1934-1936 Diamond Stars: #5 Tom Bridges

Sunday, April 18, 2021

#5 Tom Bridges - Detroit Tigers

Thomas Jefferson Davis Bridges

Detroit Tigers

Pitcher

Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 5'10" Weight: 155

Born: December 28, 1906, Gordonsville, TN

Major League Teams: Detroit Tigers 1930-1943, 1945-1946

World Series Appearances: Detroit Tigers 1934-1935, 1940, 1945

Died: April 19, 1968, Nashville, TN (61)

Spending his entire big league career with the Tigers, Tommy Bridges was a six-time All-Star and a two-time World Champion. On the strength of his curve ball, he won at least 20 games in three different seasons, and led the league in strikeouts twice in 1935 and 1936. Bridges enjoyed a career year in 1936, going 23-11 in 38 starts with a league-leading 175 strikeouts, also a career high. He and Hank Greenberg (#54) are the only Tigers in franchise history to appear in four different World Series with the club. Bridges was also the Tigers' all-time strikeout leader between 1941 and 1951 when his mark was surpassed by lefty Hal Newhouser. He held the right-handed strikeout top spot for the club until Jack Morris passed him in 1988.

Bridges missed the 1945 season while serving in the military and pitched in the Pacific Coast League until the age of 43, ultimately hanging up his spikes in 1950. In 16 seasons, Bridges went 194-138 with a 3.57 ERA, 200 complete games and 1,674 strikeouts. After retiring as a player, he briefly served as a scout and coach for the Reds in 1951 and would later scout for the Tigers (1958 through the 1960s) and Mets (1963-1968). Bridges passed away from liver cancer following a decades-long battle with alcoholism.

Building the Set

March 6, 2021 from Mom's Tax Returns - Card #11

Accountant by day and blogger about old baseball cards by night, my chosen profession has led me to annually prepare my Mom's tax returns. I don't charge her of course, but she still insists on some type of payment for my troubles. I'm primarily a Phillies baseball card collector, but I'm slowly running out of vintage (and affordable) Phillies baseball cards for me to suggest to her as payment. Mixing things up this year, I let her know I had decided to collect the Diamond Stars set from the mid-1930s and that to date I had only 10 cards. She went off on her online scavenger hunt, and I was the beneficiary of two more cards for my Diamond Stars set in exchange for preparing her tax returns. That's a pretty good deal. On a visit on day in early March, she handed over her tax documents and then prepaid for my services with this card and the Jimmy Wilson (#22) card which I'll feature in the next post.

Variations Available

1 - 1934 / green back / 1933 statistics / 1934 copyright

2 - 1935 / green back / 1934 statistics / 1934 copyright

3 - 1936 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1934 copyright ✅

The Card / Tigers Team Set

When I first inspected the card, the blue ink on the back clued me in that I had obtained by first card issued from the final 1936 series. This series repeats cards from the first two series, adds 24 more cards to a third series, and features 1935 statistics on the back with the text printed in blue ink. I'm not building a master set here, so I'm more than happy to add this third and final variation of the Bridges card to my version of the Diamond Stars set.

Bridges is shown wearing Tigers uniform that dates back to 1933. The team stopped wearing pinstripes beginning with the 1934 season.

The write-up on the back helps to teach young pitchers how not to tip their pitches, by not curling "your thumb back when about to throw your curve," as smart batters will soon figure out what's coming. Bridges' 1935 statistics are recounted with his league leading strikeout mark highlighted as well as his two wins in the 1935 World Series against the Cubs.

1936 Season

This was to be Bridges' career year. In 39 games, he went 23-11 with a 3.60 ERA while leading the league with 175 strikeouts. The Tigers won 83 games and finished a distant second place behind the Yankees. Bridges and Schoolboy Rowe (#33) formed a solid one-two punch atop the Tigers' starting rotation as Rowe went 19-10 over 41 games. Bridges easily led the club in substantially all pitching categories.