This season, like those before it, consisted of winning spurts and losing streaks, as well as injuries, bad breaks, lots of cheers and boos, new faces making good on their promise, and tried faces that played well enough to hang on for another year. All in all, the 1938 season got down to several games.
The highlights of the year included such grandeur as Johnny Allen throwing a no-hitter, and pitcher Lefty Grove earning immortality by becoming the 21st pitcher to reach 250 victories. The year also saw Brooklyn joining the night baseball scene and a blockbuster trade that sent two of the game's prolific sluggers changing places. A low point once again was the absence on the field of a legendary slugger and star, Babe Ruth, who once again did not appear in a game for the second straight year following a major squabble with the Cubs' management.
In the American League, it looked like the Athletics would have their hands full in trying to successfully defend the league title. Heading into Labor Day, Philadelphia held an 8 1/2 game lead over Washington, 9 games over both Boston and St.Louis, and 10 games over Detroit. As the season winded down, the Senators, Red Sox and Tigers each started dropping out of the picture as the Browns caught fire and got to within 3 games of the Athletics with 5 to play and a crutial 2-game showdown. Philadelphia stayed firm and clinched the AL pennant as they swept the two games against St.Louis. Leading the way down the stretch for the Athletics was all-star catcher Jimmie Foxx, who the team had acquired at the trade deadline in a trade that sent slugger Hank Greenberg to Pittsburgh, and ace starter Lefty Gomez. Foxx batted .313-10-31 in his two months as an Athletic and Gomez went on to win a co-league leading 20 games as he and Bill McGee combined to win 39 games. The Browns finished in second place, 5 games behind, thanks to the pitching of "Deacon" Danny MacFayden, who tied for the league lead with 20 victories. Washington finished a distant third, 14 games behind, and was lead by the bat of AL MVP Johnny Mize, who won 2/3 of the triple crown with an AL leading .355 average and 29 home runs.
In the National League, there wasn't much of a doubt as the Pittsburgh Pirates roared to the top of the standings and led the Phillies by 13 1/2 games heading into Labor Day, before coasting to the NL pennant. Leading the charge was newly acquired Hank Greenberg. The Phillies finished in second place, 13 games behind, thanks to the hitting of Joe "Ducky" Medwick and pitcher Monty Stratton, who was awarded the NL's outstanding pitcher award for his major league leading 22 wins and the major's second best ERA with 2.73. Cincinnati ended up with a third place finish thanks to the hitting of the NL's MVP, Rudy York, who batted .337-37-95.
During the World Series, the Philadelphia Athletics took a comanding 3-1 game lead after crushing the Pirates, 12-4, in game #4. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the pitchers to show up the rest of the series as Pittsburgh won the next three games by the scores of 13-6, 7-0 and 13-2 to capture their third world's championship in the last five seasons.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Philadelphia 95 59 .617 -- Pittsburgh 100 54 .649 --
St.Louis 90 64 .584 5 Philadelphia 87 67 .565 13
Washington 81 73 .526 14 Cincinnati 86 68 .558 14
Detroit 79 75 .513 16 Boston 79 75 .513 21
Boston 77 77 .500 18 New York 78 76 .506 22
