Lou Gehrig's Last Blast: the 1938 Season
ALSO: JONATHAN SCHWARTZ GAVE LISTENERS SUPER BOWL 'SALUTE TO BASEBALL'
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
Gotta love Rōki Sasaki’s nickname: “Monster of the Reiwa Era” . . .
Clayton Kershaw (2.50) and Jacob deGrom (2.52) are the only active pitchers with career earned run averages below 3 runs per 9 innings . . .
Kenley Jansen and Craig Kimbrel are the only active pitchers with 400 saves . . .
Freddie Freeman reached base more often than any other player last year . . .
Will Smith caught more would-be base-stealers (32) than any other catcher . . .
The other Will Smith — the left-handed reliever — has won World Series rings with three different teams.
Leading Off
Dying Gehrig Had His Most Impressive Season
By Paul Semendinger
A few years ago, I read a fantastic book, Dan Joseph's Last Ride of the Iron Horse: How Lou Gehrig Fought ALS To Play One Final Championship Season. This book deals with Lou Gehrig's 1938 season, the final full season of his career.
I have been thinking a lot about that season lately. The more I consider it, the more I have come to the conclusion that no Major League Baseball player ever had a more impressive season.
Lou Gehrig's 1938 season was remarkable beyond words, but before looking at that season, and why I think it is so impressive, some context is needed.
The season before, 1937, was a great one for Gehrig. He, of course, played in every game (157 in all) and batted .351/37/158. He had 200 hits. He scored 138 runs. Gehrig's OPS was 1.116 and his OPS+ was 176.
The season after, 1939, was Gehrig's last. In that season, ALS, the disease that would take his life in 1941, had ravaged Gehrig's body so much that he could no longer play the game. In 1939, Gehrig played in only 8 games. He went 4-for-28 (.143) with no home runs before taking himself out of the lineup.
In between those seasons, 1938, a season in which ALS started to impact his body and ability to play baseball, Lou Gehrig batted .295/29/114. Those are nice numbers, but they are a far cry from the production most expected from Gehrig. Of course, no one, not even Gehrig, knew he had ALS at that point.
In that 1938 season, as his body started to break down, Gehrig's OPS+ was still 132. Still, even that number doesn't tell the full story.
As I thought about Lou Gehrig's 1938 season, I wondered how his season totals compared with the rest of the American League’s. What I found was remarkable.
As he began his fight against ALS, in 1938, Lou Gehrig placed among the American League leaders in the following categories:
Games Played - 157 (ranked 1st)
Plate Appearances - 689 (ranked 6th)
Runs Scored - 115 (ranked 10th)
Home Runs - 29 (ranked 7th)
Runs Batted In - 114 (ranked 7th)
Walks - 107 (ranked 5th)
Times on Base - 282 (ranked 5th)
Extra Base Hits - 67 (ranked 7th)
Total Bases - 301 (ranked 6th)
Runs Created - 123 (ranked 6th)
Offensive WAR - 4.8 (ranked 10th)
The more I think about those numbers, that production, and what he must have been going through physically, the more I am amazed with what Gehrig was able to accomplish.
As he started to fight ALS, Lou Gehrig was still one of the best hitters in the league.
When this is put into context, Lou Gehrig's 1938 season is, simply, astonishing. It is the most impressive season any player ever had.
Dr. Paul Semendinger recently completed the Dopey Challenge in Disney World, 48.6 miles of races over four days including the WDW Marathon. Now Paul is gearing up for the spring and his own baseball season where he hopes to pitch his team to another championship. Paul is the author of The Least Among Them, 365.2: A Runner's Journey, Impossible Is An Illusion, Scattering the Ashes, and more.
Cleaning Up
Remembering Jonathan Schwartz And His Super Bowl Sunday ‘Salute to Baseball’
By Dan Schlossberg
For nearly 50 years, football-hating deejay Jonathan Schwartz devoted his Super Bowl Sunday music show to baseball highlights.
Called ‘A Salute to Baseball,’ the game excerpts came complete with commentary from Schwartz, a die-hard Red Sox fan caught in the New York vortex between the Yankees and Mets.
He’d play clips of the golden-voiced Ernie Harwell, captivating Detroit audiences with his account of an ordinary game.
