1914 Indianapolis Hoosiers: Third Major League

1914 Indianapolis Hoosiers: Third Major League

1914 Indianapolis Hoosiers: Third Major League

For a brief period of time professional baseball didn’t just have the National and American Leagues. From 1914 to 1915 there were actually 3 Major Leagues that baseball players could turn to for work. While everyone knew about the National League and the American League, the third emerging league was often referred to as the “Outlaw” League. This league would be officially known as the Federal League.

John T. Powers played an instrumental part in establishing the Federal League as his league presented baseball players with an enticing offer. The Federal League offered better play to its players as opposed to the National and American Leagues. Players who took the field for the Federal League received better pay and appeared to enjoy themselves while they played under the FL banner. Teams that played in the FL were the Baltimore Terrapins, Brooklyn Tip-Tops, Buffalo Blues, Chicago Federals (soon renamed to the Whales), Kansas City Packers, Pittsburgh Rebels and the St. Louis Terriers.

Another team that played in the Federal League was the Indianapolis Hoosiers, a team that experienced mild success in bringing talented baseball players on board. In 1914 the Hoosiers went 88-65-4 (ties were not recorded), finishing just 1.5 games ahead of the Chicago Federals to win the Federal League Championship. Unlike the National and American Leagues, the Federal League never held its own version of the World Series. The Hoosiers went 53-23 at their home ballpark called Federal League Park while going only 35-42 on the road.

Federal League Park had a short-lived run as it was built in 1913 to prepare for the Federal League’s inaugural season. However, the ballpark only lasted until 1916 after the Federal League had ceased its operations. This ballpark stood at the southwest corner of Kentucky Avenue and South Street.

Center fielder Benny Kauff often stood out as the star player on the Hoosiers. Kauff batted .370 with 8 home runs and 95 RBI’s off 211 hits, 44 doubles, 13 triples and 75 stolen bases. Kauff led the FL in runs scored with 120 along with batting average and stolen bases categories. Outfielder Vin Campbell batted .318 with 7 home runs, 173 hits, 23 doubles, 11 triples and 26 stolen bases. Second baseman Frank LaPorte batted .311 with 107 RBI’s, 157 hits, 27 doubles, 12 triples and 15 stolen bases. Left fielder Al Scheer batted .306 with 111 hits, 23 doubles and 6 triples.

Third baseman Bill McKechnie batted .304 with 173 hits, 24 doubles, 6 triples and 47 stolen bases. McKechnie would go on to have a successful career in the other 2 Major Leagues and became a Hall of Fame inductee. Shortstop Jimmy Esmond batted .295 with 160 hits, 23 doubles, 15 triples and 25 stolen bases. First baseman Charlie Carr batted .293 with 69 RBI’s, 129 hits, 11 doubles, 10 triples and 19 stolen bases. Catcher Bill Rariden had 93 hits, 15 doubles, 5 triples and 12 stolen bases.

The pitching staff for Indianapolis was solid enough to carry the team through tough stretches of time. Starting pitcher Frederick Peter “Cy” Falkenberg was a talented pitcher, but he resorted to throwing a pitch that he called the “Emery Ball”, where he would scuff the baseball with a piece of a wooden board. This notwithstanding Falkenberg still pitched well as he went 25-16 with 236 strikeouts and a 2.22 ERA, recording 33 complete games, 9 shutouts and 3 saves.

Earl Moseley went 19-18 with 205 strikeouts and a 3.47 ERA, recording 29 complete games, 4 shutouts and 1 save. George Kaiserling 17-10 with 75 strikeouts and a 3.11 ERA, recording 20 complete games and 1 shutout. George Mullin went 14-10 with 74 strikeouts and a 2.70 ERA, recording 11 complete games, 1 shutout and 2 saves. Harry Billiard went 8-7 with a 3.72 ERA, recording 5 complete games and 2 saves. Charlie Whitehouse went 2-0 with 2 complete games. The combination of pitchers who recorded 1 complete game included Ralph McConnaughey, who went 0-2, Frank Harter, who went 1-2, and Ed Henderson and Katsy Keifer, who both went 1-0.

While May and July weren’t so kind months to the team, the Hoosiers fared well in every other month of the Federal League regular season as they went 7-6 in April, 21-7 in June, 18-11 in August, 15-13 in September and 7-0 in October. In blowout games where the end results were margins of 5 or more runs, the Hoosiers went 18-11.

What defined the regular season for the Hoosiers was a very impressive 15-game winning streak which began with a 6-5 win over the Baltimore Terrapins on June 11, and the streak ended with a 5-2 win over the Kansas City Packers on June 24. During this winning streak the Hoosiers were at their best when they crushed the Brooklyn Tip-Tops 12-3 on June 23. Cy Falkenberg pitched a complete game, giving up 10 hits, 1 walk and 3 runs while recording 3 strikeouts. For the game Bill McKechnie had 3 hits, 2 RBI’s and 1 stolen base while drawing a walk. Bill Rariden had 3 hits and 2 RBI’s. Benny Kauff had 3 hits and 1 RBI. Second baseman Carl Vandagrift had 2 hits and 1 walk. Al Scheer had 1 hit and 3 RBI’s.

The most impressive win of the entire regular season for the Hoosiers came on September 14 when they defeated the Brooklyn Tip-Tops in a 10-0 shutout at Washington Park. Cy Falkenberg once again pitched just well enough to win as he pitched a complete game, giving up 7 hits and 4 walks while recording 7 strikeouts. For the game left fielder Ed Roush had 3 hits and 3 RBI’s. LaPorte had 2 hits and 1 RBI while drawing a walk. Falkenberg had 2 hits and 1 RBI. Carr drew 2 walks and had 1 RBI. Vin Capmbell had 1 hit and 1 RBI. Kauff had 2 hits and 1 stolen base while drawing a walk.

Just as quickly as the Indianapolis Hoosiers became a good baseball team, they would fold up their tents and head east as they would move to Newark, New Jersey to become the Newark Peppers. Little did many in league loops knew that the Federal League itself wasn’t far behind in folding up its tent.