1931 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1931 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1931 in baseball.

The 1931 major league baseball season began on April 14, 1931. The regular season ended on September 27, 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 28th World Series on October 1 and ended with Game 7 on October 10. In the second iteration of this World Series matchup (and a rematch of the previous year), the Cardinals defeated the Athletics, four games to three, capturing their second championship in franchise history, since their previous in 1926. Going into the season, the defending World Series champions were the Philadelphia Athletics from the 1930 season.

1931 MLB season
League	American League (AL) National League (NL)
Sport	Baseball
Duration	Regular season: April 14 – September 27, 1931 World Series: October 1–10, 1931
Number of games	154
Number of teams	16 (8 per league)
Regular season
Season MVP	AL: Lefty Grove (PHA) NL: Frankie Frisch (SLC)
AL champions	Philadelphia Athletics
AL runners-up	New York Yankees
NL champions	St. Louis Cardinals
NL runners-up	New York Giants
World Series
Champions	St. Louis Cardinals
Runners-up	Philadelphia Athletics

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 first season that the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) selected a Most Valuable Player in each league.

Schedule

See also: Major League Baseball schedule

The 1931 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.

Opening Day, April 14, featured all sixteen teams, the first time since the 1926 season. The final day of the regular season was on September 27, which also saw all sixteen teams play on the final day continuing the trend which began the previous season. This was the first time that both Opening Day and the final day of the season saw all sixteen teams play. The World Series took place between October 1 and October 10.

Rule changes

The 1931 season saw the following rule changes:

• The rule previously implemented in 1926, that a sacrifice hit was awarded when any base runner advanced on a fly out, was eliminated.^[1][2][3]
• Regulations referring to a batter contacting his own ball were clarified as was the area of bases awarded a batter when a defensive player threw his glove at a batted or thrown ball or in the case of spectator interference.^[2]
• In the National League:
  • The ground rule double rule was implemented, which states that balls that bounce over the fence entitle the batter to two bases.^[1] The rule was previously implemented by the American League in 1929.^[2][4][5]
  • Barnstorming rules were loosened, allowing a squad of players to go to Japan.^[1]
  • A rule that only people in uniform be allowed on the playing field after ballpark gates were open was approved.^[1]
• The American League adopted the early-1920 rule that when calling home runs, balls are to be called based on where the ball crosses the outfield fence, no matter if the ball lands in the stands or leaves the ballpark.^[1][2] The National League previously implemented this rule in 1929.^[6]

Teams

League	Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Manager[7]
American League	Boston Red Sox	Boston, Massachusetts	Fenway Park	35,000	Shano Collins
	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	Joe McCarthy
	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	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	107	45	.704	—	60‍–‍15	47‍–‍30
New York Yankees	94	59	.614	13½	51‍–‍25	43‍–‍34
Washington Senators	92	62	.597	16	55‍–‍22	37‍–‍40
Cleveland Indians	78	76	.506	30	45‍–‍31	33‍–‍45
St. Louis Browns	63	91	.409	45	39‍–‍38	24‍–‍53
Boston Red Sox	62	90	.408	45	39‍–‍40	23‍–‍50
Detroit Tigers	61	93	.396	47	36‍–‍41	25‍–‍52
Chicago White Sox	56	97	.366	51½	31‍–‍45	25‍–‍52

National League

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Cardinals	101	53	.656	—	54‍–‍24	47‍–‍29
New York Giants	87	65	.572	13	50‍–‍27	37‍–‍38
Chicago Cubs	84	70	.545	17	50‍–‍27	34‍–‍43
Brooklyn Robins	79	73	.520	21	46‍–‍29	33‍–‍44
Pittsburgh Pirates	75	79	.487	26	44‍–‍33	31‍–‍46
Philadelphia Phillies	66	88	.429	35	40‍–‍36	26‍–‍52
Boston Braves	64	90	.416	37	36‍–‍41	28‍–‍49
Cincinnati Reds	58	96	.377	43	38‍–‍39	20‍–‍57

Postseason

The postseason began on October 1 and ended on October 10 with the St. Louis Cardinals defeating the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1931 World Series in seven games.

