The St.Louis Browns enjoyed another banner year as they stormed to the top of the American League standings in June and never looked back as they won the pennant by 21 games, their seventh in a row and ninth since the birth of the junior circuit. The team was powered once again by the tandum of Harry Heilmann and Rogers Hornsby, who won his fifth straight Outstanding Hitter award by batting .371 with 36 home runs and 118 rbi. The mound staff had the three winningest pitchers in the league as John Raleigh won 19, Wilbur Cooper won 24 and Urban Shocker, the league's Outstanding Pitcher Award winner, won 29 games. Shocker also led the AL with 129 strikeouts and finished in second in ERA with 2.92. Philadelphia, possessor of a .300 team batting average, finished a distant second but showed some muscle of it's own. The player's name is Cy Williams, the league's home run (40) and RBI (132) king.
While the American League title race was another blowout, the senior circuit provided the excitement once again. The Cincinnati Reds headed into Labor Day leading the National League by a slim 1 1/2 game margin over the two-time defending champion Philadelphia Phillies with the now yearly contending Brooklyn Robins 3 1/2 games back. With less than two weeks remaining the Phillies started falling back but by the end of the last week of the regular season had climbed back to within a pair of game. The Reds were finally able to clinch the pennant on the next to last day of the season, the first ever NL title for Cincinnati since the turn of the century. Former Rookie of the Year, now blazing star "Sunny" Jim Bottomley led the way as he batted .340 with 22 home runs and a league leading 116 RBIs. Philadelphia, which lost slugger Babe Ruth to free agency after not giving in to his salary demands, fell as much as ten games behind until a resurgence brought them back to the brink of the league's title, finished only one game behind thanks to the hitting of Bib Falk, who batted .365 with 18 homers. The Brooklyn Robins continued to inch their way towards the top of the NL's standings thanks in part to the free agent signing of Babe Ruth. All "The Bambino" did was lead the league in average (.387) and home runs (40) while driving in 110 runs, and won the league's Outstanding Hitter Award for the sixth straight time, his first with the Robins.
The World Series, as it has been the last two seasons, went down to game seven before crowning a world's champion. Cincinnati surprised the Browns by winning the first two games in St.Louis but the Brownies were able to claw back to tie the series 3-3 heading into a game seven showdown with the Reds. Cincinnati's Jim Bottomley smashed a home run in the second inning, his third of the series, and the team held an 8-2 lead then had to hold on as St.Louis scored four times in the bottom of the ninth for the Reds first world's championship.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
St.Louis 108 46 .701 -- Cincinnati 89 65 .578 --
Philadelphia 87 67 .565 21 Philadelphia 88 66 .571 1
Cleveland 84 70 .545 24 Brooklyn 84 70 .545 5
New York 73 81 .474 35 Chicago 80 74 .519 9
Boston 71 83 .461 37 Boston 78 76 .506 11
Chicago 71 83 .461 37 New York 73 81 .474 16
Washington 63 91 .409 45 St.Louis 65 89 .422 24
Detroit 59 95 .383 49 Pittsburgh 59 95 .383 30
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
Z.Wheat-NY .406 B.Ruth-BRO .387
R.Hornsby-STL .371 B.Falk-PHI .365
J.Jackson-CLE .361 J.Bottomley-CIN .340
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
C.Williams-PHI 40 B.Ruth-BRO 40
R.Hornsby-STL 36 K.Williams-CHI 30
J.Hauser-CLE 26 J.Bottomley-CIN 22
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
C.Williams-PHI 132 J.Bottomley-CIN 116
H.Heilmann-STL 124 K.Williams-CHI 113
J.Hauser-CLE 123 B.Ruth-BRO 110
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
J.Jackson-CLE 120 B.Ruth-BRO 135
R.Hornsby-STL 118 J.Bottomley-CIN 124
H.Heilmann-STL 117 K.Williams-CHI 121
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
J.Jackson-CLE 28 T.Shafer-CHI 29
L.Doyle-BOS 25 K.Cuyler-BOS 24
E.Collins-CHI 23 S.Rice-STL 21
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
F.Heimach-CLE 2.80 H.Bedient-PHI 2.79
U.Shocker-STL 2.92 R.Ryan,PHI 2.82
E.Rixey-WAS 2.94 J.Scott-BOS 2.88
Wins W Wins W
U.Shocker-STL 29 E.Lange-BRO 20
W.Cooper-STL 24 D.Davenport-CIN 19
J.Raleigh-STL 19 C.Mays-PIT/BRO 18
Saves SV Saves SV
B.Geary-NY 13 D.Keefe-CIN 13
B.Fincher-WAS 9 V.Barnes-CIN 10
B.Napier-CLE 8 J.Enzmann-STL 9
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
U.Shocker-STL 129 D.Vance-PIT 164
H.McQuillan-CHI 97 B.Shawkey-CHI 115
E.Rixey-WAS 91 L.Williams-CHI 108
1923 World Series
Game #1
Cincinnati 0 0 0 2 0 1 2 0 2 0 - 7 11 1
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 - 2 8 2
J.Pfeffer and G.Myatt.
U.Shocker and B.O'Farrell.
WP - J.Pfeffer (1-0)
LP - U.Shocker (0-1)
HR - CIN: G.Myatt (1)
Game #2
Cincinnati 0 4 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 - 8 14 2
St.Louis (A) 1 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 - 6 17 2
C.Johnson, D.Davenport (7) and G.Myatt, V.Clemons (5).
W.Cooper, D.Mails (6) and B.O'Farrell.
WP - C.Johnson (1-0)
LP - W.Cooper (0-1)
SV - D.Davenport (1)
HR - CIN: J.Bottomley (1)
Game #3
St.Louis (A) 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 - 5 12 0
Cincinnati 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 9 2
J.Raleigh, B.Grevell (10) and B.O'Farrell.
J.Cooney, V.Barnes (8), D.Davenport (10) and V.Clemons,
D.Cousineau (10).
WP - J.Raleigh (1-0)
LP - V.Barnes (0-1)
SV - B.Grevell (1)
HR - CIN: J.Bottomley (2)
Game #4
St.Louis (A) 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 4 11 1
Cincinnati 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 2 6 5
U.Shocker and B.O'Farrell.
J.Pfeffer, D.Davenport (9) and V.Clemons.
WP - U.Shocker (1-1)
LP - J.Pfeffer (1-1)
HR - CIN: P.Traynor (1)
Game #5
St.Louis (A) 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 7 1
Cincinnati 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 - 3 9 2
W.Cooper and B.O'Farrell.
C.Johnson and V.Clemons.
WP - C.Johnson (2-0)
LP - W.Cooper (0-2)
HR - none
Game #6
Cincinnati 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 - 4 8 2
St.Louis (A) 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 5 8 2
J.Cooney, D.Davenport (8) and V.Clemons.
J.Raleigh and B.O'Farrell.
WP - J.Raleigh (2-0)
LP - D.Davenport (0-1)
HR - CIN: P.Traynor (2)
Game #7
Philadelphia (N) 0 3 1 0 1 0 3 0 0 - 8 11 2
St.Louis (A) 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 - 6 15 0
S.Smith, D.Davenport (7) and V.Clemons.
U.Shocker, D.Mails (1), B.Grevell (5), W.Cooper (9) and
B.O'Farrell.
WP - S.Smith (1-0)
LP - D.Mails (0-1)
HR - CIN: P.Duncan (1), J.Bottomley (3)