1931 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1931 Pittsburgh Pirates
1931 Pittsburgh Pirates
Ballpark	Forbes Field
City	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Owners	Barney Dreyfuss
Managers	Jewel Ens
Television	none
Radio	none

The 1931 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 50th season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise; the 45th in the National League. The Pirates finished fifth in the league standings with a record of 75–79.

Offseason

November 6, 1930: Dick Bartell was traded by the Pirates to the Philadelphia Phillies for Tommy Thevenow and Claude Willoughby.^[2]

Regular season

Notable transactions

June 13, 1931: Rollie Hemsley was traded by the Pirates to the Chicago Cubs for Earl Grace.^[3]

Season standings

v t e National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Cardinals	101	53	0.656	—	54–24	47–29
New York Giants	87	65	0.572	13	50–27	37–38
Chicago Cubs	84	70	0.545	17	50–27	34–43
Brooklyn Robins	79	73	0.520	21	46–29	33–44
Pittsburgh Pirates	75	79	0.487	26	44–33	31–46
Philadelphia Phillies	66	88	0.429	35	40–36	26–52
Boston Braves	64	90	0.416	37	36–41	28–49
Cincinnati Reds	58	96	0.377	43	38–39	20–57

Record vs. opponents

1931 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	BR	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	11–11–1	8–14–1	8–14	6–16	11–11	11–11	9–13
Brooklyn	11–11–1	—	14–8	10–12	10–10	13–9	11–11	10–12
Chicago	14–8–1	8–14	—	14–8	12–10	14–8	14–8–1	8–14
Cincinnati	14–8	12–10	8–14	—	7–15	9–13	6–16	2–20
New York	16–6	10–10	10–12	15–7	—	14–8–1	12–10	10–12
Philadelphia	11–11	9–13	8–14	13–9	8–14–1	—	13–9	4–18
Pittsburgh	11–11	11–11	8–14–1	16–6	10–12	9–13	—	10–12
St. Louis	13–9	12–10	14–8	20–2	12–10	18–4	12–10	—

Game log

1931 Game Log: 75–79 (Home: 44–33; Away: 31–46)

April: 6–8 (Home: 1–2; Away: 5–6)

May: 11–14 (Home: 2–6; Away: 9–8)

June: 8–18 (Home: 4–7; Away: 4–11)

July: 19–10 (Home: 16–8; Away: 3–2)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
66	July 1	@ Braves	4–1	Spencer (4–4)	Seibold	—	—	26–40
67	July 2	@ Braves	1–0	Meine (7–6)	Cunningham	—	—	27–40
68	July 4	Cardinals	9–8 (11)	Osborn (4–0)	Lindsey	—	—	28–40
69	July 4	Cardinals	3–4 (12)	Hallahan	Kremer (5–9)	—	—	28–41
70	July 5	@ Reds	6–4	Brame (2–8)	Johnson	—	—	29–41
71	July 8	Cubs	5–2	Meine (8–6)	Warneke	—	—	30–41
72	July 9	Cubs	4–2	Kremer (6–9)	Teachout	—	—	31–41
73	July 11	Cubs	2–9	Sweetland	Spencer (4–5)	—	—	31–42
74	July 11	Cubs	5–5 (10)			—	—	31–42
75	July 12	@ Reds	7–14	Lucas	Meine (8–7)	—	—	31–43
76	July 12	@ Reds	5–6 (11)	Benton	Swetonic (0–1)	—	—	31–44
77	July 13	Phillies	0–1	Elliott	Kremer (6–10)	—	—	31–45
78	July 14	Phillies	9–4	Meine (9–7)	Dudley	—	—	32–45
79	July 14	Phillies	4–3 (10)	Spencer (5–5)	Collins	—	—	33–45
80	July 15	Phillies	4–2	French (7–8)	Benge	—	—	34–45
81	July 16	Phillies	12–8	Brame (3–8)	Bolen	—	—	35–45
82	July 17	Phillies	1–4	Elliott	Kremer (6–11)	—	—	35–46
83	July 18	Braves	9–3	Meine (10–7)	Seibold	—	—	36–46
84	July 18	Braves	0–1	Cantwell	Spencer (5–6)	—	—	36–47
85	July 22	Robins	10–6	French (8–8)	Shaute	—	—	37–47
86	July 22	Robins	2–3	Heimach	Kremer (6–12)	—	8,000	37–48
87	July 23	Robins	17–6	Brame (4–8)	Vance	—	3,000	38–48
88	July 24	Robins	8–7	Osborn (5–0)	Clark	French (1)	—	39–48
89	July 25	Robins	5–2	Wood (2–4)	Luque	—	12,000	40–48
90	July 25	Robins	3–2 (14)	French (9–8)	Heimach	—	17,000	41–48
91	July 27	Giants	8–6	Kremer (7–12)	Mitchell	Spencer (3)	—	42–48
92	July 28	Giants	2–6	Hubbell	Brame (4–9)	—	—	42–49
93	July 29	Giants	4–5	Walker	Meine (10–8)	—	—	42–50
94	July 30	Giants	9–0	French (10–8)	Morrell	—	—	43–50
95	July 31	Reds	5–0	Kremer (8–12)	Benton	—	—	44–50

