Season 2 of my APBA Baseball Great Teams of the Past league ended much like the first season. The champion finished 21-11 and won the pennant by two games. This time, in a league featuring squads between 1919 and 1930, the 1920 Cleveland Indians came out on top.
Impressively, six of the nine teams finished with winning records, and a seventh was at .500. Spots one through seven were separated by just five games. Five teams entered the final week still in contention, but the Indians’ split with the 1922 New York Giants turned out to be enough to keep them in first place. The bottom two teams were quite bad.
35 of the 144 games were aired on my YouTube channel.
| FINAL | W | L | PCT | GB | Run Diff. | AVG | ERA | FLD | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 Cleveland Indians | 21 | 11 | .656 | — | +35 | .278 | 3.30 | .979 | Stats |
| 1930 St. Louis Cardinals | 19 | 13 | .594 | 2.0 | +27 | .278 | 3.51 | .965 | Stats |
| 1927 New York Yankees | 18 | 14 | .563 | 3.0 | +9 | .262 | 3.88 | .981 | Stats |
| 1927 Pittsburgh Pirates | 18 | 14 | .563 | 3.0 | -4 | .260 | 3.23 | .976 | Stats |
| 1929 Chicago Cubs | 18 | 14 | .563 | 3.0 | +8 | .244 | 3.78 | .983 | Stats |
| 1925 Washington Senators | 17 | 15 | .531 | 4.0 | +13 | .224 | 2.99 | .980 | Stats |
| 1922 New York Giants | 16 | 16 | .500 | 5.0 | -10 | .245 | 3.59 | .983 | Stats |
| 1922 St. Louis Browns | 9 | 23 | .281 | 12.0 | -34 | .230 | 4.07 | .978 | Stats |
| 1919 Cincinnati Reds | 8 | 24 | .250 | 13.0 | -44 | .210 | 3.58 | .979 | Stats |
| BATTING | AVG | R | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SLG | OBP | SB | BB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 Cleveland Indians | .278 | 150 | 66 | 14 | 8 | 139 | .383 | .347 | 19 | 123 |
| 1930 St. Louis Cardinals | .278 | 163 | 87 | 15 | 31 | 154 | .469 | .335 | 9 | 93 |
| 1927 New York Yankees | .262 | 147 | 66 | 19 | 33 | 142 | .450 | .334 | 14 | 117 |
| 1927 Pittsburgh Pirates | .260 | 109 | 52 | 14 | 12 | 105 | .366 | .308 | 4 | 76 |
| 1929 Chicago Cubs | .244 | 134 | 80 | 11 | 25 | 132 | .407 | .315 | 14 | 109 |
| 1925 Washington Senators | .224 | 118 | 44 | 6 | 10 | 115 | .305 | .305 | 23 | 113 |
| 1922 New York Giants | .245 | 119 | 36 | 16 | 9 | 116 | .332 | .303 | 14 | 94 |
| 1922 St. Louis Browns | .230 | 106 | 51 | 17 | 17 | 101 | .355 | .279 | 14 | 72 |
| 1919 Cincinnati Reds | .210 | 82 | 33 | 10 | 0 | 79 | .261 | .274 | 22 | 93 |
| PITCHING | ERA | CG | ShO | H | BB | K | BAA | WHIP | K/BB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1920 Cleveland Indians | 3.30 | 14 | 2 | 266 | 78 | 144 | .241 | 1.169 | 1.85 |
| 1930 St. Louis Cardinals | 3.51 | 10 | 0 | 291 | 99 | 206 | .261 | 1.370 | 2.08 |
| 1927 New York Yankees | 3.88 | 11 | 1 | 289 | 83 | 92 | .262 | 1.284 | 1.11 |
| 1927 Pittsburgh Pirates | 3.23 | 13 | 2 | 242 | 93 | 123 | .226 | 1.169 | 1.32 |
| 1929 Chicago Cubs | 3.78 | 14 | 4 | 277 | 99 | 169 | .255 | 1.304 | 1.71 |
| 1925 Washington Senators | 2.99 | 14 | 3 | 248 | 121 | 128 | .229 | 1.249 | 1.06 |
| 1922 New York Giants | 3.59 | 12 | 2 | 261 | 89 | 108 | .239 | 1.212 | 1.21 |
| 1922 St. Louis Browns | 4.07 | 10 | 2 | 293 | 119 | 139 | .271 | 1.434 | 1.17 |
| 1919 Cincinnati Reds | 3.58 | 13 | 1 | 259 | 109 | 126 | .248 | 1.319 | 1.16 |
TEAM NOTES
1920 Cleveland Indians: The Indians got off to an okay start (7-4), had a great middle (an eight-game winning streak), then middled their way to the finish line (6-7 in the last 13), but it was enough to win the title. They finished second in batting average and third in ERA, the only team to rank in the top three in both categories. The Indians were the only team to have three players in the top 10 in batting average with Elmer Smith (.355, #3), Tris Speaker (.344, #6) and Steve O’Neill (.336, #8).
