material was not there for a championship organization, but Boston did
play better ball than in 1911 and that is to the credit of players,
manager and owner. The club had changed hands, but the new owner had not
been able to readjust all of the positions to suit him. He put the best
nine possible in the field with what he had. Never threatening to become
a championship winning team Boston played steadily with what strength it
possessed and always a little better than in 1911, so that the year
could not fairly be considered unsuccessful at its finish.
* * * * *
Going back to the beginning of the year and looking over the contest for
the National League championship of 1912, it is not uninteresting,
indeed it is of much interest to call attention to the remarkably odd
record which was made by New York to win the pennant. In that record
stands the story of the fight, with striking shifts from week to week.
The first game played by the Giants was against Brooklyn, as has been
related, and it was won by New York and that, by the way, was the game
in which Marquard began his admirable record as a pitcher for the
season.
The Giants lost the next three games. Two of them were to Brooklyn and
one to Boston, and the players of the New York team began to wonder a
little as to what had happened to them.
Then New York won nine straight games from the eastern clubs, being
stopped finally by Philadelphia on the Polo Grounds. But that defeat did
not check them. They started on another winning spurt and played
throughout the west without a defeat until they arrived in Cincinnati.
This total of victories was nine. All of the games on the schedule were
not played because of inclement weather.
Cincinnati won twice from New York and then the Giants turned the tables
on the Reds, who had been leading the league. They threw them out of the
lead, which they never regained, and won another succession of nine
victories. That made three times consecutively that they had won a total
of twenty-seven games in groups of nine, assuredly an unusual result.
Losing one game they again entered the winning class. This time they won
six games in succession. Then they lost a game. After this single defeat
they won but three games. Their charm of games in blocks of nine had
deserted them. They were beaten twice after winning three, and
Pittsburgh was the team.
Then they won another single game and immediately after that victory
lost to Brooklyn. But that was the last defeat for a long time. Well
into the race, with their condition excellent, and playing better ball
than they had played since their wonderful spurt of the month of
September in 1911, they won sixteen games in succession.
The morning of the Fourth of July dawned hot and sultry. The air was
thick and muggy and without life. The Giants were scheduled to play two
games that day with Brooklyn, the first in the morning and the second in
the afternoon. If they won both of them they would tie a former record,
which had been made by the New York team, for consecutive victories.
Perhaps it may have been reaction after the long strain of winning or it
may have been an uncommonly good streak of batting on the part of
Brooklyn. Surely Brooklyn batted well enough, as the morning game went
to the latter team by the score of 10 to 4. In the afternoon Brooklyn
again beat the Giants by the score of 5 to 2. Wiltse pitched for New
York and Stack for Brooklyn.
The New York team went to Chicago and won twice. Then it lost. The
fourth game was won from Chicago and then the Giants lost two in
succession.
They won one game and immediately after that lost four in succession.
Chicago began to have visions of winning the pennant.
From Chicago the Giants went to Pittsburgh, stood firm in a series of
three games, winning two and losing one. Their next call was at
Cincinnati and beginning with that series they got back to form a trifle
and won five games in succession.
Returning home they were beaten on the Polo Grounds three games in
succession by Chicago. After that New York settled into a winning stride
again and won six games in succession. Pittsburgh came to the Polo
Grounds and stopped the winning streak of the champions by defeating
them three times in succession. That was a hard jolt for any team to
stand. Yet the Giants rallied and won the test game of the Pittsburgh
series.
It was but a momentary pause, for after another victory St. Louis beat
New York. The Giants won another game and the next day lost to St.
Louis. That finished the home games for New York and the team started
west, facing a desperate fight. They lost the first game to Chicago, won
the next and lost the third. Going from Chicago to St. Louis they won
three games in succession, returning to Chicago, lost a postponed game
with the Cubs.
From Chicago their path led them to Pittsburgh where they lost the first
contest. Then they made the stand of the season when they beat the
Pittsburghs four games in succession.
Cincinnati turned the tables on the Giants to the consternation of the
New York fans and won twice, when it seemed as if the Giants were about
to start on a career which would safely land the championship. The
Giants returned home and beat Brooklyn in the first game and lost the
second. They won the next two and then lost again. The championship was
still in abeyance. Again they won and then lost to Philadelphia.
Here came another test in a Philadelphia series at Philadelphia which
contained postponed games, and once more rallying with all their might,
won four games and lost the last of this series of five.
