[...]... beginning of the 1916 season In 1916, the pennant races would be among the most competitive in baseball history For the American League, this was largely the result of what happened during the 1914-15 offseason Philadelphia’s fiveyear dominance of the American League ended after the 1914 season with the equivalent of a modern-day salary dump The net result simultaneously weakened the A’s and strengthened the. .. 1916 Major League season were at hand.50 Predicting the 1916 National League pennant race was not easy The league had had three different champions in each of the past three years In addition, the Dodgers’ 1915 performance meant they could not be ignored as 26 The Major League Pennant Races of 1916 a contender Furthermore, the poor showing of the Giants in 1915 made it hard to handicap their chances,... the other American League teams, bringing more parity to the circuit In 1915, the American League pennant race had been a three-team race won by the Red Sox, which held off stiff challenges from Detroit and Chicago The Tigers and White Sox’s respective second7 8 The Major League Pennant Races of 1916 and third-place finishes marked the beginning of the end of a period that saw eastern teams dominate the. .. the American League The further improvement of Chicago and Detroit in the 1915-16 offseason combined with a major personnel loss for the defending champion Red Sox would make 1916 even more competitive Moreover, the death of the Federal League, a rival upstart circuit, broadened the available pool of talent Over in the National League, the regular season seemed to confirm that parity was the new norm... after their own pennant hopes died One example of how these elements come together helps set the stage Seven times in 1916 pitchers took the mound attempting to start and win both ends of a doubleheader Four of them were successful, a major league record that belongs in the will-never-be-threatened category Five of these efforts took place in the National League, in September, illustrating both the closeness... by himself.”44 ball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown, N.Y.) 24 The Major League Pennant Races of 1916 A new phase of camp began on March 18 when the Phillies began a series of exhibition games against a National League rival, the Chicago Cubs Since the Cubs roster was a combination of last year’s team and the Federal League champion Chicago Whales, manager Joe Tinker felt the consolidated club would... completed just after the end of the game Especially suspicious is the fact that the afternoon newspapers had time to include the story, and the editions were reportedly on the street just moments after Boston’s star player was told It certainly seems that Lannin was being duplicitous, perhaps abetting Johnson’s efforts to manipulate the deal 18 The Major League Pennant Races of 1916 The dollar amount... had a brief span of astonishing success in 1908 While pitching for the Phillies, Harry defeated the Giants three times in five September days, in large part costing New York the pennant Coveleski then stumbled into oblivion and out of the major leagues before resurfacing with the Tigers for the 1914 season Out of nowhere, he won 22 games in each of the next two seasons Following the duo of Harry and Hooks... 1914, the Giants, Pirates or Cubs had won every National League pennant since 1901 Now the surprise triumph of the 1914 “Miracle Braves” had been followed by the Philadelphia Phillies’ first pennant While more competitive pennant races had helped baseball on the field in 1915, greater competition off the field had a negative impact on the bottom line.3 However, the Federal League, one such source of competition,... systems Although there were more minor league teams in the Deadball Era, they were independent operations, not under the control of major league teams As a result, the standard progression to the majors I “Carrigan’s news was unbelievable, but it was true.” 9 was for a player to sign with a minor league team that would at some future date sell him to a major league team.6 In the case of the Phillies, . y0 w0 h0" alt="" The Major League Pennant Races of 1916 This page intentionally left blank The Major League Pennant Races of 1916 The Most Maddening. celebration. 2 The game marked the of cial end of the 1915 season and the unofficial beginning of the 1916 season. In 1916, the pennant races would be among the most