MLB Update: 7/29 | Infielders on the Move

History of Baseball: 1937

World Series Champions: New York Yankees (102-52, .662 WPCT).

Three more well-deserving players were elected into the Hall of Fame in 1937. Joining Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, and Walter Johnson were Nap Lajoie, Tris Speaker, and Cy Young, bringing the total number enshrined to eight. On April 20th, the Red Sox brought up a 19 year old second baseman from Los Angeles named Bobby Doerr. Despite an uneventful rookie season, Doerr would go on to have a Hall of Fame career in Boston. Hall of Famers who retired in 1937 included Pie Traynor, Frankie Frisch, and Jim Bottomley, but the most notable was Rogers Hornsby, who hung up his spikes after an eventful 23 year career that saw him bat .358 with 301 home runs and 1584 RBI for the Cardinals, Giants, Braves, Cubs, and Browns. He was 41 at the time of his retirement and finished just 70 hits shy of 3000. To me, Hornsby is the greatest second baseman who ever lived. Mickey Cochrane, the 1934 AL MVP and one of the greatest catchers of the era, had his playing career ended when he was hit in the head with a Bump Hadley fastball. Cochrane, a .320 career hitter and three time World Series Champion, would be elected into the Hall of Fame in 1947. Two days after Cochrane was hit in the head, on May 27th, Carl Hubbell earned his 24th straight victory, setting a major league record.

For the second straight season, the Yankees made sure the American League was no contest. By going 102-52, New York put a 13 game cushion between itself and the second place Detroit Tigers (89-65), while the St. Louis Browns finished 66 games back with a dismal 46-108 showing. In the NL, the New York Giants earned their second straight NL Pennant, meeting the Yankees in the World Series for the second straight season. In the Series, the Yanks immediately took the first three games before the Giants salvaged a Game Four victory. The Yankees won Game Five, winning their sixth World Series title, passing the Philadelphia Athletics and Boston Red Sox for the most all time. They would never look back, and to date have 27 titles. Yankee second baseman Tony Lazzeri homered and batted .400, while outfielder George Selkirk added six RBI and five runs scored in five games. Lefty Gomez earned a pair of complete game victories, while Monte Pearson and Red Ruffing dominated in their starts to keep the Giants bats at bay.

Charlie Gehringer, the AL batting champion, took home the AL MVP Award after batting .371 with 14 home runs, 96 RBI, and 133 runs scored. The NL MVP Award was handed to the Cardinals’ Joe Medwick, who won the NL Triple Crown by batting .374 with 31 home runs and 154 RBI. Backing up Medwick’s bat in the St. Louis lineup was breakout star Johnny Mize, who batted .364 with 25 home runs and 113 RBI. Despite the two big hitters in the lineup, St. Louis finished at 81-73, in fourth place. 34 year old Lou Gehrig put up the last MVP caliber season of his career, batting .351 with 37 home runs and 159 RBI. On the other side of the age scale, his 22 year old teammate, Joe DiMaggio, put up a huge breakout season by batting .346 with 46 home runs and 167 RBI. Both the 46 home runs and 167 RBI would remain career bests for DiMaggio. Back in Detroit, Hank Greenberg set a Tigers record with 183 RBI to go along with 40 home runs and a .337 average. Since 1937, no player has matched Greenberg’s 183 RBI, which stand as the third highest single season total behind Hack Wilson’s 191 in 1930 and Lou Gehrig’s 184 in 1931. Joining Greenberg and Gehringer in the stacked Detroit lineup was 23 year old Rudy York, who batted .307 with 35 home runs and 103 RBI in his rookie season. Easily the best pitcher in the game was the Yankees’ Lefty Gomez, who went 21-11 with a major league leading 2.33 ERA. 33 year old rookie Jim Turner put up a big first season, going 20-11 with a 2.38 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP. Carl Hubbell continued racking up the wins, going 22-8 with a 3.20 ERA. It was his fifth straight season with more than 20 wins, but Hubbell would not win more than 13 in any season afterwards. Giants’ rookie Cliff Melton went 20-9 with a 2.61 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP to team with Hubbell to lead the Giants to the World Series. Dizzy Dean, whose arm was destroyed by constant wear and tear from the thousands of screwballs he’d thrown over his career, played his final full season, as well as his final season with the Cardinals, going 13-10 with a 2.69 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. A new closer emerged in Chicago, as White Sox reliever Clint Brown saved 18 games while putting up a 3.42 ERA over 53 appearances.

