DETROIT – Are the Detroit Tigers magic? It may seem like a wild question, but when the Tigers are doing good, the city as a whole seems to be doing good.

How Detroit became the City of Champions

In 1935, the Tigers won its first World Series. They had been in prior World Series championships, but this was their first win. They went into the 1935 World Series against the Chicago Cubs, who had won 21 consecutive games the month prior — a record that remained unbroken until 2021.

The Tigers ultimately defeated the Cubs on their sixth game, 4-3. The final game was played at Navin Field, which was renamed Tiger Stadium just a few years later.

It was the first time a major sports team out of Detroit won a championship — but it would not be the last.

When the Tigers won the World Series in their hometown, it was the middle of the Great Depression and Detroit was not doing great financially. The Tigers’ win boosted city morale and was quickly followed by the Lions winning the 1935 NFL Championship two months later at the University of Detroit Stadium. Morale continued to climb, leading to the Red Wings winning their first Stanely Cup in April.

It’s one of the only times in history a city had three major sporting league championships within six months. New York may have done that at some point, but they have like a dozen teams, that doesn’t count. That’s not fair.

This period of time also featured the rise of two other Detroiters who became untouchable in their fields — heavyweight champion Joe Louis and motorboat racing champ Gar Wood, who was the first person to break 100 mph with a boat.

People took notice of Detroit’s success. The Windsor Daily Star called this period “the most amazing sweep of sport achievements ever credited to any single city.”

During the 1936 Cherry Festival, Detroit received a plaque signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and every governor in the country who recognized Detroit as the “City of Champions.”

FDR took time out of his schedule during the middle of the Great Depression to recognize and acknowledge Detroit sports.

April 18 was designated Champions Day in Michigan by then-governor Frank Fitzgerald.

I know I might be putting a lot on the Tigers now, but if they pull this off, they might have that momentum transferred to our other teams. I’m not saying they’re magic, but I am saying that the Tigers might actually be magic.

I’m not ruling it out.

MILWAUKEE – One person is dead following a crash on Milwaukee’s north side on Friday morning, Oct. 11.

It happened around 2:30 a.m. near Sherman and Silver Spring. 

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There was a celebration Thursday years in the making. Children’s Dental Services reopened its expanded clinic in northeast Minneapolis, which will serve an additional 15,000 children each year.

“Essentially doubling the capacity of this building to be a dental safety net,” said Sarah Wovcha, the executive director of the nonprofit.

There are now 16 rooms where patients, many of whom are low-income, will be seen for a variety of reasons.

“Only about 40% of low-income people on medical assistance in Minnesota are able to see a dentist in any given year,” said Wovcha. “These folks, instead of showing up in the emergency room with a toothache or an abscess that costs the taxpayers five times more than prevention, we are serving them here.”

The project is a collaboration between Delta Dental of Minnesota Foundation, Otto Bremer Trust, Mississippi Watershed Management Organization, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Minnesota Department of Health, Hennepin County and the City of Minneapolis.

There are several barriers to care, including the low reimbursement rate for patients on medical assistance, according to Wovcha.

“They still don’t meet the cost of care and that means that if you’re a private office and you want to accept patients, it’s going to be tricky for you,” she explained.

Care providers are also retiring faster than new professionals are graduating, according to Wovcha.

“We know there is a tremendous shortage of providers around the state,” said Stephanie Albert, the president of the Delta Dental of Minnesota Foundation, which partnered on this project.

“North Minneapolis is a dental desert,” said Albert. “Fifty-four of our 84 counties have dental deserts, which means they have a shortage of dental providers and when you have a shortage of providers, you have a shortage of care.”

Children’s Dental Services is also working to address that broader need across the state by serving 66 of the 87 counties through its mobile vans. Teams bring care to families directly, whether it’s at schools, low-income housing or WIC clinics. The expanded critical access clinic in Minneapolis is the nerve center for that effort too.

“Dental disease is the most common chronic childhood illness and it’s entirely preventable,” said Wovcha.

Children’s Dental Services is getting ready to open an additional clinical dental hub in Duluth later this month and another one is in development for the Iron Range.

“They’re a critical piece to reaching folks who might not have access to care otherwise,” said Albert.