Cleveland 68 86 .442 27 St.Louis 78 76 .506 22
New York 65 89 .422 30 Brooklyn 65 89 .422 35
Chicago 61 93 .396 34 Chicago 43 111 .279 57
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
J.Mize,WAS .355 D.Padgett,PIT .365
T.Williams,BOS .350 J.Medwick,PHI .349
E.Slaughter,PHI .342 T.Henrich,BOS .344
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
J.Mize,WAS 29 R.York,CIN 37
T.Williams,BOS 29 H.Leiber,CIN 29
B.Dickey,WAS 26 J.Medwick,PHI 21
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
T.Williams,BOS 120 H.Leiber,CIN 113
J.Heath,STL 114 T.Henrich,BOS 101
J.Mize,WAS 110 L.Gehrig,NY 99
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
T.Williams,BOS 119 R.York,CIN 122
J.Mize,WAS 118 S.West,PIT 106
J.Stone,PHI 113 B.Chapman,STL 105
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
G.Meyer,CLE 34 C.Gehringer,BOS 40
M.Kreevich,WAS 27 J.Hill,CHI 38
L.Appling,CLE 25 B.McCosky,NY 28
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
L.Grove,DET 2.77 M.Shoffner,PIT 2.69
L.Gomez,PHI 2.88 M.Stratton,PHI 2.73
C.Blanton,STL 3.05 M.Cooper,CIN 2.76
Wins W Wins W
L.Gomez,PHI 20 M.Stratton,PHI 22
D.MacFayden,STL 20 C.Passeau,STL 21
B.McGee,PHI 19 C.Hubbell,CIN 20
Saves SV Saves SV
P.Malone,BOS 19 J.Gonzales,PIT 25
R.Dobens,CHI 18 J.Brown,STL 17
R.Peery,STL 15 M.Brown,BOS 12
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
L.Gomez,PHI 217 B.Feller,STL 188
T.Bridges,WAS 190 C.Hubbell,CIN 164
L.Grove,DET 181 V.Mungo,STL 163
1938 World Series
Game #1
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 10 0
Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 6 0
L.Gomez and J.Foxx
M.Shoffner, J.Gonzales (9), R.Prim (11) and D.Padgett, R.Hayworth (9)
WP - L.Gomez (1-0)
LP - R.Prim (0-1)
HR - none
Game #2
Philadelphia (A) 4 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 - 7 9 1
Pittsburgh 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 3 9 0
B.McGee, M.Cvengros (9) and J.Foxx
S.Johnson, R.Prim (7) and R.Hayworth
WP - B.McGee (1-0)
LP - S.Johnson (0-1)
SV - M.Cvengros (1)
HR - PHI: A.Vaughan (1), PIT: H.Greenberg (1)
Game #3
Pittsburgh 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 5 7 1
Philadelphia (A) 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 - 3 7 3
A.Hollingsworth, J.Gonzales (9) and R.Hayworth
J.Wilson, M.Cvengros (7) and J.Foxx, F.Pytlak (7)
WP - A.Hollingsworth (1-0)
LP - J.Wilson (0-1)
SV - J.Gonzales (1)
HR - PIT: H.Greenberg (2), PHI: J.Stone (1)
Game #4
Pittsburgh 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 - 4 9 3
Philadelphia (A) 0 1 2 3 0 6 0 0 x - 12 15 1
M.Shoffner, R.Prim (6), J.Gonzales (6) and D.Padgett, R.Hayworth (6)
L.Gomez and J.Foxx
WP: L.Gomez (2-0)
LP: M.Schofner (0-1)
HR: PHI: J.Foxx (1)
Game #5
Pittsburgh 0 1 3 0 2 0 4 2 1 - 13 19 2
Philadelphia (A) 1 1 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 - 6 13 1
S.Johnson and R.Hayworth
B.McGee, M.Cvengros (7), C.Pickrel (9) and J.Foxx
WP: S.Johnson (1-1)
LP: B.McGee (1-1)
HR: PIT: H.Greenberg 2 (4)
Game #6
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 5 0
Pittsburgh 0 0 2 1 3 1 0 0 x - 7 10 1
J.Wilson, M.Cvengros (6) and J.Foxx
A.Hollingsworth and S.Holbrook
WP: A.Hollingsworth (2-0)
LP: J.Wilson (0-2)
HR: none
Game #7
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 - 2 5 2
Pittsburgh 0 1 4 0 2 1 5 0 x - 13 15 0
L.Gomez, C.Pickrel (7) and J.Foxx
M.Shoffner, R.Prim (8) and D.Padgett
WP: M.Schoffner (1-1)
LP: L.Gomez (2-1)
HR: PHI: P.Higgins (1), PIT: S.Chapman (1)