Baseball...numbers, stories and analysis: 1937...The Season of the Two Joes

1937...and the Joes Show

1937. The depression was waning, but Europe was headed towards war...

During this year, the Golden Gate Bridge opened, Amelia Earhart disappeared, and Howard Hughes took flight, breaking his own trans-continental flight record. Snow White debuted in the theaters, the fantasy novel The Hobbit is released, and a former Chicago Cubs radio announcer made his big screen debut...Ronald Reagan.

The German airship Hindenburg burst into flames while trying to 'dock' at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in new Jersey. The first “Blood Bank” opened in Chicago, which had seen an increase in polio cases during the year, causing schools to stay closed.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt is sworn in for the second of his four terms.

On the sports front, Joe Louis became the Heavyweight Champion in boxing. The Brown Bomber beat Jim Braddock in June, and would go on to hold the title for almost twelve years.

Around the world, King Edward VII abdicated the throne to marry an American woman, and King George VI had his coronation in May. Neville Chamberlain became the British Prime Minister. The Toyota Motor Company is founded in Japan, and Japan invaded China.

But it was two Joes that dominated on the diamond...

The 1937 baseball season was one of the top offensive producing seasons in Major League history. The American League tallied a .281 batting average as a league, while the national League batted at a .272 clip.

This translates into a bad year for pitchers, as the combined ERA was 4.27 across the leagues, with the National League pitchers outperforming their American league counterparts by 21.4%. Which stands to reason, since the National League hurlers didn't face Hank Greenberg, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig or Rudy York. The American League, as a whole, scored 506 less runs than they did in 1936, but hit 48 more home runs.

The top American League teams (Yankees, White Sox, Tigers) steamrolled the weaker teams (Browns and Senators). The St. Louis Browns finished fifty-six games behind the pennant winning Yankees. The Senators fared a little better, only missing by forty-six and a half games. The Browns finished the season with the tenth worst winning percentage in American league history (.299) That fast will come into play in a little while, when we compare players to their team performances.

(The Tigers scored thirty-six runs against the Browns during a doubleheader in August)

At season's end, the Power Rankings looked like this:

Yankees	World Series Champs
White Sox	3^rd in AL
Tigers	2^nd in AL
Giants	NL Champs
Indians	4^th in AL

And as it played out, the Yankees defeated the Giants in five games in the Series.

The 1937 season began on an unusual note.

The Giants were visiting the Dodgers at Ebbets Field. Dick Bartell of the Giants stepped to the plate against Van Lingle Mungo. Mungo and Bartell had a bit of a history, having gotten into a fistfight the previous season. And prior to that, Bartell had a few other run ins with Dodger players, previously spiking Joe Judge and Lonny Frey in earlier seasons.

Bartell stepped to the plate, and Mungo fired a fastball for a strike. Suddenly a big soft tomato flew out of the stands, its hurler unknown, and also landed a strike, right in the middle of Bartell's chest. It took him a moment to realized that he had not been shot, as the umpire allowed him time to change his jersey before the game resumed.

Undaunted from that point on,the Giants won 1-0 over the Dodgers on their way to the National League pennant. The Giants outlasted the Cubs to win the title by three games.

On a side note, the Reds would finish in last place in 1937, and then wouldn't finish in last again until 1982.

The All-Star Game is believed to have claimed its first career in 1937. Earl Averill of the Indians hit a line drive that broke Dizzy Dean's toe. The Cardinal's pitcher altered his delivery after the incident, which led to elbow and shoulder issues. He finished the season at 13-10, but won just sixteen more games over the next four seasons.

In Chicago, construction began on reconstructing the bleachers. The plan was to build the bleachers in concrete, instead of wood, and have them fronted by a brick wall. In September of that year, the now iconic ivy was planted to cover the brick facade.

The also iconic scoreboard was installed for the 1937 season. To date, no batted ball has ever hit the scoreboard at Wrigley Field. Golfer Sam Snead did hit it with a golf ball teed up at home plate in 1951.

There were two rookie pitchers that each won twenty games in the National League. Jim Turner of the Boston Braves, and Cliff Melton of the New York Giants. Melton had an unfortunate nickname that almost wrecked his big-league career before it started...Mickey Mouse.

Some players made note of his 'floppy jug ears', and would tease him about it, which infuriated Melton. Word spread quickly that if someone yelled Mickey Mouse while Melton was pitching, it would affect his pitching.

