Series! Recap of World Series of the 1930s

President Franklin Roosevelt at the 1933 World Series game in Washington, DC. Photo by Harris & Ewing, photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I had such a good time putting together the recent recap of 2020s World Series, I decided to travel backwards in time ro the 1930s. (We’d already done the 40s.) Many of the people are now obscure, but some are still familiar, and others well worth visiting.

1930

This is during the second Golden Age of the Philadelphia Athletics, when owner/manager Connie Mack has put together a team of perennial champions. This one is built around slugger Jimmy Foxx (lifetime 534 HRs) and noted sourpuss Lefty Grove (lifetime 300 wins), who is in the conversation for best pitcher of all time, but also included Hall of Famers catcher Mickey Cochrane, and outfielder Al Simmons. Facing them were the St. Louis Cardinals, who’d been a National League power since the mid-1920s. They’re led by HoFer Frankie Frisch and several players who are in the HoF due to Frisch’s influence with the voters. (If you wonder why an unimpressive old timer is in the Hall, that’s often it.) The Cardinals were an offensive juggernaut (1004 runs in 154 games, in a season where offense overwhelmed defense all through baseball), but as it so often does, good pitching beats good hitting. A’s 4-2.

1931

The Cardinals won the rematch, 4-3. After this year, Depression-era finances forced Connie Mack to break up the team, selling Grove and Foxx to the Red Sox. The team will fall into the second division and not emerge until the 1970s, after moving first to Kansas City and then to Oakland.

Trivia: In A League Of Their Own, Tom Hanks is playing a fictionalized version of Jimmy Foxx, who managed one year in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

1932

1932 featured one of the classic Ruth/Gehrig teams, managed by Joe McCarthy (not the Senator) winning 107 games. Lefty Gomez went 24-7. They faced a Cubs team managed by Rogers Hornsby, where the only real standout was pitcher Lon Warneke (22-6, ERA 2.37). The Yankees swept, in mostly high-scoring games, outscoring the Cubs 37-19 overall. This would be the Babe’s last Series.

1933

Joe Cronin had quite a life in baseball. First he was a Hall of Fame-caliber shortstop, then a player-manager, then a general manager, winding up as president of the American League. In 1033, he was both named manager and came in second in MVP voting (Jimmy Foxx won), and led the Senators to the pennant. They faced the New York Giants, featuring slugger Mel Ott (lifetime 511 HRs, tied with Ted Williams) and screwball pitcher Carl Hubbell. Hubbell won both his starts as the Giants took it 4-1. That’s the last we’ll see of the Senators until they move to Minnesota.

1934

Th Cardinals again, now bolstered by two more deserving Hall of Famers: Outfielder Ducky Medwick and Dizzy Dean. Also, shortstop Leo Durocher, though he’s in the Hall as a manager. Facing them were the Tigers, led by two Hall of Famers of their own, first baseman Hank Greenberg and second baseman Charlie Gehringer. Mickey Cochrane too, as Connie Mack had sold him to Detroit, where he became player-manager. The Tigers took a 3-2 lead, but Dizzy’s brother Paul won a close game 6 and then Dizzy won a 11-0 laugher.

1935

The Tigers again, this time versus the Cubs. Now the Cubs have the MVP in catcher Gabby Hartnett and solid MVP candidates in second baseman Billy Herman, outfielder Augie Galan, and Warneke. But the Tigers have the AL MVP in Greenberg and equally good candidates in Gehringer and Cochrane. Six games, almost all close and Tigers 4-2.

1936

Ruth is gone, but the Yankees have this rookie named Joe DiMaggio, who in addition to slugging, plays a brilliant center field. The Giants are still led by Ott and Hubbell. With the Yankees leading the Series 3-1, the Giants pull off a 5-4 extra-inning nailbiter, but that’s followed by a 13-5 Yankee drubbing.

1937

In the rematch, the Giants go quietly as the Yankees win 4-1. This is, by the way, the most recent time the Giants made the postseason in two years in a row.

1938

Dizzy Dean is a Cub now, but their best pitcher is Bill Lee (not the Spaceman), But he loses both of his series starts as the Cubs get swept by the Yankees, outscored 22-9.

1939

There’s no gentle way to say this: This is the year when Lou Gehrig is too sick to play and gives his famous speech at Yankee Stadium.

While his replacement, Babe Dahlgren, has a terrible year. every other starter is terrific (six are All-Stars) and the Yankees win 106 games. DiMaggio is otherworldly at .381/.448/.671 and wins the MVP. In the other corner, the Cincinnati Reds, who win 97 games behind Triple Crown winner and MVP pitcher Bucky Walters. Another sweep, as Walters loses both pf his starts and the Yankees outscore the Reds 20-8.

Recap: Yankees 5-0, Cards 2-1, Giants 1-2, A’s and Tigers 1-1, Cubs 0-3, Reds and Senators 0-1.