Complete Games : 1938 American League Top 25

Finding the American or National League leader in virtually every hitting & pitching statistic is easy-to-do. Finding the top 25 players during any given season is far more challenging. Baseball Almanac has taken away that difficult problem and is pleased to present the data you requested:

"Maybe I missed my routine and my game so much that I was trying to rationalize reasons for getting it back. I wanted those 162 games. I wanted all the suspense of the playoff and home run races. And I honestly didn't believe baseball would bend far enough to allow the possibility of games in November. I was wrong. And baseball was right." - Paul White in USA Today Baseball Weekly (September 14, 2001)
 

1938 Complete Games Leaders

Top 25 in the American League

Bobo Newsom 31 St. Louis Browns 1
Red Ruffing 22 New York Yankees 2
George Caster 20 Philadelphia Athletics 3
Bob Feller 20 Cleveland Indians  
Lefty Gomez 20 New York Yankees  
Thornton Lee 18 Chicago White Sox 6
Ted Lyons 17 Chicago White Sox 7
Monte Pearson 17 New York Yankees  
Monty Stratton 17 Chicago White Sox  
Mel Harder 15 Cleveland Indians 10
Dutch Leonard 15 Washington Senators  
Lefty Mills 15 St. Louis Browns  
Spud Chandler 14 New York Yankees 13
Johnny Allen 13 Cleveland Indians 14
Tommy Bridges 13 Detroit Tigers  
George Gill 13 Detroit Tigers  
Lynn Nelson 13 Philadelphia Athletics  
Elden Auker 12 Detroit Tigers 18
Lefty Grove 12 Boston Red Sox  
Vern Kennedy 11 Detroit Tigers 20
Jack Wilson 11 Boston Red Sox  
Jim Bagby 10 Boston Red Sox 22
Wes Ferrell 10 Washington Senators  
New York Yankees  
Oral Hildebrand 10 St. Louis Browns  
Fritz Ostermueller 10 Boston Red Sox  



The most recognizable Detroit Tiger to wear the number twenty-five was probably Norm Cash (who wore it from 1960 through 1974), but did you know that Hall of Famer Larry Doby also wore it during his single season with Detroit?

Jim Thome wore number twenty-five since he first came up with the Cleveland Indians making him the franchise record holder for that particular number (Mike Garcia is second).

Jose Cruz of the Houston Astros had his number twenty-five retired on October 3, 1992, and became the first Major League player with that particular retired number.