Widely known for "5-o'clock lightning", the 1927 New York Yankees
boasted awesome offensive power. Intimidating all of baseball with the
bats of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, this team was unstoppable. Many of
their opponents built up hope slowly in the early stages of a contest,
only to be "struck" with an unceasing barrage some time around
5-o’clock.
Baseball games routinely started at 3:30 pm back in the 1920s and
generally ended somewhere around 6:00 pm. The '27 Yanks usually
delivered a crippling offensive blow to their opponents in the late
innings, thus the phrase "5-o'clock lightning." Of course, they had no
lights for playing at night, all games were day games. Major League
Baseball was settling into its widely held superstitions and routine,
repetitiveness and all of the mythical and obsession-based ceremonial
acts that still exist to this day.
The 3:30 start time was one of those mystified traditions that players
did not like to break from. Many considered it bad luck if a game was to
start at any other time, or to start early or late if scheduled for 3:30
pm.
"Murderers’ Row"
was actually a nickname for the New York Yankees first used in 1919
before Babe Ruth was imported from the Boston Red Sox. A sports
reporter had used it as he was describing the spring training
projected line-up. It was actually hype more than anything else,
although the 1919 line-up was very good, even without Ruth. The Babe
arrived and the term was used loosely here and there, but never
really took root until it was widely used in the 1927 season.
Babe Ruth hit his high mark of 60 homeruns in ‘27 and the New York
Yankees won 110 games, losing only 44 times. They also swept the World
Series against the Pittsburgh Pirates and then repeated the feat again
in 1928. Babe Ruth hit 161 homers from the 1926 season through the 1928
season. The Babe also hit for a high average during this period, with a
three-year batting average of .350. During this stretch, he collected
452 RBIs as well. His single season home run mark of 60 would stand for
34 years.
Lou Gehrig,
believe it or not, was voted the American League Most Valuable
Player (MVP) in 1927. He hit .373 that year, better than Ruth’s’
.356. He also added 47 homeruns and 175 RBIs. The combination of
Ruth and Gehrig struck fear into all of the Major League players
that were playing the game in the "Murderers’
Row" era. These two players, however, weren’t all the ‘27 Yankees had.
It seemed they had all the best players of the time, and not just
offensive players but solid defensive players as well. However, the most
astonishing numbers from this alleged "greatest team ever" came from the
offense; the lead off hitter and centerfielder, Earle Combs, had an
on-base percentage of .414, hit .356 and had 62 walks and 231 hits.
Tony Lazzeri
played second base and hit 18 homers that year, finishing third in
the American League home run race. Ruth and Gehrig, of course, were
I-2. Bob Meusel played the outfield (left or right) and batted .337
with 103 runs batted in. He also piled up 24 stolen bases. Lazzeri
had 22 swipes. Other notable offensive minded "Murderers¡¯ Row"
members were Johnny Grabowski, Joe Dugan, Pat Collins and Mark
Koenig. As a team, the ¡¯27 Yankees¡¯ batting average was a
staggering .307. They out-scored their opponents by 376 runs and
broke a lot of defensive-minded hearts by scoring 975 runs that
year.
"Murderers¡¯ Row" also boasted some of the best pitching in the Major
Leagues in 1927; Dutch Ruether, Waite Hoyt, Herb Pennock and Wilcy
Moore, an early relief prot¨¦g¨¦. Hoyt, Shocker and Moore were the top
three pitchers in the league, based on wins and earned run average
(ERA). These three amassed a combined total in wins of 59. Defensively,
the very same players that drew massive crowds with their legendary
"5-o¡¯clock lightning" were making a statement with their gloves as
well.
Fielding the ball was not as big of an attention-getter as their
explosive offense, but they did it well enough to hold their opponents
to 599 total runs scored.
These trends were not just evident in the 1927 Yankees, but all through
the middle of the decade. The Yankees’ success continued, and the term
"Murderers’ Row" stuck. It was carried all the way to the 1936-39
Yankees, who won 4 World Series in a row. Professional Baseball
officially "crowned" the 1927 Yankees as the best overall team of
all-time in 1969, during the Centennial celebration of Major League
Baseball.
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