# 1937 Pittsburgh Pirates season

The 1937 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 56th season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise; the 51st in the National League. The Pirates finished third in the league standings with a record of 86–68.

## Offseason

* December 4, 1936: Ralph Birkofer and Cookie Lavagetto were traded by the Pirates to the Brooklyn Dodgers for Ed Brandt.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Giants | 95 | 57 | .625 | — | 50‍–‍25 | 45‍–‍32 |
| Chicago Cubs | 93 | 61 | .604 | 3 | 46‍–‍32 | 47‍–‍29 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 86 | 68 | .558 | 10 | 46‍–‍32 | 40‍–‍36 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 81 | 73 | .526 | 15 | 45‍–‍33 | 36‍–‍40 |
| Boston Bees | 79 | 73 | .520 | 16 | 43‍–‍33 | 36‍–‍40 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 62 | 91 | .405 | 33½ | 36‍–‍39 | 26‍–‍52 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 61 | 92 | .399 | 34½ | 29‍–‍45 | 32‍–‍47 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 56 | 98 | .364 | 40 | 28‍–‍51 | 28‍–‍47 |

### Record vs. opponents

1937 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 15–7 | 9–13 | 11–11 | 10–10 | 14–8 | 11–11 | 9–13 |
| Brooklyn | 7–15 | — | 8–14 | 12–10–1 | 6–16 | 10–11 | 12–10 | 7–15–1 |
| Chicago | 13–9 | 14–8 | — | 14–8 | 12–10 | 14–8 | 9–13 | 17–5 |
| Cincinnati | 11–11 | 10–12–1 | 8–14 | — | 8–14 | 11–11 | 1–21 | 7–15 |
| New York | 10–10 | 16–6 | 10–12 | 14–8 | — | 15–7 | 16–6 | 14–8 |
| Philadelphia | 8–14 | 11–10 | 8–14 | 11–11 | 7–15 | — | 11–11 | 5–17–2 |
| Pittsburgh | 11–11 | 10–12 | 13–9 | 21–1 | 6–16 | 11–11 | — | 14–8 |
| St. Louis | 13–9 | 15–7–1 | 5–17 | 15–7 | 8–14 | 17–5–2 | 8–14 | — |

