Sports Americana

There are great baseball teams.

There are dominant baseball teams.

And then there are the 1927 New York Yankees.

The Yankees went 110-44-1 in 1927, finished 19 games ahead of the second-place Philadelphia Athletics, and then swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series. They scored 975 runs while allowing just 599.

But the thing that makes the 1927 Yankees so fascinating isn’t just the record.

They were loaded.

Murderers’ Row

The obvious place to start is the lineup.

Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs, scored 158 runs and drove in 165. Lou Gehrig hit .373 with 47 home runs and an incredible 173 RBIs. Earle Combs hit .356 and collected 231 hits. Tony Lazzeri drove in 102 runs. Bob Meusel hit .337 and drove in 103.

And here’s the scary part: you couldn’t simply pitch around Ruth.

If you did, Gehrig was waiting.

If you somehow got past Gehrig, you still had Lazzeri, Combs and Meusel.

That is why the lineup became known as “Murderers’ Row.”

It Wasn’t Just the Hitting

This is probably the most overlooked part of the 1927 Yankees.

They could pitch, too.

New York led the American League with a 3.20 ERA, and the staff included Waite Hoyt, who won 22 games, and Herb Pennock, who won 19. Wilcy Moore won 16 games primarily in relief.

So this wasn’t a team winning 10-8 every night.

They could overwhelm you with the bats, but they could also shut you down.

That’s what made them different.

The Numbers Are Almost Silly

The Yankees hit .307 as a team and slugged .489.

They scored more than 6.2 runs per game.

They won 110 games.

And they did all of this while finishing 19 games ahead of the next-best team in their league.

Then, when they finally reached the World Series, they didn’t just win.

They swept the Pirates four games to none.

The 1927 Yankees weren’t simply the best team in baseball that year.

They were so dominant that nearly a century later, they’re still part of the conversation for the greatest team ever assembled.

And honestly?

It’s hard to argue with the numbers.

Babe Ruth. Lou Gehrig. Murderers’ Row. 110 wins. A 19-game lead. A World Series sweep.

Yeah.

They were pretty good.