1925…Streaks, a
Bellyache and Pee Wee
The
1925 baseball season continued the post-dead ball era tradition of being incredibly
offense heavy. Half of the major league teams scored 800 or more runs, an
average of over 5 runs per game. Fourteen players amassed over 200 hits in the
154-game season. For perspective, in 2024, in 162 games, only two players
reached that plateau.
While the offense prospers, the yin
and yang of baseball means that the pitching suffers. How much so? For this
season, the offense performed 38.6% better than the pitching. These are based
on my unique formulas, so the tangibility of that percentage is debatable, but
for my purposes, it holds true.
Both
leagues combined to set the following offensive records:
5.24
Runs per game per team, 10.26 runs in each game. Both record highs at the time.
.288
Batting Average
.350
On Base Percentage
.407
Slugging percentage
.750
OPS
And in
pitching, these records were set:
1.90
strikeouts per game, lowest since the 19th century, and still the
record
4.56
Earned Run Average
But there
was some sort of parity in each league. Only 1 team in each league won more
than ninety games. The Washington Senators won 96 and the Pittsburgh Pirates
won 95. And both won the pennant by 8.5 games over their nearest rivals.
The offenses
would keep growing, leading up to the incredibly offensive 1930 season, where both leagues combined for a .292 composite
average, with the National League teams averaging .303.
There were twenty-two
qualifying hitters that finished with a batting average of.340 or higher. You
would have to go back each year from 2014 through 2024 to find 10 players in
total who finished at .340 or above for the season.
Three teams in the National League
finished with 68 wins each, to finish at the bottom of the standings. There was
more of a discrepancy in the American League, as the Boston Red Sox lost 105
games, finishing 49.5 games back. There 105 losses would be a team record until
they lost 107 in the following season.
The Pirates faced the Senators in
the World Series, and won the Championship 4 games to 3. Besting Walter Johnson
in the deciding game 9-7. Johnson, pitching in his third game in the Series was
hit hard, giving up 15 hits and all 9 runs (5 of them earned) while earning a
complete game loss. It was his third complete game of the Series, which would
be his last post-season appearance.
League
Most Valuable Player Sam Peckinpaugh made a record 8 errors in the Series,
including two in the Seventh Game, which led to 2 Pirates runs, which was the
winning margin for the Pirates.
The year before, Johnson and the
Senators won the Series over the Giants, with Johnson starting and completing 2
games. So, to recollect, he started 5 games, and completed all 5. In the 1926
Series, Johnson lost the 2 games he started, but earned the win in the 7th
game, in which he came in to pitch in relief in the 9th inning, and
pitch 4 shutout innings until the Senators scratched out a run in the bottom of
the twelfth giving Johnson his only Championship.
But how did the leagues wind up the
way they did? Here’s the top performing offensive teams, which drove the
league:
American League |
National League |
Tigers |
Pirates |
Browns |
Cardinals |
Senators |
Phillies |
And then the top pitching teams:
Senators |
Reds |
A’s |
Pirates |
White Sox |
Giants |
And that
leads us to the top overall team rankings as:
Pirates |
World Series Champions |
Senators |
American League Champions |
A’s |
2nd in American League |
Tigers |
4th in American League |
Reds |
3rd in National League |
Of note for
the 1925 season, the Major Leagues established a minimum distance for home run
fences, which was 250 feet.
Rogers
Hornsby won the National League Triple Crown for the second time. In 1922, he
became the first National League batter to win the distinction. He led the
league in Batting Average; Home Runs and Runs Batted In.
It would be
1933 before Chuck Klein of the Phillies would be the next National Leaguer to
accomplish this, and then 1937 when Cardinal Ducky Medwick would be the last
National Leaguer to do so.
And Hornsby
combined with Harry Heilmann to lead each league in hitting, both batting
right-handed. As an interesting anomaly, the both led the league in batting in
1921, 1923 and 1925.
Hornsby finished with a .403 batting average, his third and last time he would bat .400 in a season. But not without a bit of controversy. On September 27th, The Rajah would go 3 for 3 to finish the day at .403. He then claimed he was ill, and couldn’t play the following game. There was some sort of discrepancy about that, as the team doctor claimed that Hornsby was fie. As a result, the Cardinals suspended Hornsby for the remainder of the season. He interestingly began the season by taking an 0-4 in the season opener
Hornsby was the player-manager for the Cardinals at the time, was back on the field
and at the helm of the Cardinals for the 1926 season, which would be his last
for the Cardinals.
