[ArquimedezPozo]

The 1916 baseball season featured fireworks... on and off the field.

The Federal League
The Federal League race was close wire to wire. How close? On May 31, two months into the season, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and Walter Johnson's Chicago Whales were tied atop the standings at 25-23 apiece, while another three teams - the Milwaukee Brewers, Frank Baker's Buffalo Blues, and Tris Speaker's Baltimore Terrapins, were a game back at 24-24. The defending champion Peppers of Newark were in last place... just three games back.

By the end of June, things had separated a bit. Tris Speaker was living up to expectations (.351/.472/.453 on June 30) but the rest of his team continued to underperform, and a 9-18 month put them in last, 8 games back. At the top of the standings, Indianapolis ruled the roost at 41-34, but Chicago, Buffalo, and Milwaukee were all within three. But in July, the Whales took over, led by the Big Train - Johnson went 4-1 with four saves, pitching in 12 games (six of them starts). He pitched 58 innings and allowed just 8 runs, a 1,24 ERA. That made him 14-2 on the season, while the Whales ended the month at 57-44, four games up on Milwaukee.

The Brewers closed the gap in August though, pulling even with the Whales by August 9 and a game ahead on the 10th. That would prove to be their high water mark, though, as they went just 8-11 to close out August, dropping three games back of the Whales. Chicago expanded their lead, and eventually clinched, with a 14-10 September. Milwaukee dropped further, finishing in a tie with Indianapolis for second, six games back. The defending champion Peppers had an atrocious September, going 9-15 to fall to a last place tie... with Tris Speaker's Terrapins, at 71-83 despite an incredible season from their CF. Speaker hit .360/.486/.476, leading the league in average, OBP, OPS, and Runs Created, and set a Federal League record with 12 WAR.

The National League
The NL was a tale of two halves. At the start of the day on July 20, the race looked like a clear contest between Midwest rivals, with the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals tied at 48-42, while the reigning champion Phillies sat a game and a half back. The bottom part of the league was rounded out by three teams who each sat 5 back in the standings: The Pittsburgh Pirates, the disappointing Brooklyn Robins, and the Boston Braves.

But on the 20th, Boston beat St. Louis 5-2. Then the next day, they beat them again, 4-1. Then 8-0. Then 3-2. Two days later they went 3-1 in a four game set against Chicago. Then they hosted the Cardinals again, and swept them again in a four game set. All of a sudden, on August 2, the Braves were in first place at 53-47, having dropped the Cubs to third and the Cardinals all the way to fifth with a losing record. Neither would be factors the rest of the way.

The Phillies, however, would be. While Boston was surging and Chicago and St. Louis were fading, Philly kept on keeping on, going 8-5 over the same span to keep pace. On August 2, they were just a game behind the first place Braves. They went 16-9 in August, while the Braves cooled off at 14-12 in the month. At the start of play on September 1, Philadelphia looked like they were set for a second straight NL pennant.

Then, the Braves forgot how to lose.

Boston went 20-6 in September, including a 12 game win streak to open the month (including a three game sweep of the Athletics). Philly played only a bit better than .500 ball over the same stretch, and on October 1 - with just four games to go - Philadelphia was a game from elimination.

As fate would have it, those four games were in Philly... against the Braves.

With no room for error, Philly went to work. The first game was a nailbiter, going into the tenth tied 4-4 before RF Gavvy Cravath hit a walk-off home run (his 13th of the season, tied for the league lead). Now two games back, Philly rode starters Eppa Rixley (complete game game 2 win) and Grover Alexander, who was masterful in a 3-0 win, with a complete game shutout striking out 7, allowing 4 hits, and walking none. The Phillies were now tied with the Braves, with one single game to decide the pennant.

They lost.

Boston came out swinging, driving rookie starter Burleigh Grimes from the game in the 5th with three runs that made it 7-1. The A's came back with one in the bottom of the inning, but Win Noyes held them scoreless to cap off a brilliant 17 win season. The Braves had done it, coming back from a last place tie to take the club's second pennant in three years, and the second in their history... and they weren't done yet.

The American League
For most of the season, the AL race looked like a laugher, as the Chicago White Sox, fresh off their narrow second-place 1915, retooled and took the junior circuit - if it could still be called that - by storm. As late as August 6, the White Sox held a commanding 11 game lead over Boston's Red Sox, despite the latter's excellent .612 winning percentage. On August 7, though, Boston beat Chicago 3-1 behind the outstanding pitching of Carl Mays and the hitting of 2B Bruno Betzel (traded to Boston by the Browns in the offseason). The Red Sox went on to win the first three games of that four game set, sparking a surge that saw them go 19-6 before dropping two straight to Philly in early September. Over the same stretch, Chicago went just 12-13, and their lead fell to just 3 games by the end of the day on September 10.

That's where the slide ended. After a bitter loss to the last place Browns, 3B Buck Weaver ripped into his teammates for their sloppy play, and something changed. Over the next 15 games, without a single day off, Chicago went 12-3. The streak that included a decisive three game sweep over Boston that all but guaranteed Chicago the pennant. When play finished on October 6, the White Sox had won 104 games to Boston's 96, and went into the World Series the clear favorites against another Boston team, the Braves.

That series would have long-lasting consequences for all of baseball, but it wasn't the only thing in Boston that would.

After Tris Speaker's stunning Federal League defection in the offseason, Boston dropped a lawsuit for breach of contract - not against Speaker, but against the Baltimore Terrapins, who had signed him. The ruling would come down in the offseason, and all of baseball watched and waited: the reserve clause would have its day in court, finally.