1930 St. Louis Cardinals: The Cardinals’ famed offense led the league in runs (5.1 per game), average (.278) and slugging percentage (.469) but the pitching staff was a little bit too average to get St. Louis to the title. The Cardinals were 9-9 after 18 games before finishing strong. George Watkins well outplayed some of his real-life numbers and led the league in RBI (33) while tying for the lead in home runs (11). Amazingly, Burleigh Grimes was the league’s top pitcher despite a BY rating, as he was the only starter to go undefeated and finished with a league-best seven wins in eight starts.
1927 New York Yankees: One of the most famous teams in baseball history underachieved. They could have won it all but were swept by the Senators in the final week of the season. After starting 15-5, the Yankees tailed off and went 3-9 down the stretch. Bob Meusel (.360, 28 RBI) was terrific, though his numbers dropped in the second half of the season. Though Babe Ruth tied for the league lead in homers at 11, he and Lou Gehrig often failed to come through when it counted. They hit .274 and .271, respectively. Their pitching staff also finished eighth in ERA.
1927 Pittsburgh Pirates: The Pirates had a bad start (2-7), a great middle (9-1) and an average ending (7-6). Paul Waner won the batting title with a .377 average thanks to going 17-for-31 (.548) in the final seven games. His brother Lloyd (.345) gave the Pirates two of the league’s top five hitters, and Joe Harris batted .301. But the rest of the lineup hit .242 or worse, and Pittsburgh finished in the bottom three in runs scored. But the pitching staff had a league-second-best 3.23 ERA. Somehow they finished four games over .500 despite a negative run differential for the season.
1929 Chicago Cubs: The Cubs were another team that played strong baseball in the middle of the season, winning nine of 10 at one point to be in contention, but then ended up going 3-7 in the final 10. Somehow the Cubs finished four games above .500 despite having a team batting average in the bottom half of the league and a team ERA in the bottom third.
1925 Washington Senators: The Senators ended the season on a seven-game winning streak, including a sweep of the Yankees, which allowed them to finish above .500. They had the best team ERA in the league by far at 2.99, led by Stan Coveleski’s league-best 1.97 and Walter Johnson’s fifth-ranked 2.60. They also finished 1-2 in batting average against. But, those two aces had a combined 7-6 record. The Senators couldn’t score runs, finishing with the second-worst batting average (.224). Three starters finished with batting averages in the .100s.
1922 New York Giants: The 1912 New York Giants won season 1, and the 1922 Giants looked to follow in their footsteps after winning six of the first eight games. It was mostly downhill from there, though New York did finish strong by winning seven of the last nine. Five of their eight position players finished with batting averages between .248 and .220.
1922 St. Louis Browns: The Browns lost 13 straight games at one point, which included sweeps by the Cardinals and Cubs. The hitting wasn’t good and the pitching was the worst in the league with a 4.07 ERA. George Sisler had one of the greatest offensive seasons in baseball history in 1922, batting .420, but could manage just a team-best .307 average here.
1919 Cincinnati Reds: The Reds’ pitching wasn’t bad as they had a respectable 3.58 ERA. But the bats were non-existent. They had league worsts of 2.6 runs per game and a .210 batting average. Six of the eight starting position players hit .215 or worse, with four in the .100s. Morrie Rath batted just .108! A remnant of the deadball era, the Reds didn’t hit a single home run. Cincinnati had losing streaks of seven, five, three and three and only once won consecutive games all season (against the Browns). Ray Fisher unfortunately finished 0-7 in eight starts but still managed a quite good 3.36 ERA.
