1928 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1928 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1928 in baseball.

The 1928 major league baseball season began on April 10, 1928. The regular season ended on September 30, with the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the 25th World Series on October 4 and ended with Game 4 on October 9. In the second iteration of this World Series matchup, the Yankees swept the Cardinals in four games, capturing their third championship in franchise history, and the fifth team to win back-to-back World Series.

1928 MLB season
League	American League (AL) National League (NL)
Sport	Baseball
Duration	Regular season: April 10 – September 30, 1928 World Series: October 4–9, 1928
Number of games	154
Number of teams	16 (8 per league)
Regular Season
Season MVP	AL: Mickey Cochrane (PHA) NL: Jim Bottomley (SLC)
AL champions	New York Yankees
AL runners-up	Philadelphia Athletics
NL champions	St. Louis Cardinals
NL runners-up	New York Giants
World Series
Champions	New York Yankees
Runners-up	St. Louis Cardinals

Red Sox

White Sox  

Indians

Tigers

Athletics

Browns

Yankees

Senators

Locations of teams for the 1923–1931 American League seasons
American League

Braves

Robins

Cubs

Reds

Giants

Phillies

Pirates

Cardinals

Locations of teams for the 1920–1931 National League seasons
National League

This was the seventh of eight seasons that "League Awards", a precursor to the Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award (introduced in 1931), were issued.

Schedule

See also: Major League Baseball schedule

The 1928 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 the 1904 season (except for 1919) and would be used until 1961 in the American League and 1962 in the National League.

American League Opening Day took place on April 10 with the Boston Red Sox and Washington Senators playing, while National League Opening Day took place the following day. The final day of the regular season was on September 30. The World Series took place between October 4 and October 9.

Rule change

The 1928 season saw the following rule change:

• The National League reimplemented the early-1920 home run rule, which states that balls are to be called based on where the ball crosses the outfield fence regarding home runs. This rule was only for balls which landed in the stands. Balls which completely left the ballpark were to be judged based on where the ball flew out of sight. The American League would implement the outfield fence portion of the home run rule in 1931, and would extend this interpretation to balls which leave the ballpark completely.^[1]

Teams

League	Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Manager[2]
American League	Boston Red Sox	Boston, Massachusetts	Fenway Park	35,000	Bill Carrigan
	Chicago White Sox	Chicago, Illinois	Comiskey Park	52,000	Ray Schalk
					Lena Blackburne
	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland, Ohio	Dunn Field	21,414	Roger Peckinpaugh
	Detroit Tigers	Detroit, Michigan	Navin Field	30,000	George Moriarty
	New York Yankees	New York, New York	Yankee Stadium	82,000	Miller Huggins
	Philadelphia Athletics	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Shibe Park	28,250	Connie Mack
	St. Louis Browns	St. Louis, Missouri	Sportsman's Park	34,023	Dan Howley
	Washington Senators	Washington, D.C.	Griffith Stadium	27,000	Bucky Harris
National League	Boston Braves	Boston, Massachusetts	Braves Field	46,500	Jack Slattery
					Rogers Hornsby
	Brooklyn Robins	New York, New York	Ebbets Field	28,000	Wilbert Robinson
	Chicago Cubs	Chicago, Illinois	Wrigley Field	40,000	Joe McCarthy
	Cincinnati Reds	Cincinnati, Ohio	Redland Field	26,060	Jack Hendricks
	New York Giants	New York, New York	Polo Grounds	55,000	John McGraw
	Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Baker Bowl	18,000	Burt Shotton
	Pittsburgh Pirates	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Forbes Field	41,000	Donie Bush
	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis, Missouri	Sportsman's Park	34,023	Bill McKechnie

Standings

American League

• v
• t
• e

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	101	53	.656	—	52‍–‍25	49‍–‍28
Philadelphia Athletics	98	55	.641	2½	52‍–‍25	46‍–‍30
St. Louis Browns	82	72	.532	19	43‍–‍34	39‍–‍38
Washington Senators	75	79	.487	26	37‍–‍43	38‍–‍36
Chicago White Sox	72	82	.468	29	37‍–‍40	35‍–‍42
Detroit Tigers	68	86	.442	33	36‍–‍41	32‍–‍45
Cleveland Indians	62	92	.403	39	28‍–‍49	34‍–‍43
Boston Red Sox	57	96	.373	43½	26‍–‍47	31‍–‍49

