RIP Ralph Branca

News comes to our crack staff of the passing of Ralph Branca.

He should be remembered for more than a footnote, serving up one of the most famous (or infamous) home runs in baseball history. He was a twenty-game winner one time, and finished his too short career at the age of thirty, after amassing a 88-68 record, and a respectable 3.79 ERA.

He was a three time All-Star, and was the father-in-law of former skipper Bobby Valentine.

He was ninety years old at his passing.

Some praise from his contemporaries:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/willie-mays-shares-memories-ralph-branca-news-article-1.2885052

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/ralph-branca-remembered-dignity-not-pitch-article-1.2884925

http://www.westchestermagazine.com/Ralph-Branca-Admired-Brooklyn-Dodger-Dies-at-90/

Records

            Many people have come up with a list of baseball records that they think will never be broken, for one reason or another. And with this article, I am adding myself to that list, but maybe with a different slant than previously discussed.

            As with most of my lists, I will limit myself to ten records, although there are many more that won't, or can't, be broken. Some of those are records of circumstance, such as being the first to do this, or accomplishing something in your first at bat or first game.

            Some of them are also a matter of the era in which they were set. That being said, I have not used records that were reached and set before 1900, when the game was vastly different.

            So, Cy Young's 511 wins, the 1899 Cleveland Spiders losing 101 games on the road, Old Hoss Radbourn winning 59 games in 1884.

            That being said, in no particular order, my list.

1. Babe Ruth's home runs. Yes, I know that Babe hit 714 in his career, which places him third on the all-time list, meaning his career record has been bettered. Also, his high water mark of  60 homers in a season. No, my favorite statistic, just because of the combination of the randomness of it, combined with the enormity of it, is that 84.5% of Babe's home runs established a new record. 603 of the 714 established a new record, both single season and career. Of course, the era that Ruth played in factors heavily in this statistic, as baseball itself was evolving into a home run based offense (Remember, as the ads from the nineties said, chicks dig the long ball) But it is still amazing. In effect, if someone were to break the current single season home run record, matching Ruth's feat when he did it, they would have to hit 136 home runs. To set the new career home run record, one would have to smash 1406 homers, or a little over 70 per season for twenty years. Pretty safe bet that won't happen. So, in my mind, the most impressive “Ruthian” number is not 714 or 60, but rather 84.5. No one has really come close to that shattering of a record, except for...
   
2. Rickey Henderson's stolen bases. Rickey holds the all-time stolen base crown, with 1,406. Second place belongs to Lou Brock, at 938. Rickey also bested Brock in the single season stolen base record, 130 to 118. So in following the Ruth formula from above, 34.1% of Rickey's steals established a new record. He bettered the existing record by 49.9%. In home run terms, to equal the lead that Henderson has over the second place record holder, you would have to hit 1,142 home runs. As it is, to equal the 1,406 steals, you would have to average 70 steals per season for 20 seasons. In the past 20 seasons, the 70 steal plateau has been reached just six times, and not since 2009.
   
3. Walter Johnson's shutouts. The Big Train pitched an incredible 110 shutouts in his career. Those are complete game shutouts. The greatest pitcher of this generation, Greg Maddux, in his storied  Hall of Fame career tallied 109 complete games. (35 of those were shutouts, in case you were wondering). Second to Jonson is Grover Cleveland Alexander, with 90, and Christy Mathewson is third with 79. If we were to look at pitchers active in the last 70 seasons, Warrren Spahn would be the leader with just 63. As of this writing, Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers is the active shutout leader with 15. Today's game doesn't really place much emphasis on complete games, opting instead to concentrate on pitch counts. One could only imagine how unhittable Johnson would have been if he had been limited to 120 pitches per start. Of course Johnson had the advantage of pitching during the dead ball era, or so it would seem. He had to face Ruth, Cobb, Crawford and Speaker on a pretty regular basis, so it wasn't super easy for pitchers. The story on Johnson was that while he was a fierce competitor, he was truly a nice, gentle man. And he had a fear of killing, or even maiming a batter by an errant pitch, despite what has been described as impeccable control. Batters of the day were of the opposite mindset, being afraid to crowd the plate for the fear of being injured. All except Cobb. Cobb figured that Johnson's good nature would override his competitiveness on the mound, so Ty would dig in and crowd the plate. Amazingly, Cobb hit .366 against Johnson. The same as his career average. Johnson was also the first pitcher to record 3,000 strikeouts, which he did in 1923. He remained the only pitcher with that many strikeouts for fifty-one years, when Bob Gibson reached that plateau. Which brings us to...
   
