1939 American League

The 1939 season of the American League was the thirty-ninth season of the league.

Season summary[edit]

Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS (RS/G)	RA (RA/G)	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	FPCT
1	New York Yankees	152	106	45	1	.697	-.-	967 (6.36)	556 (3.66)	0.287	0.370	0.451	3.31	0.978
2	Boston Red Sox	152	89	62	1	.586	17.0	890 (5.86)	795 (5.23)	0.291	0.362	0.436	4.56	0.970
3	Cleveland Indians	154	87	67	0	.565	20.5	797 (5.18)	700 (4.55)	0.280	0.349	0.413	4.08	0.970
4	Chicago White Sox	155	85	69	1	.548	22.5	755 (4.87)	737 (4.75)	0.275	0.347	0.374	4.31	0.972
5	Detroit Tigers	155	81	73	1	.523	26.5	849 (5.48)	762 (4.92)	0.279	0.354	0.426	4.29	0.967
6	Washington Senators	153	65	87	1	.425	41.5	702 (4.59)	797 (5.21)	0.278	0.345	0.379	4.60	0.966
7	Philadelphia Athletics	153	55	97	1	.359	51.5	711 (4.65)	1022 (6.68)	0.271	0.334	0.400	5.79	0.964
8	St. Louis Browns	156	43	111	2	.276	64.5	733 (4.70)	1035 (6.63)	0.268	0.336	0.381	6.01	0.968

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Ken Keltner George McQuinn	Cleveland Indians St. Louis Browns	154
At Bats	Frankie Crosetti	New York Yankees	656
Runs Scored	Red Rolfe	New York Yankees	139
Hits	Red Rolfe	New York Yankees	213
Doubles	Red Rolfe	New York Yankees	46
Triples	Buddy Lewis	Washington Senators	16
Home Runs	Jimmie Foxx	Boston Red Sox	35
Total Bases	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	344
Runs Batted In	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	145
Stolen Bases	George Case	Washington Senators	51
Caught Stealing	George Case	Washington Senators	17
Walks	Harlond Clift	St. Louis Browns	111
Hit by Pitch	Frankie Crosetti	New York Yankees	13
Strikeouts	Hank Greenberg	Detroit Tigers	95
Sacrifice Hits	Mike Kreevich	Chicago White Sox	22
Grounded into Double Plays	Joe Vosmik	Boston Red Sox	27
Batting Average	Joe DiMaggio	New York Yankees	0.381
On-Base Percentage	Jimmie Foxx	Boston Red Sox	0.464
Slugging Percentage	Jimmie Foxx	Boston Red Sox	0.694
On-Base plus Slugging	Jimmie Foxx	Boston Red Sox	1.158
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Jimmie Foxx	Boston Red Sox	188

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Bob Feller	Cleveland Indians	24
Losses	Vern Kennedy	Detroit Tigers/St. Louis Browns	20
Win-Loss Percentage	Atley Donald	New York Yankees	0.812
Appearances	Clint Brown	Chicago White Sox	61
Games Started	Bobo Newsom	St. Louis Browns/Detroit Tigers	37
Complete Games	Bob Feller Bobo Newsom	Cleveland Indians St. Louis Browns/Detroit Tigers	24
Shutouts	Red Ruffing	New York Yankees	5
Games Finished	Clint Brown	Chicago White Sox	56
Saves	Johnny Murphy	New York Yankees	19
Innings Pitched	Bob Feller	Cleveland Indians	296.2
Batters Faced	Bobo Newsom	St. Louis Browns/Detroit Tigers	1261
Hits Allowed	Dutch Leonard	Washington Senators	273
Home Runs Allowed	Johnny Marcum Lynn Nelson	St. Louis Browns/Chicago White Sox Philadelphia Athletics	27
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Bob Feller	Cleveland Indians	142
Hit Batsmen	Lefty Mills	St. Louis Browns	8
Strikeouts	Bob Feller	Cleveland Indians	246
Wild Pitches	Bob Feller	Cleveland Indians	14
Balks	Johnny Allen Joe Haynes Nels Potter	Cleveland Indians Washington Senators Philadelphia Athletics	2
Runs Allowed	Nels Potter	Philadelphia Athletics	163
Earned Runs Allowed	Nels Potter	Philadelphia Athletics	144
Earned Run Average	Lefty Grove	Boston Red Sox	2.54
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Ted Lyons	Chicago White Sox	1.089

The American League won the seventh midsummer classic at Yankee Stadium in New York, NY on Tuesday, July 11, 1939 by a score of 3 to 1. The league's manager was Joe McCarthy.

In the World Series, the American League champion New York Yankees defeated the National League's Cincinnati Reds, 4 games to 0.

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Joe DiMaggio, an outfielder with the New York Yankees. In the award's voting, he had 280 out of a possible 336 points and 15 first place votes.