# 1931 Brooklyn Robins season

The 1931 Brooklyn Robins finished in fourth place, after which longtime manager Wilbert Robinson announced his retirement with 1,399 career victories.

## Offseason

* October 14, 1930: Clise Dudley, Jumbo Elliott, Hal Lee and cash were traded by the Robins to the Philadelphia Phillies for Lefty O'Doul and Fresco Thompson.

## Regular season

Jack Quinn became the oldest person in baseball history to pitch on Opening Day. He was 47 when he started for Brooklyn on Opening Day in 1931. It would be Quinn's only start of the season, as he pitched the rest of the year in relief.

### 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

* May 7, 1931: Harvey Hendrick was traded by the Robins to the Cincinnati Reds for Mickey Heath.
* May 23, 1931: Ray Moss was purchased from the Robins by the Boston Braves.

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases
| Pos | Player | G | AB | R | H | Avg. | HR | RBI | SB |
| C | Al López | 112 | 360 | 38 | 97 | .269 | 0 | 40 | 1 |
| 1B | Del Bissonette | 152 | 587 | 90 | 170 | .290 | 12 | 87 | 4 |
| 2B | Neal Finn | 118 | 413 | 46 | 113 | .274 | 0 | 45 | 2 |
| 3B | Wally Gilbert | 145 | 552 | 60 | 147 | .266 | 0 | 46 | 3 |
| SS | Gordon Slade | 85 | 272 | 27 | 65 | .239 | 1 | 29 | 2 |
| LF | Lefty O'Doul | 134 | 512 | 85 | 172 | .336 | 7 | 75 | 5 |
| CF | Johnny Frederick | 146 | 611 | 81 | 165 | .270 | 17 | 71 | 2 |
| RF | Babe Herman | 151 | 610 | 93 | 191 | .313 | 18 | 97 | 17 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases
| Player | G | AB | R | H | Avg. | HR | RBI | SB |
| Glenn Wright | 77 | 268 | 36 | 76 | .284 | 9 | 32 | 1 |
| Ernie Lombardi | 73 | 182 | 20 | 54 | .297 | 4 | 23 | 1 |
| Fresco Thompson | 74 | 181 | 26 | 48 | .265 | 1 | 21 | 5 |
| Rube Bressler | 67 | 153 | 22 | 43 | .281 | 0 | 26 | 0 |
| Val Picinich | 24 | 45 | 5 | 12 | .267 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| Jake Flowers | 22 | 31 | 3 | 7 | .226 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Denny Sothern | 19 | 31 | 10 | 5 | .161 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bobby Reis | 6 | 17 | 3 | 5 | .294 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Max Rosenfeld | 3 | 9 | 0 | 2 | .222 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ike Boone | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | .200 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jack Warner | 9 | 4 | 2 | 2 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Alta Cohen | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Harvey Hendrick | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; CG = Complete games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | GS | CG | IP | W | L | ERA | BB | SO |
| Watty Clark | 34 | 28 | 16 | 233.1 | 14 | 10 | 3.20 | 52 | 96 |
| Dazzy Vance | 30 | 29 | 12 | 218.2 | 11 | 13 | 3.38 | 53 | 150 |
| Ray Phelps | 28 | 26 | 3 | 149.1 | 7 | 9 | 5.00 | 44 | 50 |
| Sloppy Thurston | 24 | 17 | 11 | 143.0 | 9 | 9 | 3.97 | 39 | 23 |
| Joe Shaute | 25 | 19 | 6 | 128.2 | 11 | 8 | 4.83 | 32 | 50 |
| Dolf Luque | 19 | 15 | 5 | 102.2 | 7 | 6 | 4.56 | 27 | 25 |
| Van Mungo | 5 | 4 | 2 | 31.0 | 3 | 1 | 2.32 | 13 | 12 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; CG = Complete games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | GS | CG | IP | W | L | ERA | BB | SO |
| Fred Heimach | 31 | 10 | 7 | 135.1 | 9 | 7 | 3.46 | 23 | 43 |
| Phil Gallivan | 6 | 1 | 0 | 15.1 | 0 | 1 | 5.28 | 7 | 1 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; BB = Bases on balls; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | SV | ERA | BB | SO |
| Jack Quinn | 39 | 64.1 | 5 | 4 | 15 | 2.66 | 24 | 25 |
| Cy Moore | 23 | 61.2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3.79 | 13 | 35 |
| Pea Ridge Day | 22 | 57.1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4.55 | 13 | 30 |
| Earl Mattingly | 8 | 14.1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.51 | 10 | 6 |
| Ray Moss | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 |

## Awards and honors
### League top five finishers

Babe Herman
* #2 in NL in stolen bases (17)
Dazzy Vance
* #3 in NL in strikeouts (150)