January 1, 1933
Code:
NATIONAL LEAGUE STANDINGS
NORTHERN W L PCT GB
Boston 92 62 .597 --
Pittsburgh 91 63 .591 1
Brooklyn 82 72 .523 10
New York Y 74 80 .481 18
New York G 68 86 .442 24
Philadelphia 67 87 .435 25
MID-EAST W L PCT GB
Washington 101 53 .656 --
Baltimore 77 77 .500 24
Cleveland 75 79 .487 26
Detroit 74 80 .481 27
Cincinnati 62 92 .403 39
Milwaukee 61 93 .396 40
AMERICAN LEAGUE STANDINGS
CONTINENTAL W L PCT GB
Chicago W 95 59 .617 --
Portland 86 68 .558 9
Kansas City 79 75 .513 16
Seattle 75 79 .487 20
Chicago C 71 83 .461 24
St. Louis 61 93 .396 34
PACIFIC W L PCT GB
Oakland 98 56 .636 --
San Diego 79 75 .513 19
Los Angeles 74 80 .481 24
Hollywood 73 81 .474 25
Sacramento 68 86 .442 30
San Francisco 65 89 .422 33
The 1932 season witnessed a clash between two of the finest teams Major League Baseball had ever seen, and an unforgettably dramatic ending to a divisional race that might have produced the first true "goats" in this dynasty's history.
As they had during the first half of the season, the National League's Washington Senators and the American League's Oakland Oaks continued to punish their opponents after the All-Star break.
The Senators, led by their Capital Punishers, scored more runs (1046) than all but one team in baseball history (the 1930 Cardinals, 1088).
Mule Suttles smashed the RBI record that had been set by
Wally Berger, the star of that Cardinals team, and finished the season with 194 RBI. The addition of 3B
Willie Wells (.292-12-106) and
Rookie of the Year CF
Jo-Jo White gave the Senators two more fearsome bats.
The Oaks once again boasted the stingiest pitching staff in either league.
Ed Walsh won the
Outstanding Pitcher Award in his first season as an Oak, and six Oakland pitchers won at least twelve games. Among them was ace reliever
Ken Smith, who appeared in 83 contests, racking up 14 wins and a single-season record 26 saves.
AL Rookie of the Year Art Scharein hit .340 and fielded brilliantly at third base.
Over in the AL Continental, the Chicago White Sox heated up with the weather, going 37-12 in August and September. The Sox pulled away first from the Athletics and then from the Beavers to win the division by nine games.
The acquisition of outfielder
Joe Vosmik from Brooklyn solidified the Sox lineup; Vosmik hit .337 after the White Hose acquired him for promising reliever
Richie Taylor.
The Beavers played almost exactly as well during the second half as they had before the break, but that was clearly not enough to keep pace with the White Sox. However, the Beavers' star,
Chuck Klein, won his
third straight AL Outstanding Batter award. The highlight of Chuck's second half came on July 26, when he smacked three home runs in a victory over the Cubs.
The Oaks, Senators, and White Sox all knew they'd made the postseason by the second week in September, so they and the rest of the baseball world turned their attention to the great race between the Pirates and the Red Sox for the NL Northern flag.
All summer long, the two teams battled back and forth. The Pirates were three games ahead on July 18, but that was as much space as either team could open up on its rival.
The Pirates held the lead throughout August, but the Red Sox stayed right on their heels--despite the loss of
Buzz Boyle to a torn abdominal muscle on August 2. In fact, the Red Sox, with
Satchel Paige and
Ed Brandt mowing down hitters right and left (literally), caught the Pirates in early September. Brandt, who led both leagues with 22 victories, won the
NL Outstanding Pitcher Award.
That set the stage for a three-game series between the two teams at Fenway Park, beginning on September 13. Before wild, capacity crowds, the Sox took two out of three, giving them their first lead in a month.
Lou Gehrig homered in each of the games, running his major-league-leading total to 52 and clinching his third
Outstanding Batter award.
Both teams finished their seasons with three-game sets at home; the Pirates faced the Baltimore Orioles, while the Red Sox took on the New York Giants. The teams both split the first two games of their series, so as they prepared for the final game of the season, they found themselves tied--91 wins and 62 losses apiece.
That day, the Red Sox scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Giants. Pitcher
Ray Prim scored the winning run when veteran Giants 3B
Wilfred Losoya bobbled a ground ball off the bat of
Maurice Archdeacon.
Meanwhile in Pittsburgh, the Orioles and Pirates took a 5-5 tie to the ninth inning. The Orioles loaded the bases, and with two outs, Pirate relief pitcher
Brandon Mill threw a wild pitch that allowed
Monk Sherlock to race home with the go-ahead run. When Baltimore's
Stephen Jones retired the Pirates on five pitches in the bottom of the ninth, the Red Sox claimed the division crown.
The Red Sox' run ended there, however, as the Senators beat them in six games for the National League pennant. Meanwhile, the Oaks swept the White Sox, setting up a World Series rematch between Washington and Oakland.
The Oaks won their second consecutive World Series in seven games, as
Ed Walsh and
Ad Liska won two games apiece.
Almost overlooked as the baseball world focused on events in Pittsburgh and Boston were a pair of veterans who reached important career milestones in August. Cleveland outfielder
Ken Rich and Seattle first baseman
Joe Bazeley both stroked their 2500th career hits.
Rich continued to spit in the face of Father Time, hitting .383 to win the second batting title of his career--two weeks before his 42nd birthday. Bazeley, 35, hit .336 for the Rainiers, a point above his career average.
However, despite the heroics of players like Rich and Bazeley, Klein and Suttles and Walsh and Gehrig, the names of
Wilfred Losoya and
Brandon Mill were being heard every bit as often as baseball fans discussed the unforgettable season they had just watched unfold.