The Dirty '30s

Jimmy Foxx had three top 10 seasons to lead all major league players in the 1930s in a rating system tallying yearly top-five finishes in 12 statistical categories. Foxx finished fourth, seventh and eighth on the top 10 batting lists with 41 points in 1932 and 39 1/2 in '33 with Philadelphia and 38 1/2 in '38, after he'd been traded to Boston.

Lefty Grove led all major league pitchers during the 1930s with three top 10 seasons in a rating system that gives points based on top-five finishes in 12 statistical categories. In consecutive seasons he scored 45 in 1930, 39 1/2 in '31 and 37 1/2 in '32 with Philadelphia to place second, fifth and eighth.

By Phil Ellenbecker

  We'll call them the Dirty '30s because Middle America was coated for much of the decade by the Dust Bowl, a swirl of soil that heaped misery on a country already mired in the Great Depression.

  And inside the ballparks there was a rowdy bunch of St. Louis Cardinals nicknamed "The Gashouse Gang," known for getting their uniforms dirty and keeping them dirty by not bothering to wash them between games.

  And the overall game of major league baseball was dirtied by the continued absence of darker-complected players, kept out by the "gentleman's agreement" among owners since the late 1800s that shut out blacks. There was plenty of great baseball played during the 1930s by many great players, but many of the greatest didn't set foot in a major league stadium unless their Negro League teams played there.

  As for the white boys, the New York Yankees continued their dominance in the 1930s with the likes of Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Lefty Gomez -- Babe Ruth was beginning to fade at the outset of the decade. But it was a pair of Philadelphia Athletics-turned-Boston Red Sox who stood out the most on the list of the best hitting and pitching seasons.

  Jimmy Foxx had three top 10 batting seasons, while Lefty Grove had three top 10 years on the mound.  

  That's according to this "study" of mine I've been conducting over past baseball decades, the latest the '30s to add to succeeding decades up through and including the '80s.

  It consists of pulling out a Macmillan Baseball Encyclopedia and looking over the listing of league leaders in several categories for each year. The top five were listed in some instances, the top four in others – don’t ask me how that line was drawn. The major categories almost all included the top five. In a couple instances just the top three were listed. Sometimes just two. I think a large number of players tied had something to do with less than four, and space limitations may have come into play.
  I gave five points for the top ranking, four for second and so on down. Where just four were listed, it went 5-4-3-2. If there was a tie, I divided the total number of points between the rankings by the number of players who were tied. Example: Three players tied for second – 4+3+2=9 divided by 3=3 points for each player.

  The categories: hitting -- batting average, total bases, hits, runs, slugging average, RBIs, walks, doubles, homers, steals, homer-percentage, triples; pitching  – winning percentage, saves, hits/nine innings, strikeouts/nine innings, ERA, strikeouts, shutouts, innings pitched, wins, complete games, walks/nine innings, games pitched.
  What I came up with I think gives a fairly representative presentation of the top players and seasons. There are enough categories included to give a balance between the counting stats that reward durability and reliability and the rate stats that address pure performance. Offense takes in power, speed, batting eye and contact; pitching -- power, control, durability and dominance (i.e., shutouts). Mind you, the numbers, other than the rankings I assigned, don’t matter here, just how the players ranked in comparison with their peers. Which I think is the best way to rate players, how they rate relative to others. The 48 homers Schmidt hit to lead the NL in 1980 don't matter any more than the 22 four players hit to tie for the AL lead in 1981 (a year where numbers were shrunk by a midseason strike). Those players were simply the best over their peers in that particular year in that particular category.   

  Here's the list of the top 10 seasons in the 1930s and a closer look at the rankings:  

Chuck Klein had the top single season among major league hitters in the 1930s, according to a rating system that awards points for top-five finishes in 12 statistical categories. Klein's 47 points in 1932, while with the Philadelphia Phillies, was the second-highest of any of the decades surveyed so far, including through the '80s, ranking only behind Ted Williams' 47 1/2 in 1949. Klein placed in the top five in all 12 categories surveyed in '32. 

Top 10 hitting seasons, 1930s

1. Chuck Klein, Philadelphia Phillies, 1932, 47

2. Chuck Klein, Philadelphia Phillies, 1933, 45

3. Joe Medwick, St. Louis Cardinals, 1937, 42 1/2

4. Jimmy Foxx, Philadelphia A's, 1932, 41

5. Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees, 1934, 40 1/2

6. Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees, 1931, 40

7. Jimmie Foxx, Philadelphia A's, 1933, 39 1/2

8. Jimmie Foxx, Boston Red Sox, 1938, 38 1/2

9. Johnny Mize, St. Louis Cardinals, 1939, 38

10. Joe DiMaggio, New York Yankees, 1937, 37 1/2

  Foxx finished fourth, seventh and eighth on the top 10 batting lists with 41 points in 1932 and 39 1/2 in '33 with Philadelphia and 38 1/2 in '38, after he'd been traded to Boston.

