1923 in baseball

baseball events of the year 1923 throughout the world
New York Yankees opening day

The following are the baseball events of the year 1923 throughout the world.

Overview of the events of 1923 in baseball
Years in baseball
  • ← 1920
  • 1921
  • 1922
  • 1923
  • 1924
  • 1925
  • 1926 →

1923 in sports
  • Air sports
  • American football
  • Aquatic sports
  • Association football
  • Athletics
  • Badminton
  • Baseball
  • Basketball
  • Canadian football
  • Chess
  • Climbing
  • Combat sports
    • Sumo
  • Cricket
  • Cycling
  • Dance sports
  • Darts
  • Equestrianism
  • Esports
  • Field hockey
  • Flying disc
  • Golf
  • Gymnastics
  • Handball
  • Ice hockey
  • Ice sports
  • Korfball
  • Lumberjack sports
  • Mind sports
  • Modern pentathlon
  • Motorsport
  • Orienteering
  • Paralympic sports
  • Precision sports
    • Shooting
  • Racquetball
  • Roller sports
  • Sailing
  • Skiing
  • Speedway
  • Rugby league‎
  • Rugby union
  • Snooker
    • 1922–23
    • 1923–24
  • Strength sports
    • Weightlifting
  • Squash
  • Table tennis
  • Tennis
  • Triathlon
  • Volleyball

Champions

  • World Series: New York Yankees over New York Giants (4–2)

Awards and honors

Statistical leaders

American League National League Negro National League Eastern Colored League
Stat Player Total Player Total Player Total Player Total
AVG Harry Heilmann (DET) .403 Rogers Hornsby (SLC) .384 Heavy Johnson1 (KC) .406 Biz Mackey (HIL) .423
HR Babe Ruth (NYY) 41 Cy Williams (PHP) 41 Heavy Johnson1 (KC)
Candy Jim Taylor (TOL/SLS)
20 George Johnson (HIL) 8
RBI Babe Ruth (NYY)
Tris Speaker (CLE)
130 Irish Meusel (NYG) 125 Heavy Johnson1 (KC) 120 George Johnson (HIL) 46
Wins George Uhle (CLE) 26 Dolf Luque (CIN) 27 Bullet Rogan (KC) 16 Rats Henderson (AC)
Nip Winters (HIL)
10
ERA Stan Coveleski (CLE) 2.76 Dolf Luque (CIN) 1.93 Ed Rile (CAG) 2.53 Nip Winters (HIL) 2.36
K Walter Johnson (WSH) 130 Dazzy Vance (BKN) 197 Bullet Rogan (KC) 151 Rats Henderson (AC) 100

1 Negro National National League Triple Crown batting winner

Major league baseball final standings

American League final standings

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American League
W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Yankees 98 54 0.645 46–30 52–24
Detroit Tigers 83 71 0.539 16 45–32 38–39
Cleveland Indians 82 71 0.536 16½ 42–36 40–35
Washington Senators 75 78 0.490 23½ 43–34 32–44
St. Louis Browns 74 78 0.487 24 40–36 34–42
Philadelphia Athletics 69 83 0.454 29 34–41 35–42
Chicago White Sox 69 85 0.448 30 30–45 39–40
Boston Red Sox 61 91 0.401 37 37–40 24–51

National League final standings

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National League
W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Giants 95 58 0.621 47–30 48–28
Cincinnati Reds 91 63 0.591 46–32 45–31
Pittsburgh Pirates 87 67 0.565 47–30 40–37
Chicago Cubs 83 71 0.539 12½ 46–31 37–40
St. Louis Cardinals 79 74 0.516 16 42–35 37–39
Brooklyn Robins 76 78 0.494 19½ 37–40 39–38
Boston Braves 54 100 0.351 41½ 22–55 32–45
Philadelphia Phillies 50 104 0.325 45½ 20–55 30–49


Locations of AL teams for the 1923–1931 MLB seasons
American League
Locations of NL teams for the 1923–1931 MLB seasons
National League

Negro leagues final standings

All Negro leagues standings below are per Seamheads.[1]

