American League
Chicago (Replay: 98-56, Actual: 96-58, +2)
The 1920 White Sox were a very good team and
worthy of repeating as AL champions, but mostly they were tenacious. They were
stuck in second place for most of the season, perched right on New York's tail,
but never faltered in their pennant quest. Twice during the season, they caught
and passed New York, even if only for a few days, only to see the Yankees
regain the top spot, but with a month to go in the season they seized the top
spot a third time and this time they were able to hold off furious rally
attempts from both New York and Cleveland to claim the AL title for the second
consecutive year.
Chicago led the league in Team ERA (2.95) and
Team fielding percentage (.987) and was third in hitting (.295) and runs scored
(729). Offensively, the White Sox offense was anchored by Eddie
Collins (.340) and Shoeless
Joe Jackson (.390), but the real offensive MVP in the replay was Buck Weaver.
Weaver actually hit .331, but he got off to a red-hot start and hit in the
.380's for most of the season, and occasionally flirted with .400 over the
course of the season, and finished at .386. Weaver also led the team in RBI's
with 121, just ahead pf Jackson (117) and Happy
Felsch (116), and Weaver finished second on the team in runs scored (103),
trailing only Collins (118). Jackson led the league with 50 doubles, ahead of
Felsch, although Felsch (.338) led the team in homeruns (16), just ahead of
Jackson (12).
Right fielder Nemo
Leibold batted leadoff in front of all this firepower, even though Leibold
only hit .206 and had an OBP of .273. I realize the concept of Sabermetrics was
still some sixty years away, but even then, someone must have had the thought
that perhaps catcher Ray Schalk
(BA: .301 OBP: .399) might have been a better choice.
The real strength of the White Sox might have
been their pitching. They were in a protracted battle all season long for the
ERA title, but they never blinked and finally came out ahead at the end of the
season. Red
Faber (25-15, 2.03), Eddie
Cicotte (23-8, 2.60), Lefty
Williams (20-18, 4.02), and Dickey Kerr
(19-7, 2.51) combined for 87 of Chicago's 98 wins and totaled 98 complete
games, and most importantly, they kept their team in every game. Kerr had won
two games for the White Sox in the 1919 World Series, but started off the
season working out of the bullpen and making occasional spot starts, but once
moved into the rotation he was rock solid, only failing to reach the twenty
wins mark when he couldn’t get a win in his two starts during the final week of
the season. Cicotte threw the second of two AL no-hitters on 08/21/1920 versus
Washington.
The Black Sox scandal came to a head when
eight players were indicted on the final Monday of the regular season. Chicago
had already clinched the AL pennant just the day before, a possibility I had
pondered before the replay started. I had previously stated that if this exact
situation did occur, the White Sox would play in the World Series as the AL
representative, using whatever unsuspended players that remained. The White Sox
did have three more games after the suspensions, so there is a lineup template to
be followed.
Still, after having had such a great season,
it was a shame to see such a great team effectively dismantled and such a
great legacy effectively just trashed. Baseball obviously recovered and life
went on, but this blot on history still remains.
New York (R: 97-57, A: 95-59, +2)
The Yankees did go to the World Series in
1921, 1922, and 1923, so 1920 was supposed to be a year to early, the year
needed to prepare the team for their run of pennants and beyond. The first step
was to bring in Babe Ruth,
a move that made an immediate impact. Ruth had set the new homerun record the
previous year with 29, he actually hit out 54 in 1920, and finished with 61 in
the replay. Ruth was also second in hitting (.399), led in runs (150) and RBI's
(156), and was third in doubles (45). Ruth also led in walks (146) and
strikeouts (84). All that adds up to 115 total extra-base hits, with a total of
427 total bases - a phenomenal season by any standards.
Having played the entire season, it appeared
the replay pitchers figured out about halfway through the season that it was
less painful to semi-intentionally walk Ruth than to let him actually bat. But
the one thing that really made Ruth the AL MVP was that very few of those
homeruns were wasted. Whether getting the Yankees the early lead or cementing a
close win late in the game, Ruth's clutch ability was tremendous.
