For those of you embarking this trolley along the route, the premise of the exercise can be found HERE.
OVERVIEW
No franchise changes for the 1924 season.
OFFSEASON / PRESEASON
Five modded NeLers join the ranks for 1924, keeping us at 75 active:
- OF Rap Dixon (21); Black Barons SABR BIO
- P Roosevelt Davis (19); Grays SABR BIO
- SS Willie Wells (19); ABCs
- OF Wilson Redus (19); ABCs
Doing this somewhat in retrospect, I can’t for the life of me remember why I gave the ABCs two modded rookies and opted to give the Black Sox and Monarchs one unmodded player apiece. I’m sure it was for a good reason, even if I can’t recall what that reason was!
Notable 1924 rookies include Joe Stripp (Reds); Charlie Gehringer (Tigers); Carl Hubbell (Giants); Jimmie Foxx and George Earnshaw (Athletics); Pepper Martin and Bill Hallahan (Cardinals).
The A’s take pitcher Ken Ash first overall in this year’s Rookie Draft.
My Dodgers get a couple of handy guys in 1B Del Bissonette and P Watty Clark, and we sign the mighty Smoky Joe Williams thru 1928.
Orchestrated moves: Dave Bancroft and Jesse Barnes to the Braves; Billy Southworth and Irish Meusel to the Giants; Charlie Grimm to the Cubs; Johnny Mostil, Willie Kamm, and Red Faber to the White Sox; Rube Benton and Carl Mays to the Reds; Howard Ehmke to the Red Sox.
Game-generated moves: include Louis Santop to the Black Sox; Dick Whitworth to the Black Barons; Dixie Leverett and Tom Zachary to the Red Sox; Everett Scott to the Cubs; Russ Wrightstone to the Reds; Steve O’Neill and Wally Schang to the Bears; Dan Kennard to the Blackbirds; Jack Tobin to the Yankees; Dizzy Dismukes to the Athletics; Candy Jim Taylor and Lew Fonseca to the Browns; Hank Gowdy to the Cardinals (after I had given him to the Giants).
No new HoFers for 1924.
OPENING DAY PREVIEW
The top-ranked position player is Red Sox OF Babe Ruth.
The top-ranked pitcher is Gui Fou of the Jays.
Age-21 Gui is the top-rated prospect, with age-21 A’s catcher Mickey Cochrane the top position player prospect.
The top-ranked farm system belongs to the Athletics.
BNN sees the races looking like this:
- AL East: 95-67 Black Sox 6 clear of the Jays, with the 61-101 Yankees in the cellar
- AL North: 92-70 Athletics 10 clear of the White Sox and Buckeyes, with the 73-89 Tigers in the cellar
- AL South: 87-75 Senators 1 clear of the Browns, with the 72-90 Bears in the cellar
- NL East: 101-61 Giants 3 clear of the Grays, with the 49-113 Phillies in the cellar
- NL Central: 97-65 Pirates 12 clear of the Reds, with the 75-87 Cubs in the cellar
- NL South: 91-71 Cardinals 14 clear of the Black Barons, with the 56-106 Braves in the cellar
A fair bit of carnage in Spring Training, with Cocky Collins and Cleveland catcher Glenn Myatt out for the entire season, and Ty Cobb gone for four months.
The non-trade of Babe Ruth to the Yanks in this timeline seems to have done no favours to either party.
REGULAR SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
04/04: This year’s fun fact: the Phillies have non-modded NeLer Grover Alexander on their active roster at OD, while veteran Grover Cleveland Alexander – the club’s all-time leader with 238 Wins and 1589 strikeouts – is with the Cubs.
04/18: Athletics 2B Max Bishop clips Baltimore for the cycle.
04/19: Pop Lloyd becomes the 7th player – and just the second NeLer after Pete Hill – to reach 3000 career hits in this timeline.
05/02: Juan Padron gives us an early no-hitter for the year.
05/05: Frankie Frisch collects the cycle against Indy.
05/12: George Sisler’s poor luck with injuries continues as he is knocked out of action for most, if not all, of the season by an Achilles injury.
05/17: Another big out, with Rogers Hornsby to miss three months after tearing ligaments in his ankle.
05/18: Eppa Rixey notches career Win #200 in this timeline—as do Wilbur Cooper a fortnight later, and Stan Coveleski not long after that.
05/19: Harry Heilmann clips Washington for the cycle.
05/24: It’s like the Tour de France here—Jules Thomas hits for the cycle against the Buccos.
06/18: A tough break for Giants outfielder Ross Youngs, who is done for the year after suffering a hip injury.
08/10: Babe Ruth joins Frank Baker (355) and Gavvy Cravath (305) as the third member of the 300-HR Club.
08/29: Jules Thomas is another to reach the 300-HR milestone.
09/26: In one of the greatest individual games we’ve seen so far in this timeline, George Kelly single-handedly destroys the Grays with a 163 GSc performance that includes 5 hits, 3 home runs, and a record-tying 12 RBI.
REGULAR SEASON RECAP
About as straightforward as they come.
AL
The AL Wild Card is the only even remotely tight contest as the Browns surge late to challenge Newark and, in the end, perhaps their comparatively advanced experience in this sort of situation is the telling factor as they dash the Jays’ hopes of a maiden playoff run by a couple games.
NL
My Dodgers book their first post-season appearance in four years via the NL Wild Card.
NeLER NOTES
The NeLers continue to show us what could have been, with more exemplary performances from hitters and pitchers.
No fewer than 16 position players record 5 WAR or more, with Cristobal Torriente’s age-30 campaign a career best with 9.6 and Turkey Stearnes putting himself into the elite category with 9 even and a maiden AL batting title. Veteran Jules Thomas, at age 37, leads the group with 35 HR to take him past the key milestone as mentioned above.
