MLB Update: 7/28 | Giants Make Moves

History of Baseball: 1936

World Series Champions: New York Yankees (102-51, .666 WPCT).

The 1936 season started off with a little bit of history. On February 2nd, the vote for the opening class of the brand new Baseball Hall of Fame was announced. Five players received the requisite 75%: Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, and Honus Wagner all gained baseball immortality, though the actual building was not established yet. Following their dismal 1935 season, the Boston Braves changed their name to the Boston Bees for the 1936 season. Across the Pacific, the Nagoya defeated Dai Tokyo 8-5 in the first professional baseball game ever played in Japan. Replacing all the stars who retired in 1935 (Babe Ruth, Dazzy Vance, Earle Combs, ect.) were three future Hall of Famers. First, on April 16th, the Cardinals brought up Johnny “The Big Cat” Mize, who would turn out to be one of the greatest hitters of the late 1930’s and early 1940’s. Next, on May 3rd, the New York Yankees brought up a 21 year old Californian to be their new center fielder. “Joltin’ Joe” DiMaggio, as he would come to be known, still ranks today as one of the greatest ballplayers who ever lived. Lastly, on July 19th, the Indians called upon a 17 year old kid from Iowa to pitch. His name was Bob Feller, and he would be a superstar before he reached the drinking age. Heading out in 1936 were Bill Terry, who hit .401 in 1930 and retired with a .341 career average, and Firpo Marberry, at the time the only player in major league history with 100 saves. Other notable events from that season included the National League’s 4-3 victory in the All Star Game, which marked the first time the NL topped the AL. Three days later, Chuck Klein became the fourth player in major league history to blast four home runs in a game, doing so in his Phillies’ 9-6, ten inning win over the Pirates on July 10th.

The American League was no contest in 1936. Led by rookie Joe DiMaggio, the New York Yankees went 102-51 to win the AL by 19.5 games over the Detroit Tigers (83-71). Over in the National League, Carl Hubbell, riding a 16 game winning streak, led the Giants to a 92-62 record and a pennant, won by five games over the Chicago Cubs (87-67). Both Philadelphia teams lost 100 games, combing for a dismal 107-200 record for the city (53-100 for the A’s, 54-100 for the Phillies). Both New York teams met in the World Series, which the Giants’ Carl Hubbell quickly got started with a complete game victory. After that, however, it was all Yankees. Outfielder Jake Powell led the Bombers by homering and batting .455 with eight runs scored in the six game series, while Joe DiMaggio hit .346 in his first taste of World Series action. Lefty Gomez picked up a pair of victories, while Bump Hadley and Monte Pearson each earned wins with a pair of pitching gems. Lou Gehrig and Tony Lazzeri drove in seven runs each.

For the second straight year, both MVP awards were handed out to members of the World Series teams. 33 year old Lou Gehrig took home the AL award, while the Giants’ Carl Hubbell, a mere three days younger than Gehrig, picked up the NL version. In Gehrig’s monster season, he tied a career high with 49 home runs while driving in 152, batting .354, and scoring 167 runs, the highest run total since Babe Ruth scored 177 in 1921. The batting title went to the White Sox’ Luke Appling, who hit .388 with 128 RBI and 111 runs scored. Pittsburgh’s Paul Waner earned the NL batting title at .373 while scoring 107 runs and knocking 53 doubles. Back in New York, Yankees rookie Joe DiMaggio put on quite a show, batting .323 with 29 home runs, 125 RBI, and 132 runs scored. However, the real breakout star of the season was Cleveland’s Hal Trosky, who batted .343 with 42 home runs and 162 RBI in just his third full season, still only 23 years old. Trosky’s teammate, Earl Averill, set a career high with his .378 average while also hitting 28 home runs and driving in 126. Jimmie Foxx put up one of the best years of his career, batting .338 with 41 home runs and 143 RBI in his first season with the Red Sox. On the mound, Carl Hubbell was the dominant force yet again. He went 26-6 with a 2.31 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP, leading the major leagues in all three of those categories. His 2.31 ERA actually led by half a run, as Boston’s Lefty Grove clocked in in second place at 2.81 while going 17-12. The Cardinals’ Dizzy Dean continued to baffle hitters, going 24-13 with a 3.17 ERA, a 1.15 WHIP, and a major league leading eleven saves. The Bees’ Danny MacFayden, until then little known outside of Boston, put up a huge season by going 17-13 with a 2.87 ERA in what would be the start of a three year run of excellence in his eleventh through fourteenth major league seasons. Hubbell, Grove, and MacFayden were the only three pitchers to keep their ERA under 3.00. Over in Brooklyn, Van Mungo struck out 238 batters, the highest total since Brooklyn’s Dazzy Vance struck out 262 in 1924. Despite going 18-19 with a 3.35 ERA, an arm injury in 1937 would keep Mungo from ever making 30 starts in a season again.

News

Red Sox traded Jake Peavy (1-9, 4.72 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, age 33) to the Giants for minor leaguers Edwin Escobar (3-8, 5.11 ERA, 1.49 WHIP at AAA, age 22) and Heath Hembree (1-3, 3.89 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 18 SV at AAA, age 25).

Giants signed Dan Uggla (2 HR, 10 RBI, .162 AVG, 0 SB, age 34) to a minor league deal.

Cubs designated Darwin Barney for assignment.

The White Sox’ Jose Abreu became the first player to 30 home runs.

Rays snapped their eight game winning streak.

Game Scores
Nationals (57-45) beat the Reds (52-52) 4-2.

Red Sox (48-57) beat the Rays (51-54) 3-2.

Blue Jays (56-50) beat the Yankees (54-50) 5-4.

Phillies (46-59) beat the Diamondbacks (45-60) 4-2.

Dodgers (59-47) beat the Giants (57-48) 4-3.

Cardinals (56-48) beat the Cubs (42-61) 1-0.

Angels (63-41) beat the Tigers (57-45) 2-1.

Pirates (55-49) beat the Rockies (43-61) 7-5.

Top Scorer: Indians beat the Royals 10-3.

Standings

AL East: Orioles (58-46, .558 WPCT). AL Central: Tigers (57-45, .559). AL West: A’s (65-39, .625).

NL East: Nationals (57-45, .559). NL Central: Brewers (59-47, .557). NL West: Dodgers (59-47, .557).

AL Wild Cards: Angels (63-41, .606) and Blue Jays (56-50, .528). NL Wild Cards: Braves and Giants (57-48, .543).

Bottom Team: Rangers (41-64, .390). Longest W Streak: Marlins, 4 games. Longest L Streak: Astros, 5 games.

League Leaders

Note: From now on, I will use abbreviations for teams in order to save space. See bottom of this blog for key.

Offensive: AVG: Jose Altuve (HOU), .344 (148-430). 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: Trevor Rosenthal (STL), 32.

Top Performers

Offensive: Carlos Santana (CLE): 3-3, 2 home runs (20), 4 RBI, 2 runs, walk, AVG up .006 from .226 to .232, hitting streak to 7 games (15-27, .556 AVG).

Pitching: Doug Fister (WAS): Win (10-2), 7 shutout innings, 3 hits, 1 walk, 5 K’s (54), ERA drop: 0.23 runs from 2.92 to 2.69.

Worst Pitching Performance: Miles Mikolas (TEX): Loss (1-3), 4.2 innings, 8 runs (7 earned), 7 hits, 4 walks, 1 K (16), ERA jump: 1.06 runs from 7.48 to 8.54.

Team Abbreviations: Diamondbacks: ARI. Braves: ATL. Orioles: BAL. Red Sox: BOS. Cubs: CHC. Reds: CIN. Indians: CLE. Rockies: COL. White Sox: CWS. Tigers: DET. Astros: HOU. Royals: KC. Angels: LAA. Dodgers: LAD. Marlins: MIA. Brewers: MIL. Twins: MIN. Mets: NYM. Yankees: NYY. A’s: OAK. Phillies: PHI. Pirates: PIT. Padres: SD. Mariners: SEA. Giants: SF. Cardinals: STL. Rays: TB. Rangers: TEX. Blue Jays: TOR. Nationals: WAS.

--
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