For those of you embarking this trolley along the route, the premise of the exercise can be found HERE.
OVERVIEW
No franchise moves or changes to the league structure for the 1914 season.
OFFSEASON / PRESEASON
Two new modded NeLers enter the league in 1914, keeping us at a total of 52 active:
- P Dick Whitworth (18); Black Sox
- P Gerardo Ballesteros (18); Monarchs
Notable 1914 rookies include Babe Ruth (Red Sox); Howard Ehmke (Tigers); George Kelly and Ross Youngs (Giants); Cy Perkins (Athletics); Cliff Lee (Phillies); and Joe Judge (Senators).
The Tigers take Eric Erickson first overall in this year’s Rookie Draft.
A small number of fictional players begin making an appearance from this season onward, while Active Rosters are increased from 23 to 24.
We Dodgers are fairly quiet over the break, just extending Pat Ragan thru 1918, trading for outfielder Jimmie Lyons and catcher Ernie Krueger, and signing backup IF Dick Egan.
The Tigers shock the league by trading away Ty Cobb to the Senators for Joe Judge and Howie Shanks.
Other interesting offseason moves include Gervasio Gonzalez (Black Sox); Bill Carrigan (Red Sox); Danny Moeller (Braves); Ping Bodie and George McQuillan (Cubs); Tommy Leach and Roger Bresnahan (Buckeyes); Andrew Payne (Tigers); Ray Collins (ABCs); George Moriarty (Giants); Grant Johnson (Pirates); Frank Schulte (Senators).
OPENING DAY PREVIEW
The top-ranked position player is Buckeyes outfielder Joe Jackson.
The top-ranked pitcher is Washington’s Walter Johnson.
The top-rated prospect is age-22 P Dazzy Vance of the Browns.
The top-ranked farm system belongs to the Reds.
BNN sees the races looking like this:
- AL East: 101-61 Senators 2 clear of the Red Sox, with the 76-87 Yankees in the cellar.
- AL Central: 90-72 White Sox 6 clear of the Buckeyes, with the 50-112 Tigers in the cellar.
- NL East: 103-59 Giants 13 clear of the Dodgers, with the 64-98 Grays in the cellar.
- NL Central: 92-70 Cubs 12 clear of the Pirates, with the 70-92 Cardinals in the cellar.
REGULAR SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
04/12: Hank Gowdy and Les Mann drive in half a dozen apiece as the Braves beat Indy 26-1 in an absolute beatdown, en route to an 11-0 start to the season.
04/17: Giants pitcher Rip Hagerman gives up a 1-out hit (and a run) in the 1st inning against the Phillies but then allows just a couple walks in a 3-1 win.
04/20: Cocky Collins has 8 ribbies as the A’s whip the Yanks 18-3.
06/06: Sam Crawford overtakes Mike Donlin atop the all-time HR leaderboard with 234; later in the year, Wahoo Sam also records his 3000th career Hit.
07/01: Vic Saier of the Cubs hits for the cycle against the Phillies.
06/25: Eddie Plank notches his 300th career win.
06/26: Louis Santop belts 3 homers with 5 RBI in Homestead’s 9-6 win over the Reds.
07/31: The Phillies acquire Walter Ball from Cincy for catcher Mike Gonzalez and 3B Jim Breton, while the Athletics trade away a few prospects to the Browns for pitcher Carl Weilman.
REGULAR SEASON RECAP
All four races remain in doubt until the death in one of the tightest seasons yet.
AL
The Senators never look totally comfortable leading the East standings, with the Red Sox – who win 15 straight in late June / early July – and Athletics nipping at their heels throughout. The Sox and Sens remain tied entering the final series, before Washington goes into the final day one game ahead. That’s how they finish as both clubs lose, handing a maiden playoff berth to the Senators.
The streaky Buckeyes and White Sox pull away to sort out the Central division among themselves and it proves another ding-dong battle between these two fierce rivals. The White Sox eventually gain the ascendancy and go on to win it by three games.
NL
After their hot start, the Braves can’t quite stay with ourselves and Philly, meaning it is another two-team battle. It is ultimately a poor series at Cincy in which we lose three of four that does us in as the Phils get home by a couple.
The Cubs are the only NL Central club above .500 for most of the season but are still within reach of the Cards and ABCs. Indy runs out of puff but the Cards make a charge and go on to take the group by a single game.
