Marv Owen was a baseball lifer. While he did very little statistically, he contributed in some very memorable ways in two World Series. After spending a nearly decade playing in the major leagues with the Tigers, White Sox and Red Sox, he returned home to the Bay Area where the Santa Clara College graduate dedicated the rest of his life to serving others. This is his story.
The Early Years
Marvin "Marv" Eugene Owen was born just seven miles northwest of San Jose in the tiny community of Agnew, California on March 22, 1906. His father, James, loved playing baseball at his job with the local hospital and taught his only son the game almost as soon as he could walk. When James' mother died and left her estate to him, the family moved to her house in San Jose where James worked as a chef and a grocer, eventually saving enough money to buy his own rental properties.
Marv grew into a fine ballplayer and transferred to nearby Bellarmine College Prep from San Jose High School. While at Bellarmine, he took advantage of the tougher schedule and better facilities, growing into a fine all-around athlete who somehow found. the time to play semipro baseball on the side.
After graduation, Owen attended nearby Santa Clara College. However, he didn't go there for an education. While he did graduate with a degree in Physical Education, he always claimed that he only chose that major because it was easy and that he only went to Santa Clara to continue playing baseball at a high level.
Over the course of his four years there, Marv Owen garnered numerous offers from the major leagues, but after word got out that he intended to sign with the Seattle Indians he lost his remaining eligibility. Instead of enjoying one last year playing baseball with his classmates, Marv Owen coached his friends while still moonlighting in the semipros. Finally, with a a degree in hand, Marv Owen graduated from Santa Clara in 1930 and headed off to display his talents in the Pacific Coast League.
A Rocky Start
In his lone season in Seattle, Marv Owen hit .300 with 30 extra base hits in 105 games. After the season, he was sold to the Detroit Tigers for the hefty sum of $25,000. Having invested $4,000 in the promising third-baseman, Seattle had turned a tidy profit in just a year.
Owen was all over the place in his first year with the Tigers. When he wasn't playing shortstop he was playing first base and when he wasn't playing that he was dabbling in his true calling, third base. Still he struggled that first year, batting just .223 and driving in 39 runs. Near the end of the year, he was sent down to the minors in Toronto to finish off the last six weeks of the season.
He spent all of 1932 in Toronto and Newark. After such a fast start, it was a shock to his system that he now found himself toiling in obscurity. He yearned to get back to the big leagues so he spent that whole year revamping his swing. After averaging .317, he was named MVP of the International League. All the way in Detroit, many in the Tigers' front office got whiffs of what their young prospect was doing in the minors. Had he truly found his rhythm or was his newfound bat just a mirage?
The Majors
Marv Owen felt invigorated now that he was back in the big leagues and he was determined to not let the opportunity pass through his fingers again. In his first year back with the Tigers, Owen made it to base 32.10% of the time while collecting 144 hits and driving in 64 runs. The following year, he led all third basemen in the American League with 202 putouts.
Meanwhile, the Tigers were making strides in the standings. After nine straight years of finishing in the bottom half of the league, the Tigers finally made it back to the World Series in 1934 where they met a hungry squad from St. Louis, Missouri. Having previously won the World Series in 1926 and 1931, the so-called "Gashouse Gang" Cardinals were a weathered bunch who yearned to squeeze one more championship before the core group went their separate ways.
It was a tough series, one that the Tigers could have won, but they lost Game 6 by a single run and the bottom fell out at home in Game 7. Up 6-0 at Navin Field, the Cardinals' Joe Medwick hit a triple off of Tommy Bridges. As he slid into third, Marv Owen accidentally stepped on him as he bent down to pick up the wayward ball. Infuriated, Medwick kicked at Owen several times and even grazed him.
Now down by seven, Detroiters were NOT happy and took out their frustrations on Medwick once he reached his spot in left field at the top of the seventh. They rained all sorts of debris on him including food and beer bottles. Fearing for his safety, baseball commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landiss removed Medwick from the game as the crowd jeered on. The Cardinals won the game 11-0, clinching the third and final championship of the Gashouse Gang era.
Having hit a paltry .069 in 30 plate appearances in the 1934 Fall Classic, Marv Owen was determined to redeem himself. His numbers were down almost across the board in 1935. Instead of 179 hits, he hit 127, instead of 98 rbi he drove in 72 and instead of averaging .317 he settled for .263. But while he had a down year at the plate, the rest of his team was hungrier than ever to redeem themselves. After all, they lost the final game of the World Series at home in embarrassing fashion.
They returned to the World Series in 1935 where they battled the Chicago Cubs until prevailing in six games. While Owen was less than stellar, having averaged just .050, but he saved his only highlight for when it mattered most.
Down by one in the bottom of the sixth in Game 6, he collected his lone hit of the series off of Larry French, driving in Billy Rogell to tie the game at three-all. It was the spark that his teammates needed to pull away victorious 4-3.
That hit was Owen's one shining moment in the sport that provided the setting for so many of his life's greatest memories. In a lifetime spent on the baseball diamond, that lone single in the 1935 World Series provided the gleam to a long, illustrious career.
Over the next two years, Marv Owen's skills at the plate declined, shrinking from .295 in 1936 to .288 in 1937. Seeing how he only drove in 45 runs the previous year, the Tigers willingly included Owen in a six-player deal with the Chicago White Sox in 1938.
The move to Chicago didn't magically bring back his average, but Owen was able to drive in ten more runs than the year before while reaching base 33.7% of the time. The following year, the White Sox travelled to Cooperstown, New York to partake in an exhibition game during the inaugural Hall of Fame induction weekend. After playing in an old-timer's game with legendary players such as Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner, Marv Owen got 11 of the game's greatest to sign a baseball for him. He treasured it with childlike enthusiasm the rest of his life.
He was sold to the Red Sox in 1940 where Boston manager Joe Cronin tried to turn him into a player-coach. The experiment failed. In 20 games, Owen recorded just 12 hits and six RBI. It was his last year as a player in the majors, but his time in the game was far from over.
Later Years
Marv Owen spent all of World War II playing for the PCL's Portland Beavers whre he hit over .290 in his first five years and eventually became a player-manager in1944. Under his guidance and led by his .311 average, the Beavers won the league championship.
In 1947, Owen returned home to manage the Red Sox San Jose affiliate in the Class-C California League. The San Jose Red Sox finished the first two years directionless and without a deep run in the playoffs, but in 1949 their luck changed. That year, they won the league championship by beating the Ventura Yankees 4-1.
After the Red Sox lost in the first round in each of the next two years, Marv Owen moved around, managing in Davenport, Durham and Valdosta before retiring in 1973 and settling right back where he started: in San Jose. He spent his remaining years being inducted into the Halls of Fame for both Santa Clara University and Bellarmine College Preparatory while tending to his various rental properties in the area and lending his voice to youth baseball leagues all over the Bay Area.
While he had grown weary of watching the game that had given him so many tremendous memories, Marv Owen always had a heart for the youth movement that was sure to take the game to the next level. After years of suffering from Alzheimer's disease, he passed away on June 22, 1991.
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