GEHRIG TRIPLE CROWN LEADS PIRATES TO PENNANT
Lou Gehrig won his 9th MVP award and enjoyed his second triple crown season leading the Pittsburgh Pirates to their 5th National League Pennant. Gehrig, who joined the Bucs for some huge bucks prior to the 1937 season received plenty of help from new free agent signee Tony Lazzeri. Lazzeri, who came over from the Red Sox, won the fourth Gold Glove of his career and drove in 93 runs, tied for second on the team with Tommy Henrich. Veterans Pinky Higgins (.294,15,82) and Jimmy Welsh (.303,17,80) were two more reasons why the Pirates had the league's best offense.
BUCKY WALTERS
The biggest surprise in Pittsburgh was Bucky Walters. The 29 year old ex-third baseman attempted to make the majors as a pitcher. He was nothing short of sensational, going 16-11 with a 2.99 era to win the Rookie of the Year Award. Walters career has followed a most unusual path. He was drafted by the Red Sox in the fourth round of the 1931 draft. He spent the next 6 season playing 3B for the Sioux City Packers of the Class A Western League but never received a promotion from the Sox. Boston released him prior to the start of the 1937 season. Walters went home to Philadelphia and became a pitcher for a semi-pro team in 1937. Legend has it a Pittsburgh scout was watching a high school prospect play a game that ran long. The scout missed his train back to Pittsburgh and had a couple of hours to kill waiting for the next train. He noticed a ballpark across from the train station and began to watch a semi-pro game. The pitcher, Walters, was so dominant in the game that the scout decided to convince his bosses to give Walters an invite to spring training. The rest is history. Walters signed a 1 year deal with the Pirates and 6 months later he was pitching in the World Series.
Here is the career line on Bucky Walters:
Year TEAM Level AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG TB
+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+
1931 SiouxC A 601 53 86 25 3 15 68 21 156 .143 .172 .270 162
1932 SiouxC A 650 73 123 41 1 11 37 45 167 .189 .242 .306 199
1933 SiouxC A 635 60 160 47 1 9 64 32 125 .252 .288 .372 236
1934 SiouxC A 582 65 150 30 1 8 52 28 120 .258 .292 .354 206
1935 SiouxC A 608 76 202 33 2 10 79 33 121 .332 .367 .442 269
1936 SiouxC A 639 91 196 20 2 15 73 41 137 .307 .349 .415 265
1937 DID NOT PLAY
1938 PITTSBURGH 84 6 9 1 0 1 7 4 17 .107 .146 .155 13
+-----+-----+----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+
PITCHING
Year Team LG W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA
+-----------+----------+---+---+---+---+---+--+------+----+----+---+----+----+-----+
1938 PIRATES NL 16 11 35 29 22 5 0 247.1 218 82 26 90 134 2.99
In real life Walters played the infield with little success for his first 3 major league
seasons. In 1933 he was sold by the Braves to Philadelphia and it was there that Phillies manager Jimmie Wilson, an ex-catcher, converted him to a pitcher. He played for some real bad Phillies teams in the mid-30's before being traded to Cincinnati in 1938. The sidearmer, relying almost exclusively on a sinking fastball, won 27 games in 1939 and was named the NL's MVP. He helped the Reds to back to back pennants in 1939-40. He would also manage the Reds in the late-forties.
The Pittsburgh rotation would also feature Augie Walsh (23-13, 3.48), who topped the 20 win mark for the second straight season, Denny Galehouse (14-9, 3.43) and Danny Macfayden (17-5, 3.44).
Despite Johnny Allen's (22-14, 2.50) second career Markle Award the second place Cardinals were no match for Pittsburgh. Outfielder Earl Averill (.325,24,107) finished second to Gehrig in pretty much every offensive category. 30 year old Ralph Birkofer (18-12) enjoyed the best season of his career. Veteran Ted Lyons won 16 games to improve his career total to 307 victories, passing Jesse Tannehill for sixth place alltime.
The defending champion Cubs fell to third place despite a strong season from free agent pickup Ownie Carroll. Carroll (19-8, 2.53) came over from the Phillies and was on pace to win the Markle Award until he was sidelined for the season with an early September arm injury. Another player plucked from the Phillies rotation was John Bogart. The 38 year old Bogart (16-18, 3.68) started strong but age seemed to be catching up with him near the end of the year. Cincinnati still hasn't recovered from the loss of Gehrig two seasons ago. Jimmie Foxx (.296,22,90) must have felt like he alone had to provide the offense for the Reds. To make matters worse, the Reds have the league's highest payroll and lost a ton of money. Things may get much worse in Cincinnati before they get better.
National League W L PCT GB AVG ERA
Pittsburgh 91 63 .591 -- .271 3.65
St. Louis (N) 83 71 .539 8 .258 3.28
Chicago (N) 82 72 .532 9 .259 3.30
Cincinnati 81 73 .526 10 .260 3.27
New York (N) 73 81 .474 18 .256 4.22
Boston (N) 72 82 .468 19 .260 4.13
Brooklyn 72 82 .468 19 .258 3.67
Philadelphia (N) 62 92 .403 29 .247 3.75
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Next up the American League recap.