The 1930 season will go down in history as one of the most competitive in Continental Association history. The Philadelphia Sailors, two-time defending pennant winners (and 1928 World Champs) won a third-straight pennant in '30. But they did it in an all-out dogfight that saw three teams finish within four games of the top spot, five teams finish over .500 and only one team (the dismal Toronto Wolves) being completely out of contention.
The Sailors' (88-66) recent dominance of the CA apparently was nearing its end. The Baltimore Cannons (86-68) were a rising force, as were the Chicago Cougars (84-70). And in a surprise, the Montreal Saints (86-68) finished tied with the Cannons for second-place, just two games back.
The Sailors won on the strength of their pitching, which was fully one run better than average and good enough (barely) to offset the league's 7th-best offense (only the Wolves were worse).The Sailors' pitching was good and deep as five hurlers topped 200 innings while notching dougle-digit victories, but none topped twenty wins. Oscar Morse (17-8, 3.27) led the staff and also led the league in ERA. Rollie Beal (16-10, 4.08) threw the most innings (245) with Herm Lowman (14-10, 3.58), Russ Real (12-11, 4/.45) and William Jones (13-11, 3.95) rounding out the rotation. Philly's offense was below-average, but did have solid contributors in 1B Dick Walker (26 triples, .327 average), LF Irv Brady (19 HRs) and veteran CF Dick Merchant (.298-8-64). Young 2B Jack Cleaves led the team with 110 RBIs while posting double-figures in doubles (26), triples (19) and homers (15). RF Tom Taylor had a down year with a .261 average and 15 homers, well off the pace of his back-to-back Allen Award-winning seasons in '28 and '29.
Second-place was a tie between Baltimore and Montreal. The Cannons were expected to be in the thick of the race - the Saints were not. Baltimore was a well-rounded club that finished second in both runs allowed and runs scored. The Cannons had a pair of superstars in 1B Lou Kelly (.363-33-159) and C Lou Welch (.350-33-123) and an ace in Rabbit Day (22-10, 3.93) who captured the CA Allen Award.
Montreal on the other hand, was coming off a 77-77 campaign that saw them finish a distant 26 games back of the Sailors '29 juggernaut. Their nine-game improvement was a bit of a surprise powered in large measure by the big stride forward taken by the 1929 #1 overall pick, CF Cliff Moss (.345-26-101). Still, the Saints were middle-of-the-pack in runs scored with an above-average runs allowed performance from a pitching staff devoid of "name" pitchers outside of top hurler Charlie Stedman (17-12, 4.08).
The fourth-place spot went to the rising Chicago Cougars. who made a whopping 22-game improvement over their last-place 1929 performance to jump into the thick of the pennant chase. The Cougars led the league in runs scored at 6.3 per game despite a noticeable lack of power (their 68 homers were second-fewest in the CA). This was due to a slew of good young hitters who all topped .300 easily. Led by 24-year-old RF Vince York (.368-15-115) and 26-year-old 2B Harry Simmons (.369, 91 runs) along with 1B Bill Ashbaugh (.321-16-131 with 24 triples), SS Russ Combs (.342), 3B John Kincaid (.340) and C Fred Barrell (.324) none of whom were over 26 years old, the Cougars' youth movement served them extremely well. The lone standout? Old warhorse LF John Dibblee, still cranking out a .359 average at the ripe old age of 41. Pitching was Chicago's bugaboo as the team posted a collective 4.65 ERA and no individual hurler posted a breakout season.
The New York Stars (78-76) tumbled into fifth place after consecutive runner-up finishes. They did boast the league's batting champ in 28-year-old 3B John Lawson who racked up 247 hits and flirted with .400 before finishing at .392 on the year. He also earned the nod for the 1930 CA Whitney Award after his dominant performance.
Brooklyn finished sixth with a 75-79 season, a three-game improvement over the 1929 season. RF Doug Lightbody had another outstanding season, hitting .387 to finish second to Lawson in the batting race. Brooklyn continued to struggle with pitching as they allowed the most runs in the league (even more than the dismal Toronto club) whle scoring the third-most.
Seventh-placed Cleveland (69-85) was in the midst of a rebuild, with budding star RF Moxie Pidgeon (.355-27-107) a bright spot offensively, joining established star LF Joe Perret (.356-14-64). As was the case in Brooklyn, Cleveland's woes were largely caused by a lack of quality pitching as the team posted a 5.21 ERA, third-worst in the CA.
Last-place Toronto was a mess. Their 50-104 mark put them 19 games out of seventh-place. There were no real bright spots for this club, although 24-year-old CF Cy Bryant did hit .353 in limited action (201 ABs).Frank Howk (9-15, 4.62 ERA) was the best of a bad bunch of hurlers, and at age 25, there was some hope he could emerge as a much-needed reliable arm.
CONTINENTAL ASSOCIATION STANDINGS
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Philadelphia Sailors 88 66 .571 - 795 689
Baltimore Cannons 86 68 .558 2 915 767
Montreal Saints 86 68 .558 2 843 798
Chicago Cougars 84 70 .545 4 964 868
New York Stars 78 76 .506 10 879 817
Brooklyn Kings 75 79 .487 13 880 962
Cleveland Foresters 69 85 .448 19 817 929
Toronto Wolves 50 104 .325 38 688 951
Over in the Federal, the story was the rise of the New York Gothams. The Gothams (98-56) made a 36-game improvement over 1929's last-place finish to capture the pennant. Led by star 1B Bud Jameson who posted a strong .381-32-114 stat line to finish tied for the batting crown, the Gothams finished second in runs scored to the juggernaut offense in Philadelphia. The pitching was the difference for this club as 25-year-old Jim Lonardo emerged as a true ace with a 21-11, 3.06 campaign that led to the Allen Award. The Gothams also got an excellent season from 35-year-old veteran Steve Castellini (19-7, 2.67) and a promising effort from 25-year-old Walter Murphy (13-7, 3.13).
