Anniversaries in Baseball- 1925: The Year a Decade Makes Fresh fom Reddit

Welcome all to AiB: 1925! Let us begin.

Heads of State Egypt- Faud I

Liberia- Charles D. B. King

China- Generalissimo Sun Yat-sen

Japan- Emperor Taisho

Germany- Sev Eral men

United Kingdom- George V

Russia- Party Leader Broseph Stalin

United States- Cool, Silent Cal

Canada- PM William Lyon Mackenzie King

Cuba- Gerardo Machado

QUICK YEAR IN REVIEW

Only three days into the New Year, a sad man by the name of Benito Mussolini took power in Italy. What a great sign. The new spring saw the release of The Great Gatsby, only a week before opening day. The month of May became a wash with the ongoing Scopes Trial, and the trial leaked into the rest of the hot and sticky Tennessee summer. As the year turned old, My Rushmore and the Grand Ole Oprey were born. Also, listen to this video of Calvin Coolidge’s inaugural Address

BIRTHDAYS-

Jan 26- Paul Newman

May 12- Yogi Berra

May 19- Pol “Fuck me” Pot and El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcom X) Jun 8- Barbra Bush

Jun 29- Giorgio Napolitano

Sep 16- BB King

Sep 18- Harvey Haddix

Oct 13- Lenny Bruce and Margret Thatcher

Oct 23- Johnny Carson

Nov 18- Gene Mauch

Nov 20- Robert Kennedy

Nov 29- Minnie Minoso

Dec 13- Dick Van Dyke

DEATHS-

Mar 4- Monte Ward- The New York Times blared in their daily issue JOHN M. WARD DIES SUDDENLY IN SOUTH. The subhead mentioned his career with the Giants and his brilliant maneuver to organize the Players’ League. this is the full obituary. His death, one day after he turned 65, came as a shock to everyone. Mr. McGraw stated- “I cannot fully express my regret,”

Apr 9- Babe Ruth- The London Evening News reported upon the death of Mr. Ruth- “The Great Pitcher has struck out Babe Ruth. The death of the beloved and incomparable Bambino is a national calamity for it wipes out the highest paid athlete in the world and easily the most popular figure in the history of American sport, other than Jack Dempsey”. “The Title of home run king will probably be his for many years. He was a big-hearted boy. He earned good money and gave it liberally. He was a unique champion such as the world has never seen before and probably never will see again. He was the man who earned more money than the presidents of many big corporations simply because he had the strength and ability to drive a baseball farther than any man before him.”

Oct 7- Christy Mathewson- Let’s face it. We all cried or wanted to cry in Ken Burn’s baseball after this line was uttered- "Now Jane, I want you to go outside and have yourself a good cry. Don't make it a long one; this can't be helped."

OPEINING DAY-

The Statesman reported this One month after opening day, on May 10-

It is a wonderful thing, this game of baseball. They have played their opening games in two major leagues and there never was such a reclaim of any game to the favor of the great public that likes this sort of thing, writes Ed Smith in the Chicago American. There were capacity crowds everywhere and it is claimed with good basis that nearly a quarter of a million persons saw the different contests... It must be a great game. IT is because it presents a billion combinations of play and possibilities. No two games are alike. The most astonishing things are happening at every angle of a baseball battle. Take Alexander’s Home run of the first ball pitched to him. What could be greater than to see the mighty one sock that ball over the fence and then pitch his team to a glorious victory?

The Reading Eagle reported this article on April 15-

King baseball was escorted back to the throne as the monarch of American sportdom yesterday in an inaugural which called forth more than 233,000 to witness a typical opening day’s conglomeration of good and bad performances. Exceptional pitching feats were posted in a few games, terrific hitting marked others, while erratic fielding and ineffective pitching contributed to make others as weird as only opening games can be.

