1921...Fall at Coogan's Bluff

 

1921…The Babe, and Coogan's Bluff

 

                The 1921 season was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. Offense continued to dominate, led by ‘The Sultan of Swat”, Babe Ruth, who established new home run records just about every day. He finished the season with a record 59 homers, which surpassed his previous record of 54 set the year before. His 59 was the major league team average of homers for the season. He hit more dingers than five other American League clubs. (The Red Sox hit just 17 all season)

                1921 baseball, on the field, was all Babe Ruth.

                But there were other things going on.

                The aftermath of the 1919 World Series betting scandal was looming large and would be resolved by the year’s end. Commissioner Kennesaw Landis decreeing that even though the eight White Sox players who were acquitted at trial for their involvement, there would no longer be a place for them in organized baseball. These men became the ‘Eight Men Out”, as heralded in the eponymous book by Eliot Asinoff.

                But there were more as well…

                Challenged with bringing baseball to a level of integrity which it had not seen before, Landis acted swiftly and sternly. Along with the eight White Sox players (Chick Gandil, Happy Felsch, Ed Cicotte, Swede Risberg, Lefty Williams, Fred McMullen, Buck Weaver and Joe Jackson) Landis also disqualified four more players for their involvement in various nefarious events.

                Hal Chase, as I mentioned in an earlier article, had worn out his welcome in the national League, finally being released after being alleged to conspire to pay opposing players, and teammates, to ‘throw’ games of which he had a financial stake in. No National League team was interested in his services, reputed to be one of the finest fielding first-basemen of the era. And no American League team wanted him, with his reputation deeply entrenched. Chase was essentially blackballed by the time that Landis ruled him permanently ineligible, and I do not think his role in the Series fix has ever been proven, but the former Cincinnati player was reputed to have made a tidy profit from betting on his former teammates in the fateful Series.

                Heinie Zimmerman, former Giants third baseman who was also out of the game at this time, having been ‘sent home’ by Giants manager John McGraw halfway through the 1919 season. Zimmerman was believed to have been trying to coerce teammates into helping him lose games on purpose. At a trial, McGraw testified to that fact.

                Joe Gedeon of the St. Louis Browns admittedly placed bets on the 1919 Series, based on a tip that he had received from friend, and White Sox conspirator Swede Risberg. Gedeon was present at one of the meetings with Risberg and the known gamblers who were plotting to fix the Series.

                Lee Magee, another one who was out of baseball for the 1920 and 21 seasons, was disqualified for his practice of throwing games and collecting bets. Magee, who had a few legal issues with his team’s previously, was no stranger to the court system. He had sued the Chicago Cubs for his 1920 salary after he was released, stating that he had ‘damning evidence, that would be the “biggest bomb in baseball.”’ But the evidence was never heard, and the jury sided with the Cubs in the suit.

               

Another change that affected the 1921 season was the banning of the spitball, but the change was not taken so lightly. Ty Cobb wrote in his autobiography that outlawing trick pitches”…were outlawed when the owners greedily sold out to home runs.”

                The spitball (or shine ball, or greaseball, or whatever people called it, was used to describe the process of adding a substance to the ball, which cause the ball to dip or dart late in the pitch. Early hurlers that used this trick pitch, would spit tobacco juice on the ball, or rub dirt in it, to make the ball darker, almost the color of the infield dirt, and then through curveballs to take advantage of the nano-second longer that the batter would have to pick up the pitch and its trajectory. Much easier to do when the balls were not tossed out of play with any regularity.

                Some practitioners would use petroleum jelly or other lubricating items (including bar soap rubbed on their pant legs. They would then apply a small bit on the tips of their fingers and throw with the same grip and motion as they would a fastball, but the ball would then almost slip out of their hands because of the substances, giving the ball a bit more backspin upon release, and causing the late break, or dip.

