The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals: The World Champion Gas House Gang (The SABR Digital Library)

The 1934 St. Louis Cardinals were one of the most colorful crews ever to play the National Pastime. Sportswriters delighted in assigning nicknames to the players, based on their real or imagined qualities. What a cast of characters it was! None was more picturesque than Pepper Martin, the “Wild Horse of the Osage,” who ran the bases with reckless abandon, led his teammates in off thefield hijinks, and organized a hillbilly band called the Mississippi Mudcats. He was quite a baseball player, the star of the 1931 World Series and a significant contributor to the 1934 championship. The harmonica player for the Mudcats was the irrepressible Dizzy Dean. Full of braggadocio, Dean delivered on his boasts by winning 30 games in 1934, the last National League hurler to achieve that feat. Dizzy and his brother Paul accounted for all of the Cardinal victories in the 1934 World Series. Some writers tried to pin the moniker Daffy on Paul, but that name didn’t fit the younger and much quieter brother. The club’s hitters were led by the New Jersey strong boy, Joe “Ducky” Medwick, who hated the nickname, preferring to be called “Muscles.” Presiding over this aggregation was the “Fordham Flash,” Frankie Frisch.

Rounding out the club were worthies bearing such nicknames as Ripper, “Leo the Lip,” Spud, Kiddo, Pop, Dazzy, Ol’ Stubblebeard, Wild Bill, Buster, Chick, Red, and Tex. Some of these were aging stars, past their prime, and others were youngsters, on their way up. Together they comprised a championship ball club.

“The Gas House Gang was the greatest baseball club I ever saw. They thought they could beat any ballclub and they just about could too. When they got on that ballfield, they played baseball, and they played it to the hilt too. When they slid, they slid hard. There was no good fellowship between them and the opposition. They were just good, tough ballplayers.”
— Cardinals infielder Burgess Whitehead on "When It Was A Game," HBO Sports, 1991

Introductory Articles
Brief History of the pre-1934 Cardinals by Parker J. Bena
Assembling the Team by John J. Watkins
Sportsman’s Park by Scott Ferkovich
St. Louis in 1934 by Eric Aron
1934 St. Louis Cardinals Season Timeline
The Cardinals in the 1934 Pennant Race by Charles F. Faber
The 1934 World Series by Matthew Silverman

The Players
Tex Carleton by Gregory H. Wolf
Ripper Collins by Cort Vitty
Pat Crawford by Gregory H. Wolf
Kiddo Davis by Don Harrison
Spud Davis by Andy Sturgill
Dizzy Dean by Joseph Wancho
Paul Dean by Paul Geisler
Bill DeLancey by Thomas Ayers
Leo Durocher by Jeffrey Marlett
Frankie Frisch by Fred Stein
Chick Fullis by Jack Morris
Burleigh Grimes by Charles F. Faber
Jesse Haines by Gregory H. Wolf
Bill Hallahan by Gregory H. Wolf
Francis Healy by Greg Erion
Clarence Heise by J.G. Preston
Jim Lindsey by Alan Cohen
Pepper Martin by Norm King
Joe Medwick by Charles F. Faber
Buster Mills by Bill Nowlin
Jim Mooney by Charlie Weatherly and Gregory H. Wolf
Gene Moore by Greg Erion
Ernie Orsatti by Lawrence Baldassaro
Flint Rhem by Nancy Snell Griffith
Lew Riggs by Bob Webster
Jack Rothrock by Bill Nowlin
Dazzy Vance by Charles F. Faber
Bill Walker by Gregory H. Wolf
Burgess Whitehead by C. Paul Rogers III
Jim Winford by Clayton J. Trutor
Red Worthington by Jimmy Keenan

Executives
Sam Breadon by Mark Armour
Bill DeWitt by Dwayne Isgrig
Branch Rickey by Andy McCue

Coaches
Mike Gonzalez by Joseph Girard
Buzzy Wares by Charles F. Faber