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{{short description|New York Yankees lineup}}
{{about|the baseball team|the 1962 novel|Murderers' Row (novel)|the 1966 motion picture based on the novel|Murderers' Row (film)|the group of boxers|Murderers' Row (boxing)}}
[[File:1927NYYankees5.jpg|frame|right|The [[1927 New York Yankees season|1927 New York Yankees]].]]

'''Murderers' Row''' were the [[baseball]] teams of the [[New York Yankees]] in the late 1920s, widely considered some of the best teams in history. The nickname is particularly used for the first six hitters in the [[1927 New York Yankees season|1927 team]] lineup: [[Earle Combs]], [[Mark Koenig]], [[Babe Ruth]], [[Lou Gehrig]], [[Bob Meusel]], and [[Tony Lazzeri]].

==Etymology==
The term, which mimicked the name applied to a section of the [[The Tombs|Tombs]] prison in New York City,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Popik|first=Barry|title=Barry Popik|url=https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/murderers_row|access-date=2021-07-30|website=www.barrypopik.com|language=en}}</ref> was applied to several different baseball teams before it became associated with the Babe Ruth-era Yankees. A 1905 newspaper article about the Yale baseball team notes that one of Yale's coaches, Billy Lush, who had been an outfielder with the Cleveland Naps the year before, was "a member of 'Murderer's Row,' as pitchers call the first six batters on the Cleveland list."<ref>{{Cite news|date=24 Apr 1905|title=Big Four Baseball|page=4|work=Buffalo Commercial|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/278807521|access-date=30 Jul 2021}}</ref> The term was also used for the Philadelphia Phillies,<ref>{{Cite news|date=31 Jul 1912|title=Phillies' Batting Order is Now a Murderers' Row|page=10|work=Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/395205317/}}</ref> the Philadelphia Athletics,<ref>{{Cite news|date=10 Oct 1914|title=Rudolph Explains Trouble Between Teams' Heads|page=3|work=Evening Ledger|location=Philadelphia, PA|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/164175074|access-date=30 Jul 2021}}</ref> and for some minor league and college teams. It was first applied to the Yankees in 1918, two years before Ruth joined the team.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Popik |first1=Barry |title=The Big Apple: Murderers' Row |url=https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/murderers_row/ |website=barrypopik.com |date=May 11, 2005}}</ref> Ruth used the term himself in 1920 referring to the Yankees lineup, in his book, "Playing the Game, My Early Years in Baseball."<ref>"Playing the Game, My Early Years in Baseball." The United News, 1920, syndicated to numerous newspapers including "The Atlanta Constitution." Ruth said, about the St. Mary's students, "...we made our present murderer's row of the Yankees look like the hitless wonders."</ref>

==1927 Yankees==
The term was initially associated with the beginning of [[Babe Ruth]] and [[Lou Gehrig]] Yankee teams in the mid-1920s, and is commonly recognized to refer specifically to the core of the 1927 Yankee hitting lineup.

Owner [[Jacob Ruppert]] is the man most often credited with building the team, although general manager [[Ed Barrow]] may have had as much to do with it. In a game of a July series against the [[Washington Senators (1901–1960)|Washington Senators]] the Yankees won 21–1, prompting Senators' first baseman [[Joe Judge (baseball)|Joe Judge]] to say, "Those fellows not only beat you but they tear your heart out. I wish the season was over."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Grey |first1=Dave |title=1927 Yankess Remain Greatest in Ball History |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=awtbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LU4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1186,85065 |work=The Michigan Daily |page=3 |date=June 22, 1955}}</ref>

===Season results===
The [[1927 New York Yankees season|1927]] season was particularly spectacular by baseball standards for the Yankees. After losing in the [[1926 World Series]] to the [[1926 St. Louis Cardinals season|St. Louis Cardinals]], they went {{winpct|110|44|record=y}} the next year, won the A.L. pennant by 19 games, and swept the [[1927 Pittsburgh Pirates season|Pittsburgh Pirates]] in the [[1927 World Series|World Series]]. Only five teams have won more regular season games: the [[1906 Chicago Cubs season|1906 Chicago Cubs]] and the [[2001 Seattle Mariners season|2001 Seattle Mariners]] with 116, the [[1998 New York Yankees season|1998 Yankees]] with 114 and the [[1954 Cleveland Indians season|1954 Cleveland Indians]] and [[2022 Los Angeles Dodgers season|2022 Los Angeles Dodgers]] with 111. However, the 1998 Yankees, 2001 Mariners, and 2022 Dodgers played eight more games. Both the Cubs and the Indians lost in the World Series, while the Mariners lost to the Yankees in the [[2001 American League Championship Series|ALCS]] and the Dodgers lost to the Padres in the [[2022 National League Division Series|NLDS]]. The 1998 Yankees went 11–2 in the playoffs, sweeping the [[1998 San Diego Padres season|San Diego Padres]] in the [[1998 World Series|World Series]].

