Welcome to the World Baseball League

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Sadly, despite the year Babe Ruth had, his voters were split between his exploits on the mound and at the plate. The Ace Awards went to Baltimore's Harry Harper, 27-11, 1.48 and LA's Wilbur Cooper, 28-11, 1.78. Tris Speaker of SF and Bobby Beach of Boston took the MVPs.

In the offseason, Rube Waddell, who is probably still the best player in the WBL was elected to the Hall of Fame with 99% and Walter Johnson was traded by Chicago for Joe Dugan.



Harry Harper has an interesting bio. From SABR: "Harper focused on his considerable business enterprises. Though he would never come out and say that he had become a millionaire, he did reportedly tell one writer in 1941, “You can say that I wouldn’t sell my business interest for $1,000,000.”21 He had become the largest taxpayer in the city of Hackensack. In addition to the trucking company, he established a contracting firm, a supermarket, a fuel company, and a beverage company.22

Harper also went into politics, running as a Republican and becoming sheriff of Bergen County in 1927. A run for the state senate resulted in defeat, but he served as state civil service commissioner from 1934 to 1944 and New Jersey state labor commissioner from 1944 to 1950. A nomination to run for Congress in a special election in January 1950 resulted in a surprise defeat by William Widnall.

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The first franchise move since 1903 has the Cambridge Schooners moving to Montreal. This is the first non-U.S. team in what someday will hopefully be a more international World Baseball League. Cambridge has never won a pennant and had trouble competing for fans with the more successful Boston Battalions franchise. Montreal will keep the same color scheme for their uniforms as Cambridge. While Montreal is a big city, the market, at least for now, is considered tiny. But there is a lot of fan excitement for the new team in town. The team plays at Le Stade.

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Eddie Plank has bounced around the last few years but he is just three wins shy of 300. The 42 year-old is currently a free agent and here's hoping someone takes him on and gives him a chance to get to 300. He actually has pitched well in limited duty for his last three teams.

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The move of Cambridge to Montreal has brought the team success. Despite having never won a pennant in Cambridge, the newly christened Mounties are in first place at 36-19. The team is led by George Sisler who is the top RBI man in the EL. The 1915 Rookie of the Year is now in his fourth season. New York, as usual, has plenty of bats including Ty Cobb at .355 looking for an 8th MVP and 3000 hits but the team lacks pitching. No one in their rotation had a very good MLB career.



A bit on Sisler's post-career: "In 1942, Branch Rickey hired the 49-year-old Sisler to scout for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Sisler served in this capacity throughout the decade, but his greatest contribution may have come in preparing Jackie Robinson to break baseball’s color barrier. He scouted Robinson prior to his signing with the Dodgers, and helped the future Hall of Famer make the transition to first base during his first year in the majors. Sisler moved to Brooklyn to assume an expanded role with the Dodgers in 1947, and in addition to scouting and player development helped tutor several of the players that would serve as the foundation of the outstanding Dodgers teams of the 1950s. When Rickey moved to the Pirates before the 1951 season, Sisler again went with him. There he helped bring Bill Mazeroski into the fold, and also worked with Roberto Clemente, teaching him to keep his head still during his swing."

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Babe Ruth is having another big two-way season. On the mound, Ruth leads the Western League with 14 wins and is 8th in ERA (2.05). At the plate he is first in homers (8), 8th in batting average and 1st in OBP and OPS. San Francisco is a half game behind Cincinnati.

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After a couple down years and a trade that sent him to Los Angeles, Walter Johnson is back this year leading the majors in pitcher's WAR through July. The 30-year-old is looking for his 5th Ace Award and potentially the first one since 1912. The Big Train has 286 wins and could have his eye on the all-time win leader, Cy Young, who leads with 388.

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With a month to go, the Montreal Mounties, a franchise that has never been to the World Series, is holding its 5 game lead. Ironically, it is not Grover Cleveland Alexander leading them to a pennant. Alexander has had a subpar career compared to his MLB career but a torn labrum still has him out. He may be back just in time for the final week. Instead it has been Hippo Vaughn and (surprisingly) a guy named Wallace Ashley, who never made the MLB majors, leading the pitching. Ashley is 25-9 with a 1.94. George Sisler and Fred Nicholson have been driving in the runs.

