1923 New York Yankees season

The 1923 New York Yankees season was the 23rd season for the American League franchise. Manager Miller Huggins led the team to their third straight pennant with a 98–54 record, 16 games ahead of the second place Detroit Tigers. The Yankees moved into the now-famous Yankee Stadium. In the 1923 World Series, they avenged their 1921 and 1922 losses by defeating the New York Giants in 6 games, 4 games to 2, and won their first World Series title.

1923 New York Yankees
World Series Champions American League Champions
League	American League
Ballpark	Yankee Stadium
City	New York City, New York
Owners	Jacob Ruppert and Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston
General managers	Ed Barrow
Managers	Miller Huggins
Seasons

Regular season

Yankee Stadium in 1923, about 2 weeks before opening.

The Yankees began their first World Championship Season on April 18 as they opened Yankee Stadium. Babe Ruth christened the new stadium, with a home run in the Yankees' 4–1 victory over the Boston Red Sox. The stadium would later be called "the House that Ruth Built".

On May 5, the Yankees beat the Philadelphia Athletics 7–2 at Yankee Stadium to regain first place, the Yankees would never fall back in the standings for the rest of the season.

Babe Ruth set a Yankees record for highest batting average in one season by hitting .393. Ruth also finished the season with 41 home runs and 131 RBIs. Ruth's average was not enough to win the batting title, as Ruth finished in second place to Detroit's Harry Heilmann who batted .403. Ruth reached base safely 379 times during the season.

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Yankees	98	54	0.645	—	46–30	52–24
Detroit Tigers	83	71	0.539	16	45–32	38–39
Cleveland Indians	82	71	0.536	16½	42–36	40–35
Washington Senators	75	78	0.490	23½	43–34	32–44
St. Louis Browns	74	78	0.487	24	40–36	34–42
Philadelphia Athletics	69	83	0.454	29	34–41	35–42
Chicago White Sox	69	85	0.448	30	30–45	39–40
Boston Red Sox	61	91	0.401	37	37–40	24–51

Record vs. opponents

1923 American League record Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYY	PHA	SLB	WSH
Boston	—	9–13	10–12	10–12–1	8–14	13–7	4–18–1	7–15
Chicago	13–9	—	9–13	9–13	7–15	10–12	11–11–1	10–12–1
Cleveland	12–10	13–9	—	9–13	12–10	12–10	14–8	10–11
Detroit	12–10–1	13–9	13–9	—	10–12	12–10	12–10	11–11
New York	14–8	15–7	10–12	12–10	—	16–6	15–5	16–6
Philadelphia	7–13	12–10	10–12	10–12	6–16	—	9–13	15–7–1
St. Louis	18–4–1	11–11–1	8–14	10–12	5–15	13–9	—	9–13
Washington	15–7	12–10–1	11–10	11–11	6–16	7–15–1	13–9	—

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Wally Schang	84	272	75	.276	2	29
1B	Wally Pipp	144	569	173	.304	6	108
2B	Aaron Ward	152	567	161	.284	10	82
3B	Joe Dugan	146	644	182	.283	7	67
SS	Everett Scott	152	533	131	.246	6	60
OF	Babe Ruth	152	522	205	.393	41	131
OF	Whitey Witt	146	596	187	.314	6	56
OF	Bob Meusel	132	460	144	.314	9	91

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Fred Hofmann	72	238	69	.290	3	26
Elmer Smith	70	183	56	.306	7	35
Harvey Hendrick	37	66	18	.273	3	12
Benny Bengough	19	53	7	.132	0	3
Ernie Johnson	19	38	17	.448	1	8
Mike McNally	30	38	8	.211	0	1
Lou Gehrig	13	26	11	.423	1	9
Hinkey Haines	28	25	4	.160	0	3
Mike Gazella	8	13	1	.077	0	1

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Joe Bush	37	275.2	19	15	3.43	125
Bob Shawkey	36	258.2	16	11	3.51	125
Sam Jones	34	243.0	21	8	3.63	68
Waite Hoyt	37	238.2	17	9	3.02	60
Herb Pennock	35	238.1	19	6	3.13	93

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Carl Mays	23	81.1	5	2	6.20	16
George Pipgras	8	33.1	1	3	5.94	12

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Oscar Roettger	5	0	0	1	8.49	7

1923 World Series

Main article: 1923 World Series

Game	Date	Visitor	Score	Home	Score	Record (NYY-NYG)	Attendance
1	October 10	New York Giants	5	New York Yankees	4	0–1	55,307
2	October 11	New York Yankees	4	New York Giants	2	1–1	40,402
3	October 12	New York Giants	1	New York Yankees	0	1–2	62,430
4	October 13 ‡	New York Yankees	8	New York Giants	4	2–2	46,302
5	October 14 ‡	New York Giants	1	New York Yankees	8	3–2	62,817
6	October 15 ‡	New York Yankees	6	New York Giants	4	4–2	34,172
New York Yankees win 4–2

Awards and honors

• Babe Ruth, AL MVP Award

Franchise records

• Babe Ruth, club record, highest single-season batting average, (.393)

References

• 1923 New York Yankees at Baseball Reference
• 1923 World Series
• 1923 New York Yankees team page at www.baseball-almanac.com

Further reading

• Weintraub, Robert (2011). The House That Ruth Built: A New Stadium, the First Yankees Championship, and the Redemption of 1923. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-08607-3.