  Gehrig was the other player with multiple batting seasons in the top 10, placing fifth with 40 1/2 in 1934 and sixth with 40 in '31.

  While American League players Foxx and  Gehrig took up the most space in the top 10, NLers led the way with the three top seasons, led by Chuck Klein with the two best.

  Klein accumulated 47 points in 1932 and 45 in 1933 for the Philadelphia Phillies, while Joe "Ducky Wucky" Medwick was third with 42 1/2 for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1937.

  Klein's 47 in 1932 was the second-highest of any of the decades surveyed so far, including through the '80s, ranking only behind Ted Williams' 47 1/2 in 1949. Klein placed in the top five in all 12 catagories surveyed in '32. He led the NL in slugging average, total bases, runs scored, hits, stolen bases and homers, tying with Mel Ott for the homer crown; placed second in RBIs, doubles, and home-run percentage; third in batting average and triples; and tied for fifth in walks.

  An asterisk should probably be placed next to Klein's achievements, though, since they came when his home park was the bandbox known as the Baker Bowl, with a 280-foot right-field fence for the lefty-swinging Klein to aim at. After leading the NL from 1930 through 1933, he didn't place in the top five in the rankings after moving over to the Chicago Cubs.

  Medwick placed behind Klein in the NL with three No. 1 seasons, coming in succession from 1935 through '37.

  Gehrig tied Klein for the most league-leading seasons with four in the AL, followed by Foxx with three.

  Two new legends appeared on the scene to lead the American League in the latter part of the decade. DiMaggio's 1937 season cracked the final spot in the top 10, while Ted Williams topped the AL in '39 in his debut season with Boston.

Dizzy Dean, right, shown with Lou Gehrig, had the best season among major league pitchers in the 1930s, according to ratings that tally points for top-five finishes in 12 statistical categories. In leading the 1934 "Gas House Gang" St. Louis Cardinals to the world title, he rang up 46 1/2 points. That tops Bob Feller's 46 in 1940 for the best season surveyed so far. Dean placed in the top five of 11 of the 12 categories tallied for '34. Among major league hitters, Gehrig placed fifth with 40 1/2 in 1934 and sixth with 40 in '31 for the New York Yankees.

Top 10 pitching seasons, 1930s

1. Dizzy Dean, St. Louis Cardinals, 1934, 46 1/2

2. Lefty Grove, Philadelphia A's, 1930, 45

3. Carl Hubbell, New York Giants, 1933, 44 1/2

4. Lefty Gomez, New York Yankees, 1934, 43 1/2

5 (tie). Lefty Grove, Philadelphia A's, 1931, 39 1/2

           Bob Feller, Cleveland Indians, 1939, 39 1/2  

7. Lefty Gomez, New York Yankees, 1937, 39

8. Lefty Grove, Philadelphia A's, 1932, 37 1/2

9. Bill Lee, Chicago Cubs, 36 1/2

10. Bucky Walters, Cincinnati Reds, 1939, 35 1/2 

  A pair of Lefties,or LGs, paced the pitchers in top 10 seasons.

  Lefty Grove, before being traded to Boston, placed second, fifth and eighth while with Philadelphia. In consecutive seasons he scored 45 in 1930, 39 1/2 in '31 and 37 1/2 in '32.

 Yankees southpaw Lefty Gomez placed fourth with 43 1/2 points in 1934 and seventh with 39 in '37.

 Dizzy Dean, most notorious of the Gas House Gang Cardinals, had the best pitching season of the 1930s with 46 1/2 points in 1934 in leading St. Louis to the world title, which tops Bob Feller's 46 in 1940 for the best season so far. Dean's dizzyin' '34 came amid his leading the NL three straight years from '33 through '35.

  Dean placed in the top five of 11 of the 12 categories tallied for '34. He led the league in wins, winning percentage, strikeouts, strikeouts per nine innings and shutouts. He was second in ERA, least hits allowed per nine innings, games pitched, saves and complete games. He took third in innings pitched. He was only ninth in least walks allowed per nine innings.

  "King" Carl Hubbell, the New York Giants' "Meal Ticket," joined Dean as a multi-NL leader with two seasons at No. 1, including a 44 1/2-point season in 1933 that ranks No. 3 on the top 10 list for the '30s.

  Grove led the AL in four straight seasons, from 1930 through '33. Joining him as a multi-AL leader was Detroit's Tommy Bridges with back-to-back seasons in 1935 and '36.

  Probably the most notable non-notable among the league pitching leaders in the 1930s was Cincinnati's Lee Grissom, who topped the NL in 1937 despite a 12-17 record. He did that on the strength of leading the league in shutouts and finishing second in strikeouts, strikeouts per nine innings and least hits allowed per nine, and third in games pitched and saves. He was fourth in the league in losses.