Negro National League final standings

vs. Negro National League vs. Major Black Teams
Negro National League W L Pct. GB W L T Pct.
Kansas City Monarchs 54 32 .628 61 37 0 .622
Chicago American Giants 39 24 .619 48 29 1 .622
Detroit Stars 39 27 .591 5 41 30 0 .577
Indianapolis ABCs 44 32 .579 5 51 33 0 .607
Cuban Stars (West) 24 33 .421 15½ 27 35 0 .435
St. Louis Stars 29 43 .403 18 32 48 1 .401
Toledo Tigers 10 17 .370 14½ 10 17 0 .370
Milwaukee Bears 11 42 .208 26½ 14 52 1 .216


Locations of teams for the 1923 Negro National League season
Negro National League
Traveling team: Cuban Stars (West)

Eastern Colored League final standings

vs. Eastern Colored League vs. Major Black Teams
Eastern Colored League W L T Pct. GB W L T Pct.
Hilldale Club 37 21 1 .636 40 21 1 .653
Cuban Stars (East) 22 16 0 .579 5 22 16 0 .579
Brooklyn Royal Giants 16 16 1 .500 8 16 16 1 .500
Atlantic City Bacharach Giants 23 25 1 .480 9 28 30 1 .483
New York Lincoln Giants 17 23 0 .425 11 18 23 0 .439
Baltimore Black Sox 19 33 1 .368 15 23 35 1 .398


Independent teams final standings

A loose confederation of teams existed that were not part of either established leagues.

vs. All Teams
Independent Clubs W L T Pct. GB
Memphis Red Sox 15 7 0 .682
Cleveland Tate Stars 15 16 1 .484
Washington Potomacs 14 19 0 .424
Harrisburg Giants 5 7 0 .417 5
Birmingham Black Barons 16 25 4 .400

Events

January

February

  • February 2 – Red Schoendienst is born in Germantown, Illinois. Primarily a second baseman, Schoendienst will hit .289 during a 19-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants and Milwaukee Braves. He will win election to the Hall of Fame in 1989.
  • February 20 – Christy Mathewson, along with Emil Fuchs, purchase the Boston Braves franchise for $300,000. Matthews is named as team president, though failing health reduces Matthewson's role to just a figurehead and he turns over the role of team president to Fuchs at the end of the season.

March

  • March 6 – The St. Louis Cardinals announce that their players will wear numerals on their uniforms and number them according to the batting order, but it does not happen this season.
  • March 8 – Pitcher Rube Benton is reinstated by Commissioner Landis even though Benton admitted to having prior knowledge regarding the 1919 world Series fix.

April

May

June

July

  • July 2 – Already down 7–0 to the St. Louis Browns, future Hall of Fame pitcher Ted Lyons makes his major league debut with the Chicago White Sox, and throws a perfect inning.
  • July 7 – In the first game of a double header at Dunn Field, the Cleveland Indians set an American League record after scoring in every inning against the Boston Red Sox. The feat was completed in eight innings (the home team did not bat in the ninth). The Indians collected 24 hits and 14 walks, while scoring 13 runs in the sixth inning for an embarrassing 27–3 victory. Cleveland win the second game as well, 8–5.
  • July 10 – In a doubleheader, St. Louis Cardinals rookie pitcher Johnny Stuart hurled two complete game victories over the Boston Braves, winning by scores of 11–1 and 6–3, while allowing three hits in the opener and 10 in the nightcap.
  • July 11 – Harry Frazee, owner of the Boston Red Sox since 1916, sells the club for over $1 million to a group of Ohio businessmen. Veteran front office man Bob Quinn will run the Red Sox, and as team president he will work to restore the credibility of a franchise whose best players had been sold off by Frazee over the years.
  • July 22 – Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators founds the 3,000 strikeout club.
  • July 24 – New York Yankees pitcher Carl Mays beats the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park, 9–2, setting an American League record with his 24th straight win. This also matches the Major League high of Christy Mathewson, who won 24 consecutive games in the National League.

