THE BASEBALL ALLIANCE: Baseball in the British Isles

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1923-24 OFF-SEASON

AWARDS

Empire League
Hitter: John Schute, Newcastle (.372, 3 HR, 83 RBI, 94 R, 34 2B, .419 OBP, .511 SLG)
Pitcher: Nick Fernyhough, Liverpool (22-8, 2.67 ERA, 313.1 IP, 83 K, 1.15 WHIP, .242 OAVG, 5 SHO)
Manager: Richard Oxley, Birmingham (83-71, 4th place)
Rookie: Orren Skeeles, Nottingham (.341, 12 HR, 78 RBI, 92 R, 33 2B, 23 SB, .404 OBP, .499 SLG)

Dominion Association
Hitter: Dave Anderson, Sheffield (.376, 13 HR, 107 RBI, 124 R, 77 BB, 12 SB, .446 OBP, .503 SLG)
Pitcher: Allan "Big Stick" Milborn, Stoke (25-12, 2.51 ERA, 337 IP, 150 K, 1.21 WHIP, .259 OAVG)
Manager: Jack MacAuliffe, Kensington (81-73, 3rd place)
Rookie: Bill Norris, Sheffield (20-10, 3.19 ERA, 276.2 IP, 1.30 WHIP)

Not many surprises in the awards this year except for the manager trophies, which bypassed the pennant winners

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Glasgow pitcher Tom Oulton made the pilgrimage to bucolic Clappersgate to receive the accolades due him as the newest member of the Hall of Fame. Starting in 1894, Oulton spent twenty-five seasons in a Gaelic uniform. In that time, the Irish right hander won 288 games and compiled a 2.68 ERA. The DA's outstanding pitcher in 1897, when he led the Association with a 26-11 record, Oulton ranks tenth in the all-time list for games pitched and was named to four all-star teams.



Leeds pitching legend Jake Bain had a disappointing 9-15 record for the Ironsides, but he reached a personal milestone on 25 July when he defeated Leicester for his 300th career victory. Bain becomes the twenty-second pitcher to reach that plateau. In a 1 October game against Portsmouth at Camberwell, Whitecap first baseman Greg Helton went five-for-six with a double and a grand slam to drive in eight runs and led his team to a 14-1 win. Birmingham hurler Shamus Scanlan, who recorded his 300th career victory last year, notched his 2,500th strikeout in a 27 April game against Dublin.

ALLIANCE NEWS

Sir Radcliffe Baloneigh, Bart., the BA's commissioner since 1888, announced his long-awaited retirement at the Alliance's annual winter meeting in Brighton. After successfully guiding the BA through the Great War and presiding over its fiftieth anniversary, the octogenarian Baloneigh told the assembled team owners that he would be retiring to his estate near Chipping Camden in the Cotswolds. As expected, the office of commissioner was passed to his son, Sir Barnard Baloneigh, who has been active in Alliance affairs for some time and who is expected to continue his father's legacy of steady leadership.

Through a massive public subscription, Dublin were able to raise the last of the funds needed to complete construction on a new ballpark to replace their current cramped quarters. The new park, to be opened in time for the 1924 home opener, will be named in honor of Patrick Pearse, Irish patriot and late leader of the 1916 uprising.

1921 DA rookie of the year Beattie Vittery was traded by Manchester to Edinburgh in exchange for relief pitcher and distant relative Shane Vittery. Bradford bullpen ace Jeff Silander finished with a 12-7 record and nine saves for the Badgers. His reward: he was traded to Leicester for infielder Mike Despencer, who batted .309 for the Leopards. EL pennant winners Liverpool showed they were serious about defending their title when they signed rookie free agent shortstop Ed Bousquet to a one-year deal worth $14,820.

WESTMINSTER NEWS

Despite leading the League in hitting again and making improvements in the pitching staff, the Peers were unable to repeat as EL champions. Six regulars hit over .300, including George Mawer, who led the club with a .327 average in his first full season as Westminster's second baseman. On the mound, it was a confused situation, as manager Eric Bellairs continually tinkered with the rotation in search of the right combination. Ultimately, Jerry Parker and Christopher O'Shinnick emerged as the leaders, while September call-up Danny Smith won three games in four starts, which made him a favorite to break into the rotation in 1924. On the other hand, Dave Sledge, a seventeen-game winner in 1922, dropped to 10-11 with a shocking 4.27 ERA, and long-time fan favorite Aidan "Tido" Mabley was demoted to the bullpen despite his 19-17 record. The twenty-three-year old Sledge will be given another chance, but the handwriting was on the wall for Mabley, and he was shipped off to Stoke after the new year for minor-league hurler Sean Tupper.

At the end of spring training, Westminster cut their last ties with the team that won ten-straight pennants when they gave reliever Murrough Ariss his unconditional release. The BA all-time save leader with 157, Ariss wore a Peers uniform from 1908 to 1923, compiling a 130-67 record in 585 appearances.

SPRING TRAINING 1924

The early line on the EL pennant race had a repeat of the 1923 results, with Liverpool edging out Westminster by a pair of games and Dublin coming in third. In the DA, the punters liked Lambeth, giving them the advantage over Manchester and Leeds.

Vince Perkins, who went 13-22 with a 4.27 ERA for Islington last year, left a 20 March game with what turned out to be a damaged elbow ligament that doctors say will keep him out of action for the rest of the year. Islington fans are still deciding whether that's good news or bad news. Young right-handed starter Aidan Stuart, who compiled a 3-1 record last year in his maiden season with Kensington and was expected to compete for a spot in the rotation this year, will have to wait for his big chance as a shoulder injury will keep him on the sidelines until September at the earliest.

Glasgow took the spring title with an 18-6 mark. Westminster and Nottingham shared the EL honors with 16-8 marks.

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1924 MID-SEASON

Defending Alliance champions Glasgow led the pack in the DA for most of the season as the Gaelics looked to win back-to-back pennants for the first time. The pitching staff, with an Association-leading 3.26 ERA, was helmed by Dominque Meyer, who shut down opposing batters while compiling a 17-4 record. The Gaelic offense, meanwhile, centered on the double-play combination of shortstop Mike Allen and second baseman Joseph Roskilly, who helped to boost the team's batting average to .296. Close behind were Manchester and Sheffield, who challenged Glasgow early in the season for the top spot on the ladder. Manchester's offense was ignited by Dylan Cottingham and Nicky Ferns. Paul Deakin headed the mound corps with a 9-4 record, but the loss of Ciaran Galloway in mid-May to an inflamed shoulder caused the Millers to tumble in June, and they finished the first half in fifth place. Sheffield started strong behind the torrid hitting of catcher Adam Rowde and infielder Logan Arnatt, a defensive specialist picked up from Westminster in the off-season who drove in 56 runs. When Rowde sat out for the second half of May with a back injury, however, the Steelers' momentum stalled and the team fell out of contention. Lambeth moved up to challenge Glasgow, propelled by a 20-7 record in May that lifted them into first place by the end of the month. The Lambs relied on their veteran starting duo of Luke Corbishly and Matthew Timblich, who teamed up for a 26-11 record and formed the core of a pitching staff that registered a 3.32 ERA, third in the Association. Third baseman Evan Land paced the Lambeth attack with a .362 average. Leeds caught fire in the final weeks leading into the all-star break, winning ten of fourteen games to slip into third place. Southpaw starter Danny Pankhurst topped the rotation with a 12-7 record, while sophomore first baseman Cundles O'Neil led the offense with a .334 average until a fractured shoulder blade put him on the bench on the eve of the All-Star Game. He'll be out for five weeks, which may be a significant obstacle in the way of the Ironsides as they attempt to move up the ladder in the second half. Nobody hit the ball better than Hull, who put together a team batting average of .302 and leapt into contention by winning seventeen of twenty-four games in June. Outfielder Vic Arkell led the team with a .368 average despite missing two weeks with a strained muscle, and shortstop Tom Inkster stood atop the DA's home run category with ten return trippers. Pitchers Nelson Radley and Bevis Spargo combined for a 23-11 mark, and team management bolstered the rotation by obtaining Billy Dutton from Nottingham at the end of June.

Edinburgh, still looking for their first pennant, jumped out to an early lead in the EL pennant race, winning fifteen of their first twenty-one games. The pitching staff's 3.22 ERA was the best in the League, although Bert Woolston, who won forty-three games over the previous two seasons, strained his hamstring in mid-June and will not return to the rotation until late-July. The Chieftan offense, however, was not up to the same standard, and the team hit the proverbial brick wall in May, dropping nineteen of twenty-seven and falling out of contention. Reigning champs Liverpool took over the head of the League table with a 21-8 record in May. The Argonauts benefitted from the signing of rookie shortstop Ed Bousquet, whose acquisition made it necessary to move Craig Watt over to second base. That change didn't bother Watt, who proceeded to lead the EL with a .379 average. On the mound, the starting trio of Ken Drummond, Nick Fernyhough, and Dwayne Scott was responsible for forty of the team's victories. As the first half came to a close, Liverpool pulled away from the pack by winning eight of their final nine contests. Dublin, who moved into new quarters at the beginning of the season and have been playing to their biggest crowds ever, responded by moving up to second place after taking the wooden spoon last season. An offensive explosion saw the team finish the first half with a .304 batting average, best in the EL. Six regulars hit over .300, including William Westcott, who slapped the ball at a .366 tempo while sharing the League lead with ten home runs. John Morris topped the pitching staff with a 13-4 record and a League-best 1.95 ERA, but the rest of the mound corps was inconsistent. Bradford, who shared last place with Dublin in 1923, shot up to third place on the right arms of starting pitchers William Bent, Tony Chetwynd, and Ken Bretz, who together accounted for thirty-two wins in fifty-six decisions. Shortstop John Ashling led the offense with a .335 average, but the Badgers, despite hitting .287 as a team, had trouble scoring runs. Nottingham relied on their lineup, which contained five .300-hitters, to lift them into a third-place tie with Bradford. The pitching, however, was mediocre at best, and when the Foresters dealt their staff ace, Billy Dutton, to Hull, observers took it as a sign that team management had given up on competing this season. Perennial second-division dwellers Salford finished above .500 last season, breaking a thirteen-year string, and the Bees continued to impress onlookers by going into the break in fifth place. Marmaduke "The Great" Taylor lived up to his moniker by leading the team in batting average, home runs, and RBI, but it was the pitching staff, with its combined 3.50 ERA, that kept the team in the pennant hunt. A season-ending elbow injury to staff leader Alexander Hepburn a week before the All-Star Game, however, severely dampened the mood in Salford.



The midsummer classic returned to the home of the London Bulldogs after a twenty-four-year absence, and over 28,000 fans packed Crowley Park to witness the Alliance's best exhibit their baseball prowess. In the bottom of the second, the Empires put four runs on the board against Dominion starter Paul Deakin, with local favorite Colm Catlow providing the big hit with a two-run triple. The Empire all-stars added to their lead with a two-run double by Liverpool catcher Finley Badman in the sixth inning off Leeds reliever Leo Docking. The Dominions, meanwhile, could not get anything started against an octet of Empire pitchers until the ninth inning, when Hull catcher John Vanstone broke the shutout with a run-scoring double. The EL walked off with a 6-1 victory, and Portsmouth outfielder Samuel Woollett, who contributed three hits and scored a run, came away with the MVP award.

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1924 FINAL

All of the drama was confined to the Dominion Association pennant race, with the result in doubt until the very last day. Lambeth maintained a slim lead over Glasgow and Leeds for most of the second half. The Lambs put together one of the most successful starting trios in BA history, as Douglas Debenham (21-13, 3.70 ERA), Luke Corbishly (20-7, 2.85 ERA), and Matthew Timblick (20-14, 3.15 ERA) all passed the twenty-win mark. Infielders Evan Land (.357, 7 HR, 69 RBI) and third-year man Davis Barnes (.317, 7 HR, 79 RBI), getting his first chance to start on a regular basis, provided the bulk of an offense that ranked eighth in team batting average but third in runs scored. Glasgow's pitching staff posted a DA-best 3.33 ERA, due in large part to the efforts of Dominique Meyer (27-10, 2.86 ERA), whose baffling array of pitches kept opposing batters off balance throughout the season. At the plate, infielder Joseph Roskilly (.331, 2 HR, 99 RBI) and center fielder William Hebron (.345, 0 HR, 61 RBI) formed the core of an offense that hit a collective .293. Leeds hit only .284 as a team, but still managed to score 773 runs, second-most in the DA. The lineup contained five .300 hitters, including Andrew Noden (.314, 11 HR, 87 RBI), while George Cutting (.252, 13 HR, 51 RBI) captured the circuit's home run crown. On the hill, the Ironsides relied on the left-right combination of Danny Pankhurst (22-11, 2.81 ERA) and Joe Crook (19-14, 3.45 ERA). At the beginning of September, Lambeth held a tenuous one-and-a-half game lead over Glasgow, but the Lambs soon fell into a seven-game losing streak, and by the middle of the month their lead had shrunk to a half-game. Lambeth recovered, winning five straight and taking two of three against Leeds, but they dropped five of their next six while Glasgow and Leeds played catch-up, and Glasgow took over first place with a week left in the season on 29 September when they defeated Hull. That win proved costly, however, as Meyer left the game with a strained arm muscle that put him on the DL. Lambeth and Leeds stayed close, and when Glasgow, playing a season-ending series at home against Leeds, lost the second game of their four-game set, that created a three-way tie for first place with only two games left to play. The Gaelics regrouped and beat the Ironsides in the final two contests, while Lambeth, who kept pace by winning their next-to-last game against Islington, dropped the season finale 2-0 to Owl southpaw Tim Seddon (13-16, 3.78 ERA), thus giving Glasgow the pennant by the smallest of margins. Hull, last year's wooden spoon recipients, finished fourth behind the pitching of Bevis Spargo (20-11, 3.73 ERA) and the hitting of RBI leader John Vanstone (.339, 11 HR, 104 RBI) and William Watson (.358, 9 HR, 86 RBI). Sheffield ended up in fifth place primarily due to the efforts of hurlers Sean Alker (20-17, 3.53 ERA) and Corcoran McKelrae (19-13, 3.48 ERA), who was picked up from Lambeth before the beginning of the season.

In contrast to the tight race in the DA, the EL pennant hunt was dominated by one team: Liverpool. The Argonauts held onto the lead that they had built up in the first half and spent the rest of the season fending off all challengers. On the mound, the Argonauts boasted the best starting trio in the EL, with Ken Drummond (25-10, 2.55 ERA), Nick Fernyhough (23-11, 3.06 ERA), and Dwayne Scott (19-11, 3.76 ERA) ably shouldering the pitching burdens. The offense pushed 838 runs across the plate during the season, best in the Alliance. Craig Watt (.338, 2 HR, 69 RBI) finished third in the batting race, while Finley Badman (.287, 9 HR, 94 RBI) and Michael Bligh (.314, 12 HR, 81 RBI) supplied the power. In the face of this combination of excellent pitching and efficient hitting, the rest of the competition wilted. Dublin, runners up at the halfway point, played without inspiration in the second half and fell to fourth. Thirty-year-olds John Morris (22-8, 2.53 ERA) and William Westcott (.351, 16 HR, 109 RBI) had the best years of their careers, and the six regulars who hit over .300 contributed to an offense that led the EL with a .298 batting average. Bradford, by winning twenty-two of their last twenty-nine games, moved up to second place, the Badgers' best finish since their Cup-winning 1906 campaign. Tony Chetwynd (23-14, 3.61 ERA) led a pitching staff that registered a collective 3.28 ERA, which topped the League. Slugger Robert Ducker (.312, 9 HR, 97 RBI) sparked the offense, but despite hitting at an impressive .294 tempo, the Badgers ranked tenth in the circuit in runs scored. Brad Backhouse (.337, 11 HR, 65 RBI) and Benjamin Anstruther (.300, 17 HR, 91 RBI) spearheaded the Nottingham offense, but the Foresters ended up with the same third-place finish and 85-win record that they had at the conclusion of the 1923 season. The big reason was the pitching, which, apart from the efforts of Samuel "Pal" Buttery (20-16, 3.17 ERA), was a disappointment, and that called into question the wisdom of the June trade that sent Billy Dutton (20-11, 3.87 ERA) to Hull. Salford played consistently, if not spectacularly, in the second half to wind up in fourth place, which marked the first time they had achieved back-to-back first-division finishes since consecutive third-places in 1904-05. Bees fans were all abuzz over Marmaduke "The Great" Taylor (.310, 20 HR, 94 RBI), who had a season befitting his nickname and topped the majors in home runs. The team, however, never overcame the July injury that ended Alexander Hepburn's (11-8, 3.30 ERA) promising season. Westminster coaxed an excellent performance out of young right-hander Dave Sledge (25-13, 3.01 ERA), but the rest of the pitching staff was a disaster for which not even a lineup batting at a .290 pace could compensate.



