1931 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1931 Pittsburgh Pirates
1931 Pittsburgh Pirates
League	National League
Ballpark	Forbes Field
City	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Owners	Barney Dreyfuss
Managers	Jewel Ens

The 1931 Pittsburgh Pirates season was the 50th season of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise; the 45th in the National League. The Pirates finished fifth in the league standings with a record of 75–79.

Offseason

November 6, 1930: Dick Bartell was traded by the Pirates to the Philadelphia Phillies for Tommy Thevenow and Claude Willoughby.^[2]

Regular season

Notable transactions

June 13, 1931: Rollie Hemsley was traded by the Pirates to the Chicago Cubs for Earl Grace.^[3]

Season standings

v
t
e
National League
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
St. Louis Cardinals	101	53	.656	—	54‍–‍24	47‍–‍29
New York Giants	87	65	.572	13	50‍–‍27	37‍–‍38
Chicago Cubs	84	70	.545	17	50‍–‍27	34‍–‍43
Brooklyn Robins	79	73	.520	21	46‍–‍29	33‍–‍44
Pittsburgh Pirates	75	79	.487	26	44‍–‍33	31‍–‍46
Philadelphia Phillies	66	88	.429	35	40‍–‍36	26‍–‍52
Boston Braves	64	90	.416	37	36‍–‍41	28‍–‍49
Cincinnati Reds	58	96	.377	43	38‍–‍39	20‍–‍57

Record vs. opponents

1931 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	BR	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	11–11–1	8–14–1	8–14	6–16	11–11	11–11	9–13
Brooklyn	11–11–1	—	14–8	10–12	10–10	13–9	11–11	10–12
Chicago	14–8–1	8–14	—	14–8	12–10	14–8	14–8–1	8–14
Cincinnati	14–8	12–10	8–14	—	7–15	9–13	6–16	2–20
New York	16–6	10–10	10–12	15–7	—	14–8–1	12–10	10–12
Philadelphia	11–11	9–13	8–14	13–9	8–14–1	—	13–9	4–18
Pittsburgh	11–11	11–11	8–14–1	16–6	10–12	9–13	—	10–12
St. Louis	13–9	12–10	14–8	20–2	12–10	18–4	12–10	—

Game log

1931 Game Log: 75–79 (Home: 44–33; Away: 31–46)

April: 6–8 (Home: 1–2; Away: 5–6)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
1	April 14	@ Cubs	2–6	Root	French (0–1)	—	45,000	0–1
2	April 15	@ Cubs	5–6	Smith	Willoughby (0–1)	—	—	0–2
3	April 16	@ Cubs	4–3	Spencer (1–0)	Blake	—	—	1–2
4	April 17	@ Cubs	4–5	Bush	Wood (0–1)	Smith	30,000	1–3
5	April 18	@ Reds	9–6	French (1–1)	Wysong	—	—	2–3
6	April 19	@ Reds	5–1	Kremer (1–0)	Johnson	—	—	3–3
7	April 20	@ Reds	5–7	Lucas	Meine (0–1)	—	—	3–4
8	April 24	Cubs	6–10	Sweetland	French (1–2)	—	—	3–5
9	April 25	Cubs	3–8	Malone	Kremer (1–1)	May	—	3–6
10	April 26	@ Cardinals	1–0	Meine (1–1)	Hallahan	—	—	4–6
11	April 27	@ Cardinals	5–3	French (2–2)	Rhem	—	—	5–6
12	April 28	@ Cardinals	2–8	Grimes	Wood (0–2)	—	—	5–7
13	April 29	@ Cardinals	1–7	Haines	Kremer (1–2)	—	—	5–8
14	April 30	Reds	8–3	Meine (2–1)	Rixey	—	—	6–8

