This may have been Alexander's best season, though it is hard to tell
one from the other. His 12 shutouts this year are the fifth-highest total
ever, yet for him were not even a career best (he threw 16 next season).
This was the first of three straight years Alexander had 30+ victories;
he set a career high in strikeouts, and a career low in ERA. The easy-tossin'
Alexander was at the peak of his powers, and was one of the greatest pitchers
the baseball world has ever seen.
The rest of the league was a mixed bag. Al Mamaux
was 21 years old, and had his first big season; he had another in 1916, then
had career-ending arm problems. This was also Fred Toney's first good year,
and Jeff Tesreau's last. "Salida Tom" Hughes failed to make his mark
when he was young; now, he returned after a four-year absence to post the
first of two good seasons.
While Alexander was taking over the National
League, Christy Mathewson was bowing out. Mathewson, still pitching with
the Giants, had a losing record, his first since his rookie year in 1900.
Next season was his last; he pitched a little bit, then in mid-season took
over as manager of the Reds. He spent three years in Cincinnati, and didn't
have a bad record; he also got a first-hand look at baseball's serious
game-fixing problem (Hal Chase, the worst villain of them all, was the Reds'
first baseman).
Mathewson's managerial career was ended in 1918, when he went to war and was poisoned in a gas attack. Though the affliction would
eventually prove fatal, Mathewson for a time was baseball's most vocal
opponent to the fixing of games, and was not afraid to speak his mind during
the 1919 Black Sox scandal. It was yet another chapter to Matty's amazing
life, which was cut short in 1925 at age 40.