4. Nolan Ryan's strikeouts. Lynn Nolan Ryan was the 12th round draft pick of the New York Mets in the inaugural baseball free agent draft of 1965. (and actually the only Hall of Famer drafted by the Mets to this day) The Ryan Express would play in twenty-seven seasons, becoming the first pitcher to record 4,000 and then 5,000 strikeouts. In a statistical anomaly, Reds outfielder Cesar Geronimo was the 3,000th strikeout victim of both Nolan Ryan and Bob Gibson. Ryan finished with 5,714 total strikeouts, 839 more than the second place pitcher, Randy Johnson. The opposite of Walter Johnson, who pitched in an era where strikeouts were not a part of the game, eighteen of the top twenty on the strikeout list played during the 'expansion era'. Putting that aside, Ryan's record is 17.2% higher than the next highest total. So to equal that, a pitcher would need to record 6,697 career K's to equal Ryan's astronomical tally, or just 285 strikeouts per year for 20 years to be close to tying the 5,714. Amazingly, Ryan spent a good amount of his career hovering around the .500 winning percentage point, meaning he lost just about as many as he won. In fact from 1967-1980, he won just nine games more than he lost (178-169) But he never lost 20 in a season. Unlike...
   
5. Vic Willis' 29 losses in 1905. Willis, the pride of Cecil County, Maryland, was a pretty good pitcher at the turn of the century. He won 25 games as a rookie for the Boston Beaneaters in 1898, and would top the 20 win mark eight times in a thirteen year career. But he also lost 20 or more three times. His 29 losses are the most by a pitcher in a season during the twentieth century. Much like complete games and forty starts per season, the 20 game losers are a thing of the past. In fact, the last time a pitcher lost 20 games was Mike Maroth of the 2003 Tigers. And then back to 1980 to find the next one. There was a theory I remember from the mid-eighties that hypothesized that teams would keep a pitcher from losing his twentieth because of the 'baseball card factor', that the pitcher would be embarrassed to have that particular negative stat on his card for posterity. Willis was selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee in 1995. Switching gears, we turn to...
   
6. Chief Wilson's 36 triples. J. Owen Wilson hit 36 triples in 1912 (a season that I analyzed earlier this year) That record still stands to this day. Not only does it still stand, but no one has been close to challenging the record since. Shoeless Joe Jackson and Wahoo Sam Crawford both legged out 26 triples in 1912 and 1914 respectively. In the past 50 years, Curtis Granderson's 23 in 2007 remains the closest to Wilson. The only other players to top the 30 triples plateau both did so in the nineteenth century. Triples, which are often regarded as one of the most exciting offensive plays in baseball, while intentional walks may be the least exciting, but no less important. To that end, it brings us...
   
7. Barry Bonds intentional walks. Bonds, a modern day baseball pariah, tallied an unheard of tally of 120 intentional walks in 2004. Barry Bonds set the record for home-runs in a single season and career, but not without controversy. I won't delve into whatever issues surround this slugger, but it is hard to deny his abilities. He was a phenomenal hitter, and a home run threat each time up. It got to the point, as this record attests to, that opposing pitchers would rather walk Bonds and pitch to someone else, than let him beat them. His 120 is 76.5% higher than the second best intentional walk count, which was 68 in 2002 by...Barry Bonds. He holds the three highest single season intentional walks issued totals in history. But the intentional walks kept Bonds from driving in runs, unlike...
   
8. Hack Wilson's 191 RBIs In 1930, offense exploded throughout baseball. Major League baseball had a season batting average of .296. Five players scored 150 or more runs, seven players topped .375 in batting, and six players topped 150 Runs Batted In. Hack Wilson stands out for his 56 home runs, which was the National League record until Mark McGwire hit 70 in 1998. But Wilson's 191 RBI is still the gold standard. There have been a few players get close, Gehrig drove in 185 the following season. Wilson, in 1930, averaged 1.23 runs batted in for each game he played. In today's 162 game season, that same performance would net 199 RBI. In contemporary baseball, Manny Ramirez' 165 RBI in 1999 is the closest anyone has come. The next two are going to be challenging because of the longevity involved in reaching these exalted records. First...
   