During Spring Training in 1936, opposing manager Ray Schalk called Melton Mickey Mouse, and Melton charged into the dugout and knocked Schalk out cold.. Three more times over the next month, players would dare to call Melton by his nickname, and three more times, Melton would get the knockout. (His being 6 foot 6 and 205 pounds combined with what seemed to be blind rage helped with his pugilistic exploits.

Fortunately, he was able to overcome his anger issues, and went on to win twenty games in 1937.

And speaking of Jim Turner, he became the first Brave pitcher to lead the league in ERA.

Reds catcher Ernie Lombardi became the first catcher to amass six hits in one game.

Cubs outfielder Augie Galan became the first switch-hitter to homer from each side of the plate in the same game. And Frank Demaree got six hits in the first game of a double-header, and two more in the nightcap, giving him eight hits on the same day.

There were two Triple Crown winners in 1937. War Admiral set the horse racing world on fire, guided by jockey Charley Kurtsinger, and winning the Big Three races.

And Cardinals slugger Joe “Ducky” Medwick won the National League's Triple Crown, the last National Leaguer to do so. (He wound up in a tie for the home run lead with Mel Ott. He did hit a home run that was negated because that game was eventually forfeited by the Phillies) He also became the fourth player to lead the National League in homes and doubles in the same season. It would be 1973 until Willie Stargell of the Pirates would do it again.

Medwick became the first player to get four hits in the All-Star Game that summer.

Medwick, Hall of Fame outfielder from Carteret, New Jersey, made a name for himself as a cocky, surly young man during his minor league days. A shrewd negotiator, he studied the Sporting News weekly, and figured out which major league team had the biggest need for an outfielder. He decided that St. Louis, though a solid team at the time (1930), their outfield was aging. Signing with the Cardinals would help fast-track himself to the big leagues.

He made several stops along his minor league career, most notably in Houston, where he earned the nickname “Ducky”, allegedly because he may have waddled a little as he walked. Some of the ladies took to calling him “Ducky-Wucky”, which he hated. But unlike Cliff Melton, Medwick took the nickname in stride.

An opportunistic executive, Houston Bulls team president Fred Ankenman contracted with a local candy company to produce a “Ducky-Wucky” candy bar to be sold at the Bulls home games.

Medwick decided that since he had to endure the Ducky-Wucky moniker, he could at least earn some profit for his troubles, so he demanded a cut of the sales of the chocolate bar. So at this point, nineteen year-old minor league outfielder had what only Babe Ruth and Charles Lindbergh had, which was a chocolate bar named after them (Take that, Reggie Jackson)

(special mention of friend Gary Cierdakowski and his great book “The League of Outsider Baseball” for these special Joe Medwick tidbits)

He easily made it through several levels before reaching St. Louis during the 1932 season. He would hit .300 or better in his first eleven seasons, and would eventually be elected to the Hall of Fame.

1937 became the second consecutive year where two American League sluggers amassed both 200 hits and 40 home runs. Lou Gehrig and Hank Greenberg in 1936, Greenberg and Joe DiMaggio in 1937.

In Detroit, rookie catcher Rudy York hit thirty-five homers, just the third rookie to hit 35 or more in his first season. Eighteen of those thirty-five (51.4%) were hit in August. And he still owns the record for the highest slugging percentage by a rookie, at .651.

Hank Greenberg joined Lou Gehrig in the exclusive 200 hits + 100 walks club. This was Greenberg's first time, and Gehrig's second. No one else had done it before Gehrig.

Hank also became the first player with 200 hits and 100 strikeouts, the seventh American League player with 40 homers and 40 doubles, and the first Tiger to hit 40 homers in a season.

He also set the record for Runs Batted In by a right handed hitter in the American League, and still holds the all-time record for most teammates driven in. He drove in 183 runs, hitting 40 homers, so 183-40=143 teammates driven in)

And it was a teammate that won the Most Valuable Player Award that year...Charlie Gehringer.

Over to the Bronx, where the Yankees would best the Giants in the Fall Classic, pitcher Lefty Gomez became the first pitcher to win both the All-Star Game and a World Series game in the same season.

But Joltin' Joe DiMaggio set all sorts of marks in what many believe was his finest season of his illustrious career. In taking a bit of sage advice from the legendary Ty Cobb, Joe changed from a forty ounce bat to a thirty-six ounce bat. He shared the Yankee spotlight with the great Lou Gehrig, and surpassing him at points during the season, Dimaggio became an almost immediate superstar.

In just his second year, the twenty-two year-old center-fielder hit .346 with 46 homers, 167 runs batted in and scored 151 runs. (Three Yankees drove in 130 or more runs, and four players scored 125 or more runs)

He was the youngest player to hit .330 with 40 or more homers in a season, and had the fourth highest Total Bases total in AL history (418)

DiMaggio was the second player to hit 40 or more homers while striking out less than 50 times. Lou Gehrig was the other to do it, and he did it twice.

