1925 - The Next Generation

If there's one competitor no athlete can defeat, it's Father Time. The old guy with the hourglass catches everyone eventually. He got Zebulon Banks, Allan Allen and now he was coming for Powell Slocum. Slocum's fielding skills had eroded to the point that even he (as the Brooklyn Kings' manager) had to admit that he couldn't really hack it as an everyday right fielder any longer. So he worked out at first base in spring training - and he also worked a deal to ship RF Huck Monahan to the Gothams (to be fair they did get 3B Hal Lucas back and the hot corner was a weakness for the Kings). But he discovered that not only was his foot speed largely gone, but so was his bat speed. Sure, he could get by on his incredible bat control skills, acumen and encyclopedic knowledge of the opposing pitchers. But his time as the best hitter in the world was done. Max Morris probably wore that crown now, but even he was now facing challenges from a new generation of highly-talented players.

Unlike Morris' own generation, these new guys had come up in an era where Morris himself was showing what a strong, upper-cutting swing could do to a baseball. They weren't slash-and-dashers like Slocum (well, some of them were, but most were not). These guys hit the ball hard - the era of bunt singles, stealing 80 bases and using "inside baseball" was done. 

The Federal Association poster child for this next generation was probably Philadelphia Keystones 1B Rankin Kellogg. The Keystones were loaded at Kellogg's position which was somewhat ironic for a team with so many holes that their best prospect was third on the organizational depth chart in the spring of '25. What the team needed was pitching - so they dealt incumbent starting 1B Doc Woods to the Clippers for pitcher Rube Frazier. And then they traded Woods' backup Dan Brady to the Chiefs for another pitcher, Red Adwell. Kellogg was promoted to the big league team and finally got his shot to show just how good he was. The answer was, really good. Sure, he didn't knock off Morris in any of the Triple Crown categories (Morris won another Triple Crown, more on that in a bit), but he did finish second in home runs with 35 and second in RBIs with 133. Not too shabby for a rookie. The Keystones rode Kellogg, veteran Hall Eason (who had 23 HRs and 92 RBIs) into the first division, finishing third with an 81-73 record. Pitching continued to be a problem: Frazier (10-18, 4.81) and Adwell (12-13, 5.16) were disappointing to say the least.

The Eagles won their third pennant in four seasons with a 93-61 campaign. They had one of the next generation as well in catcher T.R. Goins. The "Rough Rider" was the best catcher in the game: he hit .360, clubbed 18 homers (with 39 doubles)a and drove in 107 runs. In a sign of the times (and maybe his position) Goins had yet to steal a base in his three year career and had only attempted to steal a base once (presumably he then received a tongue-lashing by manager Henry Potts, who retied before the 1925 season after 13 years as the Eagles' skipper). Washington also had two other young stars: 3B Glenn Morrison (.352, 116 runs, 93 RBIs, 36 SB) and 1B George Clark, who hit .366 and led the league with 49 doubles. He also was third in RBI with 131. Point was, not only were the Eagles really good, they were also young and looked primed to be the Fed's next dynasty (or perhaps already were).

Second-place Chicago finished seven back of the Eagles. The Chiefs' main strength, as usual, was their pitching. Denny Wren led the league with 23 wins, his fourth-straight 20-plus season, throwing a league-high 341 innings and also winning the ERA title at 3.04. He was 35, so definitely not part of the next generation of stars. His sidekick, 28-year-old Norm Austin, won 22 games (2nd in the league) and though he had some control problems, seemed to be the ace-in-waiting for the Chiefs. The guy they got for Red Adwell, Dan Brady, was pretty solid with a .299 average as the cleanup hitter but split time with Johnny Rasberry at first base. The offense was good for just sixth-best in the eight-team circuit and like the Keystones' pitching, was the Achilles heel of the Chicago Chiefs.

St. Louis finished fourth with a 79-75 mark. They had the big guy, Max Morris, and he was outstanding once again. He hit a ridiculous .418 with 57 home runs, 149 runs scored and 166 RBIs. All those were league-bests by a mile. His on-base percentage was .496 and his OPS (not a stat back then) was an eye-popping 1.306. The guy was on another planet compared to his contemporaries - at least for now. The Pioneers had no problem scoring runs - they put 993 runs, hit a crazy .325 as a team and were the first team in FABL history to have four players hit 10 or more homers. LF Art Charles (.343-20-105), SS Roger Landry (.305-18-115) and 2B Bob Marceneaux (.331-10-106) were all really, really good. Charles and Marceneaux were both in their second season and just 26 years old. Even Landry was just 28. Morris was the old man - he was all of 30 years old. The Pioneers problem was... you guessed it, pitching. The pitching wasn't awful, but it wasn't good enough to win a pennant either. Ace Jimmy Clinch didn't even post a .500 record (16-17, 4.12) and though Bill Hathaway was 21-11, he had a 4.42 ERA and was the prime beneficiary of all that run support. It was clear that the Pioneers needed at least one premier arm if they were going to soar with the Eagles.

