Week in Review - American League (May 13-19, 1929)

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And now we start to see the cream rise to the top, as expected.  The Athletics and Yankees are both catching fire, having won 4 and 5 games in a row, respectively, and both are 7-3 in their last 10 games.  The A's have been flirting with taking over the top spot for the last few weeks and they completely dominated the Senators in their series this week, taking four straight from Washington.  The Senators had surprisingly remained in first place all season, but it looks like the A's and Yankees are going to start to pull away from the rest of the league.  The White Sox, Browns, and Tigers all keep hovering around .500 and trying to stay within striking distance, but Philly and New York look like they are clearly the class of the American League this season.

Here is a link to the Baseball-Reference page for this day in the season, which shows what the actual standings looked like.  The A's and Yankees have records very similar to what they had in 1929.  The Senators, despite their recent skid, continue to outperform their real-life record.  The Browns and White Sox also continue to slightly underperform, but remain in the middle of the AL, which is where they hovered at this time in the actual season.  It will be interesting to see how long the Senators can continue to fight for top-flight status in the American League, as they ended up finishing 10 games below .500 in 1929.

American League Batting Leaders

 

 

 



 

Some of the offensive number still seem a bit inflated, and it makes me a little uneasy seeing a guy like Bing Miller still hitting close to .500 at this point in the season.  But, generally speaking, I think some things have started to even out - there are now only three guys hitting over .400 and I think averages should continue to normalize.  It will be interesting to see how Miller continues to hit.

American League - Top 10 Hitters


Al Simmons (PHA)

1. Al Simmons, Philadelphia Athletics (Prev: 1) (.407/.461/.835, OPS: 1.296; Other highlights: 10 HR, 32 RBI, 23 runs) - He was #1 last week and maintains the top spot this week.  Simmons continues to spearhead the powerful Athletics offense and is a key reason why the A's now sit atop the American League standings.

2. Bing Miller, Philadelphia Athletics (Prev: 3) (.477/.509/.664, OPS: 1.173; Other highlights: 51 hits, 6 SB) - Right along with Simmons and his other offensive forces, Miller's .477 batting average is borderline insane.  He can't possibly keep that pace for the entire season, but he does seem poised to make a run at the batting title.

3. Lew Fonseca, Cleveland Indians (Prev: 2) (.381/.431/.581, OPS: 1.012; Other highlights: 40 hits, 5 SB) - Fonseca falls slightly in the rankings, but mainly because Simmons and Miller have been so good.  Fonseca continues to do a little bit of everything and is still trying to pull the Indians into the top half of the American League standings.


Heinie Manush (SLB)

4. Heinie Manush, St. Louis Browns (Prev: 5) (.405/.418/.586, OPS: 1.004; Other highlights: 22 RBI, 47 hits) - The Browns offense is also quite potent and Manush has been their best hitter.  He leads a team that feels like it should be up near the top of the standings alongside the A's and Yankees but they cannot quite get there.

5. Jimmie Foxx, Philadelphia Athletics (Prev: NR) (.323/.449/.625, OPS: 1.074; Other highlights: 8 HR, 26 RBI, 35 runs, 22 BB) - It was a sluggish start to the season, but the "The Beast" is now living up to his moniker.  Foxx walks a lot, leads the league in runs scored by a hefty margin, and is now starting to blast balls over the fence like his compatriot Al Simmons.  Foxx is likely to continue rising up these rankings.

6. Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees (Prev: NR) (.333/.425/.656, OPS: 1.081; Other highlights: 6 HR, 24 RBI, 16 BB) - Another guy who got off to a sluggish start but is now starting to mash as expected.  Gehrig (and Ruth and Lazzeri) is a key reason why the Yankees are less than a game out of first place.


Harry Heilmann (DET)

7. Harry Heilmann, Detroit Tigers (Prev: 6) (.357/.420/.524, OPS: .944; Other highlights: 24 runs, 45 hits)

8. Dale Alexander, Detroit Tigers (Prev: 8) (.336/.401/.528, OPS: .929; Other highlights: 4 HR, 26 RBI, 4 SB)

9. Tony Lazzeri, New York Yankees (Prev: 9) (.326/.417/.573, OPS: .990; Other highlights: 4 HR)

10. Lu Blue, St. Louis Browns (Prev: 5) (.286/.409/.562, OPS: .971; Other highlights: 5 HR, 25 runs, 22 BB)


American League Pitching Leaders

 

 



American League - Top 5 Pitchers

1. Lefty Grove, Philadelphia Athletics (Prev: 1) (8 games, 7 starts, 7-0, 0.93 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 49 Ks; Other highlights: 5 CGs, 1 shutout) - Grove remains borderline unhittable.


Ted Lyons (CHW)

2. Ted Lyons, Chicago White Sox (Prev: 2) (5 games, 5 starts, 4-0, 0.59 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 12 Ks; Other highlights: 3 CGs, 1 shutout) - Lyons is having a spectacular season and is only eclipsed by Grove's even more spectacular year.  Lyons has been incredible, as evidenced by his league-leading ERA and WHIP.

3. Sam Gray, St. Louis Browns (Prev: NR) (7 games, 7 starts, 3-2, 2.61 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 11 Ks; Other highlights: 4 CGs)


George Pipgras (NYY)

4. George Pipgras, New York Yankees (Prev: NR) (7 games, 7 starts, 3-1, 2.67 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 24 Ks; Other highlights: 4 CGs, 1 shutout) - With the bats of Gehrig and Ruth starting to come alive, Pipgras is starting to establish himself as the ace of the Yankees staff.

5. Sad Sam Jones, Washington Senators (Prev: 3) (6 games, 6 starts, 4-1, 2.58 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 13 Ks; Other highlights: 2 CGs, 2 shutouts)






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