Commemorating the 1920 Brooklyn Robins: Championship or Bust for Wilbert Robinson?

From the desk of:  FINGERPRINTS OF THE BUMS

100th Anniversary

BROOKLYN ROBINS

1920 National League Champions

One Month Into Season Brooklyn Robins Still Enjoying Representative Start. But Is Wilbert Robinson On The Hot Seat?

Looking back Charles Ebbets decision after the 1913 season to fire his dear friend and field manager is clearly the correct one.  The Dodgers in each of their four seasons playing for Bill Dahlen fail to finish above par.  In his final if not his best season at the helm Brooklyn posts a 65-84 record, good enough for sixth place, but clearly no longer good enough for Charlie and his brand new ball park at Sullivan Place.  It also goes without saying the subsequent decision to hire Wilbert Robinson entering the 1914 season pays off both quickly and handsomely.  Backed by an infusion of capital via Charles Ebbets new partnership with the McKeever Brothers, Robinson within three seasons transforms Brooklyn into National League champions.  Himself a former catcher and someone who previously serves under John McGraw as pitcher's coach for the New York Giants, Wilbert Robinson immediately moves to improve his battery.  Brooklyn signs pitchers Jeff Pfeffer, Sherry Smith, and catcher Otto Miller.  In 1915 they bring into the fold veteran Rube Marquard who already enjoys a rapport with Robinson since their days together with the Giants.  With the National League's best team ERA in 1916, the Brooklyn Robins reset the club's all-time attendance record en route to winning their first and to date only pennant of the 20th century.

The very next season Brooklyn plunges headlong into seventh place, eleven games under .500 and a distant 26.5 games out of first.  Never before does the National League witness such a precipitous fall from the mountain's top.  Despite efforts in January of 1918 to further solidify their pitching by trading the unrepentant Casey Stengel to Pittsburgh in exchange for pitchers Burleigh Grimes, Al Mamaux, and infielder Chuck Ward, Wilbert Robinson's club continues toiling in the second division.  Last season's 69-71 record marks the second of back to back fifth place finishes, this one ending 27-games behind the eventual World Champion Cincinnati Reds.  One must now ask if after three disappointing seasons does a fourth consecutive losing campaign place Wilbert Robinson on the same footing whence Bill Dahlen once stood.  To that effect Brooklyn returns this season save for a few patchwork acquisitions with essentially the same team.  Naturally many pundits spend spring training anticipating more of the same out of Brooklyn while regarding their cross town rival Giants ahead of the Pirates and Cubs as top senior circuit contenders for Cincinnati's crown.

Seemingly undeterred the Robins so far are off to a fairly good start, sporting a 12-9-1 record.  They presently occupy third place behind the league leading Reds, and second place Pirates.  However they have become quite taxed of late as six of their last nine games in May extend into extra innings.  On the first day of the month they play a major league record 26-innings at Boston.  The very next day they play 13 innings against Philadelphia at Ebbets Field, and the day after that play another 19 innings back at Boston.  Most recently three of their last four games are decided in extra innings.

Otherwise to Wilbert's delight the Robins are stunting opposing batters with strong pitching.  Burleigh Grimes owns a 1.32 ERA through his first 74.2 innings pitched.  The now veteran Leon Cadore drafted by the Dodgers in 1914 presently owns a 1.28 ERA through 56.1 innings pitched.  And of course there is 32-year old Jeff Pfeffer who although struggling for decisions nonetheless owns a respectable 2.18 ERA through 33.0 innings pitched.  Al Mamaux, Sherry Smith, and Clarence Mitchell, when called upon are likewise performing well.

No longer a rookie still trying to win Wilbert's confidence back in 1914, the now 31-year old Hi Myers in 1919 leads the circuit with 14 triples, 73 runs batted in, and a .436 slugging average.  The Robins center fielder this season is hitting a nifty .345 through 22 games.  Meanwhile soon to be 32-year old Zack Wheat is batting .323, and has hit safely in all but three games to start the season.

This week rumbling skies over St. Louis continued storming down upon Brooklyn's scheduled four game series against the Cardinals at Robinson Field - something Uncle Robbie seems agreeable with.


EARLY SEASON HIGHLIGHTS:

• 4/14/1920 - Brooklyn Robins Rout Phillies in Season Opener at Ebbets Field
• 4/24/1920 - Burleigh Grimes Hurls Robins Over Phillies 
• 4/26/1920 - Rube Marquard Turns Tables on Giants
• 5/1/1920 - Brooklyn Robins and Boston Braves Play in Major League Record 26-Inning Marathon
• 5/13/1920 - Brooklyn Robins Have No Answer for Grover Cleveland Alexander
• 5/15/1920 - Brooklyn Robins Take Second Straight From Cardinals at Robison Field

* Join me this season as I commemorate the Brooklyn Robins 1920 National League championship.  I am recapping each regular season game in real time with a little touch of poetic license, of course.