by Scott Fennessy
The AL was a slugger’s league for sure. Unlike my dead ball era teams where just hitting near .300 was good enough to win the batting title, anything under .350 was not even considered. 4 hitters topped the .400 mark, and the bambino, in his first FLB season smashed a lot of records as well as baseballs.
New York Yankees (99-41)
This was a solid crew; they had tons of power, average and pitching. Additionally they played terrific defense too, and cruised to the pennant. Babe Ruth won the Triple Crown and set records in all three categories. I figured Napoleon Lajoie’s .424 (his replay numbers almost mirrored his real numbers) average in my 1901 reply would stand the test of time, but Ruth took care of that in just three replays.
Ruth’s final numbers were .425 AVG 61 HR 180 RBI 1.411 OPS .888 SLG, and just for good measure stunned the baseball world by leading the AL in stolen bases too with 22. Catcher Wally Schang hit .412, Aaron Ward hit .375 and for those who only know Wally Pipp as the answer to a trivia question hit .334 with 16 HR and 110 RBI. To state the obvious; Ruth won the AL MVP in my first unanimous vote.
In a league dominated by hitting the bombers took care of business on the hill as well. Carl Mays led the AL in almost every pitching category and took the POY award. Mays went 26-2 with 2 saves, had a 1.52 ERA and a .83 WHIP. Waite Hoyt went an equally impressive 25-3 with a 2.06 ERA and .93 WHIP.
Cleveland Indians (81-59)
Chief Wahoo’s warriors had a good season, with several hitters having great years. Larry Gardner hit .337 with 122 RBI and Joe Sewell hit .361. Sewell, ever the eagle eye drew 90 walks and struck out 18 times. Tris Speaker was one of Ruth’s biggest challengers hitting .390 with 15 HR and drove in 116.
Stan Coveleski was the ace of the staff with 24 wins and a 2.82 ERA.
St. Louis Browns (76-64)
That’s right folks; the Brownies actually won more games than they lost! Johnny Tobin, whom I had never heard of, was the one man that almost got an MVP vote away from Ruth. He set a new FLB record with 254 hits. He finished with a .414 batting average, 39 doubles, 15 triples, 14 HR and 118 RBI. Ken Williams hit .372 with 33 doubles, 25 HR and 118 RBI. George Sisler hit the first cycle in FLB history. He finished at .395 AVG 19 3B and 104 RBI.
Urban Shocker got a few POY votes finishing at 25-7 with a 2.39 ERA and .96 WHIP, but other than Bill Bayne’s 12 victories the other pitchers struggled. Had the pitchers done more they could have had a shot, but when your number 3 starter, Dixie Davis has a 6.08 ERA that’s tough to overcome.
Chicago White Sox (76-64)
The south siders had a good season with some great efforts, but unfortunately it was not to be this year. 6 regulars hit better than .300 with Amos Strunk leading the way at .354. Earl Sheely hit .348 with 113 RBI. Ernie Johnson hit .355, Harry Hooper hit .320, Ray Schalk hit 311 and Johnny Mostil hit .301 in a mostly part time role.
Red Faber nearly won the POY award with a 30-5 effort and a 2.08 ERA. Dickie Kerr was good but not great with a 12-12 season.
Washington Senators (75-65)
Winning baseball in the nation’s capital? The Senators provided some thrills for baseball starved fans. After 3 replays in the bottom of the junior circuit they finished with their first winning record. Joe Judge was the biggest star, hitting .340 with 17 HR and 120 RBI. Bucky Harris hit .327 with 34 steals and set a new league record by being hit by 24 pitches. Sam Rice hit .349 while Clyde Milan hit .304 and Ed Miller hit .325 in a platoon status.
George Mogridge went 17-8 with a 2.03 ERA and .94 WHIP. Eric Erickson went 16-9
Detroit Tigers (66-75)
The Tigers relied heavily on hitting, as every ptcher on the roster struggled, only Dutch Leonard had an ERA under 5.00. The catching tandem of Johnny Bassler and Larry Woodall lacked power but Bassler hit .333 and Woodall hit .349. Lu Blue became the first player to hit two grand slams, and did it in his first ever replay. He hit .335 with 9 HR and 96 RBI.
Ralph Young hit .306 off the bench and Robert Jones hit .356. Charles Shorten hit .308 in a platoon as part of a strong Detroit bench. However it was the deadly trio of Ty Cobb and his .421 batting average (imagine how angry the Georgia Peach was to hit .421 and NOT win the batting title, to his hated rival Babe Ruth no less!) hit 17 homers (so much for being just a speed guy)and 107 RBI. For some reason the computer did not set him loose on the bases and he only stole 3 bases. Bobby Veach hit .351 with 19 HR and 110 RBI. Harry Heilmann hit .393 with 18 HR and 127 RBI. It was a middle of the lineup few pitchers wanted to face.
St. Louis Browns (47-64)
While the summer in St. Louis has not been a lot of fun, the Browns have had a little to be excited for down this final stretch. Second baseman Bennie Bowcock was inserted into the lineup after they were unofficially eliminated and is hitting .306 with 4 home runs. First baseman/Outfielder “Honest John” Anderson has 43 steals. While the top half of the lineup has shown improvement, the bottom 4 are really awful.
If the offense had any kind of output this team would actually be middle of the pack. So while the staff as a whole is hurting John Sudhoff is having a good year. He has 16 wins and an ERA of 2.65.
Philadelphia Athletics (37-75)
Easily the worst team in baseball. James Ryan is the “Star” of this really inept team, hitting .238 with 7 HR and 7 7 steals. Wyatt Lee has a 3.43 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP with 162 strikeouts, but has only 12 wins to show for it.
