In 1903, Charles Leonard Gehringer was born in Fowlerville,
Michigan. He grew up there and then attended the University of Michigan for
one year before signing
to play baseball for the Detroit Tigers. He joined the team briefly in the
1924 and 1925 seasons and then became the starting second basemen in 1926,
a job
that he held until he left for service in the Navy in 1942.
Gehringer had a spectacular career, hitting above .300 thirteen seasons and
finishing with a career batting average of .320. Ty Cobb, who was managing
the Tigers when Gehringer arrived from the minor leagues, took credit for recognizing
that his amazing bat control gave him remarkable abilities as a hitter. Compared
to today’s star hitters, Gehringer just did not strike out. For sixteen
seasons, Gehringer was the Tiger’s starting second baseman, playing in
most of their games. At the end of those seasons, his strike-out totals ranged
from a low of 16 to a high of 42. Although Gehringer had some power, he was
never compared to his first baseman, Hank Greenberg. Gehringer’s speed
allowed him to turn many singles into doubles so he drove in many of his runs
with his doubles. Indeed, early in his career, Gehringer was fast enough to
lead the league in stolen bases in 1929. His batting and defense were crucial
to propelling the Tigers to the World Series three times: in 1934 when they
lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games, in 1935 when they beat the
Chicago Cubs for the World’s Championship and in 1940 when the lost to
the Cincinnati Reds in seven games. For five straight years in the 1930s, Gehringer
got more than 200 hits in the season. In 1937, he hit .371 and won the Most
Valuable Player award. Six times he was chosen for the American League All
Star team. This is quite an accomplishment since he played with the Tigers
for 11 years before the first All Star game.
The mid-1930s were, perhaps, the most troubled years in the history of the
city of Detroit since the Americans surrendered it to the British in the War
of 1812. Vehicle production in the Depression fell to one-quarter what it was
in the late 1920s. Were it not for various welfare and public works programs,
it is quite possible that some Detroit residents would have died from deficiency
diseases. After the city ran out of money, Mayor Frank Murphy paid city employees
with script, not with cash. Frank Navin, however, invested in his Detroit Tigers
and produced winning ball clubs. Attendance—with tickets priced at either
$1.00 or fifty cents—soared with a total of more than 900,000 in 1934
and, for the first time, the Tigers attendance went above a million in 1935.
There were 16 major league teams at that time. In 1934 and 1935, the Tigers
accounted for one-third of total major league attendance. The 1934 infield
was a phenomenal group of hitters. Their runs-batted-in total was 538: 139
from Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg at first; 127 from Hall of Famer Charlie
Gehringer at second, 100 from long-time Detroit city councilmen Billy Rogell
who played short, 96 from third basemen Marv Owen and then 76 more from manager
and Hall of Famer Mickey Cochrane who was the catcher. They played in a Navin
Field that did not have the short porch in right field. Sixty nine years later
the Tigers fielded an impotent last-place team that, in total, drove in only
553 runs.
Charlie Gehringer was a quiet, undemonstrative and taciturn man. He lacked
flash but everyone in baseball knew about his excellent fielding, his consistently
high batting average and his power hitting, albeit for doubles rather than
home runs. Lefty Gomez, the Yankee’s Hall of Fame pitcher, called him
the Mechanical Man because of his unfailingly consistent performance as the
most accomplished second basemen of his era.
His achievements fell off sharply in 1941 when he was 38. He began the next
seasons with the Tigers but then served three years in the Navy. He did not
attempt a return to playing baseball after he was mustered out of service but
joined the Tigers in administrative capacities. Just seven years after playing
for the Tigers, Charlie Gehringer was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame.
During the Walter O. and Spike Briggs ownership, he served as General Manager
from 1951 to 1953 and then continued as Vice-President until 1959 when he retired.
For many years subsequently, he chaired the committee that selected veteran
players for the Hall of Fame. Charles Gehringer died in Bloomfield Hills at
the age of 90.
Sculptors: Julie Amrany, Omni Amrany and Gary Tillery
Date of Dedication: 2000
Use in 2005: Public Art honoring the baseball tradition in Detroit
City of Detroit Local Historic District: Not Listed
State of Michigan Registry of Historic Sites: Not Listed
National Register of Historic Places: Not Listed
Photograph: Ren Farley; September 14, 2005