Welcome to the World Baseball League

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It's always interesting to see which pitchers throw no hitters and perfect games. Usually a collection of guys you would expect to accomplish such an achievement and guys you've never heard of... Walter Johnson of Chicago threw one against the lowly San Francisco Aftershocks in early 1910 and Rube Waddell threw a perfect game in Game 1 of the 1904 World Series. But also some lesser names like the immortal Biff Schlitzer.


Never knew Walter Johnson tried to win a seat in Congress: "During his later years, Walter kept busy on the farm, served as Montgomery County commissioner, was brought back by the Senators in 1939 as their broadcaster, and made an unsuccessful run as a Republican for a seat in the U.S. Congress. On June 12, 1939, along with such other greats as Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and Honus Wagner, Johnson was inducted into the newly-created Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. During World War II, he made several brief playing appearances in war bond games, including serving up pitches to Ruth in Yankee Stadium."

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In less than a month, Walter Johnson has now thrown two no-hitters. This time he blanked a very good Detroit offense.

Speaking of Detroit, Pete Alexander, the overall 1909 #1 pick is nowhere to be found. Apparently, he did not make the team despite a rookie campaign of 11-2 with a 1.60 ERA coming in right atter the draft. One would assume the Pinstripes will get him in there eventually although he only has a 2.5 star rating.

And New Orleans did not luck out in the year that they got the #1 pick. It is a very weak draft class. Bob Shawkey seems to be the top player from what I can see.

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The Washington Potomacs have opened up a 6.5 game lead over the winner of the last two Eastern League races, Baltimore. Washington is trying to go worst to first as they seem to have finally gotten a team together after so many top picks. Tris Speaker, Eddie Collins and Vean Gregg are leading the way. They also have the #2 pick in the Draft scheduled for today.

Meanwhile, it seemed like after a run of three championships and one W.S. loss in 1905-1908, that the St. Louis Clydesdales were heading in the opposite direction but they have run off 13 straight wins and now lead the Western League. Chicago is still probably the favorite though, just 2.5 games out and waiting for Ty Cobb to join teammates Walter Johnson and Christy Matthewson.

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Grover Cleveland Alexander, who won 373 games in his MLB career is having a tough time. After a good start with Detroit, he could barely get in a game and has now been traded to the worst team in the league, Cambridge. He is 1-5 with a 3.55 ERA this year and has a 2-star rating.

In the standings, Washington is playing .667 ball while St. Louis and Chicago are in a very close contest out West.

In the Draft, New Orleans takes Bob Shawkey with the first pick



A bit about Shawkey's love life from SABR: "A new woman entered Shawkey’s life in 1914. She was Marie Lakjer (pronounced “look here”), a divorcee known to Philadelphians as the “Tiger Lady” for her “massive robe of tiger skins” and matching hat which she wore about town.18 Lakjer made headlines in 1910 when she shot her wealthy husband, Herbert Mason Clapp, in the head. She was charged with “aggravated assault and battery with intent to kill,”19 but she claimed self-defense and the charges were dropped. Clapp survived and the couple divorced. “She is not afraid of a gun, man, or the devil,” said Clapp.20 Lakjer had trouble written all over her, but love can be blind: In November 1914 the 23-year-old Shawkey married the 31-year-old Lakjer in Philadelphia.21 Shawkey’s teammate Amos Strunk was the best man."

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Looking back at the best seasons in WBL history so far, Rube Waddell has dominated. He's only 17-16 with a 2.51 ERA this year, his worst season since 1901 but he sure was dominant in his years with Boston.
The best pitching seasons by WAR in WBL history are:
1. Waddell 14.46 1903
2. Waddell 13.20 1907
3. Waddell 13.18 1905
4. Waddell 12.91 1904
5. Ed Walsh 10.67 1908
6. Chief Bender 10.46 1906
7, Ed Walsh 10.09 1907
8. Wadell 9.95 1909

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No doubt pitchers did more hitting back in the day but was definitely surprised to see that the longest hitting streak of the year belongs to Mordecai Brown of St. Louis - an impressive 19 games.
The MLB Hall of Famer has not had a particulary great WBL career, making his first All-Star team this season at the age of 33.

For a guy with a mangled hand, Brown was not such a terrible hitter. Baseball Reference shows that he hit .253 in 1911 in nearly 100 ABs. and most seasons was somewhere between .150 and .200 during his MLB career.

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What a year for Ed Walsh in the Eastern League and Walter Johnson in the Western. Walsh sets a new record for wins as he goes 35-10 for a very good second place Baltimore team. His ERA was 1.76 and WAR was 9.8. Meanwhile, Walter Johnson threw two no-hitters, was at 1.39, 31-8 and 12.5 WAR. Despite Walsh's season, the Washington Potomacs ran away with the Eastern League title with 107 wins. They will face the Big Train and Chicago in the World Series.