May: 11–14 (Home: 2–6; Away: 9–8)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
15	May 1	Reds	5–4 (11)	Spencer (2–0)	Carroll	—	—	7–8
16	May 2	Reds	11–5	Osborn (1–0)	Ogden	—	—	8–8
17	May 3	@ Reds	6–3	Kremer (2–2)	Lucas	—	—	9–8
18	May 3	@ Reds	5–10	Kolp	Wood (0–3)	—	—	9–9
19	May 6	Cardinals	5–6 (13)	Grimes	Meine (2–2)	Lindsey	—	9–10
20	May 7	Cardinals	5–11	Haines	French (2–3)	—	—	9–11
21	May 9	Cardinals	2–4	Johnson	Kremer (2–3)	—	—	9–12
22	May 10	@ Robins	3–1	French (3–3)	Phelps	—	28,000	10–12
23	May 11	@ Robins	4–2	Meine (3–2)	Vance	—	5,000	11–12
24	May 15	@ Giants	3–2 (10)	French (4–3)	Mitchell	—	8,000	12–12
25	May 16	@ Braves	2–9	Zachary	Kremer (2–4)	—	15,000	12–13
26	May 17	@ Braves	5–3	Meine (4–2)	Seibold	—	—	13–13
27	May 18	@ Braves	1–3	Brandt	Brame (0–1)	—	—	13–14
28	May 19	@ Phillies	2–3	Elliott	French (4–4)	Elliott	—	13–15
29	May 20	@ Phillies	7–11	Shields	Willoughby (0–2)	—	—	13–16
30	May 23	@ Cubs	4–3	Meine (5–2)	Malone	Spencer (1)	—	14–16
31	May 24	@ Cubs	10–7	Brame (1–1)	Root	Spencer (2)	—	15–16
32	May 25	@ Cubs	6–9	Sweetland	Kremer (2–5)	—	—	15–17
33	May 26	@ Cardinals	9–11	Derringer	Spencer (2–1)	—	—	15–18
34	May 27	@ Cardinals	4–0	Meine (6–2)	Johnson	—	—	16–18
35	May 28	@ Cardinals	11–8 (7)	Osborn (2–0)	Rhem	—	—	17–18
36	May 29	Cubs	3–4 (10)	Root	Kremer (2–6)	—	—	17–19
37	May 30	Cubs	2–9	Sweetland	Spencer (2–2)	—	10,000	17–20
38	May 30	Cubs	5–6	May	Brame (1–2)	Root	18,000	17–21
39	May 31	@ Cubs	0–5	Smith	Meine (6–3)	—	30,000	17–22

June: 8–18 (Home: 4–7; Away: 4–11)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
40	June 2	Braves	4–3	Osborn (3–0)	Brandt	—	—	18–22
41	June 3	Braves	3–4 (10)	Seibold	Brame (1–3)	—	—	18–23
42	June 4	Braves	2–1 (13)	Spencer (3–2)	Haid	—	—	19–23
43	June 5	Braves	0–4	Zachary	Meine (6–4)	—	—	19–24
44	June 6	Phillies	3–2	Kremer (3–6)	Elliott	—	—	20–24
45	June 9	Phillies	3–7	Dudley	Brame (1–4)	Elliott	—	20–25
46	June 10	Giants	5–1	French (5–4)	Walker	—	—	21–25
47	June 11	Giants	6–8 (11)	Berly	Spencer (3–3)	—	5,000	21–26
48	June 12	Giants	2–8	Fitzsimmons	Kremer (3–7)	—	—	21–27
49	June 13	Giants	4–6	Mitchell	Brame (1–5)	—	—	21–28
50	June 14	@ Robins	3–6	Shaute	French (5–5)	Quinn	15,000	21–29
51	June 17	Robins	0–2	Clark	Meine (6–5)	—	—	21–30
52	June 18	@ Giants	1–3	Hubbell	French (5–6)	—	—	21–31
53	June 19	@ Giants	4–1	Kremer (4–7)	Mitchell	—	—	22–31
54	June 20	@ Giants	1–3	Walker	Spencer (3–4)	—	30,000	22–32
55	June 20	@ Giants	0–10	Fitzsimmons	Brame (1–6)	—	30,000	22–33
56	June 21	@ Giants	5–4 (11)	French (6–6)	Heving	—	—	23–33
57	June 22	@ Robins	2–3 (10)	Clark	Wood (0–4)	—	—	23–34
58	June 24	@ Robins	4–6	Shaute	French (6–7)	—	—	23–35
59	June 24	@ Robins	3–5	Heimach	Kremer (4–8)	—	20,000	23–36
60	June 25	@ Phillies	1–5	Dudley	Brame (1–7)	—	—	23–37
61	June 26	@ Phillies	2–13	Watt	Meine (6–6)	—	—	23–38
62	June 27	@ Phillies	10–6	Wood (1–4)	Elliott	Swetonic (1)	15,000	24–38
63	June 27	@ Phillies	4–5	Benge	French (6–8)	Collins	15,000	24–39
64	June 29	@ Braves	4–2	Kremer (5–8)	Zachary	—	—	25–39
65	June 30	@ Braves	1–5	Frankhouse	Brame (1–8)	—	—	25–40

July: 19–10 (Home: 16–8; Away: 3–2)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
66	July 1	@ Braves	4–1	Spencer (4–4)	Seibold	—	—	26–40
67	July 2	@ Braves	1–0	Meine (7–6)	Cunningham	—	—	27–40
68	July 4	Cardinals	9–8 (11)	Osborn (4–0)	Lindsey	—	—	28–40
69	July 4	Cardinals	3–4 (12)	Hallahan	Kremer (5–9)	—	—	28–41
70	July 5	@ Reds	6–4	Brame (2–8)	Johnson	—	—	29–41
71	July 8	Cubs	5–2	Meine (8–6)	Warneke	—	—	30–41
72	July 9	Cubs	4–2	Kremer (6–9)	Teachout	—	—	31–41
73	July 11	Cubs	2–9	Sweetland	Spencer (4–5)	—	—	31–42
74	July 11	Cubs	5–5 (10)			—	—	31–42
75	July 12	@ Reds	7–14	Lucas	Meine (8–7)	—	—	31–43
76	July 12	@ Reds	5–6 (11)	Benton	Swetonic (0–1)	—	—	31–44
77	July 13	Phillies	0–1	Elliott	Kremer (6–10)	—	—	31–45
78	July 14	Phillies	9–4	Meine (9–7)	Dudley	—	—	32–45
79	July 14	Phillies	4–3 (10)	Spencer (5–5)	Collins	—	—	33–45
80	July 15	Phillies	4–2	French (7–8)	Benge	—	—	34–45
81	July 16	Phillies	12–8	Brame (3–8)	Bolen	—	—	35–45
82	July 17	Phillies	1–4	Elliott	Kremer (6–11)	—	—	35–46
83	July 18	Braves	9–3	Meine (10–7)	Seibold	—	—	36–46
84	July 18	Braves	0–1	Cantwell	Spencer (5–6)	—	—	36–47
85	July 22	Robins	10–6	French (8–8)	Shaute	—	—	37–47
86	July 22	Robins	2–3	Heimach	Kremer (6–12)	—	8,000	37–48
87	July 23	Robins	17–6	Brame (4–8)	Vance	—	3,000	38–48
88	July 24	Robins	8–7	Osborn (5–0)	Clark	French (1)	—	39–48
89	July 25	Robins	5–2	Wood (2–4)	Luque	—	12,000	40–48
90	July 25	Robins	3–2 (14)	French (9–8)	Heimach	—	17,000	41–48
91	July 27	Giants	8–6	Kremer (7–12)	Mitchell	Spencer (3)	—	42–48
92	July 28	Giants	2–6	Hubbell	Brame (4–9)	—	—	42–49
93	July 29	Giants	4–5	Walker	Meine (10–8)	—	—	42–50
94	July 30	Giants	9–0	French (10–8)	Morrell	—	—	43–50
95	July 31	Reds	5–0	Kremer (8–12)	Benton	—	—	44–50

