Three H’s (Hank/Hal/Hutch) are too much for the Cards.

Game 1:  St. Louis opened the series by scoring in the bottom of the first on a Ted Simmons double play ball.  They put up two more in the 3rd on doubles by Steve "Lefty" Carlton, Matty Alou and Simmons.  Carlton kept the Tigers in check until the 7th when starting pitcher Dizzy Trout hit a solo homerun.  Both teams scored a run in the 8th and the game went into the 9th 4-2.  Frank Linzy got the first two Tigers, but Eddie Lake singled and Georgie Kell doubled.  Linzy intentionally walked Roy Cullenbine to load the bases for Hank Greenberg.  Moe Drabowsky came in to face Hank and with the crowd on its feet cheering every pitch, struck him out to preserve Lefty's win.  Cardinals 4  Tigers 2 

Game 2:  Bob Gibson took the mound to face Hal Newhouser.  The Tigers scored in the second on doubles by Doc Cramer and Birdie Tebbets.  The Cards tallied one of their own in the 3rd on a double by Dal Maxvill and a single by Lou Brock.  In the 4th Dick Wakefield singled home Cullenbine with two out.  That would be all Prince Hal needed.  He shut down the Redbirds the rest of the way on one hit, retiring 18 of the last 19 he faced.   Tigers 5  Cardinals 1

Game 3:  Simmons doubled home a run in the first and Ted Sizemore homered in the second.  Then Tiger starter Fred Hutchinson settled in and only allowed 5 hits the rest of the way.  Meanwhile the Motown boys supplied him with plenty of runs.  Cullenbine homered in the first.   Greenberg homered in the 5th.  Hutch drove in three to help his cause.  Tigers 8  Cardinals 2

Game 4:  Dizzy Trout was back on the mound for the Tigers having suffered the only two Tiger losses of the tourney.  He was staked to a 3 run lead after two on another Cullenbine first inning homer, this time a two run shot.  Cullenbine added another rbi in the 2nd on a single.  Meanwhile Trout was cruising.  Through 6 innings he gave up only 4 hits, no more than one in any inning.  He looked to be breaking his string of defeats and then came the 7th.  Sizemore led the inning off with a single.  With one out, Julian Javier worked a walk.  Pinchhitter Bob Burda singled and the Cardinals were on the board.  Brock forced Burda at 2nd for the second out with Javier taking third.  Brock quickly stole second.  Matty Alou then singled to right.  With visions of Willie Horton in his mind, Cullenbine charged the ball hard, intent on throwing Brock out at the plate.  But the ball took a sideways hop and as Cullenbine reached across his body to knock it down he strained a muscle in his side.  He managed to hold Alou at first but he was done for the series,  A succession of Cardinal relievers held the Tigers at bay with Don Shaw saving the win for Al Santorini.  Cardinals 4  Tigers 3.

Game 5:  The Cardinals and the Tigers have met three times in the World Series.  In 1934, the Gas House Gang won in 7 in a series where Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis ordered Cardinal left fielder off the field in Game 7 for his own safety as the Tiger "faithful" pelted him with garbage for sliding hard into thirdbaseman Marv Owens. Owens was also ordered benched.  In 1968 with the Tigers down in the Series three games to one, Willie Horton threw Lou Brock out at the plate as Brock went in standing up and Bill Freehan held his ground.  Mickey Lolich won three games in the Series and Denny McLain as the Tigers came back to win their third World Championship in their history.  Bob Gibson set a record in the first game striking out 17 Tigers.  In 2006, a very young Tiger team featuring Rookie of the Year Justin Verlander was man handled by the Cardinals 4 games to 1. 

Just setting the stage.  One of the great things about tournaments like this is the "what if" matchups.  The deciding game would match two of the greatest left handed pitchers of all time, Steve Carlton and Hal Newhouser.  Cullenbine would be unavailable as his strained muscle still would not allow him to swing  a bat.  The Tigers scored in the third on a Kell triple and a Tebbets' ground ball double play.  The Cards replied in the bottom of the frame when Brock led off with a double and then sauntered home on a Joe Torre single.  The Tigers took the lead in the 4th when Eddie Lake, who had hit nothing for the tourney singled home Cullenbine's replacement Jimmy Outlaw with two outs.   In the 5th, Carlton was removed  after loading the bases with two walks sandwiched around a single.  Carl Taylor came in and kept the Tigers off the board.  With two outs in the 6th Luis Melendez walked and scampered home on Jim Beauchamp's double.  In the top of the 8th, Hank Greenberg singled home Newhouser for the go ahead run. Doc Cramer added a second run on a single.  Newhouser made it stand up for his 4th complete game win of the Series.  The Tigers move on.  Tigers 4  Cardinals 2 

--submitted by Tom “Crash” Davis--