Baseball...numbers, stories and analysis: October 2024

1934…a couple of kids from The Bronx (not those ones)

One could easily call 1934 the outlaw year. Not because of what may have happened in the realm of baseball. Three notorious criminals were each discovered and killed by law enforcement officers, in a way that mad them folk heroes.

First was the bank robbers/serial killers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were cut down in a gun battle in Louisiana, after allegedly killing nine lawman and four civilians.

Then the chronic bank robber and alleged murderer John Dillinger was also shot down in Chicago that summer.

Kinda makes the baseball world seem not that important. Yet I trudge on...

Plenty did happen in 1934’s baseball season, beginning with a January appeal by ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson to be reinstated to baseball. His appeal was denied by Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis, who handed down the original suspension after a 1920 trial.

Jackson, along with seven other teammates, were accused of taking bribes to underperform, and purposely losing the 1919 World Series. The debate on reinstatement of Jackson, and teammate Buck Weaver continues to this day.

The 1934 World Series was contested between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Detroit Tigers. Unique in this Series was that the Cardinals won 4 games to three, with each of the two Dean brothers, Dizzy and Paul, earning each of the Cardinals’ wins.

Both teams were managed by player-managers, both of whom would later be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Frankie Frisch led the Cardinals, while Mickey Cochrane led the Tigers.

When the dust settled at the conclusion of the 1934 baseball season, three players stood out. And all three had ties to the same county in New York. The county (or borough) is simply The Bronx.

Named after Jonas Bronck, a settler from Sweeden, the county is situated just south of Westchester County and is the northernmost of New York City’s five boroughs.

Separated from Manhattan, or New York County by the East River (or Harlem River) to the south, and from Queens by the Long Island Sound, also to the south, the Bronx is the only borough that is not either an island or a part of an island.

Geography aside, in baseball terms, the Bronx plays very prominently in baseball from 1923 onward, as it is the home of the New York Yankees, otherwise known as the Bronx Bombers.

In the Bronx in 1934, Lou Gehrig, who was born and raised across the river to the south, in the Yorkville section of Manhattan, became just the second player to reach the 300 home-run plateau. He also won the Triple Crown for leading the American League in batting, homers and runs batted in. But as great a season he had, with teammate Babe Ruth, the Yankees fell behind the Detroit Tigers in the American League pennant race.

The Tigers were led by first-baseman Hank Greenberg, who was born in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, but moved to the Bronx and attended James Monroe High School. Since he was playing essentially in the Yankees backyard, they recruited him heavily, but as he was primarily a first baseman, and the Yankees already had Mr. Gehrig, Hank declined an offer to sign with the Yankees, opting to attend New York University.

He had also garnered attention from the cross-town New York Giants, and even tried out for John McGraw, who was unimpressed. Hank spent a year at NYU, and then signed with the Detroit Tigers after his freshman year.

After a ‘cup of coffee’ with the Tigers (one at-bat in 1930) Greenberg became the Tigers regular first-baseman beginning in the 1933 season. He began to flourish in his role, and became one of the league’s top offensive stars, leading the Tigers to the 1934 World Series.

The Tigers would square off against the St. Louis Cardinals, who were managed by their second-baseman Frankie “The Fordham Flash” Frisch.

Frisch, who was the oldest of the three players mentioned, was born and raised in The Bronx. He attended Fordham Prep and then Fordham University. He signed with the New York Giants (The Yankees were not playing in the Bronx at the time) and went directly to the majors, never playing a minor league game. He earned his nickname from his performance in track & field.

Frisch was traded from the Giants (after a salary dispute) to the St. Louis Cardinals for Rogers Hornsby before the 1927 season. All told, Frisch played eleven of his nineteen seasons for St. Louis, appearing in a total of eight World Series. He holds the record for the most World Series hits in a career for someone who never played for the Yankees. (I know, it’s a stretch, but a good stat nonetheless)

He started managing the Cardinals in 1933, and led them to the Series in 1934, his only appearance as a manager. He managed for seventeen seasons altogether.

He was the subject of a poem by Ogden Nash, entitled “Line-up for Yesterday.”

F is for Fordham,

And Frankie and Frisch,

I wish he were back,

With the Giants I wish.

