1920 Yankees

The New York Yankees spent $100,000 on in January 1920 and got back a 95-win season, 54 home runs, 1.29 million fans through the turnstiles, and the blueprint for a dynasty. They also got a dead man on their conscience, a pennant race that slipped away in September, and the uncomfortable reality of sharing a ballpark with landlords who were starting to hate them. Ruth's first year in pinstripes changed everything -- the franchise, the sport, the economics of professional baseball -- and the club still finished third.

The Big Fella Arrives

Ruth didn't hit a home run in April. His first Yankee blast came on May 1 against the Red Sox in Boston (the same team that had just sold him), and whatever poetic justice that carried got lost in the noise of what followed. He hit 12 home runs in May. Another 12 in June. By midsummer he'd already passed his own 1919 record of 29, and the only question left was how high the number would go.

The answer was 54 -- nearly tripling the runner-up total of 19 (George Sisler, who was having a great season by anyone else's standards). Ruth's didn't just set a record. They redefined what a baseball player could do.

The Pitching Staff

Carl Mays led the American League with 26 wins and threw 303 innings from his distinctive submarine slot. Bob Shawkey posted a staff-best 2.45 ERA and won 20 games. Jack Quinn chipped in 18 wins. The rotation wasn't dominant, but it was deep -- and with Ruth's bat providing margin for error, it didn't need to be perfect.

Mays was the ace, and the controversy that trailed him had nothing to do with his arm. On August 16, his submarine delivery struck Cleveland's Ray Chapman in the head. Chapman -- the only on-field fatality in major league history. Mays went into seclusion for ten days and didn't travel with the club to Cleveland for a critical September series.

The Pennant Race That Got Away

Three teams fought for the 1920 American League flag: the Yankees, the Cleveland Indians, and the Chicago White Sox (whose season would end in scandal when eight players were indicted for fixing the 1919 World Series). The race stayed tight through the summer, with Cleveland holding a slim advantage and the Yankees pressing from behind.

Ruth's bat kept the club within striking distance. He hit his 50th home run on September 24 -- a milestone he'd publicly targeted, calling it "a half-century" -- and his 54th and final blast on September 29 against Philadelphia. But the Indians, rallying behind the memory of their fallen shortstop Chapman, pulled away in September. Cleveland finished 98-56 and won the pennant by three games.

The 95 wins would've taken the flag in most seasons. In 1920, it wasn't enough.

The Attendance Revolution

Ruth's impact couldn't be measured in wins alone. The Yankees drew to the Polo Grounds -- the first team in baseball history to crack one million in a single season. The club was outdrawing the Giants in the Giants' own building, and that dynamic had consequences nobody fully appreciated yet.

John McGraw's Giants had tolerated their tenants when the Yankees were irrelevant. Now Ruth was packing the Polo Grounds for the visiting team, and the power balance in New York baseball was shifting. Within two years, the Giants would evict the Yankees, and Jacob Ruppert's response would be to build across the Harlem River.

What 1920 Built

The 1920 season was a foundation disguised as a near-miss. Ruth's 54 home runs launched the Live Ball Era. The looked like a bargain by Opening Day and a steal by October. The attendance revenue gave Ruppert the financial muscle to keep building. Miller Huggins, in his third year as skipper, had a roster that was one or two pieces away.

Those pieces arrived. The 1921 Yankees won the franchise's first pennant. The 1923 club won the first World Series. But the trajectory started here -- in a season where a 24-year-old former pitcher from Baltimore hit baseballs into places nobody thought baseballs could go, and 1.29 million people paid to watch him do it.

The third-place finish was the last thing anyone remembered.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the Yankees' record in the 1920 season?

The 1920 Yankees went 95-59 under manager Miller Huggins, finishing third in the American League, three games behind the Cleveland Indians. It was Babe Ruth's first season in pinstripes after being purchased from the Red Sox for $100,000. Ruth hit 54 home runs with a .376 batting average and .847 slugging percentage. The club drew 1,289,422 fans to the Polo Grounds -- the first team in MLB history to exceed one million in attendance.

How many home runs did Babe Ruth hit in his first Yankees season?

Ruth hit 54 home runs in 1920, shattering his own single-season record of 29 set with the Red Sox in 1919. The runner-up in the American League was George Sisler with 19 -- 35 fewer than Ruth. He also batted .376 with a .532 on-base percentage, .847 slugging, 158 runs scored, 137 RBI, and 150 walks. His 11.8 WAR was among the highest single-season figures ever recorded.

Why didn't the 1920 Yankees make the World Series?

Despite Ruth's 54 home runs and 95 wins, the Yankees finished three games behind the Cleveland Indians in the American League. The tight three-team race with Cleveland and the Chicago White Sox (whose season ended in the Black Sox scandal) came down to September, and Cleveland's late push -- fueled partly by the emotional aftermath of Ray Chapman's death in August -- proved too strong.

Who was the Yankees' best pitcher in 1920?

Carl Mays led the AL with 26 wins and threw 303 innings with a 2.68 ERA from his submarine delivery. Bob Shawkey posted the staff's lowest ERA at 2.45 with 20 wins. Jack Quinn contributed 18 victories. Mays's season was overshadowed by the August 16 pitch that killed Cleveland's Ray Chapman -- the only on-field fatality in MLB history.