Following that they won three games and then lost to St. Louis. They won
three times in succession and then lost four games to Chicago and
Cincinnati, but all of this time Chicago was gradually falling away
because it was necessary that the Cubs should continue to win successive
victories if they were to beat New York for the championship.
The Giants atoned for the four defeats at the hands of Chicago and
Cincinnati by winning the next four games in succession, and while this
did not actually settle the championship, that is, the definite
championship game had not been played, the race was practically over and
all that was left to fight for in the National League was second place,
in which Chicago and Pittsburgh were most interested. The pitching staff
of the Chicagos had worn out under the strain and the Cubs were beaten
out by Pittsburgh.
The semi-monthly standing of the race by percentages follows:
STANDING OF CLUBS ON APRIL 30.
Club. Won. Lost. PC. Club. Won. Lost. PC.
Cincinnati 10 3 .769 Pittsburgh 5 7 .417
New York 8 3 .727 Philadelphia 4 6 .400
Boston 6 6 .500 St. Louis 5 8 .385
Chicago 5 7 .417 Brooklyn 4 7 .364
STANDING OF CLUBS ON MAY 15.
Club. Won. Lost. PC. Club. Won. Lost. PC.
New York 18 4 .810 St. Louis 10 16 .385
Cincinnati 19 5 .792 Boston 9 15 .375
Chicago 12 12 .500 Philadelphia 7 13 .350
Pittsburgh 9 12 .429 Brooklyn 7 14 .333
STANDING OF CLUBS ON MAY 31.
Club. Won. Lost. PC. Club. Won. Lost. PC.
New York 28 7 .800 St. Louis 20 22 .455
Cincinnati 23 17 .675 Philadelphia .14 19 .426
Chicago 19 17 .628 Brooklyn 12 22 .353
Pittsburgh 18 17 .514 Boston 13 26 .333
STANDING OF CLUBS ON JUNE 15.
Club. Won. Lost. PC. Club. Won. Lost. PC.
New York 37 10 .787 Philadelphia 20 24 .455
Pittsburgh 27 20 .574 St. Louis 23 31 .426
Chicago 26 21 .563 Brooklyn 16 30 .348
Cincinnati 25 23 .553 Boston 16 35 .314
STANDING OF CLUBS ON JUNE 30.
Club. Won. Lost. PC. Club. Won. Lost. PC.
New York 50 11 .820 Philadelphia 24 33 .421
Pittsburgh 37 25 .597 Brooklyn 24 36 .400
Chicago 34 26 .567 St. Louis 27 42 .391
Cincinnati 35 32 .522 Boston 20 46 .303
STANDING OF CLUBS ON JULY 15.
Club. Won. Lost. PC. Club. Won. Lost. PC.
New York 58 19 .753 Philadelphia 34 38 .472
Chicago 47 28 .627 St. Louis 34 49 .410
Pittsburgh 45 31 .592 Brooklyn 30 48 .385
Cincinnati 41 39 .513 Boston 22 59 .272
STANDING OF CLUBS ON JULY 31.
Club. Won. Lost. PC. Club. Won. Lost. PC.
New York 67 24 .736 Cincinnati 45 49 .479
Chicago 57 34 .626 St. Louis 41 55 .427
Pittsburgh 52 37 .684 Brooklyn 35 59 .372
Philadelphia 45 43 .511 Boston 25 66 .275
STANDING OF CLUBS ON AUGUST 15.
Club. Won. Lost. PC. Club. Won. Lost. PC.
New York 73 30 .709 Cincinnati 50 58 .463
Chicago 69 36 .657 St. Louis 47 60 .439
Pittsburgh 65 40 .619 Brooklyn 39 69 .361
Philadelphia 50 54 .481 Boston 28 76 .269
STANDING OF CLUBS ON AUGUST 31.
Club. Won. Lost. PC. Club. Won. Lost. PC.
New York 82 36 .695 Cincinnati 57 65 .467
Chicago 79 42 .653 St. Louis 53 59 .434
Pittsburgh 71 50 .587 Brooklyn 44 76 .367
Philadelphia 59 60 .496 Boston 37 84 .306
STANDING OF CLUBS ON SEPTEMBER 15
Club. Won. Lost. PC. Club. Won. Lost. PC.
New York 95 40 .704 Philadelphia 63 70 .474
Chicago 83 61 .619 St. Louis 57 80 .416
Pittsburgh 82 53 .607 Brooklyn 50 85 .370
Cincinnati 68 68 .500 Boston 42 93 .311
STANDING OF CLUBS ON SEPTEMBER 30
Club. Won. Lost. PC. Club. Won. Lost. PC.
