Baseball...numbers, stories and analysis

1924

It was a prosperous time for many. Calvin Coolidge was in the White House, and would be re-elected that November. The United States was not at war, people were working (the unemployment rate was at 5%) and the economy was booming.

The first ever Winter Olympics were held in the French Alps, and the Summer Olympics were held in Paris. Notre Dame went undefeated in college football, and the National Hockey League expanded into the U.S. For the first time, adding the Boston Bruins.

Macy's held its first ever Thanksgiving Day Parade.

More than nine and a half million fans passed through the turnstiles in 1924, which seems like a lot, but the reality is that only four teams averaged more than ten thousand spectators per game. The Boston Braves dew just over one hundred thousand, or an average of twenty three hundred per game. Granted, they were a last place team that would lose a hundred games that year.

But, the Washington Senators, who would win the World Series drew five hundred eighty thousand, averaging almost seventy four hundred per game.

The Boston Braves began the season in mourning. Their third baseman, Tony Boeckel, was killed the previous December in an auto accident. Inauspiciously, he is the first major league baseball player to die as a result of a traffic accident.

In other historic baseball feats:

Babe Ruth eclipsed the 40 Home Runs and 200 Hits totals for the third time in his career.

Rogers Hornsby of the Cardinals hit .424, which is still the National League record. He bested Zack Wheat, the runner up by .51, which is also a record.

Ike Boone of the Red Sox batted .337, the 8^th highest for an American League rookie.

Kiki Cuyler of the Pirates set the National League record of hitting .354 as a rookie. That record would fall to his future teammate Paul Waner in 1927.

Al Simmons of the A's would hit .308 in his rookie season, beginning a run of 11 straight .300 plus seasons to start a career.

Goose Goslin of the Senators hit 12 Home Runs, while the team totaled just 22 for the season, making Goslin responsible for 55% of his team's Home Run totals, the 4^th highest total in American League history.

Walter Johnson of the Senators and Dazzy Vance of the Dodgers each won the “Pitching Triple Crown”, which is when a pitcher leads their league in Earned Run Average, Wins and Strikeouts. Vance would be the first National League Pitcher to accomplish this feat, and Johnson's third. It is also the third time that it had been accomplished in both leagues the same year, and it would be the last time until it was done in 2011.

Wilbur Cooper of the Pirates would be the 5^th National League pitcher to win 20 or more games while batting over .300. Joe Shaute of the Indians would be the 9^th American League pitcher to do so.

White Sox pitcher Sloppy Thurston would be just the third American League pitcher to win 20 games for a last place team, going 20-17.

So let's look at the 1924 season at hand.

First, in the National League, the New York Giants were one of the teams to average over 10,000 fans per game. They had dominated the National League, and this would be their fourth consecutive National League championship. As a team, they batted .300, and led the league in Runs Scored, Home Runs and Runs per Game. Their offense carried them to a one and a half game lead over the upstart Brooklyn Dodgers.

That mark of .300 is the fifth highest team season batting average in National League history.

The Giants were led by future Hall of Famer Frankie “The Fordham Flash” Frisch, and George “High Pockets” Kelly.

The Washington Senators outlasted the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees to win the American league Championship. In doing so, they became the first team to win the World Series after finishing the previous season with a losing record. They were managed by Bucky Harris, who in a totally obscure and random statistic (the kind I like) holds the record for most managerial wins by someone whose astrological sign is Scorpio.

The World Series itself was one of the more exciting, with the Senators winning in seven games. The last game was won by an Earl McNeely single in the bottom of the twelfth to drive in Muddy Ruel with the winning run. Walter Johnson, who came in to pitch in the bottom of the ninth earned his first World Series win, and his only World Championship. (The Senators would lose the 1925 Series to the Pirates)

Of note in the Series, it marked the first time that two pitchers homered during the Series. Rosy Ryan in Game 3 and Jack Bentley in Game 5. Both for the Giants. That feat would not be repeated until 1967.

