I wanted to try to get one more post in before I head to California for a couple of weeks. Some old photos on X got me thinking about that 27 Yankee squad.
The 27 Yankees won 110 games, lost 44 and had one tie. Don’t ask me how in a 154 game season they played 155 games. I will look at the total schedule and results and maybe find an answer.
They batted .307 as a team. Even at that, it was not the highest team average ever recorded to that point. The 1921 Tigers hit .316 as a team. But it was the highest BA by a pennant winner and still is. A couple of pre-1900’s teams had very high averages, the 1894 Phillies hit .349, and the 1894 Orioles, who were pennant winners, hit .326. Boston in the AL has led the league in batting 23 times, as have the Cardinals in the NL. Colorado has the longest streak of leading the league, 8 years, 1995-2002.
Back to the 27 Yankees. The Yanks hit 158 homers. Not a large number by today’s standards. Two players accounted for 107 of those homers, Ruth (60) and Gehrig (47). The only other player in double figures was 2B, Tony Lazzeri, (18). Joe Dugan, the third baseman, had the lowest average of the regulars at .269. Gehrig, .373. Ruth, .356, Combs, ,356, Muesel, .337 and Lazzeri, .307, were the meat of the lineup. Gehrig, Ruth, Lazzeri and Muesel all drove in over 100 runs.
As a team they scored 976 runs. Their pitchers as a unit hit .215, and had 3 homers. Hoyt won 22, Pennock, 19, Shocker, 18, Ruether, 13 and George Pipgras 10. Wilcy Moore, a part time starter and what passed for a closer in those days was 19-7 with 13 saves, a 2.28 ERA in 215 innings.
They were not a big strikeout staff totaling only 431. Hoyt led the team with 85 K’s. But they walked only 409 batters. They made 196 errors as a team, and had only 123 double plays. But they outscored the opposition 976-605.
The pitching staff allowed only 42 homers. They quite literally bludgeoned the opposition to death. They won the pennant by 19 games over the Philadelphia Athletics. They won 57 at home and 53 on the road.
The tie came in the third game of the season against the A’s in New York, and was replayed on the 27th of September in New York, the Yankees winning. They dominated the Browns, 21-1, and barely bested the Indians, 12-10. Their longest losing streak was four games in August, 3 against the Indians and a loss to the White Sox.
Their opponents in the World Series, Pittsburgh, barely beat out the Cardinals in the NL winning by 1.5 games with a 94-60 record. Pittsburgh was no slouch with the bat, hitting .305 as a team. They scored 817 runs. But they hit only 52 homers as a team. Ruth bested that all by himself.
No Pirate hit more than 9 homers, but Traynor, the Waner brothers and Joe Harris, George Grantham, Clyde Barnhardt, and Kiki Cuyler, all hit over .300. The Pirates had a 22 game winner of their own in Carmen Hill, two 19 game winners, Lee Meadows and Ray Kremer. Vic Aldridge won 15.
Despite the obvious difference in power numbers, the Pirates kept the scores close in two of the four games. They lost game one in Pittsburgh, 5-4. They actually outhit New York 9-6. But they made 2 errors accounting for an unearned run that would be the difference.
Game two was a 6-2 Yankee win. The Pirates scored first in the bottom of the first when Barnhardt drove in Waner. The Yankees scored 3 in the top of the third. They scored 3 more in the top of the 8th and the Pirates scored 1 in the bottom of the 8th for the 6-2 final. Pipgras beat Aldridge. The Yankees had one extra base hit, a double by Gehrig.
There wasn’t much drama in game 3 as the Yankees jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first. It stayed that way until the bottom of the 7th when the Bombers scored 6 runs. 3 on the first homer of the series by either team, a mammoth shot to right by Ruth. Pennock cruised to the win over Meadows.
Game four in Yankee Stadium was a 1-1 tie until the 5th, when the Yankees scored 2 on a 2-run shot by Ruth. The Pirates tied the game in the top of the seventh on a couple of errors, a sacrifice, a single and another sacrifice.
The game stayed tied until the bottom of the 9th. Johnny Miljus then walked Combs, Koenig got a bunt single, and up came Ruth. Miljus uncorked a wild pitch sending the runners to second and third. The manager ordered him to walk Ruth.
Miljus struck out Gehrig swinging, and got Muesel looking. Lazzeri came up and hit the first pitch foul for strike one. On the next pitch, Miljus uncorked another wild pitch and Combs came home with the winning run. To date, it is the only World Series to end with the runner scoring on a wild pitch.
So, just how good was this Yankees team? They could hit, that was for sure. Very rare for a team today to put up a .300 plus BA over a full season. But even with all that power, they did not strike out as much as hitters today. 610 total and 642 walks.
But they also did not face the kind of specialists teams have today. Most of their at bats came against the same pitcher the entire game. And when a pitcher came in from the bullpen, he usually was a veteran trying to hang on for one more year, or a kid just getting his feet wet.
Today’s teams have to face a gauntlet just to get to the Series. Against today’s pitching staffs, they would be facing flame throwing arms as starters and as relievers.
Of course comparing eras is mainly just guess work. No one knows how guys like Ruth, Gehrig, Combs or Muesel would perform against today’s pitchers. Some sites still consider the 27 team as the best ever.
But the 1939 Yankee team, with no Ruth or Gehrig, had a run differential 40 runs higher, 411, than the 27 teams 371. To put that in perspective, only the 2022 Dodgers, 334 and the 2001 Mariners have recorded differentials of 300 or more since the 98 Yankees had a 309.
Because of the somewhat mythical status of Ruth, and the fact that he formed with Gehrig, the most feared 3-4 combo in baseball history. Babe hit 368 homers in their seasons as teammates and Gehrig, 266. 634 total. By comparison, Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron hit 863 homers as teammates and still are the # 1 combo of all time.
MiLB RECAP – By Jeff Dominique
Oklahoma City Baseball Club 9 – Tacoma Rainiers (Seattle) 7
The OKC Baseball Club brought their bats to Saturday’s game, and enough late inning pitching to win their first game of the season.
OKC jumped out to 4-0 and 8-2 leads, and held on after giving up 5 in the 5th. Eduardo Salazar started for OKC and went 4.0 innings. He surrendered 2 runs on 5 hits, including a pair of doubles. Eduardo struck out 4 but did not allow a walk.
After retiring the side in the 5th with 2 Ks, LHRP Alec Gamboa went back out in the 6th and walked the first batter. Jesse Hahn replaced Gamboa, but was clearly not the answer. With 1/3 of an inning, Hahn gave up 2 hits, 2 BB, a HBP, and allowed the inherited runner to score, but also 2 more before being lifted for Stephen Gonsalves. Gonsalves got a ground ball, but Andre Lipcius threw the ball away and two runs scored, both charged to Hahn. One was considered earned as the second would have scored on a Gonsalves WP.
Gonsalves came back out for the 7th, and retired the side in order. Michael Peterson came in the 8th, got the first two outs, and then gave up a single and BB before getting the final out.
Tanner Dodson pitched the 9th. After getting two quick outs, he gave up a pair of singles and a BB before striking out Ryan Bliss to end the game and register his first save of the season.
OKC had 13 hits, 5 walks, and benefited from 3 Rainiers errors. The hitting star for the night was Andre Lipcius who went 3-5 including 2 HRs and 5 RBIs.
Andre Lipcius hit a home run in his first at-bat in the #Dodgers organization
It’s the first run of the season for OKC pic.twitter.com/ZUbYCgTw9I
— Bruce Kuntz (@Bnicklaus7) March 31, 2024
HAVE A NIGHT, ANDRE LIPCIUS!
He just homered again and is now 3-3 with two homers and 5 RBI in his first game in the #Dodgers organization pic.twitter.com/Pwur7jP7T1
— Bruce Kuntz (@Bnicklaus7) March 31, 2024
Other Offensive Highlights:
- Drew Avans – 2-6
- Miguel Vargas (DH) – 2-4, HR (1), 2 RBI, 1 BB
- Kevin Padlo – 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 BB
- Chris Okey – 2-5
- Kody Hoese – 1-4, double
WP – Stephen Gonsalves – 1-0
LP – Levi Stoudt – 0-1
SV – Tanner Dodson (1)
So at least the Dodgers battled back and forced OT before losing. Mookie remains unreal.
Joe Kelly showed why he is overpaid in this one. But what really bothers me is that Yamamoto was pulled after only 5 innings. He’d been excellent, with 5 Ks and two hits with zero walks. He had thrown only 68 pitches, with 45 strikes. Why not let him go at least another inning, or maybe two?
Unless Yoshi was ailing in some way, I see no reason to remove a pitcher who is on a roll and not overworked. Relying on multiple relievers runs the risk that at least one will have a bad day–and this time it was Kelly.
Oh well….
From the highlights I saw, Mookie also looked pretty good at SS. Nice to see Max come thru in the clutch.
I can’t disagree. Nice bounce back game from Yamamoto. We shouldn’t expect Doc to change. He will fiddle whenever possible.
I can’t imagine what Ohtani must be going through. It would be hard to imagine him pushing aside this incident any time soon. I hope he can stay relevant.
Max really is a liability at 3B.
Let’s hope Joe Kelly can bounce back from this one.
He made one bad play. He made several good ones.
