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As a
lifelong baseball fan and amateur historian, I have always
been fascinated with the legacy of America's National
pastime. Nothing pleases me more than digging through my
library of baseball books or surfing the 'net and learning
about teams and individuals who played this wonderful sport
decades before my parents were even born. Part of me longs
for the days when it truly was a game and although I have
many fond, first-hand memories of baseball, I feel cheated
at times, for never experiencing it as it was meant to be.
Maybe that's why I have such a fascination with the history
of the game and players who haven't walked the earth during
my lifetime. I also love debating baseball with fellow fans
and one issue that constantly comes up is the challenge over
who was the greatest team of all-time. Some say it was the
1906 Chicago Cubs who won 116 games. Others say the 1929
Philadelphia A's who showcased one of the best pitching
staffs ever to share a mound. Maybe the 1975 Cincinnati Reds
featuring "The Big Red Machine", or even the 1902 Pittsburgh
Pirates, who won the National League crown by 27 1/2 games,
the widest margin of victory in league history. The 1912
Boston Red Sox, the 1942 St. Louis Cardinals, the 1939, 1961
and 1998 New York Yankees, the 1970 Baltimore Orioles, the
1986 New York Mets, the 1995 Cleveland Indians and many
others have all been considered worthy of this honor. All
have been heavily defended (most by their hometown fans) as
the greatest teams in the history of baseball.
With an all-star lineup known as Murderer's Row, New York outscored its opponents by nearly 400 runs and hit .307 as a team. Babe Ruth, perhaps the greatest ever, set the original single season mark with 60 homeruns which was more than any other American League team had combined. The Sultan of Swat also had plenty of help from his fellow sluggers in pinstripes. Outfield counterparts, Earle Combs in center and Bob Meusel in left, hit .356 and .337 respectively. Lou Gehrig had his first big season, batting .373 with 47 homers and a league leading 175 RBIs. Second year man Tony Lazzeri ranked third in the loop with 18 homers. The pitching staff boasted four men who won 18 or more wins, led by Waite Hoyt at 22-7. Herb Pennock and Wilcy Moore gained 19 victories apiece while Urban Shocker added 18. This lethal trio complemented the dominant offense by claiming the league's three best ERAs. Moore, who pitched primarily in relief, led the way with a 2.28 mark. With a 110-44 record, the Bronx Bombers ran away with the American League pennant, winning by a staggering 19 games. For an encore, they swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series and went on to win another championship the following year. What made this group so exceptional was the sheer quantity of individual record setting performances and accomplishments that combined to form a group so far ahead of it's competition, it was almost unfair to any team not wearing the NY on their caps. The Yankees led the American League in nearly every offensive category. They set major league records with 975 runs scored, 158 home runs, 908 runs batted in, and a .489 slugging average. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig combined to form the most devastating 1-2 batting combo in history. They finished one-two, respectively (Ruth-Gehrig), in the league in home runs, runs scored, batting, strikeouts and walks. They also finished one-two, respectively (Gehrig-Ruth), in the league in runs batted in, total bases and extra base hits. The 32 year old Ruth batted .356, set a major league record with 60 HRs, topping by one the mark he had set six years earlier, had 164 RBIs, and scored a league leading 158 runs. Gehrig, only 24 and in his third season as the regular first baseman, batted .373, hit 47 HRs, and set a major league record with 175 RBIs, breaking Ruth's mark of 171. The best lead off hitter in baseball, Earle Combs, batted .356 and led the league with 231 hits and 23 triples. Bob Meusel batted .337 with eight HRs and 103 RBIs, and finished second with 24 SBs. Tony Lazzeri batted .309, finished third in the league with 18 HRs, had 102 RBIs, and tied for third with 22 SBs. The switch hitting Mark Koenig batted .285 and scored 99 runs from the number two spot in the order. Joe Dugan, one of the best fielding third basemen in baseball, finished strong despite his .269 average. And the average, but underrated, catching trio of Pat Collins, John Grabowski and Benny Bengough combined to hit .271 with 7 HRs and 71 RBIs. This lethal
rotation at the plate became known as Murderer's Row and
this group, usually called the Bronx Bombers, earned their
new nickname after killing pitchers statistical earnings
throughout the league. Yankee pitchers, grateful to be in
pinstripes, also dominated the league, posting a leading
3.20 ERA and 11 shutouts. Waite Hoyt, the ace of the staff,
turned in his best campaign yet, posting a 22-7 record and
leading the league in winning percentage, tying for the
league lead in wins, and finishing second with a 2.64 ERA.
Thirty year old rookie Wilcy Moore burst into the majors as
the best relief pitcher in baseball, posting a 19-7 record
and leading the league with a 2.28 ERA, while tying for the
league lead with 13 saves. Herb Pennock, one of the best
southpaws in the game, finished 19-8 with a 3.00 ERA. Urban
Shocker, one of the few pitchers still legally allowed to
throw a spitball, finished 18-6 and was third in the league
with a 2.84 ERA. Dutch Ruether, in his final season in the
major leagues, and the hard throwing George Pipgras, after
being eased into the starting rotation in mid season,
combined for a 23-9 record, with a 3.73 ERA.
The Yankees 1-4 hitters (Combs, Koenig, Ruth and Gehrig) combined to hit .387 with 2 HRs, 16 RBIs and 17 RS, while the rest of the hitters batted just .189 with only 3 RBIs and 6 RS. Together, Ruth and Gehrig batted .357 and had a slugging average of .786. With homers in both Games 3 and 4, Ruth became the fifth player in Series history to hit a HR in back to back games. They were only his second and third homeruns at Yankee Stadium and there would be many more to come. Koenig led all batters by hitting .500 (9 for 18), and was the only Yankee to hit safely in each game. The 1927 Yankees represented TEAM in every sense of the word. The company they shared in the dugout made these great players even greater. In today's game, it would be virtually impossible to put together such an elite group of talent (at the same time) in a single clubhouse and their accomplishments together will never be duplicated. Players today seem more concerned with individual achievements and if more players played for the team instead of for the player, they would compliment each other's strengths, compensate for each other's weaknesses and push each other to be even more successful. In other words, they could all take a lesson from the 1927 Yankees, the greatest team of all-time.
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How ya' doin? Best sites on 'da 'net! New York Yankees Mighty Yanks The Bombers Fast Facts: Betcha' didn't know Set the AL records for catching more than 100 games in 13 seasons, and for not allowing a single passed ball in 125 games. Set records for most grandslams in a season with 6, most homeruns in 7 consecutive games with 9, and most home runs in 8 with 10. "Have faith in the Yankees, my son." Ernest Hemingway The Old Man and the Sea Trivia: In 1929, the Yankees became the first team to make numbers a permanent part of the uniform. The initial distribution of numbers was made according to the player's position in the team's batting order. Who wore 1 through 10? Answer In Next Issue Have a trivia question? Email it to us and maybe we'll use it in an upcoming issue. |