Interesting numbers, Howard. Not conclusive proof, but hard to explain away.

I'll need a little more to convince me. I have no doubt of the perniciousness of the anti-semtism of Henry Ford and his acolytes and that baseball players were as likely pre-war to be bigoted as the average person, but....

Of the 3 BB games in September, one was 3rd September vs. the White Sox and starter Jack Knott, who started the season with the St. Louis Browns. The game on 5th September was vs. the Browns and pitcher Lefty Mills. The 27th September game was started by the appropriately named Browns pitcher Jim Walkup.

The 1938 Browns went 55-97 and had a team ERA of 5.80 ald led the AL in walks allowed with 737.

Sometimes mediocrity is just mediocrity.

23 walks in 111 PA, 28 walks in 137 PA. The first set is a marginally higher rate and came in May of that year. His April rate was 11 in 50 PA. So, no, I'm not yet convinced if he was walking at the same rate before he was an obvious threat to the record.

I'm sure there was some anti-Semitism given the era, but the numbers are not enough to suggest that it was widespread or organized.

One thing that surprises me, Greenberg did still win MVP twice, just like Jackie Robinson won the inaugural RoY...

Doesn't seem like there was a whole lot of protection in that lineup, either. Rudy York had a strong year at catcher, and Gehringer seems to have been his usual self, but there wasn't much for a pitcher to worry about after those guys. Who usually hit behind Greenberg that year? I thought maybe an injury might have altered the lineup in September, but it looks like everybody of significance played a pretty full season.

Greenberg's increase in walks doesn't seem too far out of line, considering he knocked the snot out of the ball that year, so I don't know if I buy the anti-Semitic argument. I should note that Howard doesn't sell it too hard--the article certainly doesn't make any grand claims, just very reasonable suggestions.

Doesn't seem like there was a whole lot of protection in that lineup, either. Rudy York had a strong year at catcher, and Gehringer seems to have been his usual self, but there wasn't much for a pitcher to worry about after those guys. Who usually hit behind Greenberg that year? I thought maybe an injury might have altered the lineup in September, but it looks like everybody of significance played a pretty full season.

Also, Gehringer was hitting ahead of Greenberg, so no protection at all from him. We don't have intentional walk stats from back then, so we don't really know how many were intentional. If we take the protection angle seriously and not to worry about small number statistics, it's worth noting that York did miss 7 games in September, during which Greenberg walked 8 times. York did play "pretty much" a full season, but he did have that stretch where he was out.

The full splits:



No smoking gun there.

What's really revealing about that Retrosheet link is the attendance figures in the day game only era. With only a slight degree of exaggeration, it seems obvious that 90% of their customers came either on opening day, weekends, holidays, and doubleheaders, with the exception of a handful of road games in New York and Boston. You can see why owners were quick to cancel games and re-schedule them for doubleheaders, as was the common practice of the time. Midweek single games didn't draw flies, and this was a year when the Tigers were 2nd of 8 in AL attendance.

But Retrosheet might want to proofread some of those numbers. I seriously doubt that a Tuesday afternoon game against the Senators really drew 68,000.....

I seriously doubt that a Tuesday afternoon game against the Senators really drew 68,000.

It does seem high. I checked the box scores in the <u>New York Times</u> and the <u>Sporting News</u>, but neither gives the attendance figures. I suspect, in fact, they are both from the Associated Press. The <u>Times</u> and the <u>Globe and Mail</u> had the same story, word-for-word, from the AP.

I could check a Windsor or maybe a Detroit paper, but I'll have to go to the library for that.

Doesn't Greenberg in his posthumous autobiography say that Browns first baseman George McQuinn deliberately dropped a foul ball to give him another chance? Also, other than Denny McLain grooving a pitch to Mantle in 1968, what pitcher has ever wanted an opposing batter to hit a home run? Especially in an era like the 1930s when there were only 16 teams and a lot of minor leagues went out of business in the Depression.

what pitcher has ever wanted an opposing batter to hit a home run?

Ask Tim Redding, he has a theory.

I seriously doubt that a Tuesday afternoon game against the Senators really drew 68,000.

It does seem high. I checked the box scores in the New York Times and the Sporting News, but neither gives the attendance figures. I suspect, in fact, they are both from the Associated Press. The Times and the Globe and Mail had the same story, word-for-word, from the AP.

I could check a Windsor or maybe a Detroit paper, but I'll have to go to the library for that.

Don't bother; it was obviously a misprint. Briggs Stadium's peak capacity was 54,216, and they weren't giving away $20.00 bills at the gate that day. On Opening Day they drew 54,500.