1914 Appalachian League

Overview

The fourth annual championship campaign of the Appalachian League began on May 18, 1914, and was scheduled to run until September 17. The league was also reduced to four-club basis and was under the direction of President E. F. Fisher. The 1914 race proceeded without unusual incident, except poor attendance, until June 17, when the Morristown and Middlesboro teams disbanded, thus automatically ending the league's existence, it having fallen below the four-club limit prescribed by the National Agreement. - from the 1915 The Reach Official American League Base Ball Guide.

1914 Final Standings

Club	Won	Lost	W-L %
Middlesboro	16	12	.571
Morristown	15	13	.536
Harriman	13	14	.481
Knoxville	11	16	.407

1914 Team Names and Managers

Team	Manager 1	Manager 2
Harriman Boosters	Pit Pasini
Knoxville Reds	Frank Moffett	Ambrose Gaines
Middlesboro Colonels	Lovell Draper
Morristown Jobbers	Harry Kunkle

Notable Events of the Season

• Harriman is now in the Appalachian Base Ball League with Knoxville, Morristown and Middlesboro, Bristol and Johnson City having surrendered their franchises and dropped out its league, but it is predicted that they will "come back" before the date of closing. It is stated that Cleveland is desirous of becoming one of the league cities. Harriman assumes the franchise held by Rome, Ga., last year. Harriman will get five players who were with the Rome team last year. A meeting was held at the club rooms last week, organization perfected and arrangements made to raise the balance of $3000 requisite to place Harriