The Boston Minutemen had reached manager-turned-part-owner George Theobald termed an "untenable financial situation." By this he meant that his team, winners of four straight Federal Association pennants, was nearly broke. All that talent was expensive, so Theobald, with the blessing of his co-owners (including majority boss Steve Cunningham, who at 72 was turning more and more of the running of the club over to Theobald), started making trades.
The first came in early January - stellar pitcher Bill McDaniel and outfielder Jim Underwood were shipped to the New York Gothams for RF Dave Paine and P Johnny Doctor, plus $2000 in cash. That money was earmarked towards keeping Woody Trease for at least another couple of seasons. Not quite three weeks later, with the seismic waves not even settled down, Theobald swung a second deal, sending 2B Ike Stokes to Detroit for CF Francis Houston. The third and final deal (for now) took place in early February and saw SS Charlie Coller (who had the highest salary on the team) and 1B Allen Perkins head to Washington with young SS Arch Johnston (recently purchased by the Eagles from Wilkes-Barre in the ECA) going to Boston.
When the dust settled, the newspapers (and therefore the fans) were in an uproar and the face of the Minutemen was vastly changed. The main piece from the dynasty who remained in place was Woody Trease. Theobald rightly feared torches and pitchforks on Boston Commons if Trease were sold or traded away, so he stayed. Surprisingly - the club did not fall apart. Trease was outstanding, posting a league-best 34-14 record as he shouldered an increased workload with aplomb, finishing with a 1.69 ERA that was third-best in the league. Arch Johnston, the "cheaper" alternative at SS, finished 2nd in the batting race (.311) and young catcher Jack Clark turned in a good season in his rookie campaign, finishing 3rd in the league in both homers (5) and RBIs (72). All that angst and furor amongst the newsmen and fans? Gone - amazing what a 90-64 record and fifth-straight pennant could do. Those who in March wanted to run him out of town were now calling Theobald a genius.
The Cleveland Foresters also made a big-time trade in the offseason, stealing stellar LF Tom Van Zeeland from the Philadelphia Sailors (who had just purchased him from KC in the Century League where he had hit .426 in 1905) in return for P Al Goodwater and rookie OF Obie Keenan. Van Zeeland turned in a good season with a .295 average and Jack Arabian did his usual batting-champion thing (.331 - which was actually only good enough for 2nd place thanks to a .340 campaign by New York's Bill Craigen) but it still wasn't enough to knock the Stars off the Continental Association throne as they finished 96-57, 12 games ahead of Cleveland.
Lest you think things were static (and you'd be forgiven for thinking that given that the Minutemen & Stars apparently had things on lockdown), there was movement in the standings. The regularly dismal Brooklyn Kings made a return to the first division with a surprising 82-70, 3rd-place finish thanks to Joe Brownfield (25-17, 2.06) who was picked up from the Sailors and an emerging star in CF Frank McLerran (.311-1-69) at age 22. The Chicago Cougars were fourth and the Sailors fifth. Baltimore, which had looked like a contender, fell off in the second half despite a brilliant sophomore effort from RF Powell Slocum who hit .328 (3rdi in the CA) with a league-best 37 doubles. Toronto was a surprising seventh and even though his team was not good, Allan Allen continued to pitch very well, tying for the league-lead in wins with a 26-18, 2.19 effort. Montreal was last - again - and there were grumbles about the team needing to leave Canada to draw fans and thereby increase revenue and maybe find better players. They were in kind of a chicken-egg situation.
The Fed race, though won by Boston, was contentious through most of the summer. Chicago finished second, just 1.5 games back of Boston with George Wilson (who had been released by Boston as part of Theobald's cost-cutting measures - a dead arm may have had a little to do with it) posting a league-best 1.39 ERA though he was limited to 34 appearances due to his arm issues. The veteran lefty got by on wits and more than a few spitballs. St. Louis finished third and looked like a club on the rise. Washington, who had been the favorite when everyone was thinking Theobald had lost his mind, finished fourth. Coller hit .223 and though Allen Perkins was ok (.260) it was thought it'd be a while before Washington would again make a trade with Boston.
The bottom half of the Fed table had Detroit (75-78), another team with high hopes that did get another outstanding season out of Bill Temple (26-10, 1.45, 258 Ks) and its offense overall (league-best 605 runs scored) but very little from any pitcher not named Bill Temple and gave up the 6th most runs in the league; Pittsburgh, which had finally collapsed after nearly a decade at or near the top of the standings and the Gothams and Keystones, still stuck in the basement and trying to climb out. The Gothams' trade with Boston didn't pay off as well as they'd hoped: Bill McDaniel was good (22-23, 2.23) but not great and Jim Underwood was only slightly above-average (.254-3-57). They did unveil a new shortstop named Ed Ziehl, who hit .319 and was just 19 years old, so there was a small glimmer of hope in New York. Philly was still looking for the game-changer they hadn't had since Zebulon Banks left town in 1897.
The home team didn't fare very well in the 1906 World Series. Boston hosted the first two games and dropped them both by narrow scores - 3-2 in game one and 4-2 in game two. But Boston returned the favor in game three with a 3-2 win on the Stars' home field. Game four was the first to break the trend as New York seized the chance to put a stranglehold on the series with a 4-1 win - the second time they'd beaten Trease in this series (he was now 0-4 against them in the past two WS). Boston's pride powered them to another road win, 9-0 in game five. But the road victory trend bit them in turn in game six as New York won 8-3 to clinch and become back-to-back champs.
New York's pair of standouts each had great a great Series. SS John Waggoner hit an even .500 on 10-for-20 with 4 RBIs while regular-season batting champ RF Bill Craigen hit .417. Jack Stahl posted a 2-0 record with a 1.59 ERA after having emerged as the Stars' best pitcher mid-season.