1920 North Carolina State League — Regular Season Recap
Raging Bulls, scrappy Tourists
Durham wins regular season going away
FINAL 1920 standings
Welcome back, Durham. After several years of languishing at the back of the North Carolina State League pack, the Bulls charged to the forefront in a big way. In the first season of the 162-game, eight-team format, Durham ripped off a league record 106 victories. That was 10 better than reigning champion Asheville (who as you'll see below is a pretty good team in its own right).
The Bulls were top three in nearly every offensive and pitching category. Five starters hit better than .300, led by right fielder
Garrett McDonald's .357 clip. A lot of guys are just emerging into their prime, so Durham could hang around the top for awhile. Centerfielder
David Coffman, age 24, batted .320 with 71 RBIs. First baseman
Raul Rivera, age 24, hit .316 with a team-best 104 RBIs and team-leading nine home runs. Left fielder
Jason Wilson, age 29, batted .309, stroked 22 triples and stole 66 bases (but was caught an amazing 43 times - you've got to love his bravado).
Pitching-wise, the Bulls relied upon a wiley veteran to lead the way.
Kenny Davis, who turned 40 early in the season, finished 27-10 with a 3.20 ERA. He led the Bulls with 41 starts.
Curt Dunham added another 20 wins, while
Kenny Craft recorded 18.
Dan "Little Rat" Sutton posted 12 wins and a team best ERA of 2.51.
The Asheville Tourists managed to outduel Winston-Salem for the second playoff spot.
Chris Wilson had a lot to do with that, posting a 25-8 pitching record with a sterling 2.45 ERA. Wilson and Davis should be the top contenders for Pitcher of the Year honors. Or then again, maybe Wilson's teammate
Tynan Williams will take the top hurler's prize. Williams went 25-7, though his ERA was a little higher at 3.02. Good grief, if you've got two pitchers combining for 50 wins, you're doing pretty good. Throw in trusty vet
Merlin "The Wizard" McNeill (20-14 record, 3.04 ERA) and you've got to think Asheville has a real shot at unseating the Bulls in the playoff series. We'll see.
Top hitters for Asheville were shortstop
Jerry Johnson (.333 average, team-high 211 hits, 87 RBIs), first baseman
Clint Moran (199 hits, .307 average, league best 14 homers) and centerfielder
John Stewart (.313 average, 206 hits, 23 triples, 49 stolen bases). Popular third baseman
Chris Hartle batted .305, though he only played in about 130 games (he platooned at third it seems). In all, seven Asheville players had between 124 and 206 hits.
Another big story in the 1920 North Carolina State League was the rise (finally) of the Greensboro Patriots to a competitive level. The Pats finished 81-81. Pretty mediocre to most franchises but when you're first seven seasons all feature losing records (and some really bad records a few times), you can appreciate the progress.
Second baseman
Joe Herrera, age 26 — who has bounced around from Winston-Salem to Raleigh and then to Greensboro — led the Pats in most offensive categories. His line: .347 average, 223 hits, 39 doubles, eight homers, five triples, 92 RBIs. He only struck out 10 times and was walked 59 times. Outfielder
Steve Perry didn't stop believing and posted a .310 average with 212 hits and 109 RBIs. His journey included a 5-for-7 performance against Charlotte on May 2, hitting two triples and scoring three times.
Norm Ross led the Patriots from the mound, winning 16 games.
Winston-Salem fell just short of making the playoffs. Right-fielder
Angel "Sweetness" Pellicer turned in another stellar season, hitting .347 with a team-best 84 RBIs. He has piled up 1,139 career hits in eight seasons with the Twins. Winston traded for pitcher
Howard Miller (the No. 1 pick in 1917), and the former Greensboro hurler delivered. He was 22-11 on the season, with 17 of his wins coming in Winston-Salem. Again, what was Greensboro thinking letting him go? Miller is just 26.
The Charlotte Hornets, who won the NCSL in 1917 and 1918, fell back down to earth this season.
Rudy Young had a solid season from the mound, but his 23 wins were countered by 17 losses. Nobody was really spectacular offensively either. Left-fielder
Antonio Arevalo had the best batting average at .317 and led the Hornets with 104 RBIs.
The new Wilmington Pirates felt pretty good about finishing with 73 wins in their debut year — and about leaping over Raleigh by nine games in the final standings. Unfortunately all of the Pirates regular starting pitchers finished with losing records.
Israel Soliz won 16 games but lost 20. Youngster
John "Cats" Rocha was 11-15 after getting traded to Wilmington from Greensboro.
The Pirates played A LOT of guys during the season. First baseman
Andy Gross was the most productive, batting .296 with 179 hits.
Baseball fans started referring to Raleigh as the "Crapitals" this season. The Craps, err, Caps struggled big time, living up to the moniker. But the light in the darkness was 35-year-old outfielder
Bill Robbins. He shattered some NCSL records by recording a league-best 234 hits and building a new single-season record with a .378 average. Robbins had 47 doubles and 10 triples. Too bad he played on a terrible team. Imagine that bat in Asheville, Durham or Winston-Salem this season.
Lastly, Fayetteville brought up the rear. Left-fielder
Aiden Arispe was pretty good (175 hits, .300 average) but no one batted home more than 67 runs.
Domingo Lisbey had the most pitching wins with 17, but he lost 18 games. The Highlanders are the new Patriots it looks like. Could be some lean times ahead in Fayetteville, though the team will get first dibs on the new crop of players for next season.
Next up: Asheville vs. Durham for the 1920 Carolina Champions Cup...