1931 IN BASEBALL

Contents

Champions

Awards and honors

Statistical Leaders

Major League Baseball final standings

American League final standings

National League final standings

Negro League Baseball final standings

Negro National League final standings

East (independent teams) final standings

Events

Births

Deaths

Champions

★ World Series: St. Louis Cardinals over Philadelphia Athletics (4-3)

Awards and honors

★ MLB Most Valuable Player Award

★
★ Lefty Grove, Philadelphia Athletics, P

★
★ Frankie Frisch, St. Louis Cardinals, 2B

Statistical Leaders

Type	Name	Stat	Name	Stat
AVG	Al Simmons PHA	.390	Chick Hafey STL	.349
HR	Babe Ruth NYY Lou Gehrig NYY	46	Chuck Klein PHI	31
RBI	Lou Gehrig NYY	184	Chuck Klein PHI	121
Wins	Lefty Grove1 PHA	31	Jumbo Elliott PHI Bill Hallahan STL Heinie Meine PT	19
ERA	Lefty Grove1 PHA	2.06	Bill Walker NYG,	2.26
Ks	Lefty Grove1 PHA	175	Bill Hallahan STL	159

¹MLB Pitching Triple Crown Winner

Major League Baseball final standings

American League final standings

'American League'
'Club'	'Wins'	'Losses'	'Win %'	'GB'
Philadelphia Athletics	107	45	.704	--
New York Yankees	94	59	.614	13.5
Washington Senators	92	62	.597	16
Cleveland Indians	78	76	.506	30
St. Louis Browns	63	91	.409	45
Boston Red Sox	62	90	.408	45
Detroit Tigers	61	93	.396	47
Chicago White Sox	56	97	.366	51.5

National League final standings

'National League'
'Club'	'Wins'	'Losses'	'Win %'	'GB'
St. Louis Cardinals	101	53	.656	--
New York Giants	87	65	.572	13
Chicago Cubs	84	70	.545	17
Brooklyn Robins	79	73	.520	21
Pittsburgh Pirates	75	79	.487	26
Philadelphia Phillies	66	88	.429	35
Boston Braves	64	90	.416	37
Cincinnati Reds	58	96	.377	43

Negro League Baseball final standings

Negro National League final standings

'Negro National League'
'Club'	'Wins'	'Losses'	'Win %'	'GB'
Kansas City Monarchs	18	7	.720
Indianapolis ABCs	43	20	.683
St. Louis Stars	23	17	.575
Chicago Columbia Giants	16	13	.552
Louisville White Sox	19	23	.452
Detroit Stars	23	30	.487
Cleveland Cubs	25	28	.453
----Columbus Blue Birds†	3	3	.500
Cuban House of David†	7	23	.233

† Columbus and HoD were not in the league but their games counted in the standings.

★ No official standings were published.

★ St. Louis was declared champion.

East (independent teams) final standings

A loose confederation of teams were gathered in the East to compete with the West, however East teams did not organize a formal league as the West did.

'East'
'Club'	'Wins'	'Losses'	'Win %'	'GB'
Hilldale Daisies	44	16	.733
Homestead Grays	46	19	.708
Pittsburgh Crawfords	5	3	.625
Baltimore Black Sox	21	26	.447
Cuban Stars	7	14	.333
Harlem Black Bombers	6	13	.316
Newark Browns	3	9	.250
New York Bacharach Giants	0	4	.000
Brooklyn Royal Giants	0	7	.000

Events

Births

★ January 17 - Don Zimmer

★ January 19 - Ed Sadowski

★ January 31 - Ernie Banks

★ May 6 - Willie Mays

★ May 20 - Ken Boyer

★ June 1 - Hal Smith

★ June 2 - Larry Jackson

★ June 9 - Bill Virdon

★ June 22 - Faye Throneberry

★ July 28 - Gus Keriazakos

★ October 13 - Eddie Mathews

★ October 16 - Dave Sisler

★ October 20 - Mickey Mantle

★ October 23 - Jim Bunning

★ November 9 - Whitey Herzog

★ November 16 - Frank Bolling

★ December 30 - Frank Torre

Deaths

★ January 4 - Roger Connor, 73, first baseman, mainly for the New York Giants, who batted .317 lifetime and held career home run record until 1921; ranked second all-time in hits, runs and RBI, and first in triples, upon retirement, and led league in batting, hits, HRs, RBI and doubles once each; hit first grand slam in major league history

★ January 14 - Hardy Richardson, 75, second baseman and outfielder who batted .300 seven times, led NL in hits and HRs with 1886 Detroit team; among first ten players to reach 1500 hits

★ February 11 - Charles Dryden, 71, sportswriter who made his name with an idiosyncratic style that emphasized personalities in the game; known for the many nicknames he created, included "The Peerless Leader," "The Old Roman", "Hitless Wonders"

★ March 27 - Ernest Barnard, 56, president of the American League since 1927, previously general manager and president of the Indians

★ March 28 - Ban Johnson, 67, founder of the American League who served as its president from 1901-1927; played major role in eradicating rowdyism prevalent in the game of the 1890s, and fiercely protected authority of umpires

★ April 25 - August "Garry" Herrmann, 71, owner of the Cincinnati Reds from 1902 to 1927 who led the sport as chairman of the National Commission from 1903 to 1920; ensured that World Series would be held annually

★ April 29 - Jimmy McAleer, 66, center fielder for the Cleveland Spiders who later managed AL teams in Cleveland, St. Louis and Washington; was part owner of the Red Sox in 1910s

★ October 2 - George Bradley, 79, pitcher who threw the major leagues' first no-hitter, also winning 45 games and leading NL in ERA in 1876

★ October 26 - Charles Comiskey, 72, owner of the Chicago White Sox since the team's formation in 1901, during which time they won four AL pennants and two World Series; was first manager to win four consecutive pennants, with St. Louis Browns (1885-1888), and had highest winning percentage (.608) among managers of at least 1200 games; revolutionized defensive play at first base

★ November 6 - Jack Chesbro, 57, pitcher who used spitball to set modern record of 41 victories with 1904 New York Highlanders; five-time 20-game winner led both leagues in wins and winning percentage, led NL in shutouts twice

★ November 27 - Jack Burdock, 79, second baseman, mainly for Boston, who was among first ten players to collect 500 hits; hit into the majors' first unassisted triple play