August

September

October

  • October 6 – In the fourth inning of the second game of a doubleheader, Boston Braves shortstop Ernie Padgett turns the fourth unassisted triple play in Major League history in a 4–1 Braves win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
  • October 10 – Game One of the 1923 World Series is won by the New York Giants on a ninth inning inside-the-park home run by Casey Stengel.
  • October 11 – The New York Yankees win their first World Series game against the New York Giants in nine tries on two home runs by Babe Ruth. Going back to the 1921 World Series, they were 0-8-1, with a tie game in the 1922 World Series.
  • October 12 – A solo home run by Casey Stengel in the seventh inning is the only run of the third game of the World Series.
  • October 13 – The Yankees get off to an 8–0 lead in game four of the World Series, and win it, 8–3.
  • October 14 – Joe Dugan hits the second inside-the-park home run of the World Series, as the Yankees defeat the Giants, 8–1.
  • October 15 – The New York Yankees defeat the New York Giants, 4–2, in Game 6 of the World Series to win their first World Championship, four games to two. The Yankees opened their new Yankee Stadium in April making it the third time that a team had inaugurated a new stadium with a World Series win. The three consecutive matchups between the Yankees and Giants (1921–1923) marked the only time, to date, that three straight World Series featured the same two clubs.

November

December

Births

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

  • November 9 – Ted Sepkowski
  • November 10 – Cal Ermer
  • November 11 – Lee Howard
  • November 17 – Mike Garcia
  • November 18 – Roy Wise
  • November 24 – Danny Ozark
  • November 25 – Archie Wilson
  • November 27 – Bob Schultz

December

Deaths

January–February

  • January 1 – Willie Keeler, 50, Hall of Fame right fielder and prolific bunter who compiled a .341 lifetime batting average, two National League batting champion titles, batted over .370 from 1894 to 1899, including a .424 mark and record 44-game hitting streak for 1897 Orioles, while leading the league in singles seven times, hits three times and runs once, ranking second all-time in hits and runs upon retirement.
  • January 22 – Fred Cooke, 49, outfielder for the 1897 Cleveland Spiders of the National League.
  • January 25 – Nick Wise, 56, catcher/outfielder for the 1888 Boston Beaneaters of the National League.
  • January 28 – John Meister, 59, infield/outfield utility for the New York Metropolitans of the American Association during the 1886–1887 seasons.
  • February 4 – George Tebeau, 61, outfielder nicknamed ″White Wings″ for his blazing speed, who hit .269 and stole 228 bases in 627 games for four teams, and later became the owner of the Kansas City Blues American Association franchise.
  • February 17 – George Meakim, 57, pitcher who played between 1890 and 1895 with the Louisville Colonels, Chicago Colts, Philadelphia Athletics and Cincinnati Reds.
  • February 28 – Jim Britt, 67, pitcher who played from 1872 to 1873 for the Brooklyn Atlantics of the National Association.

March–April

  • March 3 – Harry Clarke, 62, right fielder for the 1889 Washington Nationals of the National League.
  • March 3 – Ducky Hemp, 60, outfielder for the Louisville Colonels, Pittsburgh Alleghenys and Stars between 1887 and 1890.
  • March 15 – Pete Wood, 56, Canadian-born pitcher for the Buffalo Bisons in 1885 and the Philadelphia Quakers in 1889.
  • March 15 – Goat Anderson, 43, outfielder for the 1907 Pittsburgh Pirates.
  • March 17 – Mortimer Hogan, 61, outfielder for the Milwaukee Brewers, New York Metropolitans and Cleveland Blues between 1884 and 1888.
  • April 10 – Jay Faatz, 62, first baseman for three teams, who also played and managed for the 1890 Buffalo Bisons of the Players' League in the 1890 season.
  • April 10 – Jim Gill, 57, second baseman/centerfielder for the 1889 St. Louis Browns of the American Association.
  • April 13 – Gene Krapp, 35, pitcher who played with the Cleveland Naps of the American League (1911–1912) and the Buffalo Buffeds/Blues of the Federal League (1914–1915).
  • April 20 – Jack Lynch, 66, pitcher who posted a 110–105 record and a 3.69 ERA in 221 games for three teams, and a member of the New York Metropolitans team who won the American Association pennant in 1884.
  • April 21 – Joe Ellick, 69, right fielder for four different teams and a player/manager for the Chicago Browns/Pittsburgh Stogies of the Union Association in 1884; later, umpired in the National League (1886) and American Association (1888–1889).
  • April 27 – Paul Sentell, 43, infielder who played from 1906 to 1907 for the Philadelphia Phillies.

