1937 World Series

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 in five games, for their second championship in a row and their sixth in fifteen years (1923, 1927–28, 1932, 1936).

This was the Yankees' third Series win over the Giants (1923, 1936), 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 (as of 2012), the St. Louis Cardinals are the only "Classic Eight" National League (1900–1961) 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 among themselves, the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston Red Sox for the most World Series wins all-time (five each). 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 championships with 20 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 ended with the final World Series innings ever pitched by Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell who, during the ninth inning, gave up Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig's final Series home run.

Summary

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

Matchups

Game 1

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

The Series opener was a battle of aces, as the Giants sent their "Mealticket," 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 scored the only Giant run of the game when Gus Mancuso hit into a double play.

Hubbell kept the Yankees at bay in 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 in a complete game, 8–1 victory for a 1–0 Yankee lead in the Series.

Game 2

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

For Game 2, the Yankees started veteran Red Ruffing against Giant rookie Cliff Melton. Ruffing would give Melton a rude welcome to postseason play with both his arm and his bat.

The Giants touched Ruffing for a run in the first, as Dick Bartell doubled and Mel Ott drove him in with a single with nobody out. This did not faze Ruffing, who whiffed the next three batters to end the inning. As in Game 1, this would be the only Giant run of the day. 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 hits by George Selkirk and Ruffing.

Just as in Game 1, the pinstripers opened up the game in the sixth, when Selkirk and Ruffing came through 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 straight game the Yankees won 8–1, for a 2–0 Series lead as the teams moved a few miles south to the Polo Grounds.

Game 3

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

Game 4

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

This is to date the most recent time that a team down 0-3 has won a World Series game.

Game 5

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

Myril Hoag's solo homer leading off the second inning and a Joe DiMaggio blast in the third gave Lefty Gomez a 2-0 lead. Mel Ott's two-run homer in the bottom of the third tied it. The Yankees got the game-winning (and Series-winning) runs they needed in the fifth on a Tony Lazzeri triple, a hit by Gomez and an RBI double by Lou Gehrig.

Composite line score

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

Notes

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. 
• Reichler, Joseph (1982). The Baseball Encyclopedia (5th ed.). Macmillan 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.

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