[Sberl]

NATIONAL LEAGUE

4 teams in 1 game after april: Reds leading 10-4, Phillies 9-4, Giants and Cardinals tied at 9-5: could be a very interesting season. Rookie Mickey Cochrane was the only light for the Robins, with 4 HR in 13 games while the team has gone 4-9. Worse did the Cubs, with a 3-11 start. We already had a 6 RBI game by Hartnett (Phillies). In May the kings were back in first place: Giants lead at the end of the month with 28-16 record, 1 and half game ahead of Cardinals and 3 and a half game ahead of Phillies. Gabby Hartnett is playing like an all-star while in pitching George Mogridge (Giants) and Pete Donohue (Reds) were the stars. At the end of June, Giants were still in front, but there was a great battle with Reds and Cardinals (2 games back). Hartnett was still playing like a star despite Phillies falling down 10 games from the lead; in pitching Mogdridge carried into july an ERA under 2.00. In July NL was hit by a major trade: Cubs acquired LF Irish Meusel from Phillies, giving up 3 prospects; there were many other moves, but none of relevance. The pennant battle was very hard, with Reds leading at the end of july by half game on Cardinals and by 1 game on Giants. Every other team seemed already out of contention. As in AL, no one is hitting over .400 while Mogridge continued his great season (ERA 2.04). The tight race continued in august and the lead changed again: it's Cardinals time and they headed into september with a 3 and half game lead on Reds, the only team trying to resist and contend the pennant. The defending champs fell back 11 games, while Cubs were 15 games back. Hornsby stood up for Cardinals, while we had to register that Pete Alexander (Cubs) already had 23 wins with 1 month to go. Last weeks of regular season saw the battle between Cardinals and Reds intensify, but Cardinals won the pennant with a 96-58 record, 2 games ahead of Reds. No one was above .400 BA while Reb Russell won HR and RBI stat. 28 wins for Alexander (Cubs) but we also had to note the 200 career wins for Rube Marquard (Sp, Reds)

COMPLETE STANDINGS
1) St. Louis Cardinals 96-58
2) Cincinnati Reds 94-60
3) New York Giants 86-68
4) Chicago Cubs 84-70
5) Brooklyn Robins 75-79
6) Pittsburgh Pirates 70-84
7) Philadelphia Phillies 58-96
8) Boston Braves 53-101

BATTING AVERAGE
1) Gabby Hartnett (Phillies) .385
2) Edd Rousch (Reds) .368
3) Rogers Hornsby (Cardinals) .351

HR
1) Reb Russell (Reds) 26
2) Gabby Hartnett (Phillies) 24
3) Charlie High (Giants) 24

RBI
1) Reb Russell (Reds) 132
2) Rogers Hornsby (Cardinals) 122
3) Gabby Hartnett (Phillies) 113

HITS
1) Gabby Hartnett (Phillies) 222
2) High Pockets Kelly (Giants) 217
3) Carson Bigbee (Pirates) 215

STOLEN BASES
1) Frankie Frisch (Giants) 53
2) Ross Youngs (Giants) 40
3) Gabby Hartnett (Phillies) 35

BASES ON BALLS
1) Earle Combs (Reds) 93
2) Charlie High (Giants) 93
3) Rogers Hornsby (Cardinals) 84

ERA
1) George Mogridge (Giants) 2.32
2) Pug Cavet (Reds) 2.36
3) Pete Alexander (Cubs) 2.80

WINS
1) Pete Alexander (Cubs) 28
2) Pug Cavet (Reds) 21
3) Jesse Haines (Cardinals) 20

K
1) Pug Cavet (Reds) 131
2) Burleigh Grimes (Robins) 117
3) Vic Aldridge (Piurates) 111

COMPLETE GAMES
1) Pete Alexander (Cubs) 23
2) Burleigh Grimes (Robins) 23
3) Pug Cavet (Reds) 22