But his 1925 season was amazing. He established a new National League record with a .756 slugging percentage, which was finally eclipsed by Barry Bonds in 2001. It remains the Major League record for the highest by a second-baseman.
He and teammate “Sunny” Jim Bottomley finished first and second in the batting race, the only teammates to do this twice. They first did it in 1923.
The youth
movement in Philadelphia was about to reap its benefits. Three future Hall of
Famers all debuted for Connie Mack’s A’s in 1925. Lefty Grove and Mickey
Cochrane both appeared in the season opener, with Jimmie Foxx cracking the
line-up 3 weeks later.
A's outfielder Al Simmons
rapped out 253 hits, which was the second highest American League total. It
moved to third place after Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki made 262 hits in 2004.
(George Sisler’s 257 in 1920, when he batted .407 was the American League
standard)
The Indians and the Browns set a record in an Opening Day slugfest, with Cleveland getting the 21-14 win. It remains the most runs scored, in total, for an Opening Day contest.
Every
Indians starter scored at least a run, including Sherry Smith, the starting
pitcher. And every Browns starter did the same, except for their
starting pitcher, Bullet Joe Bush, who gave up seven runs in 2 2/3rd
innings.
Young Mickey Cochrane (who, in case you didn’t know, was Mickey Mantle’s namesake) smashed three home-runs in one game, but would up with only six for the season.
And Lefty Grove became the first rookie pitcher to lead the league in strikeouts. He fanned just 116 batters, and walked 131.
The Brooklyn Dodgers lost their owner, Charles Ebbets early in the season, and the Natonal League responded by cancelling the games of April 21st in his honor. Edward McKeever took over the ballclub, but he would pass away just 8 days after Ebbets, catching a cold at Ebbets’ funeral and succumbing to the flu. The team would then be run by the executors of the Ebbets Estate.
Milt Stock
of the Dodgers sets a record by getting four hits in four straight games, while
pitcher Burleigh Grimes is responsible for 7 outs in 3 at bats, two double
plays and one triple play.
Stock finished with 200 hits, but with less that 40 extra-base-hits. It was the second time in his career and the fourth time in the National League.
Cleveland Indians legend Tris Speaker becomes the 5th player in history to reach 3,000 hits.
And his teammate, shortstop Joe Sewell was the toughest batter to strike out. Seven times in hi career he led the league with the highest at-bats per strikeout. Over the course of his career, he struck out once in every 63 at-bats.
In 1925, he
struck out just 4 times in 608 at-bats, or once every 152 at-bats. Less than
once per month.
And White Sox second-baseman Eddie Collins would become the 6th to reach 3,000 hits.
For the record, in order: Cap Anson, Honus Wagner, Napoleon Lajoie and Ty Cobb were the first four.
Speaking of
Cobb, apparently, he was getting a little frustrated at the press that Babe
Ruth was receiving, and announced that in his next game, he would try to hit a
homer in every at bat, which was counter-intuitive to Cobb’s style of dead-ball
era play. But Cobb did hit three homers on that day.
Cobb
finished his career with 117 home runs. Babe Ruth finished his career with 124
home runs against the Tigers.
Cobb also
took the mound for the second time in his career (the first time was in 1918)
and he proceeded to pitch a one-two-three ninth inning against the St. Louis
Browns
Legendary Senators pitcher Walter Johnson established a new record for the highest batting average for a pitcher in a season, batting .433.
And Senator’s outfielder Sam Rice established a new record for singles in a season with 182, a record later broken by Willie Wilson of the Kansas City Royals in 1980.
Cincinnati Reds pitcher Dolph Luque became the second National League pitcher to lead the league in Earned Run Average while finishing with a losing record.
Hitting machine George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns got a hit in 34 consecutive games, beginning with opening day. It remains the record for hitting streaks begun on opening day.
And speaking of Opening Day in St. Louis, the Cardinals got twelve hits in the first inning of their opener in a 12-3 win over the Reds.
