1937 World Series

1937 World Series

Team (Wins) Manager Season New York Yankees (4) Joe McCarthy 102–52, .662, GA: 13 New York Giants (1) Bill Terry (player/manager) 95–67, .586, GA: 3
Dates:	October 6–10
Radio:	NBC, CBS, Mutual
Radio announcers:	NBC: Tom Manning, Red Barber, Warren Brown CBS: France Laux, Bill Dyer, Paul Douglas Mutual: Bob Elson, Johnny O’Hara, David Driscoll
Umpires:	Red Ormsby (AL), George Barr (NL), Steve Basil (AL), Bill Stewart (NL)
Hall of Famers:	Yankees: Joe McCarthy (mgr.), Bill Dickey, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Lefty Gomez, Tony Lazzeri, Red Ruffing. Giants: Carl Hubbell, Travis Jackson, Mel Ott, Bill Terry.
< 1936 World Series 1938 >

The 1937 World Series featured the defending champion New York Yankees and the New York Giants in a rematch of the 1936 Series. The Yankees won the Series in five games for their second championship in a row and their sixth in fifteen years.

This was the Yankees' third Series win over the Giants, finally giving them an overall edge in Series wins over the Giants with three Fall Classic wins to the Giants' two (after they lost the 1921 and 1922 Series to the Giants). Currently, the St. Louis Cardinals are the only "Classic Eight" National League team to hold a Series edge over the Bronx Bombers, with three wins to the Yankees' two. The 1937 victory by the Yankees also broke a three-way tie between themselves, the Philadelphia Athletics, and the Boston Red Sox for the most World Series wins all-time (each team had five). By the time the Athletics and Red Sox won their sixth World Series (in 1972 and 2004, respectively), the Yankees had far outpaced them in World Series victories, as the Bronx Bombers had 20 championships to their name in 1972 and 26 in 2004.

The 1937 Series was the first in which a team (in this case, the Yankees) did not commit a single error. Game 4 featured the final World Series innings ever pitched by Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell who, during the ninth inning, threw a pitch that Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig hit for his final World Series home run.

Summary

AL New York Yankees (4) vs. NL New York Giants (1)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	October 6	New York Giants – 1, New York Yankees – 8	Yankee Stadium (I)	2:20	60,573
2	October 7	New York Giants – 1, New York Yankees – 8	Yankee Stadium (I)	2:11	57,675
3	October 8	New York Yankees – 5, New York Giants – 1	Polo Grounds (IV)	2:07	37,385
4	October 9	New York Yankees – 3, New York Giants – 7	Polo Grounds (IV)	1:57	44,293
5	October 10	New York Yankees – 4, New York Giants – 2	Polo Grounds (IV)	2:06	38,216

Matchups

Game 1

Wednesday, October 6, 1937 at Yankee Stadium (I) in Bronx, New York

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York (NL)	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	6	2
New York (AL)	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	1	X	8	7	0
WP: Lefty Gomez (1–0)   LP: Carl Hubbell (0–1) Home runs: NYG: None NYY: Tony Lazzeri (1)

The Series opener was a battle of aces, as the Giants sent screwballer Carl Hubbell, who had won 22 games during the season, to the mound against the Bombers' Lefty Gomez, who had won 21. Hubbell and Gomez matched zeroes until the top of the fifth inning, when Jimmy Ripple singled, moved to third on another single by Johnny McCarthy, and plated on a double play by Gus Mancuso to score the only Giant run of the game.

Hubbell kept the Yankees at bay for the bottom half of the inning, but the wheels came off for him in the sixth. Two-run singles by Joe DiMaggio and George Selkirk keyed a five-run outburst that chased King Carl, and the Yankees scored two more runs off Hubbell's replacements to turn the game into a rout. Tony Lazzeri added a solo home run in the eighth inning off Al Smith, while Gomez stymied the Giants, holding them to one run and six hits en route to a complete game. The Yankees took an 8–1 victory and a 1–0 lead in the Series.

