1919 Season Recap — Southern League
New-look Blue Sox lead the way in the South
After three straight seasons of close-but-no-cigar finishes in the Southern League, the Carefree franchise decided it was time for an image makeover. Out went the Carefree Blues (which folks believed had a negative connotation in the club house -- the team is always "singing the blues.") In came the Carefree Blue Sox.
So far, so good (and I'll admit I'm pretty proud of the logo I put together from various things I found on Mods sites). The newly renamed franchise won the Southern League division title in 1919, nipping Bisbee by four games in the final standings. As in the Northern League, the traditional power (Tucson) will be left out of the post-season fun this year.
Carefree actually underachieved mightily if you look at the Pythagorian Record (the Blue Sox should have won 105 games instead of 93 according to that formula). But that doesn't mean anything once the playoffs start. Carefree rallied behind the sharp pitching of
Jeff Tesraeu, who went 28-12 as the No. 3 man on the staff.
George Ferguson missed a month and a half with an elbow injury but recovered to post a 19-12 record with a mean 1.57 ERA.
Shortstop
Harry Spratt (.275, 13 HRs, 95 RBIs) and CF
Tex McDonald (.267, 8 HRs, 80 RBIs) led the offense, though eight guys had 59 or more runs driven in. In a lot of ways, this team tried to just outscore its foes. The Blue Sox were first in runs scored (742) but also first in runs allowed (550), home runs allowed (28) and walks allowed (338).
Smokey Joe Wood had a smokin' season for the Bisbee Prospectors. He went 32-8, giving up an average of just 2.66 earned runs per contest. The 32 wins is a new Southern League and overall Arizona League record (31 is tops in the NL). The 29-year-old, who has thrown two no-hitters in his career, may very well add a Top Hurler Award to his resume this time around.
Bisbee's offensive leaders included CF
Benny Kauff (.323, 90 RBS, 66 SBs), 2B
Rogers Hornsby (.324, 7 HRs, 91 RBIs) and 1B
Dick Hoblitzel (80 RBIs, 66 SBs).
This should be a fun series as both teams like to score runs, and both teams like to fly around the bases. Bisbee swiped 292 this season (tops in the AZL). Carefree stole 241 (third).
Right-fielder
Babe Ruth mashed 29 home runs this season and drove home 95 in all, but that still wasn't enough to put the Tempe Sun Devils anywhere close to getting back in the playoffs (71-91 record). Sun Devil owners secretly worry about the impact of another poor season will have on their bottom line. They owe a lot of people a lot of money for the new ballpark that got built after their AZL championship a few years ago. Languishing at the back of the SL pack isn't going to pay those bills...
The Southern League pennant race was pretty tight most of the season. Four teams finished within nine games of league-leading Carefree.
Alas, Yuma finished JUST off the playoff pace, one game behind Bisbee (sorry SirLurksAlot). The Prisoners did have three 20-game winners in the bullpen --
Jim St. Vrain (22-16),
Red Causey (20-20) and
Jing Johnson (21-17). Second year RF
Ross Youngs posted a .263 average with 75 RBIs.
Here are the complete Southern League standings for 1919:
Code:
Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10
Carefree 93 69 .574 - 105-57 -12 45-36 48-33 7-11 21-29 * W2 6-4
Bisbee 89 73 .549 4.0 93-69 -4 45-36 44-37 7-9 23-26 - W2 5-5
Yuma 88 74 .543 5.0 85-77 3 44-37 44-37 6-9 20-22 - L1 7-3
Tombstone 84 78 .519 9.0 86-76 -2 38-43 46-35 12-8 30-30 - W1 8-2
Tucson 84 78 .519 9.0 80-82 4 39-42 45-36 6-9 33-23 - L4 4-6
Nogales 71 91 .438 22.0 69-93 2 38-43 33-48 4-5 20-27 - L5 3-7
Tempe 71 91 .438 22.0 65-97 6 35-46 36-45 8-5 30-23 - L2 2-8
Phoenix 68 94 .420 25.0 67-95 1 31-50 37-44 11-5 25-22 - W4 5-5