As a team, the Yankees finished sixth in the
AL in team hitting (.265), but not only did Ruth have more homeruns than any
team (Cleveland was second in the AL with 57 and New York led the NL with 60),
but the remainder of the Yankees team hit a total of 67 homeruns all by
themselves. Whether it was Ruth's example or the friendly confines of the Polo
Grounds, New York ended fourth in runs scored (721), just eight behind Chicago.
New York finished second in Team ERA (3.13)
and threw a league-leading 27 shutouts, five more than Chicago. Bob Shawkey
(24-9. 1.92), Carl Mays
(27-12, 2.68), and Jack Quinn
(20-7, 2.12) led the Yankees pitching corps. New York spent most of the season
residing in first place and leading the league in ERA, but they didn’t have
much help in the rotation after these three, something they would rectify
before next season.
Cleveland (R: 95-59, A: 98-56, -3)
Cleveland actually won the World Series in
1920, but problems with the backend of their pitching rotation ultimately
doomed them in this replay. The Indians weren't helpless - they led the AL in
hitting (.299) and in runs scored (786), but they settled into third place
early and even though they made several attempts to move up in the standings,
both Chicago and New York always managed to hold them off.
Player-manager Tris
Speaker (.388, 120 RBI's) led the Cleveland offense, and was supplemented
by Larry
Gardner (.308, 122 RBI's), and Elmer Smith
(.298, 98 RBI's). Ray Chapman
(.284) was hit in the head by a pitched ball on 08/16/1920 and died the
following day, and the Indians lost the next five games. Joe Sewell
(.342) soon came up from the minors to replace him and immediately
endeared himself to the fans by providing several key hits and serving as a
spark plug on their final late season push for the pennant on his way
eventually to the Hall of Fame.
Jim Bagby
(27-10, 2.54), Stan
Coveleski (27-9, 3.08), and Ray
Caldwell (17-12, 3.51) led the Cleveland pitching staff to a 3.68 team ERA,
good for fourth place in the AL. Late in the season Duster
Mails (7-1, 1.52) joined with Sewell to help lead their late season surge,
but before Mails pitchers Elmer Myers
(3-3, 4.05) and Guy Morton
(1-12, 7.70) had failed to lock down the fourth spot in the Indians rotation
and placed Cleveland square behind the eight ball.
St. Louis (R: 78-75, A: 76-77, +2)
The "Big Browns Machine" finished
second in hitting (.298) and second in runs scored (751) as they rumbled their
way to a winning record and fourth place. Unfortunately for St. Louis, their
offense was often a hot and cold thing, but when they were hot, they could
really pound the baseball, and no one was safe from their wrath.
The St. Louis outfield consisted of Baby Doll
Jacobson (.375), Jack Tobin
(.332), and Ken
Williams (.296), who hit a combined .335 as a unit. And right there in the
midst of these three was George
Sisler, who led the league with a .433 average. Sisler led the league in
hits (269), was second in runs (134), and was tied with teammate Jacobson with
133 RBI's. Sisler finished second in total bases (416) and extra-base hits
(88), finishing behind Ruth (as you might expect).
Where St. Louis suffered was in the pitching
department as they finished seventh in the AL with a 4.27 ERA. Urban
Shocker (21-7, 2.59), Dixie Davis
(19-10, 3.30), and Bill Bayne
(9-4, 3.35) led the way, but their success only makes the rest of the staff
look that much worse. To their credit, St. Louis management was willing to look
at different players and by the end of the season eighteen different pitchers
stepped up to toe the rubber for the Browns.
Washington (R: 71-81, A: 68-84, +3)
Washington spent the first half of the season
tangling with St. Louis as both teams swapped fourth and fifth place in the
standings as both teams fought to keep their win/loss percentage above .500.
St. Louis succeeded on both counts, but injuries during the second half of the
season mounted up and the Senators simply couldn't maintain. However, like St.
Louis, neither team was an instant win for the better teams to pick on. Wins
had to be earned and opposition teams had to fight for their wins. Washington finished
fourth in ERA (4.14) and sixth in team batting average (.278), good enough for
fifth place.
Sam Rice
(.342, 58 steals) and Bucky Harris (.305)
led the offensive charge for the Senators, but second half injuries to Joe Judge
(.386) and Clyde Milan
(.252) created gaps in the Washington offense that were hard to overcome.
Multiple injuries at third base and shortstop eventually forced Washington to
resurrect 39-year-old third base coach George
McBride (.270) to take to the field for a few weeks until they could get
some of their regulars back out there.
Walter
Johnson (8-7, 2.92) came out of spring training with a sore arm, which
required him to sporadically miss starts, and eventually he was shut down for
the remainder of the season with the final third of a season remaining. During
the 1920 season Johnson still managed to throw a no-hitter, despite his arm
issues. Tom
Zachary (21-13, 3.94) and Eric
Erickson (15-10, 3.46) stepped up and did as best as they could, but with
no help forthcoming Washington started bringing in additional bodies to see if
they could find anyone worth keeping.
Boston (R: 64-89, A: 72-81, -8)
It's hard to imagine that Boston went to the
World Series in 1918, just two years previous. I suppose it's also hard to
imagine they would trade away Babe Ruth
in the first place, but what was left after the trade was pretty bleak. Boston
finished seventh in team hitting (.253), but did manage to finish third in Team
ERA (3.66), just ahead of Cleveland. Boston finished the season with only 22
homeruns, which matched the number they actually hit in the 1920 season.
The Boston offense was led by Harry
Hooper (.313, 20 triples), Wally
Schang (.314, 8 homeruns), and Stuffy
McInnis (.305, 45 sacrifice hits). Everett Scott (.231, SS10), who was in
the middle of his 1307 consecutive games played streak (link), chipped in
as well. The Red Sox had trouble finding a permanent replacement and second,
third, and center field
Herb
Pennock (16-15, 3.00), Sad Sam
Jones (10-20, 4.59), and Bullet Joe
Bush (10-21, 4.59) anchored the Red Sox rotation, with Harry
Harper (11-10, 2.96) helping out with spot starts and bullpen duties. Of
course, Pennock and Waite Hoyt
(4-8, 4.89) would soon find their way to the Yankees and eventually into
Cooperstown, so this was just the start of a long drought for Boston fans.
Detroit (R: 58-96, A: 61-93, -3)
Detroit had finished in third place in 1919
with a 80-60 record (shortened season because of the war) and was looking
forward to another successful season in 1920, but it was not to be. Pitching
problems, the team was unsettled at several positions, and injuries all kept
the Tigers at the back of the pack. And if things hadn’t gone bad enough to begin
with, they finished the replay with a fourteen-game losing streak. The Tigers
finished fifth in team hitting (.268) and sixth in runs scored (626), but their
league worst ERA (4.31) really put them in a hole.
Ty Cobb
(.302) was hitting in the .330 for most of the first half of the season, but
then he twisted his knee in an outfield collision and missed three weeks. After
two weeks back he then missed another two-week period, and he then spent the
remainder of the season fighting to keep his average over .300. Bobby Veach
(.325, 118 RBI's) and Harry
Heilmann (.346, 98 RBI's) tried to fill the void, and lead-off hitter Ralph Young
9.268) finished second in the league with 90 walks while, right behind him in
the lineup, Donie Bush
(.280) had 48 sacrifice hits.
Howard
Ehmke (12-21, 3.18), Doc Ayers
(11-11, 3.44), and Hooks Dauss
(11-20, 4.28) occasionally pitched well, but were often betrayed by a lack of
offensive support. Dutch
Leonard (7-18, 5.46) got hammered way too often until he was finally sat
down for the final month of the season.
Philadelphia (R: 53-101, A: 48-106, +5)
Philadelphia was on the middle of a Connie Mack
rebuilding decade and they looked it. They didn't get any draft picks for
having the worst record, so they had to do all this one their own. They did
bring up Jimmy
Dykes and Eddie
Rommel to mark the official start of the bringing in the pieces of the team
that would dominate the AL by the end of the decade.
