On March 20th, at Norfolk, Virginia, the U.S.S. Langely was commissioned as the first United States Naval Aircraft Carrier. Originally a coaler christened the Jupiter, the mammoth vessel was refurbished for the purpose of conducting experiments in the new idea of seaborne aviation. At the outbreak of World War II, Langley was anchored off Cavite, Philippine Islands and was ordered to proceed to Balikpapan, Borneo, and Darv, in Australia, where she assisted the RAAF in running antisubmarine patrols out of Darwin. She was then assigned to American-British-Dutch-Australian forces assembling in Indonesia to challenge the Japanese thrust in that direction. Early in the morning of February 27th, 1942, Langley rendezvoused with her usual antisubmarine screen of Navy destroyers as nine twin-engine enemy bombers attacked her. The first and second Japanese strikes were unsuccessful; but during the third Langley took five hits igniting several planes on the flight deck. After an unsuccessful attempt to extinguish the flames, the order to abandon ship was passed. The escorting destroyers fired nine four-inch shells and two torpedoes into the old tender to insure her sinking and she went down about seventy-five miles south of Tjilatjap with a loss of sixteen.
During a 5-4 win over the Detroit Tigers at League Park II on June 3rd, Cleveland Indians first baseman Stuffy McInnis committed his first error in an astounding one-hundred sixty-three games and one-thousand six-hundred twenty-five chances.
On April 30th, in just his fourth career start, Chicago White Sox pitcher Charlie Robertson pitches the fifth perfect game in Major League history. Chicago tops the Detroit Tigers, 2–0, at Navin Field in Detroit.
Chicago and Boston combined to set an American League record with thirty-five singles (Chicago, twenty-one and Boston, fourteen) during a 19-11 White Sox victory on August 15th.
Ten Pittsburgh Pirates collected two or more hits (twenty-two total) on August 7th to rally over the seventh place Philadelphia Phillies 17-10. The Phils were headed for a storybook comeback (after scoring six runs in two 2/3 innings), but the Buccos added eight of their own in the fourth to take the lead. The following day Pittsburgh set a Major League record with forty-six hits during a doubleheader against Philadelphia.
On August 25th, the Chicago Cubs managed to edge out the Philadelphia Phillies 26-23 in one of the worst combined pitching performances in baseball history. The game itself featured fifty-one hits, twenty-one walks, and nine errors with the Phillies stranding sixteen men on base and the Cubs leaving nine.
Rogers Hornsby completed the season with a .401 average making him the first .400-hitter in the National League since Ed Delahanty in 1899. He also set a National League record with two-hundred fifty hits, another with one-hundred two extra-base hits and was awarded the Triple Crown with one-hundred fifty-two runs batted in and forty-two home runs.
For the first time since 1900, there were no playing managers in the National League. It would be 1930 before the American League would follow suite and bench all of its managers.
Following a lawsuit brought by the Federal League's Baltimore franchise, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 9-0 that professional baseball (on any level) was not considered an interstate business.
In an effort to curb the rise of home run hitting (one-thousand fifty-four in the major leagues, up from nine-hundred thirty-six), several American League owners proposed a new zoning system that called for a minimum distance of three-hundred feet for a round-tripper to be "official". Although that motion was denied, another action that required all teams to furnish two uniforms per player was passed and at the National League meeting Charles Ebbets proposed the addition of numbers on players' sleeves or caps.
