The New York Giants had not won a pennant since 1913 but they finally broke through after a 4-way dog fight in 1928. Thanks to the arms of a couple of Lefty's, Williams and Stewart, New York came into September leading by 2 1/2 games over Pittsburgh and 5 games over Boston. The Pirates, behind the pitching of Hudlin, kept coming on and eventually took a 1/2 game lead heading into the final two games but the Giants came back to tie them on the next to last day and then took the NL title after a victory and a Pittsburgh loss on the last day of the season. The Braves finished in a tie for third place thanks to the hitting of Don Hurst and Charlie Gehringer. Hurst broke the stranglehold of Babe Ruth on the league's Outstanding Batter award by batting .332 with 45 home runs and 145 RBIs. The Cincinnati Reds, down by 8 1/2 on Labor Day, came storming hot and tied the Braves for third place, 3 games behind the Giants, thanks to the hitting of Dale Alexander, who won the NL's Rookie of the Year Award by batting .313 with 36 home runs and 145 RBIs.
The American League pennant race was not much of a race as the defending champion Detroit Tigers led Washington by 10 1/2 games on Labor Day and then coasted to claim their second straight title, winning by 16 games.The Tigers were led by Chuck Klein, who captured the hitter's Triple Crown by leading the AL in average (.371), home runs (43) and runs batted in (153). Detroit was paced on the mound by Lefty Grove and George Pipgras, who won 21 and 20 games respectively. The Senators, who finished in second place, was led by the hitting of catcher Mickey Cochrane.
The World Series was a hard fought one between the two league champions. After New York's Williams had bested Detroit's Grove in game 1, the Tigers roared back and took the next two games by the scores of 8-4 and 12-4. The Giants then came back to take a 3 games to 2 lead as they won games four and five before Detroit came back and took games six and seven to win the world's championship, 4 games to 3.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Detroit 98 56 .636 -- New York 86 69 .555 --
Washington 82 72 .532 16 Pittsburgh 85 70 .548 1
Boston 80 74 .519 18 Boston 82 72 .532 3.5
Cleveland 78 76 .506 20 Cincinnati 82 72 .532 3.5
St.Louis 73 81 .474 25 Chicago 76 78 .494 9.5
Chicago 70 84 .455 28 Philadelphia 75 79 .487 10.5
New York 70 84 .455 28 St.Louis 70 84 .455 15.5
Philadelphia 65 89 .422 33 Brooklyn 61 93 .396 24.5
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
C.Klein-DET .371 B.Falk-PHI .367
P.Waner-CLE .363 B.Herman-CHI .366
R.Hornsby-STL .353 C.Gehringer-BOS .359
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
C.Klein-DET 43 D.Hurst-BOS 45
J.Frederick-CLE 25 B.Ruth-BRO 43
J.Hauser-CLE 24 D.Alexander-CIN 36
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
C.Klein-DET 153 D.Alexander-CIN 145
J.Frederick-CLE 130 D.Hurst-BOS 145
E.Morgan-STL 107 B.Ruth-BRO 128
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
C.Klein-DET 127 D.Hurst-BOS 137
T.Lazzeri-PHI 115 H.Manush-BOS 125
R.Hornsby-STL 114 B.Falk-PHI 115
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
J.Neun-CHI 58 K.Cuyler-CON 66
T.Lazzeri-PHI 46 B.James-PIT 33
B.Myer-CLE 38 H.Manush-BOS 29
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
L.Grove-DET 2.96 W.Hudlin-PIT 3.21
E.Morris-BOS 3.09 L.Williams-NY 3.51
G.Uhle-NY 3.39 L.Stewart-NY 3.32
Wins W Wins W
E.Morris-BOS 22 W.Hudlin-PIT 21
L.Grove-DET 21 F.Shellenback-CHI 17
G.Pipgras-DET 20 L.Williams-NY 17
Saves SV Saves SV
P.Murray-WAS 11 J.Enzmann-PHI 11
E.Baecht-BOS 9 G.Cantrell-CIN 10
G.Grant-STL 9 B.Geary-NY 10
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
L.Grove-DET 210 J.Elliott-BOS 156
P.Malone-NY 181 J.May-STL 118
G.Pipgras-DET 145 L.Williams-NY 114
1928 World Series
Game #1
New York (N) 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 - 3 9 1
Detroit 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 2 6 2
L.Williams and P.Hargrave.
L.Grove and P.Collins
WP - L.Williams (1-0)
LP - L.Grove (0-1)
HR - none
Game #2
New York (N) 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 - 4 9 0
Detroit 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 6 x - 8 14 0
K.Greenfield, F.Marberry (8) and P.Hargrave.
G.Pipgras, T.Sheehan (9) and P.Collins
WP - G.Pipgras (1-0)
LP - K.Greenfield (0-1)
HR - NY: H.Ezzell (1); DET: C.Klein (1)
Game #3
Detroit 0 2 0 3 5 2 0 0 0 - 12 13 2
New York (N) 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 - 4 10 1
D.Henry, T.Sheehan (7) and P.Collins
L.Stewart, F.Marberry (5) and P.Hargrave
WP - D.Henry (1-0)
LP - L.Stewart (0-1)
HR - DET: T.Vache (1)
Game #4
Detroit 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 - 3 8 2
New York (N) 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 x - 5 11 1
L.Grove and P.Collins
L.Williams, B.Geary (9) and P.Hargrave
WP - L.Williams (2-0)
LP - L.Grove (0-2)
SV - B.Geary (1)
HR - none
Game #5
Detroit 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 - 4 15 0
New York (N) 4 0 0 0 3 0 0 2 x - 9 12 0
G.Pipgras, T.Sheehan (7) and P.Collins
K.Greenfield, F.Marberry (8) and P.Hargrave
WP - K.Greenfield (1-1)
LP - G.Pipgras (1-1)
HR - none
Game #6
New York (N) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 3 8 1
Detroit 1 0 3 0 1 0 0 3 x - 8 15 1
L.Stewart and P.Hargrave
D.Henry, S.Johnson (9) and P.Collins
WP - D.Henry (2-0)
LP - L.Stewart (0-2)
HR - DET: C.Klein 2 (3)
Game #7
New York (N) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 10 2
Detroit 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 - 3 8 2
L.Williams and P.Hargrave
L.Grove and P.Collins
WP - L.Grove (1-2)
LP - L.Williams (2-1)
HR - DET: J.Evans (1), C.Klein (4)