The A's finished last in hitting (.239) in
the AL but finished fifth in team ERA (3.87), although Philadelphia did give up
138 unearned runs on the season, and Philadelphia finished last in team
fielding. Jumping
Joe Dugan (.311) and Cy Perkins
(.278) led the offense, but Tillie
Walker (.247, 14 homeruns) was a bit of a disappointment. Behind these guys, the A's were rolling
through players being given their big-league opportunity, but when these
players didn’t work out Mack wasn't afraid to reach out and give someone else
their chance.
Rollie
Naylor (11-20. 3.27) and Scott Perry
(11-20, 3.48) led the pitchers, with Dave Keefe
checking in at 11-3, 2.58) in relief and in spot starts. Naylor also threw the
first AL no-hitter in a win over New York on 06/30/1920.
National League
Cincinnati (Replay: 91-62, Actual: 82-71, +9)
Cincinnati had won the World Series in 1919
and was looking to repeat in 1920, and while they got off to a good start,
unfortunately they were caught behind a buzzsaw named the New York Giants. The
Reds never gave up, hung around in second place, and waited and hoped for the
Giants to finally cool off, which they finally did over the last month of the
season. Once Cincinnati did move into first place they sometimes found it just as
hard to stay there as it was to get there. The Reds finally clinched the NL Pennant
on the next-to-last day of the season, and they did it in a most unconventional
way - they won all three games of a tripleheader
over Pittsburgh. The Reds finished second in the league in hitting (.294), were
fourth in pitching (3.06), and in the final count they led the NL in fielding
(.987).
Edd Roush
(.355, 93 RBI's) was the power in the middle of their lineup, with Jake
Daubert (.344, 100 runs) and Heinie Groh
(.302, 93 runs) batting in front of him. Cincinnati finished with 659 runs
scored (third) and 143 stolen bases (second) so while they may not have had the
power options like the Giants did, they did the best with what they had.
At the halfway point of the season Dutch
Ruether (17-11, 1.87) appeared to be a lock to get twenty, maybe even
twenty-five wins, but even while Ruether continued to pitch well, the wins
stopped coming his way. This, in turn, benefitted the Reds relievers who were
able to scarf up wins when the Reds rallied. Ray Fisher
(17-10, 3.99) and Hod Eller
(14-10, 3.35) also performed well in the starters role, although Eller was able
to pick up several of those wins that didn’t get to go to Ruether. Dolf Luque
(13-8, 2.14) was somewhat limited in appearances, but managed to throw a
no-hitter on 08/01/1920 versus New York. The unsung hero was Buddy
Napier (5-0, 0.99) who made five starts the last month of the season and
won them all.
Cincinnati players and fans spent the past
year believing they had fairly won the 1919 World Series, only to find out just
a week ago that now the general perception of the baseball world was they
hadn't won anything, but rather, Chicago had lost it. And now, after having fought
their way through a new season and having come out on top again, they find
themselves in a no-win situation. If they beat up a severely crippled White Sox
team, their win will be cheapened, and if they were to lose to that same
crippled team they will be the ones thought of as somehow unworthy.
New York (R: 89-65, A: 86-68, +3)
New York did go to the World Series in each
of the next three seasons, but this was a season too early for setting such
expectations. However, Brooklyn stumbled out of the game and the Giants got off
to a roaring start and sat atop the NL until the last month of the season. John
McGraw saw his opportunity to get to the NL pennant right now and applied the
whip hand as best he could, but by the end of the season the Giants couldn't
maintain the pace and Cincinnati was able to slip by and grab the golden ring.
New York finished fourth in hitting (.278), second in runs scored (729), and
finished third in ERA (2.85). New York had spent most of the summer leading in
all these categories, but a cool September knocked them back.
George J.
Burns (.285, 119 runs) and Dave
Bancroft (.296) batted 1-2 and set the table for those behind them. Ross Youngs
(.362, 13 homeruns, 106 runs, 91 RBI's) and George
"High Pockets" Kelly (.301, 12 homeruns, 99 RBI's) provided the
pop behind them and were the main drivers of the New York offense. Batting in
between Youngs and Kelly was Frankie
Frisch (.273) who missed a month early in the season, came back with a red
hot bat, but then had a poor September to close things out. New York tried
several different center fielders and second baseman Larry Doyle
(.261) often struggled in his final major league season.
