Where are they now: The Black Sox in Alt-1921

 

The baseball world in Alt-1921 did not suffer the Black Sox scandal, and principals and principles remain unshaken. The infamous subjects of Eight Men Out received their bans near the end of the 1920 season, so as Spring Training here in 1921 gets underway I thought I'd see what they're up to in this universe...

• Chick Gandil never made his way off of the Senators, but after a decent 1914-1915 his ability slowly decreased for them, with his playing time following suit. He signed a minor league contract with Newark to start the 1920 season and hit over .400 for their AAA Vancouver club, but had very limited time with the big club. He's been invited to Spring Training for the Peppers, but really isn't anywhere on their depth charts.

• Eddie Cicotte was the biggest name dealt at the 1920 trade deadline, going from the White Sox to the Red Sox. He went 15-2 after the trade to Boston with an ERA under 2, and was the unanimous choice for the 1920 AL Cy Young award. He is arguably the ace of the Red Sox' staff (Dutch Leonard having the only other claim) and seems like he might have a few years left before a comfortable retirement and a reasonable shot at the Hall of Fame.
• Happy Felsch has been the brightest star on the White Sox since their back-to-back pennant winners. He was Rookie of the Year in 1915 and an All-Star in 1919 and is in his prime. He remains on the White Sox and will likely be their leader in WAR.

• Shoeless Joe Jackson never left Cleveland and at age 31 has already punched his ticket to the Hall of Fame. He led the AL in batting in 1918 and in slugging and OPS in 1917-1918 (with Babe Ruth probably making those the last years he does it). He was the AL MVP in 1916 and runner up in 1917, and was All-Star Game MVP in 1919. He is the career leader in batting average at .366 (one point ahead of Ty Cobb) and is also the career leader in slugging and OPS, though Babe Ruth is likely to debut atop those lists when he reached 3000 PA late in 1921.  Jackson is clearly one of the all-time greats and has a non-zero chance to reach 4000 hits. 
• Fred McMullin broke in with the Buffalo Blues and served as their regular third baseman in 1917. After splitting 1919 between Buffalo and their AAA club in Los Angeles and playing sparingly in Charlotte last year, McMullin finds himself a free agent at the moment.

• Swede Risberg had a decent 1917 as a utility infielder for the Cubs, and has spent the last 3 seasons in the Reds organization but mostly down in AAA Columbus rather than at the MLB level. He's currently second on the Reds' depth chart at first base and the main choice as a defensive replacement there.
• Buck Weaver spent 9 years in the majors, all with the Chicago White Sox and all as a regular. He had a great 1916 as the regular shortstop and earned an All-Star berth for it. He moved to third base for 1917-1918 before going back to shortstop in 1919 and finally first base in 1920. After leading the majors in at-bats and plate appearances in 1920 while hitting a creditable .296, Weaver retired at age 30 in a bit of a surprise move to become a missionary.

• Lefty Williams has been on the Brooklyn Robins since they signed him as a free agent in 1915. While he's led the NL in losses in 1919 and 1920, he also led the NL in strikeouts in 1920 with 117 and was 3rd in wins in 1917. He finished 5th in the NL Cy Young race in 1920 and 8th in 1919. Most strikingly, he's thrown 8 2-hitters, one 1-hitter, and one perfect game. Williams is only a year or so into his prime, and might find himself seen as one of the dominant pitchers of this era.
• Joe Gedeon is on the Browns, doing what he was doing in real life though he took a slightly different path to get here. He's the Browns' top second baseman. 

And as bonus WATN:

• Hal Chase was on the Buffalo Blues in real life, and when the Federal League went belly up he went first to Cincinnati and then the Giants before his career ended in 1919 and nobody was willing to take the infamous game fixer in the wake of the Black Sox scandal. In this universe the Buffalo franchise lived on and he remained the regular first baseman through 1919, with age catching up to him in 1920. He was the league leader in doubles in 1916, and is the Blues franchise leader in most of the counting stats (games, runs, hits, doubles, home runs, RBI...). He even is still the Yankees franchise leader in hits, though I expect Roger Peckinpaugh to pass him in April and the Harry Heilmann to pass Peckinpaugh before the All-Star Break...
• Heinie Zimmerman was traded from the Cubs to the Yankees during the 1917-1918 offseason in exchange for four players. Zimmerman sparked the Yankees to their first pennant, but got hurt in September and missed the World Series. The Yankees then flipped him to the White Sox in exchange for Eddie Collins. Zimmerman's 1919 and 1920 haven't been nearly as good as his 1917, and he is likely to start 1921 as the backup third baseman for Chicago.

Your 1920 World Champions

 

Well, it's been a couple of real-life months and it's also been a few game months, and I'm finally getting around to posting my World Series recap!  Long story short, after two games where the Cardinals just plain looked like they had the Yankees' number, a miracle finish to Game 3 spurred a New York win in 6 games. St. Louis led in every single game, lost four of them anyhow.