9. Connie Mack's 3,731 wins. Spread out over an incredible fifty-three year managerial career, Mack averaged just 70 wins per season, so there is hope. If a manager toiled for forty years, and averages 93 wins per season, he would be close. Mack won 968 more than John McGraw, who is mired in second place. Mack won six 154 game seasons more than McGraw. But times, and rules, have changed. Mack was also the owner of the Philadelphia Athletics, and as such, was entrenched in his position regardless of his managerial performance. He didn't have an owner second guessing his decisions at every turn. I suppose that has its advantages. And for the last of my ten records, I present...
   
10. Hank Aaron's 25 All-Star Game appearances. This will be tough to beat for two huge reasons. First being a productive, All-Star caliber player for at least twenty-five years. Second, they no longer have two All-Star Games during the season. Really, Nolan Ryan is the only player that had a shot at this, over his twenty-seven year career, but some of those seasons were less than stellar.

            So there you have my list...I hope you enjoyed the reasoning and the history.

            Thanks for reading!

1916...and the two Georges

     1916.

     Historic performances abound, some good some bad and some intriguing.

     One of the things that piqued my interest were the two Georges. You know one of them, and might/should know the other. Both share the middle initial of H; both batted left-handed, both were known for their hitting prowess, and had batting records that stretched into the twenty-first century.      Incredibly, both were also excellent pitchers. Both were very young during the 1916 season. Both would be used on the field to take advantage of their hitting prowess before very long, and both would become Hall of Famers.

     Both also faced Walter Johnson during the 1916 season, and both of them fared the same; they both beat “The Big Train” by a 1-0 score.

     Now I have taken a little liberty here, in that one of the Georges only started three games as pitcher this season, earning his only win in the game against Johnson, he completed each of the three games started, earned a 1-2 record, but accumulated a 1.00 ERA in those starts.

     1916 was his second big league season. He started 15 games in his rookie year, and went 4-4 in those games.

     The other George was one of the most dominant pitchers in the league in 1916, his third season in the majors, winning 23 games. At the conclusion of the season, he was 43-21 with a 2.11 ERA. This is George Herman “Babe” Ruth. He was the ace of the Red Sox pitching staff, and also tied for the team lead in home runs. He hit 3 in 136 At Bats.

     Of course we know about Babe's 714 lifetime homers and 60 homers in 1927, but we forget that he set the record for the lowest ERA by a left-handed pitcher in 1916, with a 1.75. That record would fall to Ron Guidry of the Yankees in his incredible 1978 season.

     The second George was George Harold “Gorgeous George” Sisler. A University of Michigan graduate, who earned a degree in mechanical engineering, he was a sweet swinging left-handed hitter who set the all-time record for hits in a season with 257 in 1920. That record was later broken by Ichiro Suzuki in 2004. His 1920 season is regarded as one of the greatest offensive seasons ever. He hit .407, was responsible for 30.11% of the runs scored by his team that year.

     In 1922, Sisler hit .420, and also led the league in hits, runs scored and stolen bases. He had three or more hits in 36 games, and went without a hit in just 17. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1939.

     Here's a trivia question...Who was the last .400 hitter to appear in the World Series in the year he did it?
     None of them.

     Other items of note for the 1916 season at hand:

     The upstart Federal League folded at the end of 1915, and their anti-trust suit against organized baseball was dismissed by Judge (not yet baseball commissioner) Kennesaw Mountain Landis.
     The Chicago Whales (or ChiFeds as they were sometimes called) were owned by Charles Weeghman. Weeghman purchased controlling interest in the Chicago Cubs prior to the 1916 season (with candy magnate William Wrigley as a minority stock holder) and moved the Cubs into the stadium which had been built for the Whales.

      Moving from the West Side Grounds, the Cubs would enjoy playing in the friendly confines of Weeghman Park, soon to be called Wrigley Field, for the next hundred years and beyond.

     Weeghman Park was the first baseball stadium to let the fans keep the balls that were hit into the stands.

     Staying in the National League, Grover Cleveland “Pete” Alexander of the Phillies won pitching's Triple Crown. He led the league in Wins, ERA and strikeouts. He pitched 16 shutouts, which set the record which has not been broken (and probably won't be). For perspective, Chris Sale of the White Sox led the majors in 2016 with 6 complete games, 10 less than Alexander's shutouts. Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers led the majors in shutouts with 3.