August: 15–20 (Home: 6–4; Away: 9–16)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
96	August 1	Reds	1–0	Spencer (6–6)	Rixey	—	—	45–50
97	August 2	@ Reds	3–0	Brame (5–9)	Lucas	—	—	46–50
98	August 4	Cardinals	1–7	Haines	Meine (10–9)	—	—	46–51
99	August 5	Cardinals	5–4 (12)	French (11–8)	Lindsey	—	—	47–51
100	August 5	Cardinals	2–16	Hallahan	Wood (2–5)	—	—	47–52
101	August 6	Reds	2–3	Benton	Spencer (6–7)	—	—	47–53
102	August 7	Reds	9–3	Kremer (9–12)	Lucas	—	—	48–53
103	August 8	Reds	4–3	Meine (11–9)	Johnson	—	—	49–53
104	August 9	@ Reds	2–6	Benton	French (11–9)	—	—	49–54
105	August 9	@ Reds	8–4	Brame (6–9)	Frey	—	—	50–54
106	August 10	Cubs	4–3	Spencer (7–7)	Sweetland	—	—	51–54
107	August 12	@ Giants	6–4	Kremer (10–12)	Hubbell	—	—	52–54
108	August 12	@ Giants	0–9	Walker	Meine (11–10)	—	—	52–55
109	August 13	@ Giants	7–5	Brame (7–9)	Fitzsimmons	—	—	53–55
110	August 13	@ Giants	1–6	Mitchell	French (11–10)	—	10,000	53–56
111	August 14	@ Giants	1–2	Mooney	Spencer (7–8)	—	—	53–57
112	August 15	@ Phillies	4–5	Dudley	Wood (2–6)	Collins	—	53–58
113	August 15	@ Phillies	1–3	Bolen	Meine (11–11)	Watt	—	53–59
114	August 17	@ Phillies	4–2	French (12–10)	Blake	—	—	54–59
115	August 17	@ Phillies	0–3	Collins	Brame (7–10)	—	—	54–60
116	August 18	@ Phillies	14–5	Spencer (8–8)	Bolen	—	—	55–60
117	August 20	@ Braves	1–2 (10)	Brandt	Swetonic (0–2)	—	—	55–61
118	August 20	@ Braves	5–4	Meine (12–11)	Sherdel	—	—	56–61
119	August 21	@ Braves	1–2	Cantwell	Brame (7–11)	—	—	56–62
120	August 22	@ Braves	1–2	Zachary	Spencer (8–9)	—	—	56–63
121	August 23	@ Robins	4–5	Shaute	Meine (12–12)	—	—	56–64
122	August 23	@ Robins	4–5	Quinn	Osborn (5–1)	—	15,000	56–65
123	August 25	@ Robins	5–3	Meine (13–12)	Clark	—	—	57–65
124	August 25	@ Robins	0–5	Heimach	Kremer (10–13)	—	25,000	57–66
125	August 27	Cubs	3–2	Spencer (9–9)	Sweetland	—	—	58–66
126	August 27	Cubs	4–11	Welch	Brame (7–12)	—	—	58–67
127	August 28	@ Cardinals	4–6	Lindsey	French (12–11)	Hallahan	25,000	58–68
128	August 29	@ Cardinals	8–2	Meine (14–12)	Johnson	—	7,500	59–68
129	August 30	@ Cardinals	0–5	Derringer	Kremer (10–14)	—	—	59–69
130	August 30	@ Cardinals	1–4	Hallahan	Spencer (9–10)	—	—	59–70

September: 16–9 (Home: 15–6; Away: 1–3)