### Game log

1937 Game Log: 86–68 (Home: 46–32; Away: 40–36) :
April: 5–2 (Home: 3–1; Away: 2–1)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
1April 20@ Cubs5–0Blanton (1–0)French—18,9401–0
2April 22@ Cubs4–2Brandt (1–0)Lee—4,0782–0
3April 23Reds4–3Hoyt (1–0)Grissom—22,0003–0
4April 24Reds3–2Swift (1–0)Hallahan—13,0004–0
5April 27@ Cardinals1–3WeilandBlanton (1–1)—2,4614–1
6April 29Cubs6–5 (13)Bowman (1–0)Lee—7,5005–1
7April 30Cubs2–7ParmeleeBauers (0–1)—8,3005–2 :
May: 18–10 (Home: 5–6; Away: 13–4)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
8May 1@ Reds3–1Lucas (1–0)Hallahan—4,8466–2
9May 2@ Reds7–2Bowman (2–0)Grissom—17,4887–2
10May 4@ Dodgers10–3Brandt (2–0)HenshawSwift (1)6,2558–2
11May 5@ Dodgers5–1Blanton (2–1)Frankhouse—4,3629–2
12May 6@ Dodgers5–9MungoLucas (1–1)—5,8479–3
13May 7@ Phillies8–3Bowman (3–0)LaMaster—4,00010–3
14May 9@ Bees6–3Brandt (3–0)Weir—17,10211–3
15May 10@ Bees4–1Swift (2–0)Fette—1,84612–3
16May 11@ Bees3–0Blanton (3–1)MacFayden—2,31613–3
17May 12@ Giants6–5Bowman (4–0)SmithSwift (2)12,01814–3
18May 13@ Giants2–5HubbellHoyt (1–1)—8,67214–4
19May 14Cardinals14–4Brown (1–0)Dean—10,00015–4
20May 15Cardinals2–4HarrellSwift (2–1)Dean13,00015–5
21May 16Cardinals2–1Bowman (5–0)Weiland—39,57116–5
22May 18Phillies2–1Blanton (4–1)Mulcahy—2,50017–5
23May 19Phillies4–5WaltersBrandt (3–1)—2,00017–6
24May 20Phillies5–2Swift (3–1)LaMaster—2,80018–6
25May 21Bees3–6MacFaydenBowman (5–1)—3,00018–7
26May 22Bees5–2Lucas (2–1)BushSwift (3)7,00019–7
27May 23Giants5–6SchumacherHoyt (1–2)Melton29,48619–8
28May 24Giants3–4HubbellBrandt (3–2)Coffman17,00019–9
29May 25Dodgers1–2MungoSwift (3–2)—2,88019–10
30May 28@ Cardinals10–3Lucas (3–1)HarrellHoyt (1)3,08020–10
31May 29@ Cardinals9–4Blanton (5–1)Dean——21–10
32May 29@ Cardinals1–2WeilandBrandt (3–3)—15,50521–11
33May 30@ Cardinals7–4Swift (4–2)Harrell—12,49522–11
34May 31@ Reds3–8DavisBowman (5–2)Grissom—22–12
35May 31@ Reds7–5Tobin (1–0)MooreHoyt (2)14,35223–12 :
June: 12–15 (Home: 6–6; Away: 6–9)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
36June 2@ Bees2–0Blanton (6–1)Hutchinson—2,63624–12
37June 3@ Bees0–6FetteBrandt (3–4)—2,13924–13
38June 4@ Bees1–9TurnerSwift (4–3)—3,29424–14
39June 5@ Giants5–7SmithBowman (5–3)Melton15,33324–15
40June 6@ Giants5–9SchumacherBlanton (6–2)Hubbell24,16224–16
41June 7@ Giants2–5GumbertBrandt (3–5)—5,44624–17
42June 8@ Phillies8–1Bauers (1–1)LaMaster—2,00025–17
43June 9@ Phillies1–8PasseauTobin (1–1)—1,50025–18
44June 10@ Phillies4–5WaltersSwift (4–4)—6,00025–19
45June 12@ Dodgers8–3Blanton (7–2)Henshaw—8,13726–19
46June 13@ Dodgers2–6MungoBauers (1–2)——26–20
47June 13@ Dodgers1–4FitzsimmonsSwift (4–5)—30,10926–21
48June 15Giants7–5Lucas (4–1)Hubbell—8,09327–21
49June 16Giants4–5SchumacherBlanton (7–3)—6,50027–22
50June 18Dodgers6–4Brown (2–0)Mungo—2,50028–22
51June 19Dodgers3–4FitzsimmonsWeaver (0–1)—4,21128–23
52June 20Dodgers4–2Bowman (6–3)Hamlin——29–23
53June 20Dodgers2–4FrankhouseLucas (4–2)Mungo23,22229–24
54June 22Bees4–1Blanton (8–3)Turner—2,50030–24
55June 23Bees8–5Bauers (2–2)MacFayden—2,33131–24
56June 24Bees6–9FetteSwift (4–6)—5,37331–25
57June 25Phillies5–10LaMasterBowman (6–4)Jorgens5,18331–26
58June 26Phillies6–7 (13)WaltersBlanton (8–4)—3,05431–27
59June 27Phillies4–3Lucas (5–2)Passeau—3,54132–27
60June 29@ Reds2–1Bowman (7–4)Derringer——33–27
61June 29@ Reds13–6Bauers (3–2)Vander Meer—3,95534–27
62June 30@ Reds6–0Blanton (9–4)Grissom—15,56835–27 :
July: 12–15 (Home: 7–4; Away: 5–11)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
63July 2@ Cubs7–8DavisLucas (5–3)—23,99835–28
64July 3@ Cubs5–10CarletonBowman (7–5)—11,66535–29
65July 4@ Cubs5–8RootBlanton (9–5)——35–30
66July 4@ Cubs7–6Swift (5–6)ParmeleeBowman (1)36,74436–30
67July 5Reds3–1Weaver (1–1)Schott——37–30
68July 5Reds5–1Brandt (4–5)DerringerBrown (1)21,99938–30
69July 9Cubs13–1Bowman (8–5)Carleton—7,41639–30
70July 10Cubs0–2FrenchBlanton (9–6)—8,00039–31
71July 11Cubs3–2Swift (6–6)Lee—14,70540–31
72July 12Cardinals5–6JohnsonBauers (3–3)—6,25040–32
73July 14@ Giants2–4HubbellBowman (8–6)—6,99540–33
74July 16@ Giants4–3 (11)Brown (3–0)Melton—7,17841–33
75July 17@ Phillies8–9MulcahyBrown (3–1)—3,00041–34
76July 18@ Phillies2–5PasseauLucas (5–4)——41–35
77July 18@ Phillies6–5 (11)Swift (7–6)Mulcahy—8,00042–35
78July 19@ Phillies6–5Weaver (2–1)WaltersBrandt (1)1,50043–35
79July 20@ Dodgers1–2 (10)ButcherBlanton (9–7)—1,92643–36
