1938 Baseball Season Highlights

The 1938 baseball season provided the decade's top home run-hitting year. Hall of Famers Hank Greenberg and Mel Ott were among the big hitters that year. Find highlights from the 1938 baseball season below.
  • The Yanks win their third straight American League flag, tying the loop record.

  • The Chicago Cubs win in the National League.

  • The Yanks sweep the 1938 World Series.

    Henry Chadwick
    Henry Chadwick was
    inducted into the Baseball
    Hall of Fame in 1938.
  • The Hall of Fame inducts Pete Alexander, Alexander Cartwright, and Henry Chadwick.

  • Red Ruffing wins two complete games in the 1938 World Series.

  • Stan Hack of Cubs leads all Series players in BA (.471) and hits (8) -- the first member of losing team to do so.

  • The Yanks have now lost a total of three games in their last six World Series appearances.

  • Jimmie Foxx is the American League MVP.

  • Cincinnati's Ernie Lombardi is the National League MVP.

  • Lombardi is the first catcher to win a consensus bat title (Bubbles Hargrave in 1926 had less than 400 at-bats).

  • Hank Greenberg hits 58 homers to lead the American League.

  • Lou Gehrig has 100 or more RBI for a major league-record 13th consecutive season.

  • Cincinnati's Johnny Vander Meer no-hits Boston on June 11.

  • Vander Meer becomes the only pitcher in major league history to throw back-to-back no-hitters, as he blanks the Dodgers on June 15.

  • Bob Feller fans modern record (since broken) 18 batters in a game.

  • Feller's 240 Ks top the majors.

  • The National League strikeout leader Clay Bryant of Chicago has just 135 strikeouts.

  • Feller gives up a 20th-century record 208 walks.

  • Feller sets teenager records for Ks, walks, starts (36), CGs (20), and innings (278).

  • Cub Bill Lee leads the majors with 22 wins.

  • Gabby Hartnett's homer vs. Pittsburgh on Sept. 28 puts the Cubs in first to stay.

  • Cardinal Frenchy Bordagaray hits record .465 as a pinch hitter and gets 20 pinch hits.

  • Reds rise from last in 1937 to fourth in 1938 in first year under Bill McKechnie.

  • The National League wins the All-Star Game 4-1 at Cincinnati.

  • The Phils move to Shibe Park on July 4.

  • Gehrig hits the last of his career record 23 grandslams.

  • Greenberg hits a record 39 homers at home.

  • On April 19, Dodger Ernie Koy and Phillie Heinie Mueller each homer in their first major league at-bat in same game.
We have even more highlights from the 1938 baseball season on the next page.

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