(yaaaawwwwnnnnn...strrrrretch) Boy, that was a long season, wasn't it?
It was especially long if you were one of the NA teams chasing the Toronto Maple Leafs. Aided by Amos "The Hoosier Thunderbolt" Rusie and fellow hurler Mark Baldwin (who won 66 games between them), the Maple Leafs became the first Canadian team to nab a National pennant by swamping the circuit with a record 97 victories, taking the gonafalon by a full dozen games over Altoona. Meanwhile, Dave Orr made Detroit a solid playoff contender, followed by the Hoosiers and the Phillies, who crushed Wilmington, 12-4, in a playoff game for fifth and final Cen Cup spot:
In the American, the Fall River Marksmen team that blasted their way to a Union double in '95, proved just as lethal in the AA. Fall River wasn't the only small town to come up big in '96, as Dayton, Reading and Toledo slipped into playoff spots, along with the legendary Red Stockings -- edging out the equally legendary Cleveland club:
And in the Union Association, Keokuk stalwart Elmer Cleveland, in his 13th year for the Westerns club, took the batting title with a .413 mark and nearly led the Iowa club to a pennant -- but they fell just short against the Maryland club of Baltimore. Louisville won a three-team playoff to grab the number five spot, behind the Buckeyes and Millers:
Looking forward to the Union Cup playoffs, Cleveland said, "We'll take the Cup and move up next year, and then the year after that. We shall prove that Keokuk belongs in the top baseball league in this country!"
He had no idea how wrong he was.