The scores-

AL

New York Yankees 5 Washington Senators 1

Philadelphia Athletics 9 Boston Red Sox 8

St. Louis Browns 14 Cleveland Indians 21

Detroit Tigers 4 Chicago White Sox 3

NL

Pittsburgh Pirates 2 Chicago Cubs 8

New York Giants 4 Boston Braves 5

Cincinnati Reds 4 St. Louis Cardinals 0

Philadelphia Phillies 1 Brooklyn Robins 3

THE REGULAR SEASON-

Opening day was not a good day to be a pitcher, unless you are Grover Cleveland Alexander. Lefty Grove had his major league debut, but only lasted 3 innings. He was tagged with 5 four earned runs. One month later, his new teammate Jimmie Foxx played his first game. Pirates SS Glenn Wright turned an unassisted triple play in the twilight of a loss to the Cards and Lou Gehrig starts his consecutive games streak. This is ironic because only one month before Gehrig started, Everett Scott ended his streak. Lou Gehrig will break Scott’s streak. Tris Speaker got his 3,000 on May 17 and Eddie Collins collected his on June 6. The end of the year saw such pitching oddities as Dazzy Vance pitching a no hitter and Ty Cobb collecting a save against the Browns.

POSTSEASON-

With Babe Ruth all in a knot, the Washington Senators kept the AL crown for a their second consecutive title, and went on to face the red hot Pirates. In the previous summer, as we saw in last year’s edition 1924- Walter Johnson screwed up his first two starts and then came back for a wonderful seventh game. This series he slaughtered the Pirates lineup without mercy for his first two starts, then let it all slip away in game 7. Despite the Pirates performance, the true winner of this game was the weather. The series was postponed because of it, a glebben (that is Ferengi for rainstorm) occurred simultaneously with Game 7. This is the World Series with the famous Sam Rice diving catch, which took place in Game 3. Game 7 saw the Pirates overtake Walter Johnson for the crown. James Harrison wrote these poetic lines in the New York Times on the day after-

In a grave of mud was buried Walter Johnson's ambition to join the select panel of pitchers who have won three victories in one World Series. With mud shackling his ankles and water running down his neck, the grand old man of baseball succumbed to weariness, a sore leg, wretched support and the most miserable weather conditions that ever confronted a pitcher." Here is some footage from the series

Meanwhile in the Negro Leagues, the Hilldale Club defeated the Monarchs 5-1. Both teams dominated their respective leagues.

STANDINGS-

American League	W	L
Washington Senators	96	55
Philadelphia Athletics	88	64
St. Louis Browns	82	71
Detroit Tigers	81	73
Chicago White Sox	79	75
Cleveland Indians	70	84
New York Yankees	69	85
Boston Red Sox	47	105

National League	W	L
Pittsburg Pirates	95	58
New York Giants	86	66
Cincinnati Reds	80	73
St. Louis Cardinals	77	76
Boston Braves	70	83
Brooklyn Robbins	65	85
Philadelphia Phillies	68	85
Chicago Cubs	68	86

Negro National League	W	L
Kansas City Monarchs	62	20
St. Louis Stars	69	26
Chicago American Giants	54	40
Detroit Stars	53	40
Cuban Stars	22	25
Memphis Blue Sox	30	48
Birmingham Black Barons	24	49
Indanipolis ABC’s	17	57

Having two Clubs named “Stars” must have been confusing. Fun thing to remember- the ERA leader this season in the NL was from Havana, where the Negro League had a franchise.

Eastern Colored League	W	L
Hilldale	45	13
Harrisburg Giants	37	18
Baltimore Black Sox	31	19
Atlantic City Bacharach Giants	26	26
Brooklyn Royal Giants	13	20
Wilmington Potomacs	13	22
Cuban Stars	15	26
NYC Lincoln Giants	7	39

STATISTICS-

League	Batting Average	OPS Leader	wRC+
AL	Harry Heilmann .393	Ty Cobb 1.066	Tris Speaker 167
NL	Rogers Hornsby.403	Rogers Hornsby1.245	Rogers Hornsby208

League	ERA Leaders	K/9	Games
AL	[Stan Colveski2.84	Lefty Grove5.30	Firpo Marberry55
NL	Adolfo Domingo de Guzman Luque 2.63	[Dazzy Vance 7.49	Johnny Morrison 44

We are no longer in the Deadball Era. The ERA’s have gone up 1.00 at least in both Leagues. I would also like to state I would love to add Negro League stats here, but they are not only unreliable but also hard to find. Especially this early in the league’s history.

FINAL DISCUSSION- What should Walter Johnson’s postseason legacy be? What do you think Babe Ruth’s death was like for 1925? What if he had actually died? How would we remember him?

Submitted December 20, 2014 at 09:23PM by frakking-anustart http://ift.tt/1AHJsOb