SECOND SEASON FINISHES UP
by Mike Comfort
The Quakers were involved in a few unusual incidents in August. The first occurred in a game against Boone. Their game was moved from the ballpark, presumably in Oskaloosa, to the fairgrounds. The Oskaloosa Herald claimed the reason was due to “poor accommodations” while the Waterloo Courier noted it was due to an injunction against the regular park. The Quakers were able to win the game 4-3, another win for Steele, despite Cassibone tripping over the tall grass, falling, and allowing two runs to score. Then, the Quakers won another game against Marshalltown where the Grays’ Zink hit a homerun deemed to land “half a mile away” and breaking a street trolley line. In another game, the newly dubbed Manufacturers of Waterloo defeated Oskaloosa 4-2, but the story was about Umpire Brennan who umpired despite dealing with blood poisoning due to a shortage of umpires. He was fine until he was struck by a ball in an abscess on his leg and had to be carried from the field where he was in “extreme agony”. It was reported that he would not be able to umpire for a while. Ft Dodge made waves of their own when they won via shutout in 4 straight games (Keokuk 3 times and Burlington once).
Ottumwa and Fort Dodge battled for the pennant in the last month of the season. Fort Dodge made their case with a 22-5 stretch in August and September, but Ottumwa was able to go on a 9-1 run in September to clinch the pennant with a 73-46 record, while Fort Dodge was 73-49. Oskaloosa (67-56) finished in 3rd, after a 20-10 stretch in August and winning 6 of their last 8 games. Boone (64-55) followed in 4th and Keokuk (59-62) fifth. Keokuk cratered by going 3-17 in August and September. Marshalltown (56-65) was in 6th, while a 3-15 stretch sunk Waterloo (50-69) to 7th place. Burlington finished in the cellar. They followed their 2-24 July by going 4-15 at one point in August and September. They finished 35 wins behind Ottumwa and 17 behind Waterloo. Marshalltown manager Warner planned on arranging exhibition games with other teams. The day following the end of the season, he scheduled a game with Fort Dodge for a purse of $300. No word on who won.
Fred Steele of Oskaloosa had the best record amongst pitchers at 18-3, while the league boasted five 20 game winners in Harry Corns of Boone (25-11), John Eubanks of Ft Dodge (23-9), Cy Parkins of Marshalltown (21-11), Mark Clayton of Waterloo (20-12), and Mel Blexrud of Keokuk (20-14). Blexrud and Corns also threw the only no-hitters of the season. Blexrud also led the league with 207 strikeouts, the only pitcher over 200. Harry Meek of Boone and Waterloo led the league in batting average at .321. Controversial manager Rusty Owens led with a .308 average, but in just 18 games. Persons and Ramey of Oskaloosa hit .304, each in at least 98 games.
Following the season, multiple players joined other leagues for the end of their seasons. Floyd Coates left Oskaloosa to join Des Moines, while James of Burlington was sold to Cleveland of the American League. On top of that, many players from the 1905 season would play in the majors. Clay Perry of Oskaloosa would have 2 hits for Detroit in 1908. Boone’s Ivon Howard played for the Browns and Indians for 2 years a piece and finished with 191 hits. Burlington’s Danny Moeller played 7 years in the majors with 618 hits, while teammate Hi West was 3-4 for Cleveland in 1911. Bill Davidson of Fort Dodge played 3 years in the NL and accumulated 190 hits. Huck Wallace of Marshalltown pitched 4.2 innings for the Phillies in 1912. The league also had former major leaguers that were finishing up their careers in the Iowa League including Dad Clark, Charlies Frisbee, Henry Reitz, Joe Kostal, and Harry Maupin. Reitz had led the NL in triples in 1894.
With that, the second season of the Iowa League of Professional Baseball Clubs was complete. The champions were the same and so was speculation on the breakup of the league in the offseason.
Sources
Marshalltown Times, Waterloo Courier, Oskaloosa Herald, Quad City Times, Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Sioux City Journal, CR Gazette, Baseball Reference
This article is copyright Mike Comfort and used with his permission. You can read more at his Substack by clicking HERE.
Mike Comfort is an Oskaloosa native as well as a baseball and history buff. He resides in Oskaloosa and is an educator and coach.
