Murderer's Row, or was it? The 1927 season...
The Bronx
Bombers, playing in 'The House That Ruth Built'. One of the most legendary
teams in baseball history. Led by Babe Ruth and his then record setting sixty
home runs. Babe hit more home runs that year than any other team did.
George
Herman Ruth was THE GUY. His exploits on and off the field were legendary. He
transcended the game, and was entrenched in the culture of America like no
other before or since. There have been so many pieces written about The Babe,
and his saving the game of baseball, bringing a new approach to offensive,
hypnotizing the fans with his prodigious home runs.
Baseball
was out of the 'deadball era' for five years or so at this time, so the
offensive numbers had been ramping up markedly across the league, but the
Yankees abused that privilege. The league's overall average MIKE number was 1.6376, but the Yanks were at
2.0036.
The
legendary Yankee lineup featured future Hall of Famers Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Tony
Lazzeri, Earle Combs, and Waite Hoyt. They won 110 games, winning the pennant
by 19 games over the Philadelphia Athletics.
According
to 'baseball-reference.com', which cites Bill Deane's Award Voting, there was a league MVP Award just called "The
League Award" given during this era. But there are some issues that arose.
Firstly, a player could only win one MVP award during his career, so Babe Ruth
having won the award in 1923, was ineligible for the award. Secondly player
managers were also ineligible. That award was given yearly from 1922-1928 in
the American League, and 1924-1929 in the National League.
In 1931,
both leagues began awarding the Most valuable Player Award, as voted on the
Base Ball Writers Association of America (BBWAA).
So, let's
look at the deserving performances in 1927, remembering that the Bambino and
his historic season was ineligible for Post Season awards.
Basic stats: HR RBI AVG OBP SLG
Babe Ruth 60 165 .356 .486 .772
Lou Gehrig 47 173 .373 .474 .765
Bob Meusel 8 103 .337 .393 .510
Harry Heilmann 14 120 .398 .475 .616
Bob Fothergill 9 114 .359 .413 .516
Mickey Cochrane 12 80 .338 .409 .495
Ty Cobb 5 93 .357 .440 .482
Al Simmons 15 108 .392 .436 .645
Ken Williams 17 74 .322 .403 .525
Goose Goslin 13 120 .334 .392 .516
(By the
way, Ty Cobb's numbers are impressive for a 40 year old playing in that era and
includes his 22 stolen bases)
In looking
at the basic baseball stats, Ruth and Gehrig have the most impressive numbers,
and my Raw number reflects that...
player
|
Mike#
|
Lou
Gehrig
|
3.0296
|
Babe Ruth
|
3.0106
|
Al
Simmons
|
2.7958
|
Harry
Heilmann
|
2.6101
|
Ty Cobb
|
2.3781
|
Bob
Fathergill
|
2.3314
|
Mickey
Cochrane
|
2.3174
|
Goose
Goslin
|
2.3022
|
Earle
Combs
|
2.2185
|
Bob
Meusel
|
2.1857
|
Four of the
top ten played for the Yankees that year, and eight are enshrined in Cooperstown .
Then
comparing them to the league, the ranking stays the same...
player
|
Mike#
|
vs LGUE
|
Lou
Gehrig
|
3.0296
|
1.8500
|
Babe Ruth
|
3.0106
|
1.8384
|
Al
Simmons
|
2.7958
|
1.7073
|
Harry
Heilmann
|
2.6101
|
1.5938
|
Ty Cobb
|
2.3781
|
1.4522
|
Bob
Fathergill
|
2.3314
|
1.4237
|
Mickey
Cochrane
|
2.3174
|
1.4151
|
Goose
Goslin
|
2.3022
|
1.4058
|
Earle
Combs
|
2.2185
|
1.3547
|
Bob
Meusel
|
2.1857
|
1.3347
|
But,
there's always a catch. Comparing how the players did against their own team's
average. Now, remember the Yankees had the obscenely high team number, and four
players on the top ten list. So who was the best in the league, the biggest
asset to their team in 1927?
Hall of
Famer Al Simmons.
player
|
Mike#
|
vs TEAM
|
|
Al
Simmons
|
2.7958
|
1.5497
|
|
Lou
Gehrig
|
3.0296
|
1.5121
|
|
Babe Ruth
|
3.0106
|
1.5026
|
|
Harry
Heilmann
|
2.6101
|
1.4517
|
|
Goose
Goslin
|
2.3022
|
1.3830
|
|
Ira
Flagstead
|
1.7798
|
1.3405
|
|
Ty Cobb
|
2.3781
|
1.3181
|
|
Joe
Sewell
|
1.9644
|
1.3150
|
|
George
Burns
|
1.9560
|
1.3093
|
|
Alex
Metzler
|
1.9183
|
1.3039
|
Simmons, was
twenty-five year old, four year major league veteran who played a majority of
his career with Philadelphia .
Often overshadowed by the exploits of Ruth and Gehrig, he had a pretty
substantial career, finishing with a lifetime .334 batting average. And the
1927 season is proof of that overshadowing.
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