#	Date	Opponent	Score	Win	Loss	Save	Attendance	Record
131	September 3	Cardinals	6–4	Osborn (6–1)	Grimes	—	—	60–70
132	September 4	Cardinals	3–1	Meine (15–12)	Hallahan	—	—	61–70
133	September 5	Cardinals	8–5	Kremer (11–14)	Lindsey	—	—	62–70
134	September 6	@ Cubs	5–4	Spencer (10–10)	Root	—	—	63–70
135	September 7	Reds	6–1	French (13–11)	Carroll	—	—	64–70
136	September 7	Reds	4–2	Brame (8–12)	Rixey	—	—	65–70
137	September 8	Reds	3–0	Harris (1–0)	Ogden	—	—	66–70
138	September 9	Robins	5–1	Meine (16–12)	Heimach	—	—	67–70
139	September 10	Giants	1–6	Hubbell	Kremer (11–15)	—	—	67–71
140	September 11	Giants	3–2	French (14–11)	Parmelee	—	—	68–71
141	September 12	Giants	5–1	Harris (2–0)	Mooney	—	—	69–71
142	September 13	@ Robins	5–6	Heimach	Spencer (10–11)	—	10,000	69–72
143	September 15	Robins	5–2	Meine (17–12)	Clark	—	—	70–72
144	September 15	Robins	2–1	French (15–11)	Vance	—	4,000	71–72
145	September 16	Robins	5–11	Clark	Brame (8–13)	—	—	71–73
146	September 17	Braves	0–1	Zachary	Harris (2–1)	—	—	71–74
147	September 17	Braves	4–2 (8)	Spencer (11–11)	Brown	—	—	72–74
148	September 18	Braves	2–6	Brandt	French (15–12)	—	—	72–75
149	September 18	Braves	4–1	Meine (18–12)	Sherdel	—	—	73–75
150	September 19	Braves	7–0	Brame (9–13)	Frankhouse	—	—	74–75
151	September 21	Phillies	4–6	Elliott	Harris (2–2)	Benge	—	74–76
152	September 22	Phillies	3–2 (13)	Meine (19–12)	Collins	—	—	75–76
153	September 24	Phillies	1–5	Elliott	French (15–13)	—	—	75–77
154	September 27	@ Cubs	1–3	Root	Meine (19–13)	Smith	—	75–78
155	September 27	@ Cubs	4–8	Malone	Spencer (11–12)	—	—	75–79

Legend: = Win = Loss = Tie
Bold = Pirates team member

Opening Day lineup

Roster

1931 Pittsburgh Pirates

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Pete McClanahan

Manager

Jewel Ens

Coaches

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	Eddie Phillips	106	353	82	.232	7	44
1B	George Grantham	127	465	142	.305	10	46
2B	Tony Piet	44	167	50	.299	0	24
SS	Tommy Thevenow	120	404	86	.213	0	38
3B	Pie Traynor	155	615	183	.298	2	103
OF	Lloyd Waner	154	681	214	.314	4	57
OF	Paul Waner	150	559	180	.322	6	70
OF	Adam Comorosky	99	350	85	.243	1	48

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Gus Suhr	87	270	57	.211	4	32
Woody Jensen	73	267	65	.243	3	17
Howdy Groskloss	53	161	45	.280	0	20
Earl Grace	47	150	42	.280	1	20
Ben Sankey	57	132	30	.227	0	14
Bill Regan	28	104	21	.202	1	10
Fred Bennett	32	89	25	.281	1	7
Jim Mosolf	39	44	11	.250	1	8
Rollie Hemsley	10	35	6	.171	0	1
Hal Finney	10	26	8	.308	0	2
Pete McClanahan	7	4	2	.500	0	0
Bill Steinecke	4	4	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Heinie Meine	36	284.0	19	13	2.98	58
Larry French	39	275.2	15	13	3.26	73
Ray Kremer	30	230.0	11	15	3.33	58
Erv Brame	26	179.2	9	13	4.21	33
Bill Harris	4	31.0	2	2	0.87	10

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Glenn Spencer	38	186.2	11	12	3.42	51
Spades Wood	15	64.0	2	6	6.05	33
Claude Willoughby	9	25.2	0	2	6.31	4

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Bob Osborn	27	6	1	0	5.01	9
Steve Swetonic	14	0	2	1	3.90	8
George Grant	11	0	0	0	7.41	6
Andy Bednar	3	0	0	0	11.25	2

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
A	Wichita Aviators	Western League	Art Griggs & Howie Gregory

Notes

^ From 1882-1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Side in 1907.
^ Tommy Thevenow page at Baseball Reference
^ Earl Grace page at Baseball Reference

References

[1] From 1882-1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Side in 1907.

[2] Tommy Thevenow page at Baseball Reference

[3] Earl Grace page at Baseball Reference

[1]

[2]

[3]