1938 MLB season | |
---|---|
League | American League (AL) National League (NL) |
Sport | Baseball |
Duration | Regular season:
|
Number of games | 154 |
Number of teams | 16 (8 per league) |
Regular season | |
Season MVP | AL: Jimmie Foxx (BSR) NL: Ernie Lombardi (CIN) |
AL champions | New York Yankees |
AL runners-up | Boston Red Sox |
NL champions | Chicago Cubs |
NL runners-up | Pittsburgh Pirates |
World Series | |
Champions | New York Yankees |
Runners-up | Chicago Cubs |
The 1938 major league baseball season began on April 18, 1938. The regular season ended on October 2, with the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the 35th World Series on October 5 and ended with Game 4 on October 9. In the second iteration of this World Series matchup, the Yankees swept the Cubs in four games, capturing their seventh championship in franchise history, and their third in a four-World Series run, becoming the first team to win three consecutive World Series.
The sixth Major League Baseball All-Star Game was played on July 6, hosted by the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the National League winning, 4–1.
The 1938 schedule consisted of 154 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 22 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place since the 1904 season (except for 1919) and would be used until 1961 in the American League and 1962 in the National League.
American League Opening Day took place on April 18 with four teams playing, while National League Opening Day took place the following day, featuring all eight teams. This was the first season since 1932 that both leagues opened on different days. The final day of the regular season was on October 2 and featured all sixteen teams, continuing the trend since the previous season. The World Series took place between October 5 and October 9.
An asterisk (*) denotes the ballpark a team played the minority of their home games at
Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York Yankees | 99 | 53 | .651 | — | 55–22 | 44–31 |
Boston Red Sox | 88 | 61 | .591 | 9½ | 52–23 | 36–38 |
Cleveland Indians | 86 | 66 | .566 | 13 | 46–30 | 40–36 |
Detroit Tigers | 84 | 70 | .545 | 16 | 48–31 | 36–39 |
Washington Senators | 75 | 76 | .497 | 23½ | 44–33 | 31–43 |
Chicago White Sox | 65 | 83 | .439 | 32 | 33–39 | 32–44 |
St. Louis Browns | 55 | 97 | .362 | 44 | 31–43 | 24–54 |
Philadelphia Athletics | 53 | 99 | .349 | 46 | 28–47 | 25–52 |
Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chicago Cubs | 89 | 63 | .586 | — | 44–33 | 45–30 |
Pittsburgh Pirates | 86 | 64 | .573 | 2 | 44–33 | 42–31 |
New York Giants | 83 | 67 | .553 | 5 | 43–30 | 40–37 |
Cincinnati Reds | 82 | 68 | .547 | 6 | 43–34 | 39–34 |
Boston Bees | 77 | 75 | .507 | 12 | 45–30 | 32–45 |
St. Louis Cardinals | 71 | 80 | .470 | 17½ | 36–41 | 35–39 |
Brooklyn Dodgers | 69 | 80 | .463 | 18½ | 31–41 | 38–39 |
Philadelphia Phillies | 45 | 105 | .300 | 43 | 26–48 | 19–57 |
World Series | ||||
AL | New York Yankees | 4 | ||
NL | Chicago Cubs | 0 |
Stat | Player | Total |
---|---|---|
AVG | Jimmie Foxx (BRS) | .349 |
OPS | Jimmie Foxx (BRS) | 1.166 |
HR | Hank Greenberg (DET) | 58 |
RBI | Jimmie Foxx (BRS) | 175 |
R | Hank Greenberg (DET) | 143 |
H | Joe Vosmik (BRS) | 201 |
SB | Frankie Crosetti (NYY) | 27 |
Stat | Player | Total |
---|---|---|
W | Red Ruffing (NYY) | 21 |
L | George Caster (PHA) | 20 |
ERA | Lefty Grove (BRS) | 3.08 |
K | Bob Feller (CLE) | 240 |
IP | Bobo Newsom (SLB) | 329.2 |
SV | Johnny Murphy (NYY) | 11 |
WHIP | Dutch Leonard (WSH) | 1.227 |
Stat | Player | Total |
---|---|---|
AVG | Ernie Lombardi (CIN) | .342 |
OPS | Johnny Mize (SLC) | 1.036 |
HR | Mel Ott (NYG) | 36 |
RBI | Joe Medwick (SLC) | 122 |
R | Mel Ott (NYG) | 116 |
H | Frank McCormick (CIN) | 237 |
SB | Stan Hack (CHC) | 16 |
Stat | Player | Total |
---|---|---|
W | Bill Lee (CHC) | 22 |
L | Hugh Mulcahy (PHP) | 20 |
ERA | Bill Lee (CHC) | 2.66 |
K | Clay Bryant (CHC) | 135 |
IP | Paul Derringer (CIN) | 307.0 |
SV | Dick Coffman (NYG) | 12 |
WHIP | Carl Hubbell (NYG) | 1.140 |
Baseball Writers' Association of America Awards | ||
---|---|---|
BBWAA Award | National League | American League |
Most Valuable Player | Ernie Lombardi (CIN) | Jimmie Foxx (BRS) |
The Sporting News Awards | ||
---|---|---|
Award | National League | American League |
Most Valuable Player [1] | Ernie Lombardi (CIN) | Jimmie Foxx (BRS) |
Player of the Year [2] | Johnny Vander Meer (CIN) | — |
Manager of the Year [3] | — | Joe McCarthy (NYY) |
Executive of the Year [4] | Warren Giles (CIN) | — |
Team name | Wins | %± | Home attendance | %± | Per game |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York Yankees [5] | 99 | −2.9% | 970,916 | −2.7% | 12,290 |
Chicago Cubs [6] | 89 | −4.3% | 951,640 | 6.3% | 12,359 |
New York Giants [7] | 83 | −12.6% | 799,633 | −13.7% | 10,954 |
Detroit Tigers [8] | 84 | −5.6% | 799,557 | −25.4% | 10,121 |
Cincinnati Reds [9] | 82 | 46.4% | 706,756 | 71.9% | 9,179 |
Brooklyn Dodgers [10] | 69 | 11.3% | 663,087 | 37.4% | 8,961 |
Cleveland Indians [11] | 86 | 3.6% | 652,006 | 15.4% | 8,579 |
Boston Red Sox [12] | 88 | 10.0% | 646,459 | 15.5% | 8,619 |
Pittsburgh Pirates [13] | 86 | 0.0% | 641,033 | 39.5% | 8,218 |
Washington Senators [14] | 75 | 2.7% | 522,694 | 31.4% | 6,701 |
Philadelphia Athletics [15] | 53 | −1.9% | 385,357 | −10.5% | 5,070 |
Boston Bees [16] | 77 | −2.5% | 341,149 | −11.5% | 4,549 |
Chicago White Sox [17] | 65 | −24.4% | 338,278 | −42.6% | 4,634 |
St. Louis Cardinals [18] | 71 | −12.3% | 291,418 | −32.4% | 3,598 |
Philadelphia Phillies [19] | 45 | −26.2% | 166,111 | −21.9% | 2,215 |
St. Louis Browns [20] | 55 | 19.6% | 130,417 | 5.9% | 1,694 |