1937 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1937 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1937 in baseball.

The 1937 major league baseball season began on April 19, 1937. The regular season ended on October 3, with the New York Giants 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 34th World Series on October 6 and ended with Game 5 on October 10. In the fifth iteration of this World Series matchup (and a rematch of the previous year), the Yankees defeated the Giants, four games to one, capturing their sixth championship in franchise history, and their second in a four-World Series run. With this victory, the Yankees became the team with the most World Series victories, a feat that continues today.

1937 MLB season
League	American League (AL) National League (NL)
Sport	Baseball
Duration	Regular season: April 9 – October 3, 1937 World Series: October 6–10, 1937
Number of games	154
Number of teams	16 (8 per league)
Regular season
Season MVP	AL: Charlie Gehringer (DET) NL: Joe Medwick (SLC)
AL champions	New York Yankees
AL runners-up	Detroit Tigers
NL champions	New York Giants
NL runners-up	Chicago Cubs
World Series
Champions	New York Yankees
Runners-up	New York Giants

Red Sox

White Sox  

Indians

Tigers

Athletics

Browns

Yankees

Senators

Locations of teams for the 1934–1939 American League seasons
American League

Bees

Dodgers

Cubs

Reds

Giants

Phillies

Pirates

Cardinals

Locations of teams for the 1936–1937 National League seasons
National League

The fifth Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held on July 7 at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C., home of the Washington Senators. The American League won, 8–3.

Schedule

See also: Major League Baseball schedule

The 1937 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 19, featured four teams across both leagues play. The final day of the regular season was on October 3 and featured all sixteen teams, the first since 1935. The World Series took place between October 6 and October 10.

Rule changes

The 1937 season saw the following rule changes:^[1]

• Regarding night games, the National and American Leagues allowed teams to play up to seven night games per season at home as long as the visiting team agreed.
• It was decided to make the baseball slightly "deader" (that is, less effective off the bat), following poor pitching performances and stats of the previous season.
• New baseballs created would now have "Official Major League Baseball" stamped, as opposed to either National or American Leagues (although both leagues would frequently use their own branded balls through the end of the 20th century).

Teams

An asterisk (*) denotes the ballpark a team played the minority of their home games at

League	Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Manager[2]
American League	Boston Red Sox	Boston, Massachusetts	Fenway Park	35,000	Joe Cronin
	Chicago White Sox	Chicago, Illinois	Comiskey Park	52,000	Jimmy Dykes
	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland, Ohio	League Park	22,500	Steve O'Neill
			Cleveland Stadium*	78,811*
	Detroit Tigers	Detroit, Michigan	Navin Field	36,000	Mickey Cochrane
					Del Baker
					Cy Perkins
	New York Yankees	New York, New York	Yankee Stadium	71,699	Joe McCarthy
	Philadelphia Athletics	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Shibe Park	33,000	Connie Mack
					Earle Mack
	St. Louis Browns	St. Louis, Missouri	Sportsman's Park	34,023	Rogers Hornsby
					Jim Bottomley
	Washington Senators	Washington, D.C.	Griffith Stadium	32,000	Bucky Harris
National League	Boston Bees	Boston, Massachusetts	National League Park	41,700	Bill McKechnie
	Brooklyn Dodgers	New York, New York	Ebbets Field	35,000	Burleigh Grimes
	Chicago Cubs	Chicago, Illinois	Wrigley Field	40,000	Charlie Grimm
	Cincinnati Reds	Cincinnati, Ohio	Crosley Field	26,060	Chuck Dressen
					Bobby Wallace
	New York Giants	New York, New York	Polo Grounds	51,856	Bill Terry
	Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Baker Bowl	18,800	Jimmie Wilson
	Pittsburgh Pirates	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Forbes Field	41,000	Pie Traynor
	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis, Missouri	Sportsman's Park	34,023	Frankie Frisch

Standings

American League

• v
• t
• e

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	102	52	.662	—	57‍–‍20	45‍–‍32
Detroit Tigers	89	65	.578	13	49‍–‍28	40‍–‍37
Chicago White Sox	86	68	.558	16	47‍–‍30	39‍–‍38
Cleveland Indians	83	71	.539	19	50‍–‍28	33‍–‍43
Boston Red Sox	80	72	.526	21	44‍–‍29	36‍–‍43
Washington Senators	73	80	.477	28½	43‍–‍35	30‍–‍45
Philadelphia Athletics	54	97	.358	46½	27‍–‍50	27‍–‍47
St. Louis Browns	46	108	.299	56	25‍–‍51	21‍–‍57

National League

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Giants	95	57	.625	—	50‍–‍25	45‍–‍32
Chicago Cubs	93	61	.604	3	46‍–‍32	47‍–‍29
Pittsburgh Pirates	86	68	.558	10	46‍–‍32	40‍–‍36
St. Louis Cardinals	81	73	.526	15	45‍–‍33	36‍–‍40
Boston Bees	79	73	.520	16	43‍–‍33	36‍–‍40
Brooklyn Dodgers	62	91	.405	33½	36‍–‍39	26‍–‍52
Philadelphia Phillies	61	92	.399	34½	29‍–‍45	32‍–‍47
Cincinnati Reds	56	98	.364	40	28‍–‍51	28‍–‍47

Postseason

The postseason began on October 6 and ended on October 10 with the New York Yankees defeating the New York Giants in the 1937 World Series in five games.

