El Hombre Knows Sports: Yankees had only one in a Row

One of the great luxuries of being a member of the sports media in the 21st century is that you can be pretty sure that any proclamation or crazy claim you make about a player's or team's relative strength or weakness will be believed by a numbed public. There are two reasons for that. First, everything that happens now has to be better/worse/bigger/smaller than what went before, doesn't it? Second, who's going to check?

So, when the hype for this year's Yankees coronation, er, baseball playoffs cranked up, the phrase "Murderers' Row II" surfaced as the best description of Uberfuhrer Steinbrenner's current athletic portfolio. Thanks to the returns of Gary Sheffield and Godzilla Matsui from injury, breathless announcers and scribes tossed around one of sport's greatest nicknames to describe the Yanks -- and in doing so presented the most recent example of how marketing trumps fact.

While great, the Jeter-Rodriguez duo pales in comparison to 1927's Ruth-Gehrig. (Getty Images)

For those of you who believe, as ESPN and Fox do, that no sports of any consequence took place before 1975, allow El Hombre to tell you about the Murderers' Row. It was the name given to the collection of mashers who rampaged through the American League back in '27, winning 110 regular-season games (out of just 154) and sweeping through the sword-less Pirates in the World Series. The turning point in the wipeout came before Game 1, when Pittsburgh players sat in awe as the Yanks unleashed a batting-practice barrage that left flattened and coverless baseballs throughout the stadium. After that, the Petty Thieves' Row could have taken care of the cowering Bucs.

That team really lived up to its name. It scored 975 runs, had a team average of .307, a .381 on-base percentage and a .489 slugging percentage. And that was when pitchers still had to hit. Take away the 489 at bats (and 105 hits) by Yankee pitchers from that team, and New York had a stunning .316 average.

Two of the names on that '27 team -- Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig -- roll off the tongues of even the most casual baseball fan. The rest of the lineup is largely anonymous, although it packed quite a wallop. Let's start with the Gruesome Twosome. Ruth's '27 campaign was amazing. He hit 60 homers (one more than the previous season), drove in 164, scored 158 times, walked 138 times, batted .356 and had a .772 slugging average. It is the single greatest statistical season of all-time (just for good measure, Babe had 29 doubles and eight triples), and since it came in a championship year, it could be called the best season, period.

Not that Larrupin' Lou was a slouch. He whacked 47 homers, knocked in 175, hit .373, scored 149 times, had 218 hits, 52 doubles and a .765 slugging average.

No team, not even the Maris-Mantle Yankees of '61, has had a tandem like that.

It wasn't all about the big guns. Leadoff hitter Earle Combs had a remarkable season, hitting .356, scoring 137 times, smashing an amazing 23 triples and knocking out 231 hits. Second baseman Tony Lazzeri hit .309, knocked in 102 runs, hit 18 homers (at a time when second basemen didn't do that sort of thing) and scored 92 runs. Left fielder Bob Meusel hit .337 with 103 RBI and 47 doubles. And shortstop Mark Koenig hit .285, scored 99 runs and had 20 doubles and batted .500 in the Series. Granted, third baseman Joe Dugan's .269 average wasn't overwhelming, but he hit .311 in his final 58 games. The "weak" link was catcher, where Pat Collins (.275) split time with Johnny Grabowski (.277).

Babe Ruth had an amazing campaign in 1927. (Getty Images)

You want to talk about dominance, the Yankees personified it, leading the American League in runs, hits, homers, triples, walks, batting average and slugging percentage. There has not been a team like them, and even in this era of juiced balls, pharmaceutically enhanced players, bandbox ballparks and diluted pitching, there never will be another one that comes close.

Yes, this Yankees outfit is impressive. Derek Jeter (.343, .118 runs, 39 doubles) is the game's ultimate winner and this year's AL MVP. Jason Giambi (37 HR, 113 RBI) is a fearsome slugger, and Sheffield and Matsui are great run-producers. A-Rod may have "struggled" this year, but he still hit 35 homers, knocked in 121 and scored 113 times. Buying solid numbers man Bobby Abreu was a great move, and having the luxury of positioning Robinson Cano and his .342 average in the nine spot is something else. It's a great lineup, but it doesn't approach The Row.

These Yankees scored 45 fewer runs than their predecessors -- in eight more games. Their .285 average (with a DH) is way off pace. They may have hit more homers (210-158), but this is the era of the long ball, and that stat is generally meaningless when one considers the '27 New Yorkers had a higher on-base percentage (.381-.363) and slugging percentage (.489-.461) to go with the fewer runs, lower average, etc.

So, the 1927 team is the real Murderers' Row. Anything else is a cheap imitation. If you really want to argue, pit the '39 Yankees, who went 106-45 and swept Cincinnati in the World Series, against this year's squad. Those mashers had five everyday players (out of eight) who hit .300 or better, including Joe DiMaggio (.381), "King Kong" Keller (.334) and Red Rolfe (.329). They hit so well that even pitcher Red Ruffing had a .307 average in 114 at bats. Those Yanks hit .287 (.292 minus the pitchers) and scored 967 times, despite playing only 151 games. Four players scored more than 100 runs and two others topped the 90 mark. Four drove in 100-plus runs, and three others knocked in more than 80.

OK, so much for the history lesson. The '06 Yankees are a fine team and should win it all ( as presaged by a certain columnist in March). But let's come up with a different nickname for them, the better to keep things in perspective. There can be only one Murderers' Row, and it deserves to keep the designation to itself.