[CT Wolverine]

Metaphysical League Baseball (MLB)
1911 Season


Going into the 1911 season the experts consensus top prospects included:
1. SP Doc McJames, 19, Chicago Cubs, overall #1 pick
2. LF George R Stone, 25, Detroit Tigers, overall #2 pick
3. 2B Tim Raines Sr, 18, New York Highlanders, pick 1-4
4. SS Ryne Sandberg, 20, Boston Red Sox, pick 1-7
7. CF Roy Sievers, 21, Cincinnati Reds
Each would play a prominent role in their teams’ fortunes in 1911.

Early on, the defending champion Philadelphia Athletics dominated the AL. The A’s were 29-14 through May with a 4 game lead on Boston. By July, however, the lead seesawed between the A’s, Red Sox and Senators. The A’s faded, while the Red Sox and Senators were tied for 1st on Labor Day. Then, in the 3rd week of September, the Red Sox strung together 5 wins while the Senators were losing 5 in a row and pulled away, eventually winning by a 4-game margin.

A big side-story in the AL was the emergence of rookie George R Stone of Detroit. Stone was named Batter of the Month in April, hitting .438, then Rookie of the Month in May, finishing the 1st 2 months of the season at 2-30-.412 with 16 SBs. Stone ended the year leading the league in batting average and winning Batter of the Year and Rookie of the Year honors with a 4-67-.356-67 stat line. He led the resurgent Tigers to an 84-70 4th place finish.

The NL race was a shocker. The perennial doormat Chicago cubs, 56-98 in 1910, opened a big lead with a 16-2 April mark behind the pitching of Adonis Terry and David Price. The Cubs continued to hold the lead, entering September at 74-48, 5 ½ game ahead of the Cincinnati Reds. In the first 5 days of the month, the Reds closed the gap to 2 games. The Reds then came to Chicago on 9/6-9 and swept the Cubs to take a 1-game lead. But the Cubs were not finished. With 1 game to play, on 10/12, the Cubs trailed by 1, and that game was Chicago @ Cincinnati. The Cubs’ Adonis Terry pitched a shutout for his 30th victory to force a playoff at Chicago. Cincinnati led 5-4 with 2 out, bottom of the 9th, men on 2nd & 3rd, SP Tiant still on the mound vs Eric Young Jr. Young lined to CF and the Reds won the pennant.

Adonis Terry of the Cubs, only 24 and in his 5th season, had one of the best MLB seasons ever. He won the Pitching Triple Crown with 30 wins, 1.93 ERA and 245 Ks. He was of course voted Best Pitcher in the NL by a wide margin.

The Reds and Red Sox advanced to the World Series, where the Red Sox were heavy favorites based on their offense and the fact that Reds SPs Roy Paterson and Fritz Peterson were out with injuries. The Red Sox did not disappoint, winning handily in 5 games for their 2nd world title and first since 1902.

The Red Sox had many standouts on the year. To name a few:
• SP Jason Hammel, 23-8, 2.64 (AL Best Pitcher award)
• SP Russ Christopher, 23-14, 2.73
• RF Mike Tiernan, who broke MLB season records for Runs Scored, 116, and Total Bases, 288, with a 10-62-.293-71 line
• CF Tim Hendryx, 2-76-.324-30
• 1B Mike Hargrove 5-58-.301, .408 OBP, 91 R
• Rookie SS Ryne Sandberg, 7-81-.319, 30
• 3B Mark McGwire, 11-81-.222
• Closer Ramon Hernandez, 4-1-11, 1.78

This Red Sox team may be the most balanced to win the MLB World Title in the league’s eleven seasons.

Other Individual Season and Career Records Broken or Tied in 1911:

Season:
• RBI: Brandon Belt, Pit, 112
• Games Pitched: Colby Lewis, NYA, 75
• HR Allowed: Pascual Perez, Cle, 22

Career:
• RBI: Joey Votto (38), NYA, retires with 750
• HR: David Justice, Pit, & Frank J Thomas (1950’s), ChW, tie Joey Votto, NYA, 58