1926 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1926 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1926 in baseball. Sports season

1926 MLB season
League	American League (AL) National League (NL)
Sport	Baseball
Duration	Regular season: April 13 – September 27, 1926 (AL) April 13 – September 29, 1926 (NL) World Series: October 2–10, 1926
Number of games	154
Number of teams	16 (8 per league)
Regular Season
Season MVP	AL: George Burns (CLE) NL: Bob O'Farrell (SLC)
AL champions	New York Yankees
AL runners-up	Cleveland Indians
NL champions	St. Louis Cardinals
NL runners-up	Cincinnati Reds
World Series
Champions	St. Louis Cardinals
Runners-up	New York Yankees
MLB seasons
← 1925 1927 →

Red Sox

White Sox

Indians

Tigers

Athletics

Browns

Yankees

Senators Locations of teams for the 1923–1931 American League seasons

American League

Braves

Robins

Cubs

Reds

Giants

Phillies

Pirates

Cardinals Locations of teams for the 1920–1931 National League seasons

National League

The 1926 major league baseball season began on April 13, 1926. The regular season ended on September 29, with the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the 23rd World Series on October 2 and ended with Game 7 on October 10. The Cardinals defeated the Yankees, four games to three.

This was the fifth of eight seasons that "League Awards", a precursor to the Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award (introduced in 1931), were issued.

Schedule

The 1926 schedule consisted of 154 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 22 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place since the 1904 season (except for 1919) and would be used until 1961 in the American League and 1962 in the National League.

Opening Day, April 13, featured all sixteen teams, continuing the trend which started with the 1924 season. The American League would see its final day of the regular season was on September 27, while the National League would see its final day of the regular season on September 29 with a doubleheader between the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Braves. The World Series took place between October 2 and October 10.

Rule changes

The 1926 season saw the following rule changes:

A pitcher is now allowed to use a rosin bag prior to pitching the ball.
A sacrifice hit is now awarded when any base runner advances on a fly out.

Teams

League	Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Manager
American League	Boston Red Sox	Boston, Massachusetts	Fenway Park	35,000	Lee Fohl
	Chicago White Sox	Chicago, Illinois	Comiskey Park	28,000	Eddie Collins
	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland, Ohio	Dunn Field	21,414	Tris Speaker
	Detroit Tigers	Detroit, Michigan	Navin Field	30,000	Ty Cobb
	New York Yankees	New York, New York	Yankee Stadium	58,000	Miller Huggins
	Philadelphia Athletics	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Shibe Park	27,500	Connie Mack
	St. Louis Browns	St. Louis, Missouri	Sportsman's Park	34,023	George Sisler
	Washington Senators	Washington, D.C.	Griffith Stadium	27,000	Bucky Harris
National League	Boston Braves	Boston, Massachusetts	Braves Field	40,000	Dave Bancroft
	Brooklyn Robins	New York, New York	Ebbets Field	28,000	Wilbert Robinson
	Chicago Cubs	Chicago, Illinois	Cubs Park	20,000	Joe McCarthy
	Cincinnati Reds	Cincinnati, Ohio	Redland Field	20,696	Jack Hendricks
	New York Giants	New York, New York	Polo Grounds	55,000	John McGraw
	Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Baker Bowl	18,000	Art Fletcher
	Pittsburgh Pirates	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Forbes Field	41,000	Bill McKechnie
	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis, Missouri	Sportsman's Park	34,023	Rogers Hornsby

Standings

American League

v
t
e
American League
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	91	63	.591	—	50‍–‍25	41‍–‍38
Cleveland Indians	88	66	.571	3	49‍–‍31	39‍–‍35
Philadelphia Athletics	83	67	.553	6	44‍–‍27	39‍–‍40
Washington Senators	81	69	.540	8	42‍–‍30	39‍–‍39
Chicago White Sox	81	72	.529	9½	47‍–‍31	34‍–‍41
Detroit Tigers	79	75	.513	12	39‍–‍41	40‍–‍34
St. Louis Browns	62	92	.403	29	40‍–‍39	22‍–‍53
Boston Red Sox	46	107	.301	44½	25‍–‍51	21‍–‍56

National League

v
t
e
National League
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Cardinals	89	65	.578	—	47‍–‍30	42‍–‍35
Cincinnati Reds	87	67	.565	2	53‍–‍23	34‍–‍44
Pittsburgh Pirates	84	69	.549	4½	49‍–‍28	35‍–‍41
Chicago Cubs	82	72	.532	7	49‍–‍28	33‍–‍44
New York Giants	74	77	.490	13½	43‍–‍33	31‍–‍44
Brooklyn Robins	71	82	.464	17½	38‍–‍38	33‍–‍44
Boston Braves	66	86	.434	22	43‍–‍34	23‍–‍52
Philadelphia Phillies	58	93	.384	29½	33‍–‍42	25‍–‍51

Postseason

Bracket

World Series

AL	New York Yankees	2	2	0	10	3	2	2

NL	St. Louis Cardinals	1	6	4	5	2	10	3

Managerial changes

Off-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Chicago Cubs	George Gibson	Joe McCarthy
New York Giants	Hughie Jennings	John McGraw

League leaders

American League

Hitting leaders
Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Heinie Manush (DET)	.378
OPS	Babe Ruth (NYY)	1.253
HR	Babe Ruth (NYY)	47
RBI	Babe Ruth (NYY)	153
R	Babe Ruth (NYY)	139
H	George Burns (CLE) Sam Rice (WSH)	216
SB	Johnny Mostil (CWS)	35

Pitching leaders
Stat	Player	Total
W	George Uhle (CLE)	27
L	Milt Gaston (SLB) Paul Zahniser (BRS)	18
ERA	Lefty Grove (PHA)	2.51
K	Lefty Grove (PHA)	194
IP	George Uhle (CLE)	318.1
SV	Firpo Marberry (WSH)	22
WHIP	Herb Pennock (NYY)	1.265

National League

Hitting leaders
Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Bubbles Hargrave (CIN)	.353
OPS	Cy Williams (PHP)	.986
HR	Hack Wilson (CHC)	21
RBI	Jim Bottomley (SLC)	120
R	Kiki Cuyler (PIT)	113
H	Eddie Brown (BSB)	201
SB	Kiki Cuyler (PIT)	35

Pitching leaders
Stat	Player	Total
W	Pete Donohue (CIN) Ray Kremer (PIT) Lee Meadows (PIT) Flint Rhem (SLC)	20
L	Jesse Petty (BKN) Charlie Root (CHC)	17
ERA	Ray Kremer (PIT)	2.61
K	Dazzy Vance (BKN)	140
IP	Pete Donohue (CIN)	285.2
SV	Chick Davies (NYG)	6
WHIP	Grover Alexander (STL/CHC)	1.108

Awards and honors

League Award: Bob O'Farrell (SLC, National); George Burns (CLE, American)

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
New York Yankees	91	31.9%	1,027,675	47.4%	13,702
Chicago Cubs	82	20.6%	885,063	42.2%	11,347
Pittsburgh Pirates	84	−11.6%	798,542	−0.7%	10,108
Philadelphia Athletics	83	−5.7%	714,508	−17.8%	10,063
Detroit Tigers	79	−2.5%	711,914	−13.3%	8,789
Chicago White Sox	81	2.5%	710,339	−14.6%	8,992
New York Giants	74	−14.0%	700,362	−10.1%	9,215
Cincinnati Reds	87	8.8%	672,987	44.8%	8,740
St. Louis Cardinals	89	15.6%	668,428	65.1%	8,461
Brooklyn Robins	71	4.4%	650,819	−1.3%	8,563
Cleveland Indians	88	25.7%	627,426	49.7%	7,843
Washington Senators	81	−15.6%	551,580	−32.5%	7,454
Boston Braves	66	−5.7%	303,598	−3.2%	3,943
Boston Red Sox	46	−2.1%	285,155	6.5%	3,703
St. Louis Browns	62	−24.4%	283,986	−38.7%	3,595
Philadelphia Phillies	58	−14.7%	240,600	−21.1%	3,166

Notable events

August 26 – Dutch Levsen of the Cleveland Indians becomes the last pitcher to win both games of a doubleheader, hurling two 9 inning games back to back, winning 6–1 and 5–1. Levsen is also the last pitcher to throw two nine-inning complete games on the same day.

References

"MLB Rule Changes | Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved April 22, 2024.
"New York Yankees Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
"Chicago Cubs Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
"Pittsburgh Pirates Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
"Oakland Athletics Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
"Detroit Tigers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
"Chicago White Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
"San Francisco Giants Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
"Cincinnati Reds Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
"St. Louis Cardinals Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
"Los Angeles Dodgers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
"Cleveland Indians Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
"Minnesota Twins Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
"Atlanta Braves Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
"Boston Red Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
"Baltimore Orioles Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
"Philadelphia Phillies Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
World's Strangest Baseball stories. Watermill Press. 1993. p. 72. ISBN 0-8167-2850X.
^ Preston, JG (September 13, 2009). "A thorough account of pitchers who have started both games of a doubleheader in the major leagues". prestonjg.wordpress.com. Retrieved September 15, 2020.

External links

1926 Major League Baseball season schedule at Baseball Reference

1926 MLB season by team

Major League Baseball

American League	Boston Chicago Cleveland Detroit New York Philadelphia St. Louis Washington
National League	Boston Brooklyn Chicago Cincinnati New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis

Negro National League

Eastern Colored League

Major League Baseball seasons

Pre-modern era

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