1938 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1938 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1938 in baseball.

The 1938 major league baseball season began on April 18, 1938. The regular season ended on October 2, with the Chicago Cubs 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 35th World Series on October 5 and ended with Game 4 on October 9. In the second iteration of this World Series matchup, the Yankees swept the Cubs in four games, capturing their seventh championship in franchise history, and their third in a four-World Series run, becoming the first team to win three consecutive World Series.

1938 MLB season
League	American League (AL) National League (NL)
Sport	Baseball
Duration	Regular season: April 18 – October 2, 1938 (AL) April 19 – October 2, 1938 (NL) World Series: October 5–9, 1938
Number of games	154
Number of teams	16 (8 per league)
Regular season
Season MVP	AL: Jimmie Foxx (BRS) NL: Ernie Lombardi (CIN)
AL champions	New York Yankees
AL runners-up	Boston Red Sox
NL champions	Chicago Cubs
NL runners-up	Pittsburgh Pirates
World Series
Champions	New York Yankees
Runners-up	Chicago Cubs

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 1938–1940 National League seasons
National League

The sixth Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held on July 6 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio, home of the Cincinnati Reds. The National League won, 4–1.

Schedule

See also: Major League Baseball schedule

The 1938 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 18 with four teams playing, while National League Opening Day took place the following day, featuring all eight teams. This was the first season since 1932 that both leagues opened on different days. The final day of the regular season was on October 2 and featured all sixteen teams, continuing the trend since the previous season. The World Series took place between October 5 and October 9.

Teams

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

League	Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Manager[1]
American League	Boston Red Sox	Boston, Massachusetts	Fenway Park	35,000	Joe Cronin
	Chicago White Sox	Chicago, Illinois	Comiskey Park	50,000	Jimmy Dykes
	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland, Ohio	League Park	22,500	Ossie Vitt
			Cleveland Stadium*	78,811*
	Detroit Tigers	Detroit, Michigan	Briggs Stadium	58,000	Mickey Cochrane
					Del Baker
	New York Yankees	New York, New York	Yankee Stadium	71,699	Joe McCarthy
	Philadelphia Athletics	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Shibe Park	33,000	Connie Mack
	St. Louis Browns	St. Louis, Missouri	Sportsman's Park	34,023	Gabby Street
					Oscar Melillo
	Washington Senators	Washington, D.C.	Griffith Stadium	32,000	Bucky Harris
National League	Boston Bees	Boston, Massachusetts	National League Park	41,700	Casey Stengel
	Brooklyn Dodgers	New York, New York	Ebbets Field	35,000	Burleigh Grimes
	Chicago Cubs	Chicago, Illinois	Wrigley Field	38,396	Charlie Grimm
					Gabby Hartnett
	Cincinnati Reds	Cincinnati, Ohio	Crosley Field	29,401	Bill McKechnie
	New York Giants	New York, New York	Polo Grounds	51,856	Bill Terry
	Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Baker Bowl*	18,800*	Jimmie Wilson
			Shibe Park	33,000
					Hans Lobert
	Pittsburgh Pirates	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Forbes Field	40,000	Pie Traynor
	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis, Missouri	Sportsman's Park	34,023	Frankie Frisch
					Mike González

Standings

American League

• v
• t
• e

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	99	53	.651	—	55‍–‍22	44‍–‍31
Boston Red Sox	88	61	.591	9½	52‍–‍23	36‍–‍38
Cleveland Indians	86	66	.566	13	46‍–‍30	40‍–‍36
Detroit Tigers	84	70	.545	16	48‍–‍31	36‍–‍39
Washington Senators	75	76	.497	23½	44‍–‍33	31‍–‍43
Chicago White Sox	65	83	.439	32	33‍–‍39	32‍–‍44
St. Louis Browns	55	97	.362	44	31‍–‍43	24‍–‍54
Philadelphia Athletics	53	99	.349	46	28‍–‍47	25‍–‍52

National League

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago Cubs	89	63	.586	—	44‍–‍33	45‍–‍30
Pittsburgh Pirates	86	64	.573	2	44‍–‍33	42‍–‍31
New York Giants	83	67	.553	5	43‍–‍30	40‍–‍37
Cincinnati Reds	82	68	.547	6	43‍–‍34	39‍–‍34
Boston Bees	77	75	.507	12	45‍–‍30	32‍–‍45
St. Louis Cardinals	71	80	.470	17½	36‍–‍41	35‍–‍39
Brooklyn Dodgers	69	80	.463	18½	31‍–‍41	38‍–‍39
Philadelphia Phillies	45	105	.300	43	26‍–‍48	19‍–‍57

Postseason

The postseason began on October 5 and ended on October 9 with the New York Yankees sweeping the Chicago Cubs in the 1938 World Series in four games.