August: 15–20 (Home: 6–4; Away: 9–16)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
96	August 1	Reds	1–0	Spencer (6–6)	Rixey	—	—	45–50
97	August 2	@ Reds	3–0	Brame (5–9)	Lucas	—	—	46–50
98	August 4	Cardinals	1–7	Haines	Meine (10–9)	—	—	46–51
99	August 5	Cardinals	5–4 (12)	French (11–8)	Lindsey	—	—	47–51
100	August 5	Cardinals	2–16	Hallahan	Wood (2–5)	—	—	47–52
101	August 6	Reds	2–3	Benton	Spencer (6–7)	—	—	47–53
102	August 7	Reds	9–3	Kremer (9–12)	Lucas	—	—	48–53
103	August 8	Reds	4–3	Meine (11–9)	Johnson	—	—	49–53
104	August 9	@ Reds	2–6	Benton	French (11–9)	—	—	49–54
105	August 9	@ Reds	8–4	Brame (6–9)	Frey	—	—	50–54
106	August 10	Cubs	4–3	Spencer (7–7)	Sweetland	—	—	51–54
107	August 12	@ Giants	6–4	Kremer (10–12)	Hubbell	—	—	52–54
108	August 12	@ Giants	0–9	Walker	Meine (11–10)	—	—	52–55
109	August 13	@ Giants	7–5	Brame (7–9)	Fitzsimmons	—	—	53–55
110	August 13	@ Giants	1–6	Mitchell	French (11–10)	—	10,000	53–56
111	August 14	@ Giants	1–2	Mooney	Spencer (7–8)	—	—	53–57
112	August 15	@ Phillies	4–5	Dudley	Wood (2–6)	Collins	—	53–58
113	August 15	@ Phillies	1–3	Bolen	Meine (11–11)	Watt	—	53–59
114	August 17	@ Phillies	4–2	French (12–10)	Blake	—	—	54–59
115	August 17	@ Phillies	0–3	Collins	Brame (7–10)	—	—	54–60
116	August 18	@ Phillies	14–5	Spencer (8–8)	Bolen	—	—	55–60
117	August 20	@ Braves	1–2 (10)	Brandt	Swetonic (0–2)	—	—	55–61
118	August 20	@ Braves	5–4	Meine (12–11)	Sherdel	—	—	56–61
119	August 21	@ Braves	1–2	Cantwell	Brame (7–11)	—	—	56–62
120	August 22	@ Braves	1–2	Zachary	Spencer (8–9)	—	—	56–63
121	August 23	@ Robins	4–5	Shaute	Meine (12–12)	—	—	56–64
122	August 23	@ Robins	4–5	Quinn	Osborn (5–1)	—	15,000	56–65
123	August 25	@ Robins	5–3	Meine (13–12)	Clark	—	—	57–65
124	August 25	@ Robins	0–5	Heimach	Kremer (10–13)	—	25,000	57–66
125	August 27	Cubs	3–2	Spencer (9–9)	Sweetland	—	—	58–66
126	August 27	Cubs	4–11	Welch	Brame (7–12)	—	—	58–67
127	August 28	@ Cardinals	4–6	Lindsey	French (12–11)	Hallahan	25,000	58–68
128	August 29	@ Cardinals	8–2	Meine (14–12)	Johnson	—	7,500	59–68
129	August 30	@ Cardinals	0–5	Derringer	Kremer (10–14)	—	—	59–69
130	August 30	@ Cardinals	1–4	Hallahan	Spencer (9–10)	—	—	59–70

September: 16–9 (Home: 15–6; Away: 1–3)

Legend: = Win = Loss = Tie
Bold = Pirates team member

Opening Day lineup

Roster

1931 Pittsburgh Pirates

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Pete McClanahan

Manager

Jewel Ens

Coaches

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	Eddie Phillips	106	353	82	.232	7	44
SS	Tommy Thevenow	120	404	86	.213	0	38

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
Earl Grace	47	150	42	.280	1	20
Rollie Hemsley	10	35	6	.171	0	1
Hal Finney	10	26	8	.308	0	2

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
Larry French	39	275.2	15	13	3.26	73
Erv Brame	26	179.2	9	13	4.21	33

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
Claude Willoughby	9	25.2	0	2	6.31	4

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
Andy Bednar	3	0	0	0	11.25	2

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
A	Wichita Aviators	Western League	Art Griggs & Howie Gregory

Notes

^ From 1882-1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
^ Tommy Thevenow page at Baseball Reference
^ Earl Grace page at Baseball Reference

References

[1] From 1882-1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.

[2] Tommy Thevenow page at Baseball Reference

[3] Earl Grace page at Baseball Reference

[1]

[2]

[3]