Baseball...numbers, stories and analysis: 1939...Farewell Lou, Hello Ted...

1939, Comings and goings…

A true recap of the 1939 baseball season would be incomplete without the most famous departure from a game, then the game, by Lou Gehrig.

As his performance began to decline late in the 1938 season, through his less than mediocre showing during the ’38 Series, and on into Spring Training in 1939, it was obvious that his skill set was diminishing rapidly.

Red Sox rookie outfielder Ted Williams made his major league debut in the Bronx. It was the only game that featured William and Gehrig. Williams struck out twice and hit a double in the 2-0 Yankee win. The ‘Iron Horse’ uncharacteristically committed an error, went oh for four, and hit into two double plays.

That game featured seven other future Hall of Famers: Joe Cronin, Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio, Bobby Doerr, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove and Miller Huggins.

As Gehrig reluctantly began to acknowledge his own descent, with his batting average below .200, on May 2^nd, he asked to be removed from the lineup. Just eight games into the season, he was replaced by Babe Dahlgren. For the first time in 2,130 consecutive games, Gehrig would remain on the bench, and Dahlgren would become the answer to a trivia question.

A proud, yet humble man, the Yankees Captain was embarrassed by not just his performance, but by his increasing inability to perform some of the simplest tasks, not all baseball related. Tying his own shoes would become a chore. Buttoning his shirts, tying his tie, signing an autograph. All became more challenging.

While he was no longer in the Yankees line-up, he was still the Captain. He was in uniform for every game. Although, he would sometimes remove himself to the clubhouse while the games were played.

In June, he would be diagnosed with the disease which now bears his name, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, to which he would succumb two years later.

There is a story that Ray Negron tells about his introduction to the Yankees. He was caught spraying graffiti on the walls of the old Yankees Stadium one season, and was brought into the stadium by security personnel, and placed in a small room just outside of the Yankee clubhouse. Negron sat in solitude while Yankee officials and security decided what to do with the young man, who was in his early teens.

New Yankee’s principle owner George Steinbrenner had Negron brought to his office, where he laid down the law. Essentially, the offer was ‘work for me or I’ll call the cops’. Negron chose the former. His first order of business, understandably, was to clean the graffiti from the building, which he did.

(This is the basis for his wonderful children's book, "The Boy of Steel" published in 2006 by Reagan Books, a division of HarperCollins)

He worked a variety of jobs for the Yankees, earning the trust and respect of Steinbrenner and others, eventually working his way up from batboy to special assistant to Mr. Steinbrenner. He also played minor league ball for the Pirates for a very short time.

But, during his time as a batboy, during an Old Timer’s Day festivities, Ray was assigned to escort Mrs. Eleanor Gehrig for the day. During that day, as Ray was walking with Mrs. Gehrig, she told him that when Lou was feeling low, and was aware that his body was breaking down, the prideful man would excuse himself, and would seek the solitude of this little room next to the Yankee clubhouse, where he would sit and listen to the fans enjoying the game.

He would sit and rest in that room for lengths of time, before regaining his composure and returning to the clubhouse. Negron realized immediately the room she was referring to was the same room that was his ‘holding cell’.

That, and the fact that Old Timer’s Day was originated by the Yankees in remembrance of Gehrig, made that small conversation much more impactful.

On July 4^th, they Yankees held “Lou Gehrig Day”, in which they honored and paid their respects to the Yankee captain. Many dignitaries and special guests were in attendance. Several retired players made their way to the Bronx for the bittersweet ceremonies.

Most notably of these was Babe Ruth, who had become estranged from the Yankees, and put aside the feud that he and Gehrig had, and gave his old teammate a hug.

Gehrig acknowledged that adulations, the gifts, and the support he had received, and continued to receive. He stepped to the microphone and addressed the crowd, in one of the most heroic and humble speeches ever made:

“Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans. Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky. When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift – that's something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies – that's something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter – that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body – it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed – that's the finest I know. So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for.”

In 1939, the Yankees essentially steamrolled the American League, winning 106 games, scoring 967 runs. That 1939 "Bronx Bombers" team may have been even better than the 1927 “Murderer’s Row” Yankees. They featured six players who scored ninety or more runs. And while they combined to hit .287, it was the Red Sox that garnered the highest team batting average that year, finishing at .291.

And, the Yankees did it without Joe DiMaggio for a part of the season. “Joltin’ Joe” tor a muscle in his foot and missed thirty-five games. But they were stocked. Rookie pitcher established a record by winning twelve straight decisions. And third-baseman Red Rolfe scored in a record eighteen consecutive games. He scored thirty runs over that time frame.

But complacency seemed to take a hold in the Bronx, as the Yankees won their fourth consecutive World Championship, their attendance dropped eleven percent from the previous season.

The Cincinnati Reds were swept by the Yankees in the 1939 Series. It was their first National League pennant since 1919, the Series that they won over the White Sox under a very dark cloud. The Reds got there with the best pitching in the league, led by NL Most Valuable Player Award winner Bucky Walters, who also won the pitching Triple Crown, and Paul Derringer.