                Yeah, those pitches were officially banned from all levels of baseball after the 1920 season, although those pitches were still thrown many years later. Notably by Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry, who named his autobiography “Me and the Spitter”. Perry was alleged to have thrown the spitball for years, but was never caught, despite many efforts.

                Before each pitch, Gaylord would liberally apply resin to his pitching hand, Then, owing to his reputation, he would look in towards the catcher for his sign. He would then use his right hand to touch several places on his person where one would assume someone to have placed an illegal substance. He would touch the bill of his cap, the back of his cap, behind his ear, his belt buckle. He would come set, begin his wind-up, and release the ball, with the resin cloud releasing with the ball. “Puff ball” is what he called it. They made that pitch illegal late in his career.

                There was a story about Perry and an umpire that had worried himself sick, to the point of obsession trying to figure out how Perry loaded the baseball. (And yes, allegedly Perry was still throwing it throughout his career. So much so that one of his catchers with the Padres confessed that there were times he was afraid to throw the ball back to Perry because they were so greasy, they slipped out of his hands, so he would walk the ball back to the mound.

Anyway, this ump finally approached Perry and said to him that he swore to never tell or call Gaylord on the spitball, but he just had to know how he did it. So, Perry told him. He would have a little bit of petroleum jelly on the back of a medallion that Perry wore. When he got in a jam, he would reach for the medallion, seemingly to tuck it back under his shirt, but actually loading up for the next pitch.

True to his word, the next game that the umpire was behind the plate, and Perry was on the mound, Perry got into a tight spot. He reached for the medallion and loaded up for the next pitch. Time was called by said umpire, not to challenge Perry, but because he, himself, was laughing almost uncontrollably. But he never called Perry on it.

Back to 1921. Each team was allowed to designate spitball pitchers, who would be ‘grandfathered’ in to be allowed to continue throwing the pitch. Most notable of these pitchers was Burleigh Grimes, who was the last of the legal spitballers when he retired in 1934.

Grimes, along with Red Faber and Urban Shocker all figured very prominently in the top pitching performances for 1921.

But 1921 was definitely all about the offense. And while the offense stood out across the leagues, individual players carried some substantial weight on their team’s statistics.

For example, Ty Cobb was solely responsible for 12.3% of the Detroit offense. Teammate Harry Heilmann figured in 13.6% of their offense. Together, this duo averaged out to 26% of the Tigers offense.

George Sisler was responsible for 13.7 Of the St. Louis Browns offense. Rogers Hornsby was at 15% of the Cardinals offense.

Babe Ruth was responsible for 16.2% of the Yankees offense.

But of the five players listed above, only Babe Ruth made the post season.

And the post-season was also historic, in that every game was played within the confines of the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan. While thought of as a ‘Subway Series’, neither team had to travel far for the games. Essentially, they would just move their gear from one clubhouse to the other.

The topography of the area led to the nickname “Coogan’s Bluff”, for the sheltered hollow where the Stadium sat. It was named for James Coogan, a former Manhattan Borough President who owned the land in the late nineteenth century. The bluff ran along the western side of the stadium, along the first base/right-field side.

 

The Giants leased the stadium to the Yankees in 1913. The team who had outgrown Hilltopper Park, in the Washington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan, where they played their home games from 1903 through 1912. In the fall of 1921, the Yankees purchased 20 acres of land across the Harlem River in the Bronx, for the site of their new stadium. With Babe as the biggest draw in the game. Yankee Stadium would be known as the “House that Ruth Built.”

The landlords were becoming less enamored of their tenants by this point.  While the Giants had finished first or second in the four previous seasons, and eight of the previous ten, Ruth and the Yankees outdrew them in 1921 by 26%. Both teams led their leagues in attendance, but the Yankees went over the million-fan mark easily, playing before 1,230,000 plus fans. The Giants fell just short of the million mark, with 973,000.

