Category: Detroit City of Champions

Episode 8: “Play Ball!” The first MLB motion picture with sound – Made in Detroit Did you know? That the first MLB motion picture ever made, was made in Detroit! “Play Ball!” was filmed in Detroit during the 1934 season. It was written and directed by Detroit Tiger legend: George Moriarty, financed by the Fisher…

It has often been said that the 1934-35 Tigers were a “distraction” for Detroiters in the Great Depression. However, that description, while true, does not go far enough in explaining just how important these teams were to the fans. The Tigers were not simply a distraction – they were an obsession. In today’s episode Jamie…

Was it a fluke? The Tigers got lucky in 1934. They avoided injuries, they got off to a hot start and every other team played poorly. So said the national media. The fans of Detroit felt quite differently. The incredible rise of the Tigers and the near World Series Championship of 1934 was merely the…

“The Deans do things to the Tigers.” So said the great baseball historian, Fred Lieb, in his iconic book on the Detroit Tigers. The Dean brothers, Dizzy and Paul, did in fact, do some things. Along with the rest of the legendary St. Louis Cardinal “Gas House Gang” the swaggering Dean brothers would lead their…

Hope. Joy. Excitement! For a generation of Detroiters toiling in the economic darkness of the Great Depression these three commodities were in short supply. Little could they know, however, that something amazing was about to occur. The 1933 Tigers were either too young or too old but the 1934 Tigers would be just the right…

It’s always darkest before the dawn. Such was the case in Detroit in the winter of 1933. The city is in the depths of the Great Depression and the Tigers have just completed another In a long string of dreadful seasons. With a roster of players that are too young or too old, never was…

Episode 2: “Trials and Tribulations” The difficulty of bring back a forgotten story. The greatest and most important season in Detroit sports history…has been forgotten. Why? In today’s show Jamie and Charles will explore this question and seek to identify the implications of actually bringing this story back. What happens in the past does not…

Episode 1: The Discovery – An old media guide points the way to a forgotten story A night of revelry in a Kalamazoo apartment leads to the discovery of an unknown fact. That fact grows into a college project, a thesis, three books, a movie screenplay and a 10 year quest to tell that fact…

1935. The Great Depression. Detroit is ranked as the hardest hit city in America. Speramus Meliora Resurgent Cineribus Akin to a miracle something incredible began to happen. Detroit began to win in a way that had never been seen before…or since. The Tigers, Lions and Red Wings all won their first Championships. An unknown Joe…

1935. The Great Depression. Detroit is ranked as the hardest hit city in America. Speramus Meliora Resurgent Cineribus Akin to a miracle something incredible began to happen. Detroit began to win in a way that had never been seen before…or since. The Tigers, Lions and Red Wings all won their first Championships. An unknown Joe…