     One June 22^nd, the Boston Braves pulled off a rare triple steal in the 11^th inning to beat the New York Giants. How rare you ask? To this day, it remains the only time in National League history that it has been done in extra innings. It was done in the American league in 1941.

     Hal Chase became the second Cincinnati Reds player to win the batting title and lead the league in hits, and was the first National Leaguer to lead in batting in his first season with a new team.

.

     The Brooklyn Robins (named for their manager, Wilbert “Uncle Robbie” Robinson) won their first pennant this year, beating the Phillies by 4 ½ games. The Braves finished third, four games out. But the talk of baseball for the last month of the season was the seemingly hard charging New York Giants.

     On September 7^th, they were in fourth place, fourteen games behind the leaders when they beat the Robins, 4-1. The Giants would then go on to win an all-time record 26 straight games (including a tie) before losing the second game of a doubleheader to the Boston Braves, 8-3. Interestingly, the streak was entirely accomplished at home. Twenty-six straight home games. Obviously, the Giants played better at home, but they also reeled off a seventeen game winning streak that season as well, all of the seventeen were on the road. So exactly half of the Giants' victories came in those two streaks. They remain the only team to have two streaks of fifteen or more wins within the same season.

     At the conclusion of the second streak, the Giants were still in fourth place, but just five games out. They finished the season in fourth, seven games off the pace.

     An aside about Wilbert Robinson...In 1915, he helped with a publicity stunt involving a female aviator named Ruth Law. Robinson, a catcher by trade, and by all accounts, one of the better defensive catchers of the day, (he was the first catcher to play directly behind the batter) agreed to catch a baseball that would be tossed out of an airplane piloted by Ms. Law.

     Now, from this point, accounts vary, but I will go with the version that I had heard many years ago.

     Dodger outfielder, and known prankster, Casey Stengel convinced Ms. Law that she should throw a grapefruit instead of a baseball, using the logic that a baseball from that height (over 500 feet) could severely injure Robinson if he were to miss it. And knowing Casey the comic relief of the grapefruit, being much bigger than the baseball, would be a sight.

     At the appointed time, Law took to the air, reached her altitude, and tossed the grapefruit. Robinson, in position, circled under the falling orb, and as Casey had thought, was unable to make a clean catch. (remember too, at this point in baseball history, gloves were not very sophisticated) The grapefruit deflected off of Robinson's hands and exploded onto his chest, knocking him to the ground.

     The following messy splatter, combined with the acid from the fruit landing in his eye made Robinson convinced that he had been blinded and seriously aimed. His concern stopped when he saw his teammates laughing at him.

     From that day on, whenever he saw an airplane, he would refer to them as 'fruit-flies'.

     On the other side of the coin, in the American League, the Philadelphia Athletics set the all-time record for futility in the modern era. They went 36-117, for a .235 Winning Percentage, and finished 54 ½ games out of first place.

     Two pitchers, Bullet Joe Bush ( 15 wins, 41.7%) and Elmer Myers (14 wins, 38.9%) accounted for 80.6% of their teams wins.

     Joe Bush was the first to pitch a no-hitter during an eventual 20 loss season. ( he finished at 15-24).

     Pitcher Jack Nabors won against the Red Sox, and Rube Foster, on April 22^nd. He then went on to lose his next nineteen decisions, something which has never been done in a single season since.

     In fact, Nabors would never win another game, finishing with a 1-25 record in 52 games pitched.

     Walter Johnson of the Senators, became the ninth pitcher to both win 20 games and lose 20 games in the same season. It would be 57 years before Wilbur Wood would be the next to do it. Johnson also had the third lowest ERA for a 20 game loser (1.90). This would be Johnson's fourth straight year in leading the league in wins, fifth straight year in leading in shutouts, and his seventh straight 20 win season.

     It was the first time that a pitcher had led the American League in wins while his team had a losing record. Eppa Rixey of the Reds would replicate the same feat, the fourth time in National League history.

     Eddie Foster of the Senators would hit a home run on April 20^th , and then go through the rest of his career without hitting another home-run, a span of 3,278 at bats (through 1923). It is the second longest streak in history. Tommy Thevenow holds the record of 3,347. (from 1926-1938)

    Wally Schang of the Philadelphia Athletics was the first batter to homer from each side of the plate in the same game.