The Giants were somewhat of a dynasty during this era. 1921 would be the first of four straight National League titles, and eight tiles in fifteen seasons. This would also be the first of three straight Yankees-Giant Series match ups.

The Giants turned on the burners, going 23-9 down the stretch to catch and pass the Pirates for the National League pennant. Over that same timeframe, Pittsburgh went 14-23.

Back to the Series…this would be the last of the best of nine game Series’. The teams alternated between each game, with the Giants acting as the ‘home’ team in the first, third, fifth and seventh games. The Yankees hosted in the other games. Were there to be a ninth game, the Giants would have been the host. But it was not to be, as the Giants won five games to three.

The final game of the Series was a 1-0 affair. With both pitchers earning complete games. Art Nehf of the Giants and Waite Hoyt of the Yankees went the distance. Nehf allowed six hits to Hoyt’s four.

In another glaring example of the evolution of the game, Waite Hoyt took a complete game loss in the deciding game of the Series. The Giants scored in the first inning and were shut down the rest of the way.

Babe Ruth had attempted a stolen base in the second game and wound up with a deep bruise that hampered him in the Series. So much so that he missed Games 6 &7 and served as a pinch-hitter in the deciding game. The stolen base issue would loom large for Ruth in the future, but I have not gotten to that yet…

But the ghosts of 1919 were felt in the 1921 Series. There was speculation that Carl Mays of the Yankees may have been financially motivated to not play at his best. After winning the first game by pitching a 3-0 shutout, Mays was cruising to victory with a 1-0 lead going into the eighth inning. He gave up four hits and three runs to the Giants, who eventually won the game 4-2.

After the game, sportswriter Fred Lieb was contacted by a fan who claimed to have knowledge of a monetary offer made to Mays, and that in the eighth inning, after the money was secured, Mays’ wife signaled to the pitcher that the fix was in.

Lieb brought this information to Commissioner Landis, who hired detectives to investigate Mays, but no evidence was ever publicly uncovered, and Mays was ‘cleared of any wrongdoing.’

The suspicions followed Mays through the following season and into that Series as we, where he lost Game 4 in his only appearance. And then in 1923, he was used sparingly by the Yankees, not used at all in the 1923 Series, and then released. He did sign with the Reds where he again was a twenty-game winner, but he never did play in another World Series.

In other news around the baseball world…

The first ever radio broadcast of a major league games happened in August. Pittsburgh radio station KDKA covered the Pirates-Phillies game from Forbes Field, with Harold Arlin behind the microphone.  A few months later, the station would broadcast the first college football game as well, when the West Virginia Mountaineers traveled to meet the Pittsburgh Panthers.

Detroit Tiger Harry Heilmann and St. Louis Cardinal Rogers Hornsby, each lead their respective leagues in batting average. It was the third time in history that both league leaders batted right-handed. These two hitters would accomplish the feat two more times in the next four years.

            For Hornsby, he would establish a new National League record by hitting.397 in 1921. He would break his own record in 1922 and then establish the existing record in 1924.

How great a hitter was he? Between 1921 and 1924, Hornsby would maintain a .402 batting average. If we include the 1925 season, his average would remain at .402.

Tigers legend Ty Cobb would reach the three-thousand hit plateau. He is the fourth to reach it, on his way to being the first member of the four-thousand hit club.

Cardinals infielder George “Specs” Toporcer made his major league debut in 1921, the first position player to wear eyeglasses while on the field.

Washington Senators ace Walter Johnson passed Cy Young on the all-time strikeout list and finished the season with 2,835. Walter would retire as the only member of the three-thousand strikeout club. He would remain the lone member until Bob Gibson struck out Cesar Geronimo in 1974 to join that exclusive club.

The St. Louis Browns beat the Senators 8-6 in a 19-inning game. Pitcher Dixie Davis went all the way for a complete game.

Infielder Luke Stuart homered in his first major league at-bat, the first American League player to do so. He finished his career with two more hitless at bats, but his one and only hit, the homerun, came off of Walter Johnson.

The Browns were a very potent offense. They were one of three American League teams to finish the season with a .300 average. They had three different players reach 200 hits during the season: George Sisler, Jack Tobin, and William “Baby Doll” Jacobson.

Boston Braves first-baseman Jack “Stuffy” McInnis finished the season with a .999 fielding percentage, which remained a record until Kevin Youklis finished a percentage point higher in 2006. McInnis also began a streak of 1700 errorless chances, another record that was eventually broken by Kevin Youklis.

Cleveland Indians outfielder Smoky Joe Wood set a dubious, but nevertheless impressive record. He drove in the most runs (60) with less than 200 official at-bats (194).  He would finish with a .366 average in limited playing time.

Wood was a former thirty-game winner with the Red Sox, until he came up with a ‘dead arm’. In eight years, Wood won 117 games, and had an Earned Run Average of 1.99 during that time. He was purchased from the Red Sox by Cleveland, where he essentially reinvented himself as a strong-armed outfielder. In those five years in the outfield for the Indians, he hit for a .298 average. He was an everyday player in 1918 and again in 1922.

Smoky Joe left baseball after the 1922 season and was hired on to coach the Yale freshman baseball squad. He was then appointed head coach of the varsity team the following season.

Wood’s career and legacy would be scarred by an event that he was alleged to have been involved in. He, along with Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb, and Dutch Leonard, was implicated in a scheme to ‘throw’ ballgames in an attempt to secure post-season bonuses for the Indians and Tigers in 1919.

According to reports, Cobb and Leonard of the Tigers met with Speaker and Wood of the Indians, to discuss the outcome of the next day’s game. The Indians had already clinched second place, and the Tigers would need to win the following day over the Indians to clinch third and earn a larger bonus. The difference between the third place and fourth-place bonus was $500, which was a tidy sum back in the day.

The fate was determined. And since the outcome was now made a foregone conclusion by these four men, they decided to pool their money to place a bet on the game, which was alleged to have been placed by a friendly stadium attendant. The report that I saw said that Cobb put up $15,00, Leonard put up $1,500 and Speaker and Wood each put up $1,000.

The game in question was won by Detroit 9-5. Interestingly enough, Cobb for the Tigers had just one hit. Speaker, for Cleveland, who was allegedly to have conspired to lose the game, had two triples and a single, scoring two of the five runs scored. Neither Wood nor Leonard appeared in the game.

As it turned out, it seemed that the players did not have the initial money that was pledged, so the bets did not get placed in time. Not all of them anyway. But Leonard and Wood did have the monies, which were bet, and each received $130 in winnings.

In two letters to Leonard, which were used as evidence, Cobb mentions his delay in gathering the funds. But he also mentions a connection to Chicago.

In a letter dated October 23^rd, he wrote:

                “…(we) were considerably disappointed in our business proposition, as we had $2,000 to put into it and the other side quoted us $1,400, and when we finally secured that much money it was about 2 o’clock and they refused to deal with me, as they had men in Chicago to take up the matter with and they had no time, so we completely fell down and of course we felt badly over it.”

Interestingly, Cobb also mentions the ill-fated World Series, which at the time was thought to have been played legitimately, with the Reds upsetting the heavily favored Chicago White Sox.

                “I thought the White Sox should have won, but I am satisfied they were too overconfident.”

Wood’s letter included a check for the winnings, minus a $30 share for the attendant who placed the bet. He went into more detail:

                “The only bet (he) could get down was $600 against $420. Cobb did not get up a cent. He told us that and I believe him. Could have put some at 5 to 2 on Detroit, but did not, as that would make us put up $1,000 to win $400.

“…If we ever have another chance like this, we will know enough to try to get her down early.”

