Babe Adams, the Pirates bellwether, pitches a one-hit 4 – 0 shutout against the Cardinals, the only safety coming when a ball squirts out of second baseman Joe Schultz’s glove. Adams will win only one more game this season, and the Pirates will release him in August. They will then re-sign him during the 1918 season.
1916 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox Pitching Staff. Rube Foster, Carl Mays, Ernie Shore, Babe Ruth, and Dutch Leonard. They were a combined 89-54 and Babe Ruth lead the way with 23 wins and a 1.75 ERA.
On April 12, 1916, the Cleveland Indians acquire future Hall of Famer Tris Speaker from the Boston Red Sox for pitcher Sad Sam Jones, minor league infielder Fred Thomas, and cash. Speaker will lead the American League in batting, slugging, on-base percentage, hits, and doubles in 1916.
Outfielder Tris Speaker is still a holdout as a reaction to Boston Red Sox owner Joseph Lannin’s proposal to cut his salary from $11,000 to $9,000. Speaker wants $15,000. The Red Sox, in anticipation of resolving the contract dispute by trading Speaker, purchase OF Tilly Walker from the St. Louis Browns.
1916 – An unsigned Tris Speaker arrives at the Boston Red Sox training camp in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in time for an exhibition game. Speaker goes 4 for 4 with a home run and a triple.
1916 – Major League Baseball initiates an option plan to protect minor league players.
Hall of Fame owner sells a Hall of Fame player
The National League celebrates its 40th anniversary with a Waldorf-Astoria banquet. The NL’s first president, Morgan G. Bulkeley, is present. The chief speaker is former president William Howard Taft.
1916 – The New York Yankees buy pitcher Nick Cullop from the Kansas City Packers (Federal League), infielder Joe Gedeon from the Salt Lake Bees (Pacific Coast League), and infielder Germany Schaefer from the Newark Peppers (FL). Schaefer will announce that he is changing his nickname to “Liberty” because of the war. He noticed that “sauerkraut” had been renamed “liberty cabbage”.
On January 17, 1916, the New York Giants purchase three stars from the Federal League: pitcher Fred Anderson, outfielder Benny Kauff, and catcher Bill Rariden, from the Brooklyn Tip Tops for $35,000. Kauff, the 26-year-old center fielder was the Federal League’s best player. His first three seasons with New York are solid, but the trash-talking…
Enjoy our free trial and start listening to games, interviews and shows! Ruth, Mantle, Aaron, and Seaver!