1933, the obscure World Series: on to DC

With the New York Giants ahead two games to none, the World Series shifted locations to Washington, DC.

Game 3, 5 October

Earl Whitehill

For game three, the Senators sent ace Earl Whitehill to the mound against the Giants three pitcher Fred Fitzsimmons. For Washington it was a great choice as Whitehill pitched, arguably, the best game of the entire Series.

The Senators hit Fitzsimmons early. A single, a double, and a pop-up brought up Washington player-manager Joe Cronin with one out in the bottom of the first. His grounder back to the pitcher exchanged an out for the first Washington run. A Fred Schulte double plated a second run to make it 2-0. Washington then tacked on runs in the second and seventh with a pair of doubles (the second inning run) and two singles sandwiched around a stolen base (the seventh inning run).

The initial run in the first was all Whitehill needed. The threw the Series’ only complete game shutout. In nine innings he allowed five hits, walked two, and struck out a pair. Four of the hits were singles (Travis Jackson had a double). Only in the eighth inning did a Giants player reach third, and that with two outs.

So now the Senators were down two games to one. Game four was the next day.

Game 4, 6 October

Bill Terry

Game four saw game one starter Carl Hubbell back on the mound for the Giants. Washington countered with Monte Weaver. Both men pitched well, although Hubbell wasn’t quite up to his game one standard.

For three innings the teams matched zeroes. In the top of the fourth player-manager Bill Terry slugged a home run to center field to put New York ahead 1-0. although Hubbell gave up his first hit in the bottom of the fourth, a single to Goose Goslin, the Senators were unable to take advantage of it. They did take advantage of a Hubbell error, a bunt sacrifice and a Luke Sewell single to score Joe Kuhel in the seventh to tie up the game.

And then it stayed tied. Both teams put men on base and both pitchers got out of it through the eighth, the ninth, the tenth. In the top of the 11th, a Travis Jackson single, a bunt sacrifice, and a Blondy Ryan single gave the Giants a second run.

Hubbell needed three outs to put the Giants ahead three games to one. Two singles and another bunt sacrifice put Senators on second and third with one out. An intentional walk loaded the bases for pinch hitter Cliff Bolton. He rapped one to short and a short-second-first double play ended the game with New York winning 2-1 in extra innings.

Weaver went into the 11th inning before being pulled. He gave up 11 hits, but only two runs, while walking four and striking out three. Hubbell completed the game for his second Series victory. He’d given up only one unearned run (although the error was his), with eight hits four walks, and five strikeouts.

Game five was the next day and became known over the years as a classic.

 

1933, the obscure World Series: The Giants

Lefty O’Doul with the Giants

Several years ago I ran a little informal poll on a sports website. I asked people to name the teams, winner first, in the 1933 World Series. They had to promise not to look it up first. Out of about 30 responses, 2 got it right (and 1 admitted to looking it up). It’s a terribly obscure World Series, falling between Babe Ruth’s last series in 1932 and the Gas House Gang Cardinals of 1934. It needs to be resurrected. You’ve probably figured by now that I’m about to do just that. First, the National League champs. And for what it’s worth, the most common answers to my poll were the Yankees and the Cardinals. Not bad choices for the era.

In 1932 John McGraw laid down the reins of the New York Giants. They hadn’t won since 1923, McGraw was old, he was tired, he was done. The next year the “new” Giants won the National League pennant by five games. They were fourth in runs scored, fourth in hits, led the NL in home runs, were fifth in average, and last in doubles. What all that should tell you is that they pitched really well. They were first in ERA, shutouts, runs, hits, second in strikeouts, and otherwise simply dominated on the mound.

The infield consisted of player-manager Bill Terry at first and three guys who are fairly obscure. Terry hit .322, had an OPS+ of 128. The .322 led the team and the OPS+ was second. He managed 3.8 WAR. Hughie Critz played second, hit .246 but produced 3.5 WAR. His middle infield mate was Blondy Ryan whose average was even lower and whose WAR was all of 1.9 (still good for 10th on the team). Johnny Vergez was the third baseman. He hit .271 and was second on the team in both homers and RBIs with 16 home runs and 72 RBIs. His WAR was 3.5. By the time the World Series began, Vergez was laid up with acute appendicitis and couldn’t play. His replacement was Hall of Famer Travis Jackson, who by this point in his career was splitting time between shortstop and third. He hit all of .246 with no power and 0.2 WAR. Sam Leslie and Bernie James were the other infield backups. Leslie hit .321 while James hit in the .240s.

The outfield was considerably better. George “Kiddo” Davis played center, hit .258, led the team with 10 stolen bases, made only three errors all season, and got 1.0 WAR. “Jo-Jo” Moore (his name was Joe) flanked him in left. He hit .292, second (to Terry) among starters, had 1.1 WAR, and like Davis, had only three errors. Flanking Davis to the right was Hall of Famer Mel Ott. He hit .283, led the team with 23 home runs and 103 RBIs, and led the entire NL with 75 walks. His WAR of 5.5 led the team’s position players. During the season, the Giants made a trade that brought the team a major piece of their pennant run, Lefty O’Doul. He hit .306, had nine home runs, 35 RBIs, 146 OPS+, and 2.1 WAR in 78 games, 63 of them in the field.

Gus Mancuso and Paul Richards did almost all the catching. Mancuso was behind the plate for 142 games hitting .264 with six home runs and 1.9 WAR. Richards got into 36 games as part of the battery and hit a buck-95. He (and sometime third baseman Chuck Dressen) would later become famous as managers.

The heart of the team was the staff, specifically three men: Carl Hubbell, Hal Schumacher, and Fred Fitzsimmons. “King Carl” was at his best in 1933. He went 23-12, had an ERA of 1.66 (ERA+ of 193), struck out 156, had 10 shutouts (the ERA and shutouts both led the NL), and produced a team leading 9.1 WAR to go along with a 0.982 WHIP. All that got him the 1933 NL MVP Award. “Prince Hal” wasn’t as good, but he was close. His ERA was 2.16 (ERA+149) with 96 strikeouts, and 5.4 WAR. “Fat Freddie” went 16-11 with a 2.90 ERA (111 ERA+), and more walks than strikeouts. Roy Parmelee is largely forgotten today, but he was second on the team with 132 strikeouts and had, at 3.17 the only ERA over three among the starters. Hi Bell and 42-year-old Dolf Luque were the main men out of the bullpen.

If you look it over closely, you can still see the influence of McGraw. The team was pitching heavy, relied on solid defense, and didn’t worry overly much about the long ball.