The Yankees' 110 victories broke the previous American League mark of 105 and would stand as the American League single-season record until it was broken by the Cleveland Indians in 1954. This was the first year the Yankees acknowledged their team nickname on their uniforms, albeit their road uniforms. Their home uniforms remained free of any kind of logo except for the "NY" on their caps. The roster included seven future Hall of Famers: Pitchers Herb Pennock and Waite Hoyt, Infielders Lou Gehrig and Tony Lazzeri, outfielders Babe Ruth and Earle Combs, and Manager Miller Huggins.
Babe Ruth
With the race long since decided, the nation's attention turned to Babe Ruth's pursuit of his own home run mark of 59, set in 1921. Early in the season, Ruth expressed doubts about his chances: "I don't suppose I'll ever break that 1921 record. To do that, you've got to start early, and the pitchers have got to pitch to you. I don't start early, and the pitchers haven't really pitched to me in four seasons. I get more bad balls to hit than any other five men...and fewer good ones." Ruth was also being challenged for his slugger's crown by teammate Lou Gehrig, who nudged ahead of Ruth's total in midseason, prompting the New York World-Telegram to anoint Gehrig the favorite. But Ruth caught Gehrig, and then had a remarkable last leg of the season, hitting 17 home runs in September. His 60th came on September 30, in the Yankees' next-to-last game. Ruth was exultant, shouting after the game, "Sixty, count 'em, sixty! Let's see some other son of a bitch match that!" In later years, he would give Gehrig some credit: "Pitchers began pitching to me because if they passed me they still had Lou to contend with." In addition to his career-high 60 home runs, Ruth batted.356, drove in 164 runs and slugged.772.
Babe Ruth's 60 home runs
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
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
92
251
69
.275
7
36
1B
155
584
218
.373
47
175
2B
153
570
176
.309
18
102
3B
112
387
104
.269
2
43
SS
123
526
150
.285
3
62
OF
152
648
231
.356
6
64
OF
151
540
192
.356
60
164
OF
135
516
174
.337
8
103
Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Since a voter could select only one player per team, two good candidates from the same team could find their votes split and both of their chances of winning hurt. In addition, the clause prohibiting repeat winners led to unusual results like Babe Ruth's 1927 not being eligible for the award. As The New York Times wrote in 1925, "he purpose, of course, is to pass the honor around, but the effect is to pass an empty honor around."
In 2016, ESPN announced 1927: The Diary of Myles Thomas, part a new genre of storytelling known as "real-time historical fiction." The core of the project is a historical novel in the form of a diary of Myles Thomas, written by Douglas Alden, complemented by a wealth of fact-based content from the season, all published along the same timeline as the events unfolded almost 90 years ago. Through Myles Thomas's diary entries, additional essays and real-time social-media components "re-living" that famous Yankees season, the goal is to explore the rarefied nexus of baseball, jazz and Prohibition — defining elements of the remarkable world that existed in 1927. The diary runs the length of the full 1927 season, from April 13 through October 10, 1927.