May–June

  • May 23 – Willard Mains, 54, pitcher who posted a 16–17 record and a 3.53 ERA in parts of four seasons for the Chicago White Stockings, Cincinnati Kelly's Killers, Milwaukee Brewers and Boston Beaneaters.
  • June 3 – Harry Billiard, 39, pitcher who played with the New York Highlanders (1908), Indianapolis Hoosiers (1914) and Newark Pepper (1915).
  • June 10 – Bill Annis, 66, outfielder for the 1884 Boston Beaneaters of the National League.
  • June 11 – George Hall, 74, British-born outfielder who played from 1866 through 1877 for nine different teams, while hitting a .322 average in 365 career games and leading the National League in home runs in 1876.
  • June 12 – Cliff Carroll, 63, outfielder who hit a .251 average in 991 games for six different teams between 1882 and 1893.
  • June 19 – Tom Jones, 46, first baseman who hit .251 with 964 hits and 135 stolen bases for three American League teams between 1902 and 1910.
  • June 21 – Claude Elliott, 46, pitcher who played from 1904 to 1905 for the Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants.
  • June 21 – Bill Grevell, 25, pitcher for the 1919 Philadelphia Athletics of the American League.

July–August

  • July 10 – Joe Stabell, [?], outfielder for the 1885 Buffalo Bisons of the National League.
  • July 19 – Nate Kellogg, 64, shortstop who played briefly for the 1885 Detroit Wolverines of the National League.
  • August 15 – Marty Hogan, 53, British-born outfielder who played from 1894 through 1895 for the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Browns of the National League.
  • August 16 – Bill Day, 56, pitcher for the Philadelphia Quakers/Phillies and the Pittsburgh Alleghenys of the National League from 1889 to 1890.
  • August 16 – Jim Scoggins, 32, pitcher for the 1913 Chicago White Sox of the American League.
  • August 22 – Jay Budd, 57, left fielder who played one game in 1890 for the Cleveland Infants of the short-lived Players' League.
  • August 29 – Jocko Milligan, 62, catcher/first baseman who played from 1884 to 1893 for six National League teams, most prominently with the Philadelphia Athletics.

September–October

  • September 1 – Frank McManus, 48, catcher who played between 1899 and 1904 with the Washington Senators and Brooklyn Superbas of the National League and the Detroit Tigers and New York Highlanders of the American League.
  • September 3 – Jack Barnett, 43, backup outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1907 season.
  • September 5 – Dots Miller, 36, infielder who spent twelve seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies, and a member of the Pittsburgh team that won the National League pennant and defeated the Detroit Tigers in the 1909 World Series.
  • September 9 – George Keerl, 76, second baseman for the 1875 Chicago White Stockings of the National League.
  • September 18 – General Stafford, 55, versatile fielder who played over 100 games at three different positions for five teams, and a member of the 1898 National League Champion Boston Beaneaters.
  • October 21 – Biff Sheehan, 55, outfielder/first baseman for the St. Louis Browns of the National League during the 1895 and 1896 seasons.
  • October 22 – Warren McLaughlin, 47, pitcher who played for the Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates between 1900 and 1903.
  • October 29 – Jack Nabors, 35, pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League from 1915 to 1917, who lost 19 consecutive decisions in 1916 to set a major league record that has never been matched.
  • October 29 – Jimmy Ryan, 60, center fielder for five teams between 1895 and 1903; a .306 career hitter who led the National League in hits, home runs, doubles and slugging in 1888; recovered from a serious injury in 1893 train wreck to hit .361 the next year, and finished third all-time in hits, fourth in runs and home runs upon retirement.

November–December

  • November 5 – Buck Becannon, 64, pitcher who played from 1884 to 1885 for the New York Metropolitans of the American Association and with the 1887 New York Giants of the National League.
  • November 12 – Mark Polhemus, 63, outfielder who played in 1887 with the Indianapolis Hoosiers of the Union Association.
  • November 16 – Fred House, 33, pitcher who posted a 1–2 record and a 5.20 ERA for the Detroit Tigers in 1913.
  • November 19 – Frank Pears, 57, pitcher for the 1889 Kansas City Cowboys of the American Association and the 1893 St. Louis Browns of the National League.
  • December 9 – Wild Bill Donovan, 47, pitcher who had 25-win seasons with 1901 Brooklyn and 1907 Detroit teams; later managed Highlanders and Phillies

References

  1. ^ "1923 Season- Seamheads Negro Leagues Database". www.seamheads.com. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
  2. ^ "Strange and Unusual Plays". www.retrosheet.org. Retrieved June 13, 2012.
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