The bigs news at the end of the championship seasons in the National and American Leagues was the refusal by the New York Giants to play the planned "World Championship Series" against the AL Champions. "We beat those fellas last year," opined Paul Samples, the star outfielder of the Giants. "I reckon the owners figure nothing much has changed."
So the fans are left without the promised championship series and the uproar will give them something to talk about during the long winter months.
As for the regular season, the pennant races were essentially over at the end of August. The Giants ended up winning the NL flag by a robust 13 games over the St. Louis Cardinals by virtue of finishing with a 104-50 record. The Senators posted a slightly better 14 game cushion over the AL runners-up from Cleveland, finishing 102-52 for the season.
The batting crown (another race that seemingly ended by around mid-season) went to Boston Americans' star Sean McGonigle. The Mighty Mick posted a .382 mark and was a full thirty percentage points better than his nearest AL rival, Philly's Newt Madewell (.352) and 51 points better than the NL batting champion: St. Louis' Milt Cumberledge (.341).
Pitching was the name of the game in '04 and Washington's Pat Krieger had a heckuva season. Krieger was 31-11 with a 1.76 ERA for the AL champs, tossing 391 innings in his 44 starts. There was a tie atop the NL winner board with New York's Aidan O'Day and St. Louis' Tommy Powell each posting 27 victories. Powell was 27-4 with a tidy 1.61 ERA while O'Day was 27-11 with a 1.55 ERA. O'Day's Giant team mate Fred McDonnell was the ERA champ with a 1.49 mark, while Detroit's Reginald Filligree paced the AL with a 1.59 mark.
The Eastern League champion was the Newark Sailors, who posted a 98-42 mark and finished four games ahead of Rochester. Rochester's Jersey Joe Reed was the batting champion with a .426 mark while Buffalo's John Whitaker made news by recording 31 round trippers this season.
In the American Association, the Louisville Colonels repeated as Association champs, posting a 92-48 mark to finish 14 games ahead of Columbus. Milwaukee's Pat Mastin was the AA batting titlist with a .324 mark while Colonels' pitcher Don Hunsacker was 21-6 and posted a league-best 1.31 ERA to stake his claim as the top hurler in the circuit.
Out west, the Pacific Coast League season ends in a week, and the pennant race between Portland and Seattle is coming down to the wire. Seattle (114-89) currently has a two-game edge on the Browns (112-91) as the marathon PCL season winds down.
PAUL SAMPLES