1928 World Series by Baseball Almanac

1928 World Series

After coming off of a magical season, the defending champion Yankees managed to hold off the Athletics to win their third consecutive pennant by 2½games, but at a serious cost as injuries depleted their line-up. Pitcher Herb Pennock (17-6) was on the sidelines for the Series with a sore arm. Centerfielder Earle Combs was available only as a pinch-hitter because of a broken finger. Second baseman Tony Lazzeri suffered a lame-throwing arm, and Babe Ruth was playing on a bad ankle. The St. Louis Cardinals, however, were all in good shape and ready for a repeat of the 1926 contest when they had dethroned New York four games to three.

For Game 1, Waite Hoyt went up against Bill Sherdel in a classic rematch of David vs. Goliath. The Babe managed to play, despite his inability to run and he and his young protégé both put on quite a show. Ruth had a single and two doubles, Gehrig went two-for-four with two RBIs and Bob Meusel knocked a two-run home run on the way to a 4-1 opening victory. Grover Alexander (who had embarrassed the Yankees and their pitching staff in the '26 Series) returned for Game 2, but lacked the dominating presence of two years ago. Lou Gehrig started things off with a three-run homer in the first inning and the Yankees continued to score without resistance on the way to a 9-3 victory.

As expected, Ruth and Gehrig continued to abuse the Cardinals' pitching staff with reckless abandon. The Iron Horse launched three blasts in Game 3 for a 7-3 win and The Babe knocked three into the seats in Game 4 (with Gehrig contributing one) for another 7-3 triumph and a second sweep for the World Championship. Both sluggers had combined to go sixteen-for-twenty-seven at the plate, with a .593 average, seven homers and thirteen RBIs. Ruth set one of many Series records hitting an unbelievable .625 with ten hits in four games. Gehrig hit .545 and set his own record with nine RBIs in four games. It truly was a two-man show as the rest of the Yankees batted .196, but were supported by solid pitching by Hoyt, George Pipgras and Tom Zachary. The perennial World Champions had managed to save-face after a difficult season and once again proved that they were the best-of-the-best.

"Word of the Cardinals winning the National League championship this afternoon was followed by small demonstrations downtown and in many parts of the city, but the reaction was not comparable with the great outburst (in) 926, when the Cardinals brought St. Louis its first pennant in 38 years." - St. Louis Gazette (September 29, 1928)

1928 World Series 1928 World Series Official Program New York Yankees (4) vs St. Louis Cardinals (0)
1928 World Series Fast Facts
Game 1	Date / Box Score	10-04-1928
	Location	Yankee Stadium
	Attendance	61,425
Game 2	Date / Box Score	10-05-1928
	Location	Yankee Stadium
	Attendance	60,714
Game 3	Date / Box Score	10-07-1928
	Location	Sportsman's Park
	Attendance	39,602
Game 4	Date / Box Score	10-09-1928
	Location	Sportsman's Park
	Attendance	37,331
1928 World Series Fast Facts

1928 World Series Game 1 Line Score / Box Score
1928 World Series Game 1 Capsule
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
St. Louis	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	3	1
New York	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	x	4	7	0
St. Louis Pitcher(s)						New York Pitcher(s)
Bill Sherdel (L) Syl Johnson (8^th)						Waite Hoyt (W) -
St. Louis Home Runs						New York Home Runs
Jim Bottomley (7^th)						Bob Meusel (4^th)

1928 World Series Game 2 Line Score / Box Score
1928 World Series Game 2 Capsule
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
St. Louis	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	4	1
New York	3	1	4	0	0	0	1	0	x	9	8	2
St. Louis Pitcher(s)						New York Pitcher(s)
Grover Alexander (L) Clarence Mitchell (3^rd)						George Pipgras (W) -
St. Louis Home Runs						New York Home Runs
None						Lou Gehrig (1^st)

1928 World Series Game 3 Line Score / Box Score
1928 World Series Game 3 Capsule
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	0	1	0	2	0	3	1	0	0	7	7	2
St. Louis	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	3	9	3
New York Pitcher(s)						St. Louis Pitcher(s)
Tom Zachary (W) - -						Jesse Haines (L) Syl Johnson (7^th) Flint Rhem (8^th)
New York Home Runs						St. Louis Home Runs
Lou Gehrig (2^nd) Lou Gehrig (4^th)						None -