Bracket

	World Series
	AL	New York Yankees	4
	NL	Chicago Cubs	0

Managerial changes

Off-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Boston Bees	Bill McKechnie	Casey Stengel
Cincinnati Reds	Bobby Wallace	Bill McKechnie
Cleveland Indians	Steve O'Neill	Ossie Vitt
Detroit Tigers	Cy Perkins	Mickey Cochrane
Philadelphia Athletics	Earle Mack	Connie Mack
St. Louis Browns	Jim Bottomley	Gabby Street

In-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Chicago Cubs	Charlie Grimm	Gabby Hartnett
Detroit Tigers	Mickey Cochrane	Del Baker
Philadelphia Phillies	Jimmie Wilson	Hans Lobert
St. Louis Browns	Gabby Street	Oscar Melillo
St. Louis Cardinals	Frankie Frisch	Mike González

League leaders

American League

Hitting leaders^[2]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Jimmie Foxx (BRS)	.349
OPS	Jimmie Foxx (BRS)	1.166
HR	Hank Greenberg (DET)	58
RBI	Jimmie Foxx (BRS)	175
R	Hank Greenberg (DET)	143
H	Joe Vosmik (BRS)	201
SB	Frankie Crosetti (NYY)	27

Pitching leaders^[3]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Red Ruffing (NYY)	21
L	George Caster (PHA)	20
ERA	Lefty Grove (BRS)	3.08
K	Bob Feller (CLE)	240
IP	Bobo Newsom (SLB)	329.2
SV	Johnny Murphy (NYY)	11
WHIP	Dutch Leonard (WSH)	1.227

Hank Greenberg, Hall of Famer and 2-time MVP

National League

Hitting leaders^[4]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Ernie Lombardi (CIN)	.342
OPS	Johnny Mize (SLC)	1.036
HR	Mel Ott (NYG)	36
RBI	Joe Medwick (SLC)	122
R	Mel Ott (NYG)	116
H	Frank McCormick (CIN)	237
SB	Stan Hack (CHC)	16

Pitching leaders^[5]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Bill Lee (CHC)	22
L	Hugh Mulcahy (PHP)	20
ERA	Bill Lee (CHC)	2.66
K	Clay Bryant (CHC)	135
IP	Paul Derringer (CIN)	307.0
SV	Dick Coffman (NYG)	12
WHIP	Carl Hubbell (NYG)	1.140

Awards and honors

Regular season

Baseball Writers' Association of America Awards
BBWAA Award	National League	American League
Most Valuable Player	Ernie Lombardi (CIN)	Jimmie Foxx (BRS)

Other awards

The Sporting News Awards
Award	National League	American League
Most Valuable Player[6]	Ernie Lombardi (CIN)	Jimmie Foxx (BRS)
Player of the Year[7]	Johnny Vander Meer (CIN)	—
Manager of the Year[8]	—	Joe McCarthy (NYY)
Executive of the Year[9]	Warren Giles (CIN)	—

Baseball Hall of Fame

Main article: National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

• Grover Cleveland Alexander
• Alexander Cartwright (pioneer contributor)
• Henry Chadwick (pioneer contributor)

Further information: 1938 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
New York Yankees[10]	99	−2.9%	970,916	−2.7%	12,290
Chicago Cubs[11]	89	−4.3%	951,640	6.3%	12,359
New York Giants[12]	83	−12.6%	799,633	−13.7%	10,954
Detroit Tigers[13]	84	−5.6%	799,557	−25.4%	10,121
Cincinnati Reds[14]	82	46.4%	706,756	71.9%	9,179
Brooklyn Dodgers[15]	69	11.3%	663,087	37.4%	8,961
Cleveland Indians[16]	86	3.6%	652,006	15.4%	8,579
Boston Red Sox[17]	88	10.0%	646,459	15.5%	8,619
Pittsburgh Pirates[18]	86	0.0%	641,033	39.5%	8,218
Washington Senators[19]	75	2.7%	522,694	31.4%	6,701
Philadelphia Athletics[20]	53	−1.9%	385,357	−10.5%	5,070
Boston Bees[21]	77	−2.5%	341,149	−11.5%	4,549
Chicago White Sox[22]	65	−24.4%	338,278	−42.6%	4,634
St. Louis Cardinals[23]	71	−12.3%	291,418	−32.4%	3,598
Philadelphia Phillies[24]	45	−26.2%	166,111	−21.9%	2,215
St. Louis Browns[25]	55	19.6%	130,417	5.9%	1,694