1938 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1938 Pittsburgh Pirates
1938 Pittsburgh Pirates
League	National League
Ballpark	Forbes Field
City	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Owners	Bill Benswanger
Managers	Pie Traynor
Radio	KDKA; WWSW; Rosey Rowswell

The 1938 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 57th season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise and their 52nd in the National League. The Pirates maintained a seven-game lead in the NL on September 1, but went 12–16–1 for the rest of the season and relinquished the lead to the Chicago Cubs on September 28, losing to the Cubs on Gabby Hartnett's "Homer in the Gloamin'". The Pirates finished second in the league with an 86–64 record.

Offseason

February 22, 1938: Tommy Thevenow was signed as a free agent by the Pirates.^[2]

Regular season

Season standings

v
t
e
National League
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago Cubs	89	63	.586	—	44‍–‍33	45‍–‍30
Pittsburgh Pirates	86	64	.573	2	44‍–‍33	42‍–‍31
New York Giants	83	67	.553	5	43‍–‍30	40‍–‍37
Cincinnati Reds	82	68	.547	6	43‍–‍34	39‍–‍34
Boston Bees	77	75	.507	12	45‍–‍30	32‍–‍45
St. Louis Cardinals	71	80	.470	17½	36‍–‍41	35‍–‍39
Brooklyn Dodgers	69	80	.463	18½	31‍–‍41	38‍–‍39
Philadelphia Phillies	45	105	.300	43	26‍–‍48	19‍–‍57

Record vs. opponents

1938 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	—	10–12	12–10	11–9	8–14	14–8	9–13	13–9–1
Brooklyn	10–12	—	9–11–1	9–13	8–14	15–7	9–11	9–12–1
Chicago	12–10	11–9–1	—	11–11	12–10	18–4	12–10	13–9–1
Cincinnati	9–11	13–9	11–11	—	12–9	14–7	10–12	13–9–1
New York	14–8	14–8	10–12	9–12	—	16–5	9–13–1	11–9–1
Philadelphia	8–14	7–15	4–18	7–14	5–16	—	8–12–1	6–16
Pittsburgh	13–9	11–9	10–12	12–10	13–9–1	12–8–1	—	15–7
St. Louis	9–13–1	12–9–1	9–13–1	9–13–1	9–11–1	16–6	7–15	—

Game log

1938 Game Log: 86–64 (Home: 44–33; Away: 42–31)

April: 8–3 (Home: 5–2; Away: 3–1)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
1	April 19	@ Cardinals	4–3	Klinger (1–0)	Weiland	—	19,865	1–0
2	April 20	@ Cardinals	9–4	Tobin (1–0)	Johnson	—	1,957	2–0
3	April 21	@ Cardinals	6–5	Brown (1–0)	Bush	—	—	3–0
4	April 22	Reds	7–4	Lucas (1–0)	Vander Meer	Bauers (1)	20,500	4–0
5	April 23	Reds	6–2	Blanton (1–0)	Schott	—	—	5–0
6	April 24	Reds	2–1	Tobin (2–0)	Davis	—	16,012	6–0
7	April 25	Cubs	8–6	Brown (2–0)	Logan	—	9,235	7–0
8	April 26	Cubs	3–5 (10)	Carleton	Swift (0–1)	—	7,523	7–1
9	April 27	Cubs	6–5	Brown (3–0)	French	Klinger (1)	9,537	8–1
10	April 28	Cardinals	3–5	Weiland	Tobin (2–1)	McGee	8,033	8–2
11	April 30	@ Reds	0–2	Davis	Bauers (0–1)	—	—	8–3