National League

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Cardinals	95	59	.617	—	42‍–‍35	53‍–‍24
New York Giants	93	61	.604	2	51‍–‍26	42‍–‍35
Chicago Cubs	91	63	.591	4	52‍–‍25	39‍–‍38
Pittsburgh Pirates	85	67	.559	9	47‍–‍30	38‍–‍37
Cincinnati Reds	78	74	.513	16	44‍–‍33	34‍–‍41
Brooklyn Robins	77	76	.503	17½	41‍–‍35	36‍–‍41
Boston Braves	50	103	.327	44½	25‍–‍51	25‍–‍52
Philadelphia Phillies	43	109	.283	51	26‍–‍49	17‍–‍60

Postseason

The postseason began on October 4 and ended on October 9 with the New York Yankees sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1928 World Series in four games.

Bracket

	World Series
	AL	New York Yankees	4
	NL	St. Louis Cardinals	0

Managerial changes

Off-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Boston Braves	Dave Bancroft	Jack Slattery
Cleveland Indians	Jack McCallister	Roger Peckinpaugh
Philadelphia Phillies	Stuffy McInnis	Burt Shotton
St. Louis Cardinals	Bob O'Farrell	Bill McKechnie

In-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Boston Braves	Jack Slattery	Rogers Hornsby
Chicago White Sox	Ray Schalk	Lena Blackburne

League leaders

American League

Hitting leaders^[3]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Goose Goslin (WSH)	.379
OPS	Babe Ruth (NYY)	1.172
HR	Babe Ruth (NYY)	54
RBI	Lou Gehrig (NYY) Babe Ruth (NYY)	142
R	Babe Ruth (NYY)	163
H	Heinie Manush (SLB)	241
SB	Buddy Myer (BRS)	30

Pitching leaders^[4]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Lefty Grove (PHA) George Pipgras (NYY)	24
L	Red Ruffing (BRS)	25
ERA	Garland Braxton (WSH)	2.51
K	Lefty Grove (PHA)	183
IP	George Pipgras (NYY)	300.2
SV	Waite Hoyt (NYY)	8
WHIP	Garland Braxton (WSH)	1.012

National League

Hitting leaders^[5]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Rogers Hornsby (BSB)	.387
OPS	Rogers Hornsby (BSB)	1.130
HR	Jim Bottomley (SLC) Hack Wilson (CHC)	31
RBI	Jim Bottomley (SLC)	136
R	Paul Waner (PIT)	142
H	Freddie Lindstrom (NYG)	231
SB	Kiki Cuyler (CHC)	37

Pitching leaders^[6]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Larry Benton (NYG) Burleigh Grimes (PIT)	25
L	Ed Brandt (BSB)	21
ERA	Dazzy Vance (BKN)	2.09
K	Dazzy Vance (BKN)	200
IP	Burleigh Grimes (PIT)	330.2
SV	Hal Haid (SLC) Bill Sherdel (SLC)	5
WHIP	Dazzy Vance (BKN)	1.063

Awards and honors

• League Award: Jim Bottomley (SLC, National); Mickey Cochrane (PHA, American)

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
Chicago Cubs[7]	91	7.1%	1,143,740	−1.3%	14,854
New York Yankees[8]	101	−8.2%	1,072,132	−7.9%	13,924
New York Giants[9]	93	1.1%	916,191	6.8%	11,899
St. Louis Cardinals[10]	95	3.3%	761,574	1.6%	9,891
Philadelphia Athletics[11]	98	7.7%	689,756	13.9%	8,958
Brooklyn Robins[12]	77	18.5%	664,863	4.3%	8,635
Pittsburgh Pirates[13]	85	−9.6%	495,070	−43.1%	6,429
Chicago White Sox[14]	72	2.9%	494,152	−19.6%	6,335
Cincinnati Reds[15]	78	4.0%	490,490	10.9%	6,288
Detroit Tigers[16]	68	−17.1%	474,323	−38.7%	6,160
Boston Red Sox[17]	57	11.8%	396,920	30.0%	5,364
Washington Senators[18]	75	−11.8%	378,501	−28.4%	4,731
Cleveland Indians[19]	62	−6.1%	375,907	0.7%	4,882
St. Louis Browns[20]	82	39.0%	339,497	37.0%	4,409
Boston Braves[21]	50	−16.7%	227,001	−21.4%	2,987
Philadelphia Phillies[22]	43	−15.7%	182,168	−40.4%	2,429