Hot Stove: 2/23

History of Baseball: 1914
World Series Champions: Boston Braves (94-59, .614 WPCT).
The 1914 season saw the Brooklyn Dodgers change their name to the Brooklyn Robins, but they wouldn't stay that way for long.  Also in 1914, a new major league, called the Federal League, arose.  It carried eight teams: the Baltimore Terrapins, Brooklyn Tip-Tops, Buffalo Blues, Chicago Whales, Indianapolis Hoosiers, Kansas City Packers, Pittsburgh Rebels, and St. Louis Terriers.  The Whales, in need of a stadium, constructed Weeghman Park on the north side of Chicago.  Now known as Wrigley Field, the stadium is still standing today as the oldest National League stadium.  Perhaps the most important event of the 1914 season occurred on July 11th, when the Boston Red Sox brought up a 19 year old lefty out of Baltimore named George Ruth.  Later known as "Babe", he defeated the Cleveland Naps 4-3 in his first game from the mound.  He would go on to be 2-1 with a 3.94 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP in four games (three starts) in his rookie 1914.  Slightly before than Babe Ruth's debut, on June 9th, Honus Wagner became the second member of the 3000 hit club, joining Cap Anson in the prestigious group.  On September 27th, Nap Lajoie joined Anson and Wagner by becoming the third member of the 3000 hit club.  In the same year that Babe Ruth first stepped onto a major league field, another Yankees legend was born.  On November 25th, Joe DiMaggio was born in the fishermen's village of Martinez, California.  While DiMaggio was born, baseball lost one of its great stars.  Rube Waddell, who had pitched from 1897-1910, mainly with the A's, died of tuberculosis on April 1st.  
The Federal League did not have one dominant team.  Rather, three teams battled for the championship.  In the end, the Indianapolis Hoosiers, led by former Highlanders Frank LaPorte and Benny Kauff and former Nap Cy Falkenberg, won the Federal League's first title by going 88-65.  The Joe Tinker (former Cub)/Claude Hendrix (former Pirate) led Chicago Whales finished 1.5 games back at 87-67, and the Jack Quinn led Baltimore Terrapins finished third at 84-70.  In last place were the St. Louis Terriers, who went 62-89 despite boasting future Hall of Famers Mordecai Brown and Edd Roush.  The American and National Leagues did not have such close races.  The Philadelphia Athletics (99-53) easily took the AL by 8.5 games over the Boston Red Sox (91-62), and the rejuvenated Boston Braves (94-59) won the NL by an even larger margin at 10.5 games over the New York Giants (84-70).  The Cleveland Naps, at 51-102, were the worst team in the league.  The World Series pitted the Braves against the Athletics, but it was all Braves from the get go.  Hank Gowdy homered and batted .545 (6-11) while Johnny Evers tacked on a .438 average.  Dick Rudolph earned complete game victories in both of his starts as he cruised to a 0.50 ERA for the Series, and Bill James added the other two victories by tossing eleven shutout innings.  When the dust cleared, the Braves had become the first team in baseball history to earn a four game sweep in the World Series.  
Though his team lost in the World Series, the Eddie Collins won the Chalmers Award in the AL by batting .344 with 58 stolen bases and a major league leading 122 runs scored.  His World Series counterpart, Johnny Evers, took home the NL Chalmers Award by batting .279 with 81 runs scored and 12 stolen bases.  Honestly, I can't understand any of the four selections for the NL Chalmers Award, being Frank Schulte, Larry Doyle, Jake Daubert, and Johnny Evers.  Benny Kauff, who played for the Federal League's Indianapolis club, led the majors with both his .370 average and his 75 stolen bases.  Ty Cobb led the AL in average again, batting .368.  The National League leader was Brooklyn's Jake Daubert, all the way down at .329.  The Phillies' Gavvy Cravath led the majors in home runs for a second straight season, again hitting 19.  Indianapolis' Frank LaPorte led baseball with 107 RBI.  On the mound, the Red Sox unearthed an absolute diamond.  Dutch Leonard, who had a solid rookie season in 1913 when he was 14-17 with a 2.39 ERA, set a still standing major league record for ERA (minimum 162 innings pitched).   Playing in 36 games (25 starts), he went 19-5 with a 0.96 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP to rock the baseball world.  Unfortunately, although he would go on to be a solid pitcher, he would never regain what made him great in 1914.  The Chicago Whales' Claude Hendrix was clearly the Federal League's best pitcher, leading the circuit in wins and ERA as he went 29-10 with a 1.69 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP.  Walter Johnson put up yet another excellent season, going 28-18 with a 1.72 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP.  Grover Cleveland Alexander went 27-15 with a 2.38 ERA in what was the best year of his career to date.  An aging Christy Mathewson (then 33 years old, which was old for the time) put up the last big season of his career, going 24-13 with a 3.00 ERA for the Giants.  He would stick around for the 1915 and 1916 seasons, but would not record double digit wins in either season.  

News
Spring Training games start on Wednesday.  Starting then, my blog will be titled "Spring Training Update: (date)"
Yankees signed Brett Gardner to a four year, $52 million deal ($13 million per season).
The Angels are working with Mike Trout on an extension that is rumored to be in the ballpark of six years and $150 million.

Free Agent Signings
Orioles signed Nelson Cruz (27 HR, 76 RBI, .266 AVG, 5 SB, 2014 age: 33-34) to a one year, $8 million deal.
Yankees agreed to terms with Andrew Bailey (3-1, 3.77 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 8 SV, 2014 age: 30) on a one year, $1.98 million deal.
Cubs signed Emilio Bonifacio (3 HR, 31 RBI, .243 AVG, 28 SB, 2014 age: 29) to a minor league deal.
Giants signed Tyler Colvin (3 HR, 10 RBI, .160 AVG, 0 SB, 2014 age: 28) to a minor league deal.

The Orioles made a significant offensive pickup in Nelson Cruz.  The Orioles also got him at a bargain at just $8 million, though he's hit over 20 home runs in each of the past five seasons.  Many teams were pushed away by the draft pick compensation he warranted, but the Orioles were willing to take him on because they only have to sacrifice a second round pick, having lot their first round pick when they signed Ubaldo Jimenez.  Cruz settled for much less than the $14.1 million qualifying  offer from the Rangers.  Now, the remaining players to have turned down those offers (Ervin Santana, Stephen Drew, and Kendrys Morales) may have to settle for less as well.  Cruz does bring big production to the Orioles outfield, where he will join Adam Jones and Nick Markakis.  My guess is that he will also see time at DH.  The Dominican native is a two time All Star (2009 and 2011) and was the ALCS MVP in 2011.  Since 2009, he's averaged 27 home runs, 81 RBI, and a .272 average per season.  Many don't know this, but the 6'2", 230 pound Cruz was a 20-20 guy in 2009, when he hit 33 home runs, drove in 76, and batted .260 with 20 stolen bases.  His best season may have been 2010, when he only played in 108 games but hit 22 home runs, drove in 78, and batted .318 with 17 stolen bases.  He's been very good in the postseason, hitting 14 home runs, driving in 27, and batting .278 over 34 games for a career slugging percentage of .683 in October.  In his major league career, he has 157 home runs, 489 RBI, and a .268 average with 65 stolen bases in 804 games.  2014 will be his first season with the BioGenesis scandal behind him.

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Teams followed in this update: Washington Nationals, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers
If your team is not included, please leave a comment.
HR: home runs.  RBI: runs batted in.  AVG: batting average.  SB: stolen bases.  ERA: earned run average. WHIP: walks/hits per innings pitched.  K's: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage