Five AL Pennants - Five
World Championships
1932
New York Yankees vs. Chicago Cubs
Yankees Win Series 4-0
The New York Yankees started things off right in Game 1 as Ben Chapman made a
spectacular running catch in the top of the fourth, and Lou Gehrig followed it up with a
two-run homer in the bottom of the frame. The Yankees took the lead and went on to win
12-6.
Lou Gehrig's bat was at work again in Game 2. He went 3-for-4 and scored a run, while
Lefty Gomez pitched nine strong innings for a 5-2 win. In Game 3, Babe Ruth's homer in the
fifth inning — the famous "Called Shot," so named because Ruth allegedly
pointed to the spot in center field where he hit the ball — was the second off Cubs'
starter Charlie Root and gave the Yankees the 5-4 lead. Gehrig followed with his second
round-tripper of the day to knock Root off the mound. The Yankees finished with a 7-5 win.
They blasted the Cubs 13-6 in Game 7 to complete the easy sweep. Gehrig finished the
Series with a .529 batting average, eight RBI, with three homers and a double.
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1936
New York Yankees vs. New York Giants
Yankees win Series 4-2
The New York Yankees no longer had Babe Ruth, but they did have an impressive rookie
named Joe DiMaggio when they met the Giants in the 1936 World Series. The Giants started
the Series with a 6-1 victory in Game 1 behind Carl Hubbell. The Yankees came right back
to thrash the Giants 18-4, with five RBI each from Bill Dickey and Tony
Lazzeri.
The Yankees took Game 3 as well, by a much tamer score. Frank Crosetti singled in the
go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth, and the Yankees held on for a 2-1 win. The
Yankees made it three straight, when Red Rolfe singled home Crossetti in the third inning
of Game 4 against Hubbell. Lou Gehrig added a two-run homer and the Yankees finished with
a 5-2 win.
The Giants weren't about to go quietly, though. They led 3-0 off Red Ruffing in the
first, but he settled down and the score was tied 4-4 in the sixth until the top of the
10th, when player-manager Bill Terry's sacrifice fly knocked in the eventual winning run.
Game 6 went back and forth, with the Yankees clinging to a 6-5 lead after eight innings.
They burst out with seven innings in the ninth, though, securing the Game 6 and World
Series win.
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1937
New York Yankees vs. New York Giants
Yankees win Series 4-1
The two New York teams faced each other for the second year in a row in the World
Series. The Giants' Carl Hubbell cruised along in the Game 1, until the bottom of the
sixth inning, when the Yankees broke through for seven runs. Lefty Gomez went the distance
for the Yankees, notching the 8-1 win. Game 2 had a similar feel. Giants' pitcher Cliff
Melton took a 1-0 lead into the fifth, but was knocked out as the Yankees went on to win
by the same score as Game 1, 8-1.
Monto Pearson held the Giants to five hits in Game 3 and finished with a 5-1 win.
Hubbell was brought back on short rest for Game 4 in what proved to be a smart move. He
kept the Giants in the game and got the 7-3 win to avoid a sweep. Gomez notched his second
win of the Series in Game Five, 4-2, and drove in the go-ahead run himself as the Yankees
won their second straight World Series title.
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1938
New York Yankees vs. Chicago Cubs
Yankees win Series 4-0
The New York Yankees made the trip to the World Series for the third time in a row.
Game 1 was a tight one, as the Yankees scored first with a pair of runs in the second. The
Cubs responded with one run in the third, then the Yankees scored another in the sixth,
and that was how it ended, with a 3-1 Yankees' win, with Bill Lee taking the loss for the
Cubs.
In Game 2, Joe DiMaggio and Frankie Crosetti blasted two-run homers and the Yankees
beat Dizzy Dean by a score of 6-3. Monte Person won Game 3 for the Yankees, with help from
a single, homer and three RBI by Joe Gordon.
Crosetti starred offensively again in Game 4 with a double, a triple and four RBI, and
the Yankees' 8-3 win made it a clean sweep of the Cubs, with Red Ruffing notching his
second complete-game win of the Series.
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1939
New York Yankees vs. Cincinnati Reds
Yankees win Series 4-0
The New York Yankees were comfortable playing in October as they reached their fourth
straight World Series in 1939. The Yankees sent Red Ruffing to the mound in Game 1 against
the Reds' Paul Derringer. The pitchers fought to a 1-1 tie going into the ninth inning,
when the Yankees' Bill Dickey singled in Charlie Keller, who had tripled.
Monte Pearson posted one of the all-time great World Series Championship starts in Game
2, owning a 4-0 lead and working on a no-hitter after seven innings. Ernie Lombardi broke
up the no-hit bid in the eighth, and Billy Werber added a base hit in the ninth, but
Pearson finished with a two-hit, one-walk shutout.
Keller hit two homers and drove in four runs as the Yankees took Game 3 by a score of
7-3. The Reds came close to avoiding a sweep when they held a 4-2 lead in the ninth inning
of Game 4, but shortstop Billy Myers muffed a double-play ball which led to a game-tying
two-run Yankees' rally. Errors by the Reds' Myers and Ival Goodman led to three runs in
the 10th, with Joe DiMaggio scoring the final run after Keller's slide knocked catcher
Ernie Lombard for a loop.
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