1915 Season Recap — Southern League
Saguaros earn chance to defend AZL title
Tucson used to be the laughing stock of the Southern League — and the whole Arizona League at that. The Saguaros finished dead last in the SL standings their first three years of existence, and were at the bottom of the SL in four of their first five years and five of their first eight (never getting higher than fourth). But those days are long gone now.
In recent years, Tucson has been the standard bearer for teams in the Southern part of the state. In 1915, the Cactus Kids collected their fourth regular season title in a five-year span. This latest crown keeps a streak going of six straight playoff berths.
Of course, some of the diehard fans complain about the lack of Cactus Cups for the franchise (i.e. the Atlanta Braves of their day). Last year was Tucson's first AZL title. But this group looks more than ready for a repeat effort, streaking out to 107 wins. A good Phoenix team finished 13 games off the pace.
Outfielder
Ty Cobb had a great year in the Old Pueblo, batting .305 with 93 RBIs and 57 stolen bases. But he was third on his own team in RBIs, behind hard-hitting catcher
Tex Irwin (111, .298, 9 HRs) and 1B
Harry Fournier (102, .289). 2B
Heinie Zimmerman had another 93 RBIs, while RF
Harry Hooper had 90 more and LF
Al Scheer had 85 on top of that. This team could definitely score runs.
The Tucson pitching staff certainly did their part. Their top three starters might finish 1-2-3 in the voting for the Top Hurler Award (though Nogales had a 30-game winner this season; more on him later on):
Jake Boultes (24-11),
Jack Warhop (26-11) and
George McQuillan (25-15).
Ralph Glaze went 18-9 from the No. 4 spot, and spot starter
Dick Rudolph was 12-4. Yikes. Scary stuff...
Phoenix, on the other hand, was more workmanlike. The Dust Devils had 10 different guys hit between 40-71 RBIs. The team leader was CF
Charlie Hanford, who finished with 91. Phoenix was dangerous on the base paths, with 3B
Tiller Shafer swiping 67 bases and RF
John Potts taking 66.
Willie Mitchell (27-14) and
Erv Lange (23-15) led the Phoenix pitching corps.
Al Demaree had another 19 wins.
The Dust Devils definitely have something to prove. Most newspapers and AZL observers are already crowning Tucson as the SL's representative for the upcoming Cactus Champions Cup, and talking about how they'll match up with Payson or Flagstaff. Phoenix has only been to the playoffs a few times and never made it past the divisional round.
"Tucson had better not take us lightly," Mitchell said. "We're on a mission, and that's to bring the capital city its first professional championship."
Tucson won 14 of the 24 regular season meetings with Phoenix. (As a side note, the Saguaros were 18-5 against Bisbee and 18-6 against Tombstone. That's domination.)
••• As for
George Ruth's first season with Tucson. Babe's twin brother appeared in eight games, starting one, and finished with a 1-1 record and an unsightly 7.36 ERA.
Here are the complete standings for the SL:
Code:
Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10
Tucson 107 55 .660 - 106-56 1 55-26 52-29 14-10 36-28 * W1 6-4
Phoenix 94 68 .580 13.0 94-68 0 46-35 48-33 6-9 29-28 - L1 7-3
Nogales 89 73 .549 18.0 88-74 1 46-35 43-38 11-8 27-23 - W1 4-6
Carefree 81 81 .500 26.0 76-86 5 40-41 41-40 6-8 26-22 - L1 5-5
Yuma 71 91 .438 36.0 75-87 -4 39-42 32-49 8-8 25-21 - L1 4-6
Bisbee 70 92 .432 37.0 69-93 1 31-50 39-42 4-5 22-27 - W1 4-6
Tempe 69 93 .426 38.0 71-91 -2 30-51 39-42 8-10 20-25 - W2 7-3
Tombstone 67 95 .414 40.0 66-96 1 33-48 34-47 11-10 22-33 - L2 3-7