What If? Joe DiMaggio's 1937 Season

Welcome to another edition of What If? Fantasy Baseball. In case you're not familiar with this concept, this is where I look back at a season long before fantasy baseball became a prominent or permanent fixture in American society. I'll calculate the numbers on what that player's season would have looked like if the fantasy game existed then or wasn't as known. Today, we look back at the 1937 season for legendary New York Yankees Hall of Fame center fielder Joe DiMaggio. But before we do that, let's look at the Sporting News fantasy scoring system in place for this.

Point system for Sporting News(batting):
Out: -2 points
Run Scored: 5 points
Single: 5 points
Double: 10 points
Triple: 15 points
Home Run: 20 points
Run Batted In: 5 points
Walk or Hit By Pitch: 3 points
Strikeout: -1 point
Stolen Base: 10 points
Caught Stealing: -5 points

Point system for Sporting News(pitching):
Win: 30 points
Save: 30 points
Hold: 5 points
Loss: -15 points
Inning Pitched: 15 points
Hit Allowed: -5 points
Earned Run Allowed: -10 points
Walk or Hit Batsman: -3 points
Strikeout: 3 points

Here are the stats and SN points for Joe DiMaggio's 1937 season:
Out: 406 = -812 points
Run Scored: 151 = 755 points
Single: 119 = 595 points
Double: 35 = 350 points
Triple: 15 = 225 points
Home Run: 46 = 920 points
Run Batted In: 167 = 835 points
Walk or Hit By Pitch: 69 = 207 points
Strikeout: 37 = -37 point
Stolen Base: 3 = 30 points
Caught Stealing: 0 = 0 points
Total points: 3068 points
Points per game: 20.32
Note: DiMaggio played in 151 games in 1937.

1937 is more remembered by the Hindenburg Disaster of the famous German blimp as well as the mysterious disappearance of famed aviator Amelia Earhart. It was a time the nation was in the grasp of the Great Depression and two years away from the beginning of World War II. But baseball had another memorable year as the New York Yankees continued to captivate the country with dominating play. The nation began to turn it's glory eyes to a new baseball hero.

For the 22-year old Joe DiMaggio, he arguably had the best year of his iconic Hall of Fame career in 1937. It was his sophomore year, and he had plenty of support from first baseman Lou Gehrig as well as catcher Bill Dickey. The trio combined to hit 112 of the team's 174 home runs and 459 runs batted in between them. The pitching staff led by 21-game winner Lefty Gomez had led the AL in ERA, shutouts, and complete games.

Coming off a rookie year where DiMaggio batted .323 with 29 homers and 125 RBI, he would have been a high pick in fantasy draft leagues for 1937. And owners would have been ecstatic about the sophomore campaign for the Yankee Clipper. As stated before, any batter averaging over 20 points per game in SN fantasy baseball had a season for the ages because that's hard to accomplish. 1937 was also a year of firsts for the Yankee legend.

It was on June 18 that DiMaggio had his first 3-homer game as he hit all three off St. Louis Browns pitcher Julio Bonetti in the second game of a double-header. DiMaggio wouldn't accomplish that feat again until 1948, and would do so three times in his career.

DiMaggio had another memorable game on July 5 when he hit his first career grand slam off Boston Red Sox pitcher Rube Walberg in a 8-4 win in the second game of a double-header sweep for the Yankees.

Four days later on July 9, DiMaggio accomplished yet another feat when he hit for the cycle against the Washington Senators at home. He had two home runs in the game as New York pounded Washington 16-2. He would hit for the cycle again in 1948.

Almost a week and a half later on July 18, the Yankees were in Cleveland as part of a 14-game road trip. In the bottom of the 9th inning in that game, DiMaggio hit his 2nd career grand slam off future Hall of Famer Bob Feller as the Yankees won 5-1. They would finish 9-5 on the road trip.

In all, DiMaggio had five multi-homer games in 1937 to help the Yankees win the AL pennant by 13 games over the Detroit Tigers. He had career highs in home runs, RBI, slugging percentage, total bases, and OPS in 1937. DiMaggio didn't strike out much either having done so 37 times in 621 at-bats on the season.

Amazingly enough, DiMaggio finished second behind Detroit Tigers second baseman Charlie Gehringer for MVP honors. This was also the same year when Tigers first baseman Hank Greenberg had the second most RBI in a season with 183 finishing third in MVP voting himself.

In the World Series, the Yankees faced the New York Giants for the second year in a row. The results were nearly identical as the Yankees won the series 4-1 with the Giants only win coming in Game 4 just like in 1936. DiMaggio batted .273 with a home run and four RBI in the 1937 World Series.

At the time, the Yankees won their sixth World Series breaking the tie they had with the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Athletics, and would win four in a row. DiMaggio played in 10 World Series as the Yankees won nine of them during his career.

He's largely remembered for one of the most famous records in all of sports when he got a hit in 56 consecutive games in a row in 1941. He also won the MVP award three times, and is the only player in the game's history to be selected to the All-Star game in every season he played. He was a 13-time all-star.

Off the field, he was known for his involvement in World War II in which he missed the 1943-45 seasons as well as being married to world renowned actress Marilyn Monroe.

DiMaggio was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955, and he's largely considered to be one of the best all-around players in the game's history. Sporting News ranked him No. 11 of the Greatest Baseball Players of All-Time list released in 1999. He died at the age of 84 in 1999 of lung cancer.

Without question, DiMaggio's legacy and accomplishments for the game will never be forgotten.

Previous What If? Fantasy Baseball posts:
Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig's 1927 season
Ted Williams' 1941 season
Roberto Clemente's 1966 season
Hack Wilson's 1930 season
Walter Johnson's 1913 season

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Posted in: baseball, Joe DiMaggio, Major League Baseball, MLB, New York Yankees, What If?

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