Tuesday, June 26, 2018

One June 6, 1927, The White Sox Were Just 1 Game Behind The Yankees, But They Finished The Season 39.5 Games Out

The Yankees finished 110-44 and are sometimes said to be the greatest team ever. The Sox finished 70-83 in fifth place.

But, at the conclusion of play on June 6, the Sox were 31-17 and the Yankees were 31-15. The Sox and Yankees began a 4 game series on June 7.

John Mosedale, in his 1975 book The Greatest of All: The 1927 Yankees wrote:

"Now the Yankees faced their first crucial series of the season. The phrase would assume certain comic overtones before the season was over."

If I recall correctly, Bill James said the Mosedale book was one of the best baseball books of the 1970s in the first Historical Abstract.

The Sox had just won 12 of 14 (and 27 out of their last 37). So they might have looked like serious challengers to the defending Yankees at the time. One newspaper reporter wrote: "Nobody else seems to be able stop the White Sox."

Even after the Sox lost the first game 4-1, another reporter wrote "The irrestistible Yankees met the immovable White Sox." (the Sox only managed to win the last game of the series).

I wondered if the Sox losing 38.5 games in the standings after having played over 40 games was some kind of record. Tom Ruane of Retrosheet and SABR did some research on this at my request and came up with this table:

Teams dropping behind another team by the most games over a 118-day span including those with winning records prior to span and only those with 40+ decisions prior to span







Prior
During
Oppon
GB-
Year
Team
Oppon
Start
End
W   L
W   L
W   L
-48
1949
WAS A
BOS A
6- 6:
2-Oct
25  21
24  83
74  37
-46.5
1914
CIN N
BOS N
6- 9:
5-Oct
28  18
31  75
79  30
-44.5
1943
PHI A
NY  A
6- 7:
3-Oct
22  21
27  83
74  41
-44
1961
WAS A
NY  A
6- 3:
29-Sep
24  23
35  76
82  35
-42.5
1942
BOS N
STL N
5-31:
26-Sep
25  20
33  68
80  30
-42.5
1949
WAS A
CLE A
6- 6:
2-Oct
25  21
24  83
69  43
-40.5
1949
WAS A
NY  A
6- 4:
30-Sep
24  19
25  83
67  44
-40
1906
PHI N
CHI N
6- 1:
27-Sep
26  18
42  59
82  19
-39
1890
PHI a
LOU a
6-19:
15-Oct
31  15
23  63
63  25
-39
1908
NY  A
DET A
6-10:
6-Oct
23  20
28  79
67  40
-39
1949
WAS A
DET A
6- 2:
28-Sep
22  19
26  83
66  45
-38.5
1927
CHI A
NY  A
6- 5:
1-Oct
30  17
38  65
79  29

So the White Sox had only the 12th biggest relative change in GB. But, among the 12 teams here, they were among the leaders in fewest GB, being only 1 game out. The following table shows how many games out of first each of the above teams were on the date in question.


Year Team GB
1949 WAS A 6.5
1914 CIN N 0.5
1943 PHI A 3.5
1961 WAS A 6.5
1942 BOS N 6
1949 WAS A 6.5
1949 WAS A 5.5
1906 PHI N 3
1890 PHI a up2.5
1908 NY  A 0.5
1949 WAS A 5.5
1927 CHI A 1

Yes, in 1890, the Philadelphia Athletics were actually in first place on their date in question and finished in 7th place in an 8 team league (American Association). Both the 1908 NY Highlanders and the 1914 Reds were even closer to 1st place than the 1927 White Sox and they both ended up in last place in their leagues. Quite a fall, to be so close to first place after 40+ games and end up in the cellar.

The 1890 A's had a .674 winning pct thru June 19 but after that played just .267. Maybe there is a story behind that team. What an epic collapse. Tom Ruane sent me the following comment about this team:
"Not surprisingly money (the Athletics were one of three major league teams sharing the Philadelphia market that summer) had much to do with their second half collapse in 1890. According to David Nemec's "The Great Encyclopedia of 19th Century Baseball": "... the Athletics, after leading the loop on July 4th... saw the bottom fall out of their season when front office mismanagement left manager Bill Sharsig without any money to pay his players. The Athletics tumbled to seventh place after most of the team quit rather than agree to be paid on a per diem basis when and if funds were available...." They would finish the season with 22 straight losses."

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