Offense was down in both major leagues in 1932, giving rise to rumors that the composition of the baseball was deliberately deadened. Or, is it simply the case that a new generation of mound stars is arriving on the scene, while a few great thirty-something hurlers are still going strong?
At any rate, the season brought us some of the finest pitching performances in history. Let's meet a few of the men who delivered them:
Code:
PITCHER, TEAM G GS W L SV ERA IP H R ER HR BB SO CG ShO WHIP
Waite Hoyt, BOS (A) 41 41 31 7 0 3.07 354.1 313 136 121 22 56 230 32 6 1.04
Neal Brady, BOS (A) 40 40 22 10 0 2.80 337.0 257 119 105 23 44 325 29 5 0.89
Bill Foster, PHI (A) 41 41 29 9 0 2.16 361.2 206 99 87 7 141 327 35 5 0.96
Hilton Smith, PHI (A) 41 41 26 11 0 2.29 358.0 218 99 91 7 81 342 29 4 0.84
Molly Craft, STL (A) 37 37 18 12 0 2.88 309.1 239 109 99 33 81 293 26 5 1.03
Bots Nekola, NY (A) 43 43 20 15 0 2.93 363.0 310 137 118 15 126 241 20 1 1.20
Satchel Paige, CHI (N) 39 39 20 13 0 2.39 332.0 243 103 88 22 71 299 31 3 0.95
Dizzy Dean, STL (N) 32 32 13 10 0 2.60 239.0 198 91 69 13 66 139 5 1 1.10
Marv Gudat, CIN 36 36 22 10 0 3.01 305.0 281 109 102 10 52 175 26 3 1.09
Red Lucas, PIT 38 38 17 16 0 3.56 323.2 304 149 128 16 29 221 27 3 1.03
* Hoyt set the new standard for wins in a single season, setting himself apart from the cluster of guys who had won exactly 30 games.
* After a look at Neal Brady's stats, you might conclude that as good as he was, Hoyt wasn't even the number one guy on his own staff. Neal passed the 200-win barrier and now sits at 217.
* More than a few people had concluded that Bill Foster would never be the dominant pitcher he was predicted to become. Looks like they were wrong, doesn't it?
* Check out the WHIP on Hilton Smith. Would you have traded him for Jimmie Foxx? At least the White Sox don't seem quite as foolish for sending Hilton packing as the Red Sox do. By the way, the key player for the Red Sox in that deal, infielder Bill Regan, was packaged with some young players and sent to the Cardinals for Chick Hafey.
* Molly Craft continues to be one of the toughest pitchers in the American League. His career won loss mark (222-147) is eerily similar to Neal Brady's (217-144), but Molly's lifetime ERA of 3.14 is a good bit better than Neal's mark of 3.55. They're two of the best of their era, without a doubt.
* Bots Nekola might be the next "surprise star" in Pat's universe. He's 25, and we'll see if his fine 1932 year is a fluke or the first of many yet to come.
* Satchel Paige, on the other hand, has been expected to become a superstar since he was 18. He's the same age as Nekola--or so we believe-- and he's already won 127 major league games.
* Dizzy Dean managed to be just as good as advertised; the fact that Diz himself did much of the advertising should be noted here. The Cardinals hope he will one day be as good as Pol Perrit has been. Speaking of Perritt, he won one major league game in 1932, raising his lifetime total to 386. At forty, he pitched well in Class AAA, but it's likely his magnificent career is at its end. We'll see you in Cooperstown, Pol.
* Marv Gudat is the ace of the NL champion Reds, and is nicely on his way to joining the list of great pitchers who have called Cincy their home.
* The Pirates slipped to fifth place in '32, but Red Lucas wasn't to blame. You read that right; he walked only 29 batters in 323-plus innings.