1919 National League preview

Let's take a brief look at how the eight contending clubs shape up for the 1919 season in the National League, in order of their 1918 finish . . .

The Chicago Cubs were the 1918 National League flag-winners, seizing the top spot in the standings in early June and then running away from the field to win by more than ten games. They rode dominant pitching, paced by Hippo Vaughn's League-leading 22 wins and 1.74 ERA and backed by outstanding support from Lefty Tyler, Claude Hendrix, and Phil Douglas, and that staff should be even tougher in 1919 with the return of Grover Alexander from service at the front lines of WWI. The offense will again lean on the talents of SS Charlie Hollocher and 1B Fred Merkle, and the club will attempt to patch up a hole at 2B by giving Charlie Pick an opportunity to take on the full-time job.

John McGraw isn't used to playing the bridegroom, but his New York Giants were well off the pace in 1918, despite the second-placed finish. He'll have to find a way to transition an aging roster, as many of the stars that powered the championship teams earlier in the decade (Doyle, Fletcher, Sallee, Demaree, Tesreau) are beginning to reach the age where future performance is no longer a guarantee. But there is some youth coming through the pipeline - OF Ross Youngs was a rookie standout last season, OF George Burns has established himself as a middle-of-the-order threat with his prime years still ahead of him, and there is pitching promise as well in the return of Jesse Barnes from military service.

The Cincinnati Reds managed to finish with more wins than losses for the second straight campaign in 1918, but will be under new leadership this season with the uncertain status of Christy Mathewson following his deployment to the front and subsequent health concerns. Pat Moran will inherit a club that swung the bat very well in 1918, but also allowed their opponents to do the same. 3B Heinie Groh and OF Edd Roush are among the League's young stars, and the Reds will look to revamp their keystone situation with 2B Larry Kopf and SS Morrie Rath set to assume full-time roles up the middle. The jury is out as to whether the club will be better or worse off with the departure of 1B Hal Chase following his off-season game-fixing controversies. The fate of the pitching will rest on the development of young arms like Hod Eller, Dutch Ruether and Jimmy Ring with veteran Slim Sallee brought in from New York for leadership.

There was a promising improvement in the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1918, as they leapt from from a 51-103 record in 1917 to finish above water for the first time in five years. They accomplished this largely on the arms of their pitching staff where Wilbur Cooper, Frank Miller and Erskine Mayer were among the League's stingiest pitchers, and manager Hugo Bezdek holds out hope that club legend Babe Adams will provide veteran support with a successful return from a long-term shoulder injury. The offense agains looks to lean heavily on 2B George Cutshaw and OFers Max Carey and Billy Southworth but will need to somehow find more production from the 1B and third-outfielder spots for the club to make the next step up to competitiveness.

The Brooklyn Robins have fallen back quite a distance again from their short spurt of mid-decade success, and the 1916 pennant looked quite far back in the rear-view mirror as the club struggled to a 57-win season in 1918. The twirling was adequate, as Burleigh Grimes and Rube Marquard did yeoman duty in the absence of good support, and the return of Leon Cadore and Jeff Pfeffer from the War promises to strengthen the corps. But the batting order was Jake Daubert, Zack Wheat and seven holes on most afternoons and, with Daubert off to Cincinnati after his salary dispute with Charles Ebbets, it is fair to wonder where the hits will come from for the Robins in the coming campaign. Veterans Ed Konetchy and Lee Magee will join the club from Boston and Cincinnati, respectively, in an attempt to prop up the batting, but will it be enough?

The Philadelphia Phillies crashed from a second-place standing in 1917 to sixth in 1918, only seven games clear of the basement. They suffered from what was probably the worst hitting attack in the National League, as OF Gavy Cravath suddenly looked every one of his 37 years of age and he was surrounded by mediocre performances all around the diamond. The club will simply need more from 1B Fred Luderus, SS Dave Bancroft and OFs Irish Meusel and Cy Williams to have any chance to crawl out of the bottom half of the League again. Eppa Rixey will return from military service looking to repeat a stellar 1917 performance and lefty Lee Meadows comes over to the club from the Cardinals; they will join a solid core of Mike Prendergast, Joe Oeschger and Brad Hogg that will attempt to hold the opposition at bay while the offense looks for runs.

The Boston Braves are another franchise that has fallen on harder times as of late, dropping from 89 wins and a 3rd-place finish in 1916 to just 53 wins in the shortened season last year. Simply put, the Braves earned their spot near the bottom of the Senior Circuit as they just weren't very good in any facet of the game. 3B Red Smith and OF Al Wickland carried a meek offense as seasoned vets like Ed Konetchy and Buck Herzog failed to age gracefully and younger players like Johnny Rawlings failed to develop on the big stage. Expect big changes in the day-to-day nine for 1919, as SS Rabbit Maranville and C Hank Gowdy return to the fold from military absence. As sub-standard as the hurling was in 1918, there is some promise there for improvement in the little lefty Art Nehf, veteran campaigner Dick Rudolph and youngsters Dana Fillingim and Hiugh McQuillan. 

The St. Louis Cardinals fell off the proverbial cliff in 1918, shedding more than thirty victories from their 1917 ledger while crashing into the National League's bottom floor. 2B Rogers Hornsby elevated a poor offense to merely mediocre, with creditable support from only C Mike Gonzalez and 3B Doug Baird, so you can expect to see the Cards lean heavily on young players in 1919 with OFers Cliff Heathcote and Austin McHenry expected to step up and carry a load, and young 2B Milt Stock being shipped in from Philadelphia. The mound corps could only really depend on Bill Doak and Red Ames, but the latter will turn 36 this season and reinforcements will have to come from somewhere - youngsters Jakie May and Lee Meadows will be looked to carry a significant share of the workload necessary to pull St. Louis out of the cellar in 1919.