Braves fans had a taste of first place for around 130 days during the season, while Pirates fans had only 12 days alone in the hallowed ground. Those 12 days all ended up being at the end as Boston held an 8-game lead heading into Labor Day and Pittsburgh caught them with 12 days to go. Two days later, the Pirates took a 2-game lead then fought the Braves right to the next-to-last day of the season when Pittsburgh was able to clinch it's first NL title in 28 years. Pittsburgh was lead by "The Beast", catcher Jimmy Foxx, who launched 33 homers and scored 115 runs. The pitching staff was led by Hal Schumacher, who won a league leading 21 games and finished third in ERA with 3.30. Schumacher was awarded the senior circuit's Outstanding Pitcher award for his efforts. The Boston Braves, led by Ripper Collins, finished in second place, 3 games behind. Ripper Collins finished first in average (.352), third in home runs (31) and second in RBI (127). The Chicago Cubs finished in third place, 9 games behind the front running Pirates, and had Earl Averill to thank for it. All Averill did was finish second in average (.350) and first in both home runs (36) and RBI (136) and received the MVP award for his efforts.
In the American League, the Athletics held a 3-game lead heading into Labor Day then held back the Yankees and the Indians to win their first AL title since 1914. Philadelphia's attack was led by young star Hank Greenberg, who finished third in the league in home runs (23) and tied for second in RBI (113). The New York Yankees finished in second place, 5 games behind the Mackmen, as slugger Hal Trosky finished second in homers (28) and tied for second in RBI (113). Lon Warneke was the star of the Pinstripers' mound corp as he led the AL in wins (24) and strikeouts (186) and was awarded the junior circuit's Outstanding Pitcher award. Chief Wahoo's bunch, the Cleveland Indians, finished strong to end up in third place, 9 games behind the Athletics, and were led by pitchers Clint Brown (19 wins) and Mel Harder (2.79 ERA). The Washington Senators, winners of the AL the last three seasons, totally collapsed and fell to a tie for sixth place, a distant 28 games behind Philadelphia, despite of the league's MVP, Lou Gehrig. Gehrig finished third in average (.332), first in homers (34) and fourth in RBI (107).
In the World Series, Pittsburgh 1-2 punch on the mound, Schumacher and Bridges, won two games each as the Pirates brought home their first world's championship despite Hank Greenberg's effort (.400 avg, 1 hr) to try to carry the Athletics. The Athletics and the Pirates split the first two games in Philadelphia then Pittsburgh took the next two games at Forbes Field to take a commanding 3 games to 1 lead. Philadelphia, behind the pitching of Hallahan, forced the series back to Shibe Park by taking game #5 but Bridges's strong pitching in game #6 sealed the world's championship for the Bucs.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Philadelphia 98 56 .636 -- Pittsburgh 95 59 .617 --
New York 93 61 .604 5 Boston 92 62 .597 3
Cleveland 89 65 .578 9 Chicago 86 68 .558 9
Detroit 73 81 .474 25 Cincinnati 79 75 .513 16
St.Louis 72 82 .468 26 Philadelphia 75 79 .487 20
Chicago 70 84 .455 28 Brooklyn 64 90 .416 31
Washington 70 84 .455 28 St.Louis 64 90 .416 31
Boston 51 103 .331 47 New York 61 93 .396 34
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
B.Dickey-WAS .338 R.Collins-BOS .352
M.Sherlock-CLE .333 E.Averill-CHI .350
L.Gehrig-WAS .332 L.Riggs-CHI .348
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
L.Gehrig-WAS 34 E.Averill-CHI 36
H.Trosky-NY 28 J.Foxx-PIT 33
H.Greenberg-PHI 23 R.Collins-BOS 31
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
P.Higgins-PHI 114 E.Averill-CHI 136
H.Greenberg-PHI 113 R.Collins-BOS 127
H.Trosky-NY 113 H.Leiber-CIN 114
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
L.Gehrig-WAS 127 E.Averill-CHI 117
H.Greenberg-PHI 114 J.Foxx-PIT 115
H.Trosky-NY 106 B.Ruth-CHI 112
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
J.White-CLE+PHI 43 B.Chapman-PIT 32
P.Martin-STL 40 S.Hack-CIN 25
F.Pytlak-PHI 25 J.Kuhel-PIT 18
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
M.Harder-CLE 2.79 E.Brandt-CHI 2.68
L.Warneke-NY 2.96 C.Moore-BOS 3.28
L.Gomez-PHI 3.00 H.Schumacher-PIT 3.30
Wins W Wins W
L.Warneke-NY 24 H.Schumacher-PIT 21
C.Brown-CLE 19 T.Bridges-PIT 20
C.Blanton-STL 18 C.Hubbell-CIN 19
Saves SV Saves SV
A.Grabowski-STL 15 J.Brown-PIT 13
R.Dobens-DET 12 H.Craghead-BRO 13
P.Murray-WAS 11 S.Johnson-BOS 12
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
L.Warneke-NY 186 D.Dean-BRO 190
B.Hallahan-PHI 152 V.Mungo-CHI 177
L.Gomez-PHI 150 T.Bridges-PIT 165
1934 World Series
Game #1
Pittsburgh 1 1 0 1 3 3 0 3 0 - 12 18 1
Philadelphia (A) 0 1 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 - 6 10 2
H.Schumacher and J.Foxx
J.Babich, C.Pickrel (6), R.Kolp (8) and F.Pytlak
WP - H.Schumacher (1-0)
LP - J.Babich (0-1)
HR - none
Game #2
Pittsburgh 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 7 1
Philadelphia (A) 0 1 6 2 2 0 1 0 x - 12 17 1
F.Rhem, J.Brown (4), R.Prim (8) and J.Foxx
B.Hallahan and F.Pytlak
WP - B.Hallahan (1-0)
LP - F.Rhem (0-1)
HR - PHI: H.Greenberg (1)
Game #3
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 - 5 4 2
Pittsburgh 1 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 x - 6 14 3
R.Sherid and F.Pytlak
T.Bridges and J.Foxx
WP - T.Bridges (1-0)
LP - R.Sherid (0-1)
HR - none
Game #4
Philadelphia (A) 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 - 4 11 0
Pittsburgh 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 - 5 9 2
J.Babich, C.Pickrel (8) and F.Pytlak, L.Sewell (8)
H.Schumacher and J.Foxx
WP - H.Schumacher (2-0)
LP - C.Pickrel (0-1)
HR - none
Game #5
Philadelphia (A) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 2 7 0
Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 5 1
B.Hallahan and F.Pytlak
F.Rhem, J.Brown (9) and J.Foxx
WP - B.Hallahan (2-0)
LP - F.Rhem (0-2)
HR - none
Game #6
Pittsburgh 2 3 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 - 9 13 0
Philadelphia (A) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 2 4 0
T.Bridges and J.Foxx
R.Sherid, C.Pickrel (6), R.Kolp (9) and F.Pytlak
WP - T.Bridges (2-0)
LP - R.Sherid (0-2)
HR - none