A reorganization of baseball's government took place at the beginning of the year. The office of Commissioner was created and Judge Kenesaw M. Landis of Chicago was appointed to fill the roll as baseball's first commissioner. Major League Baseball also introduced a new, much livelier ball at the beginning of the season.
The St.Louis Browns continued their roll and on Labor Day, the Browns were leading by 9 games over the Boston Red Sox and 12 games over the Philadelphia Athletics. With a week and a half to go St.Louis stood alone for the fourth straight season. The Browns' attack was led by Rogers Hornsby, who was awarded the AL's Outstanding Hitter award after batting .367 with 20 home runs and 92 RBIs. The Red Sox finished in second place, 9 games behind, thanks to the hitting of Tris Speaker (.353-4-78) and the pitching of Jesse Barnes (22 wins). The Athletics finished a distant third, 12 games back, and was lead by the league's Rookie of the Year, Johnny Bassler, who batted .305, and by Bob Meusel, who led the league in home runs and RBI. Claude Hendrix was the staff's ace as he won a league leading 24 games and was awarded the AL's Outstanding Pitcher award.
The Philadelphia Phillies went into Labor Day leading the senior circuit by 3.5 games over Brooklyn and by 5 games over the Boston Braves. The Braves caught fire and was able to catch Philadelphia with 4 games remaining on the schedule. The Phillies, led by slugger Babe Ruth, retook sole posession of the lead back on the next day and clinched their first title since 1912 two games later. Babe Ruth found the Baker Bowl cozy enough to clout 53 round-trippers, an outrageous total that surpassed every other NL team's total output with the exception of the Cincinnati Reds, who amassed 68 as a group. Along with the 53 homers, Ruth also finished second in both average (.358) and RBI (122) and was awarded his third straight Outstanding Hitter award. Boston and Brooklyn finished in a dead heat for second place, 2 games back.
The World Series, another best-of-nine classic, was a highly contested one that went the whole nine games to determine a winner. Hornsby and the Browns came from a 4-3 game deficit by winning the last two games by a combined 12-4 score, with the last game going 10 innings, to win their third world's championship in four years.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
St.Louis 94 60 .610 -- Philadelphia 85 69 .552 --
Boston 85 69 .552 9 Boston 83 71 .539 2
Philadelphia 82 72 .532 12 Brooklyn 83 71 .539 2
New York 76 78 .494 18 Pittsburgh 75 79 .487 10
Washington 75 79 .487 19 St.Louis 74 80 .481 11
Chicago 71 83 .461 23 Cincinnati 73 81 .474 12
Cleveland 67 87 .435 27 Chicago 72 82 .468 13
Detroit 66 88 .429 28 New York 71 83 .461 14
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
G.Sisler, CLE .386 L.Blue, PIT .360
R.Hornsby, STL .367 B.Ruth, PHI .358
T.Speaker, BOS .353 T.Cobb, STL .351
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
B.Meusel, PHI 24 B.Ruth, PHI 53
R.Hornsby, STL 20 K.Williams, CHI 22
C.Williams, PHI 16 B.Kauff, PHI 20
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
B.Meusel, PHI 131 A.McHenry, BOS 127
C.Williams, PHI 108 B.Ruth, PHI 122
W.Pipp, CLE 105 M.Flack, PIT 110
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
B.Meusel, PHI 116 B.Ruth, PHI 151
R.Hornsby, STL 114 L.Blue, PIT 115
G.Sisler, CLE 108 J.Evans, PHI 102
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
T.Shafer, BOS 39 B.Bescher, NY 31
G.Sisler, CLE 31 E.Murphy, BOS 30
J.Devore, WAS 23 J.Evans, PHI 29
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
H.Vaughn, STL 2.92 S.Jones, PHI 2.63
S.Sallee, NY 3.12 A.Nehf, PHI 2.88
W.Glazner, WAS 3.17 H.Eller, BOS 2.97
Wins W Wins W
C.Hendrix, PHI 24 H.Keupper, STL 22
J.Barnes, BOS 22 H.Eller, BOS 20
J.Raleigh, STL 21 A.Nehf, PHI 19
Saves SV Saves SV
B.Fincher, WAS 8 J.Houser, CIN 14
P.Murray, NY 6 H.Eibel, NY 10
B.Napier, CLE 6 R.Johnson, BOS 10
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
B.Grimes, CHI 124 H.Eller, BOS 149
A.Mamaux, CLE 109 L.Williams, CHI 132
H.Vaughn, DET 109 W.Johnson, BRO 129
1920 World Series
Game #1
Philadelphia (N) 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 10 1
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 - 2 10 1
F.Arellanes and R.Schalk.
D.Mails, P.Stadridge (9) and S.O'Neill.
WP - F.Arellanes (1-0)
LP - D.Mails (0-1)
HR - none
Game #2
Philadelphia (N) 2 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 - 5 13 2
St.Louis (A) 1 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 1 - 6 16 2
A.Nehf and R.Schalk.
W.Cooper and S.O'Neill.
WP - W.Cooper (1-0)
LP - A.Nehf (0-1)
HR - none
Game #3
St.Louis (A) 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 - 4 8 0
Philadelphia (N) 5 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 x - 8 11 1
L.Cadore, R.Witherup (4) and S.O'Neill.
J.Scott and R.Schalk.
WP - J.Scott (1-0)
LP - L.Cadore (0-1)
HR - none
Game #4
St.Louis (A) 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 - 5 11 1
Philadelphia (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 2
D.Mails and S.O'Neill.
F.Arellanes, M.Kircher (9) and R.Schalk.
WP - D.Mails (1-1)
LP - F.Arellanes (1-1)
HR - STL: H.Heilmann (1)
Game #5
St.Louis (A) 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 2 5 1
Philadelphia (N) 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 x - 3 8 0
W.Cooper and S.O'Neill.
A.Nehf and R.Schalk.
WP - A.Nehf (1-1)
LP - W.Cooper (1-1)
HR - STL: C.Hawks (1). PHI: B.Kauff (1).
Game #6
Philadelphia (N) 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 - 3 11 4
St.Louis (A) 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 x - 5 6 0
J.Scott and R.Schalk.
L.Cadore and S.O'Neill.
WP - L.Cadore (1-1)
LP - J.Scott (1-1)
HR - none
Game #7
Philadelphia (N) 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 6 13 1
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 5 14 1
F.Arellanes, G.McQuillan (12), M.Kircher (14) and R.Schalk,
L.Styles (10).
D.Mails, R.Witherup (9) and S.O'Neill.
WP - M.Kircher (1-0)
LP - R.Witherup (0-1)
HR - PHI: B.Ruth (1). STL: H.Heilmann (2), C.Hawks (2)
Game #8
St.Louis (A) 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 4 10 2
Philadelphia (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 6 3
W.Cooper and S.O'Neill.
A.Nehf and R.Schalk.
WP - W.Cooper (2-1)
LP - A.Nehf (1-2)
HR - none
Game #9
St.Louis (A) 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 - 8 18 0
Philadelphia (N) 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 4 12 2
L.Cadore and S.O'Neill.
J.Scott, G.McQuillan (10), M.Kircher (12) and R.Schalk,
B.Falk (9).
WP - L.Cadore (2-1)
LP - M.Kircher (1-1)
HR - B.Ruth (2)