Boston was fifth - 74-80. Ever since the falling-out with, and subsequent departure of, George Theobald, the Minutemen were stuck in the doldrums. They had some good young hitters in 2B Frank Todd (.329-16-96), SS Buddy Lane (.323) and RF Glenn Tweed (.325-9-70) and Verdo Burt (15-17, 3.76) looked like he might be ace material if he could be more consistent. But they were middle of the pack statistically and seemingly stuck in neutral. The Gothams were sixth, but they made some deals and had a full-fledged youth movement going on that looked promising. Huck Monahan came across the bridge from Brooklyn and hit .309, and they picked up an ace in Steve Castellini mid-season from the Cougars who posted a composite record of 19-11 with a 3.18 ERA between Chicago and NY. The youth movement was led by Bill Parker, the young lefty who was considered the best pitching prospect in either league. He went 16-14 with a 3.44 ERA at age 22. On the hitting side a trio of rookies were in place by season's end: CF Ken Bittner hit .305 from the leadoff spot; 1B Sam Harris hit third and hit .330; and RF Rusty Shearer came up and hit .333 in limited action as the presumptive future cleanup hitter. 2B Ed Ziehl, now 38 years old, had taken on a mentor's role to the younger guys. He also hit .325, proving he could still play too.

Pittsburgh didn't do anything all that well and had the seventh-place finish to prove it. CF Clint Casstevens was still their best player (.325-11-102) but he fell off a bit from the previous year's heights when he led the circuit in hits, doubles and triples. RF Tom Prosser, while technically not a rookie qualifier, had a good season in part-time duty with a .310 average, 11 homers and 57 RBIs in a bit over 300 at-bats. At 26, he was expected to join Casstevens as the team's cornerstones. Carl Mellen lost 21 games and led the league's second-worst pitching staff. The last-place Dynamos had the league's worst pitching. They did have a promising arm on the farm in Leo Hall, but he was not yet ready. Catcher Dick York regressed badly, his average dropping to .280 after hitting .390 in 1923 and .348 in 1924. 1B Danny James did hit 28 homers and came closest to 100 RBIs (he had 98). Detroit hoped their pair of young outfielders could build on promising part-time rookie seasons: RF Eddie David hit .315-5-34 in 200-plus at-bats and CF Frank Platt hit .311-5-51 in 300-plus at-bats. Even with those two, and solid players like SS Dirk Mannheim (.317) and 3B Paul Gould (.303-10-91), the Dynamos needed both a return to form by York and better pitching if they were to escape the second division.

Over in the Continental Association, the New York Stars won a second-straight pennant. The Continental's theme for 1925 could have been parity - the Stars won the league with only 87 wins and the last-place Kings won 70. As in the Fed, there were good performances by young players up and down the league. The Stars had 25-year-old 2B Pete Layton who was 2nd in hitting (.344) and third in RBIs (99), plus a new ace in Dick Richards who led the league in ERA (3.25) and was second in wins (19). As a staff, the Stars were top-notch with veterans Luke Smith (16-13, 3.70) and Sammy Butler (16-13, 3.29) also having good years. The Stars had rookies in LF (Tim Johnson), at 2B (Danny Bottorf) and in CF (Al Swain) and all had decent seasons and contributed to the pennant-victory.

Cleveland and Montreal finished with identical 81-73 records, six games behind New York. The Foresters started rookies on the left side of the infield with SS Joe Standish (.292-10-99) and 3B Ben Hathaway (.313-13-70) both looking solid. They helped veteran slugging 2B Carl Martin (.272-35-98) and LF Bobby Salyer (.300-4-81) give the Foresters the Continental's most prolific lineup (809 runs scored). Cleveland's pitching was good too: Mose Smith was 19-15, 3.28, Bob Lawrence was 16-15, 3.94 and George Davis was 15-12, 3.92. Montreal traded for a young first baseman in Sal Ingalls who hit 17 homers with 87 RBIs in just under 500 at-bats and a trio of 26-year-olds formed the top third of the Saints' lineup: CF Bert Hartman (.298), SS Tommy Chandler (.311) and LF Phil Sandman (.336-8-87). The pitching was below average and the team's batting average was dead-last. Still the Saints did enough right that they were in the race all season long.