Pirate outfielder Kiki Cuyler established a new National League record for Runs Scored with 144. It would be broken by Rogers Hornsby in 1929. Cuyler also led the National League in triples with 26, which ties him in second place for the most triples hit in a season. (Shoeless Joe Jackson hit 26 in 1912, and Sam Crawford also hit 26 in 1914). Unfortunately for Cuyler, his 26 triples are not even the Pittsburgh team record.
J. Owen Wilson of the Pirates established
the still standing, probably not falling record of 36 in 1912.
Cubs Ace Grover Cleveland Alexander homered on opening day, the first pitcher to do so since 1904.
Tex Vache of the Red Sox is only the second player in history to hit .300 in his only Major League season. (min 100 games/300 at bats)
Plenty of
drama happened before the season started, as the Yankees made their way north
from Spring Training. Babe Ruth, as he had done in previous years, paid a visit
to Hot Springs, Arkansas in order to get himself into playing shape. He had
just won a batting title, but was struggling a bit with his weight. According
to some, he weighed upwards of 260 pounds by this point, but frankly spent most
of his days in Hot Springs carousing, and not putting in the work needed. He
‘fell ill’ in Arkansas, and recovered enough to make it to Spring Training in
Saint Petersburg. It was the Yankees first season at Crescent Lake Field. At
one point, Ruth refused to shag flies in the outfield due to the alligators
that were sunning themselves along the bank of the lake, which was still in
play at the field.
But I
digress…
The Yankees
began their trek north, stopping in Knoxville, Tennessee and then on to
Asheville, North Carolina for an exhibition game against the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Before the game, at the train station, Ruth collapsed, and was stretchered to
the Battery Park Hotel, to be administered to by a doctor.
Rumors swirled around the world,
including one of Ruth’s demise, which brought about a lengthy and heartfelt
obituary from a newspaper in London, England.
“The
great pitcher has struck out Babe Ruth,” proclaimed the Evening
News of London. “The death of the beloved and incomparable Bambino is a
national calamity, for it wipes out the highest paid athlete in the
world.” (5) The Belfast Telegraph followed suit, calling
Ruth the ‘national hero of every schoolboy’ while explaining that his salary
doubled that of the Prime Minister.
But the Babe was just dealing with
a bit of indigestion. Or maybe I was something else. Some blamed the huge meal,
which was a regular thing for Ruth, combined with a winding train ride through
and over the Smoky Mountains for causing the Babe’s malaise. We may truly never
know what the cause was.
Many have
speculated about everything from ulcers, to the flu, to a venereal disease. This
much is fact, however…the Yankees were without their powerhouse, Babe Ruth, for
the first seven weeks of the season.
But he did make it back to the team, and had a decent season, but Far below his par. It was the only time in seventeen seasons that he failed to hit .300, finishing at .290. He did not lead the Yankees in home runs, that honor fell to Bob Meusel, and the Babe failed to drive in 100 runs for just the second time in his Yankee career.
Ruth had
the second biggest batting average drop (at the time) falling from .378 in 1924
to .290 in 1925. (-.088 points)
But there
were other things for the Yankees, as the stumbled to a seventh-place finish,
the lowest finish in the Murderer’s Row era.
Shortstop
Leo Durocher made his plying debut as a nineteen-year-old rookie.
Rookie outfielder Ben Paschal, who replaced Ruth in the early season, hit two inside-the-park homers in an 11-6 win over the Chicago White Sox. Remember this, we will need this later.
Earle Combs
became the first Yankee rookie to reach 200 hits (the second was Joe DiMaggio
in 1936)
And Babe did become the first player in American League history to hit a ‘walk-off’ Grand Slam Homerun, giving the Yankees a 1 run win over the White Sox in 10 innings.
In the
early days of baseball, Everett Scott of the Red Sox, and then the Yankees
established a consecutive-games playing streak of 1,307 games. That was the
gold standard. On May 6th, 1925, Yankees manager was not thrilled
with the performance of the struggling shortstop, so he benched Scott in favor
of rookie Paul ‘Pee Wee’ Wanninger, thus ending the record streak.
Wanninger, the pride of Birmingham, Alabama, was a twenty-two-year-old infielder who worked his way up from the Augusta Tygers (named after Ty Cobb, believe it or not) where he hit a very respectable .296 in the SALLY League, which included a twenty-three-game hitting streak.
