# 1931 New York Yankees season

The 1931 New York Yankees season was the team's 29th season. The team finished with a record of 94–59, finishing 13.5 games behind the Philadelphia Athletics. New York was managed by Joe McCarthy. The Yankees played their home games at Yankee Stadium. This team is notable for holding the modern day Major League record for team runs scored in a season with 1,067 (6.88 runs per game average).

## Offseason

* December 10, 1930: Cy Perkins was purchased by the Yankees from the Philadelphia Athletics.
* January 13, 1931: Harry Rice was selected off waivers from the Yankees by the Washington Senators.

## Regular season

First baseman Lou Gehrig set an American League record by driving in 185 runs, breaking his own record of 173 set in 1927. The total, which was six short of Hack Wilson's all-time record of 191 set the previous year, still stands as of the end of the 2022 season.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 107 | 45 | .704 | — | 60‍–‍15 | 47‍–‍30 |
| New York Yankees | 94 | 59 | .614 | 13½ | 51‍–‍25 | 43‍–‍34 |
| Washington Senators | 92 | 62 | .597 | 16 | 55‍–‍22 | 37‍–‍40 |
| Cleveland Indians | 78 | 76 | .506 | 30 | 45‍–‍31 | 33‍–‍45 |
| St. Louis Browns | 63 | 91 | .409 | 45 | 39‍–‍38 | 24‍–‍53 |
| Boston Red Sox | 62 | 90 | .408 | 45 | 39‍–‍40 | 23‍–‍50 |
| Detroit Tigers | 61 | 93 | .396 | 47 | 36‍–‍41 | 25‍–‍52 |
| Chicago White Sox | 56 | 97 | .366 | 51½ | 31‍–‍45 | 25‍–‍52 |

### Record vs. opponents

1931 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYY | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 12–10–1 | 13–9 | 12–10 | 6–16 | 4–16 | 8–14 | 7–15 |
| Chicago | 10–12–1 | — | 7–15–1 | 11–11 | 6–15 | 3–19 | 12–10 | 7–15 |
| Cleveland | 9–13 | 15–7–1 | — | 13–9 | 13–9 | 4–18 | 16–6 | 8–14 |
| Detroit | 10–12 | 11–11 | 9–13 | — | 8–14 | 4–18 | 11–11 | 8–14 |
| New York | 16–6 | 15–6 | 9–13 | 14–8 | — | 11–11 | 16–6 | 13–9–1 |
| Philadelphia | 16–4 | 19–3 | 18–4 | 18–4 | 11–11 | — | 14–8 | 11–11–1 |
| St. Louis | 14–8 | 10–12 | 6–16 | 11–11 | 6–16 | 8–14 | — | 8–14 |
| Washington | 15–7 | 15–7 | 14–8 | 14–8 | 9–13–1 | 11–11–1 | 14–8 | — |

### 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 | Bill Dickey | 130 | 477 | 156 | .327 | 6 | 78 |
| 1B | Lou Gehrig | 155 | 619 | 211 | .341 | 46 | 185 |
| 2B | Tony Lazzeri | 135 | 484 | 129 | .267 | 8 | 83 |
| SS | Lyn Lary | 155 | 610 | 171 | .280 | 10 | 107 |
| 3B | Joe Sewell | 130 | 484 | 146 | .302 | 6 | 64 |
| OF | Babe Ruth | 145 | 534 | 199 | .373 | 46 | 162 |
| OF | Earl Combs | 138 | 563 | 179 | .318 | 5 | 58 |
| OF | Ben Chapman | 149 | 600 | 189 | .315 | 17 | 122 |

#### 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 |
| Samuel Byrd | 115 | 248 | 67 | .270 | 3 | 32 |
| Jimmie Reese | 65 | 245 | 59 | .241 | 3 | 26 |
| Arndt Jorgens | 46 | 100 | 27 | .270 | 0 | 14 |
| Cy Perkins | 16 | 47 | 12 | .255 | 0 | 7 |
| Dusty Cooke | 27 | 39 | 13 | .333 | 1 | 6 |
| Myril Hoag | 44 | 28 | 4 | .143 | 0 | 3 |
| Dixie Walker | 2 | 10 | 3 | .300 | 0 | 1 |
| Red Rolfe | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 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 |
| Lefty Gomez | 40 | 243.0 | 21 | 9 | 2.67 | 150 |
| Red Ruffing | 37 | 237.0 | 16 | 14 | 4.41 | 132 |
| Hank Johnson | 40 | 196.1 | 13 | 8 | 4.72 | 106 |
| Herb Pennock | 25 | 189.1 | 11 | 6 | 4.28 | 65 |
| Gordon Rhodes | 18 | 87.0 | 6 | 3 | 3.41 | 36 |

#### 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 |
| George Pipgras | 36 | 137.2 | 7 | 6 | 3.79 | 59 |
| Ed Wells | 27 | 116.2 | 9 | 5 | 4.32 | 34 |
| Roy Sherid | 17 | 74.1 | 5 | 5 | 5.69 | 39 |
| Jim Weaver | 17 | 57.2 | 2 | 1 | 5.31 | 28 |
| Ivy Andrews | 7 | 34.1 | 2 | 0 | 4.19 | 10 |

#### 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 |
| Lefty Weinert | 17 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6.20 | 24 |
| Lou McEvoy | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12.41 | 3 |

## Awards and honors
### League records

* Lou Gehrig, American League single season record, runs batted in (RBI) for a season (185).

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AA | Newark Bears | International League | Al Mamaux |
| A | Albany Senators | Eastern League | Bill McCorry |
| B | Scranton Miners | New York–Pennsylvania League | Buck Elliott and Ernie Vick |
| D | Cumberland Colts | Middle Atlantic League | Leo Mackey |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Cumberland