1932 Yankees

The 1932 New York Yankees went 107-47, won the pennant by 13 games, and swept the Chicago Cubs in four straight in October. They scored 1,002 runs -- a number that still looks like someone punched extra digits into a calculator. Babe Ruth hit .341 with 41 home runs at age 37. Lou Gehrig hit .349 with 34 home runs, 151 RBI, and 208 hits. The roster carried nine future Hall of Famers and a Hall of Fame manager. If the 1927 squad was the greatest team ever assembled, the '32 club had a reasonable claim as the most talented.

McCarthy's Team Now

Joe McCarthy had taken over as skipper in 1931, one year after the Cubs fired him. That dismissal sat in his chest like a splinter. McCarthy didn't talk about it much -- he didn't talk about much of anything -- but the men around him understood. When the Yankees opened the '32 season, this wasn't just another contender. This was McCarthy's operation, built in his image: disciplined, deep, and carrying a grudge the size of Lake Michigan.

The lineup needed no introduction. Ruth anchored right field and still terrified pitchers, even with his legs starting to betray him. Gehrig, 29 years old and at the absolute peak of his powers, hit behind Ruth and made it impossible for opponents to pitch around either man. Bill Dickey was 25, developing into the best catcher in the game. Tony Lazzeri provided middle-infield power. Earle Combs set the table from the leadoff spot. Joe Sewell -- the hardest man in baseball to strike out (three times in 503 at-bats that year) -- played third and kept the line moving.

A Staff Nobody Remembers

The pitching staff rarely gets mentioned when people talk about this team. That's a mistake. Lefty Gomez went 24-7 with 176 strikeouts in 265.1 innings. Red Ruffing posted a 3.09 ERA -- the staff's lowest among regulars -- and won 18 games. Rookie Johnny Allen showed up at 27 and went 17-3, pitching like a man who didn't know he was supposed to be nervous.

Two future Hall of Famers at the top of the rotation. A rookie winning at an .850 clip behind them. Herb Pennock providing veteran depth. George Pipgras eating innings. McCarthy had arms for every situation, and he used them without running anyone into the ground.

The Regular Season

The Yankees grabbed first place early and never came close to letting go. By June, they'd built an insurmountable cushion. The Athletics -- the team that had won back-to-back titles in 1929 and 1930 -- couldn't keep pace. Nobody could.

June 3 produced the regular season's signature moment. In Philadelphia, Gehrig hit four home runs in a single game -- the first player in the modern era to do it. In the same game, Lazzeri hit for the cycle. Two Hall of Famers, one afternoon, one of the most extraordinary offensive performances in franchise history. The Athletics probably wished they'd stayed home.

October

The World Series opened at Yankee Stadium on September 28. The Cubs had won the National League pennant under Charlie Grimm, but they'd made an enemy of Ruth before Game 1 even started. The issue was money -- specifically, the Cubs voting former Yankee Mark Koenig only a half-share of their World Series pool after he'd helped them clinch the pennant. Ruth called them cheap. Publicly. Repeatedly. The Cubs responded with the kind of bench-jockeying that turned the Series into a four-game grudge match.

Game 1 went 12-6 Yankees. Game 2, 5-2. The Bombers took a 2-0 lead back to Wrigley Field, where the hostility from Chicago's fans made the dugout exchanges seem friendly by comparison.

Game 3 belongs to mythology. With the game tied in the fifth inning, Ruth stepped in against Charlie Root. The Cubs bench was riding him hard. After two called strikes, Ruth made a gesture -- pointing outward, toward center field or toward the dugout (the debate hasn't ended in nine decades). Then he launched Root's next pitch over the center field wall. The Called Shot became baseball's most famous moment, and it didn't matter whether he actually called it. The story was too good to fact-check.

Gehrig homered in that game too. Nobody noticed.

Game 4 closed it out, 13-6. The combined score across four games was 37-19. Gehrig -- not Ruth -- was the series' true engine: .529 batting average, 3 home runs, 8 RBI. The pattern held. Ruth provided the mythology. Gehrig provided the production. McCarthy got his revenge against the team that had thrown him away.

Nine Immortals

The nine Hall of Famers on the '32 roster remain the most ever assembled on a single team. Ruth, Gehrig, Dickey, Combs, Lazzeri, Sewell, Gomez, Ruffing, and Pennock -- six position players, three pitchers, and McCarthy managing the whole operation. Some of those plaques came decades later (the Veterans Committee took its time with Combs and Lazzeri), but the talent was obvious in real time. This wasn't just a championship team. It was a collection of players nobody has matched on one roster before or since.

I've been waiting two years for this.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many games did the 1932 Yankees win?

The 1932 Yankees went 107-47 during the regular season for a .695 winning percentage. They won the American League pennant by 13 games over the Philadelphia Athletics, then swept the Chicago Cubs 4-0 in the World Series. Their combined World Series scoring margin was 37-19.

Who was on the 1932 Yankees roster?

The 1932 roster featured nine future Hall of Famers: Babe Ruth (.341, 41 HR), Lou Gehrig (.349, 34 HR, 151 RBI), Bill Dickey, Earle Combs, Tony Lazzeri, Joe Sewell, Lefty Gomez (24-7), Red Ruffing (18-7), and Herb Pennock. Manager Joe McCarthy was also inducted into the Hall of Fame. Rookie pitcher Johnny Allen went 17-3 and was the staff's biggest surprise.

What was the 1932 World Series result?

The Yankees swept the Chicago Cubs in four games: 12-6, 5-2, 7-5, and 13-6. The series is best remembered for Babe Ruth's "Called Shot" home run in Game 3 at Wrigley Field, but Lou Gehrig was the dominant performer, batting .529 with 3 home runs and 8 RBI across the four games.

Did the 1932 Yankees really have nine Hall of Famers?

Yes. The 1932 roster carried nine future Hall of Famers -- Ruth, Gehrig, Dickey, Combs, Lazzeri, Sewell, Gomez, Ruffing, and Pennock -- plus Hall of Fame manager Joe McCarthy. No other team in baseball history has matched that concentration of eventual Hall of Fame talent on a single roster.