Remembering NY Baseball Giants History: The 1933 World Series

Travis Jackson & Bill Terry

The 1933 Giants (91-61) won the National League pennant five games ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates & six games ahead of the Chicago Cubs. The team featured three Hall of Famers including player / manager Bill Terry. 

Bill Terry was the protege of the legendary manager John McGraw (who was now GM). McGraw had retired the previous year after thirty years as the teams manager. McGraw attended the Series & sadly passed away four months later.

Bill Terry had led the team with a .322 average. At age 35 Terry was beginning to wind down his career. Terry was the last NL player to date to hit over .400 (1930) & had hit .310 or better in his last ten seasons.

The second Hall of Famer on the Giants was Mel Ott, one of the games top HR hitters of all time (511 career HRs) had had an off year that season hitting 23 HRs & driving in 103 runs. Ott led the NL in HRs & RBIs six times, with seven 30+ HR seasons. He was in a stretch of driving in over 100 runs for seven straight seasons & had ten 100+ RBI seasons overall.

Carl Hubbell

The Meal Ticket: The pitching star of the team that year was Carl Hubbell nicknamed "The Meal Ticket". With his high leg kick & crazy screwball he dominated the league in 1933. Hubbell led the league in wins (23) ERA (1.66) shut outs (10) innings (308) & WAR (9). He also collected five saves during the season when used in relief. Hubbell would lead the NL in wins & ERA three times each in his career.

The Giants team did not put up big offensive numbers, after Ott's 23 HRs third baseman Johnny Vergez was second with 16 HRs the only other player to put up double digits. His 72 RBIs were second to Ott on the club as well. 

Bill Terry was the only regular to hit over .300. 36 year old veteran Lefty O'Doul had been traded back to the Giants that season (he played there in 1928) after a slow start he had a fine year batting .306 with 9 HRs & 35 RBIs in 78 games becoming an important hitter off the bench.

The Giants pitching staff was tops in the league in wins (91) & ERA (2.71). Behind Hubbell was 19 game winner "Prince" Hal Schumacher (19-12 / 2.16 ERA) who would win 19 or more three straight seasons, including 23 (1934). The two had combined for 17 shut outs that year.

Freddie Fitzsimmons (16-11 / 2.90 ERA) who won 17 or more games five times in his 13 years with New York & Roy Parmelee (13-8 / 3.17 ERA).

Pitching Trivia: The Giants trio of Schumacher, Hubbell & Parmalee were ranked 1-2-3 in the NL in fewest hits allowed.

The 1933 World Series featured the New York Giants vs the Washington Nationals, also known as the Senators. This was a rematch of the 1924 World Series in which Washington won being the clubs only Championship. This was the Giants 13th trip to the World Series having won three times, the last in 1922 twelve years earlier.

The 1933 Nationals were led by  Hall of Famer (player/manager) Joe Cronin who was in his first year as manager, just like Ott on the opposing side. Cronin had succeeded the great Walter Johnson, winning a franchise best 99 games that year winning the pennant by seven games.

Trivia: The Senators won three AL pennants in their history before moving to Minnesota (1965) & becoming the Twins. The current D.C. Nationals team are the former Montreal Expo franchise.

The 1933 Senators nicknamed "the Lumber Yard" were loaded with hitting. They had led the AL in batting (.287) with six of its regulars batting over .290 & four over .300. Heinie Manush the AL's hit leader (221) & triples leader (17) batted .336. Joe Cronin led the team in RBIs (118) hit .309 & led the AL in doubles (45). First baseman Joe Kuhel hit .322 with 107 RBIs.

The pitching staff had two twenty game winners in "General" Alvin Crowder (24-15 / 3.97 ERA) & Earl Whitehill (22-8 / 3.33 ERA). Crowder appeared in a league high 52 games that year making 35 starts with Whitehill leading the A.L. with 37 starts. The number three man was Lefty Stewart (15-6 / 3.82 ERA).

