1930 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1930 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1930 in baseball.

The 1930 major league baseball season began on April 14, 1930. The regular season ended on September 28, with the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Athletics as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the 27th World Series on October 1 and ended with Game 6 on October 8. The Athletics defeated the Cardinals, four games to two, capturing their fifth championship in franchise history, winning back-to-back World Series.

1930 MLB season
League	American League (AL) National League (NL)
Sport	Baseball
Duration	Regular season: April 14 – September 28, 1930 (AL) April 15 – September 28, 1930 (NL) World Series: October 1–8, 1930
Number of games	154
Number of teams	16 (8 per league)
Pennant Winners
AL champions	Philadelphia Athletics
AL runners-up	Washington Senators
NL champions	St. Louis Cardinals
NL runners-up	Chicago Cubs
World Series
Champions	Philadelphia Athletics
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

Offense dominated this season. The National League batted .303, with six teams batting better than .300. The American League came in at .288, with three teams batting over .300.

Schedule

See also: Major League Baseball schedule

The 1930 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 14 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 28, which saw all sixteen teams play on the final day for the first time. The World Series took place between October 1 and October 8.

Rule changes

The 1930 season saw the following rule changes:

• Any player who was transferred to another team must report with their new team within 72 hours, with exceptions to those who had to travel from one coast to another.^[1]
• League presidents must now appoint the official scorers for each team based on the recommendations of the team presidents and local BBWAA chapters.^[1]

Teams

League	Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Manager[2]
American League	Boston Red Sox	Boston, Massachusetts	Fenway Park	35,000	Heinie Wagner
	Chicago White Sox	Chicago, Illinois	Comiskey Park	52,000	Donie Bush
	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland, Ohio	League Park	21,414	Roger Peckinpaugh
	Detroit Tigers	Detroit, Michigan	Navin Field	30,000	Bucky Harris
	New York Yankees	New York, New York	Yankee Stadium	62,000	Bob Shawkey
	Philadelphia Athletics	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Shibe Park	33,000	Connie Mack
	St. Louis Browns	St. Louis, Missouri	Sportsman's Park	34,023	Bill Killefer
	Washington Senators	Washington, D.C.	Griffith Stadium	27,000	Walter Johnson
National League	Boston Braves	Boston, Massachusetts	Braves Field	46,500	Bill McKechnie
	Brooklyn Robins	New York, New York	Ebbets Field	28,000	Wilbert Robinson
	Chicago Cubs	Chicago, Illinois	Wrigley Field	40,000	Joe McCarthy
					Rogers Hornsby
	Cincinnati Reds	Cincinnati, Ohio	Redland Field	26,060	Dan Howley
	New York Giants	New York, New York	Polo Grounds	56,000	John McGraw
	Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Baker Bowl	18,800	Burt Shotton
	Pittsburgh Pirates	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Forbes Field	41,000	Jewel Ens
	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis, Missouri	Sportsman's Park	34,023	Gabby Street

Standings

American League

• v
• t
• e

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Philadelphia Athletics	102	52	.662	—	58‍–‍18	44‍–‍34
Washington Senators	94	60	.610	8	56‍–‍21	38‍–‍39
New York Yankees	86	68	.558	16	47‍–‍29	39‍–‍39
Cleveland Indians	81	73	.526	21	44‍–‍33	37‍–‍40
Detroit Tigers	75	79	.487	27	45‍–‍33	30‍–‍46
St. Louis Browns	64	90	.416	38	38‍–‍40	26‍–‍50
Chicago White Sox	62	92	.403	40	34‍–‍44	28‍–‍48
Boston Red Sox	52	102	.338	50	30‍–‍46	22‍–‍56

National League

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Cardinals	92	62	.597	—	53‍–‍24	39‍–‍38
Chicago Cubs	90	64	.584	2	51‍–‍26	39‍–‍38
New York Giants	87	67	.565	5	46‍–‍31	41‍–‍36
Brooklyn Robins	86	68	.558	6	49‍–‍28	37‍–‍40
Pittsburgh Pirates	80	74	.519	12	42‍–‍35	38‍–‍39
Boston Braves	70	84	.455	22	39‍–‍38	31‍–‍46
Cincinnati Reds	59	95	.383	33	37‍–‍40	22‍–‍55
Philadelphia Phillies	52	102	.338	40	35‍–‍42	17‍–‍60

Postseason

The postseason began on October 1 and ended on October 8 with the Philadelphia Athletics defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1930 World Series in six games.

