Baseball in the 1930s...

At the beginning of the season, I wrote an essay on baseball during the Great Depression. I've substantially rewritten it to reflect what I've learned in the course of this replay.



If you're interested, please take the time to read (or re-read) it and let me know what you think.

Things I've Learned About Baseball While Writing This Blog

Some Interesting Things I've Learned While Writing This Blog

As I wrap things up at Depression Era Baseball, I thought I'd just list a few things I've discovered while playing this replay and researching the era in general (in no particular order):

1. While we tend to believe that player mobility is mostly a product of free agency, and that "in the good old days" most players stayed with one team, this doesn't seem to be true. While conducting my 1934 replay, I also replayed 1931. A great many players were on other teams only three years earlier. This didn't include only journeymen, but truly great players like Rogers Hornsby, Chick Hafey, Chuck Klein and Stan Hack.

2. Baseball players did not "work out" in the 1930s, or seek to develop their physique. At the time, it was thought to be detrimental to their flexibility, which was thought to be more important in a baseball player. This seems to be the mentality in Japan. New Royals' skipper Trey Hillman will reportedly use flexibility training as a way of improving his team's conditioning for 2008.

3. Boy, the Cubs had some great teams in the 1930s. They never won the World Series, so we don't hear much about them, but they won 3 pennants and finished out of the top 3 only 1 time in the decade.

4. The 1930s was the era of nicknames - the weird players were the ones that didn't have one.

5. The public persona of Dizzy Dean was highly misleading and a deliberate distortion of a man who realized he needed a "character" to sell himself. In public, he was a colorful country rube, who couldn't pronounce the King's English and couldn't care less. In private, though, he was a well spoken, refined family man and friend.

6. The 1930s teemed with great players, many of whom we are familiar. Many others, however, such as Lon Warneke, Chuck Klein, and Red Ruffing deserve to be much better known. Part of the problem is that there aren't a lot of books on the era. A new, comprehensive treatment of baseball during this era is definitely needed.

7. In response to the Yankees' dominance at the end of the decade, the AL adopted a rule prohibiting other teams from trading with the league champion of the previous year. The champion was only allowed to pick up player off waivers. This rule prompted NL executive Branch Rickey to remark, "They've gone communistic in that league. The rule was repealed at the All Star break in 1941 when it was clear that, without Hank Greenberg, the reigning AL champion Detroit Tigers didn't pose a threat to anyone.

8. The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) has a fascinating biography project underway.

SABR BIO PROJECT

If you're unaware, the Society of Baseball Research (SABR) has an ongoing project to create biographies of major league baseball players.

There's plenty of opportunity for writing if you're interested. New biographies are posted daily. For instance, NY Giants pitcher Hal Schumaker, who's 19-10 with a 2.95 ERA has just been posted.

See here: http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=n&m=61

Interesting Post

Baseball Crank looks at the plethora of HOF outfielders from the 1920s and 1930s and asks "who really deserved it?"

August 8th, 1934 - Pop Favorites

Favorite Movies and Music in 1934 Were:

Music

Cocktails for Two - Duke Ellington
June in January - Bing Crosby
Moon Glow - Benny Goodman
All I Do is Dream of You - Jan Garber
The Beat o' My Heart - Ben Pollack
Carioca - Enric Madriguera
Everything I Have is Yours - Rudy Vallee
I Only Have Eyes For You - Ben Selvin
I Saw Stars - Freddy Martin
Let's Fall in Love - Eddy Duchin

Movies

It Happened One Night (Academy Award winner)
The Gay Divorcee
Here Comes the Navy
The House of Rothschild
The Thin Man
The White Parade

August 1st, 1934 - Cost of Living

How Much Did it Cost in 1934???

Average new house: $5,970
Average Income: $1,600
New Car: $625
Rent: $20 / month
Tuition at Harvard: $410 per year
Movie Ticket: 25 cents
Gas: 10 cents / gallon
First Class Stamp: 3 cents

Sugar: 59 cents / 10 lbs
Milk: 45 cents / gallon
Coffee: 35 cents / lb
Bacon: 25 cents / lb
Eggs: 17 cents per 12
Hamburger: 12 cents / lb
Bread: 8 cents / loaf

July 9th, 1934 - The All Star Game (preview)

The All Star Game


1934 marked only the second All Star game.

