Fansided

Top 25 MLB pennant races of all time

By Joshua Sadlock

(Original Caption) Bucky Dent is a happy fellow as he jumps on home plate and is greeted by Roy White and Chris Chambliss after he hit a three-run home run in the 7th inning at Fenway Park.
(Original Caption) Bucky Dent is a happy fellow as he jumps on home plate and is greeted by Roy White and Chris Chambliss after he hit a three-run home run in the 7th inning at Fenway Park. /
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American baseball player Dizzy Dean (1910 – 1974), pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, throws out a pitch during the 1934 World Series, October 1934. St. Louis beat the Detroit Tigers 4 -3 to win the series. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios/Getty Images)
American baseball player Dizzy Dean (1910 – 1974), pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, throws out a pitch during the 1934 World Series, October 1934. St. Louis beat the Detroit Tigers 4 -3 to win the series. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios/Getty Images) /

20. The Gashouse Gang wins it, 1934

Hubris has a strange way of coming back to bite baseball players and managers in the backside when they run their mouths too much. New York Giants manager/first baseman Bill Terry found this out the hard way in 1934. At the winter meetings following his team’s World Series win, Terry made some sarcastic remarks about the Brooklyn Dodgers, who were sixth place in 1933. That will come into play later in this story.

The Giants spent the first five months of the year trampling over the National League. They led the NL for 127 days, but went into a 13-14 tailspin to finish the year. The seven-game lead the team had on September 6 was gone by the final weekend, and they had to have a win over the Dodgers to go back to the World Series.

The Dodgers won the final two games of the year to keep the Giants out of the playoffs. They finished sixth again, but extracted a measure of revenge for Terry mocking them at the start of the year.

Even with their poor play down the stretch, the Giants may have been fine were it not for the St. Louis Cardinals going on an impressive run. These Cardinals were led by the fiery Leo Durocher and outfielder Joe Medwick. On the mound, the Dean brothers provided hijinks and dominant pitching. St. Louis won 33 of their final 45 games to steal the pennant away from the Giants. The hot streak carried over into the World Series, where the Cardinals outlasted the Detroit Tigers in a seven-game classic.

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