So let's delve, shall we?

The Power rankings were:

Senators	World Series Champs
Giants	National League Champs
Tigers	3rd in American League
Yankees	2nd in American League
Pirates	2nd in National League

Why don't we start in the National League with the pitchers. Statistically, the Nationals were 8.16% moire effective than the Americans, but the American League hitters were far more dominant than the National League hitters. One would figure that an 8% swing would work both ways, and in theory, that AL hitters would be 8% better than their NL counterparts, but in 1924, the AL hitters were statistically 10.48% better than the NL.

Anyway, the National League pitchers, with Runs Allowed Average along with Earned Runs Allowed:

Pitcher	Team	W-L	ERA	RA
Dazzy Vance	Dodgers	28-6	2.16	2.60
Hugh McQuillan	Giants	14-8	2.69	3.33	3 saves
Pete Alexander	Cubs	12-5	3.03	4.36
Emil Yde	Pirates	16-3	2.83	3.25
Carl Mays	Reds	20-9	3.15	3.86
Eppa Rixey	Reds	15-14	2.76	3.25	1 save
Wilbur Cooper	Pirates	20-14	3.28	3.89	1 save
Virgil Barnes	Giants	16-10	3.06	3.41	2 saves
Bill Doak	Dodgers/Cardinals	13-6	3.10	3.47	3 saves
Jack Bentley	Giants	16-5	3.78	4.07	1 save

And against their team:

Jesse Barnes	Braves	15-20	3.23	3.87
Dazzy Vance		Above
Johnny Cooney	Braves	8-9	3.18	3.93	2 saves
Pete Alexander		Above
Jimmy Ring	Phillies	10-12	3.97	5.14
Hugh McQuillan		Above
Allan Sothoron	Cardinals	10-16	3.57	4.67
Bill Doak		Above
Vic Aldridge	Cubs	15-12	3.50	4.05
Emil Yde		Above

So then factoring everything, we get a final ranking of:

Dazzy Vance

Jesse Barnes

Pete Alexander

Hugh McQuillan

Emil Yde

Carl Mays

Johnny Cooney

Eppa Rixey

Bill Doak

Wilbur Cooper

So now to the American League:

Walter Johnson	Senators	23-7	2.72	3.14
Herb Pennock	Yankees	21-9	2.83	3.27	3 saves
Tom Zachary	Senators	15-9	2.75	3.29	2 saves
Stan Baumgartner	A's	13-6	2.88	3.73	4 saves
George Mogridge	Senators	16-11	3.76	4.10
Rip Collins	Tigers	14-7	3.71	4.13
Sloppy Thurston	White Sox	20-14	3.80	4.64	1 save
Howard Ehmke	Red Sox	19-17	3.46	3.97	4 saves
Curly Ogden	A's/Senators	9-5	2.58	3.88
Firpo Marberry	Senators	11-12	3.09	4.06	15 saves

And against their team:

Sloppy Thurston		Above
Stan Baumgartner		Above
Red Faber	White Sox	9-11	3.85	4.35
Sherry Smith	Indians	12-14	3.02	4.00	1 save
Joe Shaute	Indians	20-17	3.75	4.39	2 saves
Herb Pennock		Above
Ernie Wingard	Browns	13-12	3.51	4.25
Howard Ehmke		Above
Walter Johnson		Above
Eddie Rommel	A's	18-15	3.95	4.50

Which brings us this list:

Walter Johnson

Sam Thurston

Herb Pennock

Stan Baumgartner

Sherry Smith

Tom Zachary

Howard Ehmke

Joe Shaute

Red Faber

Rip Collins

Now, on to the offensive side of the game.