Schwartz would even air Senators games — remember them? — announced by Walter Johnson, a much better pitcher than announcer.
He’d also broadcast Russ Hodges screaming “The Giants win the pennant!” nine times after Bobby Thomson’s Shot Heard Round the World in 1951 but never giving the score because his scorecard flew out the open window of the broadcast booth.
The legendary mikeman would play Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball? and a myriad of other baseball ditties — even including the original Montreal Expos fight song and Go, Cubs, Go.
My favorite Schwartz commentary went something like this:
“Suppose you’re in a convertible with a beautiful woman on a Sunday afternoon. It’s your first date. You’ve got on eye on the road and another on the woman while trying to listen to the ballgame on the car radio. Suddenly the announcer says he’s going to check the out-of-town scoreboard.
“The scoreboard! You’ve been waiting a long time to hear how your team is doing but you don’t want to ruin your date. You can’t tell the beautiful woman to keep quiet without offending her. But you HAVE to hear the scores. It’s vital to your life. What do you do?”
Jonathan Schwartz would always close the two-hour segment by telling his audience the reporting dates for Red Sox pitchers and catchers and then reading the team’s exhibition game schedule:
“March 1, Indians at Winter Haven. March 2, Braves at West Palm Beach. March 3, Dodgers at Vero Beach. March 4, Yankees at Fort Myers . . .”
Retired since 2021, Schwartz served several stations, notably WNEW and WQEW before transitioning to Sirius XM Satellite Radio and starting something called “The Jonathan Channel.” His father was also well-known in New York, where he worked as a composer of Broadway songs.
Like Tommy Lasorda, Schwartz was a close friend of Frank Sinatra’s — and impressed the star with his encyclopedic knowledge of every Sinatra song.
Schwartz also promoted his photographic memory with his baseball show every Super Bowl Sunday. They were so good that I taped many of them and can replay them whenever football, basketball, or hockey capture the winter airwaves.
Thank you, Jonathan Schwartz, for shortening the cold, agonizing months when there’s no baseball. You brought it back beautifully and immortalized the name Dave Wickersham, who would otherwise be forgotten.
I miss your voice and I miss that show — almost as much as I miss baseball during the off-season.
HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ shares a disdain for football with Jonathan Schwartz. He has never seen a Super Bowl but has attended an anti-Super Bowl party where watching television was banned. Dan’s email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia: Stats Of Active Leaders Impress
Want to see the next generation of Hall of Famers? Check out the list of players who currently lead the major leagues in various statistical categories.
Freddie Freeman, for example, tops both leagues in doubles (508) and hits (2,267). At age 34, he’s in his 15th season but plays for a team with a lively offense and great chance to advance in post-season play — giving the first baseman another payday.
And how about Juan Soto, one of three players (along with Mike Trout and Aaron Judge) whose career on-base percentage sits comfortably above .400. The new right-fielder of the New York Mets is at .421, compiled over seven seasons.
The top active home run hitter is Giancarlo Stanton, with 429, though teammate Judge is gaining fast (315). In between are Trout (378), Paul Goldschmidt (362), Freeman (343), and Manny Machado (342).
Who could have named Starling Marte as the top active base-stealer? But there he is, at 354 over 13 seasons, topping Jose Altuve (315 in 14 years) and Trea Turner (279 in 10 campaigns).
Judge leads in slugging (.604), Altuve in batting (.306), and that Freeman guy again in RBIs (1,232).
Among pitchers, Justin Verlander has the most wins (262) and most losses (147), Clayton Kershaw has the best ERA (2.50), and Kenley Jansen the most saves (447, seven ahead of Craig Kimbrel).
But the only pitchers averaging more than 10 strikeouts per nine innings are Snell (11.2), Chris Sale (11.1), Robbie Ray (11.1), and Jacob deGrom (11), Max Scherzer (10.7), and Yu Darvish (10.6).
Enjoy these stats while they last; this listing will look very different come October.
Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is weekend editor of Here’s The Pitch and national baseball writer for forbes.com. He is also the author of 42 baseball books. Write Dan at ballauthor@gmail.com.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.
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Lou hit more triples than homers one season. Can you believe it? https://open.substack.com/pub/johnnogowski/p/ted-vs-joe-what-a-rivalry?r=7pf7u&utm_medium=ios
Hope you check out my new book!