The Chicago White Sox, fresh off of their second place finish in 1926, were one of the favorites to win the American League's pennant and were in front by 3 1/2 games over the defending Cleveland Indians as Labor Day approached. Three other teams, Washington, St.Louis and the surprising Detroit Tigers, were also within range for a possible shot at the AL title as both the Senators and the Tigers were 7 games back and the Browns were 9 1/2 games behind. With a week and a half to go, Chicago found themselves continuing to falter as Detroit got on a roll and were now only 4 games back, with the Indians between them at 2 1/2 behind. The Senators had also started to catch fire and with only five games to go, both Detroit and Washington were only 2 games behind with defending Cleveland 3 games back of the still front running White Sox. As the race headed into the last couple of games, the AL pennant was down to a two game series between Chicago and Detroit with the Tigers being 2 games back with 3 games to go. Thanks to the hitting of rookie sensation Chuck Klein and the pitching of 3rd year vet Lefty Grove, the Tigers completed the three game sweep on the final day of the season to win the league's title, their first title in over 20 years. Klein not only won the batting title with a .359 average, but was also awarded with the AL's Rookie of the Year trophy. Lefty Grove finished third in wins with 19 and was the league's leading strikeout pitcher with 205. The Browns and the Senators both finished 4 games behind Detroit thanks to the hitting of Rogers Hornsby and Lou Gehrig, respectively.
The National League race was just as tight as four teams, including defending NL champion Brooklyn Robins were only 6 1/2 games apart. Brooklyn had the lead heading into Labor Day with Boston 2 1/2 games back and both Pittsburgh and New York 6 1/2 games behind. The Braves, behind the bat of Don Hurst and the pitching of Harry Carlson, stayed right behind the Robins and eventually tied them as they headed into a two-game showdown at the end of the season. Boston swept both games and won the pennant on the final day of the season, their first since 1910. The Robins finished in second place, 2 games behind, and were led by the one-two punch of Babe Ruth and Sunny Jim Bottomley.
In the World Series, Boston grabbed a 3 games to 1 lead thanks to the pitching of Jumbo Elliott before Detroit's power helped the Tigers to even the series a 3 games apiece. Jumbo Elliott won his third game of the series with the help of 3 home runs by a score of 9-4 to give the Braves their first world's championship, 4 games to 3.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Detroit 87 67 .565 -- Boston 88 66 .571 --
Chicago 86 68 .558 1 Brooklyn 86 68 .558 2
St.Louis 83 71 .539 4 New York 85 69 .552 3
Washington 83 71 .539 4 Pittsburgh 82 72 .532 6
Cleveland 82 72 .532 5 Philadelphia 76 78 .494 12
Philadelphia 70 84 .455 17 Cincinnati 69 85 .448 19
New York 65 89 .422 22 Chicago 65 89 .422 23
Boston 60 94 .390 27 St.Louis 65 89 .422 23
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
C.Klein-DET .359 B.Fothergill-CIN .347
R.Hornsby-STL .355 B.Weaver-STL .345
H.Rice-STL .353 M.Ott-NY .344
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
C.Williams-PHI 20 B.Ruth-BRO 40
R.Hornsby-STL 19 D.Hurst-BOS 25
L.Gehrig-WAS 17 J.Bottomley-BRO 23
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
P.Waner-CLE 106 J.Bottomley-BRO 117
F.Lindstrom-CLE 101 C.Hafey-PIT 115
C.Reynolds-PHI 99 B.Ruth-BRO 110
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
F.Lindstrom-CLE 109 B.Ruth-BRO 145
L.Waner-CHI 107 H.Wilson-NY 124
L.Blue-CHI 105 G.Grantham-BOS 116
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
C.Reynolds-PHI 36 H.Wilson-NY 45
L.Blue-CHI 32 F.Frisch-PHI 43
J.Evans-DET 29 L.Richbourg-PIT 38
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
H.Keupper-NY 2.59 D.Vance-PIT 2.28
L.Grove-DET 3.00 L.Stewart-NY 2.87
H.McQuillan-STL 3.01 H.Lisenbee-STL 3.17
Wins W Wins W
H.McQuillan-STL 22 L.Williams-NY 19
E.Rixey-WAS 22 H.Carlson-BOS 18
L.Grove-DET 19 F.Shellenback-CHI 18
Saves SV Saves SV
H.Bell-STL 14 J.Enzmann-PHI 13
S.Johnson-DET 12 D.Hankins-STL 12
D.Henry-BOS 11 L.Brown-PHI 9
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
L.Grove-DET 205 E.Whitehill-CHI 134
P.Malone-NY 195 J.Elliott-BOS 118
C.Root-PHI 150 J.May-STL 115
1927 World Series
Game #1
Detroit 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 1 8 1
Boston (N) 1 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 x - 6 10 1
L.Grove, T.Sheehan (8) and C.Autry
J.Elliott, J.Brillheart (9) and C.Niebergall
WP - J.Elliott (1-0)
LP - L.Grove (0-1)
HR - none
Game #2
Detroit 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 2 0 - 7 12 2
Boston (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 1
T.Thomas and C.Autry
J.Haines, O.Harstad (9) and C.Niebergall
WP - T.Thomas (1-0)
LP - J.Haines (0-1)
HR - none
Game #3
Boston (N) 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 - 3 7 0
Detroit 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 2 4 0
B.Grimes, J.Brillheart (9) and C.Niebergall, H.Severeid (9)
G.Pipgras and J.Heving
WP - B.Grimes (1-0)
LP - G.Pipgras (0-1)
SV - J.Brillheart (1)
HR - DET: S.West (1)
Game #4
Boston (N) 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 - 5 12 2
Detroit 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 - 4 9 0
J.Elliott and C.Niebergall, H.Severeid (9)
L.Grove, S.Johnson (9) and C.Autry
WP - J.Elliott (2-0)
LP - L.Grove (0-2)
HR - DET: R.Barnes (1)
Game #5
Boston (N) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 1 3 0
Detroit 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 x - 5 11 0
J.Haines and C.Niebergall
T.Thomas and J.Heving
WP - T.Thomas (2-0)
LP - J.Haines (0-2)
HR - DET: J.Heving (1), R.Barnes (2), C.Klein (1)
Game #6
Detroit 0 0 1 2 0 0 2 1 0 - 6 8 0
Boston (N) 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 - 4 12 1
G.Pipgras, T.Sheehan (7) and C.Autry
B.Grimes and C.Niebergall
WP - G.Pipgras (1-1)
LP - B.Grimes (1-1)
SV - T.Sheehan (1)
HR - DET: S.West (2), C.Klein (2)
Game #7
Detroit 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 - 4 7 1
Boston (N) 0 1 2 4 1 1 0 0 x - 9 14 2
L.Grove, T.Sheehan (5), S.Johnson (6) and C.Autry
J.Elliott, J.Brillheart (9) and C.Niebergall
WP - J.Elliott (3-0)
LP - L.Grove (0-3)
HR - BOS: C.Niebergall (1), D.Loftus (1), W.Roettger (1)