1929 MID-SEASON
Three clubs participated in a scramble atop the Empire League standings. Liverpool established an early lead behind the League's best pitching staff. Nick Fernyhough, Euan Riach, and Eddie Allard combined for a 33-15 mark and contributed to a team 3.41 ERA. The offense, however, was less impressive. "Tacky" Fraser MacInnes led the squad with a .360 average, but the team as a whole managed only a .291 average, eighth in the EL. Rookie first baseman Bevis Straughan looked strong in the early going, batting .310 in thirty-eight games, but he suffered a concussion in a 13 June game and will likely miss the rest of the season. Unlike previous seasons, the Argonauts were unable to shake off their pursuers, as Westminster and Newcastle dogged their steps all the way through the first half. Peer left hander Charles McGahey, who had a 15-16 record last season but won the number one starter role in spring training, repaid the team's confidence by going 17-4 with a 2.95 ERA. Infielder Doug Craggs topped the offense with a .326 average, while sophomore outfielder Adam "Chip" Eades and veteran Tim Savill also hit above .300, which helped to boost the team average to .302, second-best in the loop. Newcastle got off to a good start despite losing incumbent outstanding hitter Jean-Louis "Rhino" Bourgeois for much of April and May due to back spasms. In his absence, slap-hitting shortstop William Barge powered the Grey attack and peppered opposing pitchers with a League-best .397 batting average. On the mound, right handers Stephen MacPherson and John Ruscoe anchored the Newcastle rotation and accounted for twenty-four wins between them as opposed to only eight losses. The rest of the competition were reduced largely to spectators. Salford, energized by the large crowds they were drawing to their new stadium, shot up to fourth place, four spots better than their 1928 finish. The Bees hit an EL-best .306 as a team, with outfielder Jack Brown's .360 average leading a lineup that featured four regulars hitting over .300. The pitching staff, in contrast, ranked only sixth with a 4.44 ERA, which made the team's decision to trade their best pitcher, Rhys Loveridge, to Glasgow on the eve of the All-Star Game truly baffling. Edinburgh, picked by some to win the pennant, started strong and stayed in contention until June, but then were vexed by injuries to key players and dropped to fifth. Infielder Mike Allen's .348 average led the offense, which hit an anemic .278, worst in the League.
In the Dominion Association's version of musical chairs, Lambeth found themselves occupying the seat at the head of the table when the music stopped for the all-star break. The Lambs, seeking a return to the post-season after being ousted from the DA's leadership by Kensington last year, saw a return to form of Billy Byette. After plunging to a .285 average in 1928, Byette rebounded to record a DA-best .388 for Lambeth in the first half of 1929. That resurgence, along with the hitting of Jim "Bowler" Wilson and Robin Ulrich, contributed to a team average of .307, second-best in the Association. Eddie Lodder, who missed much of last season with a torn shoulder muscle, showed no signs of ill health in posting a 14-5 record and an Association-leading 2.47 ERA. The Lambs started slowly, and only rose to the top after winning nineteen of twenty-five games in June. That knocked Manchester off the top perch. Adam Winterburn and Joshua Styles provided consistently solid work on the mound, winning twenty-three of their thirty-four decisions. Rookie Bill Durdle led the Millers at the plate, hitting .351 while supplying steady glove work in the field. Three other batters finished the first half in .300 territory, which helped account for Manchester's .302 team average. Sheffield ended on a high note, winning seven of their last nine games and moving into third place. Outfielder Tarquin "Yappy" Bickle led the team in all three triple-crown categories, while thirty-two-year old William Vian, plucked from the minor leagues by Glasgow last year and acquired in a trade on the eve of the season opener, exceeded expectations by leading the Steelers with a 12-6 record. Bristol moved into the Association's top ranks with a 19-10 record in May, but followed that with a lackluster June to drop into fourth place. Cooley Crossby, after two undistinguished years in the majors, surprised onlookers by winning twelve of eighteen decisions at the top of the Docker rotation. Rookie first baseman Mike Davey topped the offense with a .336 average, but Hogan Orme, the reigning DA outstanding hitter, slumped to a .268 average after batting only .118 in his final ten contests. Glasgow broke out of the gates early, winning thirty against only nineteen losses in the first two months before a dreadful June pushed them down the ladder. A fine pitching staff, paced by Danny Smith's 13-6 mark and 3.36 ERA, was betrayed by a weak-hitting lineup. Kensington, the incumbent pennant winners, had trouble gaining any traction in the early going, and a hot streak in June was extinguished when Michael Armstrong, batting .324 at the time, suffered an arm injury at the close of the month that will sideline him until the end of September. Meanwhile, on the hill, Griff Hicken, who won nineteen games last year for the Knights, dropped to 6-14 with a monstrous 5.45 ERA.
The BA's best betook themselves to Lambeth for the All-Star Game. 25,176 fans saw Billy Byette lead off the bottom of the first with a triple against London hurler Jude "Happy" Caswell, and the Dominions finished the frame by putting three runs on the board. After the Empires replied with two runs in the top of the second against Cooley Crossby, the Dominions continued their punishment of Caswell, sending ten men to the plate and scoring six more tallies in the bottom of the frame. Stoke second baseman William Hepple's bases-clearing three-run double proved the back-breaker, and sent Caswell to the showers early. Seven subsequent Empire pitchers held the Dominions scoreless the rest of the way, but all the damage had been done, and the DA all-stars went away with a 9-2 triumph. Home town favorite "Bowler" Wilson, with two hits in three at-bats and three RBI, received the game's MVP honors.