# 1921 Major League Baseball season

The 1921 major league baseball season began on April 13, 1921. The regular season ended on October 2, with the New York Giants and New York Yankees as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the 18th World Series on October 5 and ended with Game 8 on October 13. In the first Subway Series World Series, the Giants defeated the Yankees, five games to three, capturing their second championship in franchise history, since their previous in 1905. Going into the season, the defending World Series champions were the Cleveland Indians from the 1920 season.
1921 was the first of three straight seasons in which the Yankees would lead the majors in wins. Babe Ruth broke the single season home run record for the third consecutive season by hitting 59 home runs in 152 games. Ruth also broke Roger Connor's record for the most home runs all time when he hit his 139th home run on July 18 against Bert Cole. The record for career strikeouts, previously held by Cy Young was also broken in 1921 by Walter Johnson; Johnson led the league in strikeouts with 143 and ended the season with 2,835 strikeouts. Young struck out 2,803 during his career. The Cincinnati Reds set a Major League record for the fewest strikeouts in a season, with only 308. Future Hall of Famers Kiki Cuyler and Goose Goslin both debuted in September 1921.

## Schedule

The 1921 schedule consisted of 154 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 22 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place since the 1904 season (except for 1919) and would be used until 1961 in the American League and 1962 in the National League.
Opening Day took place on April 13 with all but the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers playing. The final day of the regular season was on October 2. The World Series took place between October 5 and October 13.

## Teams

| League | Team | City | Stadium | Capacity | Manager |
| American League | Boston Red Sox | Boston, Massachusetts | Fenway Park | 35,000 | Hugh Duffy |
| American League | Chicago White Sox | Chicago, Illinois | Comiskey Park | 28,000 | Kid Gleason |
| American League | Cleveland Indians | Cleveland, Ohio | Dunn Field | 21,414 | Tris Speaker |
| American League | Detroit Tigers | Detroit, Michigan | Navin Field | 23,000 | Ty Cobb |
| American League | New York Yankees | New York, New York | Polo Grounds | 38,000 | Miller Huggins |
| American League | Philadelphia Athletics | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Shibe Park | 23,000 | Connie Mack |
| American League | St. Louis Browns | St. Louis, Missouri | Sportsman's Park | 24,040 | Lee Fohl |
| American League | Washington Senators | Washington, D.C. | Griffith Stadium | 27,000 | George McBride |
| National League | Boston Braves | Boston, Massachusetts | Braves Field | 40,000 | Fred Mitchell |
| National League | Brooklyn Robins | New York, New York | Ebbets Field | 30,000 | Wilbert Robinson |
| National League | Chicago Cubs | Chicago, Illinois | Cubs Park | 15,000 | Johnny Evers |
| National League | Chicago Cubs | Chicago, Illinois | Cubs Park | 15,000 | Bill Killefer |
| National League | Cincinnati Reds | Cincinnati, Ohio | Redland Field | 20,696 | Pat Moran |
| National League | New York Giants | New York, New York | Polo Grounds | 38,000 | John McGraw |
| National League | Philadelphia Phillies | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | National League Park | 18,000 | Bill Donovan |
| National League | Philadelphia Phillies | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | National League Park | 18,000 | Kaiser Wilhelm |
| National League | Pittsburgh Pirates | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Forbes Field | 25,000 | George Gibson |
| National League | St. Louis Cardinals | St. Louis, Missouri | Sportsman's Park | 24,040 | Branch Rickey |

## Standings
### American League

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 98 | 55 | .641 | — | 53‍–‍25 | 45‍–‍30 |
| Cleveland Indians | 94 | 60 | .610 | 4½ | 51‍–‍26 | 43‍–‍34 |
| St. Louis Browns | 81 | 73 | .526 | 17½ | 43‍–‍34 | 38‍–‍39 |
| Washington Senators | 80 | 73 | .523 | 18 | 46‍–‍30 | 34‍–‍43 |
| Boston Red Sox | 75 | 79 | .487 | 23½ | 41‍–‍36 | 34‍–‍43 |
| Detroit Tigers | 71 | 82 | .464 | 27 | 37‍–‍40 | 34‍–‍42 |
| Chicago White Sox | 62 | 92 | .403 | 36½ | 37‍–‍40 | 25‍–‍52 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 53 | 100 | .346 | 45 | 28‍–‍47 | 25‍–‍53 |

### National League

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Giants | 94 | 59 | .614 | — | 53‍–‍26 | 41‍–‍33 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 90 | 63 | .588 | 4 | 45‍–‍31 | 45‍–‍32 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 87 | 66 | .569 | 7 | 48‍–‍29 | 39‍–‍37 |
| Boston Braves | 79 | 74 | .516 | 15 | 42‍–‍32 | 37‍–‍42 |
| Brooklyn Robins | 77 | 75 | .507 | 16½ | 41‍–‍37 | 36‍–‍38 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 70 | 83 | .458 | 24 | 40‍–‍36 | 30‍–‍47 |
| Chicago Cubs | 64 | 89 | .418 | 30 | 32‍–‍44 | 32‍–‍45 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 51 | 103 | .331 | 43½ | 29‍–‍47 | 22‍–‍56 |

