It was an exciting enough race in the National League to attract fan interest, but those who came out to the ball park did so to see Philadelphia's Babe Ruth than the Phillies, who were leading the Cardinals by 3.5 games and the Braves by 5.5 games heading into Labor Day. The Sultan of Swat became the talk of the baseball world by popping home runs at an unprecedented rate, chalking up 64 clouts in his ledger by the time the season came to a close. In addition to his 64 homers, Ruth also amassed 168 runs batted in, tops in the majors, while swinging the bat to a .420 tune, leading the league in all three major hitting categories to become the first ever Triple Crown winner. Ruth's supporting cast on the Phillies' attack were Lew Fonseca and Ed Konetchy, who was acquired in a trade with the Cardinals back in June. Philadelphia's unheralded pitching staff, with the only NL team era below 4.00, was led by Frank Arellanes and Sailor Stroud, both 20-game winners, with Sad Sam Jones chipping in with 18 wins. Thanks to this group, the Phillies were able to defend their title by clinching the pennant with just under a week to go. St.Louis finished in second place, 7 games back, behind the bats of Larry Gardner and Ty Cobb. The Georgia Peach stunned the St.Louis fans at the end of the season by opting out of his last option year and became a free agent. The fans hope that the Redbirds can persuade the 34-year old outfielder to return.
Joining the Phillies in the World Series once again were the St.Louis Browns, winners of an all-time record 114 games and winning the American League title by 28 games over the Boston Red Sox. The high powered Browns lineup was led by the league's Outstanding Hitter Award winner, Rogers Hornsby (.412-23-125) and Harry Heilmann (.349-32-166), the league's home run champion. Three of the four starting pitchers, Duster Mails, Urban Shocker and John Raleigh, each won over 20 games, with Duster Mails receiving the AL's Outstanding Pitcher Award by winning a league high 27 games while leading the league in strikeouts with 118 and finishing third in ERA with 3.65.
The World Series became a slug fest as the opening game produced home runs by Ed Konetchy and Babe Ruth for Philadelphia, and Harry Heilmann of St.Louis. The series went a full nine games as Ruth and Heilmann put on a slugging display that had never been seen up to this season. Babe Ruth finished with 6 home runs and Harry Heilmann finished with 5, but in the end it was a home run by Ray Blades of the Phillies that proved to be the biggest blow as it drove in 3 of the 4 runs in the first inning as the Phillies won game 9 by a 4-2 score to be crowned the world's champions.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
St.Louis 114 40 .740 -- Philadelphia 91 63 .591 --
Boston 86 68 .558 28 St.Louis 84 70 .545 7
Philadelphia 80 74 .519 34 Brooklyn 79 75 .513 12
Cleveland 76 78 .494 38 Boston 78 76 .506 13
Chicago 68 86 .442 46 Pittsburgh 78 76 .506 13
New York 67 87 .435 47 Cincinnati 76 78 .494 15
Detroit 66 88 .429 48 Chicago 70 84 .455 21
Washington 59 95 .383 55 New York 60 94 .390 31
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
R.Hornsby, STL .412 B.Ruth, PHI .420
J.Jackson, CLE .383 L.Gardner, STL .378
S.O'Neill, STL .375 J.Bottomley, CIN .359
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
H.Heilmann, STL 32 B.Ruth, PHI 64
C.Williams, PHI 31 H.Miller, BOS 22
B.Meusel, PHI 30 K.Williams, CHI 22
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
H.Heilmann, STL 166 B.Ruth, PHI 168
J.Jackson, CLE 127 J.Harris, BRO 127
R.Hornsby, STL 125 J.Bottomley, CIN 113
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
R.Hornsby, STL 133 B.Ruth, PHI 171
R.Youngs, STL 131 T.Cobb, STL 129
H.Heilmann, STL 123 F.Haney, PIT 119
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
F.Frisch, PHI 33 J.Evans, PHI 41
T.Shafer, BOS 30 D.Bancroft, BRO 30
G.Sisler, CLE 26 M.Carey, PIT 28
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
E.Rixey, WAS 3.35 F.Arellanes, PHI 3.03
U.Shocker, STL 3.53 J.Scott, PHI 3.35
D.Mails, STL 3.65 B.Doak, BOS 3.38
Wins W Wins W
D.Mails, STL 27 F.Arellanes, PHI 22
U.Shocker, STL 23 E.Mayer, BOS 21
J.Raleigh, STL 21 S.Stroud, PHI 20
Saves SV Saves SV
A.Sothoron, STL 9 J.Wisner, CHI 12
P.Perritt, PHI 7 L.Carlson, CIN 10
G.Bono, WAS 5 R.Johnson, BOS 9
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
D.Mails, STL 118 W.Johnson, BRO 130
G.Chalmers, NY 101 D.Ayers, NY 116
B.Grimes, CHI 101 L.Williams, CIN 112
1921 World Series
Game #1
Philadelphia (N) 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 2 0 - 5 14 0
St.Louis (A) 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 - 6 10 0
S.Stroud and F.Gibson.
