Rube Foster was the old man of the Sox' pitching staff, at age 27. Foster
had his best season, but was out of the league in two years, presumably the
victim of arm troubles. Smokey Joe Wood was four years removed from his
34-5 season in 1912, but was only 25 years old. He too had arm problems,
which limited his durability; he never won another game after this year,
though he hung around for a few more years as an outfielder.
Ernie Shore was 24 years old; he also had his
best season, but like Foster and Wood, had a short career. Shore is most
famous for throwing a perfect game in 1917; well, it was sort of a perfect
game. Babe Ruth was the starting pitcher for Boston; he walked the first
batter, punched out the umpire, and was tossed out. Shore came in in relief,
the batter was caught stealing, and not another batter reached base. The
Babe, by the way, was the baby of this year's team; he was 20 years old,
and in his first full year. Like Wood, he would eventually move to the outfield,
though his career was much longer.
In addition to the four outstanding pitchers
listed above, the Red Sox also had Dutch Leonard in their rotation. Leonard
is the guy who the year before had compiled a 0.96 ERA. He pitched well
again this year, though he only started 21 games. Leonard eventually made
a living accusing other players of throwing ball games, and Wood was one
of his targets. Wood was acquitted. Smokey Joe, incidentally, lived to the
ripe old age of 97, passing away in 1985. Only a couple of years later, he
was spotted in a corn field in
Field Of Dreams.
So, Walter Johnson was the best pitcher this
year. After him, I think the next best was Jim Scott. Scott was a pretty
good pitcher who usually got stuck with a losing record, because he played
for Chicago when they were still the "hitless wonders". This year, the White
Sox had a good team, and helped Scott have his best year. After Scott, I'll
take the Boston aces, Shore and Foster.
The Babe, by the way, did manage to take
some swings at the plate this year. He had 92 at bats, and hit 4 home runs;
the league leader had 7.