     Ray Schalk of the White Sox would steal 30 bases, an American League record for catchers that would last until John Wathan of the Royals bested it in 1982.

     Tris Speaker of the Indians became the 3^rd American Leaguer to lead the league in batting in his first season with his new team. He was also the third Indian to lead in batting as well.

     Ty Cobb of the Tigers won both his fifth Stolen Base title, and his firth Runs Scored title.

     Wally Pipp became the first New York Yankee to lead the league in home runs. Pipp would later be replaced at first base by Larrupin' Lou Gehrig.

     Now for George Herman Ruth.

     The Babe became the youngest American League pitcher to win 20 games in a season, ( he was truly just a babe, just 21 years old) collected the third lowest ERA in Red Sox history, and tied for the team lead in home runs. Babe hit 3 in 136 at bats. He appeared in 23 games beyond those he pitched in. He averaged a home run every 45.3 at bats, which would have placed him second in the league behind Frank “Home Run” Baker, who homered every 36 at bats. Babe hit 21.4% of the Red Sox 14 homers that season.

     The team offensive top five were :

Indians

Tigers

White Sox

Giants

Browns

     The pitching top five were:

Brooklyn

Braves

Red Sox

Phillies

White Sox

     And the top five 'power rankings' were:

Brooklyn              NL Champions

White Sox            2^nd place, 2 Games back

Braves                  3^rd place, 4 Games back

Giants                   4^th place, 7 Games back

Tigers                   3^rd place, 4 Games back

     The World Series featured the Brooklyn Robins, who had never finished higher than 2^nd in the modern era, and the Boston Red Sox, who were somewhat of a dynasty at this point. The Sox would be in the midst of four World Series wins in the seven years between 1912 and 1918. 1916 would be the second consecutive World Championship, and are the first American League team to win back-to-back World Series'.

     Remember, it was the Red Sox that won the very first World Series in 1903.

     Babe Ruth pitched in Game 2, going 13 scoreless innings for the win. He would extend his scoreless innings streak to 29 innings during the 1918 Series. That record would stand for forty-three years until Whitey Ford broke it in 1961.

     Okay, let's delve into the statistics from 1916. We'll start with the National League offense which was the lowest offensive performance.

Player	Team	HR	RBI	AVG	SB
Hal Chase	Reds	4	82	.339	22
Heinie Zimmerman	Cubs/Giants	6	83	.286	24
Cy Williams	Cubs	12	66	.279	6
Gavvy Cravath	Phillies	11	70	.283	9
Zack Wheat	Brooklyn	9	73	.312	19
Dave Robertson	Giants	12	69	.307	21
Bill Hinchman	Pirtaes	4	76	.315	10
Rogers Hornsby	Cardinals	6	65	.313	17
Larry Doyle	Giants/Cubs	3	54	.278	19
Benny Kauff	Giants	9	74	.264	40

     And then, against their team averages, the top performers were:

Hal Chase	Above
Bill Hinchman	Above
Heinie Zimmerman	Above
Rogers Hornsby	Above
Cy Williams	Above
Max Carey	Pirates	7	42	.264	63
Gavvy Cravath	Above
Zack Wheat	Above
Ed Konetchy	Braves	3	70	.260	13
Dave Robertson	above

     Which brings us to the overall rankings, the top offensive performers were:

Hal Chase

Heinie Zimmerman

Bill Hinchman

Cy Williams

Rogers Hornsby

Gavvy Cravath

Zack Wheat

Dave Robertson

Max Carey

Ed Konetchy

     Over in the American League, who statistically performed 7% better than their hitting counterparts in the Senior Circuit, we get these initial rankings:

Ty Cobb	Tigers	5	68	.371	68
Tris Speaker	Indians	2	79	.386	35
Bobby Veach	Tigers	3	91	.306	24
Shoeless Joe Jackson	White Sox	3	78	.341	24
George Sisler	Browns	4	76	.305	34
Wally Pipp	Yankees	12	93	.262	16
Del Pratt	Browns	5	103	.267	26
Jack Graney	Indians	5	54	.241	10
Eddie Collins	White Sox	0	52	.308	40
Harry Heilman	Tigers	2	73	.282	9

     Then compared to their teams performances, we get:

