Four in a Row

1939 New York YankeesHome Field: Yankee Stadium
World ChampionsHit: #1 R, #2 BA
W - 106 L - 45Pitch: #1 OR, ERA
Manager: Joe McCarthyDef: #1 FA

To steal a line from Charles Dickens, 1939 was both the best of times and the worst of times for the Yankees. A year before, the Bronx Bombers had won an unprecented third straight World Series championship, climaxed with a sweep of the Cubs. Joe DiMaggio had established himself as one of the brightest young stars in the game. Lou Gehrig had another productive season and played in every Yankee game for the 13th year in a row. New York was once again the team to beat.

Fate dealt the Yankees a couple of blows. In January, owner Jacob Ruppert, the man who had built the club into a dynasty for the ages, passed away. Then early in the season, Gehrig asked out of the lineup. Nobody knew it immediately, but Gehrig was dying. The road to a fourth straight title was suddenly much more difficult. Not for long, as it turns out.

The 1939 edition of the Yankees ran away from the field, defeating second place Boston by 17 games. DiMaggio, the league's MVP, batted .381 and drove in 126. Bill Dickey, Joe Gordon, Red Rolfe, and Charlie Keller helped bolster the league's best offense.

But as devistating as the offense was, the pitching was even better. Led by Red Ruffing, the Yankees allowed nearly 150 runs fewer than any other team in the league. The staff Earned Run Average was 1.31 below the league average, the best this century. What's so unusual is the staff used a starting rotation by committee. Ruffing with 28 start and Lefty Gomez with 26 were the only pitchers who made more than 20 starts. Eight different men, made at least 11 starts. The approach worked with deadly efficiency.

The Yankees outscored their opponents by 411 runs, a greater run differential than any team in history. It should come as no surprise, then, to learn that the Yankees swept the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series.



Pos Player Bats AB H R HR RBI BA    AL Rank
C Bill Dickey L 480 145 98 24 105 .302  
1B Babe Dahlgren R 531 125 71 15 89 .235  
2B Joe Gordon R 567 161 92 28 111 .284    #5 HR, #5t RBI
SS Frank Crosetti R 656 153 109 10 56 .233  
3B Red Rolfe L 648 213 139 14 80 .329    #1 R
LF George Selkirk L 418 128 103 21 101 .306  
CF Joe DiMaggio R 462 176 108 30 126 .381    #1 BA; #2 RBI; #3 HR
RF Charlie Keller L 398 133 87 11 83 .334    #5 BA
                 
OF Tommy Henrich L 347 96 64 9 57 .277  
C Buddy Rosar R 105 29 18 0 12 .276  
OF Jake Powell R 86 21 12 1 9 .244  
                   
TOTAL: Team   5300 1521 967 166 903 .287  
  League Average   42594 11866 6404 796 5963 .279  


Pitcher Throw G IP W L ERA PCT    AL Rank
  Red Ruffing R 28 233 21 7 2.94 .750    #2 W; #4 ERA
  Lefty Gomez L 26 198 12 8 3.41 .600  
  Bump Hadley R 26 154 12 6 2.98 .667    #5 ERA
  Atley Donald R 24 153 13 3 3.71 .813  
  Monte Pearson R 22 146 12 5 4.50 .706  
  Steve Sundra R 24 121 11 1 2.75 .917  
  Oral H ildebrand R 21 127 10 4 3.05 .714  
  Marius Russo L 21 116 8 3 2.41 .727  
  Johnny Murphy R 38 61 3 6 4.43 .333  
                 
TOTAL: Team       106 45 3.31    
  League Average           4.62    

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