| 1937 MLB season | |
|---|---|
| League | American League (AL) National League (NL) |
| Sport | Baseball |
| Duration | Regular season:
|
| Games | 154 |
| Teams | 16 (8 per league) |
| Regular season | |
| SeasonMVP | AL:Charlie Gehringer (DET) NL:Joe Medwick (STL) |
| AL champions | New York Yankees |
| AL runners-up | Detroit Tigers |
| NL champions | New York Giants |
| NL runners-up | Chicago Cubs |
| World Series | |
| Champions | New York Yankees |
| Runners-up | New York Giants |
| MLB seasons | |
The1937 major league baseball season began on April 19, 1937. The regular season ended on October 3, with theNew York Giants andNew York Yankees as the regular season champions of theNational League andAmerican League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the34th World Series on October 6 and ended with Game 5 on October 10. In the fifth iteration of this World Series matchup (and a rematch of theprevious year), the Yankees defeated the Giants, four games to one, capturing their sixth championship in franchise history, and their second in a four-World Series run. With this victory, the Yankees became the team with the most World Series victories, a feat that continues today.
Thefifth Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held on July 7 atGriffith Stadium inWashington, D.C., home of theWashington Senators. TheAmerican League won, 8–3.
The 1937 schedule consisted of 154 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 22 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place since the1904 season (except for1919) and would be used until1961 in the American League and1962 in the National League.
Opening Day, April 19, featured four teams across both leagues play. The final day of the regular season was on October 3 and featured all sixteen teams, the first since1935. TheWorld Series took place between October 6 and October 10.
The 1937 season saw the following rule changes:[1]
An asterisk (*) denotes the ballpark a team played the minority of their home games at
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Yankees | 102 | 52 | .662 | — | 57–20 | 45–32 |
| Detroit Tigers | 89 | 65 | .578 | 13 | 49–28 | 40–37 |
| Chicago White Sox | 86 | 68 | .558 | 16 | 47–30 | 39–38 |
| Cleveland Indians | 83 | 71 | .539 | 19 | 50–28 | 33–43 |
| Boston Red Sox | 80 | 72 | .526 | 21 | 44–29 | 36–43 |
| Washington Senators | 73 | 80 | .477 | 28½ | 43–35 | 30–45 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 54 | 97 | .358 | 46½ | 27–50 | 27–47 |
| St. Louis Browns | 46 | 108 | .299 | 56 | 25–51 | 21–57 |
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Giants | 95 | 57 | .625 | — | 50–25 | 45–32 |
| Chicago Cubs | 93 | 61 | .604 | 3 | 46–32 | 47–29 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 86 | 68 | .558 | 10 | 46–32 | 40–36 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 81 | 73 | .526 | 15 | 45–33 | 36–40 |
| Boston Bees | 79 | 73 | .520 | 16 | 43–33 | 36–40 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 62 | 91 | .405 | 33½ | 36–39 | 26–52 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 61 | 92 | .399 | 34½ | 29–45 | 32–47 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 56 | 98 | .364 | 40 | 28–51 | 28–47 |
13 tie games (9 in AL, 4 in NL), which are not factored intowinning percentage orgames behind (and were often replayed again) occurred throughout the season.
The postseason began on October 6 and ended on October 10 with theNew York Yankees defeating theNew York Giants in the1937 World Series in five games.
| World Series | ||||
| AL | New York Yankees | 4 | ||
| NL | New York Giants | 1 | ||
| Team | Former Manager | New Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn Dodgers | Casey Stengel | Burleigh Grimes |
| Detroit Tigers | Del Baker | Mickey Cochrane |
Any team shown insmall text indicates a previous team a player was on during the season.
| Stat | Player | Total |
|---|---|---|
| AVG | Charlie Gehringer (DET) | .371 |
| OPS | Lou Gehrig (NYY) | 1.116 |
| HR | Joe DiMaggio (NYY) | 46 |
| RBI | Hank Greenberg (DET) | 184 |
| R | Joe DiMaggio (NYY) | 151 |
| H | Beau Bell (SLB) | 218 |
| SB | Ben Chapman (BOS/WSH) Billy Werber (PHA) | 35 |
| Stat | Player | Total |
|---|---|---|
| W | Lefty Gomez1 (NYY) | 21 |
| L | Harry Kelley (PHA) | 21 |
| ERA | Lefty Gomez1 (NYY) | 2.33 |
| K | Lefty Gomez1 (NYY) | 194 |
| IP | Wes Ferrell (WSH/BOS) | 281.0 |
| SV | Clint Brown (CWS) | 18 |
| WHIP | Monty Stratton (CWS) | 1.087 |
1 American LeagueTriple Crown pitching winner
| Stat | Player | Total |
|---|---|---|
| AVG | Joe Medwick2 (STL) | .374 |
| OPS | Joe Medwick (STL) | 1.056 |
| HR | Joe Medwick2 (STL) Mel Ott (NYG) | 31 |
| RBI | Joe Medwick2 (STL) | 154 |
| R | Joe Medwick (STL) | 111 |
| H | Joe Medwick (STL) | 237 |
| SB | Augie Galan (CHC) | 23 |
2 National LeagueTriple Crown batting winner
| Stat | Player | Total |
|---|---|---|
| W | Carl Hubbell (NYG) | 22 |
| L | Wayne LaMaster (PHI) | 19 |
| ERA | Jim Turner (BSN) | 2.38 |
| K | Carl Hubbell (NYG) | 159 |
| IP | Claude Passeau (PHI) | 292.1 |
| SV | Mace Brown (PIT) Cliff Melton (NYG) | 7 |
| WHIP | Jim Turner (BSN) | 1.091 |
| Baseball Writers' Association of America Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| BBWAA Award | National League | American League |
| Most Valuable Player | Joe Medwick (STL) | Charlie Gehringer (DET) |
| The Sporting NewsAwards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Award | National League | American League |
| Most Valuable Player[7] | Joe Medwick (STL) | Charlie Gehringer (DET) |
| Player of the Year[8] | — | Johnny Allen (CLE) |
| Manager of the Year[9] | Bill McKechnie (BSN) | — |
| Executive of the Year[10] | — | Ed Barrow (NYY) |
| Team name | Wins | %± | Home attendance | %± | Per game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit Tigers[11] | 89 | 7.2% | 1,072,276 | 22.4% | 13,926 |
| New York Yankees[12] | 102 | 0.0% | 998,148 | 2.2% | 12,635 |
| New York Giants[13] | 95 | 3.3% | 926,887 | 10.6% | 12,358 |
| Chicago Cubs[14] | 93 | 6.9% | 895,020 | 28.0% | 11,475 |
| Chicago White Sox[15] | 86 | 6.2% | 589,245 | 33.7% | 7,653 |
| Cleveland Indians[16] | 83 | 3.8% | 564,849 | 12.9% | 7,242 |
| Boston Red Sox[17] | 80 | 8.1% | 559,659 | −10.7% | 7,563 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers[18] | 62 | −7.5% | 482,481 | −1.5% | 6,348 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates[19] | 86 | 2.4% | 459,679 | 23.4% | 5,893 |
| St. Louis Cardinals[20] | 81 | −6.9% | 430,811 | −3.9% | 5,385 |
| Philadelphia Athletics[21] | 54 | 1.9% | 430,738 | 51.0% | 5,452 |
| Cincinnati Reds[22] | 56 | −24.3% | 411,221 | −11.8% | 5,140 |
| Washington Senators[23] | 73 | −11.0% | 397,799 | 4.8% | 4,972 |
| Boston Bees[24] | 79 | 11.3% | 385,339 | 13.1% | 5,070 |
| Philadelphia Phillies[25] | 61 | 13.0% | 212,790 | −14.6% | 2,876 |
| St. Louis Browns[26] | 46 | −19.3% | 123,121 | 32.0% | 1,578 |
Over 78 home games, theCleveland Indians played 63 games at League Park and 15 games at Cleveland Stadium.[27] Only Sunday and Monday home games saw games played at Cleveland Stadium. This would be the 3rd of 12 seasons since1932 that saw the Indians play at both venues.
