1927 Yankees Murderer's Row

During spring training before the start of the 1927 New York Yankee’s season Miller Huggins, the Yankee’s manager, said, “The Yankees pitch-ing staff has reached a stage where I must gamble.” Huggins was willing to bet money on the Yankees to win the whole kit and caboodle, the World Series, because of the pitchers he saw on the Yankee’s pitching staff. After all, if you can’t score you can’t win, and the Yankee pitchers did their part to help get the team to the World Series. Their pitching staff in 1927 had the lowest ERA (Earned Run Average) at 3.20, and fostered the three lowest ERA’s in the AmeriÐ'¬can League вЂ" Wilcy Moore (2.28), Waite Hoyt (2.64), and Urban Shocker (2.83). The staff would only give up 599 runs to their opponents, which was the lowest in the AL. Chi-cago was second in the AL giving up only 708 runs, but that’s a difference of 109 runs! Waite Hoyt, Herb Penn-cok, and Wilcy Moore rounded out the top five pitchers with the most wins вЂ" 22, 19, 19 вЂ" in the AL, and the overall Yankee’s pitching staff gave up the least amount of walks (409), and accumulated for an AL most 11 shutouts. The Yankees’ pitching staff led the AL in nearly every pitching category, but the 1927 Yankees wouldn’t be remembered for their stellar mound work. It would be their hitting that put them above and beyond the competition, and a batÐ'¬ting lineup that would earn the nickÐ'¬name “Murderer’s Row.”