# 1934 Boston Red Sox season

The 1934 Boston Red Sox season was the 34th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished fourth in the American League (AL) with a record of 76 wins and 76 losses, 24 games behind the Detroit Tigers.
On January 5, 1934, during renovation work at Fenway Park—including the removal of Duffy's Cliff, an embankment in front of the Green Monster—a fire that started at the ballpark caused significant damage and spread to some nearby buildings on Lansdowne Street. Further repair and renovation work, costing over $1 million, was completed in time for Opening Day.

## Offseason

* December 12, 1933: Bob Kline, Rabbit Warstler, and $125,000 were traded by the Red Sox to the Philadelphia Athletics for Lefty Grove, Max Bishop and Rube Walberg.

## Regular season

In May, pitcher Wes Ferrell, the brother of catcher Rick Ferrell, was acquired for the Red Sox from the Cleveland Indians.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Detroit Tigers | 101 | 53 | .656 | — | 54‍–‍26 | 47‍–‍27 |
| New York Yankees | 94 | 60 | .610 | 7 | 53‍–‍24 | 41‍–‍36 |
| Cleveland Indians | 85 | 69 | .552 | 16 | 47‍–‍31 | 38‍–‍38 |
| Boston Red Sox | 76 | 76 | .500 | 24 | 42‍–‍35 | 34‍–‍41 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 68 | 82 | .453 | 31 | 34‍–‍40 | 34‍–‍42 |
| St. Louis Browns | 67 | 85 | .441 | 33 | 36‍–‍39 | 31‍–‍46 |
| Washington Senators | 66 | 86 | .434 | 34 | 34‍–‍40 | 32‍–‍46 |
| Chicago White Sox | 53 | 99 | .349 | 47 | 29‍–‍46 | 24‍–‍53 |

### Record vs. opponents

1934 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 11–10 | 7–15 | 8–14 | 10–12 | 12–9 | 14–8 | 14–8–1 |
| Chicago | 10–11 | — | 8–14 | 5–17 | 5–17 | 9–13 | 7–14–1 | 9–13 |
| Cleveland | 15–7 | 14–8 | — | 6–16 | 11–11 | 13–9 | 15–7 | 11–11 |
| Detroit | 14–8 | 17–5 | 16–6 | — | 12–10 | 12–10 | 15–7 | 15–7 |
| New York | 12–10 | 17–5 | 11–11 | 10–12 | — | 15–7 | 17–5 | 12–10 |
| Philadelphia | 9–12 | 13–9 | 9–13 | 10–12 | 7–15 | — | 9–12–1 | 11–9–2 |
| St. Louis | 8–14 | 14–7–1 | 7–15 | 7–15 | 5–17 | 12–9–1 | — | 14–8 |
| Washington | 8–14–1 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 7–15 | 10–12 | 9–11–2 | 8–14 | — |

### Opening Day lineup

| 1 | Chalmer Cissell | 2B |
| 20 | Lyn Lary | SS |
| 25 | Eddie Morgan | 1B |
| 4 | Roy Johnson | LF |
| 5 | Carl Reynolds | CF |
| 7 | Rick Ferrell | C |
| 22 | Dick Porter | RF |
| 8 | Billy Werber | 3B |
| 11 | Gordon Rhodes | P |

### Roster
## Player stats
### 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 | Rick Ferrell | 132 | 437 | 130 | .297 | 1 | 48 |
| 1B | Ed Morgan | 138 | 528 | 141 | .267 | 3 | 79 |
| 2B | Bill Cissell | 102 | 416 | 111 | .267 | 4 | 44 |
| 3B | Billy Werber | 152 | 623 | 200 | .321 | 11 | 67 |
| SS | Lyn Lary | 129 | 419 | 101 | .241 | 2 | 54 |
| OF | Roy Johnson | 143 | 569 | 182 | .320 | 7 | 119 |
| OF | Carl Reynolds | 113 | 413 | 125 | .303 | 4 | 86 |
| OF | Moose Solters | 101 | 365 | 109 | .299 | 7 | 58 |

#### 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 |
| Dick Porter | 79 | 264 | 80 | .303 | 0 | 56 |
| Max Bishop | 97 | 253 | 66 | .261 | 1 | 22 |
| Dusty Cooke | 74 | 168 | 41 | .244 | 1 | 26 |
| Mel Almada | 23 | 90 | 21 | .233 | 0 | 10 |
| Bucky Walters | 23 | 88 | 19 | .216 | 4 | 18 |
| Gordie Hinkle | 27 | 75 | 13 | .173 | 0 | 9 |
| Skinny Graham | 13 | 47 | 11 | .234 | 0 | 3 |
| Lou Legett | 19 | 38 | 11 | .289 | 0 | 1 |
| Al Niemiec | 9 | 32 | 7 | .219 | 0 | 3 |
| Joe Judge | 10 | 15 | 5 | .333 | 0 | 2 |
| Red Kellett | 9 | 9 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Bob Seeds | 8 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 1 |
| Freddie Muller | 2 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### 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 |
| Gordon Rhodes | 44 | 219.0 | 12 | 12 | 4.56 | 79 |
| Fritz Ostermueller | 33 | 198.2 | 10 | 13 | 3.49 | 75 |
| Wes Ferrell | 26 | 181.0 | 14 | 5 | 3.63 | 87 |
| George Hockette | 3 | 27.1 | 2 | 1 | 1.65 | 14 |
| Spike Merena | 4 | 24.2 | 1 | 2 | 2.92 | 7 |

#### 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 |
| Johnny Welch | 41 | 206.1 | 13 | 15 | 4.49 | 91 |
| Hank Johnson | 31 | 124.1 | 6 | 8 | 5.36 | 66 |
| Lefty Grove | 22 | 109.1 | 8 | 8 | 6.50 | 43 |
| Rube Walberg | 30 | 104.2 | 6 | 7 | 4.04 | 38 |
| Bob Weiland | 11 | 55.2 | 1 | 5 | 5.50 | 29 |
| George Pipgras | 2 | 3.1 | 0 | 0 | 8.10 | 0 |

#### 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 |
| Herb Pennock | 30 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3.05 | 16 |
| Joe Mulligan | 14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.63 | 13 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Kansas City Blues | American Association | Roger Peckinpaugh |
| A | Reading Red Sox | New York–Pennsylvania League | Nemo Leibold |
| B | Columbia Sandlappers/Asheville Tourists | Piedmont League | Bill Laval and Possum Whitted |
| C | Joplin Miners | Western Association | Wally Schang |
Columbia franchise transferred and renamed, June 7, 1934