1897 MID-SEASON
The big story at the mid-season point wasn't so much who was at the top of the standings but rather who was at the bottom. Leeds, the reigning Cup champions and winners of three of the last four DA pennants, started the season by losing eight of their first nine games and languishing in the Association cellar for the first month before clawing their way up to eighth place. Pre-season injuries to Bill Haydon and Flannan Shortridge threw the team off-balance, and then ace starter Jayden Gilbert left a 22 June game with an inflamed shoulder that will likely sideline him for the rest of the season. In the Ironsides' place at the top of the table sat Glasgow, leading the way with the circuit's best pitching staff. Starters Tom Oulton, Matthew Meaden, and Wayne Smith combined for a 34-19 record by the halfway point. At the plate, outfielder Connor MacOmish led the team and carried on the legacy of the CM crew. Close behind were Sheffield, who recovered from a dismal 8-14 start to go 37-18 the rest of the way. The turnaround came when the Steelers promoted rookie left hander Bill Jacobs from the Second Tier, and he responded by going 8-4 and stabilizing an otherwise shaky rotation. Hull played well in June behind the hitting of outfielders Michael Sellwood and Bert Laws, but suffered a devastating loss when incumbent DA outstanding pitcher Brody Leshane injured his shoulder in mid-June, an injury that team officials fear will keep him out of action for the rest of the year. Lambeth put together a lineup that combined for an Association-leading .314 average. Joe Roldan led the way with a .348 average. The Lambs' pitching, apart from Cahern Tickner, was not up to the same standards, however, and the team could climb no higher than fourth place.
The Empire League featured a close contest as the top four teams battled for first. Edinburgh, behind the hitting of third baseman Everton Balmforth and the pitching of sophomore right hander Sam Dinwiddie, led for much of the way, only to be overtaken in June by a surging Salford. The Bees, tenth-place finishers last year, owed much of their resurgence to career years from infielders Manus Peate and Kyle Kinnear, and the pitching of Italian import Nicola Petrocelli. Helping the cause, Calum Murray, a promising youngster in his second year in the Salford outfield, batted .366 before a late-June injury put him on the DL. Bradford got off to a 9-15 start before righting the ship and playing fifteen games over .500 for the remainder of the first half, paced by the hitting of sophomore second baseman Michael Devyr and outfielder Russ Black. Defending champions Birmingham were also slow out of the gate, but everything began to fall into place behind an offense led by Bryan Conway and Owen Rising, and a pitching staff helmed by Sean MacKillop. Nottingham started strong but crashed in May when a wave of injuries overwhelmed the team. The Foresters recovered in June, aided by the pitching of Dutch master Ids Snelleman and veteran Aaron Coulthard, who together put up a 26-14 mark. Westminster's .305 team batting average topped the League, as backup outfielder Bill Hoffer got his chance at a starting role and responded with a .357 average. The Peers' pitching, however, remained inconsistent, and the team needed a late 12-5 streak to finish the first half in sixth place.
Stoke's brand-new home, Potters Field, was the site for the 1897 All-Star Game, and a record crowd of 7,448 spectators packed the stands to see the action. The visiting Empires started the proceedings with two runs in the top of the first, only to be matched by the Dominions in the bottom of the inning. The Empires broke the tie in the third when Dublin speedster Alois Schifferer walked, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout, and scored on a base hit by Westminster's Nevan Rathmell. The Empires added another run in the fourth when Birmingham's Rising followed a double by Bradford's Devyr with a run-scoring base hit off Leeds reliever Clyde Nethersole. The Dominions got one of those runs back in the bottom of the fourth, but two Empire runs in the top of the seventh and another in the eighth put the game out of reach, and a Dominion run in the bottom of the seventh affected only the score, not the outcome. The star of the Empires' 7-4 victory was Devyr, who went three-for-three at the top of the lineup and scored twice.