These allegations came to light in 1926. According to some, Dutch Leonard and Ty Cobb’s friendship became cold after the 1919 affair. Cobb had become the Tigers manager, and Leonard felt that he was being purposefully overworked, to the point of developing arm issues. Cobb demoted Leonard to the Pacific Coast League, but not before clearing him through waivers. Tris Speaker, who was also managing at this point, also passed on a waiver claim on his old friend and teammate.

Leonard threatened to go public with these letters, and the story, telling writer Damon Runyon, “I have had my revenge.” Instead, American League President Ban Johnson, along with Tigers owner Frank Navin allegedly paid $20,000 for these letters.

Johnson told the two active players, Cobb and Speaker, that he would not make the incident public if they both agreed to resign as managers, which both did that November. Both remained active players, but both players would leave their teams for the 1927 season. Cobb would join the Philadelphia Athletics, while Speaker joined the Washington Senators. Speaker would join Cobb in 1928 in Philadelphia before both men retired from the game, neither ever managing again.

In 1926, Baseball Commissioner Kennesaw Landis, who was believed to have cleaned up the game several years earlier held and investigation and a hearing into the matter, which Cobb, Speaker, Wood, and the stadium attendant Fred West all appeared for testimony. Leonard refused to travel to Chicago from California, some say because he feared retribution from Cobb.  

There are some that believe that Johnson was able to broker a deal for the players to have retired gracefully, but that has not been proven. Landis gathered al this information, and with the wisdom of Solomon, weighing several items and issues, decided to exonerate the two players in January 1927.

The stress of the issue, with two of the game’s greatest players legacies in doubt took an extreme toll on Ban Johnson. Feeling like his humiliated by the commissioner in his handling of the affair, two days after the announcement of the decision, Johnson collapsed twice, and began staggering about mumbling incoherently. He resigned from his position as American League President after the 1927 season.

Apparently, Cobb never forgot the incident, and among his eccentricities, he carried a “Son of a bitch” list in a notebook up until the end of his life. On that list were Ban Johnson, Kennesaw Landis, and Dutch Leonard.

Yale University looked into the matter, they decided that there was not enough reason to terminate Joe’s contract.

He coached at Yale for fifteen years, leaving when he and two other University coaches were dismissed in 1942. Joe moved to California and opened a golf driving range.

In 1985, Smoky Joe Wood was honored by Yale University, and was awarded an honorary doctorate in Human Letters. He was presented the award by University President A. Bartlett Giamatti.

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Eppa Rixey pitched 301 innings and allowed just one home run.

 

And now, the Babe’s accomplishments.

He became the first player to record 15 triples, 15 homers and 100 walks in a season. It has only been accomplished six times. Once by Ruth, four times by Lou Gehrig and once by Charlie Keller. Only Yankees have accomplished this.

He was the first to steal 15 bases while slugging higher than .750 Babe di that twice, and Jeff Bagwell of the 1994 Astros is the only other to do so.

His 177 runs scored remains the Major League record to this day, as well as his 457 total bases.

He broke Roger Connor’s career home-run record of 139 homes in mid-July, and he would hold that record until April 1974.

And for the third straight season, Ruth established a new season home run record, finishing with 59.

Looking at the final team pitching stats, the top teams in each league were:

National League	American League
Pirates	Yankees
Giants	Indians
Cardinals	Red Sox

 

And looking at team hitting, the top teams were:

Giants	Indians
Braves	Yankees
Pirates	Tigers

 

While it may be a surprise that the powerful Yankees were not the top ranked offensive team, it should be noted that their team .300 season average was actually fourth in the AL.

