Dizzy Dean was plenty good for the 1934 Cardinals, but he needed a helping hand from an influential source to achieve 30 wins.
In two June relief appearances Dean made for the 1934 Cardinals, National League president John Heydler credited him with wins in both, even though other pitchers appeared to qualify instead.
If not for Heydler’s unconventional decisions, Dean would have finished with 28 regular-season wins in 1934. Instead, he got 30, becoming the last National League pitcher to achieve the feat.
Save or win?
On June 21, 1934, at St. Louis, Dean beat the Dodgers, pitching a complete game and boosting his season record to 10-3. Boxscore
Two days later, with the Dodgers ahead, 3-0, in the sixth inning, Bill Hallahan relieved for the Cardinals and gave up a run, extending the Brooklyn lead to 4-0. In the bottom half of the inning, Pat Crawford batted for Hallahan and delivered a two-run single, capping a five-run rally that put the Cardinals on top, 5-4.
Dean entered in the seventh, looking to protect the lead. Hallahan figured to be in line for the win if the Cardinals held on. Dean did the job, holding the Dodgers scoreless the last three innings. Boxscore
Official scorer Martin Haley, baseball reporter for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, awarded the win to Hallahan because the Cardinals were ahead when Dean was brought in.
As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted, “The official scorer, in naming Hallahan, was abiding by the scoring rules, which provide that ordinarily a pitcher shall be credited with the runs scored by his team in the inning, or innings, he pitches.”
Haley apparently had second thoughts, though, because that night he filed a report to Heydler, a former umpire, and asked him to make a decision on who should be the winning pitcher. Dean, the fourth Cardinals pitcher of the game, was the only one who held the Dodgers scoreless.
Rules to pitch by
Here is how Major League Baseball defines how a pitcher qualifies for a win:
“A pitcher receives a win when he is the pitcher of record when his team takes the lead for good _ with a couple rare exceptions. First, a starting pitcher must pitch at least five innings (in a traditional game of nine innings or longer) to qualify for the win. If he does not, the official scorer awards the win to the most effective relief pitcher.
“There is also a rarely used clause where an official scorer can deem a relief pitcher’s appearance ‘brief and ineffective.’ (For example, if a reliever relinquished a one-run lead by allowing three runs, but was still in line for a win after his team scored four runs in the following inning _ that may qualify.) If that’s the case, the scorer can award the win to a pitcher who followed that ‘brief and ineffective’ pitcher. Which relief pitcher earns the win specifically is also up to the judgment of the official scorer.”
Verdict is in
On the morning of June 27, 1934, Heydler declared Dean the winning pitcher of the June 23 game. “Dean pitched great ball … to protect (a) one-run lead,” Heydler ruled. “Hallahan pitched one inning rather poorly.”
According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, “Hallahan himself suggested that the credit go to Dean.”
St. Louis newspapers supported Heydler’s decision.:
_ St. Louis Star-Times: “Hallahan, like Diz, entered the contest as a relief pitcher but, unlike Diz, failed to hold the foe in check.”
_ St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “It was (Dean’s) strong arm and determination, his pitching skill and his fielding agility that made it possible for the Cardinals to win.”
Heydler’s ruling gave Dean a season record of 11-3.
That afternoon, the Cardinals played the Giants at St. Louis. The groundkeeper’s thermometer at Sportsman’s Park recorded 115 degrees on the field, the New York Daily News reported.
Dizzy started for the Cardinals and labored into the ninth inning. With the score tied at 7-7, the Giants had runners on first and second, two outs, when Jim Mooney relieved Dean.
Mooney, an ex-Giant, got the Cardinals out of the jam when he fielded Mel Ott’s sharp grounder and threw to first for the third out. Ott’s comebacker “almost knocked the pitcher down,” the Post-Dispatch reported, but he made the play.
Facing 43-year-old reliever Dolf Luque in the bottom half of the ninth, Cardinals catcher Bill DeLancey drove a pitch onto the pavilion roof in right-center for a walkoff home run. Boxscore
Decisions, decisions
Though Mooney had done the job, retiring a future Hall of Famer with the outcome on the line, and was still in the game when Delancey hit his homer, official scorer Martin Haley awarded the win to Dean.
“He had toiled 8.2 innings under a blistering sun and had pitched shutout baseball from the third to that ninth,” the Post-Dispatch noted.
He also may have pitched with a hand injury. According to Dean, an X-ray showed a small piece of bone chipped off the knuckle, the Globe-Democrat reported.
Seeking cover for his decision, Haley again asked Heydler to make the final ruling. Heydler agreed with him. Dean got the win, improving his season record to 12-3.
In his book “Diz,” Dean biographer Robert Gregory wrote that the two rulings giving wins to Dean “were controversial” and the Giants “were said to be particularly indignant.”
Dean finished the 1934 regular season with a 30-7 record. In 33 starts, he pitched 24 complete games, including seven shutouts, and was 26-5. He was 4-2, including the two Heydler rulings, in 17 relief appearances. In three starts against the Tigers in the 1934 World Series, Dean was 2-1, including a shutout in Game 7.
