The 1927 Yankees is one of the greatest teams of all time. They played 99 years ago.
Babe Ruth set the season Home Run record for the fourth and final time with 60.
Lou Gehrig hit 47 HR, second most through 1927 only to Ruth:
For single seasons, up to 1927, Playing in the AL or NL, in the regular season, requiring Home Runs >= 40 and Adjusted OPS+ >= 0, sorted by descending Home Runs.
https://www.sports-reference.com/stathead/tiny/erekS
Ruth led the league in Walks (Bases on Balls: BB) in all six years he is on that list, including the ridiculous 170 BB in 1923. MLB should have changed the walk rule before the next season but it was not even considered. It still hasn't been.
For single seasons, since 1903, Playing in the AL or NL, in the regular season, requiring Bases on Balls >= 150, sorted by descending Bases on Balls.
https://www.sports-reference.com/stathead/tiny/jDfpQNotice Bonds and McGwire in years when they broke the HR record with at least 70.
MLB needs to have the better hitters hit much more than the weak hitters AND not simply be walked or Hit By Pitch (HBP).
Yankee batters Judge and Caballero: top v. bottom of the order. Friday, May 1, 2026
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On the 1927 Yankees there were three catchers who only played that position and only batted 8th in the lineup. The pitchers batted 9th.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/1927-batting-orders.shtml
The catchers Games Started (GS) add up to the Yankee games played (110-44-1): 74+56+25=155. In some games, more than one of them caught.
Plate Appearances (PA) totaled 626. PA and OPS+
Collins 313 116
Grabowski 223 78
Bengough 90 65
Since Collins had exactly half their PA, I think that the OPS+ for all three catchers nets out to 100, league average hitting.
Babe Ruth PA and OPS+: 691 225
The catchers had 90.5% as many PA as Ruth. Do you think fans in 1927 wanted to see them nearly as much as they wanted to see Ruth? And that's not even factoring in walks. Ruth had a league leading 137.
In addition to the pitchers, the 1927 Yankees had two starting players with OPS+ below 100:
SS Koenig: 568 PA, OPS+ 83
3B Dugan: 429PA, OPS+ 78
https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/1927-batting-orders.shtml
Koenig batted #2 in 115 of his 123 games.
Dugan batted #7 in 109 of his 112 games.
Here are the number of games started for batting order position #7 and their OPS+:
Dugan-109 78
Gazella-31 115
Morehart-8 79
Wera-7 70
Note: In 1927 Ruth batted only #3 and Gehrig batted only #4, which is why the Yankees assigned those numbers to them when the team introduced numbers in 1929. They were associated with those places in the batting order despite some changes in 1928 due to Gehrig's slump.
In 1927 or 2026 who the heck wants to see batters 7, 8, 9?
MLB could improve enormously if it implemented my recommendations about the batting order. Plus, ...
If starting extra innings with a runner on second is OK, why aren't other changes ... like start each inning with top of the order? Sunday, May 10, 2026
Make the damn Strike Zone smaller: ball must be COMPLETELY inside the imaginary box. Wednesday, May 20, 2026
