At The Threshold of a New Era

[Johnny Slick]

January, 1920: It's been a tumultuous 19 years in the history of Major League Baseball. From the player-raiding in the early 1900s to the refusal of the New York Giants to host a World Series in 1904 to the domination of the American League throughout much of the 1910s by the Detroit Tigers, the fans thought that they saw everything. That is, until the 1919 World Series, which moved to a best-of-nine format. Better make that the cleanest-of-nine; accusations that the White Sox of Chicago threw the Series are rampant. Let's take a quick look back at some of the people who made the league what it is today:

[Johnny Slick]

The first truly great player to play his entire career in Major League Baseball, Reddy was named the Rookie of the year in the inaugural season of 1901, then went on to win the Best Pitcher Award the next year. Reddy excelled in both Brooklyn and with the Giants of New York with a combination of clean living and a unique pitch he called the "fadeaway." Although he'd only win one more of those in his storied career (in 1908), he became the first man to win 300 games in the majors in April of 1918. The man with a "never say die" attitude managed to work his way back into the Giants' rotation after being banished to the bullpen at age 36. He moved on to a couple other teams and won 50 games after manager John McGraw told him he was washed up.

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L	G					IP	H			BB	SO	ERA					PWS
1901	23	BRO	NL	15	14	38					307.0	249			97	185	2.43					16.1
1902	24	BRO	NL	25	9	40					348.0	266			137	153	2.72					31.7
1903	25	BRO	NL	18	15	35					302.0	266			101	142	3.34					15.3
1904	26	BRO	NL	17	16	36					315.7	296			89	179	2.79					21.0
1905	27	NYG	NL	18	5	27					232.3	151			83	144	1.94					23.6
1906	28	NYG	NL	23	13	38					325.7	276			128	181	2.87					16.3
1907	29	NYG	NL	24	4	32					273.0	207			72	151	2.27					24.0
1908	30	NYG	NL	28	9	39					344.3	250			101	278	2.40					24.2
1909	31	NYG	NL	22	15	40					339.3	306			128	257	3.53					12.4
1910	32	NYG	NL	13	5	23					190.0	158			83	126	2.89					17.3
1911	33	NYG	NL	21	12	37					310.0	271			103	294	2.82					23.4
1912	34	NYG	NL	27	9	41					349.0	316			127	235	3.20					24.7
1913	35	NYG	NL	12	15	31					233.0	223			122	183	4.56					4.4
1914	36	NYG	NL	3	6	23					47.7	43			27	25	3.21					2.4
1915	37	NYG	NL	13	13	31					262.0	239			112	215	3.50					10.6
1916	38	NYG	NL	6	7	16					112.7	116			51	85	4.47					0.0
		CIN	NL	1	3	4					18.0	16			8	12	4.00					0.0
		NYA	AL	1	6	8					71.0	70			40	55	3.80					2.6
		TOT		8	16	28					201.7	202			99	152	4.20					2.6
		AAA		2	1	3					19.0	12			10	14	1.89
1917	39	NYA	AL	12	17	32					268.7	258			146	161	4.35					2.3
1918	40	NYA	AL	11	12	27					222.7	245			81	85	4.24					6.0
19 Years Sim				310	205	598					4872.0	4222			1836	3146	3.13					278.2

[Johnny Slick]

Archie Graham wasn't discovered until he was 28 years old, and retired a couple months into his age-38 season. Nonetheless, he left a mark on this game that will not soon be forgotten. His 1908 campaign was a season to remember: 62 extra-base hits, 212 hits, 115 RBIs (still a major-league record), a .355 average, and the third of 3 consecutive MVP awards. His Win Shares total of 35.6 remains the highest mark ever achieved by a hitter. Lest you think that this man was nothing but a shiny bat, I'll point out that he also won 3 Gold Gloves. After his retirement in 1915, it is rumored that he became a doctor.

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	XR	OWS
1905	28	NYG	NL	86	334	67	138	18	14	0	49	22	15	39	18	.413	.475	.551	1.026	74.5	20.1
1906	29	NYG	NL	148	547	91	189	15	10	1	91	37	13	72	32	.346	.421	.415	.836	95.4	28.4
1907	30	NYG	NL	141	560	104	198	17	12	4	83	55	18	71	41	.354	.429	.448	.877	107.5	33.2
1908	31	NYG	NL	148	598	108	212	31	26	5	115	34	14	61	61	.355	.416	.518	.934	119.3	35.6
1909	32	NYG	NL	148	544	74	163	23	12	0	54	32	11	80	54	.300	.391	.386	.777	85.2	22.0
1910	33	NYG	NL	80	284	40	90	14	5	1	25	17	17	44	38	.317	.413	.412	.825	46.8	9.2
1911	34	NYG	NL	117	417	51	120	17	10	4	57	18	5	33	91	.288	.340	.405	.745	57.9	11.7
1912	35	NYG	NL	122	416	52	111	11	12	2	63	16	8	55	86	.267	.349	.365	.715	57.4	12.4
1913	36	NYG	NL	140	466	63	120	15	12	3	60	16	11	75	103	.258	.363	.361	.723	65.0	9.9
1914	37	NYG	NL	141	495	43	114	3	7	1	47	17	8	49	103	.230	.304	.271	.574	43.6	6.0
1915	38	NYG	NL	28	89	6	22	4	2	0	10	2	5	6	20	.247	.302	.337	.639	7.3	1.0
11 Years Sim				1299	4750	699	1477	168	122	21	654	266	125	585	647	.311	.388	.411	.799	759.9	189.4

[Johnny Slick]

For one season Three-Finger Sharpe, who had his right hand mangled in a freak wheat threshing accident when he was 16 years of age, was unhittable like no other man in MLB history. His 33 wins, 396 innings pitched, and 390 strikeouts in 1911 dwarf all other single-season pitching records. Alas, it was not enough, as the powerhouse Detroit Tigers swept his Cubs in 4 games in the World Series that season. His arm sore from overuse, he went 0-2 that postseason with a 7.31 ERA. Fortunately, he did get a second chance 2 years later, this time with the Reds of Cincinnati, and this time he led them to victory with 2 big starts.

Alas, that was to be his last great season. In 1914 he jumped the Reds in order to play for the Chicago entry in the short-lived Federal League, and although he turned in a passable 1915 coming back with the White Sox, he was pushed into relief the following year and then dropped like a hot potato.

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L		G					IP	H			BB	SO	ERA					PWS
1901	20	NYG	NL	0	1		1					9.0	5			1	3	2.00					0.6
		STN	NL	0	0		2					2.3	0			2	0	0.00					0.4
		TOT		0	1		3					11.3	5			3	3	1.59					1.0
1902	21	STN	NL	4	3		17					37.3	31			19	13	2.17					5.2
1903	22	STN	NL	12	17		38					284.3	263			78	98	3.29					17.6
1904	23	CHN	NL	16	13		39					294.7	239			76	151	2.29					23.8
1905	24	CHN	NL	17	12		39					329.3	284			94	217	3.06					23.8
1906	25	CHN	NL	24	14		40					351.7	276			101	209	2.30					29.0
1907	26	CHN	NL	26	9		40					353.0	274			97	223	2.01					36.4
1908	27	CHN	NL	17	11		28					239.7	195			64	190	2.82					20.9
1909	28	CHN	NL	22	14		42					367.0	257			123	283	2.38					34.2
1910	29	CHN	NL	16	13		32					267.3	208			81	186	2.63					25.9
1911	30	CHN	NL	33	9		45					396.0	290			126	390	2.39					41.2
1912	31	CHN	NL	11	13		30					244.3	202			110	184	3.57					13.3
1913	32	CIN	NL	20	13		35					295.3	227			141	258	3.14					20.9
1915	34	CHA	AL	16	13		34					271.7	256			157	193	4.01					10.8
1916	35	CHA	AL	6	5		32					80.3	77			53	49	3.70					3.8
		BRO	NL	0	0		1					2.7	3			3	1	3.37					0.0
		CIN	NL	0	0		3					1.0	2			0	1	27.00					0.0
		CHN	NL	3	3		13					39.7	44			27	29	5.45					0.0
		TOT		9	8		49					123.7	126			83	80	4.44					3.8
17 Years Sim				243	163		511					3866.6	3133			1353	2678	2.81					308.1

[Johnny Slick]

Even though he's only about to turn 33 years of age in 1920, Cody Birge holds the lifetime record in batting average, slugging percentage, OPS, Extrapolated Runs, Runs Scored, Hits, Total Bases, Doubles, and Triples, and is in the top 10 in six other categories. This one-man wrecking crew is almost solely responsible for the 10 pennants and 4 World Championships the Detroit Tigers won from 1907 to 1918. Before 1919, his teams never finished more than 7 games out of any race!

Birge has won the MVP 9 times in his short career. Needless to say, since the inception of the All-Star Game in 1916 (when it was offered as a means of giving thanks to our boys fighting overseas), Birge has started in the Midsummer Classic every year. To top it off, he's won the Gold Glove in center field 3 times in his career and each of the last 2 seasons. If this league lasts another 100 seasons, it's questionable whether or not a player great as Birge will ever appear.

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	XR	OWS
1905	18	DET	AL	33	137	28	47	7	6	0	18	12	4	7	7	.343	.385	.482	.867	24.0	6.6
1906	19	DET	AL	109	482	67	153	10	7	0	34	54	22	23	39	.317	.362	.367	.729	63.7	14.3
1907	20	DET	AL	150	622	117	238	26	21	0	104	60	24	31	27	.383	.424	.492	.916	115.2	31.3
1908	21	DET	AL	150	612	105	213	61	20	0	87	63	33	27	56	.348	.387	.513	.900	108.5	27.1
1909	22	DET	AL	150	595	100	201	26	26	2	88	49	19	39	39	.338	.392	.479	.870	102.8	25.4
1910	23	DET	AL	147	598	110	213	29	34	2	108	69	22	43	29	.356	.400	.528	.928	118.2	29.3
1911	24	DET	AL	149	600	104	208	41	32	3	101	51	23	35	55	.347	.398	.537	.935	115.4	29.2
1912	25	DET	AL	134	566	112	210	38	17	2	95	61	18	36	23	.371	.422	.509	.931	111.3	33.1
1913	26	DET	AL	133	525	95	171	33	17	9	71	44	11	38	33	.326	.387	.505	.892	97.3	22.1
1914	27	DET	AL	126	493	113	188	26	17	3	64	52	16	45	24	.381	.445	.521	.967	105.8	31.1
1915	28	DET	AL	149	610	118	219	41	29	5	84	50	18	54	41	.359	.419	.546	.965	121.0	34.3
1916	29	DET	AL	145	577	95	195	36	16	4	72	55	18	53	42	.338	.409	.477	.886	106.3	28.8
1917	30	DET	AL	138	536	82	182	29	20	7	74	49	19	40	21	.340	.404	.507	.911	98.8	28.0
1918	31	DET	AL	123	486	87	167	39	16	4	66	28	15	40	33	.344	.409	.514	.923	91.5	27.4
1919	32	DET	AL	151	621	107	222	37	27	12	80	32	28	50	38	.357	.416	.562	.978	121.9	27.7
15 Years Sim				1987	8060	1440	2827	479	305	53	1146	729	290	561	507	.351	.405	.506	.911	1501.8	395.9

[Johnny Slick]

With 284 career victories before his 32nd birthday, Brian Smith seems a near lock to eclipse William Reddy's win record. He already holds the career record for strikeouts and winning percentage. Only twentysomethings Richard Galbraith and Justin Yoshida hold lower career ERAs than he. From 1912 through 1916, no other pitcher could claim he was better.

Unfortunately, ultimate success has been harder to obtain for the hard-throwing Smith. His Senators have been the perennial bridesmaids of the Junior Circuit, finishing 2nd or 3rd 9 times since the pitcher's maturation into a superstar. The greatest heartache? 1917, when the Sens finished just a game behind the Chicagos in the standings, tied with the Tigers for 2nd place.

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L	Pct	G					IP	H			BB	SO	ERA					PWS
1907	19	WAS	AL	4	6	.400	15					103.7	108			30	53	3.47					4.3
1908	20	WAS	AL	17	7	.708	29					211.7	166			45	177	1.83					26.8
1909	21	WAS	AL	18	11	.621	45					315.7	266			76	282	2.28					28.3
1910	22	WAS	AL	28	6	.824	41					305.7	223			70	300	1.86					38.6
1911	23	WAS	AL	17	7	.708	37					257.0	176			73	297	2.00					27.7
1912	24	WAS	AL	27	10	.730	42					365.7	313			102	316	2.68					31.2
1913	25	WAS	AL	28	12	.700	45					395.0	267			146	441	2.35					44.1
1914	26	WAS	AL	28	10	.737	41					364.3	252			126	394	2.15					42.5
1915	27	WAS	AL	21	7	.750	33					288.3	190			135	341	2.25					29.6
1916	28	WAS	AL	29	6	.829	39					337.7	226			155	382	1.84					38.2
1917	29	WAS	AL	22	15	.595	42					364.3	272			158	379	2.54					30.6
1918	30	WAS	AL	21	10	.677	35					305.3	240			134	321	2.92					23.2
1919	31	WAS	AL	24	16	.600	43					374.3	267			187	362	2.69					35.8
13 Years Sim				284	123	.698	487					3988.6	2966			1437	4045	2.34					400.9

[Johnny Slick]

Next: a general breakdown of each team, complete with the startistics the kids seem to like nowadays.

