Three weeks ago, the Williamsport Crosscutters won their first-ever MLB Draft League Championship by defeating the Trenton Thunder 5-4 at Bowman Field in an exciting and memorable game. This brings to mind previous championships won by Williamsport’s professional baseball teams.
These championship roots go back almost 120 years, when the team then known as the “Williamsport Millionaires” captured championships in the old Tri-State League in 1905, 1907, and 1908. The Williamsport team was one of the league’s dominant franchises from 1904 to 1910, finishing no lower than third.
The 1905 Tri-State League pennant race was one of the most scintillating and exciting ever and went down to the wire. That team featured one-time and future major leaguers Walter Manning, Fred Applegate, Walter Blair, and Bill Hinchman. But the acquisition that turned the tide for the Williamsport team was the early-August acquisition of Jimmy Sebring, who had played for the Red Sox and Reds. As a matter of fact, Sebring hit the first-ever home run in World Series play in the first Fall Classic in 1903.
The Millionaires were able to eke out the Tri-State pennant by one-half game over the Johnstown Johnnies and 1 1/2 games over the York White Roses.
Their next championship was in 1907, and they had a well-balanced team that featured good and consistent hitting and pitching. They had a .300-hitting outfield known as the “Erin Outfield,” which featured Joe Delanhanty, Tom O’Hara, and Joe Hennessey and was supplemented by the ever-consistent Jimmy Sebring. The pitching staff featured two 20-game winners, “Rube” Vickers and Birdee Cree.
Winning a championship that year was a little easier as they cruised past the Harrisburg Senators by eight games.
In 1908, Williamsport won again over Harrisburg, this time by just two games.
They were paced by the fine play of George Cockhill, player-manager, Harry Wolverton, Dave Shean, and Ollie Britton, and their pitching staff was anchored by Jack Warhop, who won 29 games that year for Williamsport.
It would be another 15 years before Williamsport would be in the winner’s circle again, this time as the champions of the newly formed New York-Pennsylvania League in 1923 (later to become the Eastern League.)
That 1923 team featured future Philadelphia A’s standouts Walter French and George “Mule” Haas. The team had a team batting average of .318. The stalwart batters of the team were Arnold “Bucky” Poole, .372, Walter French, .352, and Stanley “Rabbit” Benton, who scored a record 133 runs.
That year’s team also had good pitching, with Dudley Foulk winning 20 games and Jim Bishop and Harold Fulweiler each winning 15 games.
Williamsport won the pennant again in 1924, edging out the York White Roses for the second consecutive year. The team, now known as the “Grays,” had a timely blend of good hitting and pitching.
Bill Hunnefield took the league’s batting crown with a .346 average, and Roy Leavitt led the league in homers with 18. The pitching staff got 19 wins from Bobby Burns and 18 each from Carlton Demarest and Henry: Lefty” Huffman.
Harry Hinchman managed the 1923 and 1924 teams.
It would be another ten years before the Grays would return to the winner’s circle as league champions.
In 1934, the league featured a split-season format, like this year’s MLB Draft League. The team finished third in the first half of the season but first in the second half.
Williamsport was managed by Mike McNally and was paced by the slugging of Horace “Red” McBride, who batted .368 with 25 homers and 129 RBIs. Catcher Bill Baker batted .343; Joe Bonowitz hit .321, and Zach Smith, .321. The pitching staff was paced by Bunny Hearn, who went 21-8, Bill Thomas, and Luther Bud: Thomas each won 12.
They defeated Elmira in an exciting championship series to capture the 1934 New York-Pennsylvania League pennant.
Twenty-six more years would intervene before Williamsport would figure into championship play in the now-Eastern league.
The 1960 Williamsport Grays were known as the “Go-Go Grays” because of their wealth of team speed, good pitching, and timely hitting.
Future Phillies manager Frank Lucchesi managed that year’s team.
The team featured ten future major leaguers, including Danny Cater, John Hernstein, Lee Elia, who would be another future Phillies manager, and Ted Savage.
Williamsport won the first round of the Governor’s Cup Playoffs and was in the middle of playing the Springfield Giants for the league championship when Hurricane Donna intervened and washed out the rest of the series. Williamsport and Springfield were declared Eastern League Co-Champions for 1960.
It would be another 41 years before Williamsport saw a championship again.
In 2001, Williamsport fielded a team in the Short Season Class A New York-Penns League, and the team was a farm club of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Tony Beasley managed the team.
The team’s big slugger was Walter “Junior” Young, who slugged a league-leading 13 homers and led the team in RBIs with 47. Another fine slugger on that team was Jose Bautista, who had five homers and 30 RBIs. He went on to have a fine career with the Toronto Blue Jays and several other clubs.
The sparkplug at the top of the line-up was Chris Duffy, who batted .317
That year, the Crosscutters had an outstanding pitching staff with an enviable 2.91 Earned Run Average.
It was anchored by Ian Snell (Oquendo), who went 7-0 with 56 strikeouts and a microscopic 1.39 ERA.
Juan Rodriquez was 5-2 with 58 strikeouts to go with his 1.89 ERA Future Major Leaguer, Roberto Novoa had 55 strikeouts and compiled a 5-5 mark.
The relief ace for the Cutters that season was Jeff Miller, who recorded 15 saves and had an excellent 1.39 Earned Run Average.
The Crosscutters finished with a 48-26 record.
They swept Jamestown in two games in the first round of the playoffs, setting playoffs up the climactic final series with the Brooklyn Cyclones. The Cyclones won the first game at Bowman Field and were set to return to Brooklyn for the next game, but then a dastardly fate intervened: the September 11 terrorist attacks. The remainder of the series was canceled, and Williamsport and Brooklyn were declared co-champions.
In 2003, the Crosscutters would win the championship outright.
The Cutters had a 46-30 record and made the playoffs as a wild card. They swept Auburn to set up a championship rematch with Brooklyn.
In the opener at Bowman Field, the Cutters won 7-2. They were keyed by Byjer Morgans’s triple and Andy Chance’s two RBIs.
The next night in Brooklyn, the Cutters played for and won the New York-Penn League championship, winning a nail-bitter in extra innings 4-3. The light-hitting Milver Reyes drove in the winning run to give the Cutters the win and the championship.
Nyjer Morgan was the offensive sparkplug for the Cutters throughout the season. He batted .343 with 23 RBIs.
The Cutters pitching standouts were Yoann Torrealba, Sergio Silva, and Chris DeMaria.