Beginning with the National League:

Name	Team	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	SB
Rogers Hornsby	Cardinals	25	94	.424	.507	.696	12
Kiki Cuyler	Pirates	9	85	.354	.402	.539	32
High Pockets Kelly	Giants	21	136	.329	.371	.531	7
Ross Youngs	Giants	10	74	.356	.441	.521	11
Jim Bottomley	Cardinals	14	111	.316	.362	.500	5
Zack Wheat	Dodgers	14	97	.375	.428	.549	3
Jack Fournier	Dodgers	27	116	.334	.428	.536	7
Frankie Frisch	Giants	7	69	.328	.387	.468	22
Cy Williams	Phillies	24	93	.328	.403	.552	7
Emil (Irish) Meusel	Giants	6	102	.310	.351	.423	11

And then against their teams:

Rogers Hornsby	Above
Kiki Cuyler	Above
Cy Williams	Above
Zack Wheat	Above
Edd Roush	Reds	3	72	.348	.376	.501	17
Jim Bottomley	Above
Jack Fournier	Above
High Pockets Kelly	Above
Stuffy McInnis	Braves	1	59	.291	.311	.360	9
George Grantham	Cubs	12	60	.316	.390	.458	21

This then brings us the following rankings:

Roger Hornsby

Kiki Cuyler

Zack Wheat

Jim Bottomley

High Pockets Kelly

Jack Fournier

Ross Youngs

Edd Roush

Frankie Frisch

George Grantham

Over in the American League, where the heavy hitter live, we have a bunch of very familiar names populating these lists. The Yankees had individual leaders in just about all of the offensive categories, thanks to babe Ruth. Of course, their first baseman was also able to nab on offensive title. For triples. But it wasn't who you think. It was Wally Pipp, who hit 19 triples. Twenty-one year old Lou Gehrig would play in just ten games in 1924.

But, the initial numbers are:

Babe Ruth	Yankees	46	124	.378	.513	.739	9
Harry Heilman	Tigers	20	225	.346	.478	.533	13
Goose Goslin	Senators	12	129	.344	.421	.516	15
Bob Meusel	Yankees	12	124	.325	.365	.494	26
Eddie Collins	White Sox	6	86	.349	.441	.455	42
Joe Sewell	Indians	4	106	.316	.386	.429	3
Bibb Falk	White Sox	6	99	.352	.406	.487	6
Harry Hooper	White Sox	10	62	.328	.413	.481	2
Ike Boone	Red Sox	13	98	.337	.404	.497	2
Joe Hauser	A's	27	115	.288	.358	.516	7

Then compared to their teams:

Babe Ruth	Above
Joe Hauser	Above
Goose Goslin	Above
Bob Meusel	Above
Ike Boone	Above
Joe Sewell	Above
Harry Heilman	Above
Joe Harris	Red Sox	3	77	.301	.406	.430	6
Bobby Veach	Red Sox	5	99	.295	.359	.426	5
Al Simmons	A's	8	62	.308	.353	.431	16

So our final rankings are:

Babe Ruth

Goose Goslin

Bob Meusel

Joe Hauser

Harry Heilman

Ike Boone

Joe Sewell

Eddie Collins

Bibb Falk

Harry Hooper

Now, as I talked about during the 1912 season recap (and the 1927 article as well), the Chalmers Award was the annual award presented each year, but it didn't last very long. In its absence, each league would present a League Award annually to the best player in each of the leagues. The voting was convoluted, and players who had previously won the award were exempted from further voting.

The League Awards belonged to Walter Johnson and Dazzy Vance. It would be the first time that pitchers were awarded the “most valuable' awards in the same season. Johnson had won a Chalmers Award in 1912, so was till eligible for the League Award. It was Vance's first award.

Now, were I to have voted back then, and imagining that there was no restriction on voting, I would have voted as follows:

National League:

Player	League Award voting
Dazzy Vance	1st
Rogers Hornsby	2nd
Zack Wheat	3rd (tie)
Jim Bottomley	17th
High Pockets Kelly	6th

And in the American League:

Babe Ruth	No votes, won in 1923
Goose Goslin	No votes
Walter Johnson	1st
Sloppy Thurston	No votes
Herb Pennock	4th