On July 20, Hornsby appeared in what would be his final game, a 5–4 loss to the Yankees. A day later, Hornsby was fired as manager and released as a player by the Browns, who were in last place at the time of his release. His release was partly due to an incident with Browns owner Donald Lee Barnes. On July 15, Hornsby won $35,000 ($ today) from betting on a horse race. When he tried to use $4,000 of this money to pay off a debt to Barnes, Barnes refused to accept it, since it had come from a bookmaker. Hornsby protested to Barnes, "The money is as good as the money you take from people in the loan-shark business. It's better than taking interest from widows and orphans ..." This made Hornsby's release five days later an easy decision for Barnes. Hornsby finished the 1937 season with a .321 batting average and 18 hits in 20 games, and was the oldest player in the AL that season.