BATTING LEADERS
| AVERAGE .377 Paul Waner, 1929 Pirates .360 Bob Meusel, 1927 Yankees .355 Elmer Smith, 1920 Indians .347 Frankie Frisch, 1930 Cardinals .345 Lloyd Waner, 1927 Pirates .344 Tris Speaker, 1920 Indians .338 Earle Combs, 1927 Yankees .336 Steve O’Neill, 1920 Indians .336 George Watkins, 1930 Cardinals .331 George Kelly, 1922 Giants .331 Sam Rice, 1925 Senators RUNS 29 Chick Hafey, 1930 Cardinals 28 Lou Gehrig, 1927 Yankees 23 Babe Ruth, 1927 Yankees 22 Tris Speaker, 1920 Indians 22 Hack Wilson, 1929 Cubs 22 Doc Johnston, 1920 Indians 21 Bob Meusel, 1927 Yankees 21 Elmer Smith, 1920 Indians 21 Earle Combs, 1927 Yankees 21 George Sisler, 1922 Browns 21 Goose Goslin, 1925 Senators HITS 49 Elmer Smith, 1920 Indians 49 Paul Waner, 1927 Pirates 48 Earle Combs, 1927 Yankees 48 Lloyd Waner, 1927 Pirates 45 Tris Speaker, 1920 Indians 45 Bob Meusel, 1927 Yankees 44 Sam Rice, 1925 Senators 43 Frankie Frisch, 1930 Cardinals 42 George Watkins, 1930 Cardinals 41 George Kelly, 1922 Giants 41 Taylor Douthit, 1930 Cardinals 41 Jack Tobin, 1922 Browns DOUBLES 16 Tris Speaker, 1920 Indians 16 Bob Meusel, 1927 Yankees 16 Frankie Frisch, 1930 Cardinals 15 Rogers Hornsby, 1929 Cubs 15 Norm McMillan, 1929 Cubs 15 Lou Gehrig, 1927 Yankees 14 George Sisler, 1922 Browns 13 Sparky Adams, 1930 Cardinals 12 Steve O’Neill, 1920 Indians 12 Chick Hafey, 1930 Cardinals 12 Charlie Grimm, 1929 Cubs TRIPLES 4 Lou Gehrig, 1927 Yankees 4 Earle Combs, 1927 Yankees 4 Edd Roush, 1919 Reds 3 many HOME RUNS 11 Babe Ruth, 1927 Yankees 11 George Watkins, 1930 Cardinals 9 Chick Hafey, 1930 Cardinals 8 Hack Wilson, 1929 Cubs 7 Bob Meusel, 1927 Yankees 7 Ken Williams, 1922 Browns 6 Rogers Hornsby, 1929 Cubs 5 Riggs Stephenson, 1929 Cubs 5 Goose Goslin, 1925 Senators 4 many | RBI 33 George Watkins, 1930 Cardinals 28 Chick Hafey, 1930 Cardinals 28 Bob Meusel, 1927 Yankees 27 Rogers Hornsby, 1929 Cubs 25 Hack Wilson, 1929 Cubs 25 Tris Speaker, 1920 Indians 24 Babe Ruth, 1927 Yankees 24 Steve O’Neill, 1920 Indians 23 Riggs Stephenson, 1929 Cubs 23 Paul Waner, 1927 Pirates TOTAL BASES 88 Bob Meusel, 1927 Yankees 84 Chick Hafey, 1930 Cardinals 83 George Watkins, 1930 Cardinals 75 Rogers Hornsby, 1929 Cubs 74 Hack Wilson, 1929 Cubs 73 Paul Waner, 1927 Pirates 70 Babe Ruth, 1927 Yankees 70 Elmer Smith, 1920 Indians 69 Lou Gehrig, 1927 Yankees 67 Taylor Douthit, 1930 Cardinals 67 Earle Combs, 1927 Yankees SLUGGING PCT .704 Bob Meusel, 1927 Yankees .700 Chick Hafey, 1930 Cardinals .664 George Watkins, 1930 Cardinals .654 Babe Ruth, 1927 Yankees .592 Hack Wilson, 1929 Cubs .577 Rogers Hornsby, 1929 Cubs .562 Paul Waner, 1927 Pirates .556 Lou Gehrig, 1927 Yankees .516 Frankie Frisch, 1930 Cardinals .507 Elmer Smith, 1920 Indians ON-BASE PCT .444 Babe Ruth. 1927 Yankees .420 Tris Speaker, 1920 Indians .418 Paul Waner, 1927 Pirates .407 Bob Meusel, 1927 Yankees .403 Joe Harris, 1927 Pirates .400 Frankie Frisch, 1930 Cardinals .399 Steve O’Neill, 1920 Indians .394 Pat Collins, 1927 Yankees .393 Heinie Groh, 1919 Reds .388 Kiki Cuyler, 1929 Cubs STOLEN BASES 9 Kiki Cuyler, 1929 Cubs 8 Sam Rice, 1925 Senators 8 Tony Lazzeri, 1927 Pirates 7 George Sisler, 1922 Browns 6 Goose Goslin, 1925 Senators 6 Frankie Frisch, 1922 Giants 6 Greasy Neale, 1919 Reds 5 Bob Meusel, 1927 Yankees 5 Doc Johnston, 1920 Indians |