Pee Wee did
a yeoman’s job for the Yankees, appearing in 117 games for the Yankees that
season, his only season as a starter.
But let’s go back to Everett Scott’s streak. We know that Yankee legend Lou Gehrig held the record for the longest consecutive games played streak with 2,130. But did you know that it was Scott’s record that he broke?
Maybe you
did, but did you know Lou Gehrig began his streak on June 1st, 1925.
He entered the game as a pinch-hitter, for Pee Wee Wanninger.
Gehrig went
hitless in his one at-bat. And then fate stepped in, with a Wally Pipp headache
on the 2nd, which gave Gehrig the start at first, game #2 in the
2130 game streak.
And it all started with a pinch-hit for the guy that ended Scott’s streak.
Back to
Wanninger, who would be assigned to the St. Paul Saints of the American
Association, where he would play all of the 1926 season, before being dealt to
the Boston Red Sox. He appeared in just 18 games before being reassigned to St.
Paul, but was then purchased by the Cincinnati Reds.
He wrote a
cryptic note on a statistical recap of the 1927 season with Boston, saying “Son
was born May 16, 1927- management would not permit me to go home so I quit.”
While with
the Reds, he again played sparingly, and was returned to the Saints to finish the
season. He never made it back to the majors.
He
continued to play minor league ball, for St. Paul and then Louisville. In the
winter of 1933, he was hired to manage the Knoxville Smokies of the Southern
Association, but was let go by the club two days before the start of the
season.
There was a
cryptic note in the March 9, 1934 issue of the Knoxville News-Sentinel starting
that Smokies owner Bob Allen had ‘ordered’ Wanninger to report to Florida for
Spring Training by March 15th.
Allen was further quoted in the March
15th issue of the Knoxville Journal that he was “anxious to
meet the new Smoky (sic) pilot. I’ve heard a lot about him. If he’s all reports
will have you believe, Knoxville should have a fiery, capable leader”
On April 14th, he was
relieved of his managerial duties, and replaced by catcher Albert Head. According
to the Knoxville News-Sentinel’s article of April 15th, it
said that Wanninger “…realized that he wasn’t cut out for a manager.” And that
there were no hard feelings between the parties, who parted as friends, with
the caveat that the Smokies would try to find a team for Wanninger.
Here's where it gets a bit more interesting…
On April 11th, 1934, the
New York Yankees returned to Knoxville on the way north to begin the season.
There was a bit of one a rivalry between Knoxville and Chattanooga, who were
owned by the colorful Joe Engel. The Yankees played his Lookouts in the
afternoon, but Engel apparently held a big party at his house, with Ruth being
invited, and tried to keep Babe from making the train, attempting make him unable
to appear in Knoxville.
However, Ruth did arrive at Smithson
Stadium to take part in the day’s festivities, even as his late arrival meant
no time for the local newspapermen. And Ruth didn’t disappoint, send three straight
line drives over the right field fence in batting practice, which were followed
by the next two pitches sailing out by teammate Lou Gehrig.
The Yankees, behind future Hall of
Fame starting pitcher Lefty Gomez earned an 8-4 victory over the hometown Smokies.
While Ruth went hitless, and Gehrig had just one hit, it was Tony Lazzeri’s
hitting that helped the Bombers. He hit two homers in the game.
According to the box score in the
April 12th Knoxville News-Sentinel, which for some reason
left Ruth out of the box score, Pee Wee Wanninger started and second base, and
went 0-1. But batting third for the Smokies was left-fielder Ban Paschal, the
same Ben Paschal wo relaced Ruth in 1925, when Ruth was befallen with illness
on the train ride between Knoxville and Asheville.
On, interestingly enough, it was
the first time that the Yankees returned to that town since 1925.
I have looked, and have not been
able to find a reason, but one can definitely speculate that having his former
teammates playing his team had some impact on him, but perhaps I am wrong. It
just seems odd that he would be relieved of his duties just 3 days after that
game.
In an article on the SABR website,
it references an argument between Wanninger and Smokies ownership.
Wanninger signed with the Milwaukee
Brewers of the American Association. He appeared in 5 games, hitting .542
before he was released on May 10th, and I could find no further
reference on him for the rest of that season.
