Great Offensive But No MVP
The 1937 Yankees Won the Series But Charlie Was the League's MVP
Joe DiMaggio had a great sophomore season, the Yankees usually bludgeoned the opposition, but Gehringer was voted the Most Valuable Player.
Offensive baseball is not new. The 1937 New York Yankees averaged 6.24 runs a game, hit a then-record 174 home runs, and batted .283. American League teams averaged 5.23 runs a game and hit .281. Led by Lou Gehrig, Bill Dickey, and sophomore Joe DiMaggio, the Yankees’ bats compensated for a lack of depth in starting pitching and on August 13, ended any semblance of a pennant race when they destroyed the second place Red Sox by sweeping a double header at Fenway Park.
The Yankees Swept the White Sox
Prior to the Red Sox series, the White Sox had visited Yankee Stadium for a crucial four game series – crucial for them. The pale hose were the only team in the league with a season’s edge in head to head competition with the Yankees, but when they left the Bronx, their advantage was gone, as was their second place position. The Yankees swept the White Sox in brutal fashion, bludgeoning them in the four games, scoring 35 runs. Yankees’ pitchers completed only one game in the four game Chicago set, which was not good because in 1937, pitchers were expected to finish what they started.
Two Twenty Game Winners
By today’s standards, the 1937 Yankees' pitching staff would be considered outstanding. Future Hall of Famers Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing won 21 and 20 games respectively, Gomez led the league in ERA (2.33) and strikeouts (194), and team had a fine 3.65 ERA, but the rest of the pitching staff was unreliable most of the time. The Yankees’ big bats were their prime weapon.
Led by Gehrig, Dickey, and DiMaggio
Lou Gehrig had another great season and Bill Dickey batted .332 while setting an American League home run record for catchers with 29, a mark that would stand until Yogi Berra came along, but it was Joe DiMaggio who had one of his most memorable seasons. Connie Mack, the erstwhile manager of the Philadelphia Athletics, commented that he never saw a player get off to better start to his career than DiMaggio, and Mr. Mack saw a few decent young players, including Cobb, Speaker, Wagner, Ruth, Gehrig, and a few other of the greats who played during the first half of the twentieth century.
A Great Season
DiMaggio appeared in 151 games, batted .346 with a .412 OBA and a league leading .673 slugging average. He hit 46 home runs, which remained the most by any right handed batter until 2005, had 167 RBIs, and struck out 37 times. At the age of 22, the only thing that could stop DiMaggio from having a career surpassed by only Ruth, Cobb, and Gehrig was World War II.
Gehringer, Not DiMaggio
DiMaggio didn’t win the 1937 American League MVP award. One baseball writer from each American League city voted, with 10 points going for a first place vote, 9 for second, etc. Detroit’s great second baseman, Charlie Gehringer, who has all but been forgotten in the 21st century, garnered 78 of the 80 possible points, with Dimaggio finishing 4 behind. Gehringer batted .371 with a .458 OBA and a .520 slugging average for the second place Tigers. He struck out 25 times in almost 700 plate appearances. The disparity between Gehringer’s 14 home runs and DiMaggio’s 46 didn’t make a difference in 1937 as it would have in 2008.
References:
- Drebinger, John. “American League Player Prize Won by Gehringer With DiMaggio Close Second.” New York Times. 3 November 1937, p. 33.
- Kieran, John. “Sports of the Times: The Spoilers’ Brute Force.” New York Times. 13 August 1937, p. 22.
- Kieran, John. “Sports of the Times: Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. Runs, Hits and Errors, Old and New Telling Blows.” New York Times. 17 August 1937, p. 14.
1937 Yankees at Baseball-Reference