Looking at average and runs scored, the AL batting leaders were as follows:

Team	Runs Scored	Average
Tigers	887	.316
Indians	925	.308
Browns	835	.303
Yankees	948	.300

 

Overall team ‘power rankings’ were:

Yankees	American League Champion
Indians	2nd place in AL
Giants	World Series Champions
Pirates	2nd place in NL
Cardinals	3rd place in AL

 

 

Looking now at the individual performances, we will start with the National league pitching. Adding the Runs Against Factor (RAF), the initial top ten performers were:

Pitcher	Team	W-L	ERA	RAF
Babe Adams	Pirates	14-5	2.64	3.21
Burleigh Grimes	Dodgers	22-13	2.85	3.57
Wilbur Cooper	Pirates	22-14	3.25	3.99
Bill Doak	Cardinals	15-6	2.59	3.68
Whitey Glazner	Pirates	14-5	2.7	3.38
Eppa Rixey	Reds	19-18	2.78	3.83
Pete Alexander	Cubs	15-13	3.39	3.93
Art Nehf	Giants	20-10	3.63	4.00
Dolf Luque	Reds	17-19	3.38	3.91
Jesse Barnes	Giants	15-9	3.10	3.76

 

And against their team’s performances, we get this list:

Lee Meadows	Phillies	11-16	4.31	5.47
Pete Alexander	Above
Burleigh Grimes	Above
Eppa Rixey	Above
Jimmy Ring	Phillies	10-19	4.24	5.89
Babe Adams	Above
Dolf Luque	Above
Bill Doak	Above
Joe Oeschger	Braves	20-14	3.52	3.85
Rube Marquard	Reds	17-14	3.39	4.17

 

Combining and compiling, our top ten National League pitchers for 1921 were:

Burleigh Grimes

Babe Adams

Pete Alexander

Bill Doak

Eppa Rixey

Wilbur Cooper

Whitey Glazner

Dolf Luque

Art Nehf

Joe Oeschger

 

There were no official post season awards dispensed this season.

 

Moving to the American League, our initial top ten list is:

 

Red Faber	White Sox	25-14	2.48	2.91
Carl Mays	Yankees	27-9	3.05	3.88
Sad Sam Jones	Red Sox	23-16	3.22	3.68
Urban Shocker	Browns	27-12	3.55	4.16
Stan Coveleski	Indians	23-13	3.37	3.91
Bullet Joe Bush	Red Sox	16-9	3.50	3.93
George Mogridge	Senators	18-14	3.00	3.72
Tom Zachary	Senators	18-16	3.96	4.68
Waite Hoyt	Yankees	19-13	3.09	3.86
Walter Johnson	Senators	17-14	3.51	4.16

 

                And then, as compared to their teams, our next list is:

Red Faber	Above
Urban Shocker	Above
Eddie Rommel	A’s	16-23	3.94	4.89
Sad Sam Jones	Above
Dickie Kerr	White Sox	19-17	4.72	5.31
Bullet Joe Bush	Above
George Mogridge	Above
Tom Zachary	Above
Roy Moore	A’s	10-10	4.51	5.16
Walter Johnson	above

 

                This helps bring us to this top ten American League pitchers:

Red Faber

Urban Shocker

Sad Sam Jones

Carl Mays

Bullet Joe Bush

George Mogridge

Tom Zachary

Stan Coveleski

Walter Johnson

Waite Hoyt

 

                Moving to the offense, which far outpaced the pitching statistically by a whopping 46.5%, our initial National League top ten offensive players were:

Player	Team	HR	RBI	AVG	RPG
Rogers Hornsby	Cardinals	21	126	.397	1.53
Frankie Frisch	Giants	8	100	.341	1.39
Ross Youngs	Giants	3	102	.327	1.34
High Pockets Kelly	Giants	23	122	.308	1.30
Edd Roush	Reds	4	71	.352	1.21
Irish Meusel	Phillies/Giants	14	87	.343	1.16
Austin McHenry	Cardinals	17	102	.350	1.16
Jack Fournier	Cardinals	16	86	.343	1.16
Dave Bancroft	Giants	6	67	.318	1.19
Ray Powell	Braves	12	74	.306	1.18

 

                Comparing the players to their team’s statistics, brings us this list:            

