November 1, 1913
Code:
TEAM W L PCT GB RS RA OPS ERA
Geneva 91 59 .607 -- 693 581 .713 2.85
Waterloo 89 61 .593 2 730 604 .750 3.16
Seneca Falls 75 75 .500 16 696 665 .702 3.44
Penn Yan 70 80 .467 21 677 744 .687 3.54
Watkins Glen 64 86 .427 27 688 794 .702 3.93
Canandaigua 61 89 .407 30 657 753 .709 4.25
It took a frightful second-half collapse by the
Penn Yan Brawlers to make it happen, but for the fourth consecutive season, the
Geneva Green Sox and
Waterloo Finches met in the Seneca Cup Series. And, although Waterloo has made the Series as the regular season runner-up on three of those occasions, they've also had better success in the Series than the Green Sox. 1913 was no exception, as the Finches beat the Green Sox, 4 games to 2, to capture the Series. Their victory gave the Finches four Series titles, making them the first franchise in Finger Lakes League history to win that many.
The Finches unleashed a fearsome offense, led by fence-busting 1B
Jim Stewart (.309-15-111, .537 SLG, 50 2B, 11 3B), dangerous LF
Marlon Powell (.343-3-86, 19 3B, 43 SB), and long-time Waterloo fixtures RF
Duane Blackburn (. 311-2-68, 43 2B, 18 3B, 36 SB) and CF
Paul O'Connor (.293-6-48, 34 SB).
No Waterloo pitcher won 20 games, but five won at least 12, led by
Ben Jones (19-13) and
Billy Edgar (18-12). Original Finch
Ernesto Santos, 38, won 16 games in what would turn out to be his final season.
Geneva's formula for regular season success remains as potent as ever: the league's best pitching staff and just enough offense to keep the pitchers in the game when they don't have their best stuff.
Casey Ladner won his second consecutive
pitchers' Triple Crown (22-11, 2.20, 213 K) and, not surprisingly, another
Outstanding Pitcher Award--his fourth in a row.
Henry Clements won 20 games in his first full season, and
Raul Alonso submitted another typical Alonso season (19-18, 2.34, 181 K).
Kent Allen, the league's most brilliant closer, saved 15 games.
Young 1B
Jimmy Martin (.307-0-94) continues to establish his credentials as one of the league's up-and-coming stars; he set a new league record with 27 triples in 1913. Skipper
Howard Robinson is managing to keep the Green Sox on top while he plans for the long-term success of the club. Seven of the 11 Geneva players with the most at-bats during the season were 23 or younger, and only one, 3B
Tony Powell (.285-5-76, age 33) is in his thirties.
Seneca Falls, with a resurgent RF
Ryan Hill batting .338 with a .401 OBP and slugging C
Henry Kester (.283-16-82) setting a new league record for home runs, powered past Penn Yan into third place.
Robinson Rodriguez, largely forgotten for several years, reasserted himself with a 22-12 record. A number of promising young players like SS
Geoffrey Veeck (.293, 52 SB), 2B-3B
Randy Lowry (.277, 43 SB), and RF
Marlon Tucker (.320-3-71) also make the Sheepdogs an exciting team to watch.
None of
Penn Yan's key players were as productive after July 1 as they had been in the first three months of the season. LF
Fernando Molina (.322. .402 OBP), CF
Francisco Rivera (.329, .410 OBP), RF Ronald Brady (.303-4-91) and 2B
Nick Wells (.287-1-73, .387 OBP) all finished the year with good numbers, but they all happened to slump at the same time. However, no Brawler had a worse second half than hapless
Roger Hopkins, who went 5-13 after a 7-1 start.
After making the playoffs in each of the FLL's first five seasons, the
Watkins Glen Bucks have now finished fifth or sixth in each of the last five years. Bucks fans could applaud the fine performance of 3B
Robby Ward (.343-7-77, 112 BB, .461 OBP), whose all-around excellence earned him the second
Outstanding Hitter Award of his illustrious career. Ward's OBP was the highest single-season mark in FLL history.
Bucks fans said goodbye to C
"Duck" West, who retired at age 40 after hitting .216 in 112 AB. And, they bid an even fonder farewell to RF
Mike Young, who turned 41, hit .273 in 264 AB, and laid aside his booming bat for good.
With their team foundering in last place,
Canandaigua fans contented themselves with watching rookie CF
Robbie Blanchard's quest to hit .400. The 20-year-old phenom actually raised his average to .419 in early August before he slumped; going into the last week of the season, he was still as high as .392 before ending at .374. Still, his mark was good enough to lead the league by almost 30 points; he stole 87 bases, setting a new league record; he scored an even 100 runs; and, not surprisingly, he ran away with the
Rookie of the Year Award. RF
Brenton Kelly (.338-8-80), LF
Anthony Madison (.279-9-69, 48 2B, 17 3B), and 1B
Mal Chase (.281-8-69) also swung the bat well for the Ice Cats, and
Garland Taylor posted a 3.32 ERA and struck out 151 men.
Thus ended the tenth season of the Finger Lakes League, a campaign in which several new single season standards were achieved. Next, I'll post a ten-year retrospective that will salute some of the most notable accomplishments of the league's first decade.