Bracket

	World Series
	AL	Philadelphia Athletics	4
	NL	St. Louis Cardinals	2

Managerial changes

Off-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Boston Braves	Emil Fuchs	Bill McKechnie
Boston Red Sox	Bill Carrigan	Heinie Wagner
Chicago White Sox	Lena Blackburne	Donie Bush
Cincinnati Reds	Jack Hendricks	Dan Howley
New York Yankees	Art Fletcher	Bob Shawkey
St. Louis Browns	Dan Howley	Bill Killefer
St. Louis Cardinals	Bill McKechnie	Gabby Street

In-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Chicago Cubs	Joe McCarthy	Rogers Hornsby

League leaders

American League

Hitting leaders^[3]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Al Simmons (PHA)	.381
OPS	Babe Ruth (NYY)	1.225
HR	Babe Ruth (NYY)	49
RBI	Lou Gehrig (NYY)	173
R	Al Simmons (PHA)	152
H	Johnny Hodapp (CLE)	225
SB	Marty McManus (DET)	23

Pitching leaders^[4]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Lefty Grove1 (PHA)	28
L	Milt Gaston (BRS) Jack Russell (BRS)	20
ERA	Lefty Grove1 (PHA)	2.54
K	Lefty Grove1 (PHA)	209
IP	Ted Lyons (CWS)	297.2
SV	Lefty Grove (PHA)	9
WHIP	Lefty Grove (PHA)	1.144

¹ American League Triple Crown pitching winner

National League

Hitting leaders^[5]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Bill Terry (NYG)	.401
OPS	Hack Wilson (CHC)	1.177
HR	Hack Wilson (CHC)	56
RBI	Hack Wilson2 (CHC)	191
R	Chuck Klein (PHP)	158
H	Bill Terry (NYG)	254
SB	Kiki Cuyler (CHC)	37

² All-time single-season runs batted in record

Pitching leaders^[6]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Ray Kremer (PIT) Pat Malone (CHC)	20
L	Larry French (PIT) Benny Frey (CIN)	18
ERA	Dazzy Vance (BKN)	2.61
K	Bill Hallahan (SLC)	177
IP	Ray Kremer (PIT)	276.0
SV	Herman Bell (SLC)	8
WHIP	Dazzy Vance (BKN)	1.144

Awards and honors

The Sporting News Awards
Award	National League	American League
Most Valuable Player[7]	Bill Terry (NYG)	Joe Cronin (WSH)

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
Chicago Cubs[8]	90	−8.2%	1,463,624	−1.5%	18,527
New York Yankees[9]	86	−2.3%	1,169,230	21.8%	15,385
Brooklyn Robins[10]	86	22.9%	1,097,329	49.9%	14,251
New York Giants[11]	87	3.6%	868,714	0.0%	11,282
Philadelphia Athletics[12]	102	−1.9%	721,663	−14.0%	9,496
Detroit Tigers[13]	75	7.1%	649,450	−25.3%	8,326
Washington Senators[14]	94	32.4%	614,474	72.8%	7,980
Cleveland Indians[15]	81	0.0%	528,657	−1.4%	6,866
St. Louis Cardinals[16]	92	17.9%	508,501	27.2%	6,604
Boston Braves[17]	70	25.0%	464,835	24.8%	6,037
Boston Red Sox[18]	52	−10.3%	444,045	12.5%	5,843
Chicago White Sox[19]	62	5.1%	406,123	−4.8%	5,207
Cincinnati Reds[20]	59	−10.6%	386,727	31.1%	5,022
Pittsburgh Pirates[21]	80	−9.1%	357,795	−27.2%	4,647
Philadelphia Phillies[22]	52	−26.8%	299,007	6.3%	3,883
St. Louis Browns[23]	64	−19.0%	152,088	−45.8%	1,950

Events

• On consecutive days in July 1930, the Philadelphia Phillies managed to score 15 runs in a game but were losers in both games. On July 23, the Phillies lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates 16–15, and on July 24, they lost to the Chicago Cubs 19–15.^[24] The July 24 game still holds the record for the most runs scored in a game without a home run.^[25]