The story of the season can be seen in the team’s performances. The top pitching teams were:

AMERICAN LEAGUE	NATIONAL LEAGUE
Yankees	Giants
Tigers	Cardinals
Indians	Cubs

And offense wise, we have:

Tigers	Cardinals
Red Sox	Pirates
Yankees	Dodgers

And the overall ‘Power Rankings” would be:

Tigers	World Champions
Giants	2^nd in National League
Yankees	2^nd in American League
Cardinals	National League Champions
Indians	3^rd in American League.

The National League race was fairly competitive, with the Cardinals fending off the Giants by winning six of their last seven games of the season. Conversely, the Giants lost six of their last seven games.

The Cards won the pennant by two games.

Items that stand out during the 1934 season are:

Lon Warneke of the Cubs became the 2^nd pitcher to hurl back-to-back one-hitters.

The legendary catcher Moe Berg had his 117 consecutive errorless game streak ends. A part time player, Berg had not committed an error since 1931.

The St. Louis Browns gathered nine consecutive hits in the sixth inning of a June 3^rd game, scoring seven runs in that inning, to beat Cleveland 12-7.

And Browns pitcher Bobo Newsom pitched a no-hitter but finished the season with twenty losses. Incredibly, he was the third pitcher to lose twenty while accomplishing the no-no

On June 6^th, Yankees outfielder Myril Hoag had six consecutive singles in the first game of a doubleheader against the Red Sox. Hoag’s six hits were a part of a twenty-five-hit onslaught, which saw the Yankees win 15-3.

Yankees legendary first-baseman Lou Gehrig finished with forty-nine home runs, while striking out just thirty-one times. That is the largest home run to strikeout difference for players with over twenty homers in a season.

And teammate Lefty Gomez won the American League pitching Triple Crown.

And the Great Bambino became the inaugural member of the 700-home run club, with a two-run homer off of Tommy Bridges in the third inning of an eventual Yankees win on July 13^th. It would be Babe's last year with the Yankees.

The Washington Nationals (yes, not the Senators at this point) hit a record five consecutive doubles versus the Red Sox, to help them to an 8-1 victory. The doubles came in the eighth inning, and were hit by Heinie Manush, Joe Cronin, Dave Harris, Fred Schulte and Red Kress. Washington scored all of their eight runs in that inning.

And all those doubles were given up by the legendary Lefty Grove.

At the end of the 1934 season, the Red Sox offered Washington Lyn Lary and a reported $250,000 for Joe Cronin. The Red Sox would offer Cronin a five-year contract to manage in Boston, and with the financial struggles that Washington was having, Cronin agreed to the trade.

At the time the trade was proposed, Cronin was the player/manager of the Nationals, was actually on his honeymoon. He had just married Mildred Robertson, who was the niece of Clark Griffith, the owner of the Nationals.

The great Stachel Paige had an eventful 4^th of July. He pitched a 4-0 no-hitter vs. the Homestead Grays in Pittsburgh, and then drove to Chicago and pitched a twelve inning 1-0 shutout.

In one of those weird items, Philadelphia A’s slugger Bob Johnson hit a pop fly off of Hank Johnson of the Red Sox that was caught by outfielder Roy Johnson.

And Bob Johnson hit fifteen home runs in June, tying Babe Ruth’s record for June homers in a season.

July 10^th brought us the second All-Star game. This was held at the Polo Grounds in New York, hosted by the Giants. Carl Hubbell of the home team excelled, striking struck out five consecutive batters, all of whom would be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, along with Hubbell himself. In order, they were Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin.

Seventeen of the eighteen starters would wind up in Cooperstown, with Wally Berger of the Braves being the odd man out.

Speaking of the Braves, Hal Lee became the first National League player to hit three home runs in a game but finished with less than ten on the season. He finished with eight.

On August 8^th, the New York Giants scored eleven runs in the top of the ninth inning to finish a 21-4 drubbing of the Phillies during the second game of a doubleheader in Philadelphia.

Pitcher Reggie Grabowski was responsible for all eleven runs in his one inning of work, which calculates to a single game ERA of 99.00.

