Baseball Premier League

[NYY #23]

35 year old Ed Walsh captured his sixth Pitcher of the Year Award this year after going 16-6 with a 1.94 ERA while striking out 161 batters in 213 innings. Walsh finished ahead of Brad Hort of the Golden Gophers (11-8, 1.68) and Bill Essick of the Moose (12-10, 2.45).

In the Southwest League it was Charlie Smith of the Bees who was named Pitcher of the Year after going 15-7 with a 2.71 ERA. Finishing second was Lew Richie of the Nashville Chiefs (11-10, 2.68) with Birdie Kubal of the Bees finishing third (12-6, 1.83).

MVP honors went to Bill Davis of the Golden Gophers in the Northeast League who hit .365 with 333 RBI and Tris Speaker of the Los Angeles Bombers who hit .303 with 3 home runs, 48 RBI, and 40 runs scored.

[NYY #23]

Ryan pitches no-hitter



Dan Ryan of the Portland Moose pitched the first no-hitter since August 15, 1915 when he beat the Pilgrims 5-0 today in Portland. Ryan threw the thirteenth no-hitter in the history of the league joining:

Scott Young, Arizona - 1905
Otso Repo, Orlando - 1905
Mike Lynch, Massachusetts - 1907
Ricky Blough, Dallas - 1909
Juan Torres, Portland - 1910
Jim Buchanan, Sacramento - 1910
Jim Buchanan, Sacramento - 1910
Tad Quinn, Pennsylvania - 1912
Gus Thompson, Las Vegas - 1912
Kevin Larimer, Atlanta - 1913
George Suggs, Boston - 1914
Ken Halter, Texas - 1915

Jim Buchanan's name wasn't duplicated, he pitched a pair of no-hitters in 1910, one on May 13th and one on June 24th. Buchanan was one of the most memorable pitchers in this era, and from 1908 to 1911 he finished second in Pitcher of Year voting each year before finally winning a Pitcher of the Year Award in 1912 when he went 13-9 with a 2.10 ERA then finished third in 1913. Buchanan has hung up his cleats after the 1914 season and went 85-69 with a 2.18 ERA in his career.

[NYY #23]

Baker new Home Run King



42 year old Jake Baker went deep today for the Washington Generals, the 54th time he has done that in his career. That home run moved Baker past Al Durham for first place on the all-time home run list. The home run helped lead the Generals to a victory and moved them into first place after the first week of the season.

The Generals are hoping to improve on last year's fourth place finish, but the Generals will need their pitching to improve. 26 year old Gary Johnson went 2-6 with a 5.32 ERA last year, but looked much better to start the year with a complete game win.

[NYY #23]

Ed Walsh continued to dominate for the Atlantics going 15-9 with a 1.37 ERA this year as the Atlantics won the East Division by 2 games over the Patriots. The Atlantics will be heading to the playoffs for the first time since 1916, and are looking for their first World Championship.

The Boise Cutthroats finished in last place last year, 17 games out of first place, but wont the North Division by two games this year, winning 18 games more than they did last year. Boise got solid pitching from a trio of veteran hurlers including 36 year old Cy Falkenberg (13-8, 2.64), 36 year old Beany Jacobson (19-5, 2.14), and 40 year old George McConnell (3-5, 4.15) and a breakout year from second baseman Jarrod Trainer who saw his batting average jump from .238 last year to .332 this year.

In the West Division the Las Vegas Aces hold a narrow 1/2 game lead over the Salt Lake City Bees, making today's make-up game between the Bees and Wildcats critical for the Bees postseason chances. If the Bees win they'll finish tied with the Aces, but if they lose their season will be over. The Bees will be relying on fourth starter, 27 year old Cory Carpenter, who was 3-8 with a 4.14 ERA.

The South Division was a close race with the Tycoons beating the Hurricanes and Chiefs by 1 game. Eddie Cicotte is just a couple of days away from returning after missing most of the season with injury, and not a day too soon with a Tycoons pitching staff that gave up the most runs in the league.

[NYY #23]

The Bees needed a win to keep their season alive, but the Bees ran into Chris Sheffield and the Arizona Wildcats held them scoreless in a 4-0 win to eliminate the Bees, giving the Los Vegas Aces the West Division title.

[NYY #23]

Ed Walsh started the series off with a 3 hit shutout for the Atlantics, who quickly took a one game to none lead in the Northeast League, but Boise would come back and win the next two games in extra innings with a 5-4 win in 14 innings and an 11-8 win in 10 innings.