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A lot going on down the stretch in the World Baseball League:

*Ty Cobb gets hit #3000 and wins the batting title in the Eastern League. It was his first batting title since 1915.
*Montreal wins the pennant and will play San Francisco in the World Series. It is the first time for the Montreal franchise in the Series, while San Francisco will go for the third straight year. SF is still looking for their first title.
*Babe Ruth had another incredible season. He finishes first in homers (16), OBP and OPS. Batting WAR was 8.6 He also went 27-14, first in wins, 2nd in ERA and 6.0 in pitching WAR for a total WAR of 14.6. That would certainly make it the greatest season in WBL history. Rube Waddell's 14.4 WAR from the mound in 1903 is the only player above 14 previously.

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The Montreal Mounties sweep San Francisco 4-0 in a surprising World Series. Hippo Vaughn was MVP as he won two shutout victories for the Mounties. Incredibly, San Francisco did not score a single run in four games despite a lineup including Ruth. Hornsby and Speaker. It is the third straight World Series loss for the Aftershocks.



Vaughn was involved in a double no-hitter in 1917: "The highlight of the year came at Weeghman Park on May 2, when he and Fred Toney of Cincinnati both threw no-hitters through nine innings. Vaughn faced the minimum 27 batters, one baserunner caught stealing and two others erased on double plays. He struck out ten while walking two and allowing only Greasy Neale to hit a ball out of the infield. It all unraveled in the tenth. With one out, Larry Kopf singled to right. Neale flied to center for the second out. Then, in a moment of irony that occurs only in baseball, Hal Chase hit a hard liner that Cy Williams couldn’t hold. Kopf moved to third on the play. Chase stole second. Jim Thorpe then hit a slow roller toward third that catcher Art Wilson and Vaughn both chased. Vaughn caught up with the ball and seeing that he couldn’t get Thorpe at first, threw home to Wilson to catch Kopf trying to score from third. Wilson still had his back turned, and Vaughn’s throw hit him on the shoulder. Kopf scored easily, and Chase, thinking the ball had bounced far enough away, tried to score, but Wilson recovered the ball and tagged him for the third out. That was the final score, 1-0, as Toney retired the Cubs in the bottom of the inning."

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The NY Highrisers may be returning to contention soon as they land the top two free agents in the offseason, Eddie Collins and Walter Johnson. Those two players join a roster that already includes Ty Cobb and Joe Jackson. They may be aging but that's a lot of talent.

Meanwhile, Babe Ruth wins the 1918 MVP award and finishes second in the Ace Award voting. Incredible.

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Babe Ruth has only pitched 2 innings in the first month of the season so apparently he has made the switch to the outfield. Last year he put up an incredible 14+ WAR season doing both. But now as a full time slugger he has 8 home runs on May 2, an incredible pace for the WBL. In fact, he is the only player in the Aftershocks starting line up who has a home run. His OBP is .521 and OPS is 1271. This should get interesting.

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After three straight World Series losses, this may be San Francisco's year. They are 40-14 (+117 RD), On the mound Jeff Tesreau has a 1.06 ERA and Ray Caldwell is 11-0. Rogers Hornsby is hitting .363 and Tris Speaker .372. And of course the biggest story is Babe Ruth with 13 home runs on July 1.

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While San Francisco seems to have the Western League locked down, the Eastern League is up for grabs. Four teams are in the hunt, New York with the big payroll, Buffalo who has not been in the Series since 1901, Brooklyn who has not been competitive in a decade and last year's surprise winner, Montreal.

Babe Ruth watch: The Bambino has 16 home runs on July 2nd. Montreal's Fred Nicholson, surprisingly, has 11.

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After a few clunker drafts in recent years, the 1919 draft will likely prove to be a good one. Quite a few stars including Goose Goslin to a very bad Philadelphia team, Heinie Manush to Detroit, a team that has never reached the World Series, Joe Sewell to Baltimore (who has not been in it since 1910), and Pie Traynor to defending champion Montreal. The biggest prize went to Chicago at the #8 slot, nailing down Lefty Grove.