On September 21^st, the Cardinals were in Brooklyn for a doubleheader against the Dodgers. Dizzy Dean pitched a three-hit shutout to beat the home team 13-0. In the nightcap, brother Paul “Daffy” Dean pitched a no-hitter, winning 3-0.

Paul’s no-hitter was just the fourth pitched by a National League rookie.

And Dizzy, who finished up with a 30-7 record, making him the last (probably ever) thirty-game winner in the National League.

Cleveland first-baseman Hal Trosky became the first rookie to amass 35 homers and 35 doubles in his rookie season. He was also the third American League rookie with 200 hits.

In Detroit, where the Tigers hit a combined .300 as a team, the Most Valuable Player Award vote went to Player/Manager Mickey Cochrane, with teammate Charlie Gehringer coming second. It was the first time teammates had finished first and second in the BBWAA voting.

Cochrane was the first player/manager to be named an MVP in the modern BBWAA era.

Mickey Cochrane was regarded as one of the best catchers in the early years of baseball. The 1934 MVP was his second, with the first coming in 1928. He began his career with the Philadelphia A's, coming out of Boston. He was traded to Detroit after A's owner Connie Mack began disassembling his team for financial reasons.

In 1937, he was hit in the head by Yankee pitcher Bump Hadley, which almost took his life. He was hospitalized for seven days, and retired at the doctors insistence that he give up playing baseball altogether.

He returned to manage for the 1937, and began the 1938 as Detroit's manager, but claimed he had 'lost his competitive spirit', and was fired before the season ended.

He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and achieved the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and served in the Pacific theatre.

He was just the third catcher to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame, after finishing with a .320 lifetime batting average. Despite the accolades, his uniform was never retired. But his legacy lives on in a unique way, as Yankees legend Mickey Mantle was named after Cochrane. Cochrane was Mantle's father's favorite player.

As we review the season’s top performers, we will look at the top pitchers first, beginning with the National League. The NL pitchers performed 15% better than the AL pitchers.

Here are the initial top performers:

Pitcher	Team	W-L	ERA
Dizzy Dean	Cardinals	30-7	2.66
Carl Hubbell	Giants	21-12	2.30
Lon Warneke	Cubs	22-10	3.21
Hal Schumaker	Giants	23-10	3.18
Freddie Fitsimmons	Giants	18-14	3.04
Paul Dean	Cardinals	19-11	3.43
Bill Walker	Cardinals	12-4	3.12
Curt Davis	Phillies	19-17	2.95
Fred Frankhouse	Braves	17-9	3.20
Waite Hoyt	Pirates	15-6	2.93

And then, comparing how the pitchers performed compared to the rest of their teams, we get this list:

Curt Davis	Above
Lon Warneke	Above
Van Lingle Mungo	Dodgers	18-16	3.37
Dizzy Dean	Above
Paul Derringer	Reds	15-21	3.59
Dutch Leonard	Dodgers	14-11	3.28
Waite Hoyt	Above
Benny Frey	Reds	11-16	3.52
Fred Frankhouse	Above
Syl Johnson	Phillies/Red	5-9	3.46

Compiling, refining and recalculating bring us these top ten NL pitchers:

Dizzy Dean	National League MVP
Lon Warneke	13^th in MVP vote
Curt Davis	8^th in MVP vote
Hal Schumacher	10^th in MVP vote
Fred Frankhouse	16^th in MVP vote (tied)
Van Lingle Mungo	23^rd in MVP vote (tied)
Waite Hoyt	22^nd in MVP vote
Freddie Fitzsimmons	No votes
Paul Dean	No votes
Bill Walker	No votes

And in the American League, our initial top performers were:

Lefty Gomez	Yankees	26-5	2.33
Mel Harder	Indians	20-12	2.61
Tommy Bridges	Tigers	22-11	3.67
Schoolboy Rowe	Tigers	24-8	3.45
Wes Ferrell	Red Sox	14-5	3.63
Johnny Murphy	Yankees	14-10	3.12
Red Ruffing	Yankees	19-11	3.93
Eldon Auker	Tigers	15-7	3.42
Fritz Ostermuller	Red Sox	10-13	3.49
Johnny Broaca	Yankees	12-9	4.16

Then, compared to their teams, we get:

George Earnshaw	White Sox	14-11	4.52
Lefty Gomez	Above
Ted Lyons	White Sox	11-13	4.87
Mel Harder	Above
Wes Ferrell	Above
Bobby Burke	Washington	8-8	3.21
Tommy Bridges	Above
Sam Jones	White Sox	8-12	5.11
Earl Whitehill	Washington	14-11	4.52
Schoolboy Rowe	Above

And that brings our top pitchers to:

Lefty Gomez	3^rd in MVP vote
Mel Harder	16^th in MVP vote
Tommy Bridges	No votes
Wes Ferrell	8^th in MVP vote
Johnny Murphy	No votes
Red Ruffing	No votes
George Earnshaw	No votes
Fritz Ostermuller	No votes
Bobby Burke	No votes
Eldon Auker	No votes

Switching to offense, and while the American League hitters fared 8.7% better than the National League. Overall, the NL statistically outperformed the AL overall by 1.3%.

Beginning with the National League hitters, our initial top performers were:

Hitter	Team	HR	RBI	AVG	RCG
Paul Waner	Pirates	14	90	.362	1.36
Mel Ott	Giants	35	135	.326	1.43
Ripper Collins	Cardinals	35	128	.333	1.36
Arky Vaughan	Pirates	12	94	.333	1.32
Johnny Moore	Phillies/Reds	11	93	.343	1.29
Joe Medwick	Cardinals	18	106	3.19	1.33
Bill Terry	Giants	8	83	.354	1.20
Wally Berger	Braves	34	121	.298	1.19
Chuck Klein	Cubs	20	81	.301	1.21
Len Koenecke	Dodgers	14	73	.320	1.12

Compared to their team’s performances, we get:

Paul Waner	Above
Mel Ott	Above
Wally Berger	Above
Ripper Collins	Above
Arky Vaughan	Above
Johnny Moore	Above
Chuck Klein	Above
Gabby Hartnett	Cubs	22	90	.299	0.97
Jim Bottomly	Reds	11	78	.284	0.98
Bill Terry	Above

So, our overall National Legue hitters were:

Paul Waner	2^nd in MVP vote
Mel Ott	5^th in MVP vote
Ripper Collins	6^th in MVP vote
Arky Vaughan	23^rd in MVP vote (tied)
Joe Medwick	No votes
Wally Berger	12^th in MVP
Johnny Moore	No votes
Chuck Klein	No votes
Bill Terry	7^th in MVP vote
Gabby Hartnett	14^th in MVP vote

On to the American League, where in a statistical oddity, five of the initial top ten hitters were first basemen. Our list:

Lou Gehrig	Yankees	49	166	.363	1.59
Charlie Gehringer	Tigers	11	127	.356	1.63
Hank Greenberg	Tigers	26	139	.339	1.51
Jimmie Foxx	A’s	44	130	.334	1.37
Hal Trosky	Indians	35	142	.330	1.45
Earl Averill	Indians	31	113	.313	1.36
Al Simmons	White Sox	18	104	.344	1.36
Joe Vosmik	Indians	6	78	.341	1.38
Zeke Bonura	White Sox	27	110	.3302	1.33
Roy Johnson	Red Sox	7	119	.320	1.38
Mickey Cochrane	Tigers	2	75	.320	1.14

I added an eleventh hitter, Mickey Cochrane, since he was the eventual MVP Award winner, but didn’t make any of these top lists.

Compared to their teams, we get:

Lou Gehrig	Above
Jimmie Foxx	Above
Al Simmons	Above
Zeke Bonura	Above
Hal Trosky	Above
Sam West	Browns	9	55	.326	1.11
Bob Johnson	A’s	34	92	.307	1.20
Earl Averill	Above
Heinie Manush	Washington	11	87	.349	1.20
John Stone	Washington	7	67	.315	1.21

So, our top overall American League hitters were:

Lou Gehrig	5^th in MVP vote
Jimmie Foxx	10^th in MVP vote
Charlie Gehringer	6^th in MVP vote
Hal Trosky	7^th in MVP vote
Hank Greenberg	6^th in MVP vote
Al Simmons	11th in MVP vote
Earl Averill	17^th in MVP vote (tied)
Zeke Bonura	No votes
Joe Vosmik	No votes
Roy Johnson	12^th in MVP vote