WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE
Ralph Works, the workhorse pitcher-outfielder of Medicine Hat, was the toast of the league in the inaugural season of the Western Canada Baseball League. Works, the leading hurler with a 26-11 mark in 40 games, hit the ball at a .341 clip to also capture the batting crown, edging first baseman Arthur O'Dea of the Lethbridge Miners who finished second at .339. O'Dea led the loop in hits, with 95 and had 8 doubles. Edmonton's Mel Blexrud was third. Billy Hamilton of Medicine Hat was fourth, with a .319 mark, and led the with 72 runs scored. Ed Kippert of Lethbridge was the leader in stolen bases, with 39.
According to the official statistics, Works wrapped up his mound duties with a mark of 26-11, while a study of game reports and boxscores showed a record of 27-9. The future major leaguer led all pitchers with 217 strikeouts and 129 bases on balls. His teammate, lefty George Hollis, finished with a 19-9 won-lost record. Works wrapped up his remarkable season with the top fielding record for pitchers.
Average - Works, MH, .341
Runs - Hamilton MH 72, Mackin LB 64, Kippert LB 63, O'Donnell CG-MH 59, O'Dea LB 53
Hits - O'Dea LB 95, Hamilton MH 94, Chandler CG 94, Ford ED 87, Kippert LB 85
Home Runs - Nunzie LB 3, Kippert LB 3, McClelland CG 2, Perry MH 2, O'Dea LB 2
Triples - Chander CG 16, O'Donnell CG-MH 15, Nunzie LB 10, Works MH 7, Lussi ED 7
Doubles - O'Dea LB 18, O'Donnell CG-MH 18, Hollis MH 16, Ford ED 13 Blexrud ED 12
Stolen Bases - Kippert LB 39, Mackin LB 35, Hamilton MH 30, West MH 27, Foster LB 27
Sacrifices - Mackin LB 29, Ford Ed 21, West MH 20, Lussi ED 18, Hopkins MH-CG & Benny MH 15
WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE GP AB R H TB 2B 3B HR SB RBI PCT
Works Ralph MH 59 173 30 59 5 .341
O'Dea Arthur LB 78 280 53 95 13 .339
Blexrud Mel ED 67 244 38 82 7 .336
Gouche/Gouchee Del CG 24 59 4 19 3 .322
Hamilton William MH 87 295 72 94 30 .319
Lussi Bill ED 93 275 51 83 24 .302
Chandler E. CG 88 317 43 94 23 .296 (a)
West William MH 66 214 45 63 27 .294
Ford Clint (Kid) ED 93 307 52 87 16 .283
Sykes CG 37 106 17 30 6 .283
Nunzie F. LB 70 249 27 70 10 .281
Mackin John LB 85 290 64 81 36 .279 (b)
Westcott Claire MH 55 187 34 52 18 .278
Kippert Ed LB 88 307 63 85 39 .277
Adams George ED 30 119 17 33 5 .277
O'Donnell James CG-MH 79 269 59 72 15 .268
Hollis George MH 52 150 19 40 7 .267 (c)
Shine Milton CG-MH 20 60 6 16 6 .267 (c)
Erickson Edward ED 23 68 7 18 3 .265
Hopkins W. MH-CG 91 315 48 83 22 .263 (d)
Bennett Si ED 88 311 49 82 26 .264
Zurlage Gus MH 93 300 51 76 10 .253
Russell William CG 87 312 53 79 20 .253
White William CG-LB 44 170 33 43 6 .253
McClair Eldred ED 34 91 5 23 0 .253
O'Neill CG-LB 78 304 25 76 5 .250
McClelland CG 66 217 32 52 7 .240
Wessler George ED 93 297 32 71 18 .239
McClain/McKain Brownie MH 53 189 25 44 14 .233
Rodgers Chester CG 44 150 17 34 9 .227
Barnstead Fred CG 45 135 8 30 1 .222
Taylor CG 34 119 21 26 9 .218 (e)
Schurch Henry LB 46 134 10 29 2 .216
Totman Clarence MH 72 259 31 56 23 .216
Farrell CG 15 27 5 8 8 .216
Perry E.C. (Red) MH 87 270 48 57 23 .211
Bues Art LB 88 317 40 67 14 .211
Egan LB 13 39 8 8 6 .205
Baker R.W. (Molly) ED 84 294 48 60 9 .204
Grimes Jimmy ED 60 198 19 40 10 .202
Wheeler Fay ED 10 20 5 4 2 .200
Benny John B. (Jack) MH 87 265 37 52 20 .196
Foster William LB 84 326 47 64 27 .196
Harris MH 20 77 8 15 3 .195
Rogers Fred LB 71 227 24 44 8 .194
Crist Charles ED 38 103 8 20 2 .194
Sullivan George CG 38 133 10 25 11 .188
Fogarty John LB 64 194 26 36 10 .186
Barrett CG-MH 25 76 11 14 3 .184
Driscoll CG 11 38 4 7 1 .184
Quinn CG 11 44 7 8 2 .182
Harper Alex ED 76 240 20 43 10 .179
Jansa CG 43 141 15 25 2 .177
Rodosey Albert CG 58 181 10 30 5 .166
McDonough Charlie CG-MH 17 43 6 7 2 .163
O'Brien LB 39 150 42 24 18 .160
Nagle Phil (Lefty) ED 21 69 1 11 0 .159
Boylan James MH-LB 25 79 6 12 2 .152
White William (Deacon) ED 36 93 9 13 3 .140
Kinnear Bert CG 22 57 7 8 0 .140
Morrison John LB 22 65 5 8 2 .123
Turner CG 16 43 3 5 1 .116
Moyne A. ED 18 46 1 5 0 .109
Cook MH 10 21 2 2 0 .095
(a) There were six players whose published averages were not precisely the marks from the at bats and hits published. All, however, were minor, likely rounding errors for Chandler, Mackin, Hollis, Shine, Hopkins and Taylor.