Game 1: After taking a quick 2-0 lead in the first, Faber immediately gave the runs back. St. Louis scored single runs in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th, and surprise starter Waite Hoyt kept the Yankees down. A rally in the 9th was too little too late and the Cardinals won 5-3.

Game 2: A pitching duel between Bill Doak and Claude Hendrix was knotted 1-1 at the end of regulation. Gilhooley came in to pinch hit for Hendrix in the 10th (to no avail), and reliever Slim Harriss gave up a single and a walkoff double. St. Louis took the game 2-1 and a 2-0 lead in the series.

Game 3: If the Yankees become an unbeatable dynasty in this game universe, this will be the game that will be seen as the beginning of it all. Frank Allen got the start in a bit of a surprise (I decided to go with what the algorithm was pushing, figuring it couldn't get worse) and had 7 pretty good innings!  Unfortunately, these games are 9 innings long, and Lee Meadows was pitching just as well.  With the score 2-2 in the top of the 8th, Allen gave up 5 hits and three runs. It could have been worse but Ty Cobb threw out Del Pratt at home. But with their backs against the wall down 5-2 and staring at a 3-0 deficit in the series, the Yankees finally did what they'd been doing all year in the 9th and the offense let loose. Plus, they got some luck.  Charleston singled, Collins walked, and then Heilmann (who was 4th in the league in GIDP) hit a sure double-play ball that Hornsby booted. After that the crowd started to believe. Santop singled, Cobb singled, and St. Louis brought in Al Schacht to relieve with the score now 5-4, the bases loaded and nobody out. Peckinpaugh grounded into a near-double play of his own, leading to the first out of the inning and leaving the bases loaded. Cy Williams then found his date with destiny, hitting a walkoff grand slam home run and rescuing the Yankees. With the 8-5 win, the Yankees were back in it.

Game 4: Dave Brown got the ball for the Yankees, vs. Bunny Hearn for St. Louis. Brown was pitching well, but New York faced a 2-0 deficit entering the bottom of the 7th when they again erupted for a very crooked number in a 5-run effort. Brown finished it off, the Yankees won 6-3, and tied up the series.

Game 5: The last game of the season at the Polo Grounds featured yet another late comeback from the Yankees. Ruether started for the Yankees and Hoyt for the Cardinals, with both earning passing grades as the 8th inning started with New York up 4-3. Ruether gave up a double to Hornsby and a walk to Meusel and gave way to Mogridge in relief, who immediately let Hornsby score on a single. Two batters later, Meyer singled to score Harris and the Cardinals had a lead. However, the lead was short-lived--Charlie Blackwell's bases-loaded triple gave New York the lead, and Frank Baker's sacrifice fly was followed by three singles and another sacrifice fly, and the 6-run inning more than offset a 9th-inning home run by George Carr. 

Game 6: The action moved to Sportsman's Park in St. Louis with the Yankees a game away from their first championship. Faber took the mound against Bill Doak amid some speculation about who might start a Game 7. The Cardinals again took a lead, but the Yankees erupted in the 4th for 5 runs (perhaps helped by a too-quick hook by the Cardinals manager and the very hittable Al Schacht coming in). Faber labored but the Yankees continued to tack on, with Charleston hitting a home run in the 7th and Wally Pipp (in as a defensive replacement) adding a home run of his own in the 9th. Given Pipp's popularity in New York but his diminished play time with the rise of Bill Terry and the outfield logjam, sentimental baseball fans across Gotham were delighted. With the 12-5 win, the Yankees were World Series champions.

Ty Cobb won the World Series MVP award, though I think my vote would have gone to Santop (as I predicted!). Both had 11 hits, leading all batters, though Cobb had 2 fewer at-bats and led in batting for everyone with more than 6 at-bats with .478. Peckinpaugh redeemed his awful 1918 series by slashing .381/.500/.619, with the latter leading all regulars in slugging while he also led all in OPS. Santop led all batters in Win Probability added with 0.44, with Cobb just behind him. Gene Robertson was probably the best Cardinals regular, slashing .350/.381/.500. Hornsby had a reasonably good series with a good OPS, but the key error in the Game 3 St. Louis meltdown may end up an unavoidable part of his legacy. If the Cardinals hadn't won in 1918 it might sting a lot more.

Bill Doak was clearly the best pitcher in the series, coming in 2nd in innings pitched with an ERA of 1.32. After his Game 2 masterpiece, he was victimized by his defense in Game 3, with two errors leading to 4 unearned runs in Game 6 and an early dismissal. Claude Hendrix had the best unblemished pitching performance, matching Doak in Game 2 for the 9 innings he was in. 

And so the Yankees' 1920 season ended more or less the way it went all year--with colossal hitting that sometimes disappeared supported by pitching that was usually good enough. And with that, my main goal for this game was completed--I won a championship with the Yankees earlier than they did in real life. But of course, I'm going to keep going. :)