And Joe became the first player to homer in a World Series Game during three different decades, the thirties, forties and fifties.

And it was a Duck (Ducky Medwick) and a Jolt (Joltin' Joe DiMaggio) that each reached 400 total bases, just the third time that more than one player reached 400 Total Bases in the same season (1930 and 1936)

So, let's get to the stats. Starting in the weak pitching American League, our initial numbers bring us this list of top performers:

PITCHER	TEAM	W-L	ERA	VOTES
Monty Stratton	White Sox	15-5	2.40	No votes
Lefty Gomez	Yankees	21-11	2.33	9^th in MVP
Johnny Allen	Indians	15-1	2.55	13^th in MVP
Red Ruffing	Yankees	20-7	2.98	8^th in MVP
Lefty Grove	Red Sox	17-9	3.02	No votes
Ted Lyons	White Sox	12-7	4.15	No votes
Thornton Lee	White Sox	12-10	3.54	No votes
Eldon Auker	Tigers	17-9	3.88	No votes
John Whitehead	White Sox	11-8	4.07	No votes
Jack Wilson	Red Sox	16-10	3.70	No votes

And then compared to their teams performances, remembering the Browns and A's numbers may skew these initially, we get:

Oral Hildebrand	Browns	8-17	5.14	No votes
Jack Knott	Browns	8-18	4.89	No votes
Johnny Allen	Above
Monty Stratton	Above
Lefty Grove	Above
Lefty Gomez	Above
George Caster	A's	12-19	4.34	No votes
Wes Ferrell	Red Sox	14-19	4.90	No votes
Red Ruffing	Above
Eldon Auker	Above

Monty Stratton of the White Sox is one of baseball's forgotten heroes. He wasn't interested in baseball much as a young man, but was approached to pitch for a local semi-pro team near his home in Texas. He pitched very well, and was noticed by scouts, and made his way to the White Sox rotation in short order.

1937 was his breakout year, and although he would win fifteen games in 1938, his career was ended by a horrific hunting accident, where he accidentally shot himself in the leg, severing an artery, and causing an amputation of the leg. He would never pitch in the majors again...

But he did pitch again...

Amazingly, after a few years, and the help of his wife/catcher, Stratton was able to teach himself to pitch again, and was able to take the mound in 1948 for the Sherman Twins of the East Texas League (Class C ball) And he pitched well enough to win eighteen games.

The made a movie, The Monty Stratton Story that starred Jimmy Stewart.

(Thanks again to Gary Cieradkowski)

Also of note is Yankee pitcher Lefty Gomez. A colorful character for the business like Yankees, Lefty was always judged to be a little off-center. But what a pitcher he was.

My favorite story involving him happened during this season. In the World Series, Game 1 I believe, Gomez stepped off the mound and signaled for catcher Bill Dickey to come out to the mound. Dickey trots out, confused as to what was going on, and Lefty asked him, “You still got them hunting dog puppies?”

“Huh?” Dickey responded

“You know, them puppies that you had. I had a friend ask me to ask if you had any of them puppies left, and I just now remembered to ask. Do you?”

Dickey didn't answer, just shook his head and went back behind the plate.

I do not know if Lefty's friend ever got a puppy or not.

Anyway, our top overall pitching performances for 1937 in the American League were;

Monty Stratton

Johnny Allen

Lefty Gomez

Red Ruffing

Lefty Grove

Ted Lyons

Eldon Auker

Thornton Lee

Tommy Bridges (Tigers 15-12 4.07)

Jack Wilson

Now over to the National League, where the pitchers fared a little better, our initial rankings are:

PITCHER	TEAM	W-L	ERA	VOTES
Jim Turner	Braves	20-11	2.38	4^th in MVP
Cliff Melton	Giants	20-9	2.61	11^th in MVP
Lou Fette	Braves	20-10	2.88	5^th in MVP
Carl Hubbell	Giants	22-8	3.20	3^rd in MVP
Dizzy Dean	Cardinals	13-1	2.69	No votes
Tex Carleton	Cubs	16-8	3.15	No votes
Danny McFayden	Braves	14-14	2.93	No votes
Van Mungo	Dodgers	9-11	2.91	No votes
Slick Castleman	Giants	11-6	3.31	No votes
Russ Bauers	Pirates	13-6	2.88	No votes

And now looking at how they did compared to their teams, we get:

Van Mungo	Above
Jim Turner	Above
Lou Fette	Above
Lee Grissom	Reds	12-17	3.26	19^th in MVP
Tex Carleton	Above
Luke Hamlin	Dodgers	11-13	3.59	No votes
Dizzy Dean	Above
Peaches Davis	Reds	11-13	3.59	No votes
Danny McFayden	Above
Gene Schott	Reds	4-13	2.97	No votes

That brings our list of top national League pitchers for 1937 to:

Jim Turner

Lou Fette

Van Mungo

Dizzy Dean

Cliff Melton

Tex Carleton

Carl Hubbell

Danny McFayden

Slick Castleman

Lee Grissom

Now, to the very potent American league hitters, with runs produced per game, the initial numbers are:

PLAYER	TEAM	HR	RBI	AVG	RP/G	VOTES
Joe DiMaggio	Yankees	46	167	.346	1.80	2^nd in MVP
Lou Gehrig	Yankees	37	158	.351	1.65	4^th in MVP
Rudy York	Tigers	35	101	.307	1.33	23^rd in MVP
Bill Dickey	Yankees	29	133	.332	1.36	5^th in MVP
Charlie Gehringer	Tigers	14	96	.371	1.49	1^st in MVP
Zeke Bonura	White Sox	19	100	.345	1.38	No votes
Jimmie Foxx	Red Sox	36	127	.285	1.35	No votes
Bob Johnson	A's	25	108	.306	1.26	No votes
Hal Trosky	Indians	32	128	.298	1.31	No votes
Joe Cronin	Red Sox	18	110	.307	1.31	7^th in MVP

And against their teams performances, we get this ranking:

Bob Johnson	Above
Joe DiMaggio	Above
Harlon Clift	Browns	29	118	.306	1.24	13^th in MVP
Zeke Bonura	Above
Lou Gehrig	Above
Wally Moses	A's	25	86	.320	1.13	11^th in MVP
Beau Bell	Browns	14	117	.340	1.19	17^th in MVP
Rudy York	Above
Billy Weber	A's	7	70	.292	1.16	No votes
Bill Dickey	Above

Which brings our top offensive list to this:

Joe DiMaggio

Lou Gehrig

Rudy York

Bill Dickey

Charlie Gehringer

Zeke Bonura

Bob Johnson

Jimmie Foxx

Harlond Clift

Hal Trosky

Now, on to the National League, our initial list is:

PLAYER	TEAM	HR	RBI	AVG	RC/G	VOTES
Joe Medwick	Cardinals	31	154	.374	1.50	1^st in MVP
Johnny Mize	Cardinals	25	113	.364	1.32	10^th in MVP
Gabby Hartnett	Cubs	12	82	.354	1.06	2^nd in MVP
Dolph Camili	Phillies	27	80	.339	1.18	No votes
Frank Demaree	Cubs	17	115	.324	1.31	15^th in MVP
Billy Herman	Cubs	8	65	.335	1.18	9^th in MVP
Wally Berger	Braves/Giants	17	65	.285	1.15	No votes
Mel Ott	Giants	31	95	.294	1.08	7^th in MVP
Arky Vaughan	Pirates	5	72	.322	1.10	No votes
Paul Waner	Pirates	2	74	.351	1.08	8^th in MVP

And then compared to their teams, we get this list:

Joe Medwick	Above
Dolph Camili	Above
Johnny Mize	Above
Wally Berger	Above
Gene Moore	Braves	16	70	.283	0.96	No votes
Tony Cuccinello	Braves	11	80	.271	0.96	No votes
Heinie Manush	Dodgers	4	73	.333	0.95	21^st in MVP
Ernie Lombardi	Reds	9	59	.334	0.76	No votes
Babe Phelps	Dodgers	7	58	.313	0.77	No votes
Mel Ott	Above

That brings our overall National League hitters ranking to:

Joe Medwick

Johnny Mize

Dolph Camili

Gabby Hartnett

Frank Demaree

Mel Ott

Billy Herman

Arky Vaughan

Paul Waner

Dick Bartell (Giants 14HR 62RBI .306AVG 1.09 RC/G, 6^th in MVP)

The post season awards for Most Valuable Player were awarded to Charlie Gehringer and Joe Medwick. There was no post-season pitching awards given at this point in baseball history. Since it is my blog, I will make a note for pitcher of the year for each league, which would be the top of my overall list for pitchers in each league.

Some years, the pitcher is the player of the year, bust most times not. In a heavily offensive season, like this season in particular, the top league overall ranking (combining hitters and pitchers) are very hitter heavy.

With that being said, my top five overall performers in each league are:

American League: