After a surprising three-year pennant drought, the Yankees climbed once again to the top of the American League, finishing 13 games ahead of the second-place Philadelphia Athletics. The Yankees, incidentally, were managed by Joe McCarthy, who skippered the Cubs to their last pennant in 1929, but was fired after finishing second in 1930.

The World Series opened in New York, and the Cubs grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning, helped by Babe Ruth's error in right field. Ruth atoned for his miscue with an RBI single in the fourth, and Lou Gehrig followed with a two-run homer into the right-field bleachers which gave the Bombers a 3-2 lead. The Yanks made it 8-2 in the sixth, scoring five times and knocking out Cub starter Guy Bush. Both teams scored four runs after that, making the final 12-6. Despite allowing 10 hits and six walks, Red Ruffing went the distance for the victory.

Game 2 wasn't as wild, but the result -- a Yankee decision -- was the same. Gehrig went 3-for-4 and scored a run, Lefty Gomez pitched nine strong innings, and the Bombers took a 2-0 lead in the Series with a 5-2 triumph.

In Chicago for Game 3, Ruth blasted a three-run homer in the first inning, and Gehrig made it 4-1 in the third with a solo clout of his own. The Cubs battled back, though, and after four innings the contest was deadlocked at four runs apiece. The 1932 Series was marked by animosity between the two clubs from the beginning, and when Ruth came up in the fifth with one out, he was greeted by derisive catcalls from the Chicago dugout. He responded with a gesture -- exactly toward whom or what, no one knows for sure -- and then drove a Charlie Root pitch over the wall in deep center field. This would forever after be known as Ruth's "Called Shot." Gehrig followed with his second homer of the game, and the Yankees were well on their way to a 7-5 triumph.

In Game 4, the Cubs exploded for four runs in the first inning, knocking out Yankee starter Johnny Allen in the process. The score was 5-5 after six innings ... at which point the Bombers took over, scoring four runs in both the seventh and ninth innings, thus rolling to a Series-clinching, 13-6 victory. Tony Lazzeri was the hitting star, with a pair of home runs and four RBIs, and Wilcy Moore earned the decision with 5 1/3 innings of relief work.

Managers: Joe McCarthy, NYY; Charlie Grimm, CHC