade ran into a little trouble in the second inning. Joe Vosmik led off with a single and Roy Weatherly followed with a walk. But Wade got Joe Becker on a pop-up to the mound and Bill Knickerbocker hit into an around-the-horn double play to end the threat.

Hudlin still looked good, working nicely around a two-out double by Tigers' catcher Ray Hayworth.

Third Inning

The top of the third saw the Indians' third hit in as many innings. But Roy Hughes's one-out single was immediately wiped out when he was caught trying to steal second.

Hudlin's run of good pitching finally broke, however, in the bottom of the third inning. Although it really wasn't his fault. He opened the inning by striking out Gee Walker - Hudlin's second strikeout of the game. The next batter, Jack "Slug" Burns, grounded to first baseman Trosky, but Trosky's throw to Hudlin covering first base was bad and Burns was safe at first.

Charlie Gehringer grounded out to second base for what should have been the third out of the inning. But because of Trosky's error, Goose Goslin got a chance. He walked and then Al Simmons and Marv Owen had back-to-back RBI singles and the Tigers had a 2-0 lead.

Fourth Inning

The Indians threatened to come right back in the top of the fourth inning, however. Averill singled and Trosky tried to atone for his error by also singling. Joe Vosmik hit into a 4-6-3 double play, however, and Roy Weatherly grounded out to first base and the Indians remained scoreless through four innings.

The bottom of the fourth inning began with two quick outs but singles by Walker and Burns threatened to add to the Tigers' lead. But Hudlin got Charlie Gehringer on a comebacker and the score remained 2-0 through four innings.

Fifth and Sixth Innings

The score remained 2-0 through the fifth and sixth innings as well. Earl Averill got his third hit of the game, a one-out triple in the top of the sixth inning, but Trosky popped out to third baseman Marv Owen and Joe Vosmik's long fly ball to right field stayed in the ballpark and the threat was quelled.

Seventh Inning

Wade continued his dominating performance in the top of the seventh inning. In fact, the top of the seventh was Wade's best inning yet - his first 1-2-3 inning of the day.

The bottom of the seventh inning was not Willis Hudlin's best inning.

Charlie Gehringer led off with a double to right field. And Goose Goslin did him one better, putting the ball over the right-field fence. It was Goslin's 18th home run of the season and doubled the Tigers' lead to 4-0.

Hudlin managed to stop the bleeding there, however, working around a Billy Rogell walk and stolen base with two outs.

Eighth Inning

Hudlin was due to lead off the top of the eighth inning and, to nobody's surprise, the Indians chose to pinch hit for him. The pinch hitter was Geore Uhle, a fellow pitcher, but one of the best hitting pitchers of the era (and arguably of all time). The 1936 season was Uhle's last, but while his pitching had taken a clear turn for the worse (he finished the 1936 season with an 8.53 ERA in 12-2/3 innings pitched), his bat remained solid. For the 1936 season, overall, Uhle batted .381/.435/.571 (8-for-21 with a double, a home run, and two walks) and he retired with a career batting line of .289/.339/.384 with 9 career home runs in 1,360 career at bats.

Uhle led off the top of the eighth inning with a single. But he was immediately eliminated as part of the Tigers' third double play of the game, this one going 6-3.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Uhle stayed in the game to pitch - there's something you don't see anymore. Remember the 8.53 ERA in 12-2/3 innings pitched from last paragraph? That works out to 12 earned runs allowed by Uhle in 1936. Almost half of those came here.

• Jake Wade started things off by striking out


• Gee Walker doubled


• Jack Burns singled him home


• Charlie Gehringer flew out to center field


• Goose Goslin singled to left field


• Al Simmons doubled to left field, scoring Burns and Goslin


• Marv Owen hit a two-run home run


• Billy Rogell doubled to right field


• Finally, Ray Hayworth ended the inning by grounding out to third base

Ninth Inning

And so, the Indians came to bat in the top of the ninth inning, trailing 9-0. Three groundouts later, that became the final score.

Game Summary

This game is certainly most memorable as the first win in Jake Wade's major-league career. He ended the 1936 season with a record of 4-5 and ended his eight-season career (spread across 11 years) with a record of 27-40. This was the first of three complete-game shutouts in Wade's career. As for Hudlin, he finished the 1936 season with a record of 1-5 but bounced back in 1937 to go 12-11 with a 4.10 ERA. His career lasted through 1940 (plus one 2-inning outing for the 1944 St. Louis Browns) and he retired with a career record of 158-155.

With their August 6th win, the Tigers pulled within 1-1/2 games of the second-place Indians. The Tigers went 27-23 the rest of the way, finishing with a record of 83-71. The two teams immediately ahead of them, the Indians and White Sox, went 22-27 and 24-23, respectively, the rest of the way, allowing the Tigers to slip ahead of both teams and finish in second place (19-1/2 games behind the 102-win Yankees). The Indians, meanwhile, slipped to fifth place (the Washington Senators also passed them).

Details of the game are shown below. First, I show Player won-lost records for all of the players who participated in the game. Baseball Player won-lost records are constructed so that the players on the winning team earn two pWins and one pLoss in the game while the players on the losing team earn one pWin and two pLosses. I also show expected wins and losses, eWins and eLosses, which are context-neutral. Full play by play details of the game are shown below the won-lost tables. My Player won-lost records are described in more detail in this article and throughout my website.

Retrosheet Box Score and Play-by-Play