J.Raleigh and S.O'Neill
WP - J.Raleigh (1-0)
LP - S.Stroud (0-1)
HR - PHI: E.Konetchy (1), B.Ruth (1) STL: H.Heilmann (1)
Game #2
Philadelphia (N) 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 - 3 5 1
St.Louis (A) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 8 0
F.Arellanes and F.Gibson.
R.Witherup and S.O'Neill.
WP - F.Arellanes (1-0)
LP - R.Witherup (0-1)
HR - none
Game #3
St.Louis (A) 3 0 3 0 0 3 0 1 3 - 13 16 0
Philadelphia (N) 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 - 5 12 6
D.Mails, A.Sothoron (9) and S.O'Neill
S.Jones, R.Sanders (7) and F.Gibson
WP - D.Mails (1-0)
LP - S.Jones (0-1)
HR - STL: H.Heilmann (2), R.Hornsby (1), W.Witt (1)
PHI: E.Konetchy (2), B.Ruth (2)
Game #4
St.Louis (A) 1 2 3 1 2 2 0 1 0 - 12 15 2
Philadelphia (N) 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 1 - 5 13 0
J.Raleigh and S.O'Neill
S.Stroud, R.Sanders (5) and F.Gibson
WP - J.Raleigh (2-0)
LP - S.Stroud (0-2)
HR - STL: B.Southworth (1), R.Youngs (1), R.Grimes (1)
PHI: J.Evans (1)
Game #5
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 - 2 8 1
Philadelphia (N) 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 4 x - 7 9 0
R.Witherup and S.O'Neill
F.Arellanes and F.Gibson
WP - F.Arellanes (2-0)
LP - R.Witherup (0-2)
HR - STL: H.Heilmann (3) PHI: B.Ruth (3)
Game #6
Philadelphia (N) 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 4 13 3
St.Louis (A) 0 0 3 5 3 3 0 0 x - 14 13 1
S.Jones, R.Sanders (5) and F.Gibson
D.Mails, A.Sothoron (9) and S.O'Neill
WP - D.Mails (2-0)
LP - S.Jones (0-2)
HR - PHI: B.Ruth (4) STL: H.Heilmann (4)
Game #7
Philadelphia (N) 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 - 5 12 0
St.Louis (A) 0 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 - 4 7 1
S.Stroud and F.Gibson, H.Russell (9)
J.Raleigh and S.O'Neill
WP - S.Stroud (1-2)
LP - J.Raleigh (2-1)
HR - PHI: B.Ruth (5) STL: H.Heilmann (5)
Game #8
St.Louis (A) 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 - 4 11 1
Philadelphia (N) 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 1 x - 5 9 1
R.Witherup and S.O'Neill
F.Arellanes, G.McQuillan (9) and F.Gibson
WP - F.Arellanes (3-0)
LP - R.Witherup (0-3)
SV - G.McQuillan (1)
HR - STL: R.Hornsby (2) PHI: F.Gibson (1), B.Ruth (6)
Game #9
St.Louis (A) 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 2 9 1
Philadelphia (N) 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 x - 4 8 1
D.Mails and S.O'Neill
S.Jones and F.Gibson
WP - S.Jones (1-2)
LP - D.Mails (2-1)
HR - PHI: R.Blades (1)