1924 CUP FINALS SERIES: LIVERPOOL v. GLASGOW

In a rematch of the 1923 Series, Glasgow sent Eric "Scissors" Morris (15-15, 3.69 ERA), subbing for the injured Dominque Meyer, to the mound to face Argonaut ace Ken Drummond in the opener at Liverpool. Both pitchers, however, got hammered, with Liverpool going out ahead 9-4 in the fourth inning on a grand slam by "Tacky" Fraser MacInnes (.346, 15 HR, 80 RBI). Glasgow, though, would not quit, and the visitors clawed their way back in the final three frames to tie the score at nine apiece. In the bottom of the ninth, Finley Badman faced Gaelic reliever Dustin Johnson (2-2, 2 SV, 4.44 ERA) with a man on and two outs. On a 2-2 pitch, he launched a towering drive into left-center bleachers for his second homer of the day, and Liverpool took the opening game by a score of 11-9. Badman ended up with three hits and five RBI to lead the home team. Olcar "Sheriff" Cuzen (18-12, 3.23 ERA), who had been obtained from Leeds at the trade deadline, started for Glasgow in game two against Nick Fernyhough, and the Liverpudlians rudely greeted their Glaswegian guests with a four-run outburst in the first inning. The Argos would add five more tallies against Cuzen and reliever Johnson before it was all over, while Fernyhough held the opposition to seven hits en route to a complete-game 9-1 triumph. MacInnes added three hits to his total, and left fielder "Slippery" John Mildren (.278, 3 HR, 27 RBI) collected three RBI at the bottom of the order. Dwayne Scott went to the mound for Liverpool against Morris in game three at Glasgow. Argonaut left fielder Michael Oldknow (.333, 2 HR, 64 RBI) started off the scoring with a solo homer in the first, but Scott showed some nervousness in the bottom of the frame, giving up three runs on two walks and three hits. He settled down after that, however, and that allowed the Argo offense to take over. When Badman hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning, it capped off a 10-3 victory. Craig Watt had three hits and as many RBI for the winners. It was Drummond against John Shepherd (13-13, 4.23 ERA) in the fourth game, and Glasgow's bats came out of the gate swinging. The Gaelics scored once in the first inning and four more times in the second, with the key hit coming on a two-run double by Sebastian Meadmore (.318, 0 HR, 54 RBI). Liverpool, though, would not be deterred. A two-run homer by William "Bummer" Houlbrook (.263, 1 HR, 35 RBI) ignited a four-run rally in the top of the fourth, which tied the score at 5-5. The deadlock lasted until the eighth, when Badman sent a full-count fastball into the stands for his fourth home run of the Series. Drummond then held the Gaelics scoreless the rest of the way, inducing Curran Newmarch (.262, 5 HR, 42 RBI) to ground out with a runner on base to end the game, and the Argonauts topped off their sweep of Glasgow with a 5-4 victory. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Finley Badman, who hit .625 with four homers and ten RBI, deserved the MVP accolades.

THE MINORS

Westminster's minor-league affiliates had far more success than their parent club. The Oldham Athletics captured the Southern Conference crown for the second year in a row and dispatched the Bolton Rovers, Belfast's farm club, in three games to take the Second Tier title.

The Hackney Mudlarks came out on top in the Albion Conference race, but Westminster's youngsters fell in five games to the York Whitecoats of the Birmingham system, which made York the champions of the Third Tier for the second consecutive year.

ALLIANCE LEADERS

Empire League
Hitting
BA: .368 Greg Helton, Camberwell
HR: 20 Marmaduke "The Great" Taylor, Salford
RBI: 109 William Westcott, Dublin
R: 112 Benjamin Anstruther, Nottingham
SB: 47 Les Sedgwick, Birmingham
Pitching
W: 25 Ken Drummond, Liverpool; Dave Sledge, Westminster
L: 22 Dermot Iddeson, Portsmouth
K: 127 Ken Drummond, Liverpool
ERA: 2.53 John Morris, Dublin
SV: 15 Henry Forman, Camberwell; Walt Sanderson, Edinburgh

Drummond came within 0.02 of winning the ERA title and the pitching triple crown.

Dominion Association
Hitting
BA: .371 Buddy Thompson, Islington
HR: 13 George Cutting, Leeds
RBI: 104 John Vanstone, Hull
R: 106 Kyle Cole, Sheffield
SB: 35 Hogan Orme, Bristol
Pitching
W: 27 Dominique Meyer, Glasgow
L: 22 Galvin Bogle, Bristol
K: 141 Allan "Big Stick" Milborn, Stoke
ERA: 2.51 Cameron Lauder, Leicester
SV: 18 David "Pop" MacEachan, Belfast

Florida native Thompson, in his third year in the BA, is only twenty-one years old. This was his first full season as a regular member of the Islington lineup. Meyer's twenty-seven wins were the most in the majors since Ken Drummond collected the same number in 1919.

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1924-25 OFF-SEASON

AWARDS

Empire League
Hitter: William Westcott, Dublin (.351, 16 HR, 109 RBI, 81 R, 29 2B, 22 SB, .411 OBP, .550 SLG)
Pitcher: Ken Drummond, Liverpool (25-10, 2.55 ERA, 317.2 IP, 127 K, 1.23 WHIP, .254 OAVG)
Manager: Bill Jacobs, Liverpool (94-60, 1st place)
Rookie: Niall Driscoll, Bradford (.322, 7 HR, 57 RBI, 57 R, 25 SB, .391 OBP, .432 SLG)

Dominion Association
Hitter: William Watson, Hull (.358, 9 HR, 86 RBI, 101 R, 38 2B, 74 BB, .423 OBP, .512 SLG)
Pitcher: Dominique Meyer, Glasgow (27-10, 2.86 ERA, 324.2 IP, 119 K, 1.24 WHIP, .257 OAVG, 30 CG)
Manager: Rob Youldon, Leeds (89-65, 3rd place)
Rookie: Joe Maddy, Belfast (.349, 1 HR, 73 RBI, 82 R, 13 3B, .390 OBP, .440 SLG)

Jacobs was hired after the 1923 season in the wake of manager Jimmy Oliphant's retirement. He had previously managed Sheffield and led the Steelers to the Cup Finals Series in 1920.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

London hurler Arthur Nancekevell finally called it quits after the conclusion of the 1924 season. The forty-five-year old right hander had been used sparingly out of the bullpen for the Bulldogs, and so Nancekevell moved aside to allow younger pitchers the same chance that allowed him to compile 425 career victories, the most in BA history.

Lambeth second baseman Clancy Tattersall hit six home runs during the season, half of which came in a 26 August game against Glasgow pitcher John Mounfield. All three home runs were solo shots, and Lambeth lost the game 11-8. Manchester catcher Gannon McAfee put together a thirty-six-game hitting streak at the end of the season, the longest in the BA since the record-setting fifty-one-game streak of Shane Scales in 1917.

ALLIANCE NEWS

Lambeth, Birmingham, and Manchester all planned to open the 1925 season in new ballparks.

Highly touted rookie outfielder John "Moonbeam" Sanford signed a deal with Kensington that will pay him $25,992 over the next three years. Lambeth beefed up their lineup by acquiring outfielder Brenan Rushworth from Islington in exchange for back-of-the-rotation starter David Causton. Rushworth hit .327 in ninety-nine games for the Owls, while Causton registered a 13-15 record and a 3.55 ERA for the Lambs.

WESTMINSTER NEWS

There was no denying: Dave Sledge had an outstanding year. His twenty-five wins tied for the League lead with outstanding pitcher award winner Ken Drummond, and his 126 strikeouts were one shy of Drummond's League-leading total. There is, however, also no denying that the rest of the pitching staff was a nightmare. Jerry Parker went from a 14-7 mark in 1923 to a bewildering 14-21 record in 1924. Gifted young lefty Danny Smith, who finished at 12-11, was maddeningly inconsistent. And Charles McGahey, rushed up from the minors in an effort to stem the bloodletting, emerged shell-shocked from the ordeal with a 2-5 record and a 6.15 ERA. Meanwhile, the Peers could only watch in envy as Dominique Meyer, who had been unloaded on Glasgow in exchange for McGahey, won twenty-seven games and the DA's outstanding pitcher trophy.

The impatient Peers' fans demanded wholesale changes, but owner Jamie Redlaw was content to make only slight alterations to the team's roster, trading outfielders Oscar Forrest and Malcolm Webster for prospects while making room for talented rookies John Wearne and Bobby Langdon.

SPRING TRAINING 1925

The betting parlors were filled with punters laying their money on Liverpool to repeat as Empire League champs, with Nottingham and Westminster following in the number two and three positions. Glasgow was also a favorite to make it three-in-a-row in the Dominion Association, with Leeds and Manchester trailing.

There was only one major injury incurred during spring training, but it had the potential to alter the course of the pennant race in the Empire League. Ken Drummond, the reigning outstanding pitcher in the EL and the ace of the Liverpool staff, sustained an elbow injury in a 29 March tune-up contest against Birmingham and will likely be laid up for two months.

Leeds and Sheffield shared the spring laurels with 17 wins apiece, while London won the ribbon in the EL with a 15-9 mark.

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1925 MID-SEASON

It was a two-team dogfight in the Dominion Association as Leeds and Glasgow battled for the head of the table. Glasgow, looking for their third-straight DA flag, got off to a slow start but picked up steam in May, winning twenty-one of their twenty-seven games in the month to vault into contention. The pitching rotation featured four hurlers with double-digit win totals. Dominique Meyer, coming off the biceps injury that kept him out of the 1924 Cup Finals Series, and John Shepherd, having his best season since his twenty-win rookie year in 1914, headed the mound corps. Third baseman Richard Stowe, who spent much of last season on the DL with various ailments, stayed healthy in the first half and responded with a team-leading .370 batting average, and shortstop Mike Allen chipped in with fifty RBI. Leeds managed to keep a half-step ahead of Glasgow for much of the spring. The offense hit a feeble .283, tenth in the circuit, but still scored more runs than anyone else. Third-year shortstop Cundles O'Neil paced the attack with a .328 average and forty-seven RBI, while center fielder Jack Pollock contributed with a .319 average. It was, however, the pitching staff that distinguished the Ironsides from the competition. The starting tandem of Danny Pankhurst and Joe Crook won twenty-five of their first thirty-seven decisions, and the staff combined for a 3.65 ERA, second only to Glasgow. The rivals ran neck-and-neck until Leeds hit a rough stretch at the end of June, which allowed Glasgow to pass them on the inside and finish the first leg of the race by four-and-a-half lengths. The rest of the Association followed at respectable distance. Manchester lost starting pitchers Paul Deakin and Michael Hastie to long-term injuries, and David Barwell, obtained in a trade with Edinburgh to fill the gap in the rotation, proved ineffective. Left-handed slugger George Kirkman, platooned at first base, carried the offense with a .379 average and nine home runs. Belfast was at the bottom of the Association with a .281 team batting mark, despite the efforts of veteran slugger Robert Crober, who knocked the ball at a .357 tempo, and sophomore left fielder Joe Maddy, who followed close behind with a .353 average and eleven return trippers. On the mound, Montreal native Nino François was on his way to a fine year when he tore a shoulder muscle in June which will put him on the shelf until late August. Stoke's left fielder Sean Toogood lived up to his name by leading the DA with a .378 batting average, while fellow sophomore Donnelly Flynn topped the home run category with fourteen and the RBI list with sixty-six. The formidable Potter offense, however, was offset by a shaky pitching staff, out of which only Allan "Big Stick" Milborn could be said to have performed well.

The situation was a bit more fluid at the summit of the Empire League. Edinburgh, behind the pitching of John Olivant and Bert Woolston and the hitting of infielder Michael Drudge and second-year outfielder Cameron Bailie, staked an early claim to the League lead. The Chieftans, however, ran out of steam at around the time they traded pitcher David Barwell to Manchester, and Woolston suffered a season-ending elbow injury on the eve of the all-star break, which does not bode well for Edinburgh's chances in the second half. As Edinburgh flickered, Nottingham caught fire, winning twenty games in May and climbing to the top of the standings. A balanced offense had five regulars hitting over .300, including sophomore catcher David Radway, whose .319 average and fifty-five RBI led the club. When infielder Benjamin Anstruther went down with a hamstring injury in late May, however, the Foresters' fortunes changed for the worse, and they fell to fourth place. London were on hand to fill the spot vacated by Nottingham, winning seventeen of twenty-five contests in June and making a serious bid for a pennant that they last held aloft in 1907. Left fielder Colm Catlow led the batting race with a .377 average, and center fielder Henry Mackaness was tops in the circuit with fourteen home runs. They were a big part of an offense that paced the League with a .308 composite average and 489 runs scored. On the mound, second-year hurler Algernon Swarbrick, obtained in a pre-season trade with Belfast, stunned the baseball world by compiling a 16-3 record, while unheralded left-handers Jude "Happy" Caswell and Brodie "Stubby" Thirwall combined for a 21-10 mark at the top of the rotation. Defending Cup holders Liverpool had trouble getting started as a result of the pre-season injury to pitching star Ken Drummond. He returned in June just as the Argonauts were getting back on track and won three-straight decisions before suffering a partially torn shoulder muscle that will sideline him for the rest of the campaign. Liverpool managed to overcome this latest hurdle, with rookie Euan Riach and journeyman Luc Martin ably picking up the slack in the starting rotation behind Nick Fernyhough. The formidable offense was spearheaded by infielder Michael Bligh, who hit .348 with sixty RBI, and "Tacky" Fraser MacInnes, who hit twelve home runs despite spending five weeks on the DL with a groin injury. Westminster hovered around the edges of the pennant fight until a late spurt boosted them into third place. Once again, Dave Sledge carried the pitching staff, compiling a 15-5 record in the early going, although injuries struck down half the rotation when Jerry Parker and rookie Michael Hakin went on the sixty-day DL. At the plate, rookie outfielders Bobby Langdon and John Wearne played well despite both of them spending time on the injured list.



Leicester's Rugg Field played host to the Alliance's annual All-Star Game. The Dominions broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fourth when they scored four times against "Stubby" Thirlwall, with the rally capped off when Sheffield catcher Adam Rowde lashed a bases-loaded triple into left-center field. Rowde later added a solo home run off Nick Fernyhough, and Manchester's George Kirkman hit his own bases-empty homer against John Olivant. Meanwhile, eight Dominion pitchers held the Empire all-stars to seven hits and a single run en route to a 8-1 victory. Rowde, with two hits and four RBI at the top of the order, was awarded the MVP honors.

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1925 FINAL

Glasgow and Leeds continued their fight for the top spot in the Dominion Association into the second half of the season. Nobody pitched better than Glasgow's mound corps, who compiled a collective 3.42 ERA. The staff boasted three twenty-game winners: John Shepherd (24-11, 3.11 ERA), Eric "Scissors" Morris (23-14, 3.48 ERA), and Dominique Meyer (21-14, 3.42 ERA). The return to form of Morris after an off-season and the rebirth of the forty-year-old Shepherd, who last won twenty games as a rookie with Camberwell in 1914, accounted for much of the Gaelics' success. At the plate, infielder Richard Stowe (.354, 11 HR, 83 RBI) won the team's triple crown, despite batting eighth much of the season. Sebastian Meadmore (.344, 3 HR, 76 RBI) and Joseph Roskilly (.342, 2 HR, 72 RBI) added their bats to a lineup that hit at a .296 clip. The Glaswegians were slow coming out of the blocks in the second half, and when they dropped a two-game series at Leeds in the last week of July, the Ironsides moved into the lead. The Ironsides relied on the pitching duo of Danny Pankhurst (25-11, 2.63 ERA) and Joe Crook (19-14, 3.78 ERA). The offense, on the other hand, remained inconsistent, and Leeds batted a mere .283 as a team. Cundles O'Neil (.320, 3 HR, 80 RBI), in his third major-league season, topped the team in batting average and RBI. Outfielder Flanagan Flegg (.287, 15 HR, 76 RBI) was the team's best home run hitter, but he batted leadoff for most of the season, which reduced his opportunities to drive in runs. The Gaelics regrouped in August, retaking first place, and even though they dropped three of four games at home to the Ironsides at the end of the month, they began to pull away from their rivals. When Leeds lost starter Samuel Farqhuarson (14-8, 3.54 ERA) to a season-ending injury at the end of August and O'Neil to a fractured foot at the beginning of September, the Ironside momentum stalled. When they were swept by Glasgow in a two-game series at home in the last week of the month, the race was effectively over, and the Gaelics went on to win their third successive DA pennant. Manchester came out of the all-star break looking like they would contend for the Association premiership. Behind the pitching of Neil Torr (19-13, 3.77 ERA), who recorded his best season since his sophomore campaign in 1916, and the hitting of Dylan Cottingham (.341, 0 HR, 57 RBI) and Albert Coultrip (.310, 11 HR, 90 RBI), the Millers won thirteen of their first seventeen contests upon the resumption of play. After that flurry of excitement, though, they played sub-.500 ball the rest of the way and settled into a distant third place. Stoke first baseman Donnelly Flynn (.342, 22 HR, 115 RBI), who played briefly with the Potters in 1924, certainly made an impression in what was still officially his rookie season, winning the DA's home run and RBI titles. The pitching staff, however, was a letdown, although Allan "Big Stick" Milborn (16-11, 3.13 ERA) led the Association in strikeouts for the sixth-straight season. Kensington recovered from a last-place finish in 1924 to end up in fifth place. Eamonn Peasnall (11-7, 15 SV, 3.18 ERA), who appeared in seventy-four games out of the bullpen, was a big reason for the turnaround.