Frank “Home Run” Baker hits .387 with 33 HR and 134 RBI to win the AL Triple Crown.
NeLER NOTES
A somewhat subdued season in WAR terms for our NeL brethren but still some fine performances among them. A couple in particular I’d like to draw attention to, each featuring one of the group’s “elder statesmen”.
In the final season of his illustrious career, Grant Johnson hits .370, drives in 86 and collects nearly 5 WAR. In his final game, he has 4 hits and 4 RBI and – with 2600 Hits on the button – he may well end up being this group’s first Hall of Fame representative.
Carlos Moran is the other interesting one. After hitting just 9 homers in his previous 13 MLB seasons in this timeline, the veteran really upped his power game in 1914 to finish with 15 round-trippers. He retires at the end of next season, so let’s see if he can repeat the magic trick for his swansong.
Here are Grant’s career stats, along with those of fellow retirees Harry Buckner, Arthur Gilliard, Bill Lindsay, and Bill Monroe. Adding a short summary for each from this point to keep things evolving.
HARRY BUCKNER: Got a fair go on both sides of the two-way equation and put together a fine career totalling almost 35 WAR without ever really being dominant.
ARTHUR GILLIARD: Always somewhat of a questionable inclusion IMHO given the brevity of his career, and he is accordingly far from prominent in this timeline.
GRANT JOHNSON: Looked like he could have kept playing after that stellar 1914. Lifetime .291 AVG; 2600 Hits and 100 HR on the dot; 4-time Champion; 6-time All-Star; more than 60 career WAR—he should get some HoF ballot love when his time comes.
BILL LINDSAY: Another relatively short career but Bill hasn’t disgraced himself with nearly 15 WAR. His club alignment, as will be the case with many of these guys, has left him with a rough 61-92 record.
BILL MONROE: Bit of a glove-heavy deadball type on paper, but did OK with a career slash of 267/325/339 and more than 20 WAR all told. Also recorded nearly 40 career ZR at his preferred SS and 3B.
FINAL MLB STANDINGS
AL STAT LEADERS
NL STAT LEADERS
* Please note there are some discrepancies regarding players’ correct teams in these stat leaders screenshots from the early years due to them having been taken retrospectively.
PLAYOFFS
LCS
Despite being held hitless thru 5 by Reb Russell, the Senators start their playoff career with a gritty 4-2 home win behind Walter Johnson and double their lead the next day with a drama-filled 4-3 win on a walkoff hit by 2B Joe Gedeon. Late runs again feature in Game 3 as the White Sox eke out a tough 6-4 win in front of their adoring fans and G4 is the best so far, with the Senators taking a 3-1 series lead with a win in 13. They close it out the next day with an anticlimactic 8-1 victory.
WORLD SERIES
All on the line here with a maiden World Championship up for grabs. The Phils are without key big bat Fred Luderus, while the Sens are pretty much at full strength.
Pete Alexander’s solid playoff run continues as he gets the Phils a 4-1 Game 1 win at the Baker Bowl and Eppa Rixey follows suit the next day to make it 2-0 heading to the nation’s crack den capital.
Barney Johnson just gets the Sens home in Game 3, handing the Phillies their first loss of these playoffs by a final score of 4-3 and they nearly make a meal of a 5-0 lead the next day before squaring the series with a 5-4 win.
The high quality play continues as the Senators edge in front with a tough 4-3 win as Ty Cobb reaches base five times and the Georgia Peach makes his brief Washington stay a winning one as an epic Game 6 finishes 9-8 in the Senators’ favour with most of the runs coming in the final two frames.
Washington 1B Lee Magee is named MVP.
1914 RECAP
Frank Baker repeats as AL MVP, although surprisingly not unanimously. Sherry Magee wins in the NL, with him along with CYA winners Dutch Leonard and Pete Alexander all first-time winners.
Baltimore’s Marty Kavanagh is a unanimous AL RoY, while our Lew McCarty wins in the NL.
We get another award with Tom Johnson taking the relief gong next to Win Noyes of the Yankees.
Turkey Mike Donlin, Frank Chance, and the aforementioned Grant Johnson should prove the main HoF hopes among this year’s retirees.
NeL-obsessed member from Sydney, Australia who spends an inordinate amount of my free time running simulations of various natures on Out of the Park Baseball.