LMAO
He was most likely pulled because he sat for during the Dodgers last AB in the bottom of the 4th and then had to wait 45 minutes before pitching again. I didn’t think he was coming out to pitch the 5th after the delay, so just that was a win. This loss is on the offense. 14 strikeouts, they left 5 runners on base in the first three innings without scoring. Three straight K’s in the first after loading the bases with no outs. Kelly had a bad night, But the offense, including the 700 million dollar man was not clutch at all.
No, this loss is on the defense. 2 unearned runs. Catcher interference and a balk. Give back those 2 runs and we win 5-4. Granted, if they would have driven in runs in the 1st inning with bases loaded, no outs, we could have won, but we had a whole game to play and they blew it later on.
If they were that concerned about yamamato sitting during the rain delay then why send him our for the fifth and then hook him after?
There was no reason to pull him after only 68 pitches. He could have pitched another 2 innings, then you don’t have to use Kelly. These are the strategies that absolutely kill them in the playoffs. Let alone leaving Kelly in to give up a bunch of runs for no reason.
Orel was talking about it on the broadcast. DR wanted him to get the win and then after it was their typical scripted nonsense of using a bunch of middle relievers for no reason. A pitchers win, a useless stat. The analytics guys should be infuriated when hearing this..
Their pitching and game strategies/game management is weak, and easily predictable by opposing clubs. They can get away with it during the regular season but not in the playoffs. They’ve gotta stop being so stubborn about this stuff and stop using so many middle relievers every game. It’s not cohesive.
I believe the analytics say a middle reliever has better results than third time through the lineup. I think we are going to see a lot of <6 starts this year so the team better get it’s middle relief sh*t together.
Could it be that the Dodger coaches have a bullpen plan, this guy for 1 inning, this guy for another, and they kind of stubbornly kept Kelly in to finish his inning and not mess up the plan? Bullpen according to the clipboard? Because it was clear Kelly was off and they had other guys to bring in.
Kelly didn’t have it. That was obvious right away. Smith’s error didn’t help but Kelly should have been pulled sooner.
Ohtani didn’t have it either. And Muncy is Muncy. He’s a DH/1B playing third.
Mookie can’t keep this up. It’s important the rest of the team keeps pace. They didn’t last night.
14 Ks should be an embarrassment. I don’t believe it is with this group.
Interesting piece in the Times this morning on that subject, and the direction baseball is going with its fan base. Most people now don’t “dig the long ball” quite as much. People want to see the excitement of baseball being played. It’s triples, doubles, speed on the base paths and great defense. Seems we are back to the batter vs the defense rather than the batter vs the pitcher. The fans want to see the ball in play. I’m one of them. There was also another piece on Ohtani. I’ll let that go.
In Muncy’s defense, he did have a few nice plays besides the bad plays he made, LOL.
Also Kelly, he did make a few nice pitches before walking and hitting that guy and giving up critical hits, LOL
Muncy’s error had no part in the scoring, so no need to bring up his fielding. He is what he is, no gold glove, but he is adequate and an integral part of this offense. He hits 35 bombs again and keeps his errors around the number he had last year and you won’t hear a peep out of his detractors if the team wins.
Agree
Joe Torre’s ugly legacy
Joe Kelly. He resigned this offseason for $8M after receiving a $1M buyout after 2023 to avoid paying him $9.5M in 2024. So, basically he’s getting $9M for this year. When I saw the $8M figure I thought it might be for two years, maybe three. To pay $9M for Joe Kelly. Why? With the depth the Dodgers have available in the BP there was no need for Joe Kelly….at any price.
Ever since Joseph intentionally hit Handley Ramirez in the ribs in the 2013 NL championship’s first game I have disliked Kelly. At the time Ramirez had been on a tear in the playoffs. After being hit he tried to play, but he was totally ineffective at the plate the rest of the series. The Dodgers had a great team and had a real shot at winning the World Series. That’s until Kelly took out Ramirez.
So, when Kelly signed as a free agent with the Dodgers I was surprised and not happy. By the end of this season the Dodgers will have paid Kelly over $30M for mediocre results. He’s a complete wild card when he comes into pitch. Even after all these years he still has no idea where his pitches are going. I remember when he came into a game and threw dozens of sliders in a row. He’s a head case to me and doesn’t belong on the team.
Why Ohtani bought Kelly’s wife a Porsche in order to get his number is beyond me. A total lack of class by Kelly (and his wife). Out of respect, Kelly shouldn’t have been rewarded for giving up his number.
When Kelly came into pitch last night I had a bad feeling that the game was about to go south in a hurry. I don’t know what the Dodgers FO”s fascination with Kelly might be.
I love the Dodger team. It’s full of focused, determined and classy players. Unfortunately, I don’t think Joe Kelly can be included into that opinion. He can’t gone from the team fast enough for me.
Carry on.
