[AZTarHeel]

1917 News & Notes

No No-Nos in 1917
For the second year in a row, no one in the Arizona League threw a no-hitter. The last one came in 1915, hurled by "Smokey Joe" Wood ...

George Ruth Update
While Babe Ruth tore up the Southern League, leading Tempe to a championship and hitting a new AZL record 49 home runs, brother George Ruth spent the entire year in Tucson's Triple A farm team. He was 12-5 with a 2.45 ERA but never got the call up from Tucson's big club this season. Seems like George's career is going backwards a bit...

So long, Sam?
This may be the end of the line for the man known as the greatest hitter in the early era of the Arizona League. "Wahoo Sam" Crawford, winner of nine Big Stick Awards, has just 69 at-bats in 1917, The 37-year-old outfielder batted just .145. In early September, Flagstaff asked Crawford to head for Triple A. Crawford refused and the Lumberjacks released their long-time star. That move wasn't well-received by many Flagstaff fans, who wondered why the struggling Jacks couldn't just wait until the end of the season. It was kind of a low blow to release him in September...

Crawford is a sure bet for the Hall of Fame, when and if he does retire after this season...

Ty Cobb misses two months
Just noticed that Tucson's Ty Cobb fractured a hip in June and missed two months of game action, surely one of the reasons the Saguaros didn't make the playoffs this season (in addition to Babe Ruth's rise in Tempe) ... Cobb had about 180 fewer at-bats than his norman seasons, getting 119 hits ... It was Cobb's first time missing the playoffs since 1909...

Big Hittin'
Bisbee' RF Vin Campbell hit for the cycle against Phoenix on May 27. He finished the game with six RBIs... A few week's later, Jerome's Gloomy Gus Williams cycled as well ...

Nogales 1B Emil Huhn set a new Southern League record with eight RBIs against ol' Tombstone on Aug. 20. Huhn had five hits for the game...

2,000 and counting
CF Sherry Magee of Nogales joined the 2,000 hit club on June against Tombstone...

Tempe SS Simon Nicholls joined the 2,000 hit club on July 17. He also had six hits in a game in May ...

Bisbee RF Jimmy Sebring earned his 2,000th hit on Sept. 1 ...

Flagstaff OF Watty Lee had his 2,000th hit on Sept. 11...


1917 All-Star Game
Here are your All-Stars for the 1917 season:

(The Southern League won the game 8-3. Bisbee's Rogers Hornsby was 3-for-4, earning MVP honors ... Carefree's George Ferguson was the winning pitcher ... Payson's Charley Hall took the loss (but still went on to win the Top Hurler honor for the Northern League...)

These players were selected for the NL OOTP-Allstar Team :
P Ray Keating from Kayenta
P Charley Hall from Payson
P Byron Houck from Grand Canyon
P Pete Schneider from Payson
P Fred Link from Jerome
P Bill Burns from Payson
P Russ Ford from Cottonwood
P Harley Young from Flagstaff
P George Dumont from Cottonwood
P Dave Black from Prescott
C Ted Easterly from Payson
C Tommy Clarke from Jerome
1B Vic Saier from Flagstaff
2B Eddie Collins from Prescott
3B Del Paddock from Payson
SS Donie Bush from Payson
LF Guy Zinn from Payson
CF Benny Kauff from Cottonwood
RF Danny Moeller from Payson
1B Joe Harris from Cottonwood
CF Tris Speaker from Payson
LF Zack Wheat from Sedona
CF Amos Strunk from Kayenta
2B Steve Yerkes from Flagstaff
3B Heinie Groh from Cottonwood

These players were selected for the SL OOTP-Allstar Team :
P Bert Gallia from Bisbee
P George Mcquillan from Tucson
P Marty Mchale from Carefree
P Phil Douglas from Carefree
P Howie Camnitz from Nogales
P Dave Davenport from Tempe
P George Ferguson from Carefree
P George Cunningham from Carefree
P Alex Malloy from Carefree
P King Lear from Phoenix
C Art Wilson from Carefree
C Tex Erwin from Tucson
1B Jack Fournier from Tucson
2B Heinie Zimmerman from Tucson
3B Jimmy Walsh from Nogales
SS Simon Nicholls from Tempe
LF Joe Jackson from Nogales
CF Charlie Hanford from Phoenix
RF Babe Ruth from Tempe
1B Babe Borton from Yuma
RF Harry Hooper from Tucson
RF Sam Rice from Tombstone
LF Bob Bescher from Tucson
2B Rogers Hornsby from Bisbee
2B Charlie French from Yuma


1917 Leaderboard

TOP 5 in BATTING AVG :
.369 Benny Kauff(CTW,NL SED)
.353 Joe Jackson(NOG,SL)
.348 Simon Nicholls(TEM,SL)
.345 Donie Bush(PAY,NL)
.343 Babe Ruth(TEM,SL)

TOP 5 in HOMERUNS :
33 Babe Ruth(TEM,SL)
26 Cy Williams(GCA)
19 Jimmy Walsh(NOG,SL)
14 Zack Wheat(SED,NL)
13 Fred Carisch(YUM)

TOP 5 in RBI :
124 Guy Zinn(PAY,NL)
110 Cy Williams(GCA)
107 Babe Ruth(TEM,SL)
106 Casey Stengel(KAY)
104 Eddie Collins(PRE,NL)

TOP 5 in ERA :
2.01 Charley Hall(PAY,NL)
2.22 Fred Link(JER,NL)
2.55 Bert Gallia(BIS,SL)
2.58 Bill Burns(PAY,NL)
2.59 Nick Maddox(GCA)

TOP 5 in WINS :
26 Charley Hall(PAY,NL)
26 Bill Burns(PAY,NL)
25 Dave Davenport(TEM,SL)
25 George Baumgardner(TEM)
25 Marty Mchale(CAR,SL)

TOP 5 in SAVES :
9 Al Schulz(FLG)
7 Harley Young(FLG,NL)
5 Nick Cullop(PAY)
4 George Disch(BIS)
4 Dave Black(PRE,NL)