Although the final standings of a 12-game margin over Boston and St.Louis gives an impression of a trouble-free season, there were a few problems for a time for the Athletics from both clubs. In early June it looked as if the Red Sox would overtake the Athletics but that was before Joe Dimaggio went down with a season ending pinch-nerve in his back injury. Boston then fell flat and out of contention quickly until Ted Williams started to get hot and carry the offense. Around Labor Day, Philadelphia only led by 7 1/2 games over St.Louis and 8 1/2 games over Washington. The Senators fell out of contention and it wasn't until the middle of the last week of the regular season that the Athletics were able to eliminate the Browns to capture their third AL flag in a row and 4th in six years. Jimmie Foxx led the way for the Mackmen by clouting 35 home runs and driving in 124 runs. On the mound, Lefty Gomez won an AL-leading 18 games and was awarded the league's Outstanding Pitcher award for the second straight season. Ted Williams showed no signs of a sophomore jinx as he paced the league with a .364 batting average to help the Red Sox to a 2nd place tie with the Browns. St.Louis finished in the tie for second place thanks to the bat of Max West, who batted .339 and drove in 116 runs.
For a long time it looked like the Philadelphia Phillies would never reach the top of the senior circuit after there were harsh words between them and Babe Ruth when he left via free agency after the 1922 season. Thanks to the bat of Dolph Camilli, who slugged 24 homers and drove in 106 runs, and the arm of Cliff Melton, who finished 2nd in the NL in wins with 21, the Phillies held a slight 2-game lead over the Boston Bees on Labor Day then finally captured their first NL title in 17 years with only a few games to go in the regular season. Boston ended up 4 games behind Philadelphia in second place thanks to the NL's Outstanding Pitcher award winner, Paul Derringer, who led the league with 24 wins and finished 3rd in the NL with a 3.08 ERA. NL MVP Rudy York powered a league leading 26 home runs and drove in 114 runs in leading Cincinnati to a 3rd place finish, 8 games behind the league leading Phillies.
During the all Shibe Park World Series, the Athletics took a 2-0 lead in games and after the Phillies won a 13-12 extra inning slugfest in game 3, the Athletics took the next two games to win their second world's championship in three years. Bill Lee was the star of the series as he won two games, including a 3-hit shutout in the series ending 5th game.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Philadelphia 96 58 .623 -- Philadelphia 89 65 .578 --
Boston 84 70 .545 12 Boston 85 69 .552 4
St.Louis 84 70 .545 12 Cincinnati 81 73 .526 8
Washington 81 73 .526 15 Pittsburgh 81 73 .526 8
New York 75 79 .487 21 New York 79 75 .513 10
Detroit 73 81 .474 23 Brooklyn 77 77 .500 12
Cleveland 65 89 .422 31 St.Louis 63 91 .409 26
Chicago 58 96 .377 38 Chicago 61 93 .396 28
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
T.Williams,BOS .364 T.Wright,CIN .376
M.West,STL .339 D.Garms,BRO .358
J.Mize,WAS .334 S.Hack,CIN .340
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
J.Mize,WAS 38 R.York,CIN 26
J.Foxx,PHI 35 D.Camilli,PHI 24
G.Selkirk,CLE 29 J.Gordon,BRO 24
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
J.Mize,WAS 125 R.York,CIN 114
J.Foxx,PHI 124 J.Russo,NY 107
M.West,STL 116 D.Camilli,PHI 106
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
J.Mize,WAS 135 S.Hack,CIN 122
T.Williams,BOS 119 B.McCosky,NY 112
S.Gryska,BOS 113 L.Rosenthal,PHI 111
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
S.Gryska,BOS 50 B.McCosky,NY 35
G.Myatt,PHI 35 G.Case,PIT 32
B.Myer,CHI 34 B.Chapman,STL 27
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
M.Salvo,WAS 2.43 B.Weiland,BRO 2.82
E.Brandt,BOS 2.56 J.Tobin,BOS 2.99
R.Sherid,PHI 2.87 P.Derringer,BOS 3.08
Wins W Wins W
L.Gomez,PHI 18 P.Derringer,BOS 24
C.Blanton,STL 17 C.Melton,PHI 21
A.Milner,STL 17 W.Wyatt,CIN 20
Saves SV Saves SV
I.Andrews,DET 12 H.Eisenstat,PHI 21
C.Pickrel,PHI 12 M.Brown,BOS 11
M.Lanier,BOS 11 J.Gonzales,PIT 9
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
J.Vander Meer,WAS 158 B.Weiland,BRO 176
J.Krakauskas,PHI 152 B.Feller,STL 171
T.Bridges,WAS 131 W.Wyatt,CIN 149
1939 World Series
Game #1
Philadelphia (N) 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 12 2
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 3 10 0
C.Melton, H.Eisenstat (11), B.Frey (13) and B.Phelps
O.Swigart, C.Pickrel (11), R.Sherid (13) and J.Foxx
WP - R.Sherid (1-0)
LP - B.Frey (0-1)
HR - PHA: A.Vaughan (1)
Game #2
Philadelphia (N) 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 - 4 12 1
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 x - 5 11 0
C.Davis and B.Phelps
B.Lee and J.Foxx
WP - B.Lee (1-0)
LP - C.Davis (0-1)
HR - PHN: C.Davis (1); PHA: E.Slaughter (1)
Game #3
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 (11) 0 0 0 1 - 12 15 2
Philadelphia (N) 3 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 - 13 18 1
J.Krakauskas, E.Gallagher (3), C.Pickrel (5). B.McGee (9) and J.Foxx
M.Stratton, B.Frey (7), H.Eisenstat (8) and B.Phelps
WP - H.Eisenstat (1-0)
LP - B.McGee (0-1)
HR - PHA: J.Foxx (1), J.Stone (1); PHN: J.Medwick (1)
Game #4
Philadelphia (A) 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 4 11 3
Philadelphia (N) 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 11 3
L.Gomez, E.Gallagher (9), C.Pickrel (13) and J.Foxx, F.Pytlak (5)
C.Melton, H.Eisenstat (12), B.Frey (13) and B.Phelps, M.Owen (10)
WP - C.Pickrel (1-0)
LP - B.Frey (0-2)
HR - PHA: J.Gallagher (1)
Game #5
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 - 4 11 0
Philadelphia (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 3 0
B.Lee and J.Foxx
C.Davis, H.Eisenstat (9) and B.Phelps
WP - B.Lee (2-0)
LP - C.Davis (0-2)
HR - PHA: E.Slaughter (2)