1923 FINAL
The race for the EL pennant came down to the final week of the season, as Liverpool and Westminster battled for the title. In a year when the hitters continued their domination, Liverpool relied on their pitching to keep them in contention. The Argonaut pitching staff, featuring a trio of twenty-game winners -- Nick Fernyhough (22-8, 2.67 ERA), Ken Drummond (20-11, 2.66 ERA), and Dwayne Scott (21-17, 3.18 ERA) -- registered a League-leading 3.26 ERA. The offense, meanwhile, ranked only sixth in team batting average but still scored the third-most runs in the EL. Canadian import Zach Desjardins (.328, 11 HR, 90 RBI) led the attack, while catcher Finley Badman (.327, 18 HR, 103 RBI) won the League's RBI title. Liverpool was slow coming out of the all-star break, which provided an opening for Westminster to grab the top spot. The Peers once again put together a hitting juggernaut that topped the .300 mark as a team. Six regulars hit over .300, including second baseman George Mawer (.327, 4 HR, 81 RBI) and first baseman Brian Jones (.321, 11 HR, 66 RBI). Aidan "Tido" Mabley (19-17, 3.87 ERA) topped the rotation until his bloated ERA finally forced manager Eric Bellairs to consign him to the bullpen at the end of the season. Jerry Parker (14-7, 3.25 ERA) and Christopher O'Shinnick (16-8, 3.71 ERA) pitched well in his place. Westminster cooled down in August just as Liverpool heated up again, and the Argonauts recaptured first place at the end of the month when they embarked on a seven-game winning streak. The Peers came within a game of first place in the last week of the season, but Liverpool finished the season by winning their last five games and clinched the pennant in the next-to-last game of the campaign, despite an injury to Badman that will keep him out of the Cup Finals Series. Thirty-seven-year old hurler Shamus Scanlan (23-11, 3.35 ERA) put together one of his best performances in a long and storied career, as Birmingham tried to keep up with the League leaders. Kane Simpson (.359, 8 HR, 71 RBI) and Bob Groulx (.339, 3 HR, 79 RBI) paced the offense, while Thomas Aherne (.312, 13 HR, 64 RBI), who filled a utility infielder role all season, still managed to lead the club in return-trippers. Nottingham moved into third place in the last week of the season, as Birmingham dropped their final five games. For the Foresters, it was their best performance since finishing as runners-up in the 1914 campaign, and they got a lot of help from unexpected sources. Samuel "Pal" Buttery (21-12, 3.37 ERA) led the pitching staff in his first year as a member of the starting rotation, while outfielder Orren Skeeles (.341, 12 HR, 78 RBI) carried the offense in his rookie season. Strong starting pitching provided by the Scottish duo of Alexander Ferguson (20-13, 4.11 ERA) and Stephen MacPherson (20-13, 3.87 ERA) propelled Portsmouth from seventh place at the all-star break to fifth place at the conclusion of the schedule, although a below-average offense dragged down the Neptunes and prevented them from overtaking Birmingham. Salford ended a string of twelve-straight second-division finishes by winning seventy-nine games, their highest total since 1905. Marmaduke "The Great" Taylor (.320, 19 HR, 99 RIB) won his second consecutive League home run crown, while Rusty Johns (.355, 10 HR, 78 RBI), at only twenty-three, rapidly established himself as one of the circuit's premier hitters.
As the second half got underway, Glasgow emerged from the confused situation at the top of the Dominion Association as the team to beat. Dominique Meyer (24-14, 3.03 ERA) provided solid pitching at the top of the Gaelic rotation, while Eric "Scissors" Morris (12-6, 3.22 ERA) recovered from an inflamed shoulder that shut him down for the first three months of the season to steady the team in the second half. Meanwhile, last year's outstanding pitcher Daniel Redknapp (13-18, 3.50 ERA) was maddeningly inconsistent, and ended up being relegated to the bullpen. The attack was powered by catcher Sebastian Meadmore (.350, 1 HR, 55 RBI) and third baseman Richard Stowe (.308, 11 HR, 80 RBI). The Gaelics were sluggish at the top of the second half, but then caught fire in August, winning twenty of twenty-seven games and vaulting over Stoke and Sheffield into first place. Stoke punched above their weight class all season, guided by the brilliant performance of Allan "Big Stick" Milborn (25-12, 2.51 ERA), who captured the DA's pitching triple crown. The Potters, though, sorely missed hitting star Durkin Wiscar, who broke his elbow in spring training and missed the entire season. Without him, the team batting average dipped to .274, eleventh in the Association, and Stoke drifted down to fourth place. Sheffield's attack was sparked by shortstop Dave Anderson (.376, 13 HR, 107 RBI), who won both the Association batting and RBI titles. On the mound, twenty-seven-year old rookie Bill Norris (20-10, 3.19 ERA) ably filled in after injuries limited veteran John "Hush" Findlay (8-4, 3.25 ERA) to only sixteen starts. Kensington rebounded from an eighth-place finish in 1922 to capture third place behind the pitching of starter Richard "Lucky" Hobbes (20-11, 3.26 ERA) and reliever Eamonn Peasnall (7-4, 19 SV, 2.59 ERA). Injuries to key players, including starting shortstop Dylan MacQueen (.319, 0 HR, 59 RBI), hindered the Knights in the stretch drive. Defending champs Manchester continued having trouble winning close contests, as they finished with a 19-31 record in one-run games. Albert Coultrip (.302, 11 HR, 89 RBI), in his first season as a starter, and George Kirkman (.332, 11 HR, 75 RBI) boosted the team batting average to .292, second in the Association, but apart from Paul Deakin (17-10, 3.31 ERA) the starting pitching was unreliable. Glasgow won three games in a four-game series against Sheffield in the second week of September, which ended the only serious challenge to the Gaelics' pennant ambitions, and the team skated to the title on top of a six-game bulge. Starting shortstop Mike Allen (.284, 2 HR, 54 RBI) won't accompany the team to the post-season, however, as a strained muscle will keep him on the sidelines for the Finals.