## Postseason
### Bracket

| World Series | World Series | World Series |
| AL | New York Yankees | 3 |
| NL | New York Giants | 5 |

## Managerial changes
### Off-season

| Team | Former Manager | New Manager |
| Boston Braves | George Stallings | Fred Mitchell |
| Boston Red Sox | Ed Barrow | Hugh Duffy |
| Chicago Cubs | Fred Mitchell | Johnny Evers |
| Detroit Tigers | Hughie Jennings | Ty Cobb |
| Philadelphia Phillies | Gavvy Cravath | Bill Donovan |
| St. Louis Browns | Jimmy Burke | Lee Fohl |
| Washington Senators | Clark Griffith | George McBride |

### In-season

| Team | Former Manager | New Manager |
| Chicago Cubs | Johnny Evers | Bill Killefer |
| Philadelphia Phillies | Bill Donovan | Kaiser Wilhelm |

## League leaders
### American League

Hitting leaders :
| Stat | Player | Total |
| AVG | Harry Heilmann (DET) | .394 |
| OPS | Babe Ruth (NYY) | 1.359 |
| HR | Babe Ruth (NYY) | 59 |
| RBI | Babe Ruth (NYY) | 168 |
| R | Babe Ruth$^1$ (NYY) | 177 |
| H | Harry Heilmann (DET) | 237 |
| SB | George Sisler (SLB) | 35 |
$^1$ Modern (1901–present) single-season runs record
Pitching leaders :
| Stat | Player | Total |
| W | Carl Mays (NYY) Urban Shocker (SLB) | 27 |
| L | Eddie Rommel (PHA) | 23 |
| ERA | Red Faber (CWS) | 2.48 |
| K | Walter Johnson (WSH) | 143 |
| IP | Carl Mays (NYY) | 336.2 |
| SV | Carl Mays (NYY) | 7 |
| WHIP | Red Faber (CWS) | 1.149 |

### National League

Hitting leaders :
| Stat | Player | Total |
| AVG | Rogers Hornsby (SLC) | .397 |
| OPS | Rogers Hornsby (SLC) | 1.097 |
| HR | George Kelly (NYG) | 23 |
| RBI | Rogers Hornsby (SLC) | 126 |
| R | Rogers Hornsby (SLC) | 131 |
| H | Rogers Hornsby (SLC) | 235 |
| SB | Frankie Frisch (NYG) | 49 |
Pitching leaders :
| Stat | Player | Total |
| W | Wilbur Cooper (PIT) Burleigh Grimes (BKN) | 22 |
| L | George Smith (PHP) | 20 |
| ERA | Bill Doak (SLC) | 2.59 |
| K | Burleigh Grimes (BKN) | 136 |
| IP | Wilbur Cooper (PIT) | 327.0 |
| SV | Lou North (SLC) | 7 |
| WHIP | Babe Adams (PIT) | 1.081 |

## Home field attendance

| Team name | Wins | %± | Home attendance | %± | Per game |
| New York Yankees | 95 | 18.8% | 1,289,422 | 108.3% | 16,746 |
| New York Giants | 86 | −1.1% | 929,609 | 31.1% | 11,620 |
| Cleveland Indians | 98 | 16.7% | 912,832 | 69.6% | 11,703 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 79 | 11.3% | 429,037 | 55.0% | 5,500 |
| Detroit Tigers | 61 | −23.8% | 579,650 | −10.0% | 7,431 |
| Brooklyn Robins | 93 | 34.8% | 808,722 | 124.2% | 10,368 |
| Chicago White Sox | 96 | 9.1% | 833,492 | 32.9% | 10,825 |
| Washington Senators | 68 | 21.4% | 359,260 | 53.5% | 4,727 |
| Chicago Cubs | 75 | 0.0% | 480,783 | 13.3% | 6,244 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 75 | 38.9% | 326,836 | 95.6% | 4,300 |
| St. Louis Browns | 76 | 13.4% | 419,311 | 20.0% | 5,376 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 48 | 33.3% | 287,888 | 27.8% | 3,739 |
| Boston Braves | 62 | 8.8% | 162,483 | −2.9% | 2,196 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 82 | −14.6% | 568,107 | 6.7% | 7,378 |
| Boston Red Sox | 72 | 9.1% | 402,445 | −3.6% | 5,295 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 62 | 31.9% | 330,998 | 37.7% | 4,299 |

## Events

* August 5 – The Pittsburgh Pirates 8–5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at Forbes Field is the first Major League game to be broadcast on radio. Harold Arlin calls the game for Pittsburgh station KDKA.