The 1916 World Series
The most consequential World Series in the history of the game began on Sunday, October 8, at Boston's Braves Field. The White Sox were of course heavily favored: with 104 wins - the most since the 1912 Red Sox, who had won the World Series that season - they appeared to stand head and shoulders above the Braves, one of the weakest pennant winners in history at 86-68. Led by outstanding pitching (Eddie Cicotte finished second in the AL with a 2.05 ERA, and none of their other two top starters had an ERA above 2.5) and a dynamic offense that led the league in virtually every offensive category led by 1B Joe Fournier, 2B Eddie Collins, and LF Happy Felsch, who at .327/.377/.423 was second only to George Sisler in BA and OPS.

The Braves were good, and capable of stretches of greatness, though, as evidenced by their incredible September run. Boston was a balanced team - third in the NL in Runs Scored, second in Runs Allowed. Still, few of their individual players stood above the rest. Their young shortstop, Rabbit Maranville, hit .285 to lead the team, and no Boston player appeared in the top three in any major offensive category. Bob Steele came in second in the ERA race at 1.97, and their pitching was uniformly excellent, but so was that of their AL counterparts. They were hot coming in, and fresh off a season-winning final game in Philadelphia, though. The crowd that greeted them in Boston was electric.

The first game of the series was a taut pitchers duel, with 18 game winner Dick Rudolph getting the ball in game 1 and delivering 8 innings of shutout ball. He was matched almost pitch for pitch by Chicago's Reb Russell, and going into the 9th neither team had scored. But in the top of the inning, Boston 3B Red Smith made a critical error, leading to a three run frame that would put Chicago in the driver's seat, as Russell shut Boston down in the bottom of the ninth to win Game 1.

But Boston came roaring back, as they'd done all year. Frank Gilhooley and Sherry Magee led the offense against Chicago starter Joe Benz, while the youngster Art Nehf held Chicago to two runs over nine. Boston took Game 2 4-2, and the teams headed west to Chicago for the middle three.

Game 3 was one for the ages - a 17 inning affair in which a 2-2 tie was broken in the 8th by Boston (a Johnny Evers two run single) only to have Chicago tie it back up on a Happy Felsch double that made it 4-4. Boston scored again in the 12th when Bill Hinchman knocked in Red Shannon, but again Chicago tied it when pinch hitter Walton Cruise scored Ray Schalk on a single. The 5-5 tie lasted another five innings until Boston broke through with three to win the game against Jim Scott. Boston took a 2-1 series lead.

Chicago answered with a 3-0 victory behind Russell in Game 4 to tie things up, but that's when things started to go south for Chicago. An 11 inning game ended on a disastrous miscue by SS Ivy Olson on what should have been an easy inning-ender, but which instead allowed the go-ahead run to cross the plate in the 11th. After the game, Olson seemed shaken, and one reporter wrote that the SS seemed shaken - understandable given events, but a line that took on a life of its own later.

Back in Boston for Game 5, another error - this one by Felsch, who was having a poor series at the plate and in the field - gave Boston a three run fourth to make the game 3-2. Though Chicago had chances in the coming innings, they failed in each one, and didn't score again, and the game and series ended there. The Boston Braves, who had won 28 fewer games than the White Sox, were champions. In their four combined losses, the White Sox had committed 8 errors to the Braves 3, and stars like Happy Felsch (who hit .174 for the series) had been silent.

It didn't seem earth-moving in the last days of October in 1916, but the Braves win, and the White Sox defeat, would help to redefine the game in the coming months.

Awards
AL Pitcher of the Year: Dutch Leonard, Boston Red Sox - repeating, with a 26-12 record and a 2.00 ERA to take the award unanimously. Teammate Babe Ruth came in second here, but would take home other hardware.
NL Pitcher of the Year: Grover Cleveland Alexander, 21-18 with a 2.00 ERA and 171 strikeouts, also unanimously.
FL Pitcher of the Year: Walter Johnson, Chicago Whales - repeating, with a 25-17 record, a 1.86 ERA, and 199 strikeouts.

AL MVP: Babe Ruth, Boston Red Sox - the original two-way player was stellar on the mound, going 23-12 with a 2.65 ERA in over 300 innings, but it was his eye-opening offensive performance that won him this award, as he hit .302/.374/.512 and led the AL with 7 homers... despite only getting 189 at bats.
NL MVP: Rogers Hornsby, St. Louis Cardinals - at age 20, his season has already made him a massive star, leading the NL in every slash category at .316/.387/.468 with 11 home runs, a league-leading 256 total bases, and a 9.2 WAR, tied with the AL's Amos Leonard for the best mark in the AL/NL.
FL MVP: Tris Speaker, Baltimore Terrapins - a .360/.486/.476 line with 12 WAR is far and away the best performance in Federal League history.

Historical Notes: finally coming back to this after some time away!

A few ways in which art is imitating life here: the decision to have the Red Sox sue the Terrapins is to parallel the actual Federal League, which folded in 1915 with payoffs or handouts to team owners which left out the Baltimore Terrapins. Baltimore's owners sued the National League, challenging anti-trust. The suit goes in the other direction here due to Speaker, and will have different results.

The other big development here is the brewing scandal over the 1916 World Series. Obviously in real life the 1919 White Sox lost to the Reds and, it was later discovered, had several players who were in league with gamblers over the series. I hadn't really intended to follow that storyline at all, but when the 104 win White Sox lost to a clearly inferior Braves team in a series where some major figures in the actual 1919 scandal also underperformed, it was too good an opportunity to pass up. It will take some other turns here, though.