News

Cubs traded Darwin Barney (2 HR, 16 RBI, .230 AVG, 1 SB, age 28) to the Dodgers for a player to be named later or cash.

Royals traded Danny Valencia (2 HR, 11 RBI, .282 AVG, 0 SB, age 29) to the Blue Jays for Erik Kratz (3 HR, 10 RBI, .198 AVG, 0 SB, age 34) and Liam Hendriks (1-0, 6.08 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, age 25).

Rangers traded Jason Frasor (1-1, 3.34 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, age 36) to the Royals for minor leaguer Spencer Patton (4-3, 4.08 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 14 SV at AAA, age 26).

Marlins rallied from six down in the seventh to beat the Nationals 7-6, largely thanks to a four run ninth inning off of closer Rafael Soriano.

The Dodgers shored up their infield with a deal for the slick-fielding Darwin Barney. The light hitting second baseman will provide valuable backup in an infield that has struggled to find a solid backup for injury-troubled Hanley Ramirez. Rookies Miguel Rojas (.207 AVG, 1 HR) and Carlos Triunfel (.143 AVG, 1 HR) have both been used, but Barney should prove to be a reliable, major league caliber backup. A 2012 NL Gold Glove winner for second base, Barney holds a .244 career batting average with 88 doubles, so he can handle a bat as well. His best season came in 2011, when he batted .276 with two home runs and nine stolen bases as a rookie. So far this season, he is batting .230 with a pair of home runs in 72 games. For his career, he has 18 home runs, 146 RBI, and a .244 batting average with 20 stolen bases in 542 games.

Game Scores

Marlins (52-53) beat the Nationals (57-46) 7-6.

Blue Jays (57-50) beat the Red Sox (48-58) 14-1.

Rangers (42-64) beat the Yankees (54-51) 4-2.

Mets (51-55) beat the Phillies (46-60) 7-1.

Cubs (43-61) beat the Rockies (43-62) 4-1.

Rays (52-54) beat the Brewers (59-48) 2-1.

Top Scorer: Blue Jays beat the Red Sox 14-1.

Standings

AL East: Orioles (58-46, .558 WPCT). AL Central: Tigers (57-45, .559). AL West: A’s (65-40, .619).

NL East: Nationals (57-46, .553). NL Central: Brewers (59-48, .551). NL West: Dodgers (59-47, .557).

AL Wild Cards: Angels (63-41, .606) and Blue Jays (57-50, .533). NL Wild Cards: Braves (58-48, .547) and Cardinals (56-48, .538).

Bottom Team: Rangers (42-64, .396). Longest W Streak: Marlins, 5 games. Longest L Streak: Giants, 5 games.

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Jose Altuve (HOU), .343 (149-434). Home runs: Jose Abreu (CWS), 30. RBI: Miguel Cabrera (DET), 81. Stolen bases: Dee Gordon (LAD), 46.

Pitching: Wins: Adam Wainwright (STL), 13. K’s: David Price (TB), 183. ERA: Clayton Kershaw (LAD), 1.76 (112.1 IP, 22 ER). Saves: Craig Kimbrel (ATL) and Trevor Rosenthal (STL), 32.

Top Performers

Offensive: Travis d’Arnaud (NYM): 3-4, 2 doubles, home run (7), 3 RBI, 2 runs, AVG up .009 from .223 to .232, hitting streak to 1 game (3-4, .750 AVG).

Pitching: Vance Worley (PIT): Win (4-1), 9 shutout innings, 4 hits, 1 walk, 3 K’s (30), ERA drop: 0.56 runs from 3.10 to 2.54.

Worst Pitching Performance: Felix Doubront (BOS): No decision, 0.2 innings, 6 earned runs, 6 hits, 2 walks, 0 K’s, ERA jump: 0.85 runs from 5.22 to 6.07.

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Teams followed in this update: Washington Nationals, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers

If your team is not included, please leave a comment.
HR: home runs. RBI: runs batted in. AVG: batting average. SB: stolen bases. ERA: earned run average. WHIP: walks/hits per innings pitched. K’s: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage

Zack Silverman