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Bob Quinn's first move for the upcoming season, was to hire former Sox outfielder, Shano Collins, to manage his team. It was a year when the Great Depression was being felt in full force and the attendance plummeted. In September, the Sox picked up former Yankee pitcher, Wilcy Moore in the Rule 5 draft from St. Paul in the American Association. In February, Quinn sold Phil Todt to the Philadelphia Athletics. Collins replaced Todt and Bill Regan, who had been mainstays on the right side of the Sox infield, with Bill Sweeney (.243 BA) at first and Rabbit Warstler at second (.295 BA). Along with shortstop Hal Rhyne and thirdbaseman Otis Miller, the Sox actually had their best hitting infield in years. A few weeks into spring training, it was reported that pitcher Ed Morris was rounding into shape slowly after having been laid up with various ailments since he came into camp. When the season began he found himself in the bullpen.
Hod Lisenbee's first start was in the season’s third game, April 16th, at Yankee Stadium, and he pitched a gem. After one first-inning run, he held the Yanks scoreless until the bottom of the ninth when his own wild throw to home plate failed to cut down Tony Lazzeri, who scored the tie-breaking run on Bill Dickey's roller back to the mound. The Sox lost 2-1.
The Sox earned their first win in dramatic style. At Yankee Stadium on April 18th, down 4-1, the Sox battled back and took the game into extra innings. Two runs in the eighth came on a single, a double and Tom Oliver's base hit to left. Charlie Berry's home run tied the game in the ninth. Wilcy Moore held his former teammates in check until in the 15th inning, when Jack Rothrock doubled and came home on Earl Webb's single, to give the Sox a 5-4 win. In Washington, the Sox erupted for a 13-3 victory on April 20th. Charlie Berry led the way with four hits, including two doubles. At Fenway for the home opener, on April 22nd, when Babe Ruth tried to score after a fly out to center field, Berry, a former football player, put a shoulder into the Babe and threw him skyward. Babe took his position in left field in the bottom of the inning, but his left leg gave way and was carried from the field by his teammates and taken to a hospital. He was unable to return to action for two weeks. The Sox lost the contest, 7 to 5. Ed Morris earned his first start of the season against the Yankees on April 25th at Fenway and held the Bombers to four hits and two earned runs before leaving with the score tied and two outs in the eighth inning. The Sox would go up a run in the bottom of the eighth, but the Yankees came back to tie things up in the ninth and send the game into overtime. In the bottom of the 10th, the Sox loaded the bases and won the game on a ground ball, 5 to 4.
On May 2nd, the Sox came from behind to beat Washington in 10 innings. Tom Oliver drove in Hal Rhyne with the walk-off game winner. Ed Morris pitched a good game, holding the Nats to a pair of runs in seven innings, although he again failed to get the decision. Though he still hadn’t cracked the victory column he had an excellent 2.01 earned run and was starting to look like the Big Ed Morris of old when a vicious batting practice line drive by Oliver, broke his toe on May 4th. Earl Webb doubled and homered and led the Sox to a 9-4 win in Cleveland on May 10th. He had another big day in Chicago on May 15th, going 3-for4 with two doubles, good for three RBIs in a 12-8 Sox win. After finishing a 6-12 road trip in May the Sox returned to Fenway and beat Washington, 6-4, on May 26th. Webb had two more doubles that drove in three runs. The Sox rallied for a ninth inning walk-off win against the first place Philadelphia Athletics on May 30th. It was the second game of a doubleheader and the Sox were down 5-0 when they came to bat in the ninth. With a man on first, Tom Oliver's triple scored him with the first run. Oliver scored on a groundball out by Charlie Berry, for the second run. Otis Miller singled and scored when Hal Rhyne laced a double to right center. Jack Rothrock drew a walk and Bill Sweeney followed with a base hit that scored Rhyne with the fourth run. Rube Walberg's wild pitch advanced the runners and he walked Earl Webb to load the bases. That brought up Urbane Pickering who hit a line drive off the wall. Rothrock scored and was followed home by Sweeney, with the winning run, 6-5.
Sweeney (.303 BA) had a 4-for-4 day against the Browns on June 7th, including a double and a triple, helping his mates win, 6-3. Ed Morris returned to the mound on May 27th. In his next four appearances he gave up only four earned runs over 19 2/3 innings. A 7-1 complete-game victory over the Tigers on June 13th, raised his' won-lost record to 3-2, accompanied by a 1.94 ERA.
In Detroit on June 22nd, it was primarily the Earl Webb (.363 BA) show. He hit two doubles and two singles, driving in three runs. Sweeney's two-run homer was also part of the 7 to 2 Sox win. On June 24th, Wilcy Moore kept the Indians in check at League Park. After beating the Sox 13-0 and 10-0, the Indians could only get three hits thru the first eight innings. And the Sox outfielders did not record a putout, as 23 Indians were retired at first base. Charlie Berry's ninth inning triple, with the bases loaded, sewed up a 7-3 win. The next day, Webb knocked out three hits, in four at bats, and the Sox beat Cleveland again, 8 to 3. Then in St. Louis the Sox lost four straight games by one run. They left 34 men on base in those four games. Charlie Berry (.338 BA) was 4-for-4 as the Sox blasted 16 hits in Chicago, winning 7-1 to finish the month. Danny MacFayden was great, giving up six hits. Three straight singles accounted for the lone White Sox run, while the others were well scattered.