Sources : The Reach Official American League Guide, 1908; Spalding's Official Base Ball
Guide 1908; The Medicine Hat News, Oct 10, 1907; Edmonton Bulletin, October 4, 1907; Calgary Herald, October 3, 1907 Wins - Works MH 27
Won-Lost Pct - Works MH - .750 Games - Works MH 40
Games Started - Works MH 36
Complete Games - Works MH 33 OFFICIAL G GS CG W L PCT IP H R ER BB SO HB WP ERA Works Ralph MH 40 26 11 .703 262 155 129 217 38 9 Hollis George MH 31 21 9 .700 231 122 75 173 12 8 Crist Charles ED 32 19 9 .679 216 104 64 136 12 5 Blexrud Mel ED 17 10 5 .667 122 62 91 38 9 3 Erickson Edward ED 9 6 3 .667 67 22 13 46 4 6 Cook MH 5 3 2 .600 37 25 16 24 1 1 Schurch Henry LB 33 17 13 .567 228 173 119 189 38 3 Fogarty John LB 20 11 9 .550 152 90 47 109 10 4 Kippert Ed LB 11 5 5 .500 76 64 33 29 8 2 Barrett CG-MH 8 3 3 .500 59 30 21 25 3 4 McClair Eldred ED 31 14 15 .483 202 126 91 155 13 8 Pennington MH 5 2 3 .400 44 22 19 10 0 2 Barnstead Fred CG 29 9 17 .346 176 127 75 130 18 4 Sykes CG 21 6 13 .316 146 81 34 88 9 7 Kinnear Bert CG 21 5 14 .263 167 150 60 85 11 1 Shine Milton CG-MH 9 2 6 .250 85 60 33 32 7 1 Morrison John LB 20 4 14 .222 192 113 36 38 4 4 White William CG-LB 9 2 7 .222 76 46 29 24 7 3
Sources : The Reach Official American League Guide, 1908; Spalding's Official Base Ball Guide 1908; The Medicine Hat News, Oct 10, 1907; Edmonton Bulletin, October 4, 1907; Calgary Herald, October 3, 1907
Below, pitching statistics derived from boxscores, game reports and statistics published
during the season, including - The Lethbridge Herald, Oct 10, 1907; Edmonton Bulletin,
October 4, 1907; Calgary Herald, October 3, 1907
WESTERN CANADA LEAGUE G GS CG W L PCT IP H R ER BB SO HB WP ERA
Works Ralph MH 46 36 33 27 9 .750
Erickson Edward ED 10 10 9 7 3 .700
Hollis George MH 34 30 25 19 9 .679
Blexrud Mel ED 19 16 15 10 5 .667
Crist Charles ED 33 30 27 17 10 .630
Fogarty John LB 24 21 19 12 9 .571
Schurch Henry LB 36 34 26 16 13 .552
McClair Eldred ED 33 30 25 13 13 .500
Kippert Ed LB 14 11 10 5 5 .500
Shine Milton CG-MH 10 9 7 4 5 .444
Barnstead Fred CG 34 29 28 8 18 .308
Sykes CG 21 21 19 5 13 .278
Barrett CG-MH 16 14 7 3 8 .273
Kinnear Bert CG 22 20 17 5 15 .250
Morrison John LB 17 14 14 3 10 .231
White William CG-LB 11 10 9 2 8 .200
(Fewer than 10 Games)
Harper Alex ED 5 2 2 2 0 1.000
Lagore MH 4 2 1 1 0 1.000
Fueschel MH 2 2 1 1 0 1.000
Pennington MH 8 5 4 3 2 .600
Cook MH 5 4 2 1 2 .333
McClelland CG 5 3 3 1 2 .333
McGuicken Ed ED 4 3 1 1 2 .333
Perry MH 2 0 0 0 0 .000
Bues Art LB 1 0 0 0 0 .000
McLachlan Joe ED 1 1 0 0 0 .000
Russell William CG 1 0 0 0 0 .000
Pitman ED-MH 3 2 1 0 1 .000
Fox MH 3 3 1 0 2 .000
Haley Fred CG 2 2 2 0 2 .000
Source : Boxscores, game reports
CB = Calgary Bronchos, ED = Edmonon Capitals, LB = Lethbridge Miners, MH = Medicine Hat