The 1921 Major League Baseball season began on April 13, 1921. The regular season ended on October 2, with the
New York Giants and
New York Yankees as the regular season champions of the
National League and
American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the 18th
World Series on October 5 and ended with Game 8 on October 13. The Giants defeated the Yankees, five games to three.
1921 was the first of three straight seasons in which the Yankees would lead the majors in wins.
Babe Ruth broke the single season home run record for the third consecutive season by hitting 59 home runs in 152 games. Ruth also broke
Roger Connor's record for the most home runs all time when he hit his 139th home run on July 18 against
Bert Cole.[1] The record for career strikeouts, previously held by
Cy Young was also broken in 1921 by
Walter Johnson; Johnson led the league in strikeouts with 143 and ended the season with 2,835 strikeouts. Young struck out 2,803 during his career.[2] The
Cincinnati Reds set a Major League record for the fewest
strikeouts in a season, with only 308.[3] Future
Hall of FamersKiki Cuyler and
Goose Goslin both debuted in September 1921.[4]
The 1921 schedule consisted of 154 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 22 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place since the
1904 season (except for
1919) and would be used until
1961 in the American League and
1962 in the National League.
Opening Day took place on April 13 with all but the
Chicago White Sox and
Detroit Tigers playing. The final day of the regular season was on October 2. The
World Series took place between October 5 and October 13.