He returned
to baseball where he played and managed in the Sally League and the
Southeastern League from 1936 through 1941, when the was drafted into military
service at thirty-nine. He was in the Army Air Force, where he was stationed in
Denver, and managed several sports teams at Buckley Field.
He was one
of those baseball lifers that you hear about…
Going back
to Ben Paschal, sportswriter referred to him as “The Second Babe Ruth”,
although he wound up being a back-up to Babe Ruth, Bob Muesel and Earle Coms in
the Yankees outfield. He made his big-league debut with the Cleveland in 1915,
but only appeared in 9 games before going back to the minors.
He ended up
playing for the Charlotte Hornets of the Sally League in 1920, after sitting
out with a badly broken leg in the 1917 season, and spent 4 years there, save
for a nine-game stint with the Red Sox in 1920. He moved to the Atlanta
Crackers of the Southern Association in 1924, earning a call-up to the Yankees
for 4 games at the end of the season.
He made the
roster in 1925, as mentioned, and did spend several years with the Yankees as a
bench player. So much so that when the Yankees first began to wear uniform
numbers, and they were initially based on players places in the batting order
and pitching rotation, Paschall was issued number 25, for the 25th
man on the roster.
He remained
in the Bronx until 1930, where he joined the St. Paul Saints of the American
Association, where he was teammates of Mr. Wanninger once again. He was
reportedly signed by the Smokies to provide power to the line-up, but mainly as
a favor to Wanninger. But after Wanninger left the team, Paschal stayed for a
little while, before moving to the Scranton Miners of the New York-Penn League.
After that
season, he moved back to Charlotte, where he played and coached a semi-pro team.
Anyway, back to the season at hand. We’ll analyze the pitching first, beginning with the National League, who held a 2.6% statistical advantage over the American League.
Our initial top ten performers were:
Pitchers |
Team |
W-L |
ERA |
Svs |
Dazzy Vance |
Dodgers |
22-9 |
3.53 |
0 |
Eppa Rixey |
Reds |
21-11 |
2.88 |
1 |
Art Reinhart |
Cardinals |
11-5 |
3.05 |
0 |
Pete Donohue |
Reds |
21-14 |
3.08 |
2 |
Dolph Luque |
Reds |
16-18 |
2.63 |
0 |
Bill Sherdel |
Cardinals |
15-6 |
3.11 |
1 |
Lee Meadows |
Pirates |
19-10 |
3.67 |
1 |
Jack Scott |
Giants |
14-15 |
3.15 |
3 |
Grover Cleveland Alexander |
Cubs |
15-11 |
3.39 |
0 |
Virgil Barnes |
Giants |
15-11 |
3.53 |
2 |
Dazzy Vance led the National League
in strikeouts with 221, but only walked 66 batters. He also tied for the league
lead in shutouts with 4.
Against
their team’s performance, we get this list:
Dazzy Vance |
Above |
|
|
|
Art Reinhart |
Above |
|
|
|
Grover Alexander |
Above |
|
|
|
Larry Benton |
Braves |
14-7 |
3.09 |
1 |
Bill Sherdell |
Above |
|
|
|
Johnny Cooney |
Braves |
14-14 |
3.48 |
0 |
Wilbur Cooper |
Cubs |
12-14 |
4.28 |
0 |
Hal Carlson |
Phillies |
13-14 |
4.23 |
0 |
Eppa Rixey |
Above |
|
|
|
Pete Donohue |
Above |
|
|
|
So, in
combining and analyzing, our top ten pitchers, with their post-season award performance,
were:
5th
in MVP vote |
|
Art Reinhart |
No votes |
Eppa Rixey |
No votes |
Bill Sherdel |
No votes |
Pete Donohue |
15th
in MVP vote (tie) |
Dolph Luque |
13th
in MVP vote |
Grover Cleveland
Alexander |
No vote |
Larry Benton |
No vote |
Johnny Cooney |
No vote |
Lee Meadows |
No vote |
Please note
that during this time period, the players were voted based on their “great
all-around service to his club”. Previous winners were no longer eligible for
this award. And it was the only post-season award, with pitchers and hitters
both eligible.