The 1927 Yankees batted .307, slugged .489, scored 975 runs, and outscored their opponents by a record 376 runs. Center fielder [[Earle Combs]] had a career best year, batting .356 with 231 hits, left fielder [[Bob Meusel]] batted .337 with 103 RBIs, and second baseman [[Tony Lazzeri]] drove in 102 runs. Gehrig batted .373, with 218 hits, 52 doubles, 18 triples, 47 home runs, a then record 175 RBIs, slugged at .765, and was voted A.L. MVP. Ruth amassed a .356 batting average, 164 RBIs, 158 runs scored, walked 137 times, and slugged .772. Most notably, his 60 home runs that year broke his own record and remained the Major League mark for 34 years until [[Roger Maris]] broke it by one with 61; however, just like the 1998 Yankees and 2001 Mariners, this was done in a 162-game schedule, a fact that Commissioner [[Ford Frick]], a close friend of Ruth, wanted noted when the single-season home run record was to be referenced.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Barra |first1=Allen |title=The myth of Maris' asterisk |url=https://www.salon.com/2001/10/03/asterisk/ |website=Salon |date=October 3, 2001}}</ref>

The 1927 Yankees pitching staff led the league in ERA at 3.20, and included [[Waite Hoyt]] (22–7), tied for the league lead in wins, and [[Herb Pennock]] at 19–8. Wilcy Moore won 16 as a reliever, and three other Yankee pitchers had ERAs under 3.00 that season.

After sweeping the Pirates in the Series, the Yankees repeated the feat in [[1928 World Series|1928]] by sweeping the [[1928 St. Louis Cardinals season|Cardinals]]. They remain the only MLB franchise to sweep consecutive World Series; the Yankee teams of [[1938 World Series|1938]]–[[1939 World Series|1939]] and [[1998 World Series|1998]]–[[1999 World Series|1999]] repeated the feat.

===Hall of Fame players===
The 1927 Yankees would eventually send six players along with manager [[Miller Huggins]] and president [[Ed Barrow]] to the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Baseball Hall of Fame]]. These were Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Hoyt, Lazzeri, Combs, and Pennock. Only the [[1928 New York Yankees season|1928 Yankees]] had more, with nine players (including infielder Leo Durocher, inducted based on his subsequent managerial accomplishments) along with Huggins and Barrow.

===Roster===
{|class="wikitable"
|+Key
|-
!scope="row" style="background-color: #ffffbb"|{{dagger}}
|Elected to the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Baseball Hall of Fame]]
|-
!scope="row"|#
|Position in the lineup
|-
!scope="row"|AB
|[[At-bat]]s
|-
!scope="row"|R
|[[Run (baseball)|Runs]]
|-
!scope="row"|H
|[[Hit (baseball)|Hits]]
|-
!scope="row"|BA
|[[Batting average (baseball)|Batting average]]
|-
!scope="row"|OBP
|[[On-base percentage]]
|-
!scope="row"|SLG
|[[Slugging percentage]]
|-
!scope="row"|HR
|[[Home run]]s
|-
!scope="row"|RBI
|[[Runs batted in]]
|}

{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+Starting lineup
!#
!scope="col"|Player
!scope="col"|Position
!scope="col"|Games
!scope="col"|AB
!scope="col"|R
!scope="col"|H
!scope="col"|BA
!scope="col"|OBP
!scope="col"|SLG
!scope="col"|HR
!scope="col"|RBI
|-
|{{sort|01|1}}
!scope="row" style="text-align:center; background-color: #ffffbb"|{{sortname|Earle|Combs}}{{sup|{{dagger}}}}
|[[Center fielder|CF]]
|152
|648
|137
|231
|.356
|.414
|.511
|6
|64
|-
|{{sort|02|2}}
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Mark|Koenig}}
|[[Shortstop|SS]]
|123
|526
|99
|150
|.285
|.320
|.382
|3
|62
|-
|{{sort|03|3}}
!scope="row" style="text-align:center; background-color: #ffffbb"|{{sortname|Babe|Ruth}}{{sup|{{dagger}}}}
|[[Right fielder|RF]]
|151
|540
|158
|192
|.356
|.486
|.772
|60
|164
|-
|{{sort|04|4}}
!scope="row" style="text-align:center; background-color: #ffffbb"|{{sortname|Lou|Gehrig}}{{sup|{{dagger}}}}
|[[First baseman|1B]]
|155
|584
|149
|218
|.373
|.474
|.765
|47
|175
|-
|{{sort|05|5}}
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Bob|Meusel}}
|[[Left fielder|LF]]
|135
|516
|75
|174
|.337
|.393
|.510
|8
|103
|-
|{{sort|06|6}}
!scope="row" style="text-align:center; background-color: #ffffbb"|{{sortname|Tony|Lazzeri}}{{sup|{{dagger}}}}
|[[Second baseman|2B]]
|153
|570
|92
|176
|.309
|.383
|.482
|18
|102
|-
|{{sort|07|7}}
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Joe|Dugan}}
|[[Third baseman|3B]]
|112
|387
|44
|104
|.269
|.321
|.362
|2
|43
|-
|{{sort|08|8}}
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Pat|Collins|dab=baseball}}
|[[Catcher|C]]
|92
|251
|38
|69
|.275
|.407
|.418
|7
|36
|}

