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

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Baseball League 1926
Second Division Promoted Club

Leicester City Foxes

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Baseball League 1926
Second Division Table

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Baseball League 1926
Second Division Team Batting and Pitching

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Baseball League 1926
Second Division Award Winners



Baseballer of the Year: Eddie Culshaw




Batsman of the Year: Aaron MacAlpine




Pitcher of the Year: Hubert Carter




Newcomer of the Year: Billy Hart

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Baseball League 1926
Second Division Top Game Performances

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Baseball League 1926
Second Division Top 20 Batsmen and Pitchers

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Baseball League 1926
Second Division Top Systems

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Baseball League 1926
Second Division Financial Report

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Scobie Matches Walmsley’s Home Run Feat.

Plymouth Argyle beat Charlton Athletic in a mid-table Southern Section match at The Valley on Wednesday, by sixteen runs to three. Argyle have some cause to hope for a better showing in the near future. At the exact middle point of the season, they are but seven lengths from the top and have only eight clubs ahead of them. With a good run in the second half they might make an interesting bid. If they can continue to obtain splendid performances such as that turned in by Ben Scobie, they will certainly make things interesting.

Scobie is a light batting outfielder who has seen better days, and who plays where needed. He was a centre fieldsman and a good one once, but now he is a sort of every man, and his current record is anything but good. He entered the match on Wednesday batting .186 in 199 trips, and making a mere three home runs to date. He was put seventh in the batting order, a fitting place for a batsman of his calibre to be, although the argument could be made for eighth, and some wags might have made the case for ninth.

But July 14, 1926 was a very good day for Ben Scobie, or whoever it was who played the match in his uniform on Wednesday. For in five trips to the home plate, Scobie clouted three home runs, which was only the eighth time in the thirty four seasons of the Baseball League so far that such a feat had been accomplished. It was coincidentally the second time in six weeks, as Jesse Walmsley had done the same thing in a 16 runs to four win against Cardiff City on June 3, and he was the first to do it since Pat Hodgson of Port Vale hit three in a 16 runs to three victory against Humm City in 1911.

But there is a difference this time. Walmsley is one of the better home run hitters in the League this year, with eleven now and a very good chance to make twenty. Hodgson was one of the best home run makes of his era as well, having hit 155 during his illustrious career. Scobie, by contrast, can barely hit his way out of a paper bag during the past two seasons.

But for this one day, Ben Scobie was the best home run hitter in the world.

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Anderson’s Perfect Game.

The big horse of the Lincoln City staff, Fred Anderson, was untouchable on Saturday at Spotland Stadium in Rochdale as he dispatched of The Dale, a very poor club this season, in perfect fashion by putting out all 27 batsmen he faced, to secure for himself and his Imps a five runs to nil victory.

Anderson was in command from the beginning and the Rochdale club looked atrocious trying feebly to mount any form of attack against him. He did not pitch a called ball during the entire first innings, a feat he repeated in the sixth innings as well. By the time The Dale seemed to implement the strategy of waiting for Anderson to put them on base by balls, it was far too late and Anderson was not having any of it. He did not allow any batsmen to go to three balls until the eighth, and the last batsman of the game, who did work a full count, gambled on the three and two fast ball which came across the heart of the home plate for a called strike, a strike out, and the perfect victory for Anderson.

A review of the record reveals that this is likely only the second perfect game to have been pitched in the Baseball League. The only other confirmed such game found occurred in 1902, on September 12, by Wayne Alexander of Nottingham Forest, who retired all twenty seven Grimsby Town men he faced on that day as well.

[Nzsftbl]

Love this concept, and am doing something similar (though not exact) for a different country
Question: how do you save the records of all the teams? I.e. what league they were in a given year, whether they were relegated and whatever else that isn't tracked by the game?
Such as...your screenshot of Sunderland's all-time record

[Nzsftbl]

Forgot to give an example of what I meant...

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Originally Posted by Nzsftbl

Love this concept, and am doing something similar (though not exact) for a different country
Question: how do you save the records of all the teams? I.e. what league they were in a given year, whether they were relegated and whatever else that isn't tracked by the game?
Such as...your screenshot of Sunderland's all-time record

Thanks for the good words.

After each season I download the record through the Import/Export function under League Setup, in two steps. First step I select Export Stats which download updated hitting, pitching and fielding records for each player for the entire history of the League (and the attendant minor leagues). Second step, I select Export data to CSV files, which downloads that season's information for just about every other aspect of the game.

To manage the data, I developed a series of Excel files in which I house the data and created numerous pivot table to manage the results. That's what your screenshot shows: the team record pivot table. I update the raw data I have downloaded, then update the tables. These are not "Plug and Play" data files. It took me literally dozens and dozens of man hours--maybe even more than one hundred--to build and tweak these tables so that they show what I want them to, and I am sure I will keep tweaking them as the dynasty progresses. A lot of the tables pull in data from other tables.

I'd be glad to share them with anyone who's interested in seeing them, but I would warn anyone who wants to go under the hood and play with them that unless you are a bona fide expert in Excel, there's a good chance they will break, since they are being held together with gum, paper clips and dental floss.

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Baseball League 1926
Third Division Results

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Baseball League 1926
Third Division North Promoted Club

Leeds United Whites

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Baseball League 1926
Third Division South Promoted Club

West ham United Hammers

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Baseball League 1926
Third Division Tables

Three non-league sides challenged the two North clubs seeking re-election to Division 3 of the Baseball League. Voting -

36      Wrexham             Re-elected to the League
30	Tranmere Rovers	    Re-elected to the League
8	Carlisle United	    Not elected to the League
6	Scun-thorpe & Lindsey United	Not elected to the League
5	Mansfield Town	    Not elected to the League
3	Blyth Spartans	    Not elected to the League

Four non-league sides challenged the two South clubs seeking re-election to Division 3 of the Baseball League. Voting -

44      Swindon Town        Re-elected to the League
32	Merthyr Town	    Re-elected to the League
10	Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic	Not elected to the League
1	Aldershot	    Not elected to the League
1	Ipswich Town	    Not elected to the League
0	Yeovil & Petters United	Not elected to the League

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Baseball League 1926
Third Division Team Batting and Pitching

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Baseball League 1926
Third Division North Award Winners



Baseballer of the Year: William Lewis




Batsman of the Year and Newcomer of the Year: Liam MacKinder




Pitcher of the Year: Jamie Thomson

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Baseball League 1926
Third Division South Award Winners


Baseballer of the Year: Bill Redding




Batsman of the Year: Josiah King




Pitcher of the Year: Dermot Rothwell




Newcomer of the Year: Sean Mills