New York 101 45 .692 Philadelphia 70 77 .476
Pittsburgh 91 57 .615 St. Louis 62 88 .413
Chicago 89 68 .605 Brooklyn 57 91 .385
Cincinnati 74 76 .493 Boston 42 100 .324
STANDING OF CLUBS AT CLOSE OF SEASON.
Club. N.Y. Pitts. Chi. Cin. Phil. St.L. Bkln. Bos. Won. PC.
New York -- 12 9 16 17 15 16 18 103 .682
Pittsburgh 8 -- 13 11 14 15 14 18 92 .616
Chicago 13 8 -- 11 10 15 17 17 91 .607
Cincinnati 6 11 10 -- 8 13 16 11 75 .490
Philadelphia 5 8 10 14 -- 11 13 12 73 .480
St. Louis 7 7 7 9 11 -- 10 12 63 .412
Brooklyn 6 8 5 6 9 11 -- 13 58 .379
Boston 3 4 6 11 10 10 9 -- 52 .340
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Lost 48 58 59 78 79 90 95 101
The Chicago-Pittsburgh game at Chicago, October 2, was protested by the
Pittsburgh club and thrown out of the records, taking a victory from the
Chicago club and a defeat from the Pittsburgh club.
AMERICAN LEAGUE SEASON OF 1912
BY IRVING E. SANBORN, CHICAGO.
Pre-season predictions in Base Ball do not carry much weight
individually, but when many minds, looking at the game from different
angles, agree on the main points there usually is good reason behind
such near unanimity. Outside of Boston it is doubtful if any experienced
critic of Base Ball in the country expected the Red Sox to be converted
from a second division team into pennant winners in one short season. If
such expectancy existed in Boston it was partially a case of the wish
fathering the thought. The majority of men believed the machine with
which Connie Mack had achieved two league and two world's championships
was good for at least one more American League pennant. That expectation
was based on the comparative youth of the important cogs in the Athletic
machine. Yet this dope went all wrong. The Athletics were beaten out by
two teams which were in the second division in 1911, one of them as low
as seventh place.
The reason for these form reversals were several. The Boston and
Washington teams improved magically in new hands, while the Athletics
went back a bit, partly because of too much prosperity and partly
because of adversity. Having come from behind in 1911 and made a winning
from a wretched start, the Mackmen apparently thought they could do it
again and delayed starting their fight until it was too late. The loss
of the services of Dan Murphy for more than half of the season also was
a prime factor.
The White Sox were the season's sensations both ways and for a time kept
everybody guessing by their whirlwind start under new management. They
walked over every opponent they tackled for the first few weeks, then
began to slip and it required herculean efforts to keep them in the
first division at the finish. The Chicago team always was a puzzle to
all parties to the race, including itself.
From the outset there was almost no hope for the other four teams in the
league. Cleveland and Detroit occasionally broke into the upper circles
for a day or two in the early weeks of the season, but not far enough to
rouse any false anticipations among their supporters. St. Louis and New
York quickly gravitated to the lower strata and remained there, the
Yankees finally losing out in their battle with the Browns to keep out
of last place.
Five American League teams started the season under new managers. One of
the three which began the race under leaders retained from the previous
year changed horses in mid-stream. Jake Stahl, Harry Wolverton, Clark
Griffith, Harry Davis and James Callahan were the new faces in the
managerial gallery. Some of them were not exactly new to the job but
were in new jobs. Of these Stahl, Griffith and Callahan proved
successful leaders and the first named became the hero of a world's
championship team when the last ball of the series was caught. Davis
resigned during the season and was succeeded by Joe Birmingham, who
almost duplicated the feat of George Stovall in 1911, putting new life
into the Cleveland team and starting a spurt which made the race for
position interesting. Wolverton stuck the season out in spite of
handicaps that would have discouraged anybody, then handed in his
resignation. Wallace, who started the year at the helm again in St.
Louis, cheerfully handed over the management to Stovall, who had been
transplanted into the Mound City in the hope of making Davis' task
easier in Cleveland. Stovall made the Browns a hard team to beat and had
the mild satisfaction of hoisting them out of the cellar which they had
occupied for the better part of three seasons.