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After years of terrible finishes and top draft picks, Eddie Collins, Tris Speaker and the Washington Potomacs are champs. They beat Chicago in a very good series, 4 games to 2. Tris Speaker was MVP hitting .400 in the series while Ty Cobb hit only .192 for Chicago. Between 1904 and 1909, the Potomacs finished last or second-to-last 5 times but they win it all in 1910.

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The award season saw many of the same players again. For Ty Cobb of Chicago it was his 5th MVP. At 24, the CF now has an incredible 5 MVPs. In 1910, he narrowly lost the batting title to teammate Stuffy McInnis but Cobb, despite missing part of the season to injury, took home the MVP nonetheless. Ed Walsh's 35 wins was good enough for his 3rd straight Ace Award. He signed a massive contract with San Francisco after the season. Walsh will be on the books until at least 1916 for the Aftershocks. Eddie Collins took home his 3rd MVP at age 23 for World Champion Washington. And at 23 years old, Walter Johnson nabbed his 3rd Ace Award.

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Following their World Series loss to Washington in 1910, the Chicago Midways are right back on the horse, opening up a 10.5 game lead over St. Louis and playing .750 ball. The team has Cobb and Walter Johnson who are huge stars and having huge seasons again. Christy Matthewson is still in the bullpen and their secondary stars like John Hummel and Stuffy McInnis have played well. McInnis is hitting .361 and is second in the Western League in RBI with 34. It looks like the Midways are going to cruise to their third straight Series appearance.



"Stuffy had an interesting encounter with future teammate Babe Ruth early in the 1916 season. McInnis was walking across the lobby of the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia on an April evening when he saw Babe Ruth relaxing in an easy chair. That afternoon Ruth had defeated the Athletics in Shibe Park and allowed only five hits, including one by McInnis. McInnis walked over to the Babe and said, “You pitched a fine game out there today, Babe. That fastball of yours was really hopping all afternoon.”

McInnis later reported that although he had batted against Ruth many times in the past, the Babe looked him squarely in the eye and said, “Yeah, kid, it was a pretty good game. Glad you could get out to the ballpark and see it.”"

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The 1910 and 1911 drafts were not the best time to finish last and draft first. The Jazzcats end up with two good players with the #1 overall picks but maybe not first ballot Hall of Fame type players. They took Bob Shawkey last year who struggled this season and then had a major injury, In 1911, they choose Reb Russell.



From SABR: "After an arm injury cut short his pitching career, Russell returned to the big leagues in 1922 as a slugging outfielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates in another impressive “debut” season.

Russell’s first attempts to throw a curveball in the spring of 1917 left him unable to straighten his left arm. X-rays revealed the presence of “two fibrous growths in Reb’s left arm just above the elbow.”8 To combat this malady, the doctor prescribed “exercise and heavy lifting.”

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You don't see this very often. The Chicago Midways have so dominated competition that they are the only team with a winning record in an 8-team league. Pretty incredible but what also amazes me is that the starting lineup and rotation, while obviously having two Hall of Fame giants, isn't really made up of household names. Stuffy McInnis and John Hummel were certainly respected players but on paper I did not imagine this as the best team to ever play in the WBL so far.
Christy Matthewson is also on the team but he's basically been benched and is just 5-2, 3.21 and has been basically pitching every couple weeks.






Ad Brennan is probably best known for beating up John McGraw. From SABR: "
McGraw had intimidated young players in the past, but he made a mistake in taunting Brennan. The 5-foot-11 pitcher turned and caught the approaching Giants manager with a left fist followed by a right. Both punches connected and the shorter McGraw went down, bleeding from his chin and cheek. As the Phillies quickly ushered Ad from the scene, a dazed McGraw was helped to the clubhouse. There were almost as many different versions of the affair as there were newspapers in the country. Unfounded reports, mostly in New York newspapers, said the Giants’ manager had been hit from behind and was deliberately kicked while on the ground."

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Winners ot three World Series championships in 1905, 1906 and 1907, St. Louis has been a very successful team. The Clydesdales play in Busch Park in an average market. The team has been willing to spend money to win. The team has an excited and loyal fan base in St. Louis. The team wears red and brown uniforms.

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A lot of big numbers and big seasons this year.
Washington and Chicago are going to end up facing off in the World Series for the second straight year. Chicago could break the wins record as they are 110-38 on September 3rd and their lead is 30.5 games. What a year.

Ty Cobb is looking for his 6th MVP but is out 3-4 weeks with an injury. He could lose it to teammate Stuffy McInnis down the stretch. Cobb is at .380 but trails in HR and RBI. Cobb will be a huge free agent option in the offseason.