Game One: The World Series opened up in the Polo Grounds in front of a packed house of 46,672, this was the 13th time the Giants hosted a World Series in its legendary ballpark. Carl Hubbell proved why he was the best pitcher in the game at that time, allowing just two runs, both scored on ground ball outs, on just five hits striking out ten along the way to a 4-2 victory.

In the bottom  of the 1st inning the Giants wasted no time as lead off man Jo Jo Moore reached on an error then slugger Mel Ott blasted a two run HR to right field for the 2-0 lead. 

Mel Ott

In the bottom of the 3rd after back to back singles by Hughie Critiz & Bill Terry, Mel Ott delivered an RBI single making it 3-0.

Multi-HIT Multi-RBI Game: In his first World Series career game, Mel Ott collected four hits & three RBIs in the game. His HR was the first of his four career World Series HRs as well. 

Travis Jackson grounded out to third base but Bill Terry broke on contact & scored the Giants fourth run making it 4-0.

Game Two: "Prince" Hal Schumacher continued the Giants fine pitching able to shut down the Washington lineup. Hal pitched a one run five hit complete game, walking four & fanning two.

In the top of the 3rd, Hall of Famer Goose Goslin, who had twelve 100+ RBI seasons, homered to the right field upper grandstand for the first run of the game.

"General" Al Crowder held New York scoreless thru the first five innings. In the bottom of the 6th, the Giants loaded the bases. Pinch hitter Lefty O'Doul, was swinging for the fences & quickly went to an 0-2 count. On deck batter Travis Jackson shouted to him "take it easy Lefty, a single will do". O'Doul then hit the first of three straight RBI singles, followed by Jackson & catcher Gus Mancuso. 

After Blondy Ryan struck out the pitcher Hal Schumacher & Jo-Jo Moore added RBI singles as well giving the Giants a 6-1 lead. In the inning the Giants sent 13 men to the plate collecting six runs with eight hits knocking Crowder out of the game.

Game Three: The Series moved on to Griffith Stadium where 25,727 came out for Game #3 with President Franklin Roosevelt throwing out the first pitch. 

There was brief delay as the President asked for the ball but neither MLB Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis, Clark Griffith or Giants GM John McGaw had one. 

It was a memorable one for the franchise, as Earl Whitehill pitched one of the best games of his career, as he shut out the Giants on a five hitter in the 4-0 win.

In the bottom of the 1st, Washington quickly jumped on Freddie Fitzsimmons with  a single & double from Buddy Meyer & Goose Goslin. With one out player/manager Joe Cronin grounded to Fitzsimmons with Myer scoring from third with the first run. Fred Schulte then doubled scoring Cronin with the second run. Shulte had come over from the St. Louis Browns with Goose Goslin in a trade before the season.

In the 2nd inning, Ossie Bluege led off with a double, then with two outs Buddy Meyer doubled as well making it 3-0. Meyer added an RBI single in the 7th topping off the 4-0 win

D.C. World Series Trivia: This was the first World Series game D.C. hosted in ten years & the last one until 2019, eighty-six years later. This was also the last time any Washington team had won a World Series game at home. In the 2019 Series the Nat's lost all three home games to the Houston Astros winning all four game on the road.

Game Four: The great pitching in the Series continued with Carl Hubbell & Monte Weaver in an eleven inning thriller. 

In the top of the 4th, player / manager Bill Terry hit a HR, landing in the $1 bleachers, helping New York jump out to a 1-0 lead. Carl Hubbell held down Washington thru the first six innings. 

In the 6th, Heinie Manusch was thrown out at first base on a close call, he argued then poked the umpire in a fit of rage & was ejected from the game.

In the home 7th Hubbell botched a bunt attempt by Joe Kuhel. Kuhel advanced on a sacrifice then came around to score on veteran catcher Luke Sewell's base hit tying up the game with an unearned run.

Both pitchers remained in the game getting tier respective team to the 11th inning in a 1-1 tie.