Jesse
Barnes (22-12, 2.22), Fred Toney
(23-14, 2.56), and Art Nehf
(20-9, 2.85) led the New York pitching staff, with Phil
Douglas (13-9, 3.49) helping out in spot starts and relief. Rube Benton
(8-14, 3.19) pitched well, but served as the hard-luck hurler in the Giants'
rotation.
Brooklyn (R: 86-66, A: 93-61, -7)
The Robins got off to a horrible start and
found themselves wandering around in seventh place early in the season. They
then went on a hot streak and climbed back up to second place and getting to
within 0.5 games of first place New York at one point, but they soon settled
down and took over third place. They then spent much of the remainder of the
season not fighting for second place, but rather, fighting off incursions from
St. Louis and Pittsburgh as they struggled to keep their hold on to the third spot.
Brooklyn finished third in hitting (.282), fourth in runs scored (621), and was
second in ERA (2.82).
The big three in the middle of the Brooklyn
lineup was Zack Wheat
(.321, 88 runs, 93 RBI's), Hi Myers
(.329, 91 runs, 103 RBI's), and Ed Konetchy
(.313, 73 RBI's), but things fell of pretty quickly after that. They lacked a
solid lead-off hitter, second base was a hole offensively and defensively, and
right field was unsettled all season. For a team that was supposed to win the
pennant, this was not an impressive bunch.
Solid pitching carried Brooklyn as far as
they could. Burleigh
Grimes (20-12, 2.27), Leon Cadore
(20-8, 2.71), and Jeff
Pfeffer (14-8, 3.36) led the starters, while Sherry
Smith (10-6, 2.34) helped out with spot starts and relief. Rube
Marquard (9-14, 3.78) had the role of hard-luck loser for this team.
St. Louis (R: 86-68, A: 75-79, +11)
St. Louis was another team that got off to a
poor start but after a month they had figured out their starting rotation and
then their hitting went meteoric, and they spent most of the second half of the
season fighting with Pittsburgh for fourth place while they both took their
turns bedeviling Brooklyn. The Cardinals ended up leading the NL in hitting
(.302) and runs scored (754) but finished sixth in ERA (4.01).
Jack
Fournier (.353, 99 runs, hit for the season's only cycle), Milt Stock
(.349, 114 runs), and Rogers
Hornsby (.413, 100 runs, 153 RBI's), the 2-3-4 hitters in the St. Louis
lineup, spent all summer hitting in the .380's. Over the last month of the
season Stock and Fournier cooled off a bit, but Hornsby went the other way to
pass the .400 mark. Jack Smith
(.391) provided pop at the top of the lineup, but unfortunately was unable to
stay healthy throughout much of the season, including missing the final weeks
of the season as well.
Jesse
Haines (24-8, 2.84) and Bill Doak
(22-12, 2.06) were the mainstays of the St. Louis rotation, with Bill
Sherdel (13-6, 3.39) helping out with spot starts and reliever duties.
Every replay has a pitcher (or two) that will get just lit up in every
game they appear in, regardless of team or grade, and Ferdie
Schupp (10-22, 5.63) played that role this season.
Pittsburgh (R: 82-72, A: 79-65, +3)
Similar to St. Louis, Pittsburgh was a team
that had two good pitchers and a decent lineup but was seemingly destined for
the lower half of the NL Standings. The Pirates fought for every game and spent
most of the season tangling with St. Louis for fourth place. The Pirates led
the NL with a 2.64 ERA but finished sixth with a team batting average of .267,
tied with Chicago, while the speedy Pittsburghers led the NL with 176 stolen
bases,
George
"Possum" Whitted (.274, 82 RBI's) and Billy
Southworth (.325, 76 runs, 79 RBI's) were the offensive leaders, with Carson
Bigbee (.284, 82 runs) leading off most of the season. Hall-of-Famer Max Carey
(.262, 47 steals) missed much of the second half of the season, although Fred
Nicholson (.364) was able to cover all three outfield positions as needed.