80July 21@ Dodgers0–6JeffcoatBowman (8–7)—2,28343–37
81July 22@ Dodgers10–1Lucas (6–4)Henshaw—2,55144–37
82July 24@ Bees0–9TurnerSwift (7–7)—5,23644–38
83July 25@ Bees2–5BushBlanton (9–8)——44–39
84July 25@ Bees5–7FetteBowman (8–8)Gabler23,32044–40
85July 27Phillies4–1Lucas (7–4)Walters—3,80745–40
86July 28Phillies6–4Weaver (3–1)PasseauBrown (2)1,68546–40
87July 29Phillies7–11JorgensSwift (7–8)Johnson4,30746–41
88July 30Bees1–0Brandt (5–5)Bush—4,12647–41
89July 31Bees7–9HutchinsonSwift (7–9)Smith4,11647–42 :
August: 15–16 (Home: 8–7; Away: 7–9)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
90August 1Bees8–4Bauers (4–3)MacFayden—6,21448–42
91August 3Dodgers5–4Weaver (4–1)Frankhouse——49–42
92August 3Dodgers10–4Brown (4–1)ButcherBauers (1)6,58850–42
93August 4Dodgers7–10FitzsimmonsBrandt (5–6)Lindsey1,59450–43
94August 5Dodgers6–9HoytBlanton (9–9)—3,69350–44
95August 6Giants3–6HubbellLucas (7–5)—6,44450–45
96August 8Giants2–10MeltonBrown (4–2)——50–46
97August 8Giants3–0Weaver (5–1)Gumbert—34,00051–46
98August 10@ Cubs6–5Blanton (10–9)ShounBrown (3)12,51652–46
99August 11@ Cubs1–5BryantLucas (7–6)—11,36352–47
100August 12@ Cubs16–6Bauers (5–3)Carleton—10,97753–47
101August 13@ Cardinals1–4WeilandWeaver (5–2)—3,75253–48
102August 14@ Cardinals6–5Weaver (6–2)RybaTobin (1)4,99854–48
103August 15@ Cardinals8–4Blanton (11–9)Warneke——55–48
104August 15@ Cardinals4–0Bauers (6–3)Johnson—23,08356–48
105August 17Cubs4–2Brandt (6–6)FrenchBrown (4)6,59357–48
106August 18Cubs7–6Bauers (7–3)Shoun—5,58158–48
107August 19Cubs3–7DavisWeaver (6–3)—6,57658–49
108August 20Cardinals7–4Blanton (12–9)Johnson—6,06059–49
109August 21Cardinals7–3Bauers (8–3)Harrell—5,71460–49
110August 22Cardinals0–12WeilandLucas (7–7)——60–50
111August 22Cardinals7–9DeanBrandt (6–7)—36,67360–51
112August 24@ Bees0–1TurnerBlanton (12–10)—2,16260–52
113August 25@ Bees6–0Bauers (9–3)Gabler—3,50761–52
114August 27@ Giants1–0Brandt (7–7)MeltonBrown (5)—62–52
115August 27@ Giants2–3SmithSwift (7–10)—13,00462–53
116August 28@ Giants4–9CoffmanWeaver (6–4)——62–54
117August 28@ Giants1–3SchumacherBauers (9–4)—42,43862–55
118August 29@ Dodgers3–5HoytLucas (7–8)——62–56
119August 29@ Dodgers3–6HamlinTobin (1–2)—12,00062–57
120August 31@ Phillies0–3WaltersBrandt (7–8)—2,50062–58 :
September: 20–10 (Home: 13–8; Away: 7–2)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
121September 1@ Phillies3–5PasseauWeaver (6–5)—3,00062–59
122September 2@ Phillies11–8Brown (5–2)LaMasterBrandt (2)3,00063–59
123September 5@ Cubs7–0Lucas (8–8)French——64–59
124September 5@ Cubs4–1Brandt (8–8)BryantBrown (6)34,09165–59
125September 6@ Cardinals1–4WeilandBlanton (12–11)——65–60
126September 6@ Cardinals5–4Bauers (10–4)Johnson—16,74666–60
127September 8Reds7–6 (10)Weaver (7–5)Derringer——67–60
128September 8Reds8–2Tobin (2–2)Mooty—3,50868–60
129September 9Reds1–0Brandt (9–8)Schott—1,98669–60
130September 10Reds7–6Brown (6–2)Hallahan—1,16970–60
131September 11Cubs4–5DavisBauers (10–5)—3,10070–61
132September 12Cubs0–5FrenchLucas (8–9)——70–62
133September 12Cubs4–2Tobin (3–2)Lee—25,00071–62
134September 14Giants2–12HubbellBrandt (9–9)——71–63
135September 14Giants6–2Blanton (13–11)Smith—10,00072–63
136September 15Giants2–7SchumacherBauers (10–6)—1,62172–64
137September 16Giants0–3MeltonTobin (3–3)—3,75072–65
138September 17Dodgers10–4Brandt (10–9)Hamlin—92773–65
139September 18Dodgers3–2Blanton (14–11)Fitzsimmons—1,59874–65
140September 19Phillies1–8MulcahyLucas (8–10)——74–66
141September 19Phillies5–1Bauers (11–6)Kelleher—6,13775–66
142September 21Bees9–2Tobin (4–3)Fette—1,06676–66
143September 22Bees2–3 (10)ShoffnerBrandt (10–10)—1,10376–67
144September 23Bees1–2TurnerBlanton (14–12)—1,03176–68
145September 24@ Reds8–2Bauers (12–6)Schott—30177–68
146September 26@ Reds5–4Tobin (5–3)Schott——78–68
147September 26@ Reds2–1Swift (8–10)Grissom—3,05879–68
148September 28Cardinals6–2Brandt (11–10)Johnson—1,06880–68
149September 29Cardinals7–5Weaver (8–5)WarnekeBrown (7)1,22681–68
150September 30Cardinals4–3Bauers (13–6)Weiland—1,47782–68 :
October: 4–0 (Home: 4–0; Away: 0–0)
#DateOpponentScoreWinLossSaveAttendanceRecord
151October 1Reds6–3Tobin (6–3)Hollingsworth—85283–68
152October 2Reds4–3 (11)Swift (9–10)Vander Meer—1,02084–68
153October 3Reds4–3Heintzelman (1–0)Kleinhans——85–68
154October 3Reds4–0 (7)Brown (7–2)Davis—2,06486–68 :
Legend:        = Win        = Loss Bold = Pirates team member :

