Just who, or what, were these "Murderers' Row" guys anyways? There were
eight New York Yankees players who in 1927 scored almost a thousand runs,
won 110 games during the season, swept the Pirates in the World Series,
and then did it all over again this year. The scariest of them all was
Babe Ruth, who hit 60 homers in 1927, but here is the complete lineup:
CA Collins/Bengough/Grabowski
1B Lou Gehrig
2B Tony Lazzeri
3B Joe Dugan
SS Mark Koenig
LF Bob Meusel
CF Earle Combs
RF Babe Ruth
To be honest, Murderers'
Row was 75% Ruth and Gehrig. Combs, Meusel and Lazzeri were good players,
but neither Koenig nor Dugan could hit, and the catchers were no-names.
From top to bottom, I don't think this lineup was as strong as the Big
Red Machine of the 70's, or Joe McCarthy's Yankees of ten years
later. But Ruth and Gehrig could take a team a long way.
Ruth and Gehrig were easily the top hitters in the league.
Goose Goslin was also very good, but was he hurt a lot. I would
have to place Goslin behind Heinie Manush, who had his best season.
Manush is in the Hall Of Fame, and there is no doubt that he could play.
He was a career .330 hitter, and collected 2524 hits in his career.
But he had his limitations as a hitter; not much power, and not much patience at the
plate. Manush wasn't one of the very best outfielders of the era, and
wasn't really a great player; he was about as good as Al Oliver.
There were some terrific second basemen in the league this year. Charlie Gehringer had
his first good year; Tony Lazzeri was great. Max Bishop had his best year;
Bishop was nicknamed "Camera Eye", which is about as bluntly descriptive as
a nickname can get. But it was well-deserved; Bishop didn't have much power,
and only once hit .300. But seven times he drew more than 100 walks in a
season, and retired with a career .423 on-base percentage.
I'm choosing Mickey Cochrane as the best player of the group.
He was a fine hitter, an outstanding defensive player and leader,
and his team finished only two games behind the Yankees.