Bracket

	World Series
	AL	New York Yankees	4
	NL	New York Giants	1

Managerial changes

Off-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Brooklyn Dodgers	Casey Stengel	Burleigh Grimes
Detroit Tigers	Del Baker	Mickey Cochrane

In-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Cincinnati Reds	Chuck Dressen	Bobby Wallace
Detroit Tigers	Mickey Cochrane	Del Baker
	Del Baker	Cy Perkins
Philadelphia Athletics	Connie Mack	Earle Mack
St. Louis Browns	Rogers Hornsby	Jim Bottomley

League leaders

Any team shown in small text indicates a previous team a player was on during the season.

American League

Hitting leaders^[3]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Charlie Gehringer (DET)	.371
OPS	Lou Gehrig (NYY)	1.116
HR	Joe DiMaggio (NYY)	46
RBI	Hank Greenberg (DET)	184
R	Joe DiMaggio (NYY)	151
H	Beau Bell (SLB)	218
SB	Ben Chapman (BRS/WSH) Billy Werber (PHA)	35

Pitching leaders^[4]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Lefty Gomez1 (NYY)	21
L	Harry Kelley (PHA)	21
ERA	Lefty Gomez1 (NYY)	2.33
K	Lefty Gomez1 (NYY)	194
IP	Wes Ferrell (WSH/BRS)	281.0
SV	Clint Brown (CWS)	18
WHIP	Monty Stratton (CWS)	1.087

¹ American League Triple Crown pitching winner

National League

Hitting leaders^[5]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Joe Medwick2 (SLC)	.374
OPS	Joe Medwick (SLC)	1.056
HR	Joe Medwick2 (SLC) Mel Ott (NYG)	31
RBI	Joe Medwick2 (SLC)	154
R	Joe Medwick (SLC)	111
H	Joe Medwick (SLC)	237
SB	Augie Galan (CHC)	23

² National League Triple Crown batting winner

Pitching leaders^[6]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Carl Hubbell (NYG)	22
L	Wayne LaMaster (PHP)	19
ERA	Jim Turner (BSB)	2.38
K	Carl Hubbell (NYG)	159
IP	Claude Passeau (PHP)	292.1
SV	Mace Brown (PIT) Cliff Melton (NYG)	7
WHIP	Jim Turner (BSB)	1.091

Awards and honors

Regular season

Baseball Writers' Association of America Awards
BBWAA Award	National League	American League
Most Valuable Player	Joe Medwick (SLC)	Charlie Gehringer (DET)

Other awards

The Sporting News Awards
Award	National League	American League
Most Valuable Player[7]	Joe Medwick (SLC)	Charlie Gehringer (DET)
Player of the Year[8]	—	Johnny Allen (CLE)
Manager of the Year[9]	Bill McKechnie (BSB)	—
Executive of the Year[10]	—	Ed Barrow (NYY)

Baseball Hall of Fame

Main article: National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

• Nap Lajoie
• Tris Speaker
• Cy Young
• Connie Mack (manager)
• John McGraw (manager)
• Morgan Bulkeley (executive)
• Ban Johnson (executive)
• George Wright (executive/pioneer contributor)

Further information: 1937 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
Detroit Tigers[11]	89	7.2%	1,072,276	22.4%	13,926
New York Yankees[12]	102	0.0%	998,148	2.2%	12,635
New York Giants[13]	95	3.3%	926,887	10.6%	12,358
Chicago Cubs[14]	93	6.9%	895,020	28.0%	11,475
Chicago White Sox[15]	86	6.2%	589,245	33.7%	7,653
Cleveland Indians[16]	83	3.8%	564,849	12.9%	7,242
Boston Red Sox[17]	80	8.1%	559,659	−10.7%	7,563
Brooklyn Dodgers[18]	62	−7.5%	482,481	−1.5%	6,348
Pittsburgh Pirates[19]	86	2.4%	459,679	23.4%	5,893
St. Louis Cardinals[20]	81	−6.9%	430,811	−3.9%	5,385
Philadelphia Athletics[21]	54	1.9%	430,738	51.0%	5,452
Cincinnati Reds[22]	56	−24.3%	411,221	−11.8%	5,140
Washington Senators[23]	73	−11.0%	397,799	4.8%	4,972
Boston Bees[24]	79	11.3%	385,339	13.1%	5,070
Philadelphia Phillies[25]	61	13.0%	212,790	−14.6%	2,876
St. Louis Browns[26]	46	−19.3%	123,121	32.0%	1,578