IRL, 17 of the 18 starters in the 1934 All Star game wound up in the Hall of Fame. Only Wally Berger of the Braves would start, but not achieve HOF status despite having a .300 lifetime batting average. TBT

The 1934 All Star game was played at the Polo Grounds in New York, home field of the New York Giants on July 10, 1934. Fans chose the 20 man rosters, but the managers chose the starters. The AL won 9-7 IRL, but the game is perhaps best remembered for Carl Hubbel's striking out five conseuctive Hall of Famer hitters (Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, Simmons and Cronin).

Fans "vote" in the Strat-O-Matic game as the season goes on, based on players' productivity. The game generates more All Stars than played in the real 1934 All Star Game (20 per team). I have decided to reconcile this by delineating between "honorary" All Stars (those who earned the designation based on Strat's voting mechanism) and those that were chosen for the roster by managers Bill Terry (NL) and Joe Cronin (AL). Roster choices were based on (a) top vote getters at each position; then (b) 1934 IRL All Stars; (c) my subjective judgment based on potential contribution; and (d) team diversity.

Here are the All Stars chosen in the replay. Those on the game roster are in bold:


AWARDS VOTING FOR 1934 American League Date: 7/9/1934
ALL-STAR SELECTIONS BY POSITION

C M.Cochrane(DEA) 612,980 R.Ferrell(BOA) 497,193
1B J.Foxx(PHA) 1,885,544 L.Gehrig(NYA) 1,789,120
2B C.Gehringer(DEA) 1,512,492 B.Myer(WAA) 759,351
3B B.Werber(BOA) 1,148,625 M.Owen(DEA) 817,764
SS J.Cronin(WAA) 879,136 B.Rogell(DEA) 676,330
LF B.Johnson(PHA) 1,584,073 H.Manush(WAA) 776,910
CF E.Averill(CLA) 2,181,651 S.West(SLA) 940,518
RF J.Stone(WAA) 823,624 B.Ruth(NYA) 539,335

Pitchers

L.Gomez(NYA) 2,094,385
E.Whitehill(WAA) 1,603,145
M.Pearson(CLA) 1,453,650
S.Rowe(DEA) 1,346,977
R.Ruffing(NYA) 1,282,962
R.Walberg(BOA) 1,221,284
M.Harder(CLA) 1,147,785
B.Newsom(SLA) 1,045,319
B.Dietrich(PHA) 990,139
H.Pennock(BOA) 984,728
A.Benton(PHA) 936,866
J.Welch(BOA) 715,265


AWARDS VOTING FOR 1934 National League Date: 7/9/1934
ALL-STAR SELECTIONS BY POSITION

C G.Hartnett(CHN) 1,172,006 S.Davis(SLN) 639,675
1B R.Collins(SLN) 1,624,799 S.Leslie(BRN) 1,059,340
2B F.Frisch(SLN) 929,495 M.McManus(BON) 728,676
3B P.Martin(SLN) 663,204 P.Whitney(BON) 584,204
SS A.Vaughan(PIN) 951,050 B.Urbanski(BON) 931,640
LF J.Medwick(SLN) 1,286,004 E.Allen(PHN) 1,193,246
CF W.Berger(BON) 1,058,923 K.Cuyler(CHN) 772,818
RF M.Ott(NYN) 2,181,651 P.Waner(PIN) 1,044,352

Pitchers

L.Warneke(CHN) 2,094,385
C.Hubbell(NYN) 1,813,631
D.Dean(SLN) 706,451
T.Carleton(SLN) 575,395
F.Fitzsimmons(NYN) 568,276
B.Lee(CHN) 451,180
J.Salveson(NYN) 411,256
G.Bush(CHN) 361,944
P.Collins(PHN) 340,233
D.Brennan(CIN) 316,718
J.Haines(SLN) 314,536
D.Leonard(BRN) 280,870

June 3rd, 1934 - Farewells - 10 Big Names Who Left the Game After 1934

Previously, we looked at 1934's most promising rookies. The following is a partial list of big name stars for whom 1934 was their swan song, and who also made significant contributions to their team in 1934.

One name not on this list is the Babe's. 1934 would be his last in a Yankees uniform, but he would play one season in 1935 for the Boston Braves.

Sparky Adams - Cincinnati was the 4th NL stop on Adams' career, which began in 1922. He broke into the league with Chicago, and also played for St. Louis (the 1930 NL champs and 1931 world champs) and Pittsburgh. He played all positions in the infied except first, and played the occassional outfield as well. Although his .286 life time batting average seems respectable, in no season did Adams hit the league average for OPS. Still, he played most games in most seasons, and seems to have been considered an adequate infielder during an era less was expected from them at the plate. His best attribute was his speed on the basepaths.

Johnny Frederick - Frederick had a relatively brief (6 year) pro career, all with Brooklyn. He was a good hitter, and was above average in OPS every year except 1931 when he was right at par. He played a single game at first, the rest in the outfield. Until 2000, he was the answer to the trivia question "who hit the most pinch hit home runs in a season?"

Burliegh Grimes - Grimes had a long, varied pitching career in the big leagues, all but 10 games in the NL. It began in 1916 in Pittsburgh. He would be traded to the Dodgers, Giants, back to Pittsburgh, Boston, St. Louis, Chicago, and back to St. Louis. In 1934 alone, he would play for the Cardinals, the Yankees, and then return to end his career where it began in Pittsburgh. Contrary to common wisdom, the spitball was never strictly "banned" in 1920 but restricted to those pitchers using them at the time and thought to have the spitter as a key in their repetoire. Grimes had the distinction of being the last of 17 legal spitballers when he retired in 1934.

Don Hurst - Hurst had 5 solid seasons for the Phillies from 1928 through 1932. He slipped in 1933, and would only play 40 games for the Phillies in 1934 before being traded to the Cubs, where he would play 51. On neither team did Hurst make an impact in 1934, however, and he retired at the end of the season. The Chicago Cubs Enclyclopedia lists the trade of Dolph Camili to the Phillies for Hurst as the fifth worst trade in Cubs history (the worst being Lou Brock et al for Ernie Broglio et al in 1964).

Marty McManus - McManus was an American Leaguer for most of his career. He started with St. Louis in 1920, and stopped in Detroit for several seasons and then Boston. He swtiched leagues for one final season with the Braves in 1934. He played every position in the infield, including most during every season he played. He also managed the Red Sox in 1932 and 1933 before being traded.

Ed Morgan - Morgan had a 7 year AL career, the first six spent with Cleveland. Of course, in 1934, his last year, he's with the Red Sox. 1930 and 1931 were superb years for Morgan. By 1933, he had slowed down considerably. His OPS (on base percentage plus slugging expressed) for 1934 was only .719. He's well ahead of his pace this year, however, which is one reason the Red Sox are in the hunt for the pennant in our replay, unlike the real 1934.

Lefty O'Doul - O'Doul began his career as a pitcher with the Yankees, but after pitching several years began to develop arm problems. He left the major leagues after 1923, but reemerged as a big hitting outfielder in 1928 (he was said to be one model for Roy Hobbs in The Natural), and posted monster years from 1929 through 1933. He is 4th in all time BA, but played at a time of inflated averages. After finishing his playing career, he was a long time manager of the San Francisco Seals, where he managed Joe DiMaggio (claiming that his sole contribution to the latter's development was to "leave him alone"). The bridge over McCovey's Cove in San Francisco is named for him.

Herb Pennock - we've already seen a great deal about Pennock, the dominant Yankees' starter of the 1920s, and Bill James's best AL pitcher of that decade. Although the dominant Yankees teams of the mid to late 20's were best known for their hitters ("murderers row"), Pennock, along with Urban Shocker and Waite Hoyt comprised one of the very best rotations in baseball. Pennock is now back with the Red Sox, where he's provided "lights out" spot relief, one of the keys to their so far successful season. Pennock was known for the calm, breezy manner on the mound, pitching a game as if it were batting practice. His SABR bio can be found here. He started his major league career in 1912 as an Athletic, moved to Boston, and then New York before returning to Boston for one last season.

