The (English) Baseball League (est. 1888): A History

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Baseball League 1912
Second Division Promoted Club

Burton United

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Baseball League 1912
Second Division Final Table

Stoke and Newcastle United were required to seek re-election to the Second Division. They were joined in the vote for League membership by five non-league clubs. Voting (number of votes):

32	Newcastle United    Re-elected to the League
22	Stoke	            Re-elected to the League
10	Leicester Fosse     Not elected to the League
6	Stockport County    Not elected to the League
4	Preston North End   Not elected to the League
4	Woolwich Arsenal    Not elected to the League
0	Luton Town          Not elected to the League

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Baseball League 1912
Second Division Team Batting and Pitching

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Baseball League 1912
Second Division Award Winners



Baseballer of the Year, Batsman of the Year, and Newcomer of the Year: Ernest Gilbey




Pitcher of the Year: Percy Antrim

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Baseball League 1912
Second Division League Leaders

Batting Leaders

Pitching Leaders

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Baseball League 1912
Second Division Top Game Performances

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Baseball League 1912
Second Division Top 20 Batsmen and Pitchers

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Baseball League 1912
Second Division Top Systems

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Baseball League 1912
Second Division Financial Report

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Old Timer Doyle Quits Game

One of the best players in history, Charles Doyle, has retired from League baseball.

Doyle joined the League in 1892 with the advent of the Second Division, entering with Walsall Town. He was traded to Burton Wanderers (later Burton United) of the First Division during the 1900 season and finished out his career with them, the last two in the lower level. He started his professional baseball career in 1889 with Darwen of the Baseball Alliance, then went to Nottingham Forest in the Alliance in 1891 before landing on Swifts. Whilst on United he played in the first EOI Cup series, which Burton lost to Liverpool.

Doyle was one of the best home run hitters in the League, finishing with 185, hitting ten or more in a season on ten separate occasions as well as leading his division four times, the most recent being just last year, 1911, during which he hit eleven home runs at the age of 44. At the time of his retirement he placed second on the League career home run list, behind only Alistair Bolton who himself hit 268 before quitting the game young.

Doyle also finished his career fourth in games played with 1,876; fourth in hits with 2,439; and thirty third in hits average with .324.

Editor's note: Due to a flaw in the version of OOTP being used for this dynasty, Second Division totals are reflected inaccurately on the BNN player page of the game. Below are Charles Doyle's corrected stats for both D2 and total career:

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1913 Baseball League Starts To-Day

April is on the wane, May is nigh, and with it comes another season of baseball, this being the twenty-sixth programme of the Baseball League.

There can no longer be any doubt as to the popularity of baseball in England. The lean years are in the throes of passing, and what troubles the selectors of available baseballers to-day is not to fill out a squad worthy of a campaign but to find enthusiastic believers in different systems of tactics to combine into an organized team. Moreover, the game has an increasing following of spectators, probably as large as is desirable. For all that is wanted is sufficient financial support to meet disbursements as necessary; there should be enough money to maintain the ground and accessories in the condition demanded by the game at its best and provide adequate accommodation for those who wish to look on. Few clubs in the League, probably no more than three, are wanting in their finances and in any danger of winding up.

It is in these conditions that the baseball season commences with all expectation of delivering a rousing entertainment for the man who wishes to pay his tanner and be repaid with a good time had at the ground. The Liverpool club are, again, the team for all to beat for the championship and the Cup. Bolton will be there in the mix again. Three other interesting clubs to follow will be Chesterfield Town, Everton and Chelsea. The first listed has leapt up two levels in two years and it would not surprise many to see them play the Cup tie in September, as they have the reigning Second Division Baseballer of the Year Gilbey and the great Hendry on attack, and pitchers Winn and Mr. Bridgeman helming the moundsmen. The latter two will be relying on the leadership of British players with American experience in hand: Chelsea welcome Armstrong “Klondike” Smith, erstwhile Liverpool Red, back to League ball, while Everton welcome Ned Crompton, a native Merseysider with scant major league and somewhat more minor league experience in North America. But even the minor leagues of America are the better of the British game at this time, so we should expect nothing less than a sterling performance from Crompton by dint of that alone.

In the second division, a free-for-all fight is likely to ensue at the top of the table, and the list of competitors should include South Shields, Coventry City, Bury, Lincoln City, Blackburn, Oldham Athletic, and Grimsby Town. All of these teams have something to recommend them for promotion, and it would surprise us if at least one of the listed clubs were not playing in the top tier for 1914.

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Baseball League 1913: Clubs

<<<<< All updated uniforms courtesy of forum member No Pepper >>>>>

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Baseball League 1913: Club Locations


First Division




Second Division

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Stevenson Reaches Base Hit Milestone

Edwin Stevenson, the redoubtable superannuated short stop for the Sunderland ball club, has become the first player in the Baseball League to acquire three thousand base hits during his career, which he achieved yesterday in a match against Tottenham Hotspur played at his club's home ground of Roker Park.

Stevenson is four and forty years of age, yet remains enough skilled to start at the short stop position and bat second for Black Cats. At one time he was considered the best fielding short stop in the game, particularly during his youthful years at Ardwick/Manchester City. His glove skills have eroded some from when he came to Sunderland for the 1902 season, but his bat is such that he still wins baseball games for his team.

And such was the case yesterday as he collected not only his three thousandth career base hit, a sharp single to centre field in the sixth innings, but three other hits as well, including a ninth innings single that put him in position to score the winning run, if not for the incompetence of subsequent batters who made outs and stranded him at third base.

In addition to his 3,000 League base hits, he also collected 226 base hits with Ardwick playing in the Alliance during pre-league days, rendering him far and away the most prolific hit-getter in the British game. Frank Hodder of the Wednesday Owls is some three hundred League base hits behind Stevenson and thus seems unlikely to catch up before he himself retires from the game.

So congratulations for your singular achievement, Mr. Edwin Stevenson!

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Baseball League 1913
First Division Results

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Baseball League 1913
Emperor of India Cup Series

Liverpool defeated Crewe Alexandra
Four Matches to Two

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Baseball League 1913
First Division Champions and Emperor of India Cup Winners




Liverpool Reds

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Baseball League 1913
Emperor of India Cup Runners Up

Crewe Alexandra Railwaymen

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Baseball League 1913
First Division Table

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Baseball League 1913
First Division Team Batting and Pitching