Also, a correction to one of the names in the photo.
Getty Images says about this almost 90-year-old photo:
Augie Galan and Billy Rogell during the 1935 World Series game between the Detroit Tigers vs Chicago Cubs, Detroit, Michigan, United States, 2nd October 1935.
All right, so we don’t have to figure out the date here, since it’s given.
So why am I posting this in the sleuthing series?
First, that’s not Billy Rogell. How do I know that?
Rogell was, primarily, a shortstop during his MLB career, though he did play other infield positions and a handful of games in the outfield, never a catcher, not even once. He was the Tigers’ primary starting shortstop from 1932-38 and was an outstanding fielder. If there had been Gold Gloves in the 1930s, Rogell probably would have won four or five of them. He played briefly for the Cubs, too, 33 games in 1940, before he retired.
So who’s the catcher? Mickey Cochrane, who had a long career with the A’s before he was traded to the Tigers before the 1934 season. He was AL MVP in 1934, and got MVP votes in ‘35. He was also the Tigers’ manager that year, one of the last of that era’s player-managers, and when the Tigers also made him GM in 1936, he suffered a breakdown which kept him out of many games. Then in 1937, in the pre-helmet era, he was beaned and nearly died from it. That ended his playing career.
Back to the photo: The date corresponds with Game 1 of the 1935 World Series. Galan led off the game with a double, later scoring the game’s first run. Then he struck out, grounded out and reached on an error by Hank Greenberg.
One clue in the photo gives us the answer. You can see the batters’ boxes in the photo, they have not been disturbed. That means this has to be Galan’s first at-bat, leading off the game, in which he doubled.
The Cubs won the game 3-0. Lon Warneke threw a four-hit shutout. Unfortunately, the Cubs lost the next three games before winning Game 5 to get within three games to two. The Tigers won Game 6 in a walkoff, 4-3, giving the Cubs yet another World Series loss.