Sam Rice - Rice played for the Washington Nationals from 1915 to 1933, playing one final season in Cleveland in 1934. He was consistently, significantly above average as a hitter, atlhough he only had a couple of really outstanding seasons. Rice was inducted into the HOF in 1963. It's unclear whether he'd make it in today because he was never the very best at any point (his best year hitting, he was sixth in BA).

Hack Wilson -It's very possible you've not heard of Wilson, although more likely you know the name but little more. Wilson was one of the great hitters in the NL during the 1920s. He started with the Giants, played most of his career as a Cub, and the last few seasons in the early 30s with Brooklyn (he'll be traded to Philly at the close of the season and play 7 games there before retirement). He was among the slugging leaders 6 of his 12 seasons and holds the major league RBI record for a single season (191).

May 16th, 1934 - Background - Video Bio of Eldon Auker

I just discovered a short video bio of Tigers pitcher Eldon Auker here.

It's well worth the five minutes for fans of the era.

I'll be reviewing the book itself, Sleeper Cars and Flannel Uniforms, later on in this blog.

May 15th, 1934 - Rookies: 10 to watch for 1934

Ed: There were no games in the American League on May 15th, 1934. In place of the usual game summaries, I thought we'd take a look at some of the players whose careers began in 1934.

Here's a very partial list of rookies who both made significant contributions to their teams in 1934 and went on to have successful pro careers:

Ollie Bejma (SS, SLA) - He debuted on April 24th and will play 94 games for the Browns this year, most of which will be at shortstop. He'll play two more seasons for SLA and one for CHA before hanging up his cleats in 1939.

Zeke Bonura (1B, CHA) - The 25 year old Bonura will start at first for the White Sox and remain there until 1938 (rumors that he was interested in the owner's daughter got him traded) . Bonura was an excellent hitter, but an indifferent fielder (to put it mildly). He ended his career in 1940.

Frenchy Bordagaray (OF-CHA) - Bordagaray will play only one season for CHA, before travelling around the National League. In 1941, he'll finally settle in Brooklyn, and finish his career there in 1945.

Harlond Clift (3B, SLA) - Clift will begin his oddessey as SLA's 3rd sacker until 1943, when he'll be traded to Washington, where he'll finish his career in 1945.

Curt Davis (P-PHN) - Last year, Davis was playing on the Pacific Coast League's San Francisco Seals with a kid named Joe DiMaggio. Now, he's the ace of the Phillies staff. He'll bounce around the NL until landing in Brooklyn in 1940. He'll leave just before Jackie Robinson breaks the color barrier in 1947.

Paul Dean (P-SLN) - Dizzy's younger brother. 1934 and 1935 will be his only really good years with lots of starts. He'll see limited action and bounce around until finally hanging it up with SLA in 1943.

Augie Galan (2B-CHN) - Davis's and DiMaggio's teammate last year, Galan will play both outfield and infield with the Cubbies until 1941, with some up years and some down. In 1941, he'll move to Brooklyn through 1946. After that, he'll move around until his retirement in 1949. Perhaps the best of the class of 1934, Galan is ranked 42nd in left field by historian Bill James.

Cookie Lavagetto (2B-PIN) - Lavagetto will play about half a season with the Bucs, and remain with the team 1937, when he leaves for the Dodgers. Lavagetto is best known for his walk off double (and the Dodgers only hit) in game 4 of the 1947 World Series.

Fritz Oestermueller (P-BOA) - Oesternueller debut with the Red Sox in 1934 at the age of 26. Too old to enter WWII (34) he played throughout the war, ending his career in 1948 with the Pirates.

Moose Solters (OF-BOS) - Solters played for the Red Sox for only two seasons, and then spent most of his 10 year career playing a few seasons here and a few there. He had a few good seasons, but was mostly a journeyman during his career.

Tuck Stainback (OF-CHN) - Stainback also travelled extensively thoughout his career, stopping in St. Louis, Philadelphia (NL), Brooklyn and Detroit before settling down with the Yankees for the duration of WWII. He played one final season after the war for the other Philadelphia team in 1946 before retiring. Like Galan and Davis, Stainback played in the Pacific Coast League in 1933, but with Los Angelos.