### 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 | Al Todd | 133 | 514 | 158 | .307 | 8 | 86 |
| 1B | Gus Suhr | 151 | 575 | 160 | .278 | 5 | 97 |
| 2B | Lee Handley | 127 | 480 | 120 | .250 | 3 | 37 |
| SS | Arky Vaughn | 126 | 469 | 151 | .322 | 5 | 72 |
| 3B | Bill Brubaker | 120 | 413 | 105 | .254 | 6 | 48 |
| OF | Lloyd Waner | 129 | 537 | 177 | .330 | 1 | 45 |
| OF | Paul Waner | 154 | 619 | 219 | .354 | 2 | 74 |
| OF | Woody Jensen | 124 | 509 | 142 | .279 | 5 | 45 |

#### 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 |
| Pep Young | 113 | 408 | 106 | .260 | 9 | 54 |
| Johnny Dickshot | 82 | 264 | 67 | .254 | 3 | 33 |
| Tom Padden | 35 | 98 | 28 | .286 | 0 | 8 |
| Fred Schulte | 29 | 20 | 2 | .100 | 0 | 3 |
| Pie Traynor | 5 | 12 | 2 | .167 | 0 | 0 |
| Bill Schuster | 3 | 6 | 3 | .500 | 0 | 1 |
| Ray Berres | 2 | 6 | 1 | .167 | 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 |
| Cy Blanton | 36 | 242.2 | 14 | 12 | 3.30 | 143 |
| Ed Brandt | 33 | 176.1 | 11 | 10 | 3.11 | 74 |
| Red Lucas | 20 | 126.1 | 8 | 10 | 4.27 | 20 |
| Ken Heintzelman | 1 | 9.0 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 | 4 |

#### 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 |
| Russ Bauers | 34 | 187.2 | 13 | 6 | 2.88 | 118 |
| Bill Swift | 36 | 164.0 | 9 | 10 | 3.95 | 84 |
| Joe Bowman | 30 | 128.0 | 8 | 8 | 4.57 | 38 |
| Jim Weaver | 32 | 109.2 | 8 | 5 | 3.20 | 44 |
| Jim Tobin | 20 | 87.0 | 6 | 3 | 3.00 | 37 |

#### 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 |
| Mace Brown | 50 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 4.18 | 60 |
| Waite Hoyt | 11 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4.50 | 21 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Montreal Royals | International League | Walter "Rabbit" Maranville |
| B | Savannah Indians | Sally League | Bill Steinecke and Chick Autry |
| C | Hutchinson Larks | Western Association | Dick Goldberg, Dick Klinger and Hugh McMullen |
| D | Mt. Airy Reds | Bi-State League | Frank Packard and Walt Novak |
| D | Paducah Indians | KITTY League | Hugh McMullen, Ervin Brame, Lee Keller, Ralph Bishop, George Block and Pete Mondino |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Savannah