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

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1931: Clubs

Most uniforms courtesy of forum members
No Pepper (Pre-1930 kits) and
TxRanger (post-1930 kits)

.
.

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1931: Club Locations


First Division




Second Division




Third Division Northern Section




Third Division Southern Section (minus London clubs)




Third Division Southern Section (London clubs only)

[chucksabr]

Record Four 3Bs for Drury.

Fred Drury—the great young second base man for the Leicester City club, not the old second base man who passed through Walsall and Exeter City five years ago—is proving his worth as a “star” for the Foxes, a batsman with a high degree of bat-to-ball contact, and with speed to waste. Yesterday he gave a sterling example of both skills against Bolton Wanderers at Burnden Park.

Starting the match against right handed pitcher Harton, Drury batted from the left side and smacked his first threebee of the game, scoring on Wood’s ground ball out to the second base man. After grounding out to start the third innings, he came up again to lead off the sixth and made his second 3B, and made his second run as Clark hit a fly ball that was taken for an out. Drury then faced right handed relief pitcher Naylor with two out in the seventh innings and made yet another “triple”, his third of the match, and this time with Sylvester on the bases who scored. That blow matched the First Division record for most 3Bs in a single match, held by literally dozens of other batsmen throughout the four decades long annals of the League.

Despite all this, the visiting Leicester side trailed Wanderers going into the top of the ninth innings, which Reeves started with his own 3B and, after two outs were made, sub batsman Moran drew the Foxes level with a home run. This brought up Drury once more, this time hitting from the right side against left handed pitcher Rudd, and who hit a towering fly ball that hit barely fair and bounced directly to the right fieldsman Deverell that would normally be a certain twobee, but once the “dust had settled”, the speedy Drury was instead standing on third with his fourth 3B of the game. Only two other batsmen had matched this feat: Oliver Hendry for Chesterfield in 1904, and Willie Kerr for Derby County in 1898, both clubs in the Second Division at that time.

Drury did not plate a run, nor did Bolton in the bottom of the frame, which led to extra innings. In the eleventh, Drury came up once more, from the left side once again, and hit a high fly ball to the fence in right that was taken for the out. Campbell made the winning home run in the bottom of the eleventh to give the victory to Wanderers, who were only too magnanimous towards Drury’s accomplishment, which they gladly accepted as opposed to holding Drury hitless but instead losing the game.

[chucksabr]

I am not writing a story in 1931 English vernacular for this since boxscores can't corroborate it, but I think it is worth noting here that four very long hitting streaks, across all three divisions, were snapped on the same day, and as proof of that, I offer the BNN news account of each, with date-stamp, in all their 2015 Americanized glory.

[chucksabr]

Pitcher Has Record Batting Day in Lopsided Victory.

Louis Blackburn of the Sunderland club pitched well enough in eight innings to win the match against Grimsby Town at Roker Park yesterday, but it was at the bat where he had an especially momentous day.

Blackburn put himself down in the count early by conceding three runs in the first innings, and he made a ground ball out his first time up in the third innings, after which his club was still down three runs to nil. But then the runs started raining down, and Blackburn was a full participant.

In the bottom of the next innings, Blackburn came to the bat with bases loaded and made a single, batting in the Black Cats’ first two runs. He came up in the next innings with the bases loaded again and nearly made the most of the situation by slamming a 3B, batting in three more runs. In the sixth innings, he made another single for another run batted in. In the seventh he approached the home plate again, the fifth consecutive innings he came to the bat, and this time made a sacrifice hit to send his runner to third, despite the twelve runs advantage Black Cats had against the Mariners.

Blackburn pitched through eight and was replaced for the ninth by Thomson, who retired Grimsby Town one two three to seal the win for Sunderland by the margin of 22 runs to 5.

A check of the record indicates that this is the first time a League pitcher has ever batted home as many as six runs in a game.

[chucksabr]

The Great Ramsay to Fulham.

Shock waves rippled through Walsall as their baseball club favourite was sent to the Fulham club yesterday in exchange for four young players who are meant to help the Swifts in future seasons, as the club now considers their chances for success during this season to have entirely dissipated.

Jamie Ramsay, aged 34 years and one of the greatest baseballers ever to grace our pitches, is also beloved throughout the kingdom as the man who stood up for British baseball eight years ago, replying to the patronising remarks by American slugger “Babe” Ruth with an uproariously cheeky response that is not fit to reprint in this journal as a direct quote. The brazen Scotsman, who held up his homeland with pride in such a way as to put broad smiles on the faces of Englishmen and Irishmen as well, has been considered a folk hero in the West Midlands, but especially in the town of Walsall, which is reeling from the bad times wrought by the current great slump. Not much is known about pitchers Martinez, Smith and Christie, or of first base man Whitehead, who come to the Swifts in the exchange, other than that none is older than twenty three years, and none will help Walsall win any matches any time soon.

Fulham, on the other hand, should benefit greatly from the arrival of Ramsay. Unlike the once mighty Walsall, who have won only 32 matches for a win rate of 43 per cent. thus far, Fulham is very much in the hunt for a spot in the EOI Cup series, as they stand level for the sixth place with Bury and only five lengths behind the second spot for the post season tie. Ramsay is clearly not the batsman he had been in his salad days. If he were to finish the season with his current batting average of .336, which is quite good, it would still be the lowest of his august career, and his seventeen steals so far, which would end up as being 29 at season’s end if taken at the same rate, is a far cry from the 70 and 80 bases he would routine nick in a season’s time. However, Ramsay is still a dangerous presence at the home plate for opponents to see, and he is quite good at assessing the situation at hand and delivering the right result that puts his team in the best position to win matches. That is what the Fulham Cottagers hope Ramsay will impart to them as they vie to return to the EOI Cup series after two seasons' absence.

The baseball supporters of the Capital may revel in having the opportunity to see an all time great play out his days nearby, but the great baseball town of Walsall is mourning the loss of its adopted son, never mind the downfall of their once great club in general.

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1931
First Division Results

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1931
EOI Cup Series

Manchester United defeated Leicester City
Four Matches to One

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1931
First Division Co-Champions and EOI Cup Winners


Manchester United Red Devils

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1931
First Division Co-Champions and EOI Cup Runners Up


Leicester City Foxes

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1931
First Division Table

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1931
First Division Team Batting and Pitching

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1931
First Division Award Winners


Baseballer of the Year and Batsman of the Year: Cyril Emery




Pitcher of the Year: Gerardus Vliegenthat




Newcomer of the Year: Alfie Carroll

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1931
First Division League Leaders

Batting Leaders




Pitching Leaders

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1931
First Division Top Game Performances

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1931
First Division Top 20 Batsmen and Pitchers

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1931
First Division Top Systems

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1931
First Division Financial Report

[chucksabr]

Fielding Matches Game RBI Mark in Trouncing of Hull City.

Ernest Fielding was the entire difference in the pummelling of Hull City by Gateshead at Anlaby Road on Friday, by the score of 14 runs to six. Fielding batted in eight runs, which matches the Division record for most in a single game. He did so by making a home run to start the second innings, a single to score two in the third, a 2B to score another in the fifth, and a second homer with the bases filled to cap his afternoon.

This is the second time this season in which a Division batsman has driven in eight runs in a game. Gregor Marshall of Durham City did the same on June 22 during a 22 runs to five thrashing of Accrington Stanley.

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1931
Second Division Results