In the American League, after a two year break Cleveland was leading by five games over New York and 5.5 games over Washington as they headed into September. The Indians, thanks to the hitting of Freddie Lindstrom, Johnny Frederick and Joe Hauser, maintained their lead over the other two teams and was able to clinch the AL title with about half a week to go. Lindstrom went on to receive the junior circuit's Outstanding Hitter award by leading the league in average (.372) plus hitting 21 home runs and driving in 105 runs. The pitching corps was led by Bill Sherdel, who was second in the league in both wins (23) and ERA (3.18), as he went on to receive the AL's Outstanding Pitcher award. The New York Yankees, second division dwellers since 1924, finished in second place, three games behind the winning Indians, thanks to the hot bat of Bill Terry and the pitching of Pat Malone, who led the AL with 24 victories.
The New York Giants continued their winning ways and were leading the National League by a slim 1.5 games over Philadelphia and 6.5 games over the Boston Braves. The Phillies caught up to, and passed, the Giants with a week to go but the G-men came back and clinched their second straight title on the last day of the regular season. Seven different pitchers had 10 or more wins, led by Lefty Williams' 14. The Phillies, who finished in second place only 1 game behind the winning Giants, were led by batting champion Bib Falk, who batted .367, and Dolly Gray, who won 18 games. The Cincinnati Reds finished in third place, two games behind New York, thanks to the mound duo of Bump Hadley and Carl Hubbell. Hubbell finished second in the NL in victories (19) and Bump Hadley led the NL in wins (22) and was awarded the league's Outstanding Pitcher award by also having a 3.22 ERA and 156 strikeouts to go along with his league leading 22 wins.
The World Series saw the Giants sweep the first two games in Cleveland but the Indians, thanks to the pitching of George Earnshaw, took the next four games and won the world's championship, 4 games to 2.
The year also saw several well-known ships pass in the night. Hitting greats Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker both ended their illustrious careers with a few more promenent players to follow in the coming years and could be taken as signs that the Dead Ball era is indeed, dead.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Cleveland 91 63 .591 -- New York 89 65 .578 --
New York 88 66 .571 3 Philadelphia 88 66 .571 1
Washington 86 68 .558 5 Cincinnati 87 67 .565 2
Detroit 75 79 .487 16 Boston 84 70 .545 5
St.Louis 73 81 .474 18 Pittsburgh 81 73 .526 8
Philadelphia 71 83 .461 20 St.Louis 68 86 .442 21
Chicago 70 84 .455 21 Chicago 60 94 .390 29
Boston 62 92 .403 29 Brooklyn 59 95 .383 30
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
F.Lindstrom-CLE .372 B.Falk-PHI .367
L.Waner-CHI .365 B.Chapman-PIT .361
B.Terry-NY .360 A.Comorosky-CHI .360
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
J.Hauser-CLE 42 D.Hurst-BOS 36
W.Berger-STL 40 B.Ruth-BRO 31
L.Gehrig-WAS 34 G.Hartnett-STL 30
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
W.Berger-STL 136 D.Alexander-CIN 135
J.Frederick-CLE 125 P.Hargrave-NY 128
J.Hauser-CLE 123 D.Hurst-BOS 125
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
L.Gehrig-WAS 123 D.Alexander-CIN 134
W.Berger-STL 117 C.Gehringer-BOS 121
J.Mosolf-NY 115 F.Frisch-PHI 118
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
B.Myer-CLE 33 C.Gehringer-BOS 46
G.Watkins-WAS 28 O.Bluege-STL 36
P.Waner-CLE 25 H.Hendrick-STL 31
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
L.Grove-DET 2.91 W.Hudlin-PIT 3.07
B.Sherdel-CLE 3.18 C.Hubbell-CIN 3.17
A.Crowder-CHI 3.20 L.Brown-PHI 3.22
Wins W Wins W
P.Malone-NY 24 B.Hadley-CIN 22
B.Sherdel-CLE 23 C.Hubbell-CIN 19
R.Kolp-WAS 20 D.Gray-PHI 18
Saves SV Saves SV
F.Heimach-CLE 17 K.Holloway-NY 13
P.Murray-WAS 12 G.Cantrell-CIN 12
C.Yellowhorse-DET 9 J.Enzmann-PHI 11
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
L.Grove-DET 231 W.Wyatt-STL 189
P.Malone-NY 185 B.Hadley-CIN 156
G.Earnshaw-CLE 180 R.Walberg-BRO 141
1929 World Series
Game #1
New York (N) 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 - 3 6 1
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 6 1
F.Marberry, B.Geary (9) and P.Hargrave
B.Sherdel and E.Grace
WP - F.Marberry (1-0)
LP - B.Sherdel (0-1)
SV - B.Geary (1)
HR - none
Game #2
New York (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 - 4 9 1
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 - 3 10 2
S.Johnson, B.Geary (9) and P.Hargrave
P.Caraway, F.Thomas (9), F.Heimach (10) and E.Grace
WP - B.Geary (1-0)
LP - F.Thomas (0-1)
HR - NY: H.Wilson (1) CLE: J.Hauser (1), E.Grace (1)
Game #3
Cleveland 3 0 2 0 0 1 3 0 0 - 9 13 1
New York (N) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 - 3 5 1
G.Earnshaw and E.Grace
S.Conley, K.Holloway (7) and P.Hargrave
WP - G.Earnshaw (1-0)
LP - S.Conley (0-1)
HR - CLE: P.Purdy (1), J.Frederick 2 (2)
Game #4
Cleveland 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 - 7 14 0
New York (N) 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 - 6 14 2
B.Sherdel, F.Heimach (11) and E.Grace
F.Marberry, K.Holloway (8), B.Geary (12) and P.Hargrave,
L.Woodall (12)
WP - F.Heimach (1-0)
LP - B.Geary (1-1)
HR - CLE: J.Hauser (2), J.Frederick (3) NY: H.Wilson (2)
Game #5
Cleveland 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 - 6 15 1
New York (N) 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 - 5 16 1
P.Caraway, F.Thomas (4), F.Heimach (6), B.Sherdel (10)
and E.Grace
S.Johnson, B.Geary (8) and P.Hargrave
WP - B.Sherdel (1-1)
LP - B.Geary (1-2)
HR - CLE: E.Grace (2)
Game #6
New York (N) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 - 4 6 2
Cleveland 1 3 0 1 0 3 1 0 x - 9 11 1
S.Conley, K.Holloway (7) and P.Hargrave
G.Earnshaw, F.Thomas (9) and E.Grace
WP - G.Earnshaw (2-0)
LP - S.Conley (0-2)
HR - NY: P.Hargrave (1) CLE: P.Purdy (2), S.Clarke (1)