PTWSW #29: The 1932 New York Yankees

Manager: Joe McCarthy
Record: 107-47
Ballpark: Yankee Stadium
Owner: Col. Jacob Ruppert
GM: Ed Barrow
Coaches: Jimmy Burke, Art Fletcher, Cy Perkins

Future Hall of Famers: Earle Combs, Bill Dickey, Lou Gehrig, Lefty Gomez, Tony Lazzeri, Herb Pennock, Red Ruffing, Babe Ruth, Joe Sewell

Team Leaders, Batting

BA: Lou Gehrig, .349
OBP: Babe Ruth, .489 (AL leader)
SLG: Babe Ruth, .661
OPS: Babe Ruth, 1.150
2B: Lou Gehrig, 42
3B: Tony Lazzeri, 16
HR: Babe Ruth, 41
RBI: Lou Gehrig, 151
BB: Babe Ruth, 130 (AL leader)
SB: Ben Chapman, 38 (AL leader)

Team Leaders, Pitching

W: Lefty Gomez, 24
SO: Red Ruffing, 190 (AL leader)
ERA: Red Ruffing, 3.09
CG: Red Ruffing, 22
SHO: Johnny Allen, Red Ruffing, 3
K/BB: Lefty Gomez, 1.68
IP: Lefty Gomez, 265.1
SV: Johnny Allen, Wilcy Moore, 4

Tidbits

Oldest Player: Herb Pennock (b. February 10, 1894)

Youngest Player: Frankie Crosetti (b. October 4, 1910)

First to Leave Us: Lou Gehrig (d. June 2, 1941)

Last Survivor: Charlie Devens (d. August 13, 2003)

First in Majors: Herb Pennock (debut May 14, 1912)

Last in Majors: Frankie Crosetti (final game October 3, 1948)

First to Play For the Franchise: Babe Ruth (April 14, 1920)

Last to Play For the Franchise: Frankie Crosetti (October 3, 1948)

Pre-union Team: There were three Red Sox teams with two: 1915-17, 1919 with Herb Pennock and Babe Ruth, 1926-30 with Danny MacFayden and Red Ruffing, and 1931 with Danny MacFayden and Wilcy Moore. Also included are the 1927-28 Indians with Jumbo Brown and Joe Sewell.

Reunion Team: The 1934 Red Sox had six: Dusty Cooke, Hank Johnson, Lyn Lary, Herb Pennock, George Pipgras and Gordon Rhodes.

Accomplishments

Lou Gehrig, four home runs in one game on June 3
Tony Lazzeri, cycle on June 3

Season Summary

Like so many great Yankee teams, the 1932 team was known for its offense. Despite playing in a park that vastly favored pitchers, the Yankee hitters scored the most runs in the American League. Their batting and slugging averages were second-best to the Athletics, but they made up for it by drawing 105 more walks than the White Elephants. The Yanks' team ERA+ was a middle-of-the-pack 102, mainly due to that pitcher's park they played in. Still, they allowed the AL's fewest runs per game and led in strikeout-to-walk ratio. Their defense was nothing special, with only a fifth-best DER.

Like so many teams that win 107 games, there was a significant gap between the Yankees and the next-best team. They were never out of first place after May 20, and their lead was never smaller than four games after June 11. They acquired two talented-but-struggling Red Sox pitchers, Danny MacFayden and Wilcy Moore, in separate midseason trades; both moves paid off when the hurlers' fortunes improved in New York. In the end, the Yankees won the pennant by 13 games.

Like so many teams that win the pennant by a double-digit margin and face a comparatively weak team in the World Series, it only took four games for the Yankees to vanquish the Cubs. The Bronx Bombers outscored them 37-19 for the Series, led by Lou Gehrig's three homers and 1.718 OPS. The most famous home run of the Series though, belonged to Babe Ruth. In the fifth inning of Game 3, with two strikes on him, Ruth pointed a finger toward the field; he delivered a round-tripper on the next pitch. The incident became known as the Babe's "Called Shot," though it's a source of debate to this day whether Ruth intended to predict his homer or if he meant something else by his pointing. Either way, the ambiguous gesture has gone down in history as one of baseball's legendary moments.

Acknowledgements:

Baseball Reference
Baseball Almanac
Google News Archives