The Boston Red Sox, fresh of a second place finish in 1924, looked like the team to beat with a pitching staff that was led by Ralph Comstock, an 18-game winner, and was considered the favorite to win the AL pennant in 1925. What happened next seemed like an explosion as Comstock struggled and finished the year with a 10-19 record. Not only that but the entire staff just could not get into a rhythm as the team plunged to the depths of last place in the junior circuit. With the Red Sox out of contention, the race for the AL title was fought between the Indians, White Sox, Tigers, Athletics and the yearly contention of the St.Louis Browns. Heading into Labor Day, the upstart Cleveland Indians were leading by 6 games over Chicago, 7 over St.Louis and 9 1/2 games over both Detroit and Philadelphia. As they headed into the last week of the season, only the Browns and the Tigers were in a position to try to catch the Indians. St.Louis had cut the deficit to three games but a crutial series with Cleveland ended with an Indians sweep as Cleveland clinched it's first AL title with only a few games left. The Indians were led at the plate by aging Shoeless Joe Jackson and the rising star named Goose Goslin. Goose led the league in batting average (.359) and in RBIs (150) and took home the AL's Outstanding Batter award. The mound corps was led by 20-game winner Fred Heimach, who captured the league's Outstanding Pitcher award for his efforts. St.Louis finished in second place, three games behind, thanks to the continued hitting by Rogers Hornsby and the pitching of Dutch Leonard, a 21-game winner, tops in the league. Detroit, who finished 7 games behind and in fourth place, unveiled their new pitching prospect, rookie Lefty Grove. Grove was the AL's ERA champ with a 3.12 average and struck out a league leading 169.
After finishing deep in the second division on an annual basis, the New York Giants found themselves leading the senior circuit for most of the summer but dropped out of first place near the end of August while the defending champion Brooklyn Robins took the lead and led the Giants and the Phillies by 3 games heading into Labor Day. In fact, the whole lead was in a fight as the last place Cardinals were only behind by 10 1/2 games heading into September. While the Giants continued to collapse, Philadelphia continued to stay close to Brooklyn but the Robins were able to clinch the pennant with a couple of days remaining. Brooklyn was once again led by Babe Ruth, as he batted .333 with 36 homers and 117 RBIs to capture the NL's Outstanding Batter award once again. The Phillies finished 3 games behind thanks to the pitching of Keupper, who led the league with 20 wins. The talk of the National League, though, was the hitting by the Cubs' Ken Williams. Williams led the league in average (.368), home runs (40) and RBIs (126) to capture the Triple Crown but finished runner-up in a close vote behind Ruth for the league's top hitting award.
During the World Series, Cleveland and Brooklyn split the first two games with the Indians winning game one by the score of 9-4 and the Robins winning game two by an 18-6 score. The series shifted into Ebbets Field and it was all Indians as they masacred the Robins' pitching staff to the tune of 5-2, 11-2 and capping it with a 24-10 drubbing in game five to win it's first ever world's championship.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Cleveland 87 67 .565 -- Brooklyn 86 68 .558 --
St.Louis 84 70 .545 3 Philadelphia 83 71 .539 3
Chicago 81 73 .526 6 Pittsburgh 80 74 .519 6
Detroit 80 74 .519 7 Chicago 77 77 .500 9
Philadelphia 77 77 .500 10 New York 76 78 .494 10
Washington 73 81 .474 14 Cincinnati 74 80 .481 12
New York 68 86 .442 19 Boston 71 83 .461 15
Boston 66 88 .429 21 St.Louis 69 85 .448 17
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
G.Goslin-CLE .359 K.Williams-CHI .368
T.Speaker-BOS .343 R.Wrightstone-NY .358
B.Myer-CLE .340 B.Falk-PHI .348
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
J.Hauser-CLE 31 K.Williams-CHI 40
G.Hartnett-CLE 26 B.Ruth-BRO 36
B.Meusel-PHI 24 B.Herman-CHI 18
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
G.Goslin-CLE 150 K.Williams-CHI 126
J.Hauser-CLE 135 B.Ruth-BRO 117
G.Hartnett-CLE 122 H.Manush-BOS 111
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
G.Goslin-CLE 127 B.Ruth-BRO 128
B.Myer-CLE 117 K.Williams-CHI 114
M.Bishop-BOS 111 B.Herman-CHI 112
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
L.Mann-DET 33 R.Chapman-CHI 37
G.Goslin-CLE 32 K.Cuyler-BOS 29
J.Jackson-CLE 28 E.Johnson-BRO+PIT 26
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
L.Grove-DET 3.12 J.Scott-PHI+PIT 2.91
F.Heimach-CLE 3.27 F.Fitzsimmons-STL 3.24
P.Donohue-PHI 3.34 H.Keupper-PHI 3.30
Wins W Wins W
D.Leonard-STL 21 H.Keupper-PHI 20
F.Heimach-CLE 20 T.McNamara-CHI 19
E.Ponder-CLE 18 L.Meadows-BRO 19
Saves SV Saves SV
S.Connally-STL 10 S.McGrew-NY 15
S.Johnson-DET 10 J.Enzmann-PHI 14
B.Geary-NY 9 J.May-STL 11
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
L.Grove-DET 169 D.Vance-PIT 208
D.Leonard-STL 125 B.Shawkey-CHI 148
T.Thomas-DET 121 J.Scott-BRO 132
1925 World Series
Game #1
Brooklyn 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 - 4 12 2
Cleveland 4 0 0 0 1 1 3 0 x - 9 11 0
W.Johnson, P.Standridge (8) and H.McCurdy
E.Ponder and G.Hartnett
WP - E.Ponder (1-0)
LP - W.Johnson (0-1)
HR - CLE: J.Hauser (1)
Game #2
Brooklyn 2 0 2 3 1 4 2 2 2 - 18 22 1
Cleveland 1 2 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 6 14 0
L.Meadows and H.McCurdy
B.Sherdel, J.Batchelder (5), D.McWeeny (6), F.Heimach (9)
and G.Hartnett
WP - L.Meadows (1-0)
LP - B.Sherdel (0-1)
HR - BRO: I.Meusel (1), B.Ruth 2 (2), R.Stephenson (1),
H.McCurdy (1) CLE: J.Hauser (2)
Game #3
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 - 5 9 0
Brooklyn 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 - 2 5 5
J.Morrison and G.Hartnett
J.Scott and H.McCurdy, J.Brock (9)
WP - J.Morrison (1-0)
LP - J.Scott (0-1)
HR - CLE: J.Jackson (1)
Game #4
Cleveland 2 4 0 0 3 0 2 0 0 - 11 11 0
Brooklyn 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 - 2 6 3
E.Ponder and G.Hartnett
W.Johnson, P.Standridge (6), J.Miljus (9) and H.McCurdy
WP - E.Ponder (2-0)
LP - W.Johnson (0-2)
HR - CLE: P.Waner (1)
Game #5
Cleveland 4 0 0 1 0 4 9 2 4 - 24 25 2
Brooklyn 0 3 1 0 0 0 4 0 2 - 10 13 1
B.Sherdel, J.Batchelder (7), D.McWeeney (9) and G.Hartnett
L.Meadows, P.Standridge (6), J.Miljus (7) and H.McCurdy
WP - B.Sherdel (1-1)
LP - L.Meadows (1-1)
HR - CLE: J.Jackson (2), G.Goslin (1)
BRO: I.Meusel (2), J.Smith (1)