1928 World Series Game 4 Line Score / Box Score
1928 World Series Game 4 Capsule
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
New York	0	0	0	1	0	0	4	2	0	7	15	2
St. Louis	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	11	0
New York Pitcher(s)						St. Louis Pitcher(s)
Waite Hoyt (W) -						Bill Sherdel (L) Grover Alexander (7^th)
New York Home Runs						St. Louis Home Runs
Babe Ruth (4^th) Babe Ruth (7^th) Lou Gehrig (7^th) Cedric Durst (8^th) Babe Ruth (8^th)						None - - - -

1928 World Series Composite Hitting Statistics
Name	Pos	G	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	Avg	BB	SO	SB
Benny Bengough Pat Collins Earle Combs Joe Dugan Leo Durocher Cedric Durst Lou Gehrig Waite Hoyt Mark Koenig Tony Lazzeri Bob Meusel Ben Paschal George Pipgras Gene Robertson Babe Ruth Tom Zachary	c c ph 3b 2b of 1b p ss 2b of of p 3b of p	4 1 1 3 4 4 4 2 4 4 4 3 1 3 4 1	13 1 0 6 2 8 11 7 19 12 15 10 2 8 16 4	3 1 0 1 0 3 6 1 3 3 3 2 0 1 10 0	0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 3 0	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0	1 0 0 0 0 3 5 0 1 2 5 0 0 1 9 0	1 0 1 1 0 2 9 0 0 0 3 1 1 2 4 0	.231 1.000 .000 .167 .000 .375 .545 .143 .158 .250 .200 .200 .000 .125 .625 .000	1 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 1 2 1 0 1 1 0	1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 5 0 1 0 2 1	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0
Totals			134	37	7	0	9	27	25	.276	13	13	4
1928 World Series Composite Hitting Statistics
Name	Pos	G	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	Avg	BB	SO	SB
Grover Alexander Ray Blades Jim Bottomley Taylor Douthit Frankie Frisch Chick Hafey Jesse Haines George Harper Andy High Wattie Holm Syl Johnson Rabbit Maranville Pepper Martin Clarence Mitchell Ernie Orsatti Flint Rhem Bill Sherdel Earl Smith Tommy Thevenow Jimmie Wilson	p ph 1b of 2b of p of 3b of-1 p ss pr p of-1 p p c ss c	2 1 4 3 4 4 1 3 4 3 2 4 1 1 4 1 2 1 1 3	1 1 14 11 13 15 2 9 17 6 0 13 0 2 7 0 5 4 0 11	0 0 3 1 3 3 0 1 5 1 0 4 0 0 2 0 0 3 0 1	0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1	0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0	0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1	1 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1	.000 .000 .214 .091 .231 .200 .000 .111 .294 .167 .000 .308 .000 .000 .286 .000 .000 .750 .000 .091	0 0 2 1 2 1 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0	0 1 6 1 2 4 0 2 3 1 0 1 0 0 3 0 2 0 0 3	0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals			131	27	5	1	1	10	9	.206	11	29	3

1928 World Series Composite Pitching Statistics
Name	W	L	G	GS	CG	S	Sh	IP	ERA	H	SO	ER	BB
Waite Hoyt George Pipgras Tom Zachary	2 1 1	0 0 0	2 1 1	2 1 1	2 1 1	0 0 0	0 0 0	18.0 9.0 9.0	1.50 2.00 3.00	6 4 1	14 8 7	3 2 3	6 4 1
Totals	4	0	4	4	4	0	0	36.0	2.00	27	29	8	11
1928 World Series Composite Pitching Statistics
Name	W	L	G	GS	CG	S	Sh	IP	ERA	H	SO	ER	BB
Grover Alexander Jesse Haines Syl Johnson Clarence Mitchell Flint Rhem Bill Sherdel	0 0 0 0 0 0	1 1 0 0 0 2	2 1 2 1 1 2	1 1 0 0 0 2	0 0 0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0 0 0	0 0 0 0 0 0	5.0 6.0 2.0 5.2 2.0 13.1	19.80 4.50 4.50 1.59 0.00 4.72	10 6 4 2 0 15	2 3 1 3 1 3	11 3 1 1 0 7	4 3 1 2 0 3
Totals	0	4	9	4	0	0	0	34.0	6.09	37	13	23	13

The New York Yankees were the first American League team to sweep their senior circuit opponent (1927 World Series) and the first Major League team to sweep two (2) consecutive Fall Classics.

Did you know that Lou Gehrig was one of sixteen (16) New York Yankees who played in the 1928 World Series, but drove in as many runs by himself as the entire St. Louis Cardinals team combined?

George Pipgras won Game 2 of the 1927 World Series, Game 2 of the 1928 World Series, and Game 3 of the 1932 World Series — giving him a World Series career pitching line of three (3) games, three (3) wins, two (2) complete games and an earned run average of 2.77.

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