"They (the fans) can boo and hoot me all they want. That doesn't bother me, but when a fan calls insulting names from the grandstand and becomes abusive I don't intend to stand for it. This fellow today (May 25, 1922) `called me a 'low-down bum' and other names that got me mad." - Babe Ruth
1922 American League Player Review |
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Statistic | Name(s) | Team(s) | # | Top 25 |
Base on Balls | Whitey Witt | New York | 89 | Top 25 |
Batting Average | George Sisler | St. Louis | .420 | Top 25 |
Doubles | Tris Speaker | Cleveland | 48 | Top 25 |
Hits | George Sisler | St. Louis | 246 | Top 25 |
Home Runs | Ken Williams | St. Louis | 39 | Top 25 |
On Base Percentage | Tris Speaker | Cleveland | .474 | Top 25 |
RBI | Ken Williams | St. Louis | 155 | Top 25 |
Runs | George Sisler | St. Louis | 134 | Top 25 |
Slugging Average | Babe Ruth | New York | .672 | Top 25 |
Stolen Bases | George Sisler | St. Louis | 51 | Top 25 |
Total Bases | Ken Williams | St. Louis | 367 | Top 25 |
Triples | George Sisler | St. Louis | 18 | Top 25 |
Statistic | Name(s) | Team(s) | # | Top 25 |
1922 A.L. History | 1922 N.L. History | Year-by-Year History |
1922 American League Pitcher Review |
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Statistic | Name(s) | Team(s) | # | Top 25 |
Complete Games | Red Faber | Chicago | 31 | Top 25 |
ERA | Red Faber | Chicago | 2.81 | Top 25 |
Games | Eddie Rommel | Philadelphia | 51 | Top 25 |
Saves | Sam Jones | New York | 8 | Top 25 |
Shutouts | George Uhle | Cleveland | 5 | Top 25 |
Strikeouts | Urban Shocker | St. Louis | 149 | Top 25 |
Winning Percentage | Joe Bush | New York | .788 | Top 25 |
Wins | Eddie Rommel | Philadelphia | 27 | Top 25 |
Statistic | Name(s) | Team(s) | # | Top 25 |
1922 A.L. History | 1922 N.L. History | Year-by-Year History |
1922 American League Team Standings1922 Team Standings | 1922 World Series |
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Team | Roster | W | L | WP | GB |
New York Yankees | 94 | 60 | .610 | 0 |
St. Louis Browns | 93 | 61 | .604 | 1 |
Detroit Tigers | 79 | 75 | .513 | 15 |
Cleveland Indians | 78 | 76 | .506 | 16 |
Chicago White Sox | 77 | 77 | .500 | 17 |
Washington Senators | 69 | 85 | .448 | 25 |
Philadelphia Athletics | 65 | 89 | .422 | 29 |
Boston Red Sox | 61 | 93 | .396 | 33 |
Team | Roster | W | L | WP | GB |
American League Team Standings |
1922 American League Team ReviewHitting Statistics League Leaderboard |
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Statistic | Team | # |
Base on Balls | Cleveland | 550 |
Batting Average | St. Louis | .310 |
Doubles | Cleveland | 320 |
Hits | St. Louis | 1,684 |
Home Runs | Philadelphia | 111 |
On Base Percentage | Detroit | .373 |
Runs | St. Louis | 867 |
Slugging Average | St. Louis | .453 |
Stolen Bases | St. Louis | 136 |
Triples | St. Louis | 94 |
Statistic | Team | # |
1922 American League Team ReviewPitching Statistics League Leaderboard |
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Statistic | Team | # |
Complete Games | New York | 100 |
ERA | St. Louis | 3.38 |
Fewest Hits Allowed | New York | 1,402 |
Fewest Home Runs Allowed | Boston | 48 |
Fewest Walks Allowed | St. Louis | 419 |
Saves | St. Louis | 22 |
Shutouts | Cleveland | 14 |
Strikeouts | St. Louis | 534 |
Statistic | Team | # |
Do you know which pitcher never had a winning season during his Major League career yet managed to throw a perfect game on April 30, 1922?
Ty Cobb hit .401 in 1922 yet lost the batting title to George Sisler of the St. Louis Browns who finished the season hitting .420. However, 1911 was actually the first instance in the American League were a .400 hitter (Ty Cobb again!) beat another .400 hitter (Joe Jackson) for the batting title.
On September 30, 1922, Babe Ruth was ejected by umpire Tom Connolly for abusive language. A heckler became Ruth's next target, but Connolly intercepted and told Ruth, "You should be ashamed of yourself." Ruth returned to the dugout and was never ejected from another baseball game during his career.