It began in 1925.
The Sporting News issued its first post-season all-star team. The publication has changed in many ways over the decades since it began handing out post-season awards, but today it still is honoring baseball’s top performers. Josh Donaldson of the Toronto Blue Jays was the Sporting News Player of the Year in 2015.
There were 11 players on that first all-star team from both leagues 90 years ago. Of the eight position players and three pitchers, nine of them are members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
This is the final installment of the series of three posts and features the pitchers and catcher.
Pitcher: Walter Johnson was near the end of his 21-year career in 1925 as he led the Washington Senators to their second straight American League pennant. The 37-year old Johnson was 20-7 with an ERA of 3.07.
The year before, Johnson was 23-7 as he won the AL Most Valuable Player honor and the pitching triple crown with a 2.72 ERA and 158 strikeouts.
A charter member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, Johnson won 417 game with 3,509 strikeouts from 1907 to 1927 with the Senators. His mark of 110 career shutouts is still the major league record.
Pitcher: Eddie Rommel of the Philadelphia A’s led the AL in victories with a 21-10 record and a 3.69 ERA.
Famous for his knuckleball, Rommel played with the A’s from 1920 to 1932 with his best season coming in 1922 when he was 27-13. In 1929, he was 12-2 as the A’s won the World Series.
He was the winning pitcher against the Chicago Cubs in the historic fourth game of the series. Entering the game in the top of the seventh inning, he gave up a run as the A’s trailed 8-0, but his team scored 10 times in the bottom of the frame and they went on to win the contest. He would finish his career with 171 wins.
Pitcher: Dazzy Vance led the National League in wins with a 22-9 record for Brooklyn and was at the top in strikeouts with 221 as he finished fifth in the MVP race. On Sept. 13, he threw a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Vance won the MVP in 1924 as he won the triple crown with a 28-6 record, 2.16 ERA and 262 strikeouts.
Vance was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955 after 16 seasons that spanned from 1915 to 1935 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees, Brooklyn, St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds.
Catcher: Mickey Cochrane was a rookie for the Philadelphia A’s in 1925. At 22, he hit six homers and knocked in 55 runs, while batting .331. By 1928, Cochrane was the AL MVP.
He helped the A’s to back-to-back World Series wins in 1929 and 1930 and added another AL pennant the next season.
Before the 1934 season, Cochrane was traded to the Detroit Tigers and also became the team’s manager. In his first season with the Tigers, he was named the league MVP as they won the AL pennant. The following year, the Tigers won the World Series.
Cochrane retired in 1937 after being hit in the head, while batting. He would be elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947.