The Blue Grass League, 1922-1924

After operating as a semipro circuit in 1921, the Blue Grass League was readmitted to the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues in 1922.

1922 BLUE GRASS LEAGUE (192 games)

FINAL, UNOFFICIAL:

In the official standings (shown below), one Mt Sterling loss was charged mistakenly to Lexington.

The BGL played a split season in 1922. This arrangement was finalized when the league added a third weekly game (on Saturday) to its twice-a-week format of Thursday and Sunday games.

Maysville and Cynthiana played five postseason playoff games (October 8-22). Maysville won three and lost one. The other game ended in a tie.

The final, official standings released by the league office were:

The 1922 standings were significantly altered by several decisions by BGL President Thomas M. Russell.

Russell declared two games “no contest” and ordered them replayed. They were Winchester at Maysville (April 20) and Mt Sterling at Lexington (June 4).

Russell overuled an umpire’s forfeit in Paris’s June 8 game at Mt Sterling. When Paris, which was leading, refused to continue play in rainy conditions, the umpire forfeited the game to Mt Sterling. Russell later declared the game a Paris victory.

Lexington forfeited its final three games when the team failed to appear October 2 and 3 (vs Mt Sterling) and October 4 (vs Winchester).

Additionally, Russell ruled that Lexington had used ineligible players in three of its victories and declared those games forfeits: August 27 (forfeited to Mt Sterling), September 9 (forfeited to Winchester), and September 30 (forfeited to Cynthiana).

My first half standings and the official standings are the same:

1923 BLUE GRASS LEAGUE (291 games)

FINAL, UNOFFICIAL:

Cynthiana won the pennant despite losing 14 games in a row, and 18 of 19, in a stretch that began May 31.

When Maysville did not appear in Winchester for their scheduled games of August 27 and August 28, Winchester was awarded 2 forfeit victories and Maysville 2 forfeit losses, which counted in the standings.

1923: THE RIDDLE OF THE STANDINGS

The Blue Grass League office did not release official team standings to the press at any time during the 1923 season. The Lexington Herald compiled its own daily standings, and these were picked up by the newspapers in the other league cities.

On July 17 the Herald printed these standings. They coincide exactly with my game-by-game logs for each team.

No games were played July 17. The July 18 edition of the Herald printed a revised table:

The following explanation was appended: “A check of all games played in the Blue Grass League this season, made yesterday from the files of the Herald, disclosed that the Winchester Dodgers, and not the Maysville Cardinals, are entitled to second place in the league race.”

The Herald had removed 3 games from its standings: 2 Maysville wins, 1 Paris win, 1 Cynthiana loss, 1 Mt Sterling loss, and 1 Paris loss.

A table the Herald provided of each team’s record against each of its opponents shows that the missing games were a Maysville victory over Mt Sterling, a Maysville victory over Paris, and a Paris victory over Cynthiana.

Why did the Herald revise its standings to remove games that had been played? A possible explanation is that the missing 3 games were thrown out by the league president, Thomas M. Russell. If this happened, however, there is no mention of it in the Herald or any other of the BGL’s hometown newspapers.

There is another possible explanation. Before July 18 Maysville had beaten Mt Sterling, Maysville had beaten Paris, and Paris had beaten Cynthiana in games that were not listed on the original schedule because they were makeup games (games rescheduled after rain postponements). When the Herald checked its files, it may have simply checked those games that were originally scheduled, overlooking the makeup games. I believe this is what happened.

In the absence of information from the league office, the Herald standings, however flawed, were accepted by the state’s other newspapers.

After July 18, the Herald continued to add the results of each day’s games to its revised standings. This it accomplished accurately through August 25. After that date, however, the paper’s standings became a crazy quilt of misinformation. The “Won” and “Lost” columns rarely balanced out. Occasionally a team that won was credited with a loss, and vice versa. Sometimes these mistakes were corrected in a subsequent edition, but not always.

On September 9, the last day of the season, the Herald printed these standings:

These are the standings that found their way into the 1924 Spalding and Reach guides. They do not include the 3 games played on September 9.

The Herald printed its final standings September 10.

In the absence of evidence to the contrary, I believe that the standings I have compiled from my game-by-game logs are the accurate summary of what each team accomplished in 1923. I have listed them above as “Final, Unofficial.”

The Blue Grass League’s official papers have not come to light.

The Blue Grass League released no individual or team batting, pitching, or fielding statistics for 1923.

3 box scores were not published in any of the state’s newspapers:

August 5, Mt Sterling at Paris

August 16, Winchester at Mt Sterling

August 19, Maysville at Mt Sterling

1924 BLUE GRASS LEAGUE (189 games)

I have compiled complete game-by-game logs and master rosters for each team participating in the Blue Grass League seasons of 1909-12 and 1922-24. None of this material is currently posted on the WWW. However, if you need any of it you may contact me and I’ll do my best to get it to you.

February 2002