Liverpool's slow start in April had many observers wondering if the Argonauts had lost the spark that had sent them to the postseason the previous two seasons, and when Ken Drummond (3-0, 1.35 ERA) was sidelined with a shoulder injury in June, even die-hard Liverpool fans could be excused for fearing the worst. But the Argos steadily climbed back into contention by the all-star break, and after the resumption of play they played better than any other team in the BA. In Drummond's absence, the starting duties were handled by Nick Fernyhough (25-8, 2.83 ERA), Luc Martin (21-11, 3.31 ERA), and rookie Euan Riach (18-7, 3.34 ERA), while Owen Payton (9-2, 13 SV, 1.89 ERA) doused the flames in the late innings. The offense was equally impressive, and the lineup featured five regulars hitting over .300, including outfielder Francis Pethick (.344, 19 HR, 89 RBI) and first baseman Michael Bligh (.317, 6 HR, 101 RBI). The Argonauts broke the century mark for homers as a team, with "Tacky" Fraser MacInnes (.393, 24 HR, 72 RBI) winning the League's home run race despite his playing time being limited to only eighty-eight games because of injuries. London, in first place at the midway point, played well in the second half, but was simply overwhelmed by the Liverpool onslaught. The Bulldogs featured a formidable attack, and they fielded six .300 hitters in uniform on a regular basis, foremost among them Henry Mackaness (.349, 23 HR, 91 RBI) and sophomore second baseman Whip Ashton (.349, 11 HR, 88 RBI). On the mound, second-year starter Algernon Swarbrick (26-8, 4.14 ERA) helmed the rotation. As the Bulldogs ran in place, Westminster gathered momentum and vaulted past them into the second position. Dave Sledge (26-13, 4.14 ERA) headed the pitching staff, while Danny Smith (19-12, 3.90 ERA), moving up in the rotation because of injuries, performed well in a pressure situation. Rookie outfielders John Wearne (.331, 6 HR, 80 RBI) and Bobby Langdon (.326, 10 HR, 54 RBI) gave hope to Westminster partisans, although both spent time on the DL, and Langdon ended the season in hospital with a concussion. By the time the Peers heated up, however, Liverpool were already out of reach, and even a 9-5 record against the League leaders was not enough for the Peers to catch the Argos, who glided home with their third-straight pennant. Nottingham was the beneficiary of a truly remarkable season by starting pitcher Jamie "Ducky Wucky" Foulkes (27-10, 3.11 ERA). Sporting an 11-7 record at the all-star break, Foulkes went 16-3 the rest of the way, including a stretch where he won twelve-straight decisions, eleven of them complete games. The offense was powered by Benjamin Anstruther (.304, 16 HR, 98 RBI) and David Radway (.344, 13 HR, 86 RBI), which boosted the Foresters into their third successive third place finish. Bradford second baseman Alex Edwardson (.351, 11 HR, 88 RBI) captured the League batting title in his third big-league season, and Robert Ducker (.295, 21 HR, 107 RBI) set the BA record for career home runs, but the Badgers still disappointed their long-suffering fans who had high expectations after a second-place finish in 1924.



1925 FINAL: LIVERPOOL v. GLASGOW

An increasingly bitter rivalry has developed between Liverpool and Glasgow as they met for the third year in a row and sixth time overall. The surprise starter for the home team Argonauts in game one was Ken Drummond, who last pitched on 18 June and who came off a rehab assignment on the morning of the game. Glasgow starter Dominique Meyer, who missed the 1924 Series with an injury, was shaky in the early innings, giving up four runs before Glasgow could get on the board with a run in the fifth. Drummond, meanwhile, showed no ill effects from the long layoff, and pitched a complete game three-hitter to win the opener 6-2. Third baseman Michael Oldknow (.327, 5 HR, 67 RBI) had three hits and two RBI for the winners. The second game saw Glasgow ambush Liverpool starter Nick Fernyhough in the first, scoring twice on Richard Stowe's RBI-single. By the eighth inning, the visitors had extended their lead to 4-2, but the Argos tied the score when "Slippery" John Mildren (.272, 7 HR, 68 RBI) hit a two-run triple off "Scissors" Morris. The 4-4 stalemate lasted until the twelfth inning, when the Gaelics strung together four hits to push three runs across the plate. Relief ace Callum Gray held Liverpool scoreless in the bottom of the frame, and Glasgow came away with a 7-4 victory. Oldknow and Francis Pethick each had three hits for the Argos, while Sebastian Meadmore collected three hits and Stowe added three RBI for the Gaelics. Game three in Glasgow saw the Argonauts jump all over starter John Shepherd, scoring five times in the first on five hits, two errors, and a hit batsman. The home team cut into the deficit with a two-run fifth off rookie Euan Riach, but Liverpool put the game on ice in the eighth when Craig Watt (.342, 0 HR, 80 RBI), who had seven home runs in 5,306 at-bats coming into the game, hit a rocket into the seats with two men aboard. The final score was 9-2, as Watt accounted for five RBI while catcher Brian Johnson (.301, 2 HR, 32 RBI) ended the day with four hits. Liverpool greeted Meyer rudely in game four, scoring three times in the top of the first, capped off by Pethick's two-run homer. Glasgow responded in the second with two runs off Drummond. The offensive onslaught continued, as both teams scored five times over the next three innings, which resulted in both starters retiring to the showers. Liverpool pulled away with a Oldknow solo homer in the seventh and added an insurance run in the ninth to prevail by a final score of 10-7. Watt and Johnson added three more hits to their totals, and Michael Bligh drove in three runs for the victors, a mark matched on the other side of the diamond by William Hebron (.296, 2 HR, 65 RBI). Facing elimination, Glasgow sent Morris to the mound again to face Fernyhough. Both pitchers were sharp, but Liverpool broke a scoreless tie in the eighth when sophomore shortstop Ed Bousquet (.317, 14 HR, 68 RBI) drove a 1-0 Morris pitch 438 feet into the center field bleachers for a two-run homer. That was all Fernyhough needed, as he held the Gaelics to a single base hit the rest of the way en route to a 2-0 shutout victory and the Cup-clincher. Michael Oldknow, who hit .500 for the Series while driving in four runs and scoring six, was the consensus choice for MVP.

THE MINORS

The Oldham Athletics made it three years in a row atop the Southern Conference standings, but the Westminster farm club fell in five games to the Dundee Claymores, who carried home the Second Tier championship on behalf of the Glasgow organization.

The Cambridge Dons returned to the apex of the Britannia Conference after a twenty-one-year hiatus, and the Camberwell affiliate went on to defeat the Derby Lancers, representing the Manchester farm system, in a four-game series to capture the Third Tier crown.

ALLIANCE LEADERS

Empire League
Hitting
BA: .351 Alex Edwardson, Bradford
HR: 24 "Tacky" Fraser MacInnes, Liverpool
RBI: 107 Robert Ducker, Bradford
R: 120 Ed Bousquet, Liverpool
SB: 47 Ed Bousquet, Liverpool
Pitching
W: 27 Jamie "Ducky Wucky" Foulkes, Nottingham
L: 22 Ciaran Murray, Camberwell
K: 116 Dave Sledge, Westminster
ERA: 2.83 Nick Fernyhough, Liverpool
SV: 23 Rhys Loveridge, Dublin

Edwardson (.3507), in his third year in the majors, pipped Camberwell's Robin Ulrich (.3499) for the batting title. London's Colm Catlow hit .391 but fell twenty-six plate appearances short of qualifying for the championship. If those twenty-six at-bats were added to his total, however, he would have won the batting crown with a .367 average. Ducker won his third RBI crown. Loveridge's twenty-three saves bettered the previous BA single-season record by one.

Dominion Association
Hitting
BA: .381 Adam Rowde, Sheffield
HR: 22 Donnelly Flynn, Stoke; Andrew Noden, Leeds/Hull
RBI: 115 Donnelly Flynn, Stoke
R: 113 Joseph Roskilly, Glasgow
SB: 28 Flanagan Flegg, Leeds
Pitching
W: 25 Danny Pankhurst, Leeds
L: 23 Bill Deering, Leicester
K: 132 Allan "Big Stick" Milborn, Stoke
ERA: 2.63 Danny Pankhurst, Leeds
SV: 19 Shane "Ducky" Vittery, Stoke

Milborn extended his string of Association strikeout titles to six.

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1925-26 OFF-SEASON

AWARDS

Empire League
Hitter: "Tacky" Fraser MacInnes, Liverpool (.393, 24 HR, 72 RBI, 64 R, 28 2B, .420 OBP, .676 SLG)
Pitcher: Jamie "Ducky Wucky" Foulkes, Nottingham (27-10, 3.11 ERA, 106 K, 1.37 WHIP, .283 OAVG, 4 SHO)
Manager: Bill Jacobs, Liverpool (105-49, 1st place)
Rookie: Euan Riach, Liverpool (18-7, 3.34 ERA, 226.1 IP, 1.37 WHIP, .264 OAVG)

Dominion Association
Hitter: Adam Rowde, Sheffield (.381, 11 HR, 73 RBI, 77 R, .432 OBP, .528 SLG)
Pitcher: Danny Pankhurst, Leeds (25-11, 2.63 ERA, 315 IP, 1.29 WHIP, .273 OAVG, 6 SHO)
Manager: Bob Youldon, Leeds (91-63, 2nd place)
Rookie: Donnelly Flynn, Stoke (.342, 22 HR, 115 RBI, 94 R, 34 2B, .381 OBP, .530 SLG

The announcement of MacInnes as the EL's premier batter was met with disbelief by some. Although the Liverpool outfielder put up some impressive numbers, he missed almost half the season with injuries and, as a result, didn't log enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

When Roger Britten got the call to join his fellow greats in the Hall of Fame, he probably sprinted to Clappersgate to receive the honor. The speedy infielder, who spent his entire twenty-one-year career with Nottingham, holds the BA records for stolen bases (842) and triples (398), and finished with 3,173 hits, second only to "Gaffer" Love. Named the EL's outstanding hitter in 1904, the same year he helped the Foresters to their only pennant, Britten was also a member of thirteen all-star squads and took home three gold gloves.



Henry Stockill's double in a 22 July home game against London hurler Declan Williams was the 2.500th hit for the Camberwell outfielder. Patrick Stay, regarded by many as the best hitter in BA history, called it quits after sixteen seasons. Stay won the batting title six times and was named outstanding hitter by the DA four times, but the Leicester star's career was plagued with injuries, and he spent most of the 1925 season in the minors. A torn meniscus in September finally convinced the thirty-nine-year old outfielder to hang up his spikes for the final time. Manager Synan Boffin had the distinction of being fired by two last-place teams. Portsmouth, who signed Boffin to a four-year deal after last season, jettisoned the skipper after winning only thirty-six of ninety-eight games. Hired on by Leicester, Boffin guided the Leopards to a 20-30 record and received a pink slip for his efforts at the end of the season.

ALLIANCE NEWS

Hull outfielder Vic Arkell, who hit .336 in 1925 and who has a lifetime .328 average, was dealt to Glasgow a couple of minor leaguers. Starting pitcher Alexander Ferguson, who went 11-20 for Portsmouth, was hoping that a change of scenery might change his luck after the Neptunes announced that he had been sent to London in exchange for prospects. Aging legend Gabriel Tatchell, the DA's outstanding hitter for 1914 and a career .303 hitter, was traded by Belfast to Islington for right-handed pitcher Caleb Houlbrook, who was 10-10 for the Owls last season.

Infielder Michael Drudge, who started 107 games for Edinburgh and hit .335, tore a knee ligament in a 21 August game that doctors initially thought would keep him on the sidelines for nine months. As spring training approached, however, the revised prognosis was grim -- Drudge would not be able to return to baseball at all. That ended a promising career for Drudge, who was a gold glove winner at first base in 1922.

WESTMINSTER NEWS

The Peers' 94 wins would have been enough to win the pennant in any of the preceding five seasons. It was their misfortune, however, to win 94 games in a season when Liverpool won 105. Westminster management was pleased with the performance of the team's youngsters. Outfielders John Wearne and Bobby Langdon played well despite injuries. Tad Packham, a utility infielder, hit .313 and was invaluable when regular shortstop Keenan Coultman spent two extended stays on the disabled list. And Dutch catcher Johan Zippro performed well enough in the minors to allow the team to trade long-time backstop Oscar Adams to Bristol for minor league reliever Kevin King. Meanwhile, in spite of injuries to starters Jerry Parker and Michael Hakin, the pitching corps showed improvement over last year. Dave Sledge continued to top the rotation, and left hander Danny Smith won nineteen games and ended up as the staff's number two hurler.

The development of the team's young talent, as well as the need to make room for highly touted minor leaguers Eddie Whittingham and Michael Shakelady, made it necessary to trade away some veterans. Longtime first baseman Brian Jones, regular second baseman Greg Mawer, backup infielder Neil Riding, rookie starter Eddie Allard, and backup outfielder William Shepperson were all gone by opening day, replaced, in most instances, by young prospects.

SPRING TRAINING 1926

The punters couldn't decide between Liverpool and Westminster as the favorites in the EL pennant race. They were pretty clear, however, that Nottingham would come in third. In the DA, Leeds was predicted to edge out Stoke and Glasgow for the flag.

It was another bad spring for Liverpool's pitching staff, as Nick Fernyhough, who finished 25-8 with a 2.83 ERA for the Cup winners, went down with a shoulder injury that will keep him out of action for at least five months. Right-handed reliever Dexter Lockyer, acquired by Leicester from Manchester in the middle of last year, will miss two months after being diagnosed with elbow tendonitis following a 9 March tune-up game against Lambeth. Jim "Big Mouth" Halfyard, who made thirty-nine appearances out of the bullpen for Portsmouth and Lambeth last year, will miss the first half of the 1926 campaign with a damaged nerve in his arm. Robert Stenhouse, who tallied a 15-14 record for Stoke, will miss four months with nerve irritation.

Salford surprised the baseball world by winning the spring derby with eighteen victories. Manchester took the honors in the DA with a 17-7 record.

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1926 MID-SEASON

A half-dozen contenders jostled for the head of the table in the EL during the first half of the season. Edinburgh and Dublin were the early frontrunners, to the surprise of many. The two clubs finished a combined fifty-seven games out of first place last season, and no one really expected them to contend this year. Edinburgh, though, climbed the ladder on the pitching of Bert Woolston, who returned to form after two injury-shortened seasons to post a 14-5 record and a League-leading 2.55 ERA. The offense, however, was a different story, and the team's .277 average ranked tenth in the circuit, which explained the Chieftans' slow descent into fifth place. Dublin, in contrast, stayed hot throughout the first two months. Left hander Aiden "Coroner" MacRuer, a twenty-game loser last year who, in five previous seasons, had never posted a winning record, experienced a remarkable transformation and led the team with a 15-4 mark. Third baseman Jack Balby provided the power at the plate with a .331 average and six home runs. The Shamrocks stalled in June, winning only eleven of twenty-two contests, which gave Newcastle a chance to move up into the top spot. The Greys, hitting at a .309 pace, had the most fearsome offense in the EL, and boasted five regulars hitting over .300. Outfielder Fionn McPaul, batting .355, led the team, while Parisian third baseman Jean-Louis "Rhino" Bourgeois followed close behind at .354. Ronald Hughes topped the rotation with an 8-2 record until a shoulder injury at the beginning of June ended his season early. Newcastle slumped in the weeks leading up to the All-Star Game, while Dublin recovered and moved back into first. Reigning Cup champions Liverpool had the wind knocked out of them when staff ace Nick Fernyhough went down with an injury in spring training, and the Argos played without much spirit in April. A spurt in May, sparked by the pitching of sophomore Euan Riach and the hitting of third-year shortstop Ed Bousquet, fizzled in June, and Liverpool didn't get much help from the normally reliable Ken Drummond, who won only seven of eighteen decisions. Bradford stayed a few steps behind the leaders, buoyed by an offense that featured outfielder Niall Driscoll and second baseman Alex Edwardson, both of whom finished the first half batting over .325. Left fielder Colm Catlow's EL-best .368 batting average lifted London into the loop's top ranks after a slow start. On the hill, relievers Patrick Workman and Antoin Cattell made a combined fifty-eight trips from the bullpen and accounted for eleven wins and twelve saves, which helped the Bulldog pitching staff to a League-leading 3.28 ERA.

In contrast to the EL, the DA race was dominated by one team. The Lambeth Lambs made an impressive start, winning fourteen of their first sixteen matches and taking a commanding lead. Unlike Dublin in the EL, however, Lambeth never faltered. Much of their success was due to the offense, which led the Association with a .286 batting average. Infielder Evan Land topped the team with a .329 average, and even after starting shortstop Griff Sproston, batting .306, sustained a season-ending ankle fracture on the last day of June, the Lambs didn't slow down. The pitching staff featured veteran right handers Matthew Timblick and Mike Kelley, who teamed up for a 27-13 record. Belfast made a run at the lead in May with a 20-7 record behind the hitting of third-year outfielder Joe Maddy, who hit .341 until an elbow sprain on the eve of the all-star break took him out of the lineup. Apart from Maddy, however, the Union attack was sorely deficient, and Robert Crober, who entered the season with a .329 career average, hit a disappointing .291. The mound corps compensated for the lack of offense by compiling a 3.17 ERA, third-best in the DA. Caleb Houlbrook, picked up from Islington in the Gabriel Tatchell trade, topped the rotation with a 10-5 record. Starter Joe Crook, coming off his second consecutive 19-14 season, was the driving force behind Leeds, and his 14-5 record suggested that he might be in the middle of a career year. In contrast, though, Danny Pankhurst, last year's outstanding pitcher, slumped to a 7-8 mark, and Samuel Farquharson, 14-8 last season, suffered a partially torn shoulder muscle at the end of June that ended his season prematurely. Bristol mounted a challenge to Lambeth in May, boosted by an offense spearheaded by sophomore shortstop Clarence Rawle and Hogan Orme, whose sixty-one RBI led the DA. The Docker pitching staff, however, could not keep up with the offense, and a shoulder injury to reliever Joe "Cracker" Willman, who won ten games out of the bullpen in addition to collecting eight saves, sent this team tumbling into fifth place. Glasgow, looking for their fourth-straight pennant, boasted the Association's second-best team average at .285, yet ranked only ninth in runs scored. Sebastian Meadmore continued his fine hitting, but the team suffered a power outage, hitting only nineteen home runs, worst in the loop. On the hill, Eric "Scissors" Morris performed to his usual standards, but Dominique Meyer and John Shepherd, key components in the team's 1925 pennant-winning campaign, both slumped in 1926, going a combined 15-27 with ERAs topping 4.25.



Edinburgh's new Southside Park provided the site for the 1926 All-Star Game. The visiting Dominions greeted Westminster starter Dave Sledge with four runs in the first inning, capped off by Manchester outfielder Albert Coultrip's three-run homer. Sledge gave up another run in the second before the Empires could strike back with three runs in the bottom of the third, sparked by a two-run triple off the bat of Liverpool's Joe Musson. The home team narrowed the deficit to 6-5 after three innings, but that was as close as they came, as the Dominions added four more runs in the next three innings to pull away. A late rally by the Empires fell short, and the Dominions came away with an 11-8 victory. Bristol's Clarence Rawle, Sheffield's Adam Rowde, and Stoke's Donnelly Flynn each had three hits, contributing to the twenty-two hits accumulated by the Dominion all-stars, while Musson ended the day with two hits and three RBI. But it was Coultrip, with three RBI and two runs scored, who garnered the MVP nod.

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1926 FINAL

Confusion reigned at the top of the EL standings as five teams competed for the League lead. Dublin, who came out of the all-star break with a slim lead over Liverpool and Newcastle, relied on a strong pitching staff topped by Aiden "Coroner" MacRuer (23-12, 3.12 ERA) and Lorcan Ryding (15-7, 2.79 ERA), while shortstop Cathmor Grammer (.328, 3 HR, 50 RBI) paced the attack. The Shamrocks held a tenuous hold on first place until they slumped badly in August, dropping eighteen of twenty-seven contests and falling all the way to fifth place. Bradford took Dublin's spot at the head of the League table, boosted by a lineup that contained four .300 hitters, including Niall Driscoll (.333, 7 HR, 74 RBI) and Robert Ducker (.308, 13 HR, 79 RBI), who was hitting only .255 at the all-star break but who caught fire in the second half. On the mound, Barden "Biscuit Pants" Rowley (22-8, 3.12 ERA), in his fourth major-league season, moved into the upper echelon of BA pitchers. At the beginning of September, Bradford maintained a slim half-game lead over Liverpool, who had climbed steadily on the strength of their pitching staff. Sophomore hurler Euan Riach (18-12, 3.15 ERA) led the rotation, while rookie Shaun Mickel (13-4, 3.35 ERA) stepped up when Ken Drummond (14-20, 4.56 ERA) slumped badly. At the plate, Ed Bousquet (.311, 12 HR, 74 RBI) and Francis Pethick (.276, 13 HR, 74 RBI) anchored a lineup that led the circuit in home runs and was second in runs scored. Dublin, however, revived at the beginning of the month, reeling off nine wins in twelve games to retake the lead, with Newcastle and Edinburgh closing in on the competition, making it a five-team race. Liverpool, benefitting from the return of Nick Fernyhough (5-1, 1.47 ERA), split a two-game series at Dublin, and then rattled off seven wins in their next eight games to establish a two-game lead as Dublin came into town for a three-game set. Liverpool swept the visiting Hibernians, and then fended off a late challenge from Bradford to capture their fourth pennant in a row. Newcastle vaulted over the slumping Shamrocks to finish fourth, aided by the hitting of Jean-Louis "Rhino" Bourgeois (.338, 19 HR, 94 RBI) and John Schute (.347, 1 HR, 65 RBI). Edinburgh's Bert Woolston (24-11, 2.28 ERA) single-handedly carried the Chieftans into fifth place, winning the League's ERA crown in the process.

In contrast to the EL, the pennant chase in the Dominion Association offered far less drama. Lambeth, who led the DA by five-and-a-half games at the all-star break, featured Evan Land (.345, 3 HR, 99 RBI) and Caleb Goode (.305, 1 HR, 87 RBI) at the core of an offense that topped the loop with a .289 team batting average. On the mound, Mike Kelley (20-13, 4.39 ERA) had never won more than fourteen games in his six previous seasons, but the thirty-two-year old turned it around in 1926 to lead the team in victories despite an inflated ERA. The Lambs cruised along without any serious opposition until the second half of August, when a series of injuries felled starting second baseman Eddie Gillette (.300, 1 HR, 35 RBI) and three-quarters of the starting rotation, including staff ace Matthew Timblick (18-12, 3.80 ERA). That provided an opportunity for Manchester and Leicester to mount an assault on Lambeth's position. Manchester built their offense around catcher Gannon McAfee (.351, 5 HR, 81 RBI) and right fielder Albert Coultrip (.321, 17 HR, 100 RBI), while the pitching duties were handled by rookie southpaw Jeff Schmerber (19-7, 3.20 ERA). Leicester, last year's wooden spoon recipients and a distant seventh at the all-star break, climbed the ladder after the resumption of play, winning twelve of seventeen to start the second half. Third-year right fielder Dylan Mair (.314, 11 HR, 66 RBI) paced the Leopard attack, while George "Bird Dog" Fountain (23-14, 2.86 ERA) and Cameron Lauder (20-11, 3.12 ERA) formed an effective tandem at the top of the rotation. At the beginning of September, Leicester had closed the gap to two-and-a-half games, while Manchester trailed by only three-and-a-half. That's as close as they got, however, as Lambeth poured on the steam in their effort to end a twenty-three-year pennant drought. Joseph Hartridge (16-16, 3.83 ERA), acquired at the trade deadline from Manchester, won eleven games for his new team, and was named pitcher of the month for September, and the Lambs pulled away from the competition, winning twenty times in twenty-seven tries after the end of August. Leeds slipped past Manchester at the end of the season to grab a share of second place, largely due to the efforts of Danny Pankhurst (19-13, 2.98 ERA), who won eight of his last eleven decisions, and Dexter Lockyer (7-2, 8 SV, 1.31 ERA), who led the DA's best bullpen. Glasgow, winners of the last three pennants, dropped to sixth place as a result of a collective slump in the pitching staff. Dominique Meyer (14-22, 4.16 ERA) lost eight of his first eleven decisions and never got untracked after that, and forty-two-year old John Shepherd (11-15, 4.00 ERA), a twenty-four-game winner last year, performed so poorly that he ended the season at triple-A Dundee. Only Eric "Scissors" Morris (23-11, 2.62 ERA) kept the team from descending even farther in the standings.



1926 CUP FINALS SERIES: LIVERPOOL v. LAMBETH

The Series opened at Lambeth's new Kitteringham Field, where Nick Fernyhough started for the visitors against Joseph Hartridge for the home team. The result was an unprecedented rout, as Liverpool scored twenty-four runs against four Lambeth pitchers, including nine runs in the third inning when the Argonauts sent fifteen men to the plate. Craig Watt (.301, 1 HR, 65 RBI), "Tacky" Fraser MacInnes (.310, 13 HR, 79 RBI), and Ed Bousquet all hit homers, while Michael Bligh (.285, 4 HR, 72 RBI) hit a grand slam and accounted for a Series-record nine RBI. When it was all over, Liverpool collected twenty-two hits, ten for extra bases, and ten walks en route to a 24-6 victory. Lambeth regrouped the next day, and twice came back from two-run deficits to tie the score. In the bottom of the tenth, with the score knotted at four apiece, Norm Hartman (.286, 6 HR, 47 RBI) came to bat against Liverpool bullpen ace Owen Payton (13-5, 18 SV, 2.05 ERA) with the bases loaded and cracked a line drive through the middle to score the winning run. Jim "Big Mouth" Halfyard (0-3, 5.72 ERA) picked up the win in relief of Mike Kelley, while Lambeth left fielder Billy Byette (.304, 2 HR, 26 RBI) went five-for-five with three runs scored. In Liverpool for game three, the Lambs broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh by scoring three runs off Shaun Mickel. The Lambs added single tallies in the eighth and ninth innings, and a late rally by the home team in the ninth fizzled after only a run, as Lambeth took the Series lead with a 7-3 win. Ron Steele (.300, 6 HR, 65 RBI) had three RBI for the winners, while Brian Johnson (.246, 7 HR, 59 RBI) picked up three hits, including a home run, for the losing side. Hartridge returned after his drubbing in game one to face Fernyhough again in game four, and the results were radically different. Liverpool came back after trailing 3-1 to tie the game at three in the eighth inning. In the ninth, however, Fernyhough loaded the bases on two walks and a double, and then backup catcher Vianney Marion (.231, 0 HR, 13 RBI), brought in as a defensive sub in the eighth, hit a two-run double that put the Lambs back on top. Hartridge pitched a scoreless ninth, and Lambeth prevailed by a 5-3 final. Byette added three more hits to his total, including an RBI-triple, while Liverpool's Bligh hit his second homer of the Series. Liverpool erupted for three runs in the third inning, sparked by Francis Pethick's two-run homer, to take a 4-1 lead in game five. Lambeth clawed their way back, scoring twice in the eighth and tying the game in the ninth on a Byette RBI-single. In the bottom half of the frame, MacInnes led off with a walk, and, two batters later, pinch-hitter Joe Musson (.346, 9 HR, 60 RBI) laced an RBI-triple right-center field to win the game 5-4. Payton got the win after blowing the save opportunity in the ninth, and Byette finished the day with three more hits. It was 1-0 in favor of Liverpool in the third inning of game six when the rains came down, delaying the contest for nearly an hour and forcing the teams to dig into their bullpens after the two starters' arms tightened. Payton, in relief of Mickel, pitched four innings of four-hit ball and received credit for the 5-0 victory. Pethick and William "Bummer" Houlbrook (.318, 6 HR, 61 RBI) accounted for two of the Argo runs with solo homers. It all came down to a seventh game, featuring a rematch of Fernyhough versus Hartridge. The home squad jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first. Liverpool responded with a run in the third, but Lambeth added to their lead with three tallies in the fourth. It was 6-1 in the ninth when Liverpool came to bat. Bligh and Houlbook started the frame with base hits, but Hartridge, waving off manager Matt Arnett, limited the damage to a run-scoring fielder's choice by Johnson and won the rubber game 6-2. It was Lambeth's first Cup title, and the long-suffering fans rushed the field to lift Billy Byette to their shoulders. The left fielder finished the Series with eighteen hits and a .563 average, which earned him the MVP award.

THE MINORS

The Dundee Claymores repeated as champions of the Northern Conference, but the Glasgow farmhands went down to defeat in the Third Tier championship series, falling to the Brighton Lions, Liverpool's affiliate, in four games.

Lambeth's third-stringers, the Birkenhead Whales, ended a thirty-four-year post-season hiatus by capturing the Britannia Conference crown, and they went on to vanquish the Hackney Mudlarks, Westminster's double-A squad, in a four-game series to take the Third Tier title.

ALLIANCE LEADERS

Empire League
Hitting
BA: .361 Colm Catlow, London
HR: 19 Jean-Louis "Rhino" Bourgeois, Newcastle
RBI: 109 Marmaduke "The Great" Taylor, Salford
R: 107 Francis Pethick, Liverpool
SB: 40 Alex Edwardson, Bradford
Pitching
W: 24 Dave Sledge, Westminster; Bert Woolston, Edinburgh
L: 22 William Bent, Bradford
K: 126 Dave Sledge, Westminster
ERA: 2.28 Bert Woolston, Edinburgh
SV: 18 Owen Payton, Liverpool

Sledge, who was the runner-up in the ERA category with a 2.67, came closer to winning the pitching triple crown than Woolston, who tallied only sixty-four strikeouts. Catlow, robbed of a batting crown last year after an injury left him twenty-six plate appearances short of qualifying, stayed healthy this year and carried home the title by fourteen points over his nearest rival, Newcastle shortstop John Schute.

Dominion Association
Hitting
BA: .362 Buddy Thompson, Islington
HR: 27 Andrew Noden, Hull
RBI: 113 Hogan Orme, Bristol
R: 128 Hogan Orme, Bristol
SB: 30 William Kenelm, Hull; Michael Stoddart, Manchester
Pitching
W: 25 Allan "Big Stick" Milborn, Stoke
L: 22 Dominique Meyer, Glasgow
K: 174 Allan "Big Stick" Milborn, Stoke
ERA: 2.38 Allan "Big Stick" Milborn, Stoke
SV: 12 "Dashing" Mark Lewis, Sheffield

Noden broke the major-league single-season record for homers set when Robert Ducker hit twenty-five for Bradford in 1921. For Milborn, it was his second pitching triple crown. His first was in 1923.

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1926-27 OFF-SEASON

AWARDS

Empire League
Hitter: Finnegan Neecy, Nottingham (.335, 12 HR, 87 RBI, 79 R, 27 2B, 100 BB, .442 OBP, .473 SLG)
Pitcher: Bert Woolston, Edinburgh (24-11, 2.28 ERA, 336 IP, 64 K, 1.24 WHIP, .257 OAVG)
Manager: Charlie Hodgson, Edinburgh (80-74, 5th place)
Rookie: Joe Musson, Liverpool (.346, 9 HR, 60 RBI, 51 R, 20 2B, .537 SLG)

Dominion Association
Hitter: Hogan Orme, Bristol (.329, 19 HR, 113 RBI, 128 R, 30 2B, 109 BB, 24 SB, .437 OBP, .544 SLG)
Pitcher: Allan "Big Stick" Milborn, Stoke (25-12, 2.38 ERA, 337 IP, 174 K, 1.13 WHIP, .248 OAVG, 6 SHO)
Manager: Matt Arnett, Lambeth (92-62, 1st place)
Rookie: John Carver, Kensington (.344, 4 HR, 74 RBI, 82 R, 26 2B, 29 SB, .406 OBP, .472 SLG)

Neecy was a controversial choice for EL batter of the year. "Rhino" Bourgeois of Newcastle had a better average, more home runs, RBI, runs scored, and led the League in slugging percentage. London's Colm Catlow, who won the batting title, had 93 RBI and hit 41 doubles. Neecy, in contrast, topped the loop in only one category: on-base percentage. Arnett won his second managerial trophy. His first came in 1919 when he led Glasgow to the BA Cup. Hodgson became the first skipper of a fifth-place team to be named manager of the year.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

William Revell became the latest addition to the Hall of Fame. The right-handed pitcher won 319 games in a career split between his native Birmingham and Bristol. An eight-time twenty-game winner, Revell's best season was in 1906, when he went 30-5 with a 1.61 ERA and pitched a no-hitter, but he lost out to fellow Hall-of-Famer Arthur Nancekevell for the outstanding pitcher award. The EL honored Revell with that trophy in 1903, his sophomore season, and he appeared in eight all-star contests over the course of his twenty-year career.



Canadian native Jose Vallee, in his second season in London's outfield, knocked out three home runs in a 28 May home game against Edinburgh, but was lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh, thwarting his chance to hit a record fourth return-tripper. Birmingham starter Shamus Scanlan's final victory of the season was the 365th of his career, moving him past Aaron "Fatty" Trethewey into fourth place on the all-time list.

ALLIANCE NEWS

Glasgow sent longtime starting catcher Sebastian Meadmore to Dublin for Dan Leahy, a thirty-two-year old reliever who went 5-9 with ten saves for the Shamrocks. Meadmore, in twelve seasons with the Gaelics, compiled 1,934 hits and a .316 batting average. In twenty-four post-season contests he hit .394 with ten RBI. A month after receiving the rookie of the year trophy, Liverpool's Joe Musson received a one-way ticket to Glasgow, traded for starting pitcher Eddie Allard. The left-handed Allard went 16-15 with a 3.52 ERA for the Gaelics. Bradford sent third baseman Connor MacHardie off to Manchester for reliever Shane "Ducky" Vittery. MacHardie batted .331 for the Badgers but he remained shaky defensively. Vittery led the DA in saves in 1925 but slumped in 1926 while splitting his time between Stoke and Manchester, going a combined 5-11 with ten saves in fifty-nine games.

WESTMINSTER NEWS

Westminster fans started the season viewing the youthful roster with cautious optimism. The average age of the starting lineup on opening day was twenty-six. Three regulars -- Tad Packham, Eddie Whittingham, and Bobby Langdon -- were under twenty-five. The team's management was clearly taking the risk that these callow youths would fold under the pressure of a big-league season. The problem, though, didn't turn out to be the players' age -- Whittingham hit .332 in his debut season and Langdon hit .306 -- but rather their health. Packham, pencilled in as the regular first baseman coming out of spring training, pulled a back muscle in a 16 July game and missed the rest of the season. Twenty-six-year old sophomore outfielder John Wearne spent six weeks recuperating from a fractured rib. And the team's starting and back-up catchers, Johan Zippro and Robert Nethersole, both went on the sixty-day disabled list in June, forcing the team to raid the minors for replacements. What started as a promising year turned into a series of disappointments as the Peers could never seem to gain any traction until the very end of the schedule, when it was already too late to compete for the pennant.

SPRING TRAINING 1927

There was little doubt that Liverpool was the odds-on favorite to win their fifth-straight EL pennant, with Westminster and Birmingham a distant second and third. Lambeth looked like a winner to the touts, as the Lambs were favored to top Belfast and Glasgow in a tight race.

Leeds reliever Dexter Lockyer, who compiled a 7-2 record with eight saves and a 1.31 ERA last year, tore a shoulder muscle in spring training and will be out of action until at least July. Sheffield relief ace "Dashing" Mark Lewis will miss the entire 1927 season after undergoing elbow ligament surgery. Lewis appeared in sixty-seven contests for the Steelers last year, winning ten of nineteen decisions and saving twelve games.

Westminster and Glasgow shared the spring derby crown with identical 15-9 records.

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1927 MID-SEASON

Kensington, one of only two teams never to have won a pennant, made a bid to erase that legacy of futility by taking an early lead in the DA pennant race. The Knights, led at the plate by outfielders John "Moonbeam" Sanford and Maurice "The Governor" Chenoweth, raced out to a 20-5 record in April and established a commanding lead. On the mound, Aidan Stuart, who bounced between the Knights and triple-A last season, stuck around this time by going 13-5 with a 3.15 ERA, while Richard "Lucky" Hobbes lived up to his nickname with a 12-7 record. In fact, Kensington management were so confident of their starting duo that they felt safe in trading away Cuban import Dani Martinez and his 13-9 record to Leicester for backup first baseman Trey Follett on the eve of the all-star break. By that time, however, Kensington's hot streak had cooled considerably, and they were nudged off the top spot by Belfast. The Union pitching staff boasted a solid starting foursome in Albert "Skipper" Freegard, Nino François, Caleb Houlbrook, and Charley "Gibby" Taylor, who were largely responsible for the team's 3.33 ERA, second-best in the Association. Joe Maddy and Robert Crober anchored the lineup and ranked two and three in the batting race. Glasgow, seeking a return to the head of the table after a one-year hiatus, made a run at Kensington in May, but dropped seven of eight games to Belfast in June and fell back in the standings. Eric "Scissors" Morris performed well, winning twelve of seventeen decisions, and the rest of the mound corps was solid if not spectacular, but the offense dropped off considerably. Defending Cup champs Lambeth started off slowly and didn't gain any momentum until June, when they put together a 13-4 run and moved up into contention. Left fielder Billy Byette got hot in May and never cooled down, finishing the first half with a DA-best .399 average. The pitching, on the other hand, was erratic, and management obtained Barden "Biscuit Pants" Rowley from Bradford at the end of May to shore up the rotation. That proved to be an inspired move, as Rowley responded with a 5-1 record in June and was named pitcher of the month. After finishing in tenth place last year, no one expected much out of Sheffield, but the Steeler offense, ranked fourth in the DA with a .290 batting average, propelled the team into contention. Catcher Adam Rowde and second-year outfielder Tarquin "Yappy" Bickle spearheaded the ferocious attack, which masked some of the inadequacies of a pitching staff that, apart from Dave Hodgson and his 12-4 record, was mediocre at best.

The punters who put their money on Liverpool to repeat as EL champions were already making plans to spend their winnings as the Argonauts dominated the competition in the first half of the season. Behind the League's best pitching staff, topped by a healthy Nick Fernyhough and featuring Sean Alker, also coming off an injury-shortened 1926, and Eddie Allard, obtained from Glasgow in the off-season, the Argonauts charged into first place by winning their first eleven games. Even the loss of veteran starter Euan Riach, who left a 7 June game with a torn triceps muscle and is not expected back before the end of the campaign, did not slow Liverpool down. Fraser MacInnes led the offense with a .345 average and an EL-best thirteen home runs, while fellow outfielder Francis Pethick paced the loop with seventy RBI. Against this Liverpudlian onslaught, the rest of the League was helpless. Dublin, attempting to improve on their third-place finish of a year ago, started strong, winning fifteen of their first twenty-three games, with newly acquired catcher Sebastian Meadmore leading the way with a .365 average. On the mound, lefty starter Aiden "Coroner" MacRuer, a twenty-three-game winner last year, continued to perform well at the top of the rotation, but the rest of the pitching staff was not up to his standards, and the Shamrocks faded as spring turned into summer. Birmingham kept pace with Dublin through May and passed them in June. The Blue Sox featured a balanced attack led by Italian outfielder Emeril Tapanelli and second baseman Tim Fulk. Cathal Pannier, in his third year in the big leagues, topped the pitching staff with a 15-5 record and a 3.35 ERA, but aging star Shamus Scanlan dropped to 8-10 with a 4.34 ERA. Westminster started sluggishly before a sixteen-game winning streak in May propelled them into contention. The lineup contained four regulars hitting over .300, including catcher Johan Zippro, who spent much of last season on the DL, and outfielder Devin Mabson, staging a comeback of sorts at the age of thirty-six. The mound corps was helmed by Dave Sledge, who won thirteen of twenty-one decisions, while Jerry Parker, who missed the first month of the season with a strained muscle, came back strong and compiled a 10-2 record. The Peers, however, could not maintain their momentum after May, and fell behind as Liverpool surged. Newcastle maintained a steady tempo, climbing up to fourth place on the strength of the League's best offense. Fionn McPaul batted .363 to lead the team. Jean-Louis "Rhino" Bourgeois, last year's home run leader, fell off his slugging pace but managed a respectable .303 average while driving in forty-three runs. Sophomore hurler John Ruscoe led the mound corps with a 12-6 mark and a 3.62 ERA. The Greys, however, were stung with a series of injuries that kept them from putting together a sustained drive.



Islington played host to the All-Star Game for the second time in seven years, and it turned out to be an exciting back-and-forth affair that wasn't decided until the final at-bat. The Dominion all-stars led 5-2 in the sixth when the Empires pushed three runs across on doubles by Liverpool's R.J. Hemphill and Salford's Marmaduke "The Great" Taylor. The Dominions recaptured the lead on Sheffield catcher Adam Rowde's solo homer in the bottom half of the inning, but the Empires came right back with two runs in the seventh, sparked by Emeril Tapanelli's RBI-triple. The home team responded with two runs in their half of the seventh and another run in the eighth on Glasgow first baseman Michael Stoppard's home run. In the top of the ninth, trailing by two, the Empires put a run on the board when Hemphill hit his second double of the day, but he was left stranded on second when Hull reliever Brian Sandeman induced McPaul to pop out to second base for the final out, preserving the Dominions' 9-8 victory. Hemphill, with three hits and three RBI, was named the MVP.

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1927 FINAL

It was a three-team race in the Dominion Association, as Kensington, Belfast, and Lambeth battled for the top rung on the ladder. Belfast held a slim two-game lead over Kensington when play resumed after the All-Star Game. The Unions, fifth-place finishers last year, were buoyed by a pitching staff that featured starters Charley "Gibby" Taylor (19-11, 3.46 ERA) and Caleb Houlbrook (18-9, 3.38 ERA). At the plate, outfielders Jim Hutcheson (.360, 19, 80 RBI) and Joe Maddy (.360, 11 HR, 99 RBI), batting in the second and third spots in the order, keyed the attack. Hot on the Ulstermen's tails were Kensington, who relied on the pitching duo of Aidan Stuart (20-14, 4.52 ERA) and Richard Hobbes (19-13, 3.56 ERA) to keep them in contention. The rest of the pitching staff, however, had Knight fans saying "Aidan and Dick, and send help quick!" Fortunately for them, the deficiencies of the mound corps were mitigated by the offense, which registered a combined .298 batting average. Five regulars batted over .300, including John "Moonbeam" Sanford (.312, 14 HR, 102 RBI) and Maurice "The Governor" Chenoweth (.315, 17 HR, 91 RBI). As Kensington and Belfast fought it out in August, Lambeth surged forward on the strength of a 21-6 record for the month, including a stretch where they went 19-2. The defending champions boasted the best hitter in the major leagues in Billy Byette (.410, 17 HR 105 RBI), who won the batting crown while finishing in the top five in RBI and home runs. Byette was partially responsible for the Lambs' DA-leading .301 team average, along with infielders Evan Land (.303, 7 HR, 78 RBI) and Eddie Gillette (.310, 0 HR, 47 RBI). For the second year in a row, Mike Kelley (20-14, 3.36 ERA) won twenty games, while Barden "Biscuit Pants" Rowley (18-12, 3.45 ERA), obtained in May from Bradford, won sixteen of twenty-two decisions for his new club. When Lambeth travelled to Belfast for a four-game series at the beginning of September, they trailed the Unions by one-and-a-half games. Belfast took the opener, but then Lambeth swept the remaining three and left Northern Ireland in first place. The Lambs never looked back after that, winning fourteen of their final twenty-one games and cruising to their second consecutive pennant. They will go into the post-season, however, without Byette, who sprained his elbow in the last week of September. Glasgow improved by one game over their disappointing total of 1926 but climbed two spots to fourth place. Eric "Scissors" Morris (21-14, 3.97 ERA) performed well, but Dominique Meyer (14-22, 3.66 ERA) lost twenty-two games for the second-straight season. Michael Stoppard (.338, 6 HR, 78 RBI) was the sole regular to crack the .300 barrier, as injuries sidelined sophomore second baseman George Mulholland (.308, 1 HR, 29 RBI) and center fielder Joshua Ing (.298, 5 HR, 36 RBI). Sheffield had a fearsome offense, led by first baseman John Mastin (.304, 19 HR, 90 RBI) and Adam Rowde (.334, 11 HR, 86 RBI), but the Steelers never contended after May.

There was no doubt who would end up occupying the head of the table in the Empire League. Liverpool, leading Birmingham and Westminster by twelve games at the halfway point, had little trouble in wrapping up their fifth straight pennant. The Argonaut pitching staff had no equal, and claimed three twenty-game winners in Nick Fernyhough (22-13, 3.79 EA), Eddie Allard (21-8, 2.69 ERA), and Sean Alker (22-13, 3.83 ERA). Owen Payton (12-3, 17 SV, 1.73 ERA), meanwhile, squelched any late-inning opposition rallies. At the plat, the offense accounted for 815 runs, the most in the League. "Tacky" Fraser MacInnes (.357, 28 HR, 107 RBI) topped the EL in home runs and RBI, while R.J. Hemphill (.338, 2 HR, 68 RBI) and Craig Watt (..320, 0 HR, 54 RBI) provided support. Liverpool came out of the gate slowly in the second half, which gave Westminster and Birmingham a chance to catch a glimpse of first place. Dutch catcher Johan Zippro (.336, 8 HR, 94 RBI) started all but ten of the Peers' games behind the plate and led the team in hitting in only his third big-league season, while Tim Savill (.335, 3 HR, 56 RBI) had his best season at the plate since 1922. Dave Sledge (23-17, 3.40 ERA) continued to bear the pitching burden, but he was joined by Jerry Parker (19-11, 4.06 ERA). Birmingham hit .294 as a team, with Emeril Tapanelli (.353, 11 HR, 78 RBI) and Jack Askew (.339, 5 HR, 59 RBI) contributing to the barrage, but when both players were injured within days of each other at the beginning of September, the wind was let out of the Blue Sox sails. Cathal Pannier (23-12, 3.44 ERA) topped the rotation, winning twenty games for the first time in his three-year career. Livepool righted themselves in August after letting their pursuers get within six games, and their 19-9 record against their two closest rivals assured that they would be able to fend off any further challenges as they clinched the flag in mid-September. Nottingham climbed to fourth place behind the pitching of Samuel "Pal" Buttery (23-12, 2.94 ERA) and he hitting of Benjamin Anstruther (.295, 8 HR, 91 RBI) and Wayne Lewis (.317, 9 HR, 73 RBI). The core of Newcastle's lineup consisted of Fionn McPaul (.350, 12 HR, 104 RBI) and Jean-Louis "Rhino" Bourgeois (.328, 18 HR, 90 RBI), which propelled the Greys into a fourth-place tie with the Foresters. Bradford, runners-up last year, dropped to ninth despite the torrid hitting of Niall Driscoll (.327, 13 HR, 67 RBI) and the pitching of Ken Bretz (23-9, 3.00 ERA).



1927 CUP FINALS SERIES: LIVERPOOL v. LAMBETH

The Series opener in Liverpool pitted Nick Fernyhough against a surprise starter for the Lambs, rookie right hander Eddie Lodder (10-3, 3.07 ERA). Lodder, who was called up from triple-A in July, went 5-0 in September and was named pitcher of the month, yet his choice to start the first game mystified most observers. But it was the veteran Fernyhough who got into trouble early, giving up two runs in the first, followed by single runs in the fifth and sixth. Lodder, meanwhile, held the home team Argonauts to a single run in the third inning, but he left the game after a fifth-inning rain delay. Stu Robinson (5-3, 9 SV, 1.40 ERA), taking over from Lodder, gave up a run in the sixth and a solo home run to Ed Bousquet (.332, 11 HR, 69 RBI) in the seventh, but that was all the scoring that Liverpool could muster, as Rory Baird (4-4, 6 SV, 3.89 ERA) came on to pitch the final two innings to save the 4-3 victory for Robinson and the Lambs. Bousquet had four hits at the top of the Argo order, while his counterpart on the Lambs, John Hockridge (.235, 0 HR, 4 RBI), playing in the place of the injured Billy Byette, ended the day with three hits. In game two, a two-run homer by Caleb Goode (.281, 3 HR, 68 RBI) off Eddie Allard in the top of the sixth put Lambeth ahead 2-1. The Argos came back in the bottom half of the frame when Bosquet singled, was sacrificed to second, stole third, and came home on a sacrifice fly. The score stayed knotted at two in the ninth when Brendan Rushworth's (.379, 0 HR, 20 RBI) run-scoring single put the Lambs ahead. Joseph Hartridge (14-7, 3.12 ERA) held the home squad scoreless in the bottom of the inning to secure the complete-game, 3-2 victory. Lambeth, returning home for game three, again greeted Fernyhough with a pair of runs in the first inning, but Liverpool came back to tie it with two runs in the fourth. In the fifth inning, Lambeth's defense suddenly collapsed, as the Argos bunched two hits around three Lamb errors to score four runs. Fernyhough, after that rough first inning, settled down to pitch a complete-game five-hitter as Liverpool won 6-2. Fraser MacInnes had four base hits in four at-bats for the Argos. After a two-run homer by "Slippery" John Mildren (.276, 8 HR, 48 RBI), Liverpool established a 5-0 lead going into the fifth inning of game four. Lambeth, however, clawed their way back, scoring single runs in each of the next four innings to shave the visitors' lead to 5-4. Liverpool starter Sean Alker regained his composure in the ninth and induced Evan Land to ground out with a runner on first to end the game. MacInnes finished with three hits for Liverpool, while Ron Steele (.326, 8 HR, 65 RBI) had three hits, including a solo homer in the fifth, for Lambeth. Mildren started the scoring in game five with his second home run of the Series, and Liverpool followed up in the fourth inning with more five runs, capped off by Bousquet's three-run blast off Hartridge. Lambeth responded with three runs in the bottom of the fourth, but Allard held the Lambs to one more score in the ninth while MacInnes padded the lead with a two-run homer in the top of that frame, and Liverpool took the lead in the Series with an 8-4 win and a sweep of Lambeth on the road. Fernyhough and Lodder matched up again in game six at Liverpool, and this time Liverpool scored twice in the first inning to take the early lead. The home team then proceeded to score push five more runs across the plate before Lambeth could dent the scoreboard with two runs in the eighth inning. Trailing 8-2 in the ninth, Lambeth staged a rally, scoring twice. It was not enough, though, and Hockridge popped up to short right field with a runner on third to end the game and the Series. Fernyhough pitched another complete game to pick up the 8-4 victory. MacInnes ended up with thirteen hits and a .542 average, but "Slippery" John Mildren, with seven hits, including two home runs, seven RBI, and a .438 batting average received the MVP award.

THE MINORS

The Brighton Lions defeated the Burnley Maroons and Newport Bards in a three-way playoff to capture the Southern Conference title, and the Liverpool minor-leaguers went on to take the Second Tier championship in a four-game series against Birmingham's affiliate, the Wolverhampton Wolves.

The Birkenhead Whales of the Lambeth system repeated as champs of the Britannia Conference, and they then went the distance in defeating the Londonderry Citadels, Stoke's double-A franchise, in a five-game set to take their second-straight Third Tier crown.

ALLIANCE LEADERS

Empire League
Hitting
BA: .389 Jack Brown, Salford
HR: 28 "Tacky" Fraser MacInnes, Liverpool
RBI: 107 "Tacky" Fraser MacInnes, Liverpool
R: 112 Craig Watt, Liverpool
SB: 46 Les Sedgwick, Birmingham
Pitching
W: 23 five pitchers
L: 22 Paul "Sweetbreads" Radcliffe, Camberwell
K: 128 Sean Alker, Liverpool
ERA: 2.69 Eddie Allard, Liverpool
SV: 17 Owen Payton, Liverpool

Brown, an outfielder who had been known primarily for his fielding prowess in his seven previous big-league seasons, spent eight weeks on the DL and barely registered enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting championship. MacInnes set the major-league mark for homers in a season, breaking the record of twenty-seven established last year by Andrew Noden.

Dominion Association
Hitting
BA: .410 Billy Byette, Lambeth
HR: 20 Andrew Noden, Hull
RBI: 117 Angus Keith, Leeds
R: 117 Billy Byette, Lambeth
SB: 37 Billy Byette, Lambeth
Pitching
W: 21 three pitchers
L: 25 Jack Oldknow, Islington
K: 166 Allan "Big Stick" Milborn, Stoke
ERA: 2.70 "Salty" Jack Hurrell
SV: 20 Eamonn Peasnall, Kensington

Byette set single-season records for most hits (260) and total bases (365). Hurrell started the season in triple-A and wasn't called up to the majors until the beginning of July. He was the only pitcher to qualify for the title with an ERA under 3.00.

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1927-28 OFF-SEASON

AWARDS

Empire League
Hitter: "Tacky" Fraser MacInnes, Liverpool (.357, 28 HR, 107 RBI, 81 R, 40 2B, .402 OBP, .612 SLG)
Pitcher: Ken Bretz, Bradford (23-9, 3.00 ERA, 321 IP, 88 K, 1.16 WHIP, .258 OAVG, 5 SHO)
Manager: Bill Jacobs, Liverpool (100-54, 1st place)
Rookie: "Wobbly" George Marshland, Bradford (.278, 12 HR, 74 RBI, 87 R, 70 BB, 26 SB, .372 OBP, .437 SLG)

Dominion Association
Hitter: Billy Byette, Lambeth (.410, 17 HR, 105 RBI, 117 R, 38 2B, 37 SB, .446 OBP, .576 SLG)
Pitcher: Allan "Big Stick" Milborn, Stoke (21-15, 3.09 ERA, 332 IP, 166 K, 1.21 WHIP, .267 OAVG, 4 SHO)
Manager: Jack MacAuliffe, Kensington (91-63, 2nd place)
Rookie: Morrigan Witmore, Leicester (.337, 7 HR, 65 RBI, 50 R, 22 2B, .353 OBP, .389 SLG)

Milborn's fifth outstanding pitcher award ties him for the record held by Hall-of-Famer William Isaacs. MacInnes set the major-league record for slugging percentage, besting the previous mark of .611 set by Declan Morris in 1894. MacAuliffe won his second manager of the year award despite never having won a pennant.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Four legends of the game made the trek to Clappersgate for induction into the Hall of Fame. Right-handed starter Ron "Snuffy" Gamble first appeared in the big leagues in 1905 and spent his entire seventeen-year career at Leeds, where he finished with a record of 301-224. The native of California was named the DA's outstanding pitcher three times and was included on eight all-star rosters. A member of seven pennant-winning clubs, Gamble pitched in fifteen postseason contests and won nine of fourteen decisions. Gerald "Monk" Longworth started as a teammate of Gamble's on the 1910 Leeds team but spent the remainder of his career in Belfast. The right-handed starter compiled a 244-169 career mark and was named outstanding pitcher in 1917, when he went 26-11 with a 1.56 ERA. "Gorgeous" Henry Pitchforth was known for more than his good looks. In his seventeen-year career with Westminster, the big right hander collected 328 victories, ranking him tenth on the all-time list, and a winning percentage of .631, the highest mark of any hurler in the Hall of Fame. A three-time EL outstanding pitcher, Pitchforth was a leading member of the Peers club that won a record ten-straight pennants, and he holds the record for most games started (19) and innings pitched (158.1) in the Cup Finals. Bill Younger had a distinguished career playing second base for Salford. Starting in 1898, Younger collected 2,885 hits before retiring in 1917. Playing most of his time in a pitcher-friendly climate, Younger won three batting titles, including 1908, when his .307 average topped the EL. He occupies the fifth spot on the list for most career hits, and his 610 stolen bases place him eighth in that category.



In the second game of the season, Bradford infielder Niall Driscoll was hitless in four trips to the plate. That wouldn't happen again until over two months later, when Portsmouth right hander Colin Wroot held Driscoll without a hit. In between, Driscoll put together a string of fifty-three-straight games in which he collected at least one hit. That bested the major-league mark of fifty-one games set by Kensington's Shane Scales in 1917. During the streak, the former rookie of the year accumulated eighty hits and a .367 batting average. In a 4 June game at Portsmouth, Birmingham left fielder Jack Askew victimized three pitchers, including Colin Wroot, for five hits, including three doubles and a three-run homer, and seven RBI in a 17-7 Blue Sox thrashing. On 9 May, Newcastle right hander John Ruscoe tossed a one-hitter against the Neptunes. The only hit came in the sixth inning -- a double by opposing pitcher Colin Wroot.

ALLIANCE NEWS

Bristol started work on a new ballpark, which will be ready for occupancy in 1928.

Camberwell traded infielder Robin Ulrich, a career .321 hitter who split time between shortstop and third base while batting .305, to Lambeth for fourth outfielder George Darnell.

WESTMINSTER NEWS

Eric Bellairs, the legendary manager of the Peers, announced his retirement after the end of the Cup Finals Series. Plucked from obscurity in 1900 to lead the club, his was the steady hand on the tiller for twenty-eight seasons, and he ended with a 2,523-1,788 record, a dozen pennants, and five BA Cups. A twelve-time recipient of the League's manager of the year award, Bellairs guided his charges to twenty-four first-division finishes, including a string of sixteen-straight from 1902 to 1917. At sixty-five, Bellairs told reporters that he had grown tired of travel and looked forward to spending his remaining years tending his garden in his home town of Stockton-on-Tees. At a hastily arranged banquet held in Bellairs's honor, team owner Jamie Redlaw announced that Bert Welford, the skipper of the double-A Hackney Mudlarks, would take over the managerial reins, becoming only the fourth manager in Westminster's history.

Redlaw performed some spring cleaning on the eve of the 1928 opener, trading away pitcher Harry Dunbar to Camberwell in exchange for outfielder Chad Rondon and left-handed starter Michael Hakin and second baseman Charlie Maundrell to London for minor league infielder Patrick Wisker.

SPRING TRAINING 1928

The smart money was on Liverpool to grab their sixth consecutive EL flag, followed closely by Nottingham and London. Manchester, seventh-place finishers last year, were the surprise choice to dethrone Lambeth in the DA, with Kensington and the Lambs right behind.

It was a relatively bloodless spring training, as the only major casualty was William Watson. The Hull second baseman went down with a strained oblique muscle on 30 March and will be out for six-to-seven weeks.

London came out on top in the spring derby, winning seventeen of twenty-four exhibition matches. Leeds were the premier team in the DA, registering a 16-8 mark.

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1928 MID-SEASON

It was a scramble at the top of the DA ladder. Belfast established an early lead behind the hitting of left fielder Joe Maddy, who topped the Association with a .377 average, and the pitching of Albert "Skipper" Freegard. The Unions, however, followed a 12-5 record in April with a dreadful 8-21 plunge in May, and Belfast dropped out of sight as far as the competition went. Manchester took advantage of Belfast's fall, winning twenty of twenty-nine contests in May and climbing to the top of the standings. Outfielder Albert Coultrip and catcher John Mountford paced the Miller attack, while Jeff Schmerber anchored the pitching staff. But Manchester found its perch just as precarious as Belfast did, and a 12-13 June opened an opportunity for Glasgow and Kensington to mount their own challenges for the lead. Glasgow started the season with the disheartening news that veteran pitcher Eric "Scissors" Morris, who looked good going 3-0 in the early going, would miss the rest of the season with a torn rotator cuff. The Gaelics rebounded from that setback, relying on the hitting of infielders Michael Stoppard and Joseph Roskilly and the pitching of Danny Smith, who had been obtained at the trade deadline last year from Westminster and who, in Morris's absence, helmed the staff with a 12-8 record. Kensington overcame a slow start and climbed the ladder with the aid of outfielders Maurice "The Governor" Chenoweth and Michael Armstrong, who contributed to a DA-best .293 team batting average. On the hill, sophomore Griff Hicken and rookie Kirby Sambrook combined for a 23-9 mark and formed the core of a pitching staff that registered a collective 3.42 ERA, best in the loop. The Knights rose steadily through the ranks, and won nine of their final thirteen games before the all-star break to take over the Association lead. Stoke played steady, if uninspiring baseball during the first half, paced by the hitting of second baseman William Hepple, a career .298 hitter in eight previous seasons who went into the all-star break hitting .362. The Potters, though, received devastating news when reigning DA outstanding pitcher Allan "Big Stick" Milborn suffered a torn rotator cuff in a 5 July game against Bristol. Doctors fear that Milborn will not only miss the rest of this season but perhaps all of next season as well.

In contrast to the confusion atop the DA standings, only two teams in the EL battled for the lead. Liverpool, in what is becoming an increasingly common occurrence, lost one of their star players in the early going. This year, it was ace pitcher Nick Fernyhough, who sprained an ankle in a 14 May game at Bradford. Initially it was thought that the southpaw would be out for two months, but his return date was pushed back twice. If that gave hope to the rest of the League that the Argonauts' five-year pennant reign would end, they were sorely disappointed. In a testament to the depth of the Liverpool organization (and the large amounts of money spent by management), Liverpool shook off Fernyhough's loss and rose to their accustomed place at the head of the League table. In large part, that was due to the pitching of Eddie Allard, who compiled a 17-3 record in the first half and a 3.32 ERA. At the plate, outfielders R.J. Hemphill, who sat atop the hitting category with a .364 average, and "Tacky" Fraser MacInnes led the way, while catcher Brian Johnson topped the League with 58 RBI while batting .354. Newcastle were the only club who mounted an effective challenge to Liverpool's dominance. The Greys relied primarily on their offense, which featured five regulars hitting over .300. Jean-Louis "Rhino" Bourgeois and Robbie Keith formed the nucleus of an attack that combined for a .298 batting average, second only to Nottingham. Newcastle's pitching, on the other hand, was in the bottom half of the League with a 4.05 ERA, and only Stephen MacPherson, with a 13-5 record, pitched with any great distinction. Nottingham shot up to third place by virtue of an 11-3 run leading up to the all-star break. The Foresters led the majors with a .302 team batting average, due in large part to the efforts of third-year left fielder Wayne Lewis and his .340 mark. Samuel "Pal" Buttery, who won twelve of his eighteen decisions, helmed the pitching staff, while relief specialist Eric "Blue Moon" Cooper notched a dozen saves. London were the only other team to finish the first half above .500. The Bulldogs, coming off a tenth-place finish last year, ascended into the League's top ranks through superior pitching. Alexander Ferguson and Michael Hakin, acquired on the eve of the season opener from Westminster, each collected ten wins, and the staff as a whole registered a 3.42 ERA, the best in the circuit. The offense, in contrast, ranked only seventh with a .287 average, and the situation was not helped when Colm Catlow and Henry Mackaness sat out with lengthy injuries. Westminster, last year's runners-up, suffered a blow when infielder Tad Packham suffered a torn shoulder muscle that forced him into retirement. Without him, the Peers tumbled into the second division.



Nottingham was chosen as the site of the 1928 All-Star Game, and more than 26,000 fans saw the visiting Dominions stake out an early 3-0 lead, capped off by a solo homer in the fourth by Belfast's Nick Metherall. The Empires struck back in the bottom half of that inning with a single tally, and then cut the deficit to one run in the fifth when local favorite Wayne Lewis hit a return-tripper for the home town fans. That set the stage for the sixth inning, when the Empires punished Manchester reliever Graig "The Great" Borden for six runs, with the crucial blow coming on Bradford's "Wobbly" George Marshland's grand slam. It was all-Empire after that, as the home team collected fifteen hits en route to a 12-4 victory. Liverpool's Brian Johnson, playing the entire game behind the plate, had two hits and four RBI, which earned him the MVP honors.

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1928 FINAL

The pennant races in the DA both came down to two teams. In the EL, Liverpool had a comfortable five-game lead over Newcastle when play resumed after the all-star break. Eddie Allard (27-9, 3.41 ERA), a cast-off from both Westminster and Glasgow, pitched magnificently for the Argonauts. He was joined by Euan Riach (17-9, 3.73 ERA), coming off an injury-plagued season in 1927, and Nick Fernyhough (12-4, 2.38 ERA), who missed all of June and July with a sprained ankle, to form one of the best pitching staffs in the BA. The offense, on the other hand, was not up to the standards set by previous Argonaut squads. Their .281 team batting average ranked only eighth in the League, even though the lineup boasted four .300 hitters, among them R.J. Hemphill (.343, 1 HR, 76 RBI), who missed all of September with a strained muscle, and home-run king Francis Pethick (.303, 21 HR, 96 RBI). As the second half began, Liverpool played uncharacteristically bad baseball, losing six straight and eight of their first ten. That gave Newcastle a chance to move up. The Greys boasted the League's best hitter in French third baseman Jean-Louis "Rhino" Bourgeois (.369, 15 HR, 97 RBI). He was joined by Robbie Keith (.337, 4 HR, 77 RBI) and Fionn McPaul (.302, 9 HR, 89 RBI) in the vanguard of an attack that hit a major-league leading .300. On the mound, the tandem of Stephen MacPherson (22-13, 4.06 ERA) and John Ruscoe (22-11, 4.00 ERA) formed the core of the starting rotation. In contrast to Liverpool, Newcastle played well after the midsummer hiatus, and, at the end of July, actually pushed aside the Argonauts and emerged briefly atop the standings. Their triumph, however, would be short-lived. The Argos regrouped at the beginning of August, winning nine of fourteen before sweeping a three-game set at Newcastle that effectively stymied the Greys' pennant aspirations. Although Newcastle continued to shadow Liverpool through September, they never again mounted a serious challenge to the Argonauts, who clinched their sixth-straight League flag in the last week of the regular season. Nottingham climbed the ladder along with Newcastle in the wake of the All-Star Game, but like Newcastle faded in August and finished a distant third. Catcher David Radway (.325, 6 HR, 57 RBI) led an offense second only to Newcastle's, but the Foresters were beset with injuries to key players, including Wayne Lewise (.318, 16 HR, 105 RBI), who spent much of September on the DL, and aptly named rookie Samuel Sluggett (.428, 7 HR, 47 RBI), who was having a fantastic season until he was knocked cold in a late-July game against Birmingham and was sidelined for the rest of the year. London played solid baseball in the second half behind the pitching of Alexander Ferguson (19-9, 2.99 ERA). The offense benefitted from the addition of Finley Badman (.297, 6 HR, 59 RBI), acquired from Liverpool at the trade deadline, but the absence of slugging star Colm Catlow (.364, 5 HR, 39 RBI), who spent most of the second half on crutches after tearing his ankle ligaments, crippled the Bulldogs' chances of finishing in the money.

In the DA, it was a duel between Kensington and Manchester. The Knights, looking for their first pennant, were buoyed by the pitching duo of Griff Hicken (19-8, 2.80 ERA), who won the Association ERA title, and rookie Kirby Sambrook (19-12, 3.01 ERA). Richard "Lucky" Hobbes (11-8, 3.61 ERA), who won nineteen games last year, wasn't so lucky this year, as a fine season was cut short when he strained an elbow ligament in late July.At the plate, left fielder Maurice "The Governor" Chenoweth (.327, 22 HR, 91 RBI) captured the home run crown. Cleanup hitter Chenoweth, batting behind catcher Anthony Lavergne (.312, 18 HR, 80 RBI), helped to form the most potent batting combination in the majors. Holding a slim lead over Manchester and Glasgow at the halfway point, Kensington played only slightly above .500 the rest of the way. That should have provided an opening for their rivals, but Manchester and Glasgow actually played worse. Manchester were located in the middle of the pack in just about every offensive category, and the only regular who broke the .300 barrier was right fielder Albert Coultrip (.304, 15 HR, 95 RBI). The mound corps was not able to cover for the offense's deficiencies, as Jeff Schmerber (17-11, 3.70 ERA) and Bob "Jobber" Wolfe (18-14, 4.15 ERA) performed well but not well enough to take advantage of Kensington's uninspired play in the second half. Glasgow, in second place at the break, looked like the championship teams of years past in the aftermath of the All-Star Game, winning ten of their first eleven and climbing into first place. But season-ending injuries to Joshua Ing (.299, 5 HR, 46 RBI) and Orren Skeeles (.277, 6 HR, 57 RBI) on consecutive days in early August plunged the team into a funk from which they would not recover, and they slipped into third place. Hull played four games below .500 for the second half, but that was good enough to climb one position into a third-place tie with Glasgow. Twenty-three-year old rookie right hander Woodrow Silver (21-14, 2.89 ERA), signed to a one-year contract at the start of spring training, made an immediate impact, leading the DA in wins and finishing third in the ERA derby. Sophomore first baseman Pat Root (.330, 10 HR, 56 RBI) paced the offense, but the team was without the services of shortstop William Watson (.339, 2 HR, 26 RBI) and third baseman Andrew Noden (.273, 12 HR, 68 RBI), who both succumbed to injuries and missed the last month of the schedule. Stoke managed to survive the loss of Allan "Big Stick" Milborn (7-7, 3.52 ERA) to finish in a fifth-place tie with Leicester. Second baseman William Hepple (.332, 19 HR, 114 RBI) and center fielder Callum Winsor (.306, 21 HR, 63 RBI) led the Potter attack. The Leopards rebounded from a tenth-place finish in 1927 behind the double-play combination of second sacker Morrigan Witmore (.360, 15 HR, 98 RBI), who captured the batting crown in his second big-league season, and shortstop Rick Keefe (.342, 11 HR, 107 RBI). Defending champs Lambeth dropped into a three-way for seventh place, in large part due to the season-long slump of Billy Byette (.285, 9 HR, 74 RBI), who dropped 125 points off his major-league leading .410 average of 1927.



1928 CUP FINALS SERIES: LIVERPOOL v. KENSINGTON

Bookmakers stopped taking bets on Liverpool, as the odds were stacked heavily in their favor as the Series opened in Merseyside Park. The Argonauts got on the board with a run in the first, and added three more in the second, with the key blow coming on a two-run triple by Craig Watt (.285, 4 HR, 56 RBI). Liverpool coasted after that behind the six-hit pitching of Nick Fernyhough, who went the distance for a 6-2 victory. R.J. Hemphill and Ed Bousquet (.302, 11 HR, 61 RBI) finished the day with three hits apiece for the winning side. Kensington took their revenge the next day against Eddie Allard, scoring seven unanswered runs before Liverpool could dent the scoring column with a pair of runs in the sixth. Dave Horne (.285, 4 HR, 39 RBI) and Maurice Chenoweth homered for the Knights, and Neil Riding (.217, 2 HR, 11 RBI) had four base hits in five at-bats as Kensington, behind starter Kirby Sambrook, evened the Series with a surprising 9-5 triumph. Bousquet added three more hits to his total, and Brian Johnson (.295, 18 HR, 94 RBI) homered for the home squad. The Series shifted to London, and 23,402 fans packed into Notting Hill Park for the first post-season game in Kensington history. The home team erased an early 1-0 deficit by scoring four runs in the first inning off Fernyhough. Liverpool came back with one tally in the fourth, followed by a five-run outburst in the fifth started by a two-run double by William "Bummer" Houlbrook (.298, 7 HR, 61 RBI) after Griff Hicken had walked the bases full. Hicken was knocked out of the game in the next inning when Michael Bligh (.278, 7 HR, 76 RBI) hit a two-run triple, but the damage had been done, and the Argos waltzed to a 10-6 victory. Knight first baseman John Schute (.301, 0 HR, 63 RBI) had three doubles in a losing cause. Game four saw a classic pitchers' duel between Allard and Sambrook, as both hurlers carried shutouts into the ninth inning. In the top of the final stanza, Hemphill led off with a shot down the left field line that just barely cleared to the right of the foul pole for a home run. In the bottom of the inning, the Knights put runners on first and second with only one out, but Allard bore down and got the next two batters out to preserve the 1-0 win. Kensington took a 2-1 lead into the ninth inning of game five when Jack "Duke" Campbell (4-6, 10 SV, 3.21 ERA), pitching in relief of Kyle Moncreiffe (5-12, 4.33 ERA), gave up a leadoff homer to "Tacky" Fraser MacInnes (.324, 8 HR, 77 RBI). That sent the game into extra-time. In the top of the twelfth, Liverpool put men on second and third with two outs. R.J. Hemphill's base hit drove home a run, but Bousquet, the trailing runner, was gunned down at the plate by right fielder Michael Armstrong (.333, 8 HR, 58 RBI). In the bottom of the twelfth, Horne led off with a walk and moved to second on a Riding sacrifice. With two outs, Schute drove a grounder through the gap between second and third. Horne ran through the third-base coach's stop sign and headed for home, where he was preceded by Hemphill's throw from left field. Brian Johnson deftly applied the tag, and Liverpool pulled out an exciting 3-2 triumph and their second consecutive Cup championship. Hemphill finished up with a .455 average, a home run, and six RBI as well as the defensive play of the Series to win the MVP trophy.

THE MINORS

Lambeth fell short of the pennant, but their triple-A team, the Sunderland Swiftsures, captured the Northern Conference flag and then defeated the West Bromwich Oaks of the Dublin organization in a five-game series for the Third Tier title.

Cross-city rivals Westminster and Camberwell battled by proxy for the Third Tier championship, as the former's Hackney Mudlarks bested the latter's Cambridge Dons in four games.

ALLIANCE LEADERS

Empire League
Hitting
BA: .369 Jean-Louis "Rhino" Bourgeois, Newcastle
HR: 21 Francis Pethick, Liverpool
RBI: 105 Wayne Lewis, Nottingham
R: 127 Francis Pethick, Liverpool
SB: 54 Ed Bousquet, Liverpool
Pitching
W: 27 Eddie Allard, Liverpool
L: 23 Dermot Iddeson, Portsmouth
K: 133 Sean Alker, Liverpool
ERA: 2.63 Rhys Loveridge, Salford
SV: 20 Rhys Loveridge, Salford

Bousquet defied the trend toward fewer stolen bases. His fifty-four thefts were the most since 1919. Loveridge is the first pitcher to win the ERA title without starting a single game. Loveridge pitched exactly 154 innings -- the minimum necessary to qualify for the title -- in 78 appearances for the Bees.

Dominion Association
Hitting
BA: .360 Morrigan Witmore, Leicester
HR: 22 Maurice "The Governor" Chenoweth, Kensington
RBI: 123 Hogan Orme, Bristol
R: 125 Hogan Orme, Bristol
SB: 32 Angus Black, Bristol
Pitching
W: 21 Woodrow Silver, Hull
L: 22 Richard "Major" Parsons, Islington/Sheffield
K: 140 Danny Smith, Glasgow
ERA: 2.80 Griff Hicken, Kensington
SV: 14 Eamonn Peasnall, Kensington

Orme had the best season for a player who, because he played for tail-enders Bristol, nobody heard of. Silver was the only twenty-game winner in the DA. Parsons made his major-league debut in 1917 with Glasgow. He spent the next eight years knocking around the minor leagues before re-emerging with Bradford in 1926. He dropped out of sight in 1927, then popped up with Islington at the beginning of this season.

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1928-29 OFF-SEASON

AWARDS

Empire League
Hitter: Jean-Louis "Rhino" Bourgeois, Newcastle (.369, 15 HR, 97 RBI, 87 R, 34 2B, .442 OBP, .557 SLG)
Pitcher: Eddie Allard, Liverpool (27-9, 3.41 ERA, 321.2 IP, 74 K, 1.26 WHIP, .274 OAVG)
Manager: Bill Jacobs, Liverpool (94-60, 1st place)
Rookie: Samuel Sluggett, Nottingham (.428, 7 HR, 47 RBI, 45 R, .466 OBP, .614 SLG)

Dominion Association
Hitter: Hogan Orme, Bristol (.338, 21 HR, 123 RBI, 125 R, 34 2B, 14 3B, 101 BB, 28 SB, .433 OBP, .552 SLG)
Pitcher: Woodrow Silver, Hull (21-14, 2.89 ERA, 333 IP, 102 K, 1.34 WHIP, .249 OAVG)
Manager: Douglas Lawley, Leicester (78-76, 6th place)
Rookie: Woodrow Silver, Hull (21-14, 2.89 ERA, 333 IP, 102 K, 1.34 WHIP, .249 OAVG)

Orme's choice as the DA's outstanding hitter had scholars scrambling for the record books to determine if the award had ever been given out to a member of a last-place team. They had to go back to the early days of professional baseball, when Hall-of-Famer Hugh Burton won in 1875 and again in 1877 while playing for wooden-spoon recipients Lambeth. Silver became only the second player to win the rookie of the year and the outstanding pitcher awards in the same year. He follows in the footsteps of Rio Minns, who accomplished the feat in 1878 while pitching for Newcastle.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

When Henry Stockill knocked a single against Portsmouth hurler Dermot Iddeson in a 4 September contest, it marked the 3,000th time that the Camberwell outfielder reached base via a hit. That makes him the fourth player to reach that milestone. In a 13 June contest at Westminster, Liverpool's Brian Johnson went five-for-six at the plate with three doubles and a three-run homer and collected nine RBI as the Argonauts crushed the Peers by a score of 18-2. Belfast hurler Carl "Beans" Kidner tied a DA record by striking out fourteen batters in a 29 July game against Glasgow. The Unions, however, lost the game 6-1, as Gaelic left hander Danny Smith pitched a one-hitter.

ALLIANCE NEWS

The owners gathered for their annual conference in Brighton, flushed with success and flush with cash after the most successful season yet for the BA. Kensington became the first club to draw over a million spectators, and attendance overall was at an all-time high. Some teams, however, continued to cause a financial drag on the rest, especially in the League, where small ballparks in Salford, Camberwell, and Portsmouth hurt the bottom lines of all the clubs. Salford, a perennial problem franchise, had to take out a loan with the Alliance to build a new ballpark in order to avoid a forced sale. Camberwell and Portsmouth, in relatively better shape, announced plans to open new facilities in time for the 1929 season after receiving financial backing from the League.

WESTMINSTER NEWS

It was a disappointing debut for new manager Bert Welford. The Peers got off to a good start, winning thirteen of their first nineteen matches, but the loss of Tad Packham, who was hitting .372 when a torn shoulder muscle sustained in an 8 May game at Newcastle ended his baseball career, halted whatever momentum the team had generated. Youngster Waldo Sizer moved up to take Packham's place in the lineup and played well, finishing the year with a .310 average in 125 games, and the team as a whole hit .291, third-best in the League, but the club played lackluster ball for most of the season. Dave Sledge, with a 22-19 record, was inconsistent, while Jerry Parker, who looked good in the early going, slipped to 21-20 by the end of the schedule. The third and fourth slots in the rotation were even more problematic, and Welford may have stuck with promising rookie left hander Joshua MacKay, who compiled an 8-14 mark in twenty-six starts, too long.

The club's sub-.500 finish -- their first since 1919 -- was cause for some adjustments in the Westminster roster. Parker was the first to go, shipped off to Dublin for minor league outfielder Sheehan Dawkes. Triple-A infielder Patrick Wisker, obtained from London last year, was dealt to Camberwell for double-A outfielder Joseph Mold. Career minor-leaguer Jeff Unruh went to Edinburgh for shortstop Michael Sherman. And finally, Devin Mabson, a career .322 hitter in fifteen seasons for Westminster and a fan favorite, was dealt to Camberwell for minor-league outfield prospect Harry Prescott. Except for Sherman, none of the acquisitions were expected to compete for starting jobs with the team. If the Peers were to improve, therefore, they would need to rely on their youngsters, especially Sizer, MacKay, and outfielder Adam "Chip" Eades, to come through with break-out seasons.

SPRING TRAINING 1929

Liverpool remained everybody's favorite to repeat as League champs, narrowly edging out surprise pick Edinburgh and Westminster. On the Dominion side of the Alliance, bettors favored Manchester over Kensington and Belfast.

Lambeth's starting second baseman Eddie Gillette, a career .304 hitter and winner of the 1925 gold glove at his position, was felled by a strained hamstring in a 13 March tune-up game against Glasgow. He's expected to miss the first two months of the season. Leicester pitcher George "Bird Dog" Fountain, who went 23-14 in 1926 but who spent most of the next two seasons on the DL, will miss much of the upcoming season with a ruptured finger tendon. Irish southpaw Brodie "Stubby" Thirlwall, a fourth-starter for London, will spend the entire campaign watching from the sidelines with his arm in a cast, courtesy of a torn elbow tendon suffered at the tail-end of spring training. Newcastle center fielder Donahue Boyle, who hit .299 in his sophomore season in 1928, will start the season on crutches after breaking his ankle in a game against Westminster. Keenan Coultman will be unavailable for the first three months of the season, as the Peers' infielder tore his ankle ligaments in the final game of the spring.

Liverpool and Westminster each grabbed a share of the spring derby by winning seventeen of twenty-four contests. It was a four-way tie in the DA, with Sheffield, Lambeth, Hull, and Kensington each winning fourteen times.

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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.

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1929 FINAL

The trio of teams that dominated the EL race took their fight all the way to the final week of the schedule, as Liverpool, Westminster, and Newcastle brought the pennant chase to a thrilling conclusion. Liverpool, with a 3.57 ERA, boasted the best pitching staff in the League. Eddie Allard (20-11, 3.69 ERA) and Sean Alker (20-11, 4.48 ERA) were the mainstays of the mound corps, while Nick Fernyhough (17-13, 2.85 ERA) started to show signs of age but still pitched well. At the plate, however, it was a different story. The Argonauts hit .284 as a team, worst in the EL, although they still remained one of the most efficient clubs at scoring runs. "Tacky" Fraser MacInness (.329, 10 HR, 94 RBI) led the team in hitting, and Francis Pethick (.326, 20 HR, 108 RBI) provided the power. The Argonauts charged out of the gate at the start of the second half, winning five straight and ten of their first thirteen. Injuries to Euan Riach (13-5, 4.02 ERA) and R.J. Hemphill (.311, 5 HR, 72 RBI) in August slowed the Argos considerably, and that allowed Westminster and Newcastle to close the gap. The Peers ranked second to Liverpool in pitching, and flourished behind twenty-game winners Charles McGahey (22-15, 3.72 ERA), Dave Sledge (23-13, 4.21 ERA), and Joshua MacKay (20-19, 3.45 ERA). Sophomore shortstop Waldo Sizer (.358, 9 HR, 90 RBI) topped the offense, with Chad Rondon (.288, 15 HR, 83 RBI) supplying some much-needed pop in the middle of the lineup. Newcastle's William Barge (.388, 2 HR, 93 RBI) captured the batting title despite spending five weeks on the DL, while Jean-Louis "Rhino" Bourgeois (.357, 16 HR, 76 RBI) had his season shortened by six weeks due to back spasms. On the hill, Stephen MacPherson (20-9, 3.70 ERA) and Aidan Stuart (18-12, 3.46 ERA) anchored the Greys' rotation. Ahead of Westminster by four-and-a-half games at the start of September, the Argos dropped nine in a row and fell out of first place on the 20th of the month when the visiting Peers won the rubber game of a three-game set. Liverpool battled back, and the two teams traded the lead until Westminster dropped three of their final four games while the Argos won three of five in the same span, capturing their seventh-straight League flag with a win over Birmingham on the final Saturday of the season. Salford, ensconced in a new ballpark and drawing their biggest crowds in their history, finished fourth behind the slugging of Marmaduke "The Great" Taylor (.308, 31 HR, 111 RBI), who lived up to his moniker by breaking the single-season home run mark. Although there was no lack of hitting on the Bees lineup, which topped the League with a collective .306 average, the pitching was a weak point all season long, with sophomore hurler Michael Hilder (16-13, 4.78 ERA) leading a staff that combined for a 4.63 ERA. Portsmouth finished in a tie for fourth, boosted by the pitching of Robert Ogburn (18-8, 4.38 ERA), who went 10-2 in his final twelve decisions. Ryan "Bollicky" Wright (.368, 18 HR, 79 RBI) was on a pace to have a superb season when he missed most of July with medical problems and then, shortly after returning to action, went down again in mid-August with a season-ending knee injury.