May: 9–15 (Home: 5–7; Away: 4–8)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
12	May 1	@ Reds	1–4	Hollingsworth	Swift (0–2)	Schott	14,439	8–4
13	May 2	@ Reds	6–8	Vander Meer	Blanton (1–1)	Benge	—	8–5
14	May 3	Dodgers	2–7	Pressnell	Tobin (2–2)	—	2,266	8–6
15	May 4	Dodgers	9–5	Bowman (1–0)	Posedel	—	2,431	9–6
16	May 5	Dodgers	4–2	Lucas (2–0)	Hoyt	—	2,031	10–6
17	May 6	Giants	7–11	Melton	Brown (3–1)	Coffman	10,648	10–7
18	May 7	Giants	5–6	Brown	Bowman (1–1)	—	16,064	10–8
19	May 8	Bees	2–1 (12)	Brown (4–1)	Fette	—	7,512	11–8
20	May 9	Bees	5–7 (10)	Hutchinson	Brandt (0–1)	Shoffner	1,219	11–9
21	May 13	@ Cubs	4–1 (10)	Brown (5–1)	French	—	—	12–9
22	May 15	@ Cubs	4–3 (11)	Swift (1–2)	Root	—	15,494	13–9
23	May 17	@ Bees	0–1	Shoffner	Bauers (0–2)	—	2,800	13–10
24	May 18	@ Bees	1–2 (14)	Turner	Brown (5–2)	—	2,070	13–11
25	May 19	@ Bees	3–4 (11)	Hutchinson	Sewell (0–1)	—	2,359	13–12
26	May 20	@ Dodgers	5–7	Mungo	Lucas (2–1)	Pressnell	4,749	13–13
27	May 21	@ Dodgers	5–4	Tobin (3–2)	Hamlin	—	14,610	14–13
28	May 22	@ Giants	2–18	Hubbell	Brandt (0–2)	—	30,343	14–14
29	May 23	@ Giants	4–3	Brown (6–2)	Gumbert	Bauers (2)	5,364	15–14
30	May 25	@ Phillies	1–2	Walters	Tobin (3–3)	—	1,000	15–15
31	May 27	Cubs	0–5	Lee	Klinger (1–1)	—	3,010	15–16
32	May 28	Cubs	3–9	Bryant	Bauers (0–3)	—	4,014	15–17
33	May 29	Cubs	2–1	Lucas (3–1)	French	—	7,050	16–17
34	May 30	Cardinals	5–4 (17)	Klinger (2–1)	McGee	—	—	17–17
35	May 30	Cardinals	6–9	Davis	Bowman (1–2)	—	20,000	17–18

June: 16–7 (Home: 9–4; Away: 7–3)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
36	June 1	Giants	4–1	Bauers (1–3)	Melton	—	4,001	18–18
37	June 3	Giants	6–5	Klinger (3–1)	Gumbert	—	8,513	19–18
38	June 4	Dodgers	4–3 (11)	Swift (2–2)	Pressnell	—	4,168	20–18
39	June 5	Dodgers	5–10	Posedel	Bowman (1–3)	Tamulis	6,800	20–19
40	June 6	Dodgers	4–9	Butcher	Lucas (3–2)	—	1,594	20–20
41	June 8	Bees	4–1	Klinger (4–1)	Fette	—	2,765	21–20
42	June 9	Bees	5–3	Brown (7–2)	Turner	—	4,410	22–20
43	June 10	Phillies	2–3	Mulcahy	Bauers (1–4)	—	1,034	22–21
44	June 11	Phillies	4–3	Swift (3–2)	Walters	—	3,811	23–21
45	June 12	Phillies	11–5	Brown (8–2)	Passeau	—	4,826	24–21
46	June 14	@ Giants	3–5	Schumacher	Bauers (1–5)	—	5,334	24–22
47	June 15	@ Giants	2–0	Tobin (4–3)	Melton	—	5,874	25–22
48	June 16	@ Giants	10–2	Klinger (5–1)	Hubbell	—	6,880	26–22
49	June 17	@ Phillies	4–3 (10)	Brown (9–2)	Hollingsworth	—	4,000	27–22
50	June 18	@ Phillies	3–5	Mulcahy	Bauers (1–6)	Passeau	—	27–23
51	June 19	@ Phillies	14–4	Tobin (5–3)	Sivess	—	—	28–23
52	June 19	@ Phillies	16–3	Blanton (2–1)	LaMaster	—	10,000	29–23
53	June 21	@ Dodgers	9–3	Bauers (2–6)	Tamulis	—	25,527	30–23
54	June 23	@ Dodgers	1–8	Pressnell	Swift (3–3)	—	3,258	30–24
55	June 25	@ Bees	8–7	Brown (10–2)	Hutchinson	Bauers (3)	5,614	31–24
56	June 28	Reds	2–5	Vander Meer	Bauers (2–7)	—	—	31–25
57	June 29	Reds	5–4	Swift (4–3)	Cascarella	—	3,470	32–25
58	June 30	Reds	3–1	Blanton (3–1)	Walters	—	3,685	33–25

July: 24–7 (Home: 12–5; Away: 12–2)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
59	July 2	Cardinals	5–1	Klinger (6–1)	McGee	—	3,892	34–25
60	July 3	Cardinals	6–5 (12)	Brown (11–2)	Shoun	—	—	35–25
61	July 3	Cardinals	6–2 (8)	Bauers (3–7)	Henshaw	—	20,000	36–25
62	July 4	@ Reds	2–1	Blanton (4–1)	Davis	—	—	37–25
63	July 4	@ Reds	3–2	Swift (5–3)	Walters	—	22,400	38–25
64	July 8	@ Cardinals	6–2	Klinger (7–1)	McGee	—	—	39–25
65	July 9	@ Cardinals	8–7	Brown (12–2)	Lanier	—	2,859	40–25
66	July 10	@ Cardinals	5–2	Blanton (5–1)	Macon	—	—	41–25
67	July 10	@ Cardinals	4–3	Bauers (4–7)	Weiland	Bowman (1)	—	42–25
68	July 11	@ Cubs	5–3	Tobin (6–3)	French	Brown (1)	—	43–25
69	July 12	@ Cubs	14–6	Brandt (1–2)	Carleton	Sewell (1)	—	44–25
70	July 13	Dodgers	5–10	Pressnell	Brown (12–3)	—	5,561	44–26
71	July 14	Dodgers	3–2 (11)	Tobin (7–3)	Fitzsimmons	—	7,802	45–26
72	July 15	Dodgers	4–9	Hamlin	Swift (5–4)	—	4,512	45–27
73	July 16	Giants	7–3	Klinger (8–1)	Melton	—	15,197	46–27
74	July 17	Giants	1–2	Hubbell	Tobin (7–4)	—	—	46–28
75	July 17	Giants	7–7			—	43,241	46–28
76	July 18	Giants	7–4	Blanton (6–1)	Gumbert	Swift (1)	8,638	47–28
77	July 19	Phillies	8–0	Brandt (2–2)	Mulcahy	—	2,472	48–28
78	July 20	Phillies	0–11	Hollingsworth	Klinger (8–2)	—	—	48–29
79	July 20	Phillies	4–1	Bauers (5–7)	Sivess	—	6,000	49–29
80	July 21	Phillies	5–4	Brown (13–3)	Smith	—	10,535	50–29
81	July 22	Bees	4–3	Blanton (7–1)	Turner	—	4,749	51–29
82	July 23	Bees	2–4	MacFayden	Bauers (5–8)	Errickson	—	51–30
83	July 24	Bees	5–4 (15)	Tobin (8–4)	Hutchinson	—	—	52–30
84	July 24	Bees	4–2 (6)	Brandt (3–2)	Lanning	—	—	53–30
85	July 26	@ Phillies	5–6	Sivess	Brown (13–4)	—	1,500	53–31
86	July 27	@ Phillies	4–2	Bauers (6–8)	Hallahan	—	—	54–31
87	July 28	@ Phillies	9–2	Tobin (9–4)	Hollingsworth	—	2,000	55–31
88	July 29	@ Dodgers	7–6	Bowman (2–3)	Pressnell	Swift (2)	2,582	56–31
89	July 30	@ Dodgers	9–2	Blanton (8–1)	Tamulis	Brown (2)	8,523	57–31
90	July 31	@ Dodgers	3–4	Posedel	Swift (5–5)	—	27,719	57–32