Rogers Hornsby	Above
Edd Roush	Above
Ed Konetchy	Cardinals/Dodgers	11	82	.299	1.06
Heinie Groh	Reds	0	48	.331	1.05
Zack Wheat	Dodgers	14	85	.320	1.09
Ray Grimes	Cubs	6	79	.321	1.12
Irish Meusel	Above
Ray Powell	Above
Jimmy Johnston	Dodgers	5	56	.325	1.02
Cy Williams	Phillies	18	75	.320	0.85

 

                Combining compiling and comparing, brings us this list of top National League offensive players:

Rogers Hornsby

Irish Meusel

Frankie Frisch

Edd Roush

Ross Youngs

High Pockets Kelly

Austin McHenry

Jack Fournier

Ray Powell

Ray Grimes

 

                Over to the American League hitters, who outpaced the national League hitters by 10,7% statistically, our initial list, with no great surprise at the top:

Babe Ruth	Yankees	59	168	.378	1.88
Ty Cobb	Tigers	12	101	.389	1.66
Harry Heilmann	Tigers	19	139	.394	1.57
George Sisler	Browns	12	104	.371	1.57
Ken Williams	Browns	24	117	.347	1.42
Bobby Veach	Tigers	16	128	.338	1.48
Bob Meusel	Yankees	24	138	.318	1.46
Tris Speaker	Indians	3	75	.362	1.36
Larry Gardner	Indians	3	120	.319	1.42
Elmer Smith	Indians	16	85	.290	1.29

 

                And compared to their team performances, our top ten list is:

Babe Ruth	above
Tillie Walker	A’s	23	101	.304	1.18
Del Pratt	Red Sox	5	102	.324	1.31
George Sisler	Above
Ty Cobb	Above
Ken Williams	Above
Harry Heilmann	Above
Harry Hooper	White Sox	8	58	.327	1.15
Amos Strunk	White Sox	3	69	.332	1.11
Sam Rice	Senators	4	79	.330	1.10

 

                These lists help bring us to this top ten offensive performers in the American League:

Babe Ruth

Ty Cobb

Harry Heilmann

George Sisler

Ken Williams

Bobby Veach

Bob Meusel

Del Pratt

Tris Speaker

Tillie Walker

 

                As I mentioned earlier, there were no official post-season awards during this season, so I have free reign to choose by top five players overall from each league for any mythical honors.

                In the National League, the top five were:

 

Rogers Hornsby

NL Player of the Year

 

Irish Meusel

Burleigh Grimes

NL Pitcher of the Year

 

Frankie Frisch

Babe Adams

 

 

The American League list was a lot closer than I had imagined it would be. Babe Ruth was far and above any other hitter, in either league. But Red Faber of the White Sox was far and above all the pitchers as well.

He led the AL in ERA by more than half a run over the second-place finisher (2.48 vs 3.00 from George Mogridge of the Senators) and his ERA was almost half of his team’s average. His seventh-place White Sox had a 4.98 ERA. He finished second in wins with 25, for a team that only won 62 games. He combined with teammate Dickie Kerr’s 19 wins, to account for 71% of the Sox victories.

As mentioned earlier, Faber was one of the legal spit-ballers allowed to continue their trade (as was Burleigh Grimes in the National League. It seems that the outlaw pitch would have the ability to slow down the livelier ball, and the more aggressive style of play that les to the huge turn in offensive prowess throughout the major leagues.

The entity of baseball was still reeling from the gambling scandals, and the attention that was being garnered by the colossus clouts of The Bambino was not going unnoticed. There was the ‘rabbit ball’ that was introduced to inspire more offense in the game. This was the beginning of what the historians call the “Live Ball” era of baseball history.

With that being said, it was almost a photo finish for the top spot in this American League top five overall players list:

 

Babe Ruth

AL Player of the Year

 

Red Faber

AL Pitcher of the Year

 

Ty Cobb

Harry Heilmann

George Sisler