Derringer, who came to the Reds in a trade in early 1933, still holds the team record for most losses in a season with 25. He finished that season with a 7-25 record for the Reds and lost 2 other games with the Cardinals.

In 1939, He reversed that record, going 25-7. He was a twenty-game winner four times with Cincinnati and was on the mound for the Reds is the first ever night game in the major leagues. In 1939, he struck out just 35 batters in 301 innings, and at the time he retired, he was third lowest in walks per 9 innings, behind Christy Mathewson and Pete Alexander.

The Reds were second in the league in team batting average and featured the only set of teammates in major league history to have more homers than strikeouts: Frank McCormick (18 HR, 16 Ks and Ernie Lombardi (20 HR , 19 Ks)

The league’s team pitching rankings:

National League	American League
Reds	Yankees
Cardinals	Indians
Brooklyn	White Sox

And the team hitting rankings:

Cardinals	Yankees
Reds	Red Sox
Cubs	Tigers

And the team power rankings:

Cardinals	2^nd in NL, 4.5 games back
Reds	NL Champions
Yankees	World Champions
Brooklyn	3^rd in NL, 20.5 games back
Cubs	4^th in NL, 22 games back

In Boston, rookie outfielder Ted Williams became the fourth AL rookie to hit 30 homers in his first season. He was also the first hitter in the twentieth century to garner 90 or more walks in his first two seasons. And his 145 Runs Batted In remains the rookie record.

His teammate Jim Tabor became the first Red Sox hitter to hit two Grand Slam home runs in the same game. This feat has been accomplished just ten times in the American League, four times by the Red Sox (along with Rudy York, Nomar Garciaparra and Bill Mueller) and three times by the Orioles (Jim Gentile, Frank Robinson and Chris Hoiles)

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Curt Davis became the oldest pitcher to win 20 games in the National League. That would be tied by Rip Sewell (1943) and Preacher Rowe (1951). The record would be broken by R.A. Dickey in 2012.

Across town, the Browns struggled to one of the worst seasons in major league history. They lost 111 games and finished with a .279 winning percentage. However, at one point during the season, they swept a double-header from the Senators to end an eleven-game losing streak. The Browns would not win more than two games in a row during the season

Cleveland’s Bob Feller became the youngest AL hurler to win 20 on a season, besting the record of Babe Ruth in 1916.

“Rapid Robert’s” mother came to Cleveland to watch him pitch for the first time in the big leagues and received six stitches for her effort. She was struck in the head by a foul ball hit by Marv Owen of the White Sox.

Johnny Cooney, of the Boston Braves, would homer for the first time in his eighteen-year career. Apparently, he enjoyed that so much that he homered again in his next game.

In the Japanese Professional Baseball League, Victor Starffin won forty-two of his teams ninety-six games. He would win another thirty-eight in 1940.

And Bob Schmidt, of the Duluth Dukes of the Northern League, would hit for a professional baseball record .441 on the season. He would be a career minor leaguer over fourteen seasons and compiled a career batting average of .337.

And although the Dukes were affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals, he never appeared in a major league game.

Now, on to the statistical review. Beginning with the National League pitchers, who greatly benefitted from not having to face the likes of DiMaggio, Foxx, Williams, and held a 19.5% advantage over American League hurlers, we get this initial top ten list:

Pitcher	Team	W-L	ERA
Bucky Walters	Reds	27-11	2.29
Paul Derringer	Reds	25-7	2.93
Carl Hubbell	Giants	11-9	2.75
Claude Passeau	Cubs/Phillies	15-13	3.28
Gene Thompson	Cardinals	13-5	2.54
Bill Lee	Cubs	19-15	3.44
Bob Bowman	Cardinals	13-5	4.48
Hugh Casey	Dodgers	15-10	2.93
Luke Hamlin	Dodgers	20-13	3.64
Curt Davis	Cardinals	22-16	3.63

Then, comparing to their team performances, we get this top ten list:

Bucky Walters	Above
Lou Fette	Braves	10-10	3.96
Paul Derringer	Above
Claude Passeau	Above
Bill Lee	Above
Bill Posedel	Braves	15-13	3.92
Larry French	Cubs	15-8	3.29
Hugh Casey	Above
Luke Hamlin	Above
Gene Thompson	Above

Then comparing, composing and analyzing, we get this list of top ANL pitching performers, with their post-season vote rankings:

Bucky Walters	NL Most Valuable Player
Paul Derringer	3^rd in MVP vote
Claude Passeau	No votes
Carl Hubbell	No votes
Bill Lee	19^th in MVP vote (tie)
Lou Fette	No votes
Hugh Casey	No votes
Luke Hamlin	10^th in MVP vote
Gene Thompson	No votes
Larry French	No votes

Now to the American League pitchers, our initial top ten list is:

Red Ruffing	Yankees	21-7	2.93
Ted Lyons	White Sox	14-6	2.76
Lefty Grove	Red Sox	15-4	2.54
Bob Feller	Indians	24-9	2.85
Tommy Bridges	Tigers	17-7	3.5
Dutch Leonard	Senators	20-8	3.54
Oral Hildebrand	Yankees	104	3.06
Steve Sundra	Yankees	11-1	2.76
Bump Hadley	Yankees	12-6	2.98
Bobo Newsom	Tigers/Browns	20-11	3.58

Then, as compared to their team performances, we get:

Dutch Leonard	Above
Lefty Grove	Above
Ted Lyons	Above
George Caster	A’s	9-9	4.90
Lynn Nelson	A’s	10-13	4.78
Bob Feller	Above
Tommy Bridges	Above
Bobo Newsom	Above
Vern Kennedy	Browns	9-20	5.80
Mel Harder	Indians	15-9	3.50

And those numbers bring us this American league top ten pitchers:

Lefty Grove	15^th in MVP vote
Ted Lyons	17^th in MVP vote
Red Ruffing	5^th in MVP vote
Bob Feller	3^rd in MVP vote
Dutch Leonard	7^th in MVP vote
Tommy Bridges	22^nd in MVP vote
Bobo Newsom	19^th in MVP vote
Oral Hildebrand	No votes
Mel Harder	No votes
Steve Sundra	No votes

Now moving to the very potent offensive side, where the combined leagues offenses outpaced the pitching by 25%, we’ll look at the National League first.

Our initial top ten NL offensive performances were:

Player	Team	HR	RBI	AVG	RCG
Johnny Mize	Cardinals	28	108	.349	1.20
Ival Goodman	Reds	7	84	.323	1.31
Joe Medwick	Cardinals	14	117	.332	1.34
Frank McCormick	Reds	18	128	.332	1.34
Mel Ott	Giants	27	80	.308	1.10
Hank Leiber	Cubs	24	88	.310	1.15
Dolph Camili	Dodgers	26	104	.290	1.17
Zeke Bonura	Giants	11	85	.321	1.21
Harry Danning	Giants	16	74	.313	1.01
Enos Slaughter	Cardinals	12	86	.320	1.13

Now, against their team’ s average performance, we get this list:

Max West	Braves	19	82	.285	1.00
Morrie Arnovich	Phillies	5	67	.324	0.97
Mel Ott	Above
Dolph Camili	Above
Zeke Bonura	Above
Hank Leiber	Above
Ival Goodman	Above
Frank McCormick	Above
Tony Cuccinello	Braves	2	40	.306	0.99
Johnny Mize	above

This brings the overall top ten NL offensive performers to this top ten list, with their post season voting rankings:

Johnny Mize	2^nd in NL MVP
Ival Goodman	25^th in NL MVP (tie)
Frank McCormick	4^th in NL MVP
Joe Medwick	7^th in MVP
Mel Ott	11^th in MVP
Hank Leiber	No votes
Dolph Camili	12^th in MVP
Zeke Bonura	No votes
Harry Danning	9^th in MVP
Max West	No votes

Now to the American League. This initial top ten list outshines their NL counterparts. While the NL list featured 4 Hall of Famers, the AL list’s top 5 players are all in the Hall and add another further down the list as well.

The American League total offense held a 15.8% advantage over the National League, and the Junior Circuit scored 17.1% more runs than them. The Cardinals led the NL with 779 runs scored, while the American League teams averaged 801 runs. Four teams in the AL outscored the Cardinals (Boston, New York, Detroit and Cleveland)

The potent American League initial top ten list:

Joe DiMaggio	Yankees	30	126	.381	1.70
Jimmie Foxx	Red Sox	35	105	.360	1.60
Ted Williams	Red Sox	31	145	.327	1.64
Bill Dickey	Yankees	24	105	.302	1.40
Hank Greenburg	Tigers	33	113	.312	1.30
George Selkirk	Yankees	21	101	.306	1.43
Charlie Keller	Yankees	11	83	.334	1.47
Hal Trosky	Indians	25	104	.335	1.38
Charlie Gehringer	Tigers	16	86	.325	1.32
Red Rolfe	Yankees	14	80	.329	1.35

That top ten list averaged 33% more homers, 11% more runs batted in, a 3.4% higher batting average and 22% more runs created per game than the initial NL list.

Then, as compared to team average performances, we get this list:

Jimmie Foxx	Above
Ted Williams	Above
Hal Trosky	Above
Joe DiMaggio	Above
Frankie Hayes	A’s	20	83	.283	1.04
Hank Greenburg	Above
Taffy Wright	Senators	4	93	.309	1.29
George McQuinn	Browns	20	94	.316	1.14
Gee Walker	White Sox	13	11	.291	1.30
Charlie Gehringer

Which brings us to our overall top ten American League performers:

Joe DiMaggio	AL MVP
Jimmie Foxx	2in in MVP
Ted Williams	4^th in MVP
Bill Dickey	6^th in MVP
Hank Greenburg	18^th in MVP
Hal Trosky	30^th in MVP
George Selkirk	No votes
Charlie Keller	22^nd in MVP (tie)
Charlie Gehringer	14^th in MVP
Frankie Hayes	No votes