An unpleasant feature of the season, but one which had beneficial
results, was the strike of the Detroit players, entailing the staging of
a farcical game in Philadelphia between the Athletics and a team of
semi-professionals. This incident grew out of an attack on a New York
spectator by Ty Cobb while in uniform and the immediate suspension of
the player for an indefinite period.
The prompt and unyielding stand taken by President Johnson against the
action of the Detroit players and the diplomatic efforts of President
Navin of that club averted serious or extended trouble and undoubtedly
furnished a warning against any similar act in the near future. Another,
excellent result was the effort made by club owners to prevent the abuse
of the right of free speech by that small element of the game's
patronage which finds its greatest joy in abusing the players, secure in
the knowledge that it is practically protected from personal injury in
retaliation.
In the development of new players of note the league enjoyed an average
season, and a considerable amount of new blood was injected into the
game in the persons of players who made good without attracting freakish
attention. The rise of the Washington team from seventh to second place
brought its youngsters into the limelight prominently, and of these
Foster and Moeller were commended highly. Gandil, who had his second
tryout in fast company, plugged the hole at first base which had worried
Washington managers for some time. Shanks also made a reputation for
himself as a fielder. These men were helped somewhat by the showing of
their team, but the case of Gandil would have been notable In any
company. His first advent into the majors with the White Sox showed him
to be an exceedingly promising player, but for some reason his work fell
off until he was discarded into the International League. There he
quickly recovered his stride and, when he did come back shortly after
the season opened last spring, he demonstrated that he had the ability
to hit consistently and proved a tower of strength to Griffith's team.
Baumgardner of the St. Louis Browns was an example of a youngster making
good in spite of comparatively poor company. His pitching record with a
team which finished in seventh place stamps him as one of the best, if
not the best, of the slab finds of the year. Jean Dubuc of Detroit was
another find of rare value and still another was Buck O'Brien of Boston,
but these had the advantage over Baumgardner of getting better support
both in the field and at bat. O'Brien in particular was fortunate to
break in with a championship team.
The White Sox introduced three youngsters who made good and promise to
keep on doing so. Two of them, George Weaver and Morris Rath, started
the season with Chicago and the third, Baker Borton, joined the team
late in the summer. Still later Kay Schalk started in to make what looks
like a name for himself as a catcher.
* * * * *
No better illustration of the slight difference between a pennant
winning machine and a losing team in the American League has occurred
recently than the Boston Red Sox furnished last year. It did not differ
materially from the team of 1910 which compelled the use of the nickname
"Speed Boys." Jake Stahl was a member of that team, and except for the
absence of Stahl in 1911, the champions of 1912 were composed of
practically the same men who finished in the second division only the
year before. But for the showing of 1910 the whole credit for last
season's transformation might be attributed to Manager Stahl. Much of it
unquestionably is his by right, and there is no intent here to deprive
him of any of the high honors he achieved.
To Stahl's arrangement of his infield probably is due much of the
improvement in the team. The outfield trio of wonderful performers did
not perform any more wonders last year than in the previous season, but
what had been holes on the infield were plugged tightly. Many looked
askance when Larry Gardner, supposedly a second baseman, was assigned to
third, but the results more than justified the move, and it made room at
second for Yerkes, a player who had proved only mediocre on the other
side of the diamond. This switch and the return of Stahl, who is a grand
mark to throw at on first base, gave the infield the same dash and
confidence as the outfield possessed, and the addition of some pitching
strength in Bedient and O'Brien did the rest. It is the ability to
discover just the right combination that differentiates the real manager
from the semi-failure.
The Red Sox were in the race from the start, but they were eclipsed for
a time by the White Sox. In spite of that the Bostonians never faltered
but kept up a mighty consistent gait all the way and wore down all
competitors before the finish. Stahl's men never were lower than second
place in the race with the exception of three days early in May. when
Washington poked its nose in front of the Red Sox and started after the
White Sox, only to be driven back into third place by the men of
Callahan themselves. For more than a week in April Boston was in the
lead. Then Chicago went out and established a lead so long that it
lasted until near the middle of June. Boston attended strictly to its
knitting, however. Without stopping in their steady stride, the Red Sox
hung on, waiting for the Callahans to slump. When their chance came in
June the Bostonians jumped into the lead--June 10 was the exact
date--and never thereafter did they take any team's dust.
By the Fourth of July Boston had a lead of seven games over the
Athletics. The Red Sox kept right along at their even gait and a month
later were leading by the same margin over Washington, which had
displaced the former champions. On September 1 Boston's lead was
thirteen games, but it was not until September 18 that the American
League pennant was actually cinched beyond the possibility of losing it.