Game 2

Thursday, October 7, 1937 at Yankee Stadium (I) in Bronx, New York

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York (NL)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	0
New York (AL)	0	0	0	0	2	4	2	0	X	8	12	0
WP: Red Ruffing (1–0)   LP: Cliff Melton (0–1)

For Game 2, veteran Yankees hurler Red Ruffing faced off against Giants rookie Cliff Melton, making his first World Series start. As it turned out, Ruffing would give his counterpart a rude welcome to postseason play, with both arm and bat.

The Giants touched Ruffing for a run in the first, as Dick Bartell doubled and Mel Ott drove him in with a single. Ruffing, however, was unfazed, as each of the other three batters he faced in the inning struck out swinging. Little would the Giants know that, like in Game 1, this would be the only they would score. Melton was able to neutralize the potent Bombers for the next four innings, giving up only two hits and striking out two. In the fifth, however, the Yankees chased the youngster from the game when they took a 2–1 lead on RBI base hits by George Selkirk and Ruffing.

Just as in Game 1, the pinstripers opened up the game in the sixth, as Selkirk and Ruffing both came through once again, this time with two-run doubles. In the seventh, the Yankees tacked on two more runs with a Bill Dickey single that scored Joe DiMaggio and a fly ball by Myril Hoag that plated Lou Gehrig. Ruffing held the fort the rest of the way, scattering seven hits with one run and eight strikeouts. For the second consecutive game, the Yankees took an 8–1 victory and a 2–0 Series lead as the two teams headed for the Polo Grounds.

Game 3

Friday, October 8, 1937 at Polo Grounds (IV) in Manhattan, New York

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York (AL)	0	1	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	5	9	0
New York (NL)	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	5	4
WP: Monte Pearson (1–0)   LP: Hal Schumacher (0–1)   Sv: Johnny Murphy (1)

Game 4

Saturday, October 9, 1937 at Polo Grounds (IV) in Manhattan, New York

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York (AL)	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	6	0
New York (NL)	0	6	0	0	0	0	1	0	X	7	12	3
WP: Carl Hubbell (1–1)   LP: Bump Hadley (0–1) Home runs: NYY: Lou Gehrig (1) NYG: None

Game 5

Sunday, October 10, 1937 at Polo Grounds (IV) in Manhattan, New York

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York (AL)	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	4	8	0
New York (NL)	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	10	0
WP: Lefty Gomez (2–0)   LP: Cliff Melton (0–2) Home runs: NYY: Myril Hoag (1), Joe DiMaggio (1) NYG: Mel Ott (1)

Composite box

1937 World Series (4–1): New York Yankees (A.L.) over New York Giants (N.L.)

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York Yankees	1	2	4	1	5	11	2	1	1	28	42	0
New York Giants	1	6	2	0	1	0	2	0	0	12	40	9
Total attendance: 238,142   Average attendance: 47,628
Winning player’s share: $6,471   Losing player’s share: $4,490

References

• Cohen, Richard M.; Neft, David S. (1990). The World Series: Complete Play-By-Play of Every Game, 1903–1989. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 167–170. ISBN 0-312-03960-3. 
• Forman, Sean L., ed. "1937 World Series". Baseball-Reference.com — Major League Baseball Statistics and History. Sports Reference LLC. http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1937_WS.shtml. Retrieved 2007-12-09. 
• Reichler, Joseph (1982). The Baseball Encyclopedia (5th ed.). MacMillian Publishing. p. 2145. ISBN 0-02-579010-2. 

External links

• 1937 World Series at WorldSeries.com (MLB.com)
• 1937 World Series at Baseball Almanac
• 1937 World Series at Baseball-Reference.com
• The 1937 Post-Season Games (box scores and play-by-play) at Retrosheet
• History of the World Series - 1937 at The SportingNews. Archived from the original on 2008.