PITCHING LEADERS
| WINS 7 Burleigh Grimes, 1930 Cardinals 6 Waite Hoyt, 1927 Yankees 6 Syl Johnson, 1930 Cardinals 5 Lee Meadows, 1927 Pirates 5 Pat Malone, 1929 Cubs 5 Ray Kremer, 1927 Pirates 5 Jesse Haines, 1930 Cardinals 5 Jim Bagby, 1920 Indians 5 Guy Morton, 1920 Indians 4 many ERA 1.97 Stan Coveleski, 1925 Senators 2.10 Waite Hoyt, 1927 Yankees 2.55 Burleigh Grimes, 1930 Cardinals 2.58 Stan Coveleski, 1920 Indians 2.60 Walter Johnson, 1925 Senators 2.73 Lee Meadows, 1927 Pirates 2.77 Pat Malone, 1929 Cubs 2.96 Ray Kremer, 1927 Pirates 3.02 Jesse Haines, 1930 Cardinals 3.10 Rosy Ryan, 1922 Giants COMPLETE GAMES 6 Waite Hoyt, 1927 Yankees 5 Walter Johnson, 1925 Senators 5 Pat Malone, 1929 Cubs 5 Ray Kremer, 1927 Pirates 5 Charlie Root, 1929 Cubs 4 many SHUTOUTS 2 Guy Bush, 1929 Cubs 1 many SAVES 7 Flint Rehm, 1930 Cardinals 7 Johnny Miljus, 1927 Pirates 6 Duster Mails, 1920 Indians 3 Firpo Marberry, 1925 Senators 3 Wilcy Moore, 1927 Yankees INNINGS PITCHED 70.7 Charlie Root, 1929 Cubs 69.7 Stan Coveleski, 1920 Indians 69.3 Walter Johnson, 1925 Senators 69.3 Jim Bagby, 1920 Indians 68.7 Stan Coveleski, 1925 Senators 68.7 Waite Hoyt, 1927 Yankees 67.0 Ray Kremer, 1927 Pirates 67.0 Burleigh Grimes, 1930 Cardinals 66.0 Urban Shocker, 1922 Browns 66.0 Lee Meadows, 1927 Pirates | STRIKEOUTS 69 Bill Hallahan, 1930 Cardinals 62 Pat Malone, 1929 Cubs 52 Syl Johnson, 1930 Cardinals 47 Hod Eller, 1919 Reds 46 Walter Johnson, 1925 Senators 44 Charlie Root, 1929 Cubs 44 Guy Morton, 1920 Indians 42 Urban Shocker, 1922 Browns 39 Stan Coveleski, 1920 Indians 38 Burleigh Grimes, 1930 Cardinals BATTING AVERAGE AGAINST .192 Stan Coveleski, 1925 Senators .202 Walter Johnson, 1925 Senators .206 Waite Hoyt, 1927 Yankees .210 Jesse Barnes, 1922 Giants .212 Jim Bagby, 1920 Indians .213 Ray Kremer, 1927 Pirates .215 Dutch Reuther, 1919 Reds .220 Lee Meadows, 1927 Pirates .225 Pat Malone, 1929 Cubs .226 Charlie Root, 1929 Cubs WHIP 0.932 Stan Coveleski, 1925 Senators 0.990 Waite Hoyt, 1927 Yankees 1.045 Ray Kremer, 1927 Pirates 1.056 Phil Douglas, 1922 Giants 1.091 Lee Meadows, 1927 Pirates 1.091 Stan Coveleski, 1920 Indians 1.094 Jesse Barnes, 1922 Giants 1.096 Jim Bagby, 1920 Indians 1.119 Pat Malone, 1929 Cubs 1.168 Walter Johnson, 1925 Senators K/BB 3.65 Pat Malone, 1929 Cubs 2.88 Bill Hallahan, 1930 Cardinals 2.60 Syl Johnson, 1930 Cardinals 2.58 Ray Caldwell, 1920 Indians 2.44 Guy Morton, 1920 Indians 2.29 Stan Coveleski, 1920 Indians 2.21 Urban Shocker, 1922 Browns 2.04 Hod Eller, 1919 Reds 2.00 Carmen Hill, 1927 Pirates 1.90 Burleigh Grimes, 1930 Cardinals |
ROGER SPORTS & GAMES 