RetroSimba 
Fascinating what’s behind the numbers, in this case, Dean’s two extra wins. I had no idea a league president could decide who gets a win. I don’t think that would happen today. I like the flexibility they showed in Dean’s day, especially in the first situation when he was the only pitcher to not give up a run. It makes little sense to award a pitcher a win after giving up like three runs or whatever. It’s good that in today’s game they also award a hold which in some cases is more valuable than a save or actually, they award multiple holds if the situation calls for it. I have a question. If a team scores in the top of the first and the pitcher in the bottom half sets the opponent down in order, but only pitches that one inning, is he rewarded with a hold?
Steve, according to Major League Baseball, a hold occurs when a relief pitcher enters the game in a save situation and maintains his team’s lead for the next relief pitcher, while recording at least one out. One of two conditions must be met for a pitcher to record a hold: 1) He enters with a lead of three runs or less and maintains that lead while recording at least one out. 2) He enters the game with the tying run on-deck, at the plate or on the bases, and records an out.
As a statistic, holds are designed to credit late-relief pitchers who are not closers. For those pitchers, their primary job is to not relinquish the lead, while getting the ball to the next reliever in line. Every save opportunity in which a pitcher records at least one out will result in either a save, a blown save or a hold.
A pitcher cannot receive a win or a save in a game in which he records a hold. However, more than one relief pitcher can record a hold in a single game. It is also possible for a pitcher to receive a hold and a loss in the same game should he exit with the lead, only to see the runners he left on base score the tying and go-ahead runs.
Unlike a save, a win or a loss, the hold isn’t an official MLB statistic. The hold was invented in the 1980s by statisticians John Dewan and Mike O’Donnell as a means to quantify the effectiveness of relievers who aren’t closers. The statistic was meant to value setup men.
Thanks for the clarification. If I got it right then I guess in these days of openers when the visiting team scores in the top of the first and in the bottom half, the pitcher records three outs and doesn’t pitch in the second inning, he gets credited with a hold.
Many thanks for this Mark. If not for this post I would have never known this interesting fact. In my humble opinion, I agree with the two victories awarded to Dizzy Dean. If the official mlb rules allow for the official scorer to set aside the written rules and instead credit the victory to the pitcher who in his judgment pitched most effectively, than why not credit Dizzy Dean for the win in those two games. I couldn’t resist the temptation to look at Dean’s pitching game logs for 1935. Sure enough, this time he wasn’t as lucky in relief situations. He lost three games as a relief pitcher. Otherwise he would have had consecutive 30 win seasons.
I appreciate you noting Dizzy Dean nearly winning 30 again in 1935, Phillip. Of his 28 wins that season, 24 were as a starter and 4 were as a relief pitcher.
Dean made 17 relief appearances in 1934 and 14 relief appearances in 1935. Amazing how he was willing to fill that role while still being the No. 1 starter. In 1968, when Denny McLain won 31 for the Tigers, all of his appearances were as a starter.
To credit a pitcher who “was the most effective” opens the possibility to the abstract. Some may even think the check swing isn’t a firmly visualized opinion and I’d have to agree. What a strange game. It’s funny how simple the whole thing looks on the surface.
Well put, Gary. And then there’s the infield fly rule ….
Fascinating research! Thank you, “Simba”!!
How cool, too, that the Globe-Democrat writer/official scorer had enough of a conscience — and even more, such a rapport with the National League president — that he could approach Heydler directly. What an era that must have been… spell it “i-n-t-e-g-r-i-t-y.”
Good for Martin Haley! Dizzy’s 30 wins makes for a much more romantic, memorable story than an “almost” total of 28.
The Gas House Gang thus owns a “forever, signature” statistic; otherwise, it might’ve gone down in history as just one more Depression-era ballclub which couldn’t afford to wash its uniforms!
Thanks for the input, Timothy. And, to think, there are no longer the positions of National League president and American League president in Major League Baseball any more. Lots of marketing and gambling revenue people, though.
Since the “merger” of the two leagues, shouldn’t “league” statistics be eliminated? It’s all one league, with interleague play. The World Series has become “final round of the playoffs.” By the time it comes around, most fans who are interested in it are located in or near the two competing cities. Same thing with hockey’s Stanley Cup. For years, each league had their own set of umpires. Baseballs, too (Spalding-NL. Reach-AL). The World Series was a happy mystery. That’s my rant. On to YouTube to watch Brooklyn vs. the Yankees.
I enjoyed your rant and agree with it. Rant on!
Logically, you are correct about the league statistics. Because of interleague play and the expanded “playoffs,” I view the regular season now as just a summer exhibition season and the so-called playoffs as the fall exhibition season, just like spring training is a spring exhibition season. In none of three exhibition seasons is there an attempt to determine which team is truly the best.
You are spot-on with calling the World Series “the final round of the playoffs” and an exercise in drudgery. Baseball doesn’t care that the only true fans interested are located near the two competing cities, because the playoffs exist now primarily to attract gambling revenue and (perhaps) streaming services revenue.
I wouldn’t pay a dime to see the Diamondbacks vs. Rangers in a regular-season game, let alone the “snore fest” that was the 2023 World Series.
Mark, this was a really interesting read about the “decision-making process” involved with “awarding” wins in these circumstances. Pretty wild stuff.
Thanks, Bruce. Some of these “sacred” baseball records, such as a 30-win season, don’t seem so sacred when the details emerge. For example, in doing research for my next story, I learned that in 1934 Lou Gehrig, who had an ailment (not ALS yet) was put in the leadoff spot of the batting order for a road game, so that he could make a plate appearance and (then be lifted without having to appear in the field) just to prolong his consecutive game streak.