1927 New York Giants

1927 New York Giants / Franchise: San Francisco Giants / BR Team Page

Record: 92-62, Finished 3rd in National League (1927 NL)

Managed by John McGraw (70-52) and Rogers Hornsby (22-10)

Coach: Roger Bresnahan

Ballpark: Polo Grounds IV

History, Comments, Contributions

The 1927 New York Giants didn't get as much attention as the 1927 New York Yankees, of course, but they still did quite well, winning 92 games and finishing only two games out. They were ruined by bad months in May and June.

The Giants started by going 11-4 in April, and were in first place by the end of April. They maintained that spot through most of May, in spite of playing .458 ball during the month. It got worse in June, when they played .407 ball. By the end of June they were in fourth place and stayed there through almost all of July and August even though they played .600 ball in July and .762 ball in August in an effort to catch up.

Finally, in early September, they moved up into second place and played .667 ball in September along with going 2-0 in October. However, they slipped into third place near the end of the season, ending up two games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates and 1/2 game behind the second-place St. Louis Cardinals, both of whom had a strong September and October. The Chicago Cubs were 8 1/2 games out in fourth place.

The Giants, who played in the Polo Grounds, a park that was neither tilted much toward pitchers nor to hitters (although it favored home runs), scored the most runs per game of any team in the league, powered by the league's highest slugging percentage. They were well ahead of the other teams in home runs. The team batting average and OBP were second in the league behind the Pirates. The pitchers, however, had the third-worst ERA in the league.

In spite of finishing third, the Giants beat every team in the league in season match-ups except for the Pirates, whom they tied at 11-11.

Hornsby, as usual, was the top player in the league with the highest Adjusted OPS+ (continuing a string of # 1 spots since 1919), but was only second in the league in batting average and slugging in 1927. He led the league in runs scored but was third in homers and RBI.

Ahead of several Hall of Fame teammates came right fielder George Harper, who hit .331 and slugged .495. He was second on the team in walks. Bill Terry hit .326 and led the team with 13 triples. He was second on the team in doubles, home runs, RBI and slugging. Shortstop Travis Jackson hit .318 and slugged .486, and his 98 RBI were third on the team. Freddie Lindstrom hit .306 and his 107 runs scored were second on the team. 34-year-old Edd Roush batted .304 and led the team with 18 stolen bases.

Most notable of the back-ups was Doc Farrell, who had a higher batting average at .387 than any qualifier for the batting title. Farrell had 142 at-bats before being traded in mid-season and ending up with a .316 overall average. Jack Cummings hit .363 in 80 at-bats (he would have a .341 lifetime batting average in four seasons), while Les Mann hit .328 in 67 at-bats in part of a season with the Giants. The 18-year-old Mel Ott hit .282 without much power.

Among pitchers, Burleigh Grimes won 19 games, Freddie Fitzsimmons had 17 wins, Virgil Barnes had 14 and Larry Benton went 13-5. Dutch Henry, who was the most prominent reliever, went 11-6 with 4 saves and finished 17 games.

Manager John McGraw, who had managed the team since 1902, handled the team for 112 games while Hornsby ran the team for 33 games (with a .688 winning percentage during that time). McGraw would come back to manage the team in 1928 for several more seasons while Hornsby would become player-manager for the Boston Braves the next year and go on to manage 11 seasons after that.