The pennant race in the DA really boiled down to two teams: Manchester and Lambeth. The Lambs, who led the Millers by three games at the halfway point, featured the Association's best offense, which hit a combined .302. Jim "Bowler" Wilson (.341, 12 HR, 80 RBI) and Billy Byette (.352, 20 HR, 84 RBI) topped the team, although the latter missed all of August with an injured elbow. The pitching staff relied on the tandem of Eddie Lodder (17-13, 3.59 ERA) and Robert Griffith (18-10, 3.64 ERA). Manchester stayed close to the Lambs until August, when the Millers exploded for twenty wins in twenty-five games, including one stretch where they went 15-1. They were helped along by the stellar pitching of Adam Winterburn (25-8, 3.21 ERA), a hitherto undistinguished journeyman who had compiled a 16-17 record last year. He was assisted by Jeff Schmerber (17-8, 3.50 ERA) and Joshua Styles (17-12, 3.93 ERA) on a staff that registered a DA-best 3.51 ERA. The offense was spearheaded by rookie shortstop Bill Durdle (.381, 20 HR, 120 RBI), who won the batting crown, and outfielder Albert Coultrip (.320, 17 HR, 95 RBI). Manchester's torrid August left Lambeth in the dust, and the Millers grabbed their tenth Association title at the end of September. Leeds caught fire at the end of the season, winning twenty-two of their final twenty-eight contests to finish in a second-place tie with Lambeth. Corcoran McKelrae (24-11, 3.48 ERA) had his best season since he went 19-13 for Sheffield in 1924 and won fourteen of sixteen decisions in the second half. The offensive burdens were shared by Cundles O'Neil (.320, 8 HR, 87 RBI) and RBI-leader Angus Keith (.291, 19 HR, 123 RBI). After a shaky start, Bristol's Hogan Orme (.333, 20 HR, 91 RBI) returned to the form that won him the outstanding hitter award last year, while crafty veteran Ambrose "The Old Fox" Freelove (20-13, 3.95 ERA) helmed the pitching staff. That helped lift the Dockers from their wooden-spoon campaign in 1928 to a fourth-place finish in 1929. Sheffield claimed the home run champ in Tarquin "Yappy" Bickle (.341, 25 HR, 102 RBI), but a series of nagging injuries prevented the Steelers from gaining any ground on the leaders. Defending champs Kensington could never get untracked after a slow start, and the loss of Michael Armstrong (.324, 11 HR, 59 RBI), who missed almost the entire second half with nerve damage in his arm, doomed the Knights to an eighth-place finish.



1929 CUP FINALS SERIES: LIVERPOOL v. MANCHESTER

The last time these two venerable franchises met was in the 1880 Cup Finals, when Manchester prevailed in six games. In the Series opener, Liverpool scored twice in the top half of the first, with Fraser MacInnes belting a solo homer off Manchester starter Paul Deakin (13-10, 3.23 ERA). The home team came back with a single tally in the bottom of the inning and then tied it with a run in the third. It stayed 2-2 until the eleventh inning, when Fritz Storey (.305, 3 HR, 26 RBI) put the Argos ahead with an RBI-single. In the bottom of the frame, Bill Durdle tied it up again with a one-out home run, and he was followed by John Kiley's (.315, 0 HR, 42 RBI) triple. Two walks later, pinch-hitter Peter Bradnock (.313, 19 HR, 85 RBI) ended it with a hit that the scorer inexplicably ruled a double, and Manchester took the curtain-raiser by a score of 4-3. Liverpool took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the eighth in game two only to see their advantage disappear when Albert Coultrip hit a two-run homer off starter Eddie Allard. Once again the teams went into extra innings, and this time it took twenty innings for a decision to be reached, as Liverpool finally pushed a run across on doubles by Craig Watt (.274, 3 HR, 64 RBI) and Francis Pethick. That proved to be the difference, as the Argonauts evened up the Series with an exhausting 4-3 victory. Watt, MacInnes, and Pethick ended the marathon with four hits apiece, while Coultrip had four hits for the Millers. Another day, another extra-inning game, as Liverpool saw their 5-1 lead evaporate in the eighth inning of game three under a four-run onslaught by the visiting Millers. Tied 5-5 in the eleventh, Francis Pethick led off and reached second on a Kiley error and went to third on a groundout. Manchester relief ace Graig "The Great" Borden (11-9, 8 SV, 2.87 ERA) walked the bases full to set up the force at home, but instead issued a free pass to Brian Johnson, which forced in the winning run. Game four saw the greatest post-season pitching performance of all time, as Nick Fernyhough tossed a no-hitter to defeat Manchester 3-0. The only blemish on an otherwise perfect game was an eighth-inning walk issued to Durdle. Ed Bousquet (.317, 15 HR, 70 RBI) and "Slippery" John Mildren (.287, 12 HR, 58 RBI) homered for the winners. That knocked the wind out of the Millers, who could only manage a single run against Allard in game five. Manchester starter Adam Winterburn was almost as stingy, yielding only two runs, but that was enough for Liverpool, who hung on for a 2-1 victory in the Series clincher. In recognition of his historic performance, as well as his 1.86 ERA over 19.1 innings, Nick Fernyhough was honored with the MVP award.

THE MINORS

The Sunderland Swiftsures of the Lambeth organization repeated as champions of the Northern Conference, and they went on to defeat Westminster's affiliate, the Oldham Athletics, in a four-game set to capture the Second Tier crown.

Westminster's double-A club, the Hackney Mudlarks, had more luck in the post-season, as they followed their Albion Conference title with a five-game win over the Cardiff Giants of the Leeds minor-league system for their second-straight Third Tier championship.

ALLIANCE LEADERS

Empire League
Hitting
BA: .388 William Barge, Newcastle
HR: 31 Marmaduke "The Great" Taylor, Salford
RBI: 118 Marmaduke "The Great" Taylor, Salford
R: 118 three players
SB: 39 Ed Bousquet, Liverpool
Pitching
W: 26 Dermot Iddeson, Portsmouth/Birmingham
L: 20 Aidan "Tido" Mabley, Dublin
K: 137 Jay Knock, London
ERA: 2.82 Henry "Spitball" Chew, Dublin
SV: 16 Owen Payton, Liverpool

Rookie Chew and Nick Fernyhough were the only pitchers in the BA who qualified for the title with ERAs under 3.00. Iddeson was placed on waivers by Portsmouth despite having a 13-7 record. He was grabbed by Birmingham and went 13-5 for the Blue Sox, which gives some insight as to why Portsmouth has had four last-place finishes in the past six years.

Dominion Association
Hitting
BA: .381 Bill Durdle, Manchester
HR: 27 Dylan Sturrock, Islington
RBI: 123 Angus Keith, Leeds
R: 118 Rick Keefe, Leicester
SB: 24 Robert Crober, Belfast
Pitching
W: 25 Adam Winterburn, Manchester
L: 19 four pitchers
K: 122 Danny Smith, Glasgow
ERA: 3.21 Adam Winterburn, Manchester
SV: 13 Eamonn Peasnall, Kensington

Durdle is the first rookie to win the batting championship since Patrick Stay did it in 1910. In a testament to the way the game has changed, Crober, who had stolen more than fifty bases twice in his long career, won his first stolen base title with a mere twenty-four. Keefe had over six hundred at-bats for the fourth year in a row.

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1929-30 OFF-SEASON

AWARDS

Empire League
Hitter: Francis Pethick, Liverpool (.326, 20 HR, 108 RBI, 118 R, 16 3B, 97 BB, .418 OBP, .535 SLG)
Pitcher: Dermot Iddeson, Portsmouth/Birmingham (26-12, 3.98 ERA, 330 IP, 55 K, 1.44 WHIP, .280 OAVG)
Manager: Bert Welford, Westminster (90-64, 2nd place)
Rookie: Henry "Spitball" Chew, Dublin (20-11, 2.82 ERA, 268.1 IP, 78 K, 1.32 WHIP, .268 OAVG)

Dominion Association
Hitter: Rick Keefe, Leicester (.369, 12 HR, 91 RBI, 118 R, 36 2B, 20 3B, 88 BB, 18 SB, .444 OBP, .551 SLG)
Pitcher: Adam Winterburn, Manchester (25-8, 3.21 ERA, 305.1 IP, 80 K, 1.21 WHIP, .268 OAVG)
Manager: John Lewell, Leeds (88-66, 2nd place)
Rookie: Bill Durdle, Manchester (.381, 20 HR, 120 RBI, 94 R, 40 2B, .408 OBP, .597 SLG)

Pethick was a curious choice for EL outstanding hitter. He led in only two offensive categories -- runs (118) and total bases (308) -- and was generally regarded as having less value to his team than Francis Rix (.356, 2 HR, 68 RBI) and Wayne Lewis (.337, 22 HR, 107 RBI), both of Nottingham. After debuting in 1924, Canadian import Keefe toiled in relative anonymity in Leicester's infield until 1928, when he solved a problem in his swing and hit .342 with 107 RBI.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Two giants of the game, Arthur Nancekevell and Jake Bain, constituted the 1929 class of initiates into the shrine of baseball at Clappersgate. Nancekevell debuted with London in 1901 and finished there twenty-three years later. In between, he compiled 425 wins, the most in BA history. A ten-time twenty-game winner, including a 20-17 record in 1922 when he was forty-two-years old, his best performance was in 1906, when he won thirty-two of thirty-nine decisions and recorded a miniscule 1.18 ERA. In addition to most career victories, Nancekevell holds the records for complete games (594), shutouts (75), and innings pitched (6,812). Jake Bain was the workhorse on the mound for Leeds from 1905 to his retirement in 1924. Despite missing almost all of the 1914 and 1920 seasons with injuries, he compiled a lifetime 303-230 record and collected outstanding pitcher awards in 1907 and 1908. Bain helped the Ironsides to seven pennants and four BA Cups and had a 5-5 record with a 2.98 ERA in twelve post-season contests.



Right hander Griff Hicken's season-long slump was a big reason for Kensington's fall to the second division after winning the pennant in 1928, but he had at least one good day in an otherwise forgettable 13-18 campaign. On 24 May, he pitched the first no-hitter in the BA since 1920 when he shut down Manchester by a score of 4-0. The Millers would be no-hit again, more memorably, in October. Dublin center fielder Sam Lindholm, who hit .316 in his third big-league season, had a fine day on 15 August against Edinburgh when he hit for the cycle and collected eight RBI. Camberwell rookie pitcher John Skene set a record for futility when he compiled a record of 0-14 and a 10.02 ERA in sixteen starts.

ALLIANCE NEWS

In a move that had many observers scratching their heads, Nottingham traded popular right fielder Francis Rix, who has hit .320 in seven seasons with the Foresters, to Leeds for borderline left-handed starter Evan Parkinson, who went 11-9 with a 3.71 ERA splitting time between the Knights and the Ironsides in his rookie year. Lambeth sent shortstop Robin Ulrich, a .317 career hitter over eight seasons with three clubs, to Leicester for much-travelled southpaw reliever/spot starter Chris Wadell, who, since his rookie campaign in 1921, has spent time with ten clubs. Salford infielder Finnegan Neecy, the EL's outstanding hitter in 1926 and a .294 career hitter, was shipped to Bristol in exchange for veteran right hander Charley "Gibby" Taylor, who has a lifetime 191-177 record in twelve seasons. 1922's outstanding hitter in the EL, George Arden, batted .393 but played in only seventy games for Portsmouth and Lambeth last season. The Lambs, nevertheless, considered him expendable, and returned him to Portsmouth for outfielder Stefan Baker, who hit .329 in limited action for the Neptunes.

WESTMINSTER NEWS

The decision to hire Bert Welford as manager upset some Peer fans, who argued that his lack of experience at the major-league level did not prepare him for the task, and the team's dismal sixth-place finish in his inaugural year did not allay any of those concerns. But those critics were silenced by Westminster's oh-so-close finish in 1929, and Welford must have gained a certain measure of satisfaction by taking home the manager of the year award. The club relied primarily on pitching to stay in step with mighty Liverpool, and the trio of Charles McGahey, Dave Sledge, and Joshua MacKay constituted the core of the team's strongest starting rotation since the pennant-winning year of 1917.

At the plate, observers were comparing twenty-two-year old shortstop Waldo Sizer to former hitting star Mike Tarrant, and Boland MacHutcheon, bench coach for the Peers and a two-time gold glove winner at short back in the team's glory days, has been working diligently with the youngster on his fielding. Sizer's emergence as a starter required some adjustments in the infield. Keenan Coultman move over to second, although his time there was cut short by an ankle injury that kept him on the bench for the first half of the season. Doug Craggs moved to first, and Tim Savill returned to third base, where he snagged his third gold glove at that position. In the outfield, Chad Rondon, who saw limited duty last year after being acquired from Camberwell, appeared at training camp with a few extra pounds on his lean frame, and the added heft translated into fifteen homers in only 410 at-bats. That may not sound like a lot, but in spacious Redlaw Field it was a prodigious output, and it set the single-season record for the Peers. Bobby Langdon, however, was a disappointment, batting only .252 after a .301 performance last year. To shore up the outfield, the Peers obtained Leon Mallett in an off-season trade with Kensington in exchange for pitcher Michael Stainthorpe, who never delivered on the promise that he had exhibited in the minor leagues.

SPRING TRAINING 1930

The wagering classes were taking no chances, as they backed Liverpool for their eighth pennant in a row, outpacing Newcastle and London. In the DA, the smart money was on Leeds, with Manchester and Bristol in their wake.

Michael Hakin, trying to bounce back from a 4-10 record and 5.20 ERA in 1929, suffered a setback when the London hurler tore a knee ligament in a 14 March game and will probably be sidelined for the entire season. Bullpen ace Rhys Loveridge, obtained in mid-season by Glasgow from Salford last year, will miss the first half of the season with a torn shoulder muscle. Sheffield's top reliever, Robert "Specs" Siddons, was diagnosed with an irritated nerve and will be laid up until June at the earliest. Lambeth sustained a major setback when Billy Byette, 1927's outstanding hitter with a career .329 average, will miss the entire campaign with a shoulder injury. Veteran infielder Tom Inkster, who hit .319 for Islington last year, will be on crutches until August after breaking his ankle on the last day of spring training.

Liverpool took the pre-season honors with a 17-7 record. Manchester held sway over their Dominion Association rivals, winning sixteen spring contests.

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1920s IN REVIEW

EMPIRE LEAGUE



Decade record: 751-789, .488 (14 of 24)
Best finish: 1920 (87-67, 3rd place)
Worst finish: 1928 (69-85, 11th place)
Pennants: none
Wooden spoons: none
Market size: 17
Attendance: 4,959,615 (13 of 24)

Outstanding Hitter awards: none
Outstanding Pitcher awards: 1 - Shamus Scanlan (1920)
Best hitter: Bob Groulx (1920-29): .319, 14 HR, 567 RBI
Best pitcher: Shamus Scanlan (1920-28): 153-126, 3.26 ERA



Decade record: 763-777, .495 (13 of 24)
Best finish: 1924 (87-67, 2nd place)
Worst finish: 1923 (61-93, 11th place)
Pennants: none
Wooden spoons: 1 (1923)
Market size: 6 (1920), 5 (1921-29)
Attendance: 4,744,089 (17 of 24)

Outstanding Hitter awards: none
Outstanding Pitcher awards: 1 - Ken Bretz (1927)
Best hitter: Robert Ducker (1920-28): .293, 108 HR, 717 RBI
Best pitcher: Ken Bretz (1922-29): 136-97, 3.49 ERA



Decade record: 702-838, .456 (22 of 24)
Best finish: 1920 (89-65, 1st place)
Worst finish: 1929 (52-102, 12th place)
Pennants: 1 (1920)
BA Cups: 1 (1920)
Wooden spoons: 1 (1929)
Market size: 9 (1920-28), 8 (1929)
Attendance: 4,146,500 (22 of 24)

Outstanding Hitter awards: 1 - Greg Helton (1921)
Outstanding Pitcher awards: none
Best hitter: Greg Helton (1920-29): .345, 70 HR, 738 RBI
Best pitcher: Paul "Sweetbreads" Radcliffe (1921-29): 61-82, 4.41 ERA



Decade record: 741-799, .481 (15 of 24)
Best finish: 1924 (83-71, 4th place)
Worst finish: 1922 (62-92, 12th place)
Pennants: none
Wooden spoons: 2 (1922, 1923*)
Market size: 6 (1920-26), 5 (1927), 4 (1928-29)
Attendance: 4,831,754 (15 of 24)

Outstanding Hitter awards: 1 - William Westcott (1924)
Outstanding Pitcher awards: none
Best hitter: Murtagh Chedgey (1920-29): .306, 27 HR, 553 RBI
Best pitcher: John Morris (1920-28): 122-91, 3.30 ERA

* shared with Bradford