The Pirates often had trouble scoring runs - they lacked a real thumper in the
middle of their lineup (like say, a Rogers
Hornsby for St. Louis), but this was the core of a Pittsburgh team that
would make World Series appearances by the middle of the decade. They added Pie Traynor
(as a shortstop) this season and the Waner's (Paul
and Lloyd)
and others were yet to come.
Babe Adams
(17-13, 1.39) and Wilbur
Cooper (25-9, 1.51) had great seasons, but were often shackled by a lack of
run support. Elmer
Ponder (16-7, 1.95) moved into the regular rotation around mid-season to
help shore up the backend of the rotation. Adams threw two no-hitters in May,
one a perfect game.
Chicago (R: 76-78, A: 75-79, +1)
Chicago had been in the 1918 World Series,
but by this year they spent most of the season battling with a .500 record,
occasionally rising above it, then falling well below it, but then they rallied
back late in the season to finish just short. The Cubs finished fifth in
hitting (.267), fifth in runs scored (615), and fifth in Team ERA (3.32). They
were good enough to give teams fits but just not consistent enough to
make something of it.
Chicago had trouble settling on a regular
outfield and a regular a regular first baseman, while the rest of the infield
wasn't much to write home about either. Dave
Robertson (3.14, 70 RBI's) provided some pop from the outfield while Max Flack
(.312, 81 runs) led from the top of the lineup. Charlie
Hollocher (appendicitis) missed the entire second half of the season but bounced
back to have a fine 1921 season.
Pete
Alexander (23-17, 1.78) and Hippo
Vaughn (21-16, 2.63) led the Cubs pitchers, and Lefty Tyler
(12-11, 3.17) chipped in as well, but things got bleak after that. Alexander
hit six homeruns during the season, two of which came as walk-off homeruns
while in extra-innings.
Boston (R: 54-98, A: 62-90, -8)
Boston finished seventh in the NL in hitting
(.256), eight in runs scored (516), seventh in Team ERA (4.14), and seventh in
fielding, so a seventh-place finish in the NL seemed appropriate. The Braves
spent much of the season shuffling players in and out of the lineup, with only
three players finishing the season with more than 500 at-bats. Obviously, the
shuffling didn't help much, and Boston would sit in the lower half of the NL for
a long time to come.
Walter
Holke (.345, 65 runs, 69 RBI's) and Tony
Boeckel (.288, 63 runs, 64 RBI's) anchored the corners of the Boston
infield as well as the middle of the batting order for the Braves. Ray Powell
(.238, 58 runs) led the team with 612 at-bats and held down centerfield, while
the corner spots were covered by a rotating group of similarly unproductive
players. Rabbit
Maranville (2.56) - only 28-years-old, but seemingly having been around a
lot longer than that - played strong at shortstop
Joe
Oeschger (11-16, 3.51) and Dana
Fillingim (14-19, 3.65) led the pitching staff, with Jack Scott
(6-24, 4.80) and Hugh
McQuillan (8-17, 5.15) bringing up the rear. Braves hurlers often faced the
double whammy of giving up too many runs but also in being further shackled by
a lack of run support.
Philadelphia (R: 48-105, A: 62-91, -14)
The Phillies were not a good team in 1920,
and they still managed to lose fourteen more games than their real-life
counterparts. Last in hitting (.256), last in pitching (4.58), and last in
fielding with 156 errors and 160 unearned runs allowed. Similar to Boston,
Philadelphia was turning into a perennial cellar-dweller in the NL.
Cy Williams
(.317, 87 runs, 78 RBI's) led the NL in homeruns (17) and outfield mate Irish
Meusel (.310, 70 runs, 73 RBI's) added 13 homeruns, but things tailed off
after that. Art
Fletcher (.315), acquired from New York (NL) earlier in the season in a
trade for Dave
Bancroft, made his swan song. Casey
Stengel (.286) didn't play badly but was benched for most of the last
quarter of the season to make way for Bevo
Lebourveau (.290) to get some playing time.
As you might expect, the Philadelphia
pitchers really suffered. Eppa Rixey
(10-22, 4.55), Lee Meadows
(8-21, 3.91), and George
Smith (9-16, 4.35) were the primary starters, with Red Causey
(7-20, 4.70) helping out in spot starts, relief, and the occasional
pinch-runner duty.
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