1938 Pittsburgh Pirates

1938 Pittsburgh Pirates / Franchise: Pittsburgh Pirates / BR Team Page

Record: 86-64, Finished 2nd in National League (1938 NL)

Managed by Pie Traynor

Coaches: Jewel Ens, Johnny Gooch and Honus Wagner

Ballpark: Forbes Field

History, Comments, Contributions

The 1938 Pittsburgh Pirates had a seven-game lead over the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs in the National League standings on September 1st but went 12-16 the rest of the way to lose the pennant to the Cubs. They started the year with seven consecutive wins; they had concluded the 1937 season by winning their final ten games. The combined winning streak of 17 games is the longest in franchise history, beating the one-year record of 16 set by the 1909 team that won the World Series.

Lloyd Waner and Paul Waner both homered on September 15th; it would be 71 years until Andy LaRoche and Adam LaRoche became the next brother duo to homer in the same contest for Pittsburgh.

Awards and Honors

• All-Stars: Mace Brown, Arky Vaughan and Lloyd Waner

Further Reading

• Lester Biederman: "Pirate Hobble Home to Face Trade Talk", The Pittsburgh Press, October 3, 1938, p. 21. [1]
• Ronald T. Waldo: Pennant Hopes Dashed by the Homer in the Gloamin’: The Story of How the 1938 Pittsburgh Pirates Blew the National League Pennant, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2013. ISBN 978-0-7864-7202-4