It was a memorable year, made up of tight pennant races in both leagues plus the Hall of Fame opening it's doors to a record size of four inductees as it enshrines Eppa Rixey, Frankie Frisch, Joe Sewell and Pie Traynor.
In the American League, after being in the second division for almost a full decade, the Boston Red Sox found themselves in first place as Labor Day rolled around. The Detroit Tigers were closing in fast and heading into the final week, Detroit was only 3 games back. The Tigers closed to within 2 games as it headed to Beantown for a shot at tying for the top of the AL but the Red Sox won the final game to win it's first AL title since 1916. Boston won the title thanks to the batting of Joe Dimaggio, who batted .329, and the pitching of Tony Freitas, who finished third in the AL in wins (18) and second in ERA (3.10). AL Rookie of the Year Ed Lagger was the leader of the bullpen as he compiled a 9-6 record and 12 saves, the saves good enough to tie for the league lead with fellow Bosoxer Al Yeargin. Detroit was led by the great pitching of AL Outstanding Pitcher award winner Lefty Grove, who led the junior circuit in both ERA (3.08) and wins (23) along with finishing in third with 178 strikeouts. The Philadelphia Athletics finished in third place, 9 games behind Boston, thanks to the pitching of Johnny Marcum, who was second in the league in wins with 22, and Lefty Gomez, who led the league with 193 punch outs.
In the National League, an even tighter title race was held as the St.Louis Cardinals held a 3 game lead over the defending champion Pirates and 6 games over the Dodgers. Pittsburgh mounted a streak that led them to taking over first place by a 1/2 game with a week and a half to go but St.Louis came back with a streak of their own and clinched it's first pennant in 18 years with 3 games remaining on the schedule. St.Louis slugger Wally Berger led the way but the shining star was second year pitcher Bob Feller, who led the major leagues in ERA (2.72) and was third in the NL with 205 strikeouts. A key pickup, Van Lingle Mungo, was picked up in a trade for outfielder Earl Averill and he was the NL Outstanding Pitcher award winner as he compiled a 16-9 record with an ERA of 2.88. Pittsburgh ended up in a second place tie with the Boston Bees, four games back, thanks to a strong 1-2 punch in the lineup of Bill Terry and Jimmie Foxx. Terry led the majors in average, batting .372, and Foxx was third in both home runs (26) and stolen bases (19). The surprising strong pitching of Bill Walker, who tied for the NL lead in wins (19), led the Bees mound corps as Boston came back to tie the Pirates for second place.
During the World Series, the Cardinals' Bob Feller continued his strong sophomore season as he led St.Louis to a four-game sweep of the Red Sox by winning games 1 and 4.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Boston 89 65 .578 -- St.Louis 87 67 .565 --
Detroit 87 67 .565 2 Boston 83 71 .539 4
Philadelphia 80 74 .519 9 Pittsburgh 83 71 .539 4
Cleveland 76 78 .494 13 Brooklyn 79 75 .513 8
Washington 74 80 .481 15 Philadelphia 76 78 .494 11
St.Louis 72 82 .468 17 New York 73 81 .474 14
Chicago 70 84 .455 19 Chicago 69 85 .448 18
New York 68 86 .442 21 Cincinnati 66 88 .429 21
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
L.Gehrig,WAS .354 B.Terry,PIT .372
J.Dimaggio,BOS .329 J.Medwick,CHI .368
C.Klein,CHI .327 B.Campbell,NY .365
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
L.Gehrig,WAS 42 R.York,CIN 36
C.Klein,CHI 34 W.Berger,STL 27
H.Trosky,NY 32 J.Foxx,PIT 26
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
H.Trosky,NY 139 J.Medwick,CHI 109
L.Gehrig,WAS 134 G.Walker,NY 109
G.Selkirk,CLE 126 W.Berger,STL 104
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
J.Dimaggio,BOS 117 J.Medwick,CHI 114
L.Gehrig,WAS 115 D.Cooke,PIT 113
F.Pytlak,PHI 115 J.Foxx,PIT 112
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
F.Pytlak,PHI 35 E.Swanson,BRO 41
R.Hughes,WAS 28 L.Lary,CIN 30
J.White,PHI 28 J.Foxx,PIT 19
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
L.Grove,DET 3.08 B.Feller,STL 2.72
T.Freitas,BOS 3.10 V.Mungo,CHI+STL 2.88
A.Hollingsworth,CHI 3.16 G.Schott,STL 2.92
Wins W Wins W
L.Grove,DET 23 J.Turner,BRO 19
J.Marcum,PHI 22 B.Walker,BOS 19
T.Freitas,BOS 18 T.Bridges,PIT 18
Saves SV Saves SV
E.Lagger,BOS 12 L.Howe,BOS 14
A.Yeargin,BOS 12 F.Gabler,NY 12
R.Dobens,CHI 11 B.Poser,CHI 112
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
L.Gomez,PHI 193 D.Dean,BRO 214
C.Blanton,STL 180 T.Bridges,PIT 208
L.Grove,DET 178 B.Feller,STL 205
1936 World Series
Game #1
St.Louis (N) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 8 - 9 16 0
Boston (A) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 - 4 7 0
B.Feller and R.Ferrell
T.Freitas, A.Yeargin (9) and M.Cochrane
WP - B.Feller (1-0)
LP - T.Freitas (0-1)
HR - STL: W.Berger (1), W.Stephenson (1)
Game #2
St.Louis (N) 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 - 2 10 1
Boston (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 1
G.Schott and R.Ferrell
V.Tamulis, E.Lagger (8) and M.Cochrane
WP - G.Schott (1-0)
LP - V.Tamulis (0-1)
HR - none
Game #3
Boston (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 5 1
St.Louis (N) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 x - 1 7 1
J.Broaca and M.Cochrane
C.Passeau and R.Ferrell
WP - C.Passeau (1-0)
LP - J.Broaca (0-1)
HR - none
Game #4
Boston (A) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 1 3 2
St.Louis (N) 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 4 x - 7 12 0
T.Freitas, E.Lagger (8) and M.Cochrane
B.Feller and R.Ferrell
WP - B.Feller (2-0)
LP - T.Freitas (0-2)
HR - STL: E.McNair (1), C.Laabs (1)