Shoeless Joe Jackson at .403 is having a huge year as well as Tris Speaker, already 117 RBI and Smoky Joe Wood 27-10 1.55 ERA for Philadelphia. The Ace Award in the West could go to Hugh Bedient, who is 25-9 with a 2.03 for Chicago.




Not many guys are traded for 10 players like Hugh Bedient. from SABR: "In early January 1912, Boston announced several major changes to its ownership and management structure, including a new team president, Jimmy McAleer, and a new player-manager-owner, Garland “Jake” Stahl.vii One of the first things the new management did was review the status of all the players under contract with the Red Sox. As Boston was well-stocked with young position players and Smoky Joe Wood’s 23 wins in 1911 had marked him as the ace of the 1912 Boston pitching staff, McAleer and Stahl focused their review on finding additional pitchers to augment the talented Wood. Much to their surprise, they noticed that Boston had let Bedient go. According to the Boston Globe, the Red Sox immediately sent Jersey City 10 players for Bedient. Calling him “high-priced,” the Globe estimated the total value of the players sent to Jersey City at $10,000."

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After losing to Washington in the 1910 World Series, the rematch went to Chicago in a sweep. What a season for the Chicago Midways. They win a record 119 games and then sweep the World Series over a Washington team that won 110 games. Ty Cobb was the MVP, he hit .579 in the series.

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It was a big offseason for free agents as Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Eddie Plank and 2/3 of the Evers-Tinker-Chance trio were headed elsewhere. New York gets the top prize as Ty Cobb signs an 8 year deal for $7000 a season. The 119 win Chicago team will have to find a way to win without him. Cobb was edged out in his bid to win MVP #6 by Chicago teammate Stuff McInnis. The Highrisers also signed Eddie Plans and Cobb joins Joe Jackson but will there be enough pitching?

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Interesting to see some of the MLB Hall of Famers who have underperformed a bit in the WBL.
Addie Joss has only made one All-Star team and had just the one very good season in 1905 when he went 29-11, 1.76. Overall he is 132-122.
Christy Matthewson won an Ace Award in 1901 and has made 4 AS teams but he is going to be well short of 373 wins. He has become a middle reliever for Chicago and is 194-174.
Three Finger Brown made 2 AS teams but is just 140-148 with a 2.75 career ERA.

None of them have been bad players by any means but none seem like Hall of Famers at this point. Possibly Matthewson who has pitched for some bad teams.

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With Ty Cobb signing with the New York Highrisers, there should be some good batting competitions between Ty Cobb hitting cleanup, and Joe Jackson hitting 3rd. Currently 2 points separates these .400 hitters.


In San Francisco, the Aftershocks have apparently saddled themselves with a very bad contract. Ed Walsh at 2-12 appears to be basically done and he has a long way to go in SF.



From SABR: "To the end of his life, Walsh pushed for the spitball to be legalized. He once said, “everything else favors the hitters. Ball parks are smaller and baseballs are livelier. They’ve practically got pitchers wearing straitjackets. Bah! They still allow the knuckleball and that is three times as hard to control.”

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The Los Angeles Lobos are the surprise of the WBL, leading the Western League on July 1. The team features quite a few players in or around their best seasons like Vic Saier and Steve Evans. Not sure if they are for real. They are trying to hold off the Cobb-less Midways, a World Series team the last three years.

Buffalo had a good draft taking Harry Heilmann in the overall #1 slot and grabbing Carl Mays in the second round. If they, sign they could join a core with Larry Doyle and Chief Myers and Buffalo could be #1 overall again next year with Babe Ruth available.



More on Saier: "In an article that appeared in newspapers across the country on July 31, 1915, sportswriter Grantland Rice ranked 24-year-old Chicago Cubs first baseman Vic Saier as one of the top players in the National League. A left-handed hitter and right-handed thrower with that much sought-after combination of power and speed, Saier at the time was leading the NL in runs scored, RBIs, doubles, and triples, and was tied for the lead in stolen bases. He had more extra-base hits than Sam Crawford and had hit for more total bases than Ty Cobb. It must have seemed that baseball immortality beckoned this young phenomenon, the worthy successor to the “Peerless Leader,” Frank Chance. Alas, just 11 days before Rice’s article was published, Saier had suffered a serious leg injury sliding into the plate and had to be carried off the field. He was never again the same player and was out of baseball by the age of 28."

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Honus Wagner was picked up in a 1 year deal by Boston and the 38 year-old has been a good contributor, hitting .339. Boston's pitching is suspect but their hitting has them in first place with two months to go. Casey Stengal, Hank Gowdy and Burt Shotton have all had good years as well.