[CT Wolverine]

Metaphysical League Baseball (MLB)
1921 Season


1921 was a magical season! Offense blossomed like it never had before, with league batting averages jumping 15-20 points and league ERAs jumping by .5 to .7 runs per game. Young players who had been showing potential for several seasons finally broke out, and the old guard was turned on its ear.

It started with the draft, when 1920 cellar-dwelling Red Sox selected SP Bob Black, 19, overall #1, and the equally dismal Boston Braves picked 20-year-old RF Beals Becker #2. The likes of Harmon Killebrew and Bill Madlock would follow, making this one of the most fun drafts to date.

Led by their #1 picks and offensive explosions from the likes of Ty Cobb for the Sox and Roberto Alomar for the Braves, these clubs were in the heat of the pennant races from the beginning. No team could be counted out. But even more exciting for the fans were the individual performances that were being followed all over baseball in 1921.

By the end of April, Ty Cobb was hitting .500 for the Red Sox, while Mickey Mantle of the Indians was closing in on the All-Time Home Run record. The previously lowly Browns were leading the American League, and 6 clubs were within 1 ½ games of first place in the National League.

On May 6, Mickey Mantle shattered the career Home Run record, previously held by Mark McGwire, by hitting his 100th HR. At age 31, Mantle is expected to add many more HRs before he is through.

Only 6 days later, the great Nap Lajoie, 34, of the Brooklyn Robins, got hit #2500, going 3-4 @ Ebbets Field. His lifetime line: 37-963-.302-629, 2502 H, 1092 R, leaves him #1 all-time in RBI and R, #2 in H, and #9 in avg.

Three days after that, on May 15, Fleury Sullivan, ChW, won his 200th game, tied for 9th on the all-time list with Stephen Strasburg.

The end of May found Cleveland, led by Mantle, and Pittsburgh, led by Honus Wagner and Rod Carew, atop the standings. However, by the end of June, both the previous season’s cellar-dwelling Boston clubs had taken the lead. Ty Cobb, who hit an amazing .450 in June, led the Red Sox. Roberto Alomar’s league-leading RBI total sparked the Boston Braves.

July brought on more individual milestones:
• Mickey Mantle got hit #2000 on July 9, going 2-3 in a 9-8 win vs. the A’s @ League Pk
His lifetime line to date: 109-808-.296-133, 248 2B, 107 3B, 959 R.
• Wid Conroy, Browns, a lifetime .252 hitter, went on an inexplicable 33-game hitting streak that ended 7/17 with an 0-5 day. He finished the day hitting .274. He would be one of 10 players with hitting streaks of 20 games or more during the year.
• 7/18: Mickey Mantle hits HR #17 to tie Jim Thome, Cardinals, (1915) for most HRs in a season;

August continued the individual record assault:
• 8/3: Willie McCovey, ChW, hits HR #17 to tie Mantle and Thome.
• 8/14: McCovey hits HR #18 to break the single season HR record. He would go on to hit 24 HRs for the season.
• 8/29: Hack Wilson, Phillies, set a new NL single season HR record with 19 HRs.

By the end of August, both the Boston clubs had built nearly insurmountable leads in their respective pennant races, the Red Sox by 12 games and the Robins by 9 games.

September saw the following individual single season records fall:
• Roberto Alomar broke the single season record for RBI with 129
• Alex Rodriguez broke the single season AL record for RBI with 11
• Braggo Roth broke the single season record for runs, 136 and total bases, 371, and 2B, 53
• Rod Carew broke the NL single season record for hits with 232
• Ty Cobb broke the single season record for hits with 258, slugging percentage with .601 and OPS with 1.057.
• Most amazingly, Ty Cobb easily surpassed .400 for the first time, hitting .419!


1921 World Series: Boston Braves (92-62) vs. Boston Red Sox (100-54)

This series was to be a best-of-nine affair. The Red Sox had won twice previously in 1902 and 1911, while the Braves had won in 1918. After the exciting regular season of individual achievements, the World Series could have been anti-climatic, but that was not to be the case.

The clubs split the first 4 games of the series without much fanfare except for a big game by the Red Sox’ Alex Rodriguez in a 10-2 Red Sox win in Game 3. Game 5 was tied 1-1 in the 12th when ARod hit a walk-off 2-run HR for a 3-1 Red Sox win and a 3-2 series lead. #1 draft pick Bob Black won in relief, his second victory in the series after a complete-game victory in Game 3. The Braves, however, came back from a 4-0 deficit to win Game 6, 5-4 in 10 innings, on a solid pitching performance from Phil Knell, Roberto Alomar’s game-winning RBI in the 10th, and a Jimmy O’Connell throw to nail the potential tying run at the plate in the 10th.
The Braves took the series lead in Game 7 on the strength of Bill Dammann’s 3rd series win, 6-5. But the Red Sox won big in Game 8, 9-2 to force a winner-take-all final.
The Red Sox were again too much in Game 9, taking a 5-1 lead after 3 innings and winning easily, 8-1, for their 3rd World Championship.

The MVP was Rookie overall #1 pick Bob Black, 3-0 with a 1.37 ERA in 19.2 IP.


Retirement:
• Anibal Sanchez, 318-266-5-2.28. Career: 1st G, GS, IP, Pitcher VORP; 2nd Wins, ShO, Pitcher WAR; 3rd CG, K
• John Skopec, 82-68-1-2.10. Career: 1st ERA (1375.2 IP)
• Rick Reed, 190-138-8-2.34. 1st single season W: 31
• Rip Egan, 245-154-5-2.53. Career: 2nd K; 3rd Win %; 6th W
• Max Carey, 26-643-.288-888. Career: 1st SB; 2nd sing. sea. SB

Awards
• Avg: AL Ty Cobb, Bos, .419 ; NL Nap Lajoie, Bro, .381
• Rookie of Year: AL Fred Nicholson, Cle, 11-76-.363-10, 94 R, .425 OBP
• Rookie of Year: NL Bill Madlock, Phil, 9-93-.357-7, 109 R, 214 H, .391 OBP
• Best Pitcher: AL Bob Black (#1 overall pick), Bos, 23-12-9-3.08
• Best Pitcher: NL Pud Galvin (2nd yr in row), Chc, 23-14-1-3.42
• Best Hitter: AL Ty Cobb, Bos, 15-113-.419-52, 258 H, 35 2B, 16 3B, 114 R, .601 SLG, 1.057 OPS. Set Records: Avg, H, SLG, OPS, also LL: SB
• Best Hitter: NL Honus Wagner, Pit, 7-106-.354-49, 219 H, 45 2B, 24 3B, 103 R, .539 SLG, .953 OPS. LL: SLG, OPS, 2B, XBH