1927 Yankees

The 1927 New York Yankees scored 975 runs. They allowed 599. That's a run differential of +376 -- a number so absurd it reads like a misprint. It wasn't. Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs. Lou Gehrig hit 47, drove in 175, and batted .373. The lineup behind them hit .307 as a team. They won 110 games, finished 19 ahead of the Philadelphia Athletics, and swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in four straight to close out October. When people ask whether the '27 Yankees were the greatest team ever assembled, the answer starts and ends with those numbers.

Murderers' Row

The nickname stuck because it fit. Earle Combs -- the Kentucky Colonel -- led off, slashing .356 with 231 hits and 23 triples. Mark Koenig batted second and kept the line moving. Then came Ruth and Gehrig, back to back, the most dangerous three-four combination the sport had ever seen. Bob Meusel hit .337 with 103 RBI from the five-hole -- numbers that would've made him the headliner on any other roster. Tony Lazzeri, one of the first Italian-American stars in baseball, hit 18 home runs and drove in 102 from the sixth spot.

Combs deserves a longer look. He collected more hits than anyone in the American League, reached base at a .414 clip, and scored 137 runs by doing the one thing a leadoff hitter needed to do on this team -- get on base so Ruth and Gehrig could bring him home. He was a legitimate Hall of Famer who spent his entire career in their shadow (and never once complained about it).

The Season

The 1926 World Series loss to the Cardinals -- Grover Cleveland Alexander striking out Lazzeri with the bases loaded in Game 7 -- burned through the winter. When the club opened at Yankee Stadium on April 12 against the Athletics, Ruth hit three home runs in the first week. The Yankees seized first place immediately and never let go.

By late May, they'd built a comfortable lead. By late June, the gap was double digits. By mid-July the pennant race was over, and the only question left was whether Ruth would break his own record of 59 home runs, set in 1921. The press tracked the Ruth-Gehrig home run race daily -- side-by-side tallies in every New York newspaper. Gehrig actually led for a stretch in June, but Ruth pulled away in July and never looked back. Gehrig settled for the AL MVP award instead (a consolation prize roughly the size of a Buick).

The pitching staff doesn't get enough credit. Waite Hoyt went 22-7 with a 2.63 ERA, tying for the league lead in wins. Herb Pennock won 19 games. Wiley Moore -- a 30-year-old sinkerball specialist who'd spent years grinding through the minors -- went 19-7 with a 2.28 ERA, best in the American League, working as both a starter and the club's go-to arm out of the bullpen. And Urban Shocker won 18 games while quietly dying of heart disease. He slept sitting upright because he couldn't breathe lying down. He told no one outside the clubhouse. He'd be dead within a year.

October

Before Game 1 at Forbes Field, the Yankees took batting practice while the Pirates watched from the dugout. Ruth and Gehrig put on a show -- ball after ball clearing the right-field stands, the kind of raw power that made grown men go quiet. The story goes that Lloyd Waner turned to his brother Paul and said something like: "Geez, they're big, aren't they?" Whether Pittsburgh's spirit actually broke during BP is a matter of debate (the Pirates had won 94 games and weren't exactly a JV squad), but the visual registered. Something beyond normal baseball was happening.

The Series itself lasted four games. Game 1 went 5-4 -- tighter than expected. Game 2 broke open, 6-2. Game 3 belonged to Pennock, who retired the first 22 Pirates he faced before a hit in the eighth broke up what would've been a perfect game. He finished with a complete-game 8-1 win -- one of the great World Series pitching performances of the decade.

Game 4 ended the way the whole season had gone -- with Pittsburgh unable to hold on. Tied 3-3 in the bottom of the ninth, reliever Johnny Miljus threw a wild pitch with two strikes on Lazzeri. Combs scored from third. The Series ended not on a dramatic swing, but on a ball that skipped past the catcher while 60,000 fans screamed. Even the final out belonged to the Yankees' relentless pressure.

Key Moments

Sixty! Count 'em. Sixty! Let's see some other son of a bitch match that!

Every big leaguer and his wife should teach their children to pray: 'God bless Mommy, God bless Daddy, and God bless Babe Ruth.'

Frequently Asked Questions

How many games did the 1927 Yankees win?

The 1927 Yankees went 110-44 in the regular season (.714 winning percentage) and swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series, finishing 114-44 overall. They won the American League pennant by 19 games over the Philadelphia Athletics -- one of the largest margins in league history.

Did Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs in 1927?

Yes. Ruth hit his 60th home run on September 30, 1927 -- the final day of the regular season -- off Washington Senators left-hander Tom Zachary at Yankee Stadium. The record stood for 34 years until Roger Maris hit 61 in 1961.

Were the 1927 Yankees the greatest team ever?

They're the most common answer to that question, and the numbers back it up: 975 runs scored, a +376 run differential, a lineup with four future Hall of Famers, a pitching staff with three more, and a World Series sweep. The 1998 Yankees (114-48) are the other leading candidate, but the '27 club's combination of individual dominance and team depth remains the standard.

What was the 1927 World Series result?

The Yankees swept the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0. Games 1 and 2 were played at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh (5-4 and 6-2). Games 3 and 4 were at Yankee Stadium (8-1 and 4-3). Game 4 ended on a walk-off wild pitch by Pittsburgh reliever Johnny Miljus that scored Earle Combs from third base.