[Johnny Slick]

Pos	Name	Age	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	AVG					OWS	DWS
RF	*George Nelson	24	152	562	114	180	51	21	17	105	10	1	106	132	.320					31.9	2.2
CF	*John McPhearson	29	148	587	127	204	49	29	7	85	71	23	60	60	.348					32.6	2.9
LF	David Eyman	32	141	608	115	193	23	19	3	60	64	31	37	54	.317					18.9	1.7
1B	Larry Clark	30	142	549	66	137	37	7	3	81	3	2	29	64	.250					6.0	1.8
3B	#Ted Muldrow	24	143	543	48	167	27	4	2	76	0	0	25	83	.308					11.7	4.1
C	#Jesse Rogers	37	132	508	67	157	18	0	3	77	0	0	32	71	.309					11.6	7.0
SS	Sean McCasland	28	118	458	56	167	19	9	1	76	0	3	32	58	.365					17.4	4.9
2B	Kenneth Arrellano Jr.	32	109	348	39	108	23	1	2	51	0	0	30	49	.310					9.8	2.1
SS	James Rosalez	23	56	173	21	35	8	7	2	19	5	2	7	37	.202					0.7	1.4
CF	#James Thompson	24	41	105	12	27	6	1	0	7	2	1	4	10	.257					1.1	0.4
3B	*Barney Knickerbocker	26	30	91	10	23	5	1	2	11	0	0	2	10	.253					1.3	0.6
3B	Chris Denman	29	39	84	9	22	4	0	0	9	0	0	8	15	.262					0.8	0.5
C	William Pham	32	22	74	8	15	3	1	0	13	0	0	10	16	.203					0.4	1.2
CF	Joseph Classen	19	19	69	9	16	4	2	0	14	8	0	9	8	.232					1.4	0.3
SS	Ivan Stevens	29	34	51	11	12	4	0	1	8	5	6	1	4	.235					0.0	0.7
LF	*Robert Monti	27	33	46	10	11	2	0	0	9	0	2	2	4	.239					0.0	0.1
2B	Allen Highsmith	29	25	42	5	13	0	1	0	5	1	0	1	8	.310					0.8	0.2
RF	*Roger Blake	28	16	30	3	8	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	5	.267					0.1	0.1
2B	Leslie Hocking	29	14	23	7	7	2	2	0	4	1	1	0	3	.304					0.8	0.1
C	Marvin Loar	31	7	20	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	.200					0.0	0.3

Offense
The Red Stockings rode George Herman "Babe" Nelson, a converted pitcher who went 17-10 for the club in 1916, to a team high 765 runs scored in a single season. The outfield of Nelson, McPhearson, and David Eyman is perhaps the finest in the history of the American League.

As the 1919 season progressed, however, the Boston front office became more and more exasperated with the antics of their superstar. It seems that the Babe, as he insists on being called, would rather tailor his game around depositing the ball into the stands than play what owner Harry Frazee calls "Red Sox baseball", which involves hit and runs, steals, and sacrifices. "I erected the Large Green Scary Thing in left field so that we would not have to give so many baseballs away," Frazee is reported to have said. "It's enough that we've accomodated this boy by allowing him to play every day instead of one in four. This is unacceptable."

Look for the Babe to be playing on another team next season. Perhaps the downtrodden New York Yankees. That will teach him to swing for the fences!

[Johnny Slick]

Name	Age	W	L		G	GS	SV	IP	H		HR	BB	SO	ERA	PWS
Leon Eads	20	22	16		40	40	0	340.3	365		2	77	189	4.07	16.7
Charlie Leet	23	17	10		34	34	0	292.7	309		8	100	176	3.87	16.5
Horace Trogdon	23	12	8		33	33	0	220.0	251		1	33	109	3.03	17.1
Victor Wolcott	23	11	10		34	19	3	181.7	194		2	51	107	3.96	9.8
Dustin Rouse	23	8	8		52	6	10	110.0	114		0	51	55	4.01	7.9
Robert Smoot	26	6	9		26	11	0	98.0	112		0	59	63	4.50	0.6
Jon Roling	25	3	2		19	6	0	66.7	89		0	23	27	5.00	1.5
David Bullington	25	1	0		20	0	0	31.0	30		1	12	17	2.61	3.2
John Richardson	24	2	0		3	3	0	22.7	23		0	4	8	3.18	2.0
Michael Moloney	19	2	0		2	2	0	18.0	12		0	2	7	1.50	2.8
Johnnie Hixson	29	2	4		10	0	1	10.3	12		1	11	7	6.10	0.0
David Tunstall	29	0	1		3	0	0	2.7	6		0	0	1	6.77	0.0
Frank Myers	29	0	0		2	0	0	2.7	4		0	2	0	10.15	0.0

Pitching
Although the Sox' pitching staff was not the greatest, it was quite young. The eldest player in the rotation, Charlie "Haxor" Leet, was not yet 6 years of age when the upstart Bostons stole the players and the hearts of the fans from their crosstown rivals. So while the earned run averages are some cause for concern, the belief among Beantowners is that soon this squad will be embarking on its own dynasty.

The baby of the staff, Leon Eads, has recently expressed dismay and has asked to be traded. It seems that his older brother, who was promised a part in Harry Frazee's new musical Maybe, Maybe Clarabelle (nobody has ever called Mr. Frazee a great lyricist), was recently booted from the staff because of drunkenness.