All season Stahl's men were known as a lucky ball team. Delving into the
files for the dope, revealed the fact that the newspaper reports of
about every third game they played on the average contained some
reference to "Boston's luck." This does not detract anything from their
glory. No team ever won a major league pennant unless it was lucky. No
team ever had as steady a run of luck as Boston enjoyed in 1912, unless
that team made a lot of its own luck by persistently hammering away when
luck was against it and keeping ever on the alert to take advantage of
an opening.
That is the explanation of the unusual consistency that marked the work
of the Red Sox all season and the fact they did not experience a serious
slump. In the first month of the season they won twelve games and lost
eight. The second month of the race was their poorest one--the nearest
they came to a slump. In that month they won eight and lost ten games.
In the third month Boston won twenty-three and lost seven games. The
fourth month saw them win twenty games and lose eight and in the fifth
month their record was twenty victories and five defeats. In the final
stages of the race the Red Sox were not under as strong pressure from
behind and naturally did not travel as fast after sighting the wire, but
the figures produced explain why Boston won the pennant. It started well
and kept going faster until there was no longer need for speed. The
annexation of the world's championship in a record breaking world's
series with the New York Giants was a fitting climax to their season's
achievement.
* * * * *
When Clark Griffith stalked through the west on his first invasion of
the season with a team of youngsters, some of them practically unknown,
and declared he was going after the pennant, everybody laughed or wanted
to. A few weeks later everybody who had laughed was sorry, and those who
only wanted to laugh were glad they didn't. For Griffith kept his men
keyed up to the fighting pitch during the greater part of the season,
and when they did start slumping in September, he made a slight switch
on his infield, applied the brakes and started them going up again. The
result was that Washington finished second for the first time in its
major league history, winning that position in the closing days of the
race after a bitter tussle with the passing world's champions.
The acquisition of Gandil from Montreal plugged a hole at first base
which had defied the efforts of several predecessors to stop and it
helped make a brilliant infield, for it gave the youngsters something
they were not afraid to throw at. In giving credit for the work of
Griffith's infield, the inclination is to overestimate the worth of the
new stars. But there was a tower of strength at short in George McBride,
who has been playing steadily and consistently at that position for
several seasons without being given one-tenth the credit his work has
merited.
The Washington team at one time or another occupied every position in
the race except the first and last. The Senators were in seventh place
for a few days in the opening weeks of the season, but not anywhere
nearly as long as they were in second place later on. They climbed out
of the second division by rapid stages and after May 1 they were driven
back into it only once during the rest of the year. That was for three
days in the beginning of June. In the meantime they had knocked Boston
out of second place for a short while in May and, most of the way, had
enjoyed a close fight with Philadelphia for third and fourth spots. Near
the middle of June, after the Red Sox had ousted their White namesakes
from first place, the Senators also passed Chicago and started after
Boston. But the youngsters were not yet hardened to the strain and soon
fell back to third and fourth. On July 5 Washington went into second
place and held onto it, with the exception of three days, for a period
of two months. September brought a slump and Griffith's men surrendered
the runner-up position to the Athletics for about two weeks, then came
back and took it away from the Mackmen at the end.
* * * * *
What happened to the world's champion Athletics the public did not
really know until after the middle of the season. Then the suspensions
of Chief Bender and Rube Oldring blazoned the fact that Manager Mack's
splendid system of handling a Base Ball team by moral suasion had fallen
down in the face of overconfidence and too much prosperity. Few people
saw any reason for changing their belief in the prowess of the Athletics
during the first half of the season, because they were in as good
position most of the time as they had been the year previous at the same
stage of the race. They were expected to make the same strong finish
that swept everything before it in 1911. Not until the second half of
the season was well under way did the adherents of the Mackmen give up
the battle.
Philadelphia's sterling young infield seemed to stand up all right all
the year, but the outfield and the slab staff gave Connie Mack sleepless
nights. When Dan Murphy was injured in Chicago in June it was discovered
what he had meant to the team. Dan was what the final punch is to a
boxing star. His timely batting was missed in knocking out opponents,
and the injury kept him out all the rest of the season. The strain which
Jack Coombs gave his side in the world's series of 1911 proved more
serious and lasting than was expected, and if Eddie Plank had not come
back into grand form it would have been a tougher season than it was for
the Athletics.