# 1931 Chicago Cubs season

The 1931 Chicago Cubs season was the 60th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 56th in the National League and the 16th at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished third in the National League with a record of 84–70, 17 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals.

## Offseason

* October 14, 1930: Bill McAfee and Wes Schulmerich were traded by the Cubs to the Boston Braves for Bob Smith and Jimmy Welsh.

## Regular season

1931 was one of player-manager Rogers Hornsby's last productive seasons. He managed to drive in 90 runs and collect 37 doubles in only 100 games, while recording a batting average of .331. He led the league in on-base percentage (.421) for the ninth and last time in his career.

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 101 | 53 | .656 | — | 54‍–‍24 | 47‍–‍29 |
| New York Giants | 87 | 65 | .572 | 13 | 50‍–‍27 | 37‍–‍38 |
| Chicago Cubs | 84 | 70 | .545 | 17 | 50‍–‍27 | 34‍–‍43 |
| Brooklyn Robins | 79 | 73 | .520 | 21 | 46‍–‍29 | 33‍–‍44 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 75 | 79 | .487 | 26 | 44‍–‍33 | 31‍–‍46 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 66 | 88 | .429 | 35 | 40‍–‍36 | 26‍–‍52 |
| Boston Braves | 64 | 90 | .416 | 37 | 36‍–‍41 | 28‍–‍49 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 58 | 96 | .377 | 43 | 38‍–‍39 | 20‍–‍57 |

### Record vs. opponents

1931 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 11–11–1 | 8–14–1 | 8–14 | 6–16 | 11–11 | 11–11 | 9–13 |
| Brooklyn | 11–11–1 | — | 14–8 | 10–12 | 10–10 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 10–12 |
| Chicago | 14–8–1 | 8–14 | — | 14–8 | 12–10 | 14–8 | 14–8–1 | 8–14 |
| Cincinnati | 14–8 | 12–10 | 8–14 | — | 7–15 | 9–13 | 6–16 | 2–20 |
| New York | 16–6 | 10–10 | 10–12 | 15–7 | — | 14–8–1 | 12–10 | 10–12 |
| Philadelphia | 11–11 | 9–13 | 8–14 | 13–9 | 8–14–1 | — | 13–9 | 4–18 |
| Pittsburgh | 11–11 | 11–11 | 8–14–1 | 16–6 | 10–12 | 9–13 | — | 10–12 |
| St. Louis | 13–9 | 12–10 | 14–8 | 20–2 | 12–10 | 18–4 | 12–10 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 13, 1931: Earl Grace was traded by the Cubs to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Rollie Hemsley.

### 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 | Gabby Hartnett | 116 | 380 | 107 | .282 | 8 | 70 |
| 1B | Charlie Grimm | 146 | 531 | 176 | .331 | 4 | 66 |
| 2B | Rogers Hornsby | 100 | 357 | 118 | .331 | 16 | 90 |
| SS | Woody English | 156 | 634 | 202 | .319 | 2 | 53 |
| 3B | Les Bell | 75 | 252 | 71 | .282 | 4 | 32 |
| OF | Danny Taylor | 88 | 270 | 81 | .300 | 5 | 41 |
| OF | Kiki Cuyler | 154 | 613 | 202 | .330 | 9 | 88 |
| OF | Hack Wilson | 112 | 395 | 103 | .261 | 13 | 61 |

#### 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 |
| Bill Jurges | 88 | 293 | 59 | .201 | 0 | 23 |
| Riggs Stephenson | 80 | 263 | 84 | .319 | 1 | 52 |
| Footsie Blair | 86 | 240 | 62 | .258 | 3 | 29 |
| Vince Barton | 66 | 239 | 57 | .238 | 13 | 50 |
| Rollie Hemsley | 66 | 204 | 63 | .309 | 3 | 31 |
| Johnny Moore | 39 | 104 | 25 | .240 | 2 | 16 |
| Billy Herman | 25 | 98 | 32 | .327 | 0 | 16 |
| Jimmy Adair | 18 | 76 | 21 | .276 | 0 | 3 |
| Mike Kreevich | 5 | 12 | 2 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Earl Grace | 7 | 9 | 1 | .111 | 0 | 1 |
| Zack Taylor | 8 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 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 |
| Charlie Root | 39 | 251.0 | 17 | 14 | 3.48 | 131 |
| Bob Smith | 36 | 240.1 | 15 | 12 | 3.22 | 63 |
| Pat Malone | 36 | 228.1 | 16 | 9 | 3.90 | 112 |

#### 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 |
| Guy Bush | 39 | 180.1 | 16 | 8 | 4.49 | 54 |
| Les Sweetland | 26 | 130.1 | 8 | 7 | 5.04 | 32 |
| Ed Baecht | 22 | 67.0 | 2 | 4 | 3.76 | 34 |
| Lon Warneke | 20 | 64.1 | 2 | 4 | 3.22 | 27 |
| Sheriff Blake | 16 | 50.0 | 0 | 4 | 5.22 | 29 |
| Johnny Welch | 8 | 33.2 | 2 | 1 | 3.74 | 7 |

#### 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 |
| Jakie May | 31 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3.87 | 38 |
| Bud Teachout | 27 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5.72 | 14 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Los Angeles Angels | Pacific Coast League | Jack Lelivelt |
| D | Bisbee Bees | Arizona–Texas League | Roy Johnson |