# 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.

## Regular season

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

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 98 | 54 | .645 | — | 46‍–‍30 | 52‍–‍24 |
| Detroit Tigers | 83 | 71 | .539 | 16 | 45‍–‍32 | 38‍–‍39 |
| Cleveland Indians | 82 | 71 | .536 | 16½ | 42‍–‍36 | 40‍–‍35 |
| Washington Senators | 75 | 78 | .490 | 23½ | 43‍–‍34 | 32‍–‍44 |
| St. Louis Browns | 74 | 78 | .487 | 24 | 40‍–‍36 | 34‍–‍42 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 69 | 83 | .454 | 29 | 34‍–‍41 | 35‍–‍42 |
| Chicago White Sox | 69 | 85 | .448 | 30 | 30‍–‍45 | 39‍–‍40 |
| Boston Red Sox | 61 | 91 | .401 | 37 | 37‍–‍40 | 24‍–‍51 |

### Record vs. opponents

1923 American League recordvte Sources: :
| 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 | — |

### Roster
## 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

| 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)