That put the Atlantics down two games to one, but the Atlantics would come back and win three straight games to advance to the World Series.

Atlantics third baseman Ernie Lush would win the series MVP when he hit .429 with a home run, 6 RBI, and 5 runs scored. Ed Walsh would go 2-1 in the series with a 1.21 ERA.

[NYY #23]

The Dallas Tycoons won three games less than the Las Vegas Aces this year, but swept the Aces in four straight games to advance to the World Series.

Al Durham won the Series MVP after hitting .286 with a home run and 3 RBI. Catcher Tyler Chambers hit .308 for the series and drove in 3 runs while Mike Weaver was 2-0 with a 3.32 ERA in the Series.

[NYY #23]

Al Durham continued his hot hitting in the World Series going 11-20 with a home run and 14 RBI to win the World Series MVP as the Tycoons defeated the Atlantics 4 games to 2. Durham has now won the MVP in both the League Championship Series and World Series hitting .441 with 2 home runs, 17 RBI, and 8 runs scored in the postseason.

It was the Tycoons second World Championship, having won the 1912 World Series previously. Mike Weaver was 2-0 with a 0.50 ERA in the World Series for the Tycoons, with Eddie Cicotte going 1-1 with a 0.52 ERA. For a Dallas team that allowed the 12th most runs this year they were able to turn things up in the postseason.

[NYY #23]

Lew Richie of the Nashville Chiefs pitched the first perfect game in the history of the league in the Chiefs 5-0 win over the Texas Longhorns on July 13th.



Ed Walsh of the Atlantics became the first pitcher to reach 150 career wins on August 3rd in a 3-0 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes.





Rain on Friday night led to an unexpected doubleheader on September 22nd in San Francisco where the Legions were hosting the New Orleans Crescents. Game one of the doubleheader didn't go exactly as planned when the Crescents won the game 9-8 in the 25th inning. Tyler Christian would pick up the win for the Crescents with 15 1/3 innings in relief, allowing no runs on 12 hits. The game would last 8 hours and 41 minutes, and the teams would face off in a second game which the Crescents would win 6-4, and would only last nine innings.

[NYY #23]

Stout/Speaker Capture Batting Titles
November 3, 1917



Harry Stout of the Portland Moose captured the Northeast League batting crown this year hitting .349 for the season. The 29 year old native of White Plains, New York is a .325 career hitter and won his second batting title this year, winning previously in 1915 when he hit .361.



In the Southwest League it was Tris Speaker who won the batting title after hitting .339 for the Los Angeles Bombers, capping off a season in which he hit 19 doubles, 5 triples, 3 home runs, 42 RBI and won the Most Valuable Player Award.

[NYY #23]

Walsh Wins Seventh Pitcher of the Year Award
November 4, 1917



36 year old Ed Walsh continues to dominate for the Baltimore Atlantics, going 15-9 with a 1.37 ERA with 157 strikeouts in 197 1/3 innings to win his seventh Pitcher of the Year Award and capture his second Most Valuable Player Award.

Last year Walsh became the first pitcher in the history of the league to strike out 1500 batters, while this year Walsh became the first pitcher to win 150 games.

[NYY #23]

Roberson/Bumpus win Rookie of the Year Awards
November 4, 1917



In the Northeast League 24 year old left fielder Jessie Roberson of the Minnesota Golden Gophers would capture the Rookie of the Year Award after hitting .298 with 14 RBI and 34 runs scored.



Josh Bumpus of the Salt Lake City Bees would win the Rookie of the Year in the Southwest League after hitting .286 with a home run, 22 RBI, and 26 runs scored.

[NYY #23]

Solorzano Extends Hitting Streak to 33 Games
May 31, 1918



John Solorzano went 2-3 at the plate today in the Hawkeyes 3-2 victory over the Patriots to extend his hitting streak to 33 games, passing former record holder Dave Gamble of the Chicago Blues for the longest hitting streak in the history of the league.

[NYY #23]

Solorzano's Streak Comes to an End
June 28, 1918



After hitting safely in 46 straight games John Solarzano stepped to the plate four times against the Portland Moose and failed to get a hit in each at-bat to see his hitting streak come to an end. The 32 year old is hitting .328 for the season, and had just nine multiple hit games during his hitting streak.