1923 CUP FINALS SERIES: LIVERPOOL v. GLASGOW
Glasgow made their fifth trip to the post-season, and for the fourth time faced Liverpool in the Finals. The Gaelics ambushed Argonaut starter Nick Fernyhough with a three-run first inning, sparked by back-to-back doubles off the bats of William Hebron (.315, 0 HR, 86 RBI) and Niall Borman (.301, 3 HR, 61 RBI), and led 4-1 when the home team took their turn at bat in the third inning. After two outs, the Argos recorded five straight singles and pushed four runs across the plate against Glasgow righty Dominique Meyer. A solo homer in the fifth by "Slippery" John Mildren (.279, 9 HR, 47 RBI) put Liverpool ahead, but the visitors tied it in the seventh. A Michael Bligh (.288, 9 HR, 58 RBI) RBI-double in the eighth had the Argos back in the lead, and Dan Rumbolt (4-10, 7 SV, 2.29 ERA) pitched a scoreless ninth to preserve the 7-6 Liverpool victory. Game two saw a classic pitchers' duel between two of the game's best: Ken Drummond of Liverpool and "Scissors" Morris of Glasgow. The contest was scoreless until the top of the ninth, when Richard Stowe drove a two-out single into right field to drive in Richard Netherwey (.251, 1 HR, 48 RBI) with the game's only run, as Glasgow squeaked by with a 1-0 triumph. Stowe ended the day with four hits, while Craig Watt had three hits in a losing effort. The offense returned in game three as the teams brought the Series to Scotland. Trailing 6-3 in the bottom of the ninth, Glasgow staged a three-run rally ignited by a Sean Bryson (.260, 4 HR, 21 RBI) two-run homer. In the top of the tenth, however, "Tacky" Fraser MacInnes (.332, 4 HR, 32 RBI) returned the favor with a two-run shot of his own, and Liverpool hung on for an 8-6 win. Archie MacPheeters (.260, 2 HR, 24 RBI) collected two hits and three RBI for the victors. Liverpool built up a 3-0 lead in game four before Glasgow evened the score with a three-run fourth that featured a run-scoring triple by Joseph Roskilly (.287, 6 HR, 84 RBI). In the sixth, the home team added a pair of runs, which was enough for Morris, who pitched a complete game 5-3 victory. In the fifth inning of game five, Liverpool broke open a close 1-0 contest with five runs, highlighted by a three-run homer off the bat of Doug Craggs (.167, 0 HR, 8 RBI). The Argonauts chased Gaelic starter Daniel Redknapp (13-18, 3.50 ERA) with a single tally in the next inning, but two successive Glasgow relievers could not stanch the bloodletting, and Liverpool waltzed away with a 12-2 win. Craggs, subbing for an injured Reggie McVeigh (.274, 2 HR, 26 RBI), finished with four hits and four RBI. The scene shifted to Liverpool for game six, and this time Glasgow would turn the tables on the Argos, scoring five runs in the fourth frame on four consecutive doubles off Fernyhough. The Gaelics kept up the punishment until the final out, winning 11-3, extending the Series to a seventh game for the third-straight year. Glasgow scored first in the final tilt, pushing two runs across against Drummond in the third inning. The home team got one of those runs back in the fourth, but Morris held Liverpool scoreless the rest of the way en route to a masterful 2-1 complete-game Cup-clinching triumph. "Scissors" Morris cut up the competition with three wins and a miniscule 0.81 ERA to walk (not run) away with the MVP trophy.
THE MINORS
Glasgow's triple-A affiliate, the Dundee Claymores, emulated their parent club by capturing the regular season championship in the Northern Conference, but fell in four games to the Oldham Athletics, Westminster's farm club, in the Second Tier title series.
Liverpool's third-stringers, the Oxford Browns, won their first Albion Conference crown since 1903, but they were no match for the York Whitecoats of the Birmingham organization, who defeated the Browns in a three-game sweep for the Third Tier championship.
ALLIANCE LEADERS
Empire League
Hitting
BA: .372 John Schute, Newcastle
HR: 19 Marmaduke "The Great" Taylor, Salford
RBI: 103 Finley Badman, Liverpool
R: 114 Evan Drinkwater, Newcastle
SB: 51 Les Sedgwick, Birmingham
Pitching
W: 23 Shamus Scanlan, Birmingham
L: 21 William Bent, Bradford
K: 129 Shamus Scanlan, Birmingham
ERA: 2.65 Max Cranfield, London
SV: 21 Alexander Bubb, Portsmouth
Bubb's twenty-one saves tied him for third place on the leaders' board, one behind Eamonn Peasnall and Samuel Orlebar.
Dominion Association
Hitting
BA: .376 Dave Anderson, Sheffield
HR: 17 William Willday, Kensington/Leicester
RBI: 107 Dave Anderson, Sheffield
R: 124 Dave Anderson, Sheffield
SB: 36 Bob Tims, Belfast
Pitching
W: 25 Allan "Big Stick" Milborn, Stoke
L: 22 Ciaran Galloway, Manchester; "Smooth" Vince Perkins, Islington
K: 150 Allan "Big Stick" Milborn, Stoke
ERA: 2.51 Allan "Big Stick" Milborn, Stoke
SV: 19 Eamonn Peasnall, Kensington
Anderson's 124 runs was the most scored in the BA since 1896, when Hall of Famer Owen Rising crossed the plate 125 times.