Bambino Watch: The Babe has shattered the 20th Century HR record with 22 as the Aftershocks are now 81-29 and headed to their 4th straight World Series.



A bit from SABR about the Goose: "He was signed as a pitcher (winning six and losing five in 18 games), but Goslin’s bat prompted a move to the outfield, where he hit a league-leading .390 for Columbia in 1921. Jack Dunn, owner of the International League Baltimore Orioles, was ready to sign him for $5,000. Washington owner Clark Griffith caught wind of the plan and, surmising that Dunn knew talent, Griffith tricked a golfing buddy into revealing the prospect’s name and location. Griffith rushed to South Carolina and hurriedly signed Goslin for $6,000. Griffith, known as the Old Fox, pocketed the paperwork, climbed into the stands, and saw his new charge get conked on the head by a fly ball."

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The San Francisco Aftershocks featuring Babe Ruth, Tris Speaker and Rogers Hornsby, among others, are playing .736 ball heading into August. They have a chance to beat the wins total run up by the league's greatest team thus far, the Chicago Midways of 1911 who went 119-43 (a .735 percentage). For good measure, the Midways swept a very good Washington team in the World Series.

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It may be that whoever wins the battle in the East will just be fodder for the far superior San Fran team in the World Series but nevertheless, there is a tight race between Buffalo, Baltimore and New York with Montreal just a bt off the pace. Buffalo has not won the pennant since 1901 but they are getting a big season from Harry Heilmann. New York looks like the favorite to me, but OOTP likes Baltimore's chances.

Bambino Update: Ruth is out with a sprained wrist but still is up to 24 homers.



Wow, saved a woman from drowning? "It didn’t start so promisingly for Heilmann, however, who struggled while being shuffled around to different positions. He batted just .225 in 68 games in 1914 and was sent back to the minors. Heilmann returned to the Tigers in 1916 and hit .282 and .281 in 1917. His most famous act during that time, however, was on July 25, 1916, when he dove into the Detroit River to save a woman from drowning. He received a thunderous ovation at the ballpark the following day. In 1918, Heilmann missed half of the season while on a Navy submarine and hit just .276 in 79 games."

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27 home runs from Babe Ruth shatters the WBL record as the Bambino leads SF to 111 wins in the Western League. He also posts a .502 OBP and a 10.9 WAR season.

Meanwhile, Baltimore squeaks by Buffalo for their third Eastern League title. They appear to be overmatched by San Francisco in the World Series, but we shall see. Joe Jackson nearly won a triple crown, finishing 2 points behind Sisler in the batting title and one homer behind Ken Williams. He easily won the RBI title.

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As expected, a far superior Aftershocks team makes quick work of Baltimore, sweeping the Blue Crabs 4-0. Tris Speaker was named MVP and Babe Ruth hit another home run.
For San Fran, it caps off a season in which they won 111 games and it was a sweet victory after losing the last three World Series in a row.

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The NY Highrisers continue to sign free agents. Jeff Tesreau, Doc Ayers and Reb Russell joined the team this year after such signings as Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson and Eddie Collins in recent years. Having won three championships in 1914-1916, this year's 1920 team is off to a 24-5 start and may run away with the Eastern League.

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What happens when you hit cleanup behind Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins and Joe Jackson? Apparently, you get 75 RBI by June 1, because that is where Reb Russell is right now. The 4-time All-Star was a big offseason pickup for New York but he has outshined anyone's expectations.



A bit about Reb from SABR: "After an arm injury cut short his pitching career, Russell returned to the big leagues in 1922 as a slugging outfielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates in another impressive “debut” season. Although he was a bit naïve when he entered the big leagues, Russell’s eagerness to learn and his calm demeanor helped him to polish his rough edges both on and off the field. By 1915 the pitcher who had once been a major source of inspiration for Ring Lardner’s self-centered pitcher Jack Keefe of You Know Me, Al fame had become a mainstay of high society, discussing music, literature, and psychology."