Standings 1913 President: A. C. Felt |
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Standings | Wins--- | Losses- | GB |
Kearney Kapitalists | 67 | 45 | -- |
Hastings Third Citys | 64 | 48 | 3 |
York Prohibitionists | 57 | 55 | 10 |
Fremont Pathfinders | 56 | 56 | 11 |
Superior Brickmakers | 54 | 58 | 13 |
Columbus Discoverers | 54 | 58 | 13 |
Seward Statesmen Beatrice Milkskimmers |
52 | 60 | 15 |
Grand Island Collegians | 44 | 68 | 23 |
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Seward moved to Beatrice in midseason | |||
BA: Homer W. "Dolly" Gray Kearney .411 | |||
Hits: Jim McCabe, 155 | |||
Wins: R. Maples, L. Plympton,
Kearney; B. Everdon, York, 17 |
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Pct: Bert Reed, Columbus, .737, 14-5 |
After a devastating tornado in the spring of 1913, the town of Seward was more interested in rebuilding their town than in baseball. Although they made an effort to stay in Seward, the franchise lost money and moved to Beatrice in the middle of the season.
Kearney opened the season at home against York. Over 1,100 fans at Athletic park saw Maples win the opening game for Kearney 5-0. Although Hastings gave them a run during August, Kearney held on to win the league championship by three games.
Joe Lotz was a 22 year old pitcher from Remson Iowa. The Kearney pitcher was 26-9 in 1912 and 16-14 in 1913. In 1916 he made it to the major leagues, pitching in 12 games for the Cardinals. He was 0-3, pitching a total of 40 innings in the major leagues.
Harold Hinkley was an 18 year old pitcher for the Fremont Pathfinders in 1913. On July 27th he pitched a no hit game against Beatrice with 14 strike outs in a 12-0 victory over Beatrice. He pitched 26 games for Fremont and had a 14-12 record.
According to the Reach guide for 1914 Walter Malmquist led the league in batting in 1913. According to the Minor League Encyclopedia his average was .350, according to the Reach Guide for 1914 his average was .477 and in a September 2003 article in Baseball Digest, George Vass lists Walter as having the highest all time batting average in professional baseball with a .447 average in 1913. Since he hit .241 with York in 1912 and .248 with Waco in 1914, his amazing average of 1913 was open to question. As reported in Minor League Baseball Stars Volume II, SABR researcher David Kemp tried to look up every box score from the 1913 season. He was able to find 97 box scores. York played in 112 games and in the Reach guide Malmquist played in 110 games. In those 97 games his average was .342. From this research it was concluded that there is some type of error in reporting his average in 1913 and his amazing .477 average is wrong. Walter was from Charleston Nebraska. Charleston does not exist today. It was southwest of York and east of Henderson. The next batter listed in the Reach guide is Gray, Kearney with a .411 average. According to the Kearney papers this is Homer W. "Dolly" Gray who was a fan favorite and was married during the season.
Edward William "Glass Arm Eddie" Brown was a 20 year old from Milligan Nebraska. He made his professional debut with Superior in 1913. He played short stop and in the outfield for the Brickmakers and averaged .427 in 18 games. In 1914 he was a regular for Superior and in 1915 he played for Fairbury until the league collapsed. He played for Mason City, San Antonio and Indianapolis in the minor leagues. he made his major league debut with New York (N) in 1920 and played for three different teams in his seven year major league career.
R. H. Maples and LeRoy Plympton were the leading pitchers for Kearney in their run to the championship. Both pitched in 26 games and both had 17-9 records for the Kapitalists.
Kearney Kapitalists 1913 Nebraska State League Champions