August: 16–16 (Home: 9–10; Away: 7–6)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
91	August 2	@ Bees	1–3	Lanning	Tobin (9–5)	—	2,451	57–33
92	August 3	@ Bees	9–4	Blanton (9–1)	Turner	Brown (3)	7,844	58–33
93	August 3	@ Bees	5–3	Bowman (3–3)	Reis	—	7,844	59–33
94	August 4	@ Bees	3–4	MacFayden	Brown (13–5)	—	1,834	59–34
95	August 5	@ Giants	3–5	Brown	Klinger (8–3)	—	18,535	59–35
96	August 7	@ Giants	5–1	Tobin (10–5)	Gumbert	—	—	60–35
97	August 7	@ Giants	13–3	Brandt (4–2)	Hubbell	—	50,468	61–35
98	August 9	Cardinals	1–0	Bauers (7–8)	Henshaw	—	5,000	62–35
99	August 10	Cardinals	0–5 (7)	Warneke	Klinger (8–4)	—	14,000	62–36
100	August 12	Cubs	3–9	Lee	Tobin (10–6)	—	14,962	62–37
101	August 13	Cubs	5–11	Dean	Blanton (9–2)	Page	15,332	62–38
102	August 14	Cubs	2–0	Bauers (8–8)	Root	Brown (4)	24,193	63–38
103	August 15	Reds	2–6	Cascarella	Brown (13–6)	Davis	6,143	63–39
104	August 16	Reds	10–0	Blanton (10–2)	Davis	—	6,253	64–39
105	August 17	@ Cardinals	4–3 (10)	Swift (6–5)	Henshaw	—	2,725	65–39
106	August 18	@ Cardinals	1–5	Weiland	Bauers (8–9)	—	—	65–40
107	August 20	@ Cubs	5–2	Lucas (4–2)	Dean	Swift (3)	—	66–40
108	August 21	@ Cubs	4–6	Lee	Blanton (10–3)	Russell	—	66–41
109	August 21	@ Cubs	1–6	Carleton	Bauers (8–10)	—	40,402	66–42
110	August 22	@ Cubs	4–2	Tobin (11–6)	Bryant	—	—	67–42
111	August 23	Bees	0–6	Lanning	Klinger (8–5)	—	12,294	67–43
112	August 23	Bees	4–3 (14)	Brown (14–6)	Errickson	—	12,294	68–43
113	August 24	Bees	6–2	Bauers (9–10)	Hutchinson	—	4,040	69–43
114	August 25	Phillies	1–2	Butcher	Blanton (10–4)	—	—	69–44
115	August 25	Phillies	1–2 (11)	Hallahan	Lucas (4–3)	—	3,093	69–45
116	August 26	Phillies	4–6	Smith	Tobin (11–7)	Sivess	—	69–46
117	August 27	Phillies	6–1	Brandt (5–2)	Hollingsworth	—	5,889	70–46
118	August 28	Dodgers	5–8	Pressnell	Bauers (9–11)	—	16,045	70–47
119	August 29	Dodgers	10–1	Blanton (11–4)	Posedel	—	3,425	71–47
120	August 30	Giants	7–1	Tobin (12–7)	Coffman	—	—	72–47
121	August 31	Giants	5–6	Wittig	Bauers (9–12)	—	—	72–48
122	August 31	Giants	12–3	Lucas (5–3)	Melton	—	43,586	73–48

