1927 New York Yankees season

1927 New York Yankees Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs American League Champions World Series Champions
Major league affiliations
American League (Since 1901)
Location
Yankee Stadium (Since 1923) New York City, New York (Since 1903)
1927 Information
Owner(s)	Jacob Ruppert
Manager(s)	Miller Huggins
Local television	none
Local radio	none
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The 1927 New York Yankees season was their 25th season. The team finished with a record of 110-44, winning their fifth pennant and finishing 19 games ahead of the Philadelphia Athletics. New York was managed by Miller Huggins. The Yankees played at Yankee Stadium. In the World Series, they swept the Pittsburgh Pirates. This Yankee team is known for their feared lineup, which was nicknamed "Murderers' Row". This team is widely considered to be one of the best baseball teams in history.

Regular season

Yankee Stadium in 1927.

The Yankees' 110 victories broke the previous American League mark of 105 (set by the 1912 Boston Red Sox) and would stand as the American League single-season record until it was broken by the Cleveland Indians in 1954.

This was the first year the Yankees acknowledged their team nickname on their uniforms, albeit their road uniforms. Their home uniforms remained free of any kind of logo except for the "NY" on their caps.

The roster included seven future Hall of Famers: Pitchers Herb Pennock and Waite Hoyt, Infielders Lou Gehrig and Tony Lazzeri, outfielders Babe Ruth and Earle Combs and Manager Miller Huggins.

Babe Ruth

With the race long since decided, the nation's attention turned to Babe Ruth's pursuit of his own home run mark of 59, set in 1921. Early in the season, Ruth expressed doubts about his chances: "I don't suppose I'll ever break that 1921 record. To do that, you've got to start early, and the pitchers have got to pitch to you. I don't start early, and the pitchers haven't really pitched to me in four seasons. I get more bad balls to hit than any other five men...and fewer good ones." Ruth was also being challenged for his slugger's crown by teammate Lou Gehrig, who nudged ahead of Ruth's total in midseason, prompting the New York World-Telegram to anoint Gehrig the favorite. But Ruth caught Gehrig (who would finish with 47), and then had a remarkable last leg of the season, hitting 17 home runs in September. His 60th came on September 30, in the Yankees' next-to-last game. Ruth was exultant, shouting after the game, "Sixty, count 'em, sixty! Let's see some son-of-a-bitch match that!" In later years, he would give Gehrig some credit: "Pitchers began pitching to me because if they passed me they still had Lou to contend with." In addition to his career-high 60 home runs, Ruth batted .356, drove in 164 runs and slugged .772.

Babe Ruth’s 60 home runs

Home Run	Date	Pitcher
1	04-15-1927	Howard Ehmke
2	04-23-1927	Rube Walberg
3	04-24-1927	Sloppy Thurston
4	04-29-1927	Slim Harriss
5	05-01-1927	Jack Quinn
6	05-01-1927	Rube Walberg
7	05-10-1927	Milt Gaston
8	05-11-1927	Ernie Nevers
9	05-17-1927	Rip Collins
10	05-22-1927	Benn Karr
11	05-23-1927	Sloppy Thurston
12	05-28-1927	Sloppy Thurston
13	05-29-1927	Danny MacFayden
14	05-30-1927	Rube Walberg
15	05-31-1927	Jack Quinn
16	05-31-1927	Howard Ehmke
17	06-05-1927	Earl Whitehill
18	06-07-1927	Tommy Thomas
19	06-11-1927	Garland Buckeye
20	06-11-1927	Garland Buckeye
21	06-12-1927	George Uhle
22	06-16-1927	Tom Zachary
23	06-22-1927	Hal Wiltse
24	06-22-1927	Hal Wiltse
25	06-30-1927	Slim Harriss
26	07-03-1927	Hod Lisenbee
27	07-08-1927	Don Hankins
28	07-09-1927	Ken Holloway
29	07-09-1927	Ken Holloway
30	07-12-1927	Joe Shaute
31	07-24-1927	Tommy Thomas
32	07-26-1927	Milt Gaston
33	07-27-1927	Milt Gaston
34	07-28-1927	Lefty Stewart
35	08-05-1927	George Smith
36	08-10-1927	Tom Zachary
37	08-16-1927	Tommy Thomas
38	08-17-1927	Sarge Connally
39	08-20-1927	Jake Miller
40	08-22-1927	Joe Shaute
41	08-27-1927	Ernie Nevers
42	08-28-1927	Ernie Wingard
43	08-31-1927	Tony Welzer
44	09-02-1927	Rube Walberg
45	09-06-1927	Tony Welzer
46	09-06-1927	Tony Welzer
47	09-06-1927	Jack Russell
48	09-07-1927	Danny MacFayden
49	09-07-1927	Slim Harriss
50	09-11-1927	Milt Gaston
51	09-13-1927	Willis Hudlin
52	09-13-1927	Joe Shaute
53	09-16-1927	Ted Blankenship
54	09-18-1927	Ted Lyons
55	09-21-1927	Sam Gibson
56	09-22-1927	Ken Holloway
57	09-27-1927	Lefty Grove
58	09-29-1927	Hod Lisenbee
59	09-29-1927	Paul Hopkins
60	09-30-1927	Tom Zachary