Ty Cobb	Above
Amos Strunk	Athletics	3	49	.316	21
Tris Speaker	Above
Joe Jackson	Above
Bobby Veach	Above
Wally Schang	Athletics	7	38	.266	14
Stuffy McInnis	Athletics	1	60	.295	7
Wally Pipp	Above
George Sisler	Above
Del Pratt	above

     This brings us to an overall ranking of these top ten offensive American League performers:

Ty Cobb

Tris Speaker

Bobby Veach

Joe Jackson

Amos Strunk

George Sisler

Wally Pipp

Del Pratt

Eddie Collins

Jack Graney

     Next, we'll look at the pitching, where the National League hurlers ranked 4% better statistically than the American League, in a very pitching dominant era. I will highlight the Runs Allowed instead of ERA because of the fielding conditions and equipment of the era.

     In the National League, the initial rankings are:

Pitcher	Team	W-L	RA	ERA
Grover Cleveland “Pete” Alexander	Phillies	33-12	2.08	1.55
Jeff Pfeffer	Brooklyn	25-11	2.49	1.92
Eppa Rixey	Phillies	22-10	2.85	1.85
Lefty Tyler	Braves	17-9	2.85	2.02
Rube Marquard	Broooklyn	13-6	2.37	1.58
Dick Rudolph	Braves	19-12	2.68	1.16
Larry Cheney	Brooklyn	18-12	3.24	1.92
Slim Sallee	Cardinals/Giants	14-9	2.58	2.18
Fred Toney	Reds	14-17	2.94	2.28
Tom Hughes	Braves	16-3	2.57	2.35

     And comparing to their teams performances, we get the following:

Pete Alexander	Above
Bill Doak	Cardinals	12-8	3.56	2.63
Al Mamaux	Pirates	21-15	3.57	2.53
Slim Sallee	Above
Wilbur Cooper	Pirates	12-11	2.63	1.87
Eppa Rixey	Above
Jef Pfeffer	Above
Hippo Vaughn	Cubs	17-15	2.88	2.20
Red Ames	Cardinals	11-16	3.95	2.64
Lefty Tyler	Above

     Which brings the top ten rankings to:

Pete Alexander

Jeff Pfeffer

Eppa Rixey

Rube Marquard

Lefty Tyler

Dick Rudolph

Slim Sallee

Ted Hughes

Larry Cheney

Fred Toney

     Over to the American League, our initial rankings are:

Babe Ruth	Red Sox	23-12	2.31	1.75
Walter Johnson	Senators	25-20	2.56	1.90
Harry Coveleski	Tigers	21-11	2.91	1.97
Bob Shawkey	Yankees	24-14	2.54	2.21
Red Faber	White Sox	17-9	2.94	2.02
Nick Cullop	Yankees	13-6	3.23	2.05
Ed Cicotte	White Sox	15-7	2.70	1.78
Eddie Plank	Browns	16-15	2.98	2.33
Carl Mays	Red Sox	18-13	2.90	2.39
Dutch Leonard	Red Sox	18-12	2.86	2.36

     And then against their teams, we get:

Bullet Joe Bush	Athletics	15-24	3.42	2.57
Elmer Myers	Athletics	14-23	4.83	3.66
Walter Johnson	Above
Harry Coveleski	Above
Bob Shawkey	Above
Nick Cullop	Above
Babe Ruth	Above
Eddie Plank	Above
Red Faber	Above
Carl Weilman	Browns	17-18	2.93	2.15

     Which brings our American League pitching top ten to this:

Babe Ruth

Walter Johnson

Bob Shawkey

Harry Coveleski

Red Faber

Ed Cicotte

Nick Cullop

Eddie Plank

Dutch Leonard

Carl Mays

     There were no post season awards given during this era, so once again I have full reign, as well as 20/20 hindsight as to which awards should be given after the fact. So, in each league, the voting would be as follows:

     In the National League, the Player of the Year top five would be:

Pete Alexander

Jeff Pfeffer

Eppa Rixey

Hal Chase

Rube Marquard

     And Pete Alexander would also win the Pitcher of the Year award, easily.

     In the American League, the Player of the Year rankings would be:

Tris Speaker

Babe Ruth

Walter Johnson

Ty Cobb

Joe Jackson

     And Babe Ruth would be the Pitcher of the Year.