1927 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1927 Pittsburgh Pirates
1927 National League Champions
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1887)
Location
Forbes Field (since 1909)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania[1] (since 1907)
Other information
Owner(s)	Barney Dreyfuss
Manager(s)	Donie Bush
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The 1927 Pittsburgh Pirates season was a season in American baseball. That year, the Pirates won the National League pennant, which was their second in three years and their last until 1960. The team included five future Hall of Famers: Paul Waner, Lloyd Waner, Pie Traynor, Kiki Cuyler, and 20-year-old rookie Joe Cronin (who played just 12 games).

In the World Series, however, Pittsburgh was no match for the New York Yankees. They were swept in four games.

Regular season

Paul Waner had one of his best seasons en route to being voted NL MVP. His .380 batting average and 131 RBI paced the entire circuit. Younger brother Lloyd and Traynor finished third and fifth in the batting race, respectively. Pitcher Ray Kremer won the ERA title on his way to a 19–8 record.

Season standings

National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Pittsburgh Pirates	94	60	0.610	—	48–31	46–29
St. Louis Cardinals	92	61	0.601	1½	55–25	37–36
New York Giants	92	62	0.597	2	49–25	43–37
Chicago Cubs	85	68	0.556	8½	50–28	35–40
Cincinnati Reds	75	78	0.490	18½	45–35	30–43
Brooklyn Robins	65	88	0.425	28½	34–39	31–49
Boston Braves	60	94	0.390	34	32–41	28–53
Philadelphia Phillies	51	103	0.331	43	34–43	17–60

Record vs. opponents

1927 National League Records Sources:
Team	BOS	BR	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	12–10	7–15	4–18	7–15	14–8	9–13–1	7–15
Brooklyn	10–12	—	7–15	11–10	10–12–1	11–11	8–14	8–14
Chicago	15–7	15–7	—	14–8	10–12	13–9	9–13	9–12
Cincinnati	18–4	10–11	8–14	—	7–15	16–6	8–14	8–14
New York	15–7	12–10–1	12–10	15–7	—	15–7	11–11	12–10
Philadelphia	8–14	11–11	9–13	6–16	7–15	—	7–15–1	3–19
Pittsburgh	13–9–1	14–8	13–9	14–8	11–11	15–7–1	—	14–8
St. Louis	15–7	14–8	12–9	14–8	10–12	19–3	8–14	—

Notable transactions

• May 9, 1927: Don Songer was purchased from the Pirates by the New York Giants.^[2]

Roster

1927 Pittsburgh Pirates
Roster
Pitchers Vic Aldridge Joe Bush Mike Cvengros Joe Dawson Carmen Hill Ray Kremer Roy Mahaffey Lee Meadows Johnny Miljus Johnny Morrison Chet Nichols Red Peery Don Songer Emil Yde		Catchers Johnny Gooch Earl Smith Roy Spencer Infielders Dick Bartell Joe Cronin George Grantham Heinie Groh Joe Harris Hal Rhyne Ed Sicking Pie Traynor Glenn Wright		Outfielders Clyde Barnhart Fred Brickell Adam Comorosky Kiki Cuyler Herman Layne Lloyd Waner Paul Waner		Manager Donie Bush

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Gooch, JohnnyJohnny Gooch	101	291	75	.258	2	48
1B	Harris, JoeJoe Harris	129	411	134	.326	5	73
2B	Grantham, GeorgeGeorge Grantham	151	531	162	.305	8	66
SS	Wright, GlennGlenn Wright	143	570	160	.281	9	105
3B	Traynor, PiePie Traynor	149	573	196	.342	5	106
OF	Waner, LloydLloyd Waner	150	629	223	.355	2	27
OF	Waner, PaulPaul Waner	155	623	237	.380	9	131
OF	Barnhart, ClydeClyde Barnhart	108	360	115	.319	3	54

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Cuyler, KikiKiki Cuyler	85	285	88	.309	3	31
Smith, EarlEarl Smith	66	189	51	.270	5	25
Rhyne, HalHal Rhyne	62	168	46	.274	0	17
Spencer, RoyRoy Spencer	38	92	26	.283	0	13
Comorosky, AdamAdam Comorosky	18	61	14	.230	0	4
Groh, HeinieHeinie Groh	14	35	10	.286	0	3
Cronin, JoeJoe Cronin	12	22	5	.227	0	3
Brickell, FredFred Brickell	32	21	6	.286	1	4
Cuyler, KikiKiki Cuyler	6	7	1	.143	0	3
Layne, HermanHerman Layne	11	6	0	.000	0	0
Bartell, DickDick Bartell	1	2	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Meadows, LeeLee Meadows	40	299.1	19	10	3.40	84
Hill, CarmenCarmen Hill	43	277.2	22	11	3.24	95
Aldridge, VicVic Aldridge	35	239.1	15	10	4.25	86
Kremer, RayRay Kremer	35	226	19	8	2.47	63

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Dawson, JoeJoe Dawson	20	80.2	3	7	4.46	17
Miljus, JohnnyJohnny Miljus	19	75.2	8	3	1.90	24
Cvengros, MikeMike Cvengros	23	53.1	2	1	3.35	21
Yde, EmilEmil Yde	9	27.2	1	3	9.71	9
Bush, JoeJoe Bush	5	6.2	1	2	13.50	1
Mahaffey, RoyRoy Mahaffey	2	9.1	1	0	7.71	4

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Morrison, JohnnyJohnny Morrison	23	3	2	3	4.19	21
Nichols, ChetChet Nichols	8	0	3	0	5.86	9
Songer, DonDon Songer	2	0	0	0	11.57	1
Peery, RedRed Peery	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Awards and honors

League top five finishers

Carmen Hill

• #3 in NL in wins (22)

Ray Kremer

• NL leader in ERA (2.47)

Lee Meadows

• NL leader in complete games (25)

Pie Traynor

• #5 in NL in batting average (.342)

Lloyd Waner

• NL leader in runs scored (133)
• #3 in NL in batting average (.355)

Paul Waner

• NL leader in batting average (.380)
• NL leader in RBI (131)
• NL leader in triples (18)
• #2 in NL in on-base percentage (.437)
• #2 in NL in doubles (42)
• #4 in NL in runs scored (114)
• #4 in NL in slugging percentage (.549)

1927 World Series

Game 1

October 5, 1927 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York (A)	1	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	5	6	1
Pittsburgh (N)	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	4	9	2
W: Waite Hoyt (1–0)  L: Ray Kremer (0–1),   S: Wilcy Moore (1)

Game 2

October 6, 1927 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York (A)	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	3	0	6	11	0
Pittsburgh (N)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	7	2
W: George Pipgras (1–0)  L: Vic Aldridge (0–1)

Game 3

October 7, 1927 at Yankee Stadium in New York City

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pittsburgh (N)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	3	1
New York (A)	2	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	x	8	9	0
W: Herb Pennock (1–0)   L: Lee Meadows (0–1)
HR: NYY – Babe Ruth (1)

Game 4

October 8, 1927 at Yankee Stadium in New York City

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pittsburgh (N)	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	10	1
New York (A)	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	4	12	2
W: Wilcy Moore (1–0)   L: John Miljus (0–1)
HR: NYY – Babe Ruth (2)

References

1. From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
2. Don Songer page at Baseball Reference

External links

• 1927 Pittsburgh Pirates team page at Baseball Reference
• 1927 Pittsburgh Pirates Page at Baseball Almanac