In the American
League, our initial top ten pitching performers were:
Stan Coveleski |
Washington |
20-5 |
2.84 |
0 |
Walter Johnson |
Washington |
20-7 |
3.07 |
0 |
Sam Gray |
A’s |
16-8 |
3.27 |
3 |
Ted Lyons |
White Sox |
21-11 |
3.26 |
3 |
Ted Blankenship |
White Sox |
17-8 |
3.03 |
1 |
Dutch Ruether |
Washington |
18-7 |
3.87 |
0 |
Hooks Dauss |
Tigers |
16-11 |
3.16 |
1 |
Herb Pennock |
Yankees |
16-17 |
2.93 |
2 |
Slim Harriss |
A’s |
19-12 |
3.49 |
1 |
Dutch Leonard |
Tigers |
11-4 |
4.51 |
0 |
Against
their teams, we get this next list:
Hooks Dauss |
Above |
|
|
|
Herb Pennock |
Above |
|
|
|
Ted Lyons |
Above |
|
|
|
Ted Blankenship |
Above |
|
|
|
Garland Buckeye |
Indians |
13-8 |
3.03 |
1 |
Stan Coveleski |
Above |
|
|
|
Walter Johnson |
Above |
|
|
|
Jake Miller |
Indians |
10-13 |
3.31 |
1 |
George Uhle |
Indians |
13-11 |
4.10 |
0 |
Dutch Leonard |
Above |
|
|
|
One of my
favorite sports names appears on this list…Garland Buckeye. A left-handed
pitcher who was born in Minnesota, not Ohio, as you would hope. He grew up in
Illinois, and went to college in Indiana (Not IU, but Wabash College)
He was a two-sport star, playing both baseball and professional football. His great name belied in nominal sports career, but he had two great-grandsons who played in the major leagues, Drew and Stu Pomeranz.
But, back
to the task at hand, where we compile the top ten American League pitchers
overall:
Stan Coveleski |
12th in MVP vote (tie) |
Walter Johnson |
Previous winner |
Ted Lyons |
20th in MVP vote |
Sam Gray |
No votes |
Ted Blankenship |
No votes |
Hooks Dauss |
No votes |
Herb Pennock |
21st in MVP vote (tie) |
Dutch Ruether |
No vote |
Garland Buckeye |
No vote |
Dutch Leonard |
No vote |
Now to the offense, beginning with the National League
batters, our initial top ten performers were:
Player |
Team |
HR |
RBI |
AVG |
RCG |
Rogers Hornsby |
Cardinals |
39 |
143 |
.403 |
1.72 |
Kiki Cuyler |
Pirates |
18 |
102 |
.357 |
1.49 |
Jack Fournier |
Dodgers |
22 |
130 |
.350 |
1.43 |
Zack Wheat |
Dodgers |
14 |
103 |
.359 |
1.43 |
Jim Bottomley |
Cardinals |
21 |
128 |
.367 |
1.30 |
Pie Traynor |
Pirates |
6 |
106 |
.320 |
1.43 |
Ray Blades |
Cardinals |
12 |
57 |
.342 |
1.29 |
Clyde Barnhart |
Pirates |
4 |
114 |
.325 |
1.37 |
George Harper |
Phillies |
8 |
97 |
.344 |
1.33 |
Irish Muesel |
Giants |
21 |
11 |
.328 |
1.27 |
As stated
earlier, Hornsby won the National League Triple Crown, and finished over .400
on the season. It reminded me of one of my favorite trivia questions…who was
the last .400 hitter to win a World Series?
There has never
been one.
Anyway,
back to business. The top ten National League hitters as compared to their team’s
averages are:
Rogers Hornsby |
Above |
|
|
|
|
Jack Fournier |
Above |
|
|
|
|
Irish Muesel |
Above |
|
|
|
|
Edd Roush |
Reds |
8 |
83 |
.339 |
1.24 |
Zack Wheat |
Above |
|
|
|
|
Mandy Brooks |
Cubs |
14 |
72 |
.281 |
1.26 |
Jim Bottomley |
Above |
|
|
|
|
George Harper |
Above |
|
|
|
|
Gabby Hartnett |
Cubs |
24 |
67 |
.289 |
0.89 |
Kiki Cuyler |
Above |
|
|
|
|
This will
lead us to our top ten overall National League hitters:
Rogers Hornsby |
National League MVP |
Jack Fournier |
No votes |
Kiki Cuyler |
2nd in MVP vote |
Zack Wheat |
15th in MVP vote |
Jim Bottomley |
7th in MVP vote |
Irish Muesel |
12th in MVP vote |
Ray Blades |
No votes |
George Harper |
No votes |
Pie Traynor |
8th in MVP vote |
Edd Roush |
No votes |
The American
League MVP was Roger Peckinpaugh of the American League champion Washington
Senators. He finished with a respectable .292 batting average, and had a
respectable .952 fielding percentage, where he made 28 errors.
If you like
the WAR statistic, or Wins Against Replacement, Peckinpaugh finished 9th
best on the Washington roster, with a 2. WAR, which was just the tenth highest
WAR mark in his career, and remains the lowest WAR of any other American
League Most Valuable Player Award winner.
He was told
of his winning the award before the first game of the Series, and as I mentioned earlier, proceeded to make a record eight errors in the seven games, establishing a dubious
record. According to a year-end review by John H. Foster in the South Bend
Tribune, it was decided going forward that the award announcements would now
be announced at the conclusion of post-season play.
He is the
first shortstop to have won the MVP Award, and he was considered one of the
finest fielders in his day. But his day had passed by the 1925 season. In fact,
it would be the last full season he would play, becoming a part time player in
1926, and then retire from playing after the 1927 season.
He was
noted for his baseball acumen, and was looked at as Bucky Harris’ ‘assistant
manager’ during their time together in Washington, which netted 2 World Series
appearances and 1 World Championship.
He took
over as manager of the Yankees at the end of the 1914 season, but that lasted
twenty games. After he retired, he took the helm of the Cleveland Indians, and
managed them from 1928 through the first part of the 1933 season, never
finishing higher than 3rd on the season. He returned to the Indians
in 1941 for one season.
With that being said, since he doesn’t appear in either of the following lists. Here are the initial American League top ten players:
Tigers |
12 |
102 |
.378 |
1.55 |
|
Ken Williams |
Browns |
25 |
105 |
.331 |
1.60 |
Al Simmons |
A’s |
24 |
129 |
.387 |
1.48 |
Harry Heilmann |
Tigers |
13 |
134 |
.393 |
1.45 |
Tris Speaker |
Indians |
12 |
87 |
.389 |
1.32 |
Goose Goslin |
Senators |
18 |
113 |
.334 |
1.41 |
Al Wingo |
Tigers |
5 |
68 |
.370 |
1.28 |
Eddie Collins |
White Sox |
3 |
80 |
.346 |
1.33 |
Harry Rice |
Browns |
11 |
47 |
.359 |
1.19 |
Bob Muesel |
Yankees |
33 |
143 |
.290 |
1.29 |
And as
compared to their teams, we get this top ten list:
Bob Muesel |
Above |
|
|
|
|
Ben Paschall |
Yankees |
12 |
55 |
.360 |
1.03 |
Tris Speaker |
Above |
|
|
|
|
Ken Williams |
Above |
|
|
|
|
Earle Combs |
Yankees |
3 |
62 |
.341 |
1.17 |
Al Simmons |
Above |
|
|
|
|
Ty Cobb |
Above |
|
|
|
|
Babe Ruth |
Yankees |
25 |
67 |
.290 |
1.05 |
Ike Boone |
Red Sox |
9 |
68 |
.330 |
1.04 |
Harry Heilmann |
Above |
|
|
|
|
And we then
reach our final overall top ten American League hitters as such:
Ken Williams |
No votes |
Ty Cobb |
No votes |
Al Simmons |
2nd in MVP vote |
Harry Heilmann |
4th in MVP vote |
Tris Speaker |
No votes |
Goose Goslin |
No votes |
Bob Muesel |
18th in MVP vote (tie) |
Eddie Collins |
No votes |
Al Wingo |
12th in MVP vote (tie) |
Harry Rice |
5th in MVP vote |
Bringing us
to these are my overall top five players in each league:
National League
Rogers Hornsby
Player of the year
Dazzy Vance
Pitcher of the
Year
Jack Fournier
Kiki Cuyler
Art Reinhart
American League
Ken Williams
Player of the Year
Ty Cobb
Stan Coveleski
Pitcher of the
Year
Walter Johnson
Al Simmons