Bracket

	World Series
	AL	Philadelphia Athletics	3
	NL	St. Louis Cardinals	4

Managerial changes

Off-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Boston Red Sox	Heinie Wagner	Shano Collins
New York Yankees	Bob Shawkey	Joe McCarthy

League leaders

American League

Hitting leaders^[8]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Al Simmons (PHA)	.390
OPS	Babe Ruth (NYY)	1.195
HR	Lou Gehrig (NYY) Babe Ruth (NYY)	46
RBI	Lou Gehrig (NYY)	185
R	Lou Gehrig (NYY)	163
H	Lou Gehrig (NYY)	211
SB	Ben Chapman (NYY)	61

Pitching leaders^[9]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Lefty Grove1 (PHA)	31
L	Pat Caraway (CWS) Sam Gray (SLB)	24
ERA	Lefty Grove1 (PHA)	2.06
K	Lefty Grove1 (PHA)	175
IP	Rube Walberg (PHA)	291.0
SV	Firpo Marberry (WSH) Wilcy Moore (BRS)	8
WHIP	Lefty Grove (PHA)	1.077

¹ American League Triple Crown pitching winner

National League

Hitting leaders^[10]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Chick Hafey (SLC)	.349
OPS	Rogers Hornsby (CHC)	.996
HR	Chuck Klein (PHP)	31
RBI	Chuck Klein (PHP)	121
R	Chuck Klein (PHP) Bill Terry (NYG)	121
H	Lloyd Waner (PIT)	214
SB	Frankie Frisch (SLC)	28

Pitching leaders^[11]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Jumbo Elliott (PHP) Bill Hallahan (SLC) Heinie Meine (PIT)	19
L	Si Johnson (CIN)	19
ERA	Bill Walker (NYG)	2.26
K	Bill Hallahan (SLC)	159
IP	Heinie Meine (PIT)	284.0
SV	Jack Quinn (BKN)	13
WHIP	Carl Hubbell (NYG)	1.121

Awards and honors

Regular season

Baseball Writers' Association of America Awards
BBWAA Award	National League	American League
Most Valuable Player	Frankie Frisch (SLC)	Lefty Grove (PHA)

The Sporting News Awards
Award	National League	American League
Most Valuable Player[12]	Chuck Klein (PHP)	Lou Gehrig (NYY)

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
Chicago Cubs[13]	84	−6.7%	1,086,422	−25.8%	14,109
New York Yankees[14]	94	9.3%	912,437	−22.0%	11,850
New York Giants[15]	87	0.0%	812,163	−6.5%	10,412
Brooklyn Robins[16]	79	−8.1%	753,133	−31.4%	9,910
Philadelphia Athletics[17]	107	4.9%	627,464	−13.1%	8,366
St. Louis Cardinals[18]	101	9.8%	608,535	19.7%	7,802
Boston Braves[19]	64	−8.6%	515,005	10.8%	6,603
Washington Senators[20]	92	−2.1%	492,657	−19.8%	6,236
Cleveland Indians[21]	78	−3.7%	483,027	−8.6%	6,356
Detroit Tigers[22]	61	−18.7%	434,056	−33.2%	5,637
Chicago White Sox[23]	56	−9.7%	403,550	−0.6%	5,241
Boston Red Sox[24]	62	19.2%	350,975	−21.0%	4,387
Philadelphia Phillies[25]	66	26.9%	284,849	−4.7%	3,748
Cincinnati Reds[26]	58	−1.7%	263,316	−31.9%	3,420
Pittsburgh Pirates[27]	75	−6.3%	260,392	−27.2%	3,338
St. Louis Browns[28]	63	−1.6%	179,126	17.8%	2,326

Events

• July 12 – the Chicago Cubs–St. Louis doubleheader has 33 doubles. Due to the large crowd spilling onto the field, any ball hit into them is a ground-rule double.^[29]
• August 29 – Facing Cincinnati Reds pitcher Si Johnson in his second at bat in the major leagues, Chicago Cubs player Billy Herman hits Johnson's pitch, which ricochets off the bat and hits Herman in the head, knocking him out.^[30]