1928 SEASON RECAP
Major League Baseball:
1928 was a new year, but it was the same story, as the Philadelphia Athletics and New York Giants squared off in the World Series for the third straight year. The Athletics would also top the Giants, becoming the first Major League franchise to ever three-peat as champions.
The A's were dominant in 1928, winning 109 games. Familiar faces powered Philly. Lefty Grove went 25-8 with a 2.36 ERA and 214 K's, good enough to take home his third straight Cy Young and pitching triple crown. Maybe it needs to be renamed the Lefty Grove Award. Sam Gray and George Enshaw each won 20+ games as well. The equally powerful offense was led by 20-year-old Jimmie Foxx. Foxx hit .366 with 32 homers and 108 RBIs. Mickey Cochrane, Bing Miller, Jimmy Dykes, Paul Waner, and Al Simmons all hit .324 or better.
While Foxx's season would've been more than enough to win the MVP most years, 1928 wasn't most years. Lou Gehrig batted .403 with 34 homers, 53 doubles, and 118 RBI's, taking home the AL MVP Award.
The NL Award winners were, yet again, Rogers Hornsby and Dazzy Vance. Hornsby batted .386 with 31 homers and 116 RBI's for the St. Louis Cardinals. Vance would go 23-11 with a 2.63 ERA and 188 strikeouts.
1928 would see a trio of stars leave MLB. Ty Cobb, who was traded to the Chicago Cubs prior to the start of the 1928 season, played his final season of professional baseball. Cobb desperately wanted to reach 4,000 hits, and there wasn't an obvious path to playing time with the Tigers, so they granted his wish and found him a team where he could play. Cobb would rack up 106 hits in 112 games, giving him 4,044 career hits, the most in Major League Baseball history.
Tris Speaker also wrapped up his baseball career following the 1928 season. Speaker played in all 154 games, but he hit under .300 for the first time since 1908, when he was a rookie with the Boston Red Sox. Speaker finished his career with 3,758 hits, second most in league history behind Cobb. His 772 doubles are most in league history.
Finally, Eddie Collins Sr. retired in 1928. "Cocky" finishes his career third in history in hits, racking up 3,501 hits as a member of the Philadelphia Athletics and Chicago White Sox.
La Liga Mexicana de Béisbol:
Veracruz and Monterrey squared off in the World Series yet again, with Veracruz winning their third title in four years, besting Monterrey in seven games. Turkey Stearnes slugged a Mexican League record 34 homers. He also drove in 119 runs. The LMB MVP wouldn't go to Stearnes, but Monterrey 2B Cesar Vasquez. Vasquez batted .386 with 13 homers, 92 RBIs, and a league-leading 36 steals. Veracruz starter Jose Villasenor took home his second straight Pitcher of the Year Award, going 19-7 with a 2.57 ERA.