The Philadelphia Keystones (93-61) had the best offense in baseball, scoring 999 runs and posting a .319 team average. With the dependably stellar 1B Rankin Kellogg (.338-36-136) again anchoring the offense and strong contributions up and down the order, the Stones scored often - which was good because in terms of run prevention, they were only slightly better than average despite finishing third overall (the average being heavily skewed by the Gothams' dominant numbers).
Detroit (85-69), the defending FABL champions, dropped to third despite an absolute monster season from RF Al Wheeler. At just 22-years-old Wheeler established himself as a bona-fide star by winning the Whitney Award on the back of a .372-36-122 season that included 129 runs, 29 doubles, 19 triples and an OPS of 1.117 that added up to a 9.2 WAR. 1B Frank Shafer (.317-13-102) and LF Henry Jones (.297-30-120) rounded out the heart of the order, but the Dynamos' remaining hitters were not as productive as they had been in 1929. On the pitching side, Roy Calfee (20-14, 3.42) was as good as anyone outside of Jim Lonardo, but the Gothams & Keystones were just better clubs in 1930.
The Boston Minutemen finished fourth with a flat .500 mark of 77-77, improving by five wins over 1929. Their offense was anemic, scoring the fewest runs in the Fed as the only club to average under five runs per game. The pitching was better, but still average overall. 3B Charlie Berry (.363-13-92) continued to be the club's star but a pair of 25-year-olds in LF Chick Dyer (.331-11-104) and RF Ron Davis (.337-11-79) looked promising. P Joe Hogue (14-13, 4.07) was the best of a middling bunch and at just 25 himself gave some hope for emergence as a much-needed reliable arm.
The Chicago Chiefs, who had won the pennant in 1928, finished fifth with a sub-.500 mark of 70-84. They did have LF Jim Hampton, who tied Bud Jameson for the batting crown with a .381 average (he also chipped in 19 homers and 111 RBIs) as he continued to be Chicago's Mr. Reliable. 3B Joe Masters also turned in a solid season with a .311 average, 33 homers and a league-best 167 RBIs. But the production fell off a cliff after those two and the pitching was mediocre at best with the exception of breakout 20-year-old right-hander Milt Fritz who posted a 16-7 mark and 3.63 ERA for a club whose overall ERA was 5.10.
Pittsburgh was the best of a trio of Fed clubs whose victory totals were in the sixties. The Miners (67-87) continued to be in building mode and did showcase a pair of young talents in C Jim Pool (.294-27-105) and RF Frank Lightbody (.338-5-91, 102 runs). LF Tom Hopkins (.331-16-91) was also productive, but there wasn't a whole lot beyond those three. Right-hander Bill Morrill (15-9, 4.52) was the best of a middling bunch but 23-year-old Ollie Denton was impressive in a half-season of work with a 10-5 mark and 3.71 ERA providing some hope for the future.
The Washington Eagles (64-90) were seventh and finished near the bottom of the pack in both runs scored and allowed. Superstar catcher T.R. Goins (.334-28-106) continued to toil in futility with a lack of quality team mates aside from 24-year-old SS Andy Carter (.317, 28 triples, 94 RBIs). The pitching was subpar as well, though not terrible. Ivy Newsom (11-19, 4.25) and Dick Dennis (11-14, 4.31) being the best of the bunch.
Last-place went to the St. Louis Pioneers (62-92). The Pioneers, in full rebuild mode, still had the game's top name in RF Max Morris. In what would turn out to be his swan song in St. Louis, Morris posted another outstanding season with 48 homers and 132 RBIs to go along with a .360 batting average. Morris would be dealt to the Gothams in the offseason, bringing five much-needed young players in return. The Pioneers did have a promising youngster in 24-year-old LF Alex Ingraham (.324-24-118) but the state of the pitching staff was simply atrocious, allowing 1027 runs (an area hopefully addressed at least partially by the Morris deal).
The World Championship Series would pit the Gothams against the vaunted Sailors. Both teams brought excellent pitching into the series and the matchup turned out to be a great one. Philadelphia ultimately prevailed in a thrilling seven-game series, giving the Sailors their second title in three years. For the Gothams, their rise from the ashes fell just short of the mountaintop, but the talent for a reprise was there even before they added a certain slugger to the roster in a trade right after their heartbreaking defeat.
FEDERAL ASSOCIATION
Team W L WPct GB R RA
New York Gothams 98 56 .636 - 846 614
Philadelphia Keystones 93 61 .604 5 999 780
Detroit Dynamos 85 69 .552 13 817 743
Boston Minutemen 77 77 .500 21 757 801
Chicago Chiefs 70 84 .455 28 809 863
Pittsburgh Miners 67 87 .435 31 785 897
Washington Eagles 64 90 .416 34 767 864
St. Louis Pioneers 62 92 .403 36 809 1027