The Philadelphia Sailors were fourth at an even 77-77. Star CF David Merchant hit .343 with 15 homers and 91 RBIs before a knee injury ended his season early. Pitcher John White started the season in San Francisco but joined the Sailors in time to post a 10-3, 3.45 ERA. Rube Smith was 11-10 with a 3.86 ERA. Overall the Sailors were third in pitching but aside from Merchant, the offense was pedestrian and only good for 7th in runs scored. Baltimore had changed its nickname (to Cannons) but it didn't change the team's fortunes as they finished in fifth at 75-79. The offense was strong - finished second in runs scored thanks to 3B Fred Johnson (.340), 1B Doc Woods (acquired from the Keystones to make room for Rankin Kellogg) who hit .333 with 10 homers and 103 RBIs and star RF Sandy Lovelle who had a couple of injuries but still hit .333 for the year. The pitching was a letdown as Ken Carpenter topped the staff with a 16-10, 4.29 mark.

The Wolves were sixth, 74-80, despite a strong sophomore effort from 25-year-old pitcher Birdie Smith (21-10, 3.51) and a good season from RF Jack Mack (.290-10-107). One of those next generation guys was 22-year-old SS Tom Roberts who was the cleanup hitter in Toronto and posted a .329 average and 88 RBIs. The Wolves also had rookies at catcher and 3B and a second-year layer at 1B. The Cougars fell to seventh, although their 71 wins was just one fewer than their fifth-place finish of 1924. The Cougars were hurt when CF John Dibblee had two separate injuries that limited him to just 68 at-bats (he hit .353 with 6 doubles, a triple and homer in those 68 ABs). The core of the lineup was a quartet of players 26 or younger and though 3B Gary Sanders (.330), LF Art Panko (.312), 2B Rocky Edwards (.302) and SS Charlie Gamble (.300) were all good players, they missed Dibblee's bat and veteran leadership.

The Kings finished last with a 70-84 record in its first year under player-manager Powell Slocum. Slocum the manager needed more out of Slocum the player and unfortunately it wasn't there. Slocum did hit .314 but he only played in 51 games (39 as a starter) and had nagging back problems. It wasn't all bad news in Brooklyn however as LF Bud Rogers became a starter for the first time in his short career, hit .348 to lead the league and also had a league-best 47 doubles. Rogers joined a very strong outfield: RF Clarence Hall hit .352 in Slocum's old spot and CF Lou Cox hit .330 out of the leadoff spot and stole 48 bases. Pitching was a problem - outside of Jackie Marshall (15-16, 3.90) the staff was relatively poor.

The World Series started in New York's Riverside Stadium. The Stars took advantage of having the games at home, winning game one 6-4 and game two 12-4. They then pushed the Eagles to the brink in a tight 2-1 win in game three that went to the ninth 1-0, saw New York add an insurance run in the top half that they turned out to need as the Stars scored in the home half before Pete Scanlon got Cap McDonald to fly out to center with Harry Jones as the tying run left stranded on third. To their credit, the Eagles came back to win games four and five at home by 8-5 and 3-2 margins. Game six in New York saw the Eagles take a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh when the wheels came off. After an error to lead off the inning, the Stars had loaded the bases with two out and shortstop Pete Layton at the plate. Layton shot a single to left to score both Job Readus and Tim Johnson, making it 4-3. Ernie Sprenkle followed with a double that scored two runs and gave the Stars the lead. They'd add one more run and go to the eighth up 6-4. Ultimately they won the game 6-5 to win their second straight championship, and sixth in team history.

Unsurprisingly the Whitney Award for the Federal Association went to Max Morris. Morris won unanimously and claimed the trophy for the seventh time. Philadelphia's David Merchant took the Continental Whitney Award for his strong all-around season in which he only led the league in triples (27) and slugging (.569) and OPS (.968). It was his second win (the other was in 1923).

Legendary manager George Theobald retired mid-season from the Detroit Dynamos at age 62. He later purchased more stock in the club and became the majority owner. Also retiring was Powell Slocum. The 38-year-old hung up his spikes as the all-time leader in batting average (.375), games played (2887), at-bats (11051), hits (4144), total bases (5553), and singles (3194) and was second in runs scored (1787 to Zebulon Banks' 1877), third in doubles (546, 21 fewer than John Waggoner, who had two more than Jack Arabian) and fourth in triples (349) and stolen bases (737).