{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+Bench players
!Player
!Position
!Games
!AB
!Hits
!BA
!HR
!RBI
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Benny|Bengough}}
|[[Catcher|C]]||31||85||21||.247||0||10
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Johnny|Grabowski}}
|C||70||195||54||.277||0||25
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Mike|Gazella}}
|[[Infielder|IF]]||54||115||32||.278||0||9
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Ray|Morehart}}
|IF||73||195||50||.256||1||20
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Julian|Wera}}
|IF||38||42||10||.238||1||8
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Cedric|Durst}}
|[[Outfielder|OF]]||65||129||32||.248||0||25
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Ben|Paschal}}
|OF||50||82||26||.317||2||16
|}

{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+Pitchers
!Player
!Role
!G
!IP
!W
!L
!ERA
!SO
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:center; background-color: #ffffbb"|{{sortname|Waite|Hoyt}}{{sup|{{dagger}}}}
|[[Starting pitcher|SP]]||36||{{frac|256|1|3}}||22||7||2.63||86
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:center; background-color: #ffffbb"|{{sortname|Herb|Pennock}}{{sup|{{dagger}}}}
|SP||34||{{frac|209|2|3}}||19||8||3.00||51
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|George|Pipgras}}
|SP||29||{{frac|166|1|3}}||10||3||4.11||81
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Dutch|Ruether}}
|SP||27||184||13||6||3.38||45
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Urban|Shocker}}
|SP||31||200||18||6||2.84||35
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Wilcy|Moore}}
|RP||50||213||19||7||2.28||75
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Myles|Thomas}}
|[[Relief pitcher|RP]]||21||{{frac|88|2|3}}||7||4||4.87||25
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Bob|Shawkey}}
|RP||19||{{frac|43|2|3}}||3||4||2.89||23
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Joe|Giard}}
|RP||16||27||0||0||8.00||10
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:center"|{{sortname|Walter|Beall}}
|RP||1||1||0||0||9.00||0
|}

==Legacy==
The term "Murderers' Row" is commonly used as a descriptor for teams with formidable talent. It has also been used outside of sports, an example being the [[Essex-class aircraft carrier|''Essex''-class carriers]] anchored at Ulithi Atoll, which were also known as Murderer's Row.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fitzpatrick |first1=Frank |title=A mound of jaw-dropping talent |url=http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/mound+dropping+talent/3987018/story.html |work=The Montreal Gazette |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221213955/http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/mound+dropping+talent/3987018/story.html |archive-date=December 21, 2010 |date=December 16, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Chass |first1=Murray |title=Yanks' Starters Are Murderers' Row of the 90's |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/26/sports/on-baseball-yanks-starters-are-murderers-row-of-the-90-s.html |website=The New York Times |date=October 26, 1999}}</ref>

During the [[2006 American League Division Series]], [[Detroit Tigers]] manager [[Jim Leyland]] referred to the [[2006 New York Yankees season|2006 Yankees]] as "Murderers' Row and Cano" since the entire lineup consisted of players such as [[Johnny Damon]], [[Derek Jeter]], [[Bobby Abreu]], [[Gary Sheffield]], [[Hideki Matsui]], [[Alex Rodriguez]], [[Jason Giambi]], [[Jorge Posada]] and new second baseman [[Robinson Canó]] all of whom would have multiple All-Star game appearances over their careers. Despite Leyland's nomenclature, the team did not have the success of the original 1927 team as they were defeated by the Tigers in that series.

In 2016, [[ESPN]] announced ''1927: The Diary of Myles Thomas''.<ref>{{cite web |title=1927: The Diary of Myles Thomas |url=https://1927-the-diary-of-myles-thomas.espn.com/ |website=ESPN |date=November 2, 2016}}</ref> The core of the project is a historical novel in the form of a diary of Myles Thomas, written by Douglas Alden, published along the same timeline as the events unfolded almost 90 years ago. The project was an attempt to relive the 1927 season through Myles Thomas's diary entries, additional essays and real-time social-media components (including Twitter, etc). The diary runs the length of the full 1927 season, from April 13 through October 10, 1927.<ref>{{cite web |title=About the Diary of Myles Thomas |url=https://1927-the-diary-of-myles-thomas.espn.com/about-the-project-e0315a49d62f#.yxzxj4wuu |website=ESPN |date=April 23, 2016}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Baseball}}
* [[M&M Boys]]
* [[Core Four]]
* [[1927 New York Yankees season]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/1927.shtml 1927 New York Yankees Statistics] at ''[[Baseball-Reference.com|Baseball-Reference]]'' 
*[https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/specials/baseball/yankees/mr.html Murderer's Row] at ''The New York Times'' online archive
*{{cite web |title=The Man Who Created Yankees' Murderers' Row |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-man-who-created-yankees-murderers-row |website=The Daily Beast}}

{{New York Yankees}}
{{1927 New York Yankees}}

[[Category:New York Yankees]]
[[Category:Nicknamed groups of baseball players]]