In the top of the 11th, Travis Jackson led off with an field hit to third base, Gus Mancuso sacrificed Jackson to second base. Blondy Ryan a former Holy Cross quarterback, then collected his second hit of the game, fourth of the series with a single into left field scoring Jackson putting New York ahead 2-1.

In the bottom of the 11th, Fred Schulte & Joe Kuhel led off with base hits. Ossie Bluege sacrificed the runners over successfully. The Giants then walked Luke Sewell intentionally loading the bases. Manager Mel Ott's strategy worked out as pinch hitter Cliff Bolton hit into a game ending double play Blondy Ryan- Hughie Critz- Bill Terry.

The Meal Ticket World Series History: Carl Hubbell won his second game of the Series, pitching a combined twenty innings without allowing an earned run. In the Series he was 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA, twenty strike outs & six walks. 

In his career Hubbell would pitch in three World Series (1933) (1936) (1937) with one Championship, going 4-2 with a 1.79 ERA, 32 K's & 12 walks in 50.1 innings of work. In those Series' the Giants won seven total games with Hubbell accounting for four of those wins (57%).

Game Five: On this Saturday afternoon in the Nation's Capitol, the Giants were trying to close out the World Championship giving the ball to "Prince" Hal Shumacher in a rematch of Game Two with "General" Al Crowder who was trying to get his team back to New York for a sixth game.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Travis Jackson led off with a base hit, then Gus Mancuso reached with a walk. Blondy Ryan successfully sacrificed the runners over to scoring position. Then pitcher Hal Schumacher, a .230 hitter during the season with ten RBIs singled to centerfield scoring both runners giving himself a 2-0 lead.

In the top of the 6th, Kiddo Davis led off with a double. After a sacrifice, catcher Gus Mancuso who had walked twice in the game, doubled scoring Kidd Davis making it 3-0 Giants. 

Dolph Luque

In the bottom of the 6th, Heinie Manush & Joe Cronin collected two out back-to-back singles. Fred Schulte who had hit just five HRs during the season, then delivered a three run HR tying up the game. This broke "Price" Hal's eleven scoreless innings stretch.

Both managers went to the bullpen, with 43 year old, Cuban veteran Dolph Luque coming in for
New York & Jack Russell for Washington. Dolph Luque was in his 18th season, having gone 8-2 with four saves that year for the Giants, he along with Herman Bell played a huge part of the New York bullpen.

In the top of the 11th, Hall of Famer Mel Ott, led his team to victory with a HR over the center field wall. His second HR & seventh hit of the Series gave New York the 4-3 lead.

Mel Ott

Mel Ott Trivia: Mel Ott led the Giants regulars in the Series in batting (.389) hits (7- tied with Kiddo Davis) HRs (2) RBIs (4) walks (4) & on base % (.500). This was the only Championship team Ott played on, he would win three pennants in his career. Overall in World Series play he batted .295 with four HRs & ten RBIs in 16 games.

In the bottom of the 11th, Goose Goslin grounded out & Heinie Manush lined out. Manush, the AL's hit leader was shut down by Giants pitching going 2-18 (.111). Joe Cronin then collected his seventh hit of the Series, tied with Schulte for the team lead, singled to left. Schulte then drew a walk moving the tying run into scoring position. Schulte led the team (tied with Buddy Meyer) with a .364 on base % in the Series.

Manager Bill Terry walked over to the mound with a worried look on his face. Dolph Luque told him "Don't worry, I get Him". Luque struck out Joe Kuhel to end the game & seal the World Series Championship for the Giants. Luque earned the win in relief pitching 4.2 scoreless innings, allowing two hits, two walks & striking out five.

The Giants players collected $4,600 ($118,000 in todays money) for the winning share with Washington's players collecting $3,400 ($87,000 today). 

NY Giants Trivia: It was the New York Giants fourth World Series Championship, their first since winning  back-to-back Championships in 1921 & 1922. Twenty one years later the 1954 Giants would win their fifth Championship in New York before moving to a San Francisco in 1958.