1916 Season Recap — Southern League
Carefree Blues sing a winning tune (for a change)
If you looked at your Southern League standings after the final day of the regular season, you saw a strange sight. The Carefree Blues, a franchise usually left singing the blues in late September, were at the top of the heap.
It's the first time in Blues' history that Carefree has won an SL regular season crown and only the second time Carefree has made the playoffs. Looking back at franchise history, this is a team that has finished fourth or better just six times out of 15 before this season. The Blues were seventh in six different years and eighth in another.
In other words, these guys have been the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of their time, finally breaking new ground this season after many hapless tries.
Looking through season stats, I can't see how Carefree won the league. I guess the SL was pretty mediocre across the board, and the Blues just found ways to win important games.
This is a young team, and that bodes well for their future. Pitcher
Phil "Shufflin' Phil" Davis, age 26, led the staff with a 24-15 record in only his third year in the league.
Raymond Bressler, all of 21 years old, also in his third year, went 22-12 as the No. 4 starter. OK, that's pretty good stuff. Bressler was a nice steal for Carefree, which received him in a trade from Tombstone last season (the same Tombstone who passed on
Babe Ruth by the way - more on him in a bit).
Believe it or not, Carefree had the lowest team batting average (.243) of anyone in the Arizona League this season. But they were nasty on the road, winning 50 games. Catcher
Art Wilson had a solid year, batting .293 with 71 RBIs. 2B
Larry Doyle hit 10 home runs to go with his 67 RBIs. 1B
Hap Myers, CF
Al Scheer (a nice pickup in a trade with Tucson), RF
Gavvy Cravath and CF
Al Shaw each had between 73-76 RBIs. See, no superstars. Just blue collar guys (and lots of young ones to build around).
Tucson nearly lost its chance at returning to the playoffs, fading quite a bit in September. But the Saguaros held off a pesky Yuma team for the second spot in the post-season.
Tucson has truly been the dominant team in the Southern League of late, finishing either first or second the past seven years. That's a pretty amazing streak, though fans in the Old Pueblo (i.e. like today's Atlanta Braves fans) will point to only one AZL championship for the club and just two Cactus Champions Cup appearances during that seven-year span.
It's almost as if Tucson cruised through this regular season, turning it on just enough to snare a playoff berth. Some impressive numbers by outfielders
Ty Cobb (.321 average, 100 RBIs, 53 stolen bases) and
Harry Hooper (.334 average, 91 RBIs, 31 steals) lead the way. 2B
Heinie Zimmerman had a .322 average with 86 RBIs.
Willie Mitchell won 24 games from the mound, while
Jake Boultes won 20 and
George McQuillan 21. How did this team not win more games?
Yuma appears to be rebuilding well, and Tempe — with Babe Ruth firmly planted in the No. 3 spot in the lineup — finished just out of the post-season chase. Babe had a MONSTER first season, enough to earn him not one but two big awards. We'll save that for later.
Remember
Elmer Myers, who was picked ahead of Babe Ruth in the draft by Tombstone? Well, he spent the entire year with the big club but only appeared in seven games, earning a 0-0 record, one save and a 4.00 ERA. Probably would have done him well to leave him at Triple A or something. But then again, that's Tombstone. There's a reason why the Epitaphs have been, well, dead to the post-season for most of their existence.
Here are the final SL standings for 1916. Not a good year at all for the defending AZL champions. Phoenix finished dead last (and Flagstaff was seventh in the NL). Yikes...
Code:
Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10
Carefree 93 69 .574 - 90-72 3 43-38 50-31 3-10 24-22 * W1 6-4
Tucson 86 76 .531 7.0 87-75 -1 47-34 39-42 11-8 28-22 - L2 3-7
Yuma 83 79 .512 10.0 85-77 -2 45-36 38-43 10-5 25-19 - W2 5-5
Nogales 81 81 .500 12.0 79-83 2 46-35 35-46 14-9 28-27 - L1 6-4
Tempe 81 81 .500 12.0 81-81 0 43-38 38-43 10-3 28-25 - W1 9-1
Tombstone 76 86 .469 17.0 78-84 -2 35-46 41-40 4-14 23-36 - L1 5-5
Bisbee 74 88 .457 19.0 71-91 3 38-43 36-45 8-9 33-32 - L5 1-9
Phoenix 74 88 .457 19.0 77-85 -3 38-43 36-45 7-9 19-25 - W2 5-5