The Sox and the Yankees went 11 innings on July 5th. Sox errors kept the Yanks in the game while MacFayden came up with another fine effort. With the score tied at three, Earl Webb was on second and Urban Pickering on first. Charlie Berry singled and Webb held up at third, but Pickering rounded second, headed for third also and got caught in a rundown. Arndt Jorgens threw wild, allowing both Webb and Pickering to score the winning runs. Tom Oliver singled Berry home, giving the Sox a 6-3 final. The Sox and Browns split a doubleheader of July 15th at Fenway. The Sox battled uphill in the first game and were able to walk-off with a 5-4 win. It took 11 innings to do it. Otis Miller, who made three hits in his five times at bat, driving in two runs, was the star of the game for the Red Sox, unless one were inclined to favor Tom Oliver, who drove in the winning run in the 11th inning, after two were out.
After seeing a five run lead wiped out, the Red Sox fought a stubborn battle at Braves Field and finally defeated the Cleveland Indians, 6 to 5 in 12 innings on July 19th. Earl Webb clicked off his 42nd double and Jack Rothrock drove in the winning run. But most of the credit belongs to Wilcy Moore, who took over when the Indians drove Jack Russell out of the game, and except for an error would have saved the game for Russell. Two days later, Moore got another win in extra innings. Rothrock collected three hits and was robbed of another by a great play. But it was Otis Miller who drove in the winning run in the 10th inning, when, with two men on, his grounder took a bad hop by Johnnie Hodapp at second, letting the Sox walkoff a 3-2 win. The Sox had another walk-off win the next day. This time the Chicago White Sox were at Fenway for a doubleheader. With the score tied at two apiece in the ninth inning, when with one out, Earl Webb lined a single to left. Bill Sweeney doubled off the scoreboard and Webb rounded third, heading home. The catcher, Bennie Tate, was waiting for him a got a perfect throw, but after making the tag, dropped the ball. The Sox won 3 to 2. During a doubleheader at Braves Field on July 26th, the Sox won a sloppy game from the Detroit Tigers, in the 10th inning. The Tigers jumped out to a 4-0 lead went up 6 to 3 in the third inning. The Sox scored two in the fourth to put them a run behind. A walk, a single, an error by shortstop Mark Koenig, another walk and a sac fly accounted for the scoring. They tied the score in the seventh on another error by Koenig and a double by Tom Oliver that happened when two Tiger players collided. The winning run in the tenth came on two doubles: one by Oliver and the winning one by Charlie Berry that brought him home giving the Sox a 7-6 walk-off. Oliver and Berry then each banged out three hits the next day as the Sox routed the Tigers, 13-4. Earl Webb went 4-for-4, with two doubles, the next game pacing an 8-1 win the following day. The Sox worked another walk-off win, in the first game of a doubleheader with the Tigers on July 29th. Webb (.367 BA) only had one hit, but it was a clutch one that drove in Jack Rothrock with the game winner in the tenth inning. This was the 10th extra inning game the Sox played this season and they had won eight of them. They took four of the six games played with the Tigers in the past four days, and nine of their last fifteen on the homestand.
The Yankees came in to play seven games and conclude the Sox homestand. The Sox took three of them, the most significant being a 1-0 shutout, that former Yankee hurler, Wilcy Moore, threw against them on August 2nd. He only allowed them only three hits. The Sox who only had three hits, were able to push a run across in the eighth on two of the base hits, a sac bunt, and a ground out. In the Yankee series, the fans hoped to see a home run battle between Babe Ruth (30 HRs) and Lou Gehrig (31 HRs) in the race for the AL home run leadership. But in the seven game series, each only had one homer. On the road and in St. Louis, the Sox came from behind to beat the Browns, 4-3 on August 11th. Tom Oliver's eighth inning hit, with runners on first and second, broke a 3-3 tie.
They did the same thing the next day when they were tied at five apiece after eight innings. Down 4-0, the Sox batted around in the fifth inning to take a 5-4 lead. The Browns tied up the game and the battle headed to the ninth inning. Hal Rhyne singled and Earl Webb dumped a roller down the third base line. Browns pitcher, Sam Gray, made the pickup and threw the ball past first base, allowing Rhyne to score the go-ahead run. Ed Durham finished St. Louis off in the bottom of the ninth, and the Sox were handed a 6-5 win. Danny MacFayden pitched one of his best games of the season, battling Red Kress in Chicago, and coming out on the winning end of a 1-0 game on August 15th. MacFayden won his fourth straight game against the Tigers on August 19th, 9 to 8, holding off the Tigers when they rallied for three runs in the ninth inning. After multiple rain-outs, the Sox returned to Fenway and swept a doubleheader from Washington, on August 29th. Ed Durham won a 3-1 game in the opener and Jack Russell won the second game, 3-2.
MacFayden cruised to a 5-0 three hit shutout of the Detroit Tigers at Fenway on Sept 11th. Ed Durham followed that with a 1-0 shutout the next day. In that game, Bill Sweeney earned a unique hit at Fenway. Leading off the bottom of the 13th inning, he hit a routine fly ball to right field. Roy Johnson of the Tigers camped underneath it when up from the grass of lashed a flock of pigeons. They flew between Johnson’s vision and the ball. The ball tipped off his fingers, and Sweeney pulled into second base, and then took third when Johnson’s hurried throw went wild. He scored on a sacrifice fly for the only run of the game. Earl Webb was the big star against the White Sox on September 14th in a battle for the American League basement. Webb homered and drove in four runs, as the Red Sox piled up twelve runs, winning 12-8. The third Red Sox win in the basement series was decided in the 10th inning. Danny MacFayden battled Ted Lyons of the White Sox to a 2-2 tie. He pitched himself out a tenth inning jam. But in the tenth MacFayden led off with a single and made it to third when Lyons tried to force him at second on a come-backer to the mound, and threw the ball into center field. Tom Oliver singled him home for the walk-off 3-2 win. Durham finished off Chicago in the finale, with another pitching gem, winning 2 to 1. He only walked two batters, one intentionally and the run, he gave up, was unearned. The victory pulled the Red Sox out of eighth place and they would not see the bottom again for the rest of the season.
On September 17th, the Red Sox and Indians split a doubleheader at Fenway Park, with the Red Sox winning the first game 9 to 2, and the Indians winning the second one, 2 to 1. Earl Webb knocked out a double in each game and thereby established a new season's total for two base hits with a number of 65, that topped the mark set by George Burns in 1926, when Burns was a member of the Cleveland Indians. Danny MacFayden (16-12, 3.98 ERA) pitched another great game, beating the Indians, 2 to 1 on September 19th. The one run for Cleveland was unearned, coming on an error by Hal Rhyne. In his final four starts for the season, he allowed six earned runs in 34 innings. Ed Durham finished strong also, shutting out the Browns, 2-0, on September 21st. In his last seven starts he gave up eight earned runs (five in one game) over 56 1/3 innings for a 1.27 ERA. On September 23rd the Red Sox met the Braves in a charity game to benefit the unemployed and their families. Upwards of $21,000 was raised at the gate. The Sox finished in fifth place, a percentage point out of sixth, but were still 45 games behind the first place Athletics. Earl Webb was the star of the team, banging out a team record sixty-seven doubles that still remains the major league record to this day. Webb had never managed to hit more than thirty in his career. He could have had a number of triples on these hits, but he was aware of the record and stopped at second on purpose, therefore the Boston sportswriters called his record-breaking performance a stunt. However, Webb's .333 BA, 96 runs and 103 RBIs led the team. Bill Sweeney was an excellent fielder, with a best-in-the-league .993 fielding percentage (nine errors in 1,384 chances). He appeared in 131 games, posted the second-best batting average of the team with a .295 BA. Rabbit Warstler backed up at short but primarily played second base. He only batted 181 times and had a .243 average. His glove was what was keeping him in the league. Although knocked unconscious by a batted ball during spring training, shortstop Hal Rhyne had his best year. Manager Shano Collins said Rhyne was the best fielding shortstop in the league, even better than Joe Cronin in Washington. Boston sportswriter Burt Whitman declared him the best all-around player on the Red Sox and the only fixture on the club. He played in 147 games and hit for a .273 average, with a .341 on-base percentage. Rhyne even ranked 14th in American League MVP voting. His .963 fielding percentage was best among league shortstops. Tom Oliver had another solid season, batting .276 and posting career highs in doubles (35) and RBIs (75). He may have had an even better year in the field, leading the American League in center field putouts again (427), and in assists (15) and fielding percentage (.993). He didn’t make an error until August 29th. Catcher Charlie Berry enjoyed a banner year. He batted .283, and had the most hits (101), and most runs scored (41) of his career. Pitching mostly in relief with an occasional start, Ed Morris finished the season with a 5-7 won-lost mark and mediocre 4.75 ERA. He fanned only 46 batters and walked 74 in 131 innings of work. After the season, it was reported that injuries and failure to get into condition were responsible for his disappointing campaign. Wilcy Moore went 11-13, had a 3.88 ERA and tied for the American League lead with eight saves. After the 1931 season, Tom Oliver was one of several major leaguers for an all-star tour of Japan. Other members of the team were Hall of Famers Lou Gehrig, Frankie Frisch, Lefty O’Doul, Lefty Grove, and Mickey Cochrane. In dispatches back to the Boston Herald, Oliver said he was amazed at the interest in baseball in Japan.
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