January 5, 1934 - 1933 Recap

Giants Over Nationals in Five

As we get ready to replay the 1934 season, let's take a moment to recap the 1933 (real) MLB season.

In the American League, rookie manager Joe Cronin's Washington Nationals (popularly known as the Senators after an earlier Washington franchise) finished seven games ahead of the Yankees. The New York Giants finished five games in front of the Pirates in the National League.

Some of the best baseball, however, was played in Philadelphia as both leagues saw triple crown (highest batting average, most home runs and most runs batted in) winners in Jimmie Foxx of the Philadelphia A's and Chuck Klein of the Philadelphia Phillies. In the NL, Spud Davis (Philadelphia (NL)), Arky Vaughan (Pittsburgh), Pepper Martin (St. Louis (NL)) and Bill Terry (New York (NL)) would also have fine seasons at the plate, as would Mickey Cochrane (Philadelphia (AL)), Max Bishop (Philadelphia (AL)), Babe Ruth (New York (AL)) and Lou Gehrig (New York (AL)) in the AL. On the mound, Carl Hubbell (New York (NL)), Dizzy Dean (St. Louis (NL)), Hal Schumaker (New York (NL)), and Phil Collins (Philadelphia (NL)) led the NL and Alvin (General ) Crowder (Washington), Lefty Grove (Philadelphia (AL)), Tommy Bridges (Detroit) and Earl Whitehill (Washington) were some of the pitching leaders in the AL.

The Giants beat the Nationals in a five game World Series, and thus were the reigning champions as 1934 got underway.

Some of the big post season trades include Lefty Grove (Philadelphia (AL) to Boston), Chuck Klein (Philadelphia (NL) to Chicago (NL)), Mickey Cochrane (Philadelphia (AL) to Detroit) and Goose Goslin (Washington to Detroit). Davis would also move over to St. Louis (NL), and Bishop would move to Boston (AL).

January 4, 1934 - The Situation in 1934

1934 is a Depression year and the first full year of Franklin D. Roosevelt's (pictured) presidency.

The National Industrial Recovery Act has recently been enacted to get Americans back to work. New federal laws have been passed governing banking and securities, and other areas of the economy, many of which have traditionally been regulated only at the state level. 1934 will mark the continuation of the creation of various "alphabet soup" agencies aimed at solving different aspects of the Depression and a further expansion of the federal government's role in American society to combat the Depression and bring Americans a sense of financial security.

Internationally, the world is in turmoil as the Depression becomes a global phenomenon. The resulting turmoil creates the environment in which fascism and militarism from German and Italy to Japan will grow.

As 1934 opens, however, spirits are at least temporarily raised (literally and figuratively) as the promise of the New Deal is still fresh and Prohibition has been repealed for a month now. FFF

Americans are ready for some diversion from their troubles and worries.

PLAY BALLLLLLL!

January 2, 1934 - Baseball in the Great Depression

Introduction

The title of this blog is "Depression Era Baseball," rather than "Baseball in the 1930s," "1934 Baseball Replay," or "Sleeper Cars and Flannel Uniforms," (its subtitle) all of which I contemplated originally. I chose the title because it implies that the game had a specific character or style that was, somehow, connected to the Great Depression itself, not merely coincidental with it. My view is that the game's style during the 1930s and the Depression were intimately connected.

That is not unique. Baseball is our national pasttime because it is a reflection of us. Therefore, its contours are shaped by larger societal forces at all times. This blog attempts to explore how the game was shaped by those larger forces during this particular period.

The game on the field

According to the Spalding Official Base Ball Guide for 1934 ("Spalding Guide"), "Until 1925, the bunt had become a factor in the game that played as important a part in it as anything that had to do with hitting...From 1925 until 1932, however, the free hitting batter came back into his own." The grip on the bat shifted away from having the hands apart or well up on the bat to "once more grasping the bat at the end with a 'determination to knock the cover off...'" This trend, according to the Spalding Guide, changed during the 1932 season. Placement of the ball once again emerged as more important than hitting with brute force, and the older grip returned to favor. Players who had, according to the Guide, emphasized individual records at the expense of sacrificing runners and doing what was best for the team began to realize that they could not attain Ruthian standards, and once more reverted to a small ball style. At the beginning of the 1934 season, then, there was "less attention being paid to the hitting of home runs than there has been. The "aging of Ruth," it predicted, would result in "the development of something other than home runs" being put at the epicenter of the batter's struggle with pitchers.