Bullet Rogan ticks another item off the bucket list, winning his first batting title with a league high .383, and his combined career WAR total across both disciplines is close to 90.
Sam Streeter leads the way among the pitchers with 10.3 rWAR, while Juan Padron seems to be getting better with age and posts another fine campaign.
Some decent performances again from the non-modded pitchers, with Willie Spearman and Grover Alexander the best of them. We even get a notable hitting performance, with Mike Gonzalez posting in excess of 2 WAR.
Sylvester Foreman’s struggles at the top level continue, as he posts a 4-16 record despite nearly halving his ERA from a year ago.
Another four of our modded NeLers calling it quits in 1924.
PETE HILL: This timeline’s first true superstar from among the NeL ranks, Pete ends his career with more than 3000 hits, 218 home runs and 1490 RBI—each top 20 all-time to this point. Four ASG appearances, and championship rings with the 1905 Cubs and 1922 Giants, round off a fine 70-WAR career. As mentioned above, the primary threat to his HoF credentials is his lack of ink, and the fact that he only earned a couple minor awards; but I still think that magical 53-HR campaign in 1919 means he’ll get in at some point.
JIMMIE LYONS: A nice little career in keeping with expectations as per his MLE, with just north of 150 homers and 1000 runs scored to his name, along with a healthy 274/335/407 slash line.
DICK WHITWORTH: Dick finishes with a lifetime 125-108 record, and his other stats broadly in line with projections. 4.03 ERA is a bit higher than expected, but his .285 BABIP suggests at least some of that is pure bad luck.
TOM WILLIAMS: Another who did well in this timeline, notching 116 wins at an ERA+ of 110. Only 28 at retirement, and one can only wonder what another five or so years in the game would have done to his stats.
FINAL MLB STANDINGS
AL STAT LEADERS
NL STAT LEADERS
PLAYOFFS
Despite 14 division titles and three pennants between them, the two St. Louis clubs remain on the hunt for a maiden title. Will this be the year?
DS
Ourselves and the Giants add another chapter to the rivalry, as we claw our way back from 0-2 down to force a decider with two wins at Ebbets, but take our leave of the competition when they beat us 5-0.
Baltimore comes out ready to play, as Sam Streeter 1-hits the Browns in a 6-0 Game 1 whitewash and then Martin Dihigo pitches well the next day to earn them a 7-2 victory. G3 in St. Louis is a completely different affair, as the Browns stay alive with a wild 11-10 win despite Turkey Stearnes going yard twice and driving in 5. The Browns show plenty of gumption, taking Game 4 6-1 behind Nellie Pott, but Mule Suttles belts two homers and Lefty Streeter guides the Bawlmer boys to the next stage with a 6-2 win.
The A’s score 3 in the bottom 10th to walk off Game 1 against the Sens 4-2, and another narrow victory in G2 puts them in control heading to the nation’s capital. Firpo Marberry extends the Senators’ season with a peachy outing for a 5-1 win, and they force a Game 5 with a 5-2 victory, but the A’s regather themselves and win the series with a gripping 2-1 decision at Shibe Park.
The Cards start their series against the Pirates with a nifty 7-1 road win behind Bill Sherdel, and a disciplined 5-3 win the following day sends them home seemingly with the series in hand. They overcome a fine outing from Specs Meadows to finish the Buccos off with a 4-2 decision.
LCS
This Black Sox side is a bit of a beast, and Mule Suttles’ 4-hit game in support of Martin Dihigo gets them off on the right foot against the A’s with an 8-0 win, although it costs them El Inmortal for the remainder after he suffers a labrum tear. The visitors try and go toe-to-toe with them in Game 2, and the home side needs a walkoff 2-run single from Gentleman Dave Malarcher to get the gutsy 8-7 win.
The Athletics take Game 3 in Philly with a 4-2 final but the Black Sox flex again with an 8-4 win the next day and then book their first ticket to the Big Dance with a comeback 6-5 win.
The Giants open their series against the Cardinals with an imperfect 7-5 win and are lucky to escape the next day as they walk it off 3-2 in 13.
A come-from-behind 5-3 win on a walkoff slam by Stonewall Jackson puts them on the cusp of another World Series appearance, and they extend the St. Louis drought at least another year as George Kelly’s 2 HR power them to a comprehensive 7-3 win to complete the sweep.
WORLD SERIES
A fascinating match-up here as the Black Sox chase a maiden title against the Giants, who have in fact won the World Series each of their only two prior appearances.
Juan Padron pitches the Black Sox to a 9-1 win at the Polo Grounds to get things underway, and they keep the good times rolling with a comeback 3-2 win in G2 behind Sam Streeter.
The Giants seem to have run out of petrol at the most inopportune time, as Baltimore goes three to the good with a fairly comfortable 6-2 home win a couple days later, and they will not be denied, completing the sweep to become just the second expansion club (after the ABCs in 1917) to win it all.
Mule Suttles deservedly takes MVP honours after a thoroughly torrid post-season.
1924 RECAP
The Babe makes it seven MVP awards, while Bullet Rogan adds a third.
Dazzy Vance finally wins a CYA, with fictional pitcher Gui Fou taking a rare Cy Young-RoY double.
Kiki Cuyler wins the NL RoY, and non-modded NeLer Oscar Owens and Claude Jonnard of the Giants are named best relievers.
Frank Baker’s JAWS total (84.1) highlights the reason why Pete Hill (58.9) might get some pushback from HoF voters, with Pete’s low ink totals doing him no favours either. They are the only two from this year’s retirees even remotely in the hunt for a plaque.
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.