1938 BBW Replay - Conclusion

The 1938 BBW Replay is in the books, and the powerful New York Yankees were able to overcome the pesky Pittsburgh Pirates by four games to one in the 1938 World Series. The Pirates were able to scrape up runs to make things interesting, but the Yankees could just explode when needed, and the Pirates were never able to keep up. The late 1930's resulted in another Yankees dynasty, and this team proved no different.

Overall, this season was fun to play with plenty of offensive fireworks. Maybe not as much offense as the 1930 season, but certainly more than enough to go around. Detroit first baseman Hank Greenberg hit 59 homeruns and drove in 204 runs, but what was most fun was his ability to hit with runners on base - hence the record-breaking RBI total. Boston first baseman Jimmie Foxx finished with 55 homeruns and 180 RBI's, but most importantly, he ended the season with a phenomenal .419 batting average. Despite that, no one could touch New York, which won the AL pennant by 13.5 games.

 

Pittsburgh won the NL pennant on the last day of the season when their win in Cincinnati, combined with Chicago's loss in St. Louis, clinched the long-sought-after pennant. Of course, the prize for winning the NL pennant was having to face the Yankees in the World Series, but at least they got the opportunity to do so and the chance at baseball immortality.

 

There was one no-hitter, with New York's Lefty Gomez no-hitting Cleveland on 06/22/1938. There was a total of seven Cycles hit during the season, all coming in a relatively short burst in the middle of the season. One in the NL, with six in the AL, including St. Louis (AL) third baseman Harlond Clift doing so twice within a three-day period. Even more spectacular was Washington second baseman Buddy Myer, who only hit six homeruns all season, yet managed to time it so that he could hit two different cycles.

 

Date

Player

Team

Oppo

Monday, 30 May 1938

Buddy Myer

WAS

PHA

Tuesday, 21 June 1938

Lou Finney

PHA

STB

Saturday, 25 June 1938

Buddy Myer

WAS

STB

Saturday, 2 July 1938

Jimmie Foxx

BRS

PHA

Sunday, 21 August 1938

Lonny Frey

CIN

STC

Thursday, 25 August 1938

Harlond Clift

STB

PHA

Saturday, 27 August 1938

Harlond Clift

STB

PHA

 

I was asked early in the replay if the offense was too strong in the 1938 card set. For my two cents, the AL needed a pitching boost. This was not a revised set, so the pitching grades were created using an older APBA formula, which meant that several teams were loaded with grade 1 pitchers, especially in their relieving corps, so for many teams, if you could get the starter out of the game, it was open season for the offense. I did not regrade pitchers before play began, and I did not wish to regrade pitchers in the middle of the replay, nor did I wish to start over, so it is what it is.

 

Overall, I am very satisfied with how the replay turned out. Greenberg and Foxx played out of their heads, but no one could touch the Yankees, and the NL pennant race went down to the last day of the season, so it was a fun and exciting replay.

 

If you are interested, here are the blog entries for my previous BBW replay. The dates given are from the first Week played until the completion of the World Series for that season, so the dates listed do not include the 2-4 months spent doing set-up and pre-season work, basically just getting everything ready before I actually start game play.

 

Roger's 1901 APBA Replay (November, 2019 - May, 2020)

Roger's 1911 APBA Replay (August 2021 - May, 2022)

Roger's 1916 APBA Replay (TBD)

Roger's 1920 APBA Replay (February, 2023 - September, 2023)

Roger's 1930 APBA Replay (April, 2018 - October, 2018)

Roger's 1938 APBA Replay Blog (March, 2025  - January, 2026)

Roger's 1941 APBA Replay (June, 2022 - December, 2022)

Roger's 1949 APBA Replay (December, 2018 - April, 2019)

Roger's 1957 APBA Replay (July, 2020 - January, 2021)

Roger's 1957 APBA Replay (December, 2023 - November, 2024)

 

So, what is next? Next on the agenda is completing a BBW replay of the 1916 season. I am just starting pre-work, so gameplay likely won’t begin for 2-3 months yet, so stay tuned.

 

Thanks to all who have followed my progress through the years and have commented and asked questions. I do enjoy this and am happy to share my results with the APBA world.

 

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