According to baseball historian Bill James, "the game (baseball in the 1930s) was rich in characters, but not particularly rich in strategy... there probably is no decade in the history of the sport in which the game changed as little as it did between 1929 and 1939." Another historian, Thomas Gilbert, concludes that the characterization of the 1930s as a "golden era" of baseball is overrated. He summarizes it as "a time of high run totals, cheap batting records, and overrated careers." The game was, in his words, "rough, unsophisticated, and probably overrated by posterity." But, he concedes, it was also "scrappy, colorful, and if you could spend a $1 for a bleacher seat, a whole lot of fun." There is a seeming contradiction here - overrated, yet a whole lot of fun. Yet, with a little work, I think this contradiction can be explained.

Although both leagues played by the same rules (no designated hitters) the leagues did have some differences. In particular, according to James, the National League had taken steps to "deaden" the ball a little after the somewhat run scoring, homer happy 1920s, while the American league did not. As a result, there was significantly more scoring in the AL in this era. From 1931-1942 the AL scored between eight and 25 percent more than the NL. 1933 remains the year in which one league outscored the other by the widest margin, as AL teams averaged just fewer than five runs per game while NL teams averaged less than four. The American League 1936 season remains the highest scoring season in baseball history. In all, 8 of the 15 seasons with the highest run differentials between leagues in history occurred during this era.

This was despite the fact that in 1934 the leagues had agreed to a uniform baseball for the first time in Major League history. This was the first significant rules change since 1931, when the rule on ground rule doubles was established (previously, balls that went over the outfield fence or into the stands after bouncing in fair territory were home runs). It would remain the only significant rule change until 1939, when the rule regarding where the pitcher could position his feet in regards to the pitching rubber was changed. This new, supposedly uniform ball was thought at the beggining of the season to be livlier than the NL ball, although not quite the same as the AL's ball either. Although there were uniform specs, the balls continued to be made by different companies (Spalding and Reach). Some experts contend, however, that there were still real differences between AL and NL balls that account for the scoring differentials. Another factor that has been cited as adding to this phenomenon was a hitter friendly strike zone in the AL. Despite having the same rules and an agreement to use the same balls on paper, then, there appears to have been a very different baseballs and strike zones between the leagues in fact leading to better hitting in the AL and better pitching in the NL.

Two other major differences between the way the game was played then (and other eras prior to the game of today) and today include the glove shape and the use of relief pitchers. Originally, gloves were created to protect hands rather than facilitate catching (see the illustration accompanying the introduction). The 1930 models were not significantly improved in this regard. Therefore, you’re likely to see more errors in this replay than in a standard ball game today. GA, chapter 2. Next, when a pitcher started a game, he was expected to finish it. Baseball did not have the money it does today, and extra spots on the roster for relievers was frowned upon. You're likely to see far more complete games and fewer relief innings pitched in this replay than in today's game.

The game off the field

Baseball remained primarily an eastern institution in the 1930s, as it continued to be played (as it had been since 1903) at the Major League level in New York (three teams), Boston (two teams), Chicago (two teams), St. Louis (two teams), Philadelphia (two teams), Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Washington and Detroit. Although this distribution of teams was "out of whack" with the country's population distribution by the end of the 1930s, the nation's transportation system, still reliant on road and rail with air travel only in its infancy, would not allow for a league comprised of teams on both coasts (BJHA p. 145). Things would, in fact, remain the same until 1953, when the Boston Braves departed for Milwaukee.

Yet, if the game remained unchanged on the field and off the field in some ways, there were significant developments off the field in others. Radio broadcasts became more more mainstream in the 1930s. Firsts include the All Star Game, the proliferation of awards such as the MVP, night baseball, and the first television broadcast of a baseball game.

