In Babe Ruth’s 1916 season as a pitcher, his record was 23 Wins and 170 Strikeouts, with a 1.75 ERA, 9 Shutouts and 23 Complete Games – a very impressive mark for even the best pitchers in baseball. To give some perspective, Roger Clemens, who is considered to be one of the best pitchers today and throughout baseball history, has earned himself a record 7 Cy Young Awards. In what has been considered the best season of his career to date, Clemens had the following record: 24 Wins, 238 Strikeouts, a 2.48 ERA, 1 Shutout and 10 Complete Games. Below is his 1918 club.
the statsOur second decade, still in the Deadball Era. We will add a dozen former Negro League stars.
highlights the series
“Charlie was a tremendous left-handed hitter who could also bunt, steal a hundred bases a year, and cover center field as well as anyone before him or since…he was like Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and Tris Speaker rolled into one.” – Buck O’Neil. The 1912 Hilldale roster included Spotswood “Spot” Poles, Otto Briggs, and Bill Pettus, and the team finished the season with a 23-15-1 record. Poles earned $448 for the season, while Briggs was paid $273. They were the first players to be given a salary. Hilldale played their home games at Darby Field, or Hilldale Park, located at 10th and Summit streets in Darby, a Philadelphia suburb. In 1920, Bolden secured a second park located in Camden, New Jersey, for Sunday games, and signed star player Judy Johnson, who remained with the team for a decade.
Stars of the decade include: Ty Cobb, Gavvy Cravath, Louis Santop, Cristobal Torriente, Allen McNair, "Smokey" Joe Williams, Eddie Cicotte, and Walter Johnson.
1910 - Giants come back down 3-1 to defeat the Athletics in World Series. Christy Mathewson tops 2,000 career strikeouts. Honus tops 1,000 runs scored.
1911 - Ty Cobb bats an amazing .425 and named season MVP. Carlos Royer retires after 11 seasons . Carlos won 117 games and lost 82 with a 2.82 era.
1912 - Washington scores 6 runs in bottom of the ninth defeating Philadelphia in a one game playoff for American League Pennant. Dick Redding and Joe Williams both win 19 games. After their victory they are swept by the Giants in the World Series!
1913- For the first time in 13 seasons the 20 home run mark was surpassed by Gavvy Cravath who belted 21.
1914 - Allen "Hurley" McNair ties Eddie Collins for batting title. Bill Pettus collects the most RBI (100). "Smokey" Joe Williams wins 21 games (tied for 4th). Jose Mendez win 20 games and is 2nd in strikeouts. Down 3-1 the Chicago White Sox win 3 straight in World Series. Grant "Home Run" Johnson retires at the end of the season.
1915 - Allen "Hurley" McNair has another great season tying Cravath for the home run title, batting .331 tied for third with Stuffy McInnis and was 3rd in RBI. Louis Santop finished 10th in batting, Ben Taylor 13th. Oscar Charleston was tied for 4th in homers. "Bullet" Rogan was tops in strikeouts and 9th in era.
1916-Cristobal Torriente was tops in stolen bases with three more than Ty Cobb. Allen "Hurley" McNair tops in career slugging and in top 5 career batting. John Henry Lloyd is 3rd on all time slugging list. Andrew Foster eclipses 2,000 strikeouts (4th). Juan Padron posts 5th lowest era 1.70. Pitcher Babe Ruth in this 3rd season wins 20 games.
1917 - "Smokey" Joe Williams leads the league in wins at 23 and is third in strikeouts. Andrew "Rube" Foster retires after 16 seasons, he collected 140 wins with a 2.80 era in 428 games pitched.
1918 - Oscar Charleston leads league in homers at 12, one ahead of Cravath (who passes 100 career homers) and 4 more than Babe Ruth (Babe pitched 28 games and went 12-8 with a 6th best era). Bill Pettus in top ten of batting. "Bullet" Rogan leads league in strikeouts. Cincinnati defeats Chicago in World Series in bottom of 13 in game seven on Morrie Rath's single.
1919- New York Yankees sweep Reds in series. Oscar Charleston ties Gavvy Cravath for home runs lead two ahead of Ruth. Spotswood Poles 4th, in batting, Cobb tops. "Bullet" Rogan (17-10) , Jose Mendez (20-8) both in top 10 ERA leaders.
Highlight team is World Series Winner, (#-#) win-loss
* Batting triple crown winner, tops in average, home runs and RBI. Or a pitching triple crown winner, tops in wins, era and strikeouts.
Bold Red indicates Negro League player.