Totally agree. The best Kelly ever pitched was against us. He can’t throw strikes n is a high wire act every time. He is good at walking people and hitting people. He should not b on this team. The good news is he will get hurt and b out for 3 months. Waste of 9 million. Vesia no better just cheaper. We will lead the league in strikeouts and probably errors. The minute Kelly came in I knew it was over. Why did Roberts leave him in? That’s in part why we are out of the playoffs first round. Roberts left Lynn in for 4 homers n we can’t score off him with nobody out bases loaded.
Every time you think about the fact that we’re paying Kelly 9 mil this year, try to remember that we’re only paying Treinen 1 mil. Maybe between the two they’ll be worth 10 mil.
Fully agree
I missed this comment on the Porsche. Which seems to come from bonkers-vil. Was this said or typed seriously?
LOL! This is one of those times where I’m 100% behind your snark and condescension.
Carry on.
I’m going to tonight’s game, and after seeing this list, I may just spend my time food hopping instead of watching the game!
https://la.eater.com/2023/3/29/23660976/where-to-eat-dodger-stadium-best-food-los-angeles
If they play like they did last night, Bobby, you’ll probably get more enjoyment out of food hopping.
Please post a food report after you do your sampling.
Octopus balls. Who knew?
Mrs. Octopus?
That picture of Ruth sliding keeps popping up. Two things: 1. that picture must be photoshopped cuz everyone knows that era was played in black and white and 2. if that throw to home would have been accurate the Babe is out by plenty.
The deep fried peanut butter jelly banana sandwich was quite tasty (at $15:99)
Elvis would be proud.
That actually sounds pretty good. What flavor jelly?
Smooth or crunchy pb?
Can you request onions and mustard on that?
How hard was Buehler throwing today? 3.1 IP for OKC.
3 H
4 R (3 ER)
2 BB
2 K
30 CSW%
54 P
FB sat mid 90s and max’s at 95.7 mph
he threw it, a cutter, Sinker, Knuckle Curve, Changeup, and a slider
https://x.com/buehlersdayoff/status/1774610215050285086
Thank you
How good were the 1975 and 1976 Reds?
75 Reds only hit 124 homes. They won their division by 20 games. Run differential was about 270. They used 6 different starting pitchers, none of whom won more than 15. 76 Reds won the division by 10 games, hit 142 homers and had a run differential of 220. Again they used 6 different starters and none won more than 15. They hit .271 as a team in 75, and .280 as a team in 76. Neither total near what the 27 Yanks did. Very good teams, but not as dominant as the 27 Yanks.,
Gratifying win today, with the “optionality” on display.
Facing a lefty in Matz, Roberts sat Max and Lux in favor of Kike and Rojas. The Dodgers fell behind 4-0 but came back, knocking Matz out in the 6th. He was replaced by righty Kittredge, prompting Roberts to put Max and Lux into the lineup. And Max delivered again.
Nice to see Crismatt and Hudson come through.
Also nice that Taylor got a single and 3 walks a day after 3 Ks.
And Austin Barnes is batting .500!
How soon will Buhler be back?
Stone might just have one or two more starts before Buhler takes his place. But with Sheehan placed on the 60-day IL, Stone will probably be 1/2 man in this 5 1/2 man rotation for the next two months. And maybe Knack will finally get his chance.
Yamamoto’s bounceback was a relief, Glasnow has been very good, and Bobby Miller looks like an ace. If Buhler comes back strong, this rotation might exceed optimistic expectations.
BTW, the early reviews in San Francisco suggest Farhan has made some savvy moves. While the Dodgers’ defense on the left side of infield is vulnerable, the Giants now have GG-caliber talents in Chapman and Nick Ahmed, plus the Grandson of the Wind roaming centerfield. Not only did Farhan add Blake Snell to Logan Webb–Cy and Cy runner-up– but the Jordan Hicks experiment (from RP to SP) is looking good. I think the Giants and Dbacks will battle for second place, with the Padres down in fourth.
Just read that Roberts said he expects Buhler’s rehab to require four starts. Not sure if that includes the first one or not, but it looks like Stone should get at least 3 more starts.
Some Dodger pundits are disappointed that Hurt was sent back to OKC, and I share the sentiment even though Crismatt did a great job in his Dodger debut.
It would be good if the LA Times or ?? did a deep dive into the Dodgers’ bullpen strategy.
My impression is that the wealthy Dodgers have 13-15 dozen legit RPs in LA and the top minors while most teams have 8 or 9. Case in point: the Angels jettisoned Drew Pomeranz and the Dodgers snapped him up as a high-class fixer-upper, joining Dinelson Lamet.
On most teams, Hurt might be seen as a late-inning set-up man, or potential closer… but the Dodgers can afford to use his options, so he gets sent back to the minors.