1923 Baseball Season Headlines

Maybe all the Yankees needed to win the World Series was a new stadium! Read about the Yankees' winning season and other headlines below.

Jack Bentley: 13-8, .427 BA

Playing for Baltimore in 1920, Jack Bentley led the International League in ERA and RBI. The following year, he topped the International League in batting and homers and was 12-1 as a pitcher. It seemed for a while that he could also do double duty in the majors. In 1923, he went 13-8 for the Giants and hit .427. By 1926, however, his arm was out of gas.

Carl Mays Beats A's 23 Times

The A's never got another crack at Carl Mays after he beat them for a record 23rd straight time on August 24, 1923. The Yankees released him that fall after exiling him to the bullpen for most of the season (he went 5-2 with a 6.22 ERA). Mays proved he wasn't yet washed-up by winning 20 games for the Reds in 1924.

Babe Ruth's Bat Bounces Back

Babe Ruth's dismal performance in the 1922 World Series nearly cost manager Miller Huggins his job. After Ruth's big 1923 World Series, however -- a 368 average, three home runs, and three RBI -- his teammates shared the sentiments of Waite Hoyt, who once said, "Every major leaguer and his wife should teach their children to pray: 'God bless Mommy, God bless Daddy, and God bless Babe Ruth.' "

Lu Blue Nets Walks, Runs

Almost every player was enamored with hitting home runs by the mid-1920s. One notable exception was Lu Blue, a nimble switch-hitting first baseman who tagged more than six homers in a season just once, yet scored more than 100 runs in a year six times (in 1923, he tallied a .284 average, one home run, and 100 runs). Blue was gifted at collecting walks (96 in 1923). His total of 127 walks in 1931 was the White Sox season record for 60 years.

Cy Williams Hits 41 HRs

Cy Williams led the National League in home runs four times, the last when he was approaching 40 years of age. He was crowned the home run champion in 1923 with 41 four-baggers. Nearly age 28 before he won a regular job in the majors, Williams went on to surpass 250 round-trippers -- only the second National League player to do so (Rogers Hornsby was the first).

Yankee Stadium Opens Doors

Yankee Stadium opened in the vicinity of East 161st Street in the Bronx on April 18, 1923. The entire structure took just 284 days to complete.

Charlie Grimm Bats Career-Best

Owing in part to his 23-game hitting streak at the start of the season, Charlie Grimm hit a career-high .345 in 1923. Grimm was one of the first to accumulate 1,000 RBI without ever netting 100 in a season.

For highlights of the 1923 baseball season, see the next page.

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