[NYY #23]

Bees Hot Streak Puts Them on Top
August 1, 1918



The Bees have been playing hot baseball, losing just 2 games during the month of July to take command of the West Division. 38 year old Charlie Smith has led the Bees' staff that has given up fewer runs than any other team in the Northwest League with a 13-1 record and 1.62 ERA. Jeff Clifford is leading the team, and league with a .356 batting average as the Bees have opened up an 8 game lead over Arizona.

In the South Division the Nashville Chiefs and Miami Hurricanes are locked in a tight race with the Chiefs leading the Hurricanes by 1 1/2 games. Lew Richie is leading the way for the Nashville pitching staff going 13-5 with a 1.90 ERA.

In the East it's a battle between Harry Stout (.344, 23 RBI) and the Portland Moose, who lead Ed Walsh (10-4, 1.75) and the Baltimore Atlantics by 1 game.

25 year old Wally Endres is hitting .380 this season for the Giants, who are leading the Indianapolis Ravens by 2 games in the North Division. The Giants will be playing the next week without ace Donnie Graves (10-3, 1.85) who is sidelined with shoulder tendinitis.

[NYY #23]

Smith Wins 150th Game of Career
September 6, 1918



Charlie Smith of the Salt Lake City Bees won the 150th game of his career today in the Premier League, becoming just the second player to do so. Smith is now 17-6 on the year with a 2.18 ERA and is one of the top candidates for Pitcher of the Year in the Southwest League, which would be his fourth straight Pitcher of the Year Award.

[NYY #23]

Quinn Wins 150th Game of Career
September 20, 1918



Exactly two weeks after Charlie Smith won his 150th game of his career, Tad Quinn of the Miami Hurricanes became the third pitcher in the history of the league to win 150 career games.

For Quinn it wasn't a great day at the ballpark, giving up 5 runs on 14 hits, but the Hurricanes offense bailed him out as they snuck by the Las Vegas Aces with a 6-5 win.

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Initially I thought that 150 was going to be the new 300, since teams are playing about half of the number of games of a 162 game season, but I'm not sure that thinking is correct. Maybe 200 is really the new 300 since most pitchers are making 26-28 starts per year. I'll keep an eye on the pitching numbers, but I may have to adjust the milestones to match reality.

[NYY #23]

North Division Finishes with a Tie
September 30, 1918



The Detroit Giants won three straight games to end the season to finish with identical 39-37 records with the Iowa Hawkeyes, forcing a one game playoff.

It will be a winner take all game, but with both teams being effected by rain Friday each team has played back to back doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday, leaving the Giants to send Walt Dinatale to the mound for his first start since last year, and the Hawkeyes to call up top pitching prospect Zack Steelman to make his first major league start.

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Nothing like playoff baseball at its finest, and that has me rethinking how fair this schedule really is…

[NYY #23]

Costly Errors Send Giants to Playoffs
October 1, 1918



The Giants faced off against the Hawkeyes in a winner take all game today with the winner advancing to the playoffs, and the loser going home. The Giants would be sending 34 year old veteran Walt Dinatale to the mound, making his first start this year, against top prospect Zack Steelman for the Hawkeyes.

Both pitchers would pitch surprisingly well, with Dinatale pitching a complete game and allowing just 3 runs on 6 hits, and Steelman pitching 7 innings and allowing 2 earned runs. It was the unearned runs that did Steelman in, and he had nobody to blame but himself after committing two costly errors that would lead to four unearned runs by the Giants.

The Giants will now advance to the Northeast League Championship Series where they'll take on the 49-27 Baltimore Atlantics. In the Southwest League it will be the 44-32 Salt Lake City Bees taking on the 47-29 Miami Hurricanes. The playoffs will feature all three pitchers who have won 150 games during their career with Ed Walsh of the Atlantics, Charlie Smith of the Bees, and Tad Quinn of the Hurricanes all making the playoffs.

[NYY #23]

Atlantics Head Back to World Series
October 11, 1918



The Baltimore Atlantics will be heading back to the World Series for the second straight year after defeating the Detroit Giants 4 games to 2. The Atlantics got strong starting pitching from Ed Walsh (2-0, 1.93, 18 2/3 IP), Brendon Gilbert (1-0, 0.00, 17 IP), and Kymani Brazlie (1-0, 1.00, 9 IP) and survived their shaky bullpen, with Jason Becker losing a pair of games with a 13.50 ERA in 6 2/3 innings.

It was Aaron Davis who captured the series MVP after hitting .385 with 3 RBI.