GIANTS JOIN YANKS TO MAKE IT A SUBWAY SERIES
For the second year in a row the Giants and Dodgers fought it out for the National League Pennant. This time New York came out on top as Al Simmons and Joe Hauser led the league's top scoring offense. 23 year old Dizzy Dean put it all together in his third season going 22-7, while veteran Waite Hoyt really seems to have found a home in New York. Hoyt (18-12) has had 2 straight winning seasons after struggling for the first decade of his career with Cleveland and the Browns. Hoyt was injured late in the season and will miss the World Series, as will starting shortstop Stu Clarke.
The free agency loss of Chuck Klein and Wes Ferrell proved too much for the Dodgers to overcome in their bid to repeat. Emil Yde (19-12) had another strong season but newcomers Les Burke and Frank Wilson could not make up the loss of Klein's bat.
Lou Gehrig won his 5th MVP award and missed the triple crown by 1 rbi and .002 batting average. Dixie Walker of St Louis took the batting crown while Al Simmons of the Giants had 101 rbi's. Gehrig's 30 homers were 6 better than the man who replaced him in Cincinnati - Jimmie Foxx.
AD LISKA
Possibly the greatest one year turnaround ever. Despite being chosed third overall in 1929 Cubs pitcher Ad Liska never showed any sign of being a superstar until this season. He was 9-21 for the last place Cubs a year ago but won the Markle Award with a sensational 25-8, 2.11 era season. Liska did show a little potential in 1931 when he was 17-13 but no one expected this. Chicago's 14 game improvement from last place to third can almost entirely be traced to Liska - although Gehrig's bat in the lineup helped a little too:-)
After 4 years in the minors, Chief Hogsett of Cincinnati won the National League rookie of the year award, going 17-16 with a 3.57 era. Hogsett, a second round pick in 1929 by the Reds, was 41-34 in the minors at AA New Orleans and AAA Seattle.
American League W L PCT GB AVG ERA
New York 96 58 .623 -- .277 3.34
Cleveland 89 65 .578 7 .280 3.63
Detroit 77 77 .500 19 .272 3.64
Chicago (A) 75 79 .487 21 .266 4.16
Philadelphia (A) 74 80 .481 22 .277 3.76
Washington 74 80 .481 22 .279 4.18
Boston (A) 67 87 .435 29 .274 4.28
St Louis(A) 64 90 .416 32 .270 4.53
National League W L PCT GB AVG ERA
New York (N) 88 66 .571 -- .253 3.30
Brooklyn 83 71 .539 5 .250 3.25
Chicago (N) 80 74 .519 8 .262 3.13
Pittsburgh 77 77 .500 11 .252 3.04
St. Louis (N) 77 77 .500 11 .236 3.14
Cincinnati 73 81 .474 15 .245 3.28
Philadelphia (N) 72 82 .468 16 .244 3.15
Boston (N) 66 88 .429 22 .242 3.33
1933 ALL STAR GAME
While offense was down as a whole in the majors this season, no one told that to the participants in the 1933 allstar game. Last hit wins seemed to be the order of the day as each club scored 3 times in the 9th inning but the National League won by a 12-11 score. Only the inagural game of 1901 had a higher score - it was 15-14 American Leaguers.
Spud Davis of the Cubs was named MVP of the game on the strength of his 3 run, 3 rbi performance. Brooklyn's Les Burke had 3 hits and a pair of rbi's for the National Leaguers. Lou Gehrig of the Cubs and Pittsburgh's Pinky Higgins had 2 hits each. Even the pitchers got in on the act as starter Ted Lyons had 2 hits and 3 rbi's. Molly Craft of the Cardinals was not only the winning pitcher in his first all-star game, but he also homered for just the third time in his career.
Yankee third baseman Andy High had a 4 hit night for the American League. Earl Smith of Detroit, Philadelphia's Freddie Spurgeon, Chicago's Dale Alexander and Babe Ruth of the Yankees each had 2 hits. Surprisingly none of the American League's 19 hits left the yard. Harry Courtney of the Senators took the loss.