The Economics of Baseball in the 30s

The most important way the game differed off the field from any other era before or since, however, was the economics of the game. Before the days of lucrative TV and cable deals and free agency, the game was not awash in money, and what money was made was controlled by the owners. The infamous "reserve clause" in baseball contracts meant that players could not play for any major league team but the one that had signed them unless that club "sold" their contract to another, which then had exclusive rights to the player. If the player was unwilling to accept the club's salary offer, all he could do was hold out or take a job outside of major league baseball. As a result, salaries were lower than they would be if players could offer their services to any team as they can today, and players fought hard ever year in spring training to make the team.

Although the 1920s and prior years were the same in this respect, the economy was very strong (the "Roaring 20s") and therefore attendance, revenue, and salaries were good compared to the 1930s. Attendance and salaries in the 1930s were down significantly from the 1920s. According to the 1934 Spalding Guide, "The base ball (sic) season for 1934 bids fair to be more successful than that of 1933 for everyone connected to the game. The players have received a reduction in salaries, but they are by no means brought to the point where they can be called "skimpy." They will not be paid fance figures, as the days of such remuneration have gone in base ball, for a time at least. In that respect base ball simpy meets the curtailment of expenses found necessary in other industries."

Minor league teams, which had enjoyed more autonomous previously, found that affilating with big league teams were necessary to survive, leading to the structure we have today. Depression era baseball therefore fell into a unique economic position vis a vis other periods in baseball.

Almost exclusively blue collar players fought for the few jobs on one of only 16 teams, knowing that failure likely meant going back to work in a factory, the mines, or some similarly unpleasant field (or, very possibly, no job at all). There were no multi-year contracts. Each year, ownership looked at a player's statistics from the earlier year and made him a "take it or leave it" offer. This desperation was only accelerated in the Great Depression with its staggering unemployment. Even players who made the team usually had to find jobs in the off season during the decades prior to free agency. The bulk of the money to be made came in World Series shares - payments to players mostly on teams that won the pennants (with lesser amounts to other players depending on their team's order of finish), with the largest payments being made to players of the Series winner. Failure, then, meant letting down your colleagues as well as fans.
The result of all of this was an exciting, fiercely competitive style of play. Taking the extra base, sliding spikes up, taking out a shortstop to break up a double play - these were not just aggressive tactics but things players during the Depression took for granted. Players' memoirs from the era contain stories about players who failed to perform such feats as being shunned by colleagues whose economic well being was tied in large part to the team's overall standing.

Segregation

Sadly, Major League baseball of the 1930s remained segregated as African Americans would not be allowed to play baseball in the major leagues until Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Before then, African American players played in the "Negro Leagues" as they were called. More information on them can be found here:

http://www.nlbm.com/ (Negro Leagues Baseball Museum)
http://www.nlbpa.com/ (Negro League Baseball Players Association) http://www.negroleagues.com/ http://www.negroleaguebaseball.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negro_league_baseball

The Negro Leagues are outside the scope of this blog, although I hope to cover them in a future one some day.

Conclusion

Baseball in the 1930s was a vibrant and exciting game, and it's little wonder that fans who witnessed those games remember them as "The Good Old Days" despite the Depression. In fact, the game as played in the 1930s was a product of the Great Depression. Players had little alternative to whatever cash starved teams offered as there were few jobs at all, let alone decent paying ones, during that era. Being a major league baseball player was probably more lucrative compared to any alternative during this time than virtually any other. A spot on a major league roster meant a good lifestlye, if not riches. In contrast, failure to make it probably meant unemployment, or, at best, menial low wage labor.

As a consequence, play was aggressive. Failure meant potential personal hardship, not only for the player but his team, who would not hesitate to get on someone not playing as hard as possible. The resulting product on the field was a high quality one, then. Also, given that times were tough in general, the ball park must have been a haven for those who could afford tickets (a relatively small number given the attendance during that period). At the same time, however, the game reached more and more fans due to increased radio broadcasting.

This gets us back to Gilbert's contradictory assessment of Depression era baseball as both overrated and a whole lot of fun. In short, baseball in the 1930s was an exciting game, shaped, as always, by the societal forces around it. It was both overrated and a whole lot of fun, depending on whether you were a player or a fan. Although things are better today in every sense of the word for baseball, the on field product itself may never have been better than it was during the Great Depression.

version 2.1; revised 10.23.07