September: 13–14 (Home: 4–5; Away: 9–9)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
123	September 1	Giants	6–0	Klinger (9–5)	Schumacher	—	28,839	74–48
124	September 2	Cardinals	10–11	Weiland	Blanton (11–5)	McGee	4,480	74–49
125	September 3	Cardinals	0–6	Macon	Tobin (12–8)	—	7,759	74–50
126	September 4	Cardinals	5–3	Bauers (10–12)	Henshaw	—	12,187	75–50
127	September 5	Cubs	0–3	Lee	Brandt (5–3)	—	—	75–51
128	September 5	Cubs	3–4	Bryant	Tobin (12–9)	—	42,545	75–52
129	September 7	@ Reds	7–1	Klinger (10–5)	Derringer	—	8,839	76–52
130	September 8	@ Reds	3–5	Vander Meer	Blanton (11–6)	—	29,043	76–53
131	September 10	@ Cardinals	14–7	Brown (15–6)	Macon	—	3,632	77–53
132	September 11	@ Cardinals	4–6	Dean	Bauers (10–13)	—	15,739	77–54
133	September 14	@ Giants	0–3	Schumacher	Blanton (11–7)	—	—	77–55
134	September 14	@ Giants	3–10	Gumbert	Brandt (5–4)	—	28,185	77–56
135	September 15	@ Giants	7–2	Tobin (13–9)	Melton	—	4,978	78–56
136	September 16	@ Bees	7–6 (11)	Swift (7–5)	MacFayden	—	8,296	79–56
137	September 16	@ Bees	4–5	Errickson	Bowman (3–4)	—	8,296	79–57
138	September 17	@ Bees	2–1	Klinger (11–5)	Shoffner	—	—	80–57
139	September 18	@ Phillies	1–0	Bauers (11–13)	Hollingsworth	—	—	81–57
140	September 18	@ Phillies	1–1 (5)			—	1,500	81–57
141	September 22	@ Dodgers	6–0	Tobin (14–9)	Fitzsimmons	—	—	82–57
142	September 22	@ Dodgers	11–6	Klinger (12–5)	Hamlin	Brown (5)	—	83–57
143	September 23	Reds	4–5 (12)	Walters	Brown (15–7)	—	7,429	83–58
144	September 24	Reds	4–1	Bauers (12–13)	Vander Meer	—	11,318	84–58
145	September 25	Reds	5–3	Lucas (6–3)	Derringer	Swift (4)	27,147	85–58
146	September 27	@ Cubs	1–2	Dean	Tobin (14–10)	Lee	42,238	85–59
147	September 28	@ Cubs	5–6	Root	Brown (15–8)	—	34,465	85–60
148	September 29	@ Cubs	1–10	Lee	Bauers (12–14)	—	—	85–61
149	September 30	@ Reds	1–7	Derringer	Tobin (14–11)	—	—	85–62
150	September 30	@ Reds	4–2	Bauers (13–14)	Moore	—	8,361	86–62

October: 0–2 (Home: 0–0; Away: 0–2)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
151	October 1	@ Reds	6–9	Weaver	Brown (15–9)	—	6,351	86–63
152	October 2	@ Reds	4–5	Vander Meer	Tobin (14–12)	—	14,007	86–64

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

Opening Day lineup

Roster

1938 Pittsburgh Pirates

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

32 Ray Berres
30 Al Todd

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

36 Heinie Manush

Manager

35 Pie Traynor

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	Al Todd	133	491	130	.265	7	75
1B	Gus Suhr	145	530	156	.294	3	64
2B	Pep Young	149	562	156	.278	4	79
SS	Arky Vaughan	148	541	174	.322	7	68
3B	Lee Handley	139	570	153	.268	6	51
OF	Johnny Rizzo	143	555	167	.301	23	111
OF	Lloyd Waner	147	619	194	.313	5	57
OF	Paul Waner	148	625	175	.280	6	69

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
Woody Jensen	68	125	25	.200	0	10
Bill Brubaker	45	112	33	.295	3	19
Ray Berres	40	100	23	.230	0	6
Johnny Dickshot	29	35	8	.229	0	4
Tommy Thevenow	15	25	5	.200	0	2
Heinie Manush	15	13	4	.308	0	4

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
Russ Bauers	40	243.0	13	14	3.07	117
Jim Tobin	40	241.1	14	12	3.47	70
Cy Blanton	29	172.2	11	7	3.70	80
Bob Klinger	28	159.1	12	5	2.99	58
Red Lucas	13	84.0	6	3	3.54	19

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
Bill Swift	36	150.0	7	5	3.24	77
Ed Brandt	24	96.1	5	4	3.46	38

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
Mace Brown	51	15	9	5	3.80	55
Joe Bowman	17	3	4	1	4.65	25
Rip Sewell	17	0	1	1	4.23	17
Ken Heintzelman	1	0	0	0	9.00	1

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	Montreal Royals	International League	Rabbit Maranville and Alex Hooks
A1	Knoxville Smokies	Southern Association	Neil Caldwell
B	Savannah Indians	Sally League	Chick Autry
C	Hutchinson Larks	Western Association	Hugh McMullen
D	Carthage Pirates	Arkansas–Missouri League	Buzz Arlitt

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Carthage

Notes

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

References

1938 Pittsburgh Pirates team page at Baseball Reference
1938 Pittsburgh Pirates Page at Baseball Almanac
Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.

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

[2] Tommy Thevenow page at Baseball Reference

[1]

[2]