1937 tends to get lost in the shuffle of the vast library of Yankees titles, but it turned out to be a pivotal year. After their title in '36, the Yankees were sitting on 5 titles in all, tying them with the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Athletics for the most in baseball. As for supremacy of just New York City, they were also stuck in a tie, with them having split with the Giants with 2 titles each. By time the dust settled in the 1937 World Series, the Yankees broke all those ties.
First order of business was for Joe McCarthy and the Yankees to take care of the competition in the American League. With a near identical record from the previous season, the 102-52 Yankees had no problem leaving the rest of the league in the rearview, finishing 13 games ahead of 2nd place Detroit while the Browns were 56 long games in last place.
The New York Giants met them for a rematch of the previous years series. Everything was on the line, with not only the tie breaking series against the Yankees, but a chance to catch up in titles and create a 4-way tie for the most championships. The Yankees weren't in the mood for any of that as they piled on the runs and choked out the Giants offense on the way to a 3-0 series lead. The Giants managed to salvage Game 4, but the Yankees handled business in Game 5 to raise title #6.
It would be the 2nd of 4 straight titles for the Yankees, as they proceeded to pull away from the pack and never look back, becoming the standard of greatness in baseball. The Giants were vanquished and would never win a Subway Series again, while the Dodgers and Mets never posed a threat leaving the Yankees the kings of New York as well as the rest of baseball.
1937 would turn out to be the final of the 5 World Series titles the Hall of Fame 2nd Baseman would be apart of. His Triple in Game 5 would lead to the tie breaking run and help clinch the title for the Yankees.
DiMaggio was in his 2nd season, but already a force to be reckoned with. He led all of baseball with 46 Home Runs, 151 Runs and a .673 Slugging. The all star would be understandably robbed of the MVP award. His 167 RBI and 215 Hits led the team.
If it wasn't Ruth, it was DiMaggio, but it seemed Lou Gehrig was always overshadowed by some media darling in New York. The didn't mean the all star wasn't just as dangerous. The Iron Horse would finish 4th in MVP voting while leading the league with a .473 OPS, 127 Walks and adding another 157 games to his consecutive games streak. His .351 Average edged out Joe D for the best on the team.
You can never have too many future Hall of Famers in your lineup. Just another all star season that saw Dickey finish 5th in MVP voting.
The other regulars. Red Rolfe was another all star. Speed wasn't the major selling point of the '37 Yankees, so Frank Crosetti's 13 Stolen Bases was most out of them all.
With a bench like this, it's easy to see how these Yankees won 4 straight titles with these guys. On most days you have THREE guys on the bench with a 12 on-base ready to pinch hit.
Most of the rotation. Future Hall of Famer Red Ruffing won 20 games and got MVP votes of his own.
Out of the bullpen come these long relievers. Not a single "1 IP" guy in the bunch, but that's 1930s pitching for you. No Closers here, but Murphy led the pack with 10 of the 21 the team accumulated.
Finally, we have the ace. Hall of Famer Lefty Gomez won the pitching triple crown; leading everyone with 21 Wins, 194 Strikeouts and a 2.33 ERA while also leading with 6 Shutouts. I covered him before a long time ago in a
Triple Crown post, and now that there is a proper Yankees logo for him, I redid his cards.
