With the Championship under their belts, the Maple Leafs quickly fell out of contention.
Shaw, and Dick Rudolph moved on and Toronto instantly fell to 13 games
under .500. They would rebound in 1914 as they put up a 74-70 record, thanks in
part to a bounce back season by Tim Jordan (27 2B, 13 HR, .301). From 1914-1916,
the Maple Leafs were a good ballclub... above .500 but not very interesting,
and not a team that was going to vie for a championship. The only intriguing moment
was when Babe Ruth, who was playing in his first Minor League professional
games, would come here to hit his very first Home Run in 1914. This mediocrity
would suddenly turn around in 1917 when Toronto hired Hall of Famer Nap Lajoie.
Lajoie had played his final season for the Philadelphia A's after 14 incredible
years with the Indians in which he led the league in hitting several times.
The former .426 hitter for the Athletics, Lajoie would bat .376 and .384 for the
Indians. Now at 42, Napoleon Lajoie took over as player/Manager for the Maple
Leafs and he promptly showed why he was destined for Cooperstown as he hit a
whopping .380, beating Hy Myers by nearly 40 points while also breaking Tim Jordan's
doubles record (33) by hitting 39. George Whiteman was also terrific with
32 2B, 10 3B, 7 HR and a .342. On the mound Harry Thompson joined in on the fun
posting a 25-11 (2.46) record to tie Dick Rudolph's all time mark while Bunny
Hearn was right behind him with a 23-9, 2.03. Together they would lead this team
well past mediocrity to a 93-61 record and their 2nd International League Championship
trophy at this ballpark. With that... the war took over. The International
League would not be able to play a full season and cut from 154 games to
only 127 games for the 1918 season. In fact the International League was the only
league in baseball still playing into the first week of September as all the
other leagues ceased operations due to the war, a month earlier. This all didn't
seem to matter to these Maple Leafs as despite playing 27 fewer games, they
won nearly as many as they did during their 1917 Championship season. |