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB
New York Yankees	110	44	.714	--
Philadelphia Athletics	91	63	.591	19
Washington Senators	85	69	.552	25
Detroit Tigers	82	71	.536	27½
Chicago White Sox	70	83	.458	39½
Cleveland Indians	66	87	.431	43½
St. Louis Browns	59	94	.386	50½
Boston Red Sox	51	103	.331	59

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Collins, PatPat Collins	92	251	69	.275	7	36
1B	Gehrig, LouLou Gehrig	155	584	218	.373	47	175
2B	Lazzeri, TonyTony Lazzeri	153	570	176	.309	18	102
3B	Dugan, JoeJoe Dugan	112	387	104	.269	2	43
SS	Koenig, MarkMark Koenig	123	526	150	.285	3	62
OF	Combs, EarleEarle Combs	152	648	231	.356	6	64
OF	Ruth, BabeBabe Ruth	151	540	192	.356	60	164
OF	Meusel, BobBob Meusel	135	516	174	.337	8	103

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Grabowski, JohnnyJohnny Grabowski	70	195	54	.277	0	25
Morehart, RayRay Morehart	73	195	50	.256	1	20
Durst, CedricCedric Durst	65	129	32	.248	0	25
Gazella, MikeMike Gazella	54	115	32	.278	0	9
Bengough, BennyBenny Bengough	31	85	21	.247	0	10
Paschal, BenBen Paschal	50	82	26	.317	2	16
Wera, JulieJulie Wera	38	42	10	.238	1	8

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Hoyt, WaiteWaite Hoyt	36	256.3	22	7	2.63	86
Shocker, UrbanUrban Shocker	31	200	18	6	2.84	35
Pennock, HerbHerb Pennock	34	209.7	19	8	3.00	51
Ruether, DutchDutch Ruether	27	184	13	6	3.38	45
Pipgras, GeorgeGeorge Pipgras	29	166.3	10	3	4.11	81

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Moore, WilcyWilcy Moore	50	213	19	7	2.28	75
Thomas, MylesMyles Thomas	21	88.7	7	4	4.87	25

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Shawkey, BobBob Shawkey	19	2	3	4	2.89	23
Giard, JoeJoe Giard	16	0	0	0	8.00	10
Beall, WalterWalter Beall	1	0	0	0	9.00	0

1927 World Series

Main article: 1927 World Series

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Score	Record (NYY-PIT)	Attendance
1	October 5	New York Yankees	5	Pittsburgh Pirates	4	1-0	41,467
2	October 6	New York Yankees	6	Pittsburgh Pirates	2	2-0	41,634
3	October 7	Pittsburgh Pirates	1	New York Yankees	8	3-0	60,695
4	October 8	Pittsburgh Pirates	3	New York Yankees	4	4-0	57,909
New York Yankees win 4-0

Awards and honors

• Lou Gehrig, AL MVP Award

Since a voter could select only one player per team, two good candidates from the same team could find their votes split and both of their chances of winning hurt. In addition, the clause prohibiting repeat winners led to unusual results like Babe Ruth's 1927 (one of the greatest offensive seasons of all time) not being eligible for the award. As the New York Times wrote in 1925, "[T]he purpose, of course, is to pass the honor around, but the effect is to pass an empty honor around."

League leaders

• Babe Ruth, Major League Baseball home run champion (60)
• Earle Combs, American League leader, triples (23)
• Lou Gehrig, American League RBI champion, (175)

Franchise records

• Earle Combs, Yankees single season record, triples in a season (23)

References

• 1927 New York Yankees
• 1927 World Series
• 1927 New York Yankees team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

Preceded by New York Yankees 1926

American League Champions New York Yankees 1927

Succeeded by New York Yankees 1928