1935 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1935 Pittsburgh Pirates
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1887)
Location
Forbes Field (since 1909)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania[1] (since 1907)
Other information
Owner(s)	Bill Benswanger
Manager(s)	Pie Traynor
Local television	none
Local radio	none
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The 1935 Pittsburgh Pirates season was a season in American baseball which involved the Pirates finishing fourth in the National League.

The roster featured five future Hall of Famers: player-manager Pie Traynor, pitcher Waite Hoyt, shortstop Arky Vaughan, center fielder Lloyd Waner, and right fielder Paul Waner.

Offseason

• December 12, 1934: Leon Chagnon was traded by the Pirates to the New York Giants for Jack Salveson.^[2]

Regular season

Vaughan hit .385 on his way to being named the NL's Most Valuable Player by The Sporting News. It is considered the best offensive season ever by a shortstop other than Honus Wagner.^[3]

On May 25, 1935, Babe Ruth of the Boston Braves hit the final three home runs of his career in one game against the Pirates at Forbes Field.^[4]

Season standings

National League	W	L	GB	Pct.
Chicago Cubs	100	54	--	.649
St. Louis Cardinals	96	58	4	.623
New York Giants	91	62	8.5	.595
Pittsburgh Pirates	86	67	13.5	.562
Brooklyn Dodgers	70	83	29.5	.458
Cincinnati Reds	68	85	31.5	.444
Philadelphia Phillies	64	89	35.5	.418
Boston Braves	38	115	61.5	.248

Record vs. opponents

1935 National League Records Sources:
Team	BOS	BR	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	6–16	3–19	10–12	5–16	8–14	2–20	4–18
Brooklyn	16–6	—	5–17	11–11	9–13	12–9–1	11–11	6–16
Chicago	19–3	17–5	—	14–8	14–8	13–9	15–7	8–14
Cincinnati	12–10	11–11	8–14	—	8–14–1	13–9	8–13	8–14
New York	16–5	13–9	8–14	14–8–1	—	12–10–2	14–8	14–8
Philadelphia	14–8	9–12–1	9–13	9–13	10–12–2	—	6–16	7–15
Pittsburgh	20–2	11–11	7–15	13–8	8–14	16–6	—	11–11
St. Louis	18–4	16–6	14–8	14–8	8–14	15–7	11–11	—

Roster

1935 Pittsburgh Pirates
Roster
Pitchers 49 Ralph Birkofer 46 Cy Blanton 50 Mace Brown 41 Guy Bush 48 Waite Hoyt 40 Red Lucas 52 Wayne Osborne -- Claude Passeau 44 Jack Salveson 47 Hal Smith 45 Bill Swift 43 Jim Weaver		Catchers 37 Aubrey Epps 30 Earl Grace 31 Tom Padden Infielders -- Earl Browne 27 Bill Brubaker 22 Cookie Lavagetto 24 Gus Suhr 25 Tommy Thevenow 20 Pie Traynor 21 Arky Vaughan 26 Pep Young		Outfielders 47 Bud Hafey 14 Babe Herman 16 Woody Jensen 10 Lloyd Waner 11 Paul Waner Other batters 15 Steve Swetonic		Manager 20 Pie Traynor Coaches -- Jewel Ens 33 Honus Wagner

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	Padden, TomTom Padden	97	302	82	.272	1	30
1B	Suhr, GusGus Suhr	153	529	144	.272	10	81
2B	Young, PepPep Young	128	494	131	.265	7	82
3B	Thevenow, TommyTommy Thevenow	110	408	97	.238	0	47
SS	Vaughan, ArkyArky Vaughan	137	499	192	.385	19	99
LF	Jensen, WoodyWoody Jensen	143	627	203	.324	8	62
CF	Waner, LloydLloyd Waner	122	537	166	.309	0	46
RF	Waner, PaulPaul Waner	139	549	176	.321	11	78

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
Grace, EarlEarl Grace	77	224	59	.263	3	29
Traynor, PiePie Traynor	57	204	57	.279	1	36
Swetonic, SteveSteve Swetonic	1	0	0	----	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
Blanton, CyCy Blanton	35	254.1	18	13	2.58	142
Weaver, JimJim Weaver	33	176.1	14	8	3.42	87
Lucas, RedRed Lucas	20	125.2	8	6	3.44	29

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
Bush, GuyGuy Bush	41	204.1	11	11	4.32	42
Swift, BillBill Swift	39	203.2	15	8	.270	74
Hoyt, WaiteWaite Hoyt	39	164	7	11	3.40	63
Birkofer, RalphRalph Birkofer	37	150.1	9	7	4.07	80
Brown, MaceMace Brown	18	72.2	4	1	3.59	28

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
Salveson, JackJack Salveson	5	0	1	0	9.00	2
Smith, HalHal Smith	1	0	0	0	3.00	0

Awards and honors

• Arky Vaughan, The Sporting News NL MVP

1935 Major League Baseball All-Star Game

• Arky Vaughan, SS, starter
• Paul Waner, reserve

League top five finishers

Cy Blanton

• MLB leader in ERA (2.58)

Bill Swift

• #2 in NL in ERA (2.70)

Arky Vaughan

• MLB leader in batting average (.385)
• MLB leader in on-base percentage (.491)
• NL leader in slugging percentage (.607)

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AA	Kansas City Blues	American Association	Dutch Zwilling
A	Birmingham Barons	Southern Association	Clyde Milan and Bill Pierre
C	Portsmouth Pirates	Middle Atlantic League	Jake Pitler

References

1. From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Shore in 1907.
2. Leon Chagnon page at Baseball Reference
3. James, Bill. The New Historical Baseball Abstract
4. Shrum, Rick (May 10, 2006). "Parting shots: Two local men recall being witness to Babe Ruth's final three home runs". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

External links

• 1935 Pittsburgh Pirates team page at Baseball Reference
• 1935 Pittsburgh Pirates Page at Baseball Almanac
• Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.