Powell Slocum was 23 years old and already starting his sixth year with the Baltimore Clippers when the 1910 season opened. Slocum, "the Ragland Ripper" had long-since established himself as the game's premier hitter with three straight batting titles and four straight seasons with at least 200 hits. So when he went out and put together a .400 season, few were surprised - and this being the deadball era when .400 had been topped as recently as 1903, it didn't seem like as big a deal as it turned out to be in hindsight because of what Slocum did subsequently. Unfortunately for Slocum, a fierce competitor who hated to lose, his team did rather poorly, tumbling all the way to 5th place in the standings after winning two championships in 1907-08 and finishing a close second in 1909.
The Clippers' fall from grace was a bigger story than Slocum's great season. Slocum's team mate, pitcher Mike Marner, had himself another outstanding season as well, going 32-13 with a 1.55 ERA and 295 strikeouts. Surprisingly, only the 32 wins topped the Continental Association as Charlie Sis also had a great season (29-14, 1.54, 308 Ks). The Clippers got very little out of their supporting cast (especially the pitching) and that more than anything else, contributed to their surprisingly mundane season.
With Baltimore a faded power, the pennant chase evolved into a two-horse battle between Sis' Toronto Wolves and the Chicago Cougars. The Wolves had the pitching - with Sis leading the way, Toronto posted a league-best 479 runs allowed, 2.49 ERA and a strikeout total (886) that was far ahead of all others' totals. But Toronto's offense was pretty pedestrian - and Chicago's was not. The Cougars had the league's best hitter not named Powell Slocum in John Dibblee, a 22-year-old from Hubbard, Ohio who hit .392 and had a ridiculous 40 triples and 111 walks giving him an on-base percentage of .495 and a slugging percentage of .599 - he was a bonafide star. The Cougars were 2nd best in both runs scored (642) and allowed (547) and that was good enough to finish 6.5 games ahead of Toronto for the pennant.
Brooklyn (84-70) and New York (83-70) were the mix as well, but tailed off and finished third and fourth respectively. New York still had a powerful lineup led now by Bill Craigen (.328-1-89) as John Waggoner was beginning to fade (.299-2-52) with age. Overall the Stars' lineup was the league's third-best (as was their pitching). Brooklyn had returned to contention after a long absence the year before and scored a league-best 666 runs with an offense centered on the circuit's best third sacker in Jim Gerhart (.311-0-66) and a good, young lefty ace in 23-year-old Phil Miller.
The bottom of the standings was populated by Montreal (still struggling to find their footing), Cleveland (nearly bereft of talent after trading Jack Arabian to the St. Louis Pioneers) and Philadelphia, who came out of the gate strong in April, but faded badly in May and June and finished last after being 2nd the year before. The Sailors were having a series of wild swings, going from 7th in '08 to 2nd in '09 and into the basement in '10.
Over in the Federal Association, the Gothams and Eagles had themselves a good old fashioned pennant race that was driven on both sides primarily by hitting (they were fourth and fifth in pitching for the season). The Gothams had young star Ed Ziehl whose .342 average topped the circuit, plus George Zimmerman and Wash Berentsen who tied for the lead in RBIs with 85 apiece and Jim Elkins, who led off, hit .296 and swiped 90 bases (tops in the FA). Washington had a young Texan named Buck Trujillo turn in a .323 season out of the leadoff spot, plus Martin Bosick (14 HRs with 83 RBIs) and Billy Porter who hit .316 and stole 63 bases. Bill West's ERA was average (2.42) but his won-loss record was not (30-13) as he led the league in victories.
Washington had a late surge to win the flag by 3.5 over New York who faded in the last week, dropping five straight after entering October tied for first with Washington. Detroit was third at 81-71 and Chicago fourth (81-72). Detroit still had Woody Trease, and he posted a 29-18, 2.33 ERA for the Dynamos while the Chiefs had the ERA champ in Tommy Woodlin (28-14, 1.89) who was emerging as a star himself. St. Louis finished fifth - the acquisition of 2B Jack Arabian helped the offense - Arabian finished second in the batting race (.329) and the Pioneers were first in team batting average (.269) and runs scored (640) but were also last in runs allowed (674) and finished just over .500 (78-76). Pittsburgh, now in full rebuilding mode, was sixth, followed by Boston (likewise) and Philadelphia, which seemed perennially stuck in rebuild mode.
The World Series opener pit Bill West against Chicago's Isaac Meyer with West coming out the better in a 4-1 win for Washington. George Burger was even better in game two, dueling with Chicago's 21-year-old Eddie LaRose in a 1-0 Eagles win to give them both games played in their home in DC.
When the scene shifted to Chicago, the Cougars got in the win column with a tough 6-5 win with a four-run eighth that erased a 5-2 deficit to keep the team's championship hopes alive. With some momentum, the Cougars won the rematch between West and Meyer by a 3-1 margin to tie the series in game four. Pivotal game five was a wild game that entered the ninth with Cougars up 4-2, saw the Eagles tie it with a pair of runs and then lose it in the bottom of the ninth when Jake Lowe, who had hit .159 in the regular season, rapped a base hit off John Ozga (who came on for Burger after he was lifted for a pinch hitter in the top of the 9th) to drive in the winning run and give the Cougars a home sweep and 3-2 series edge.
The home team had won all five games thus far, so the Eagles could have been expected to snap the string and win game six to force a game seven. But it wasn't to be: Chicago scored in the first, and again in the fourth to lead 2-0 and cruised from there, plating four in the seventh and another in the eighth while Walt Snider kept the Eagles' bats quiet in a 7-0 Series-clinching victory.
The championship was the Cougars' third, but first since their back-to-back titles of 1899 & 1900.
Federal Association
Code:
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Washington Eagles 88 63 .583 - 609 573
New York Gothams 86 68 .558 3½ 618 570
Detroit Dynamos 81 71 .533 7½ 601 506
Chicago Chiefs 81 72 .529 8 579 526
St. Louis Pioneers 78 76 .506 11½ 640 674
Pittsburgh Miners 69 81 .460 18½ 538 556
Boston Minutemen 64 89 .418 25 525 642
Philadelphia Keystones 62 89 .411 26 553 616
Continental Association
Code:
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Chicago Cougars 95 59 .617 - 642 547
Toronto Wolves 88 65 .575 6½ 587 479
Brooklyn Kings 84 70 .545 11 666 635
New York Stars 83 70 .542 11½ 617 556
Baltimore Clippers 74 79 .484 20½ 591 567
Montreal Saints 69 85 .448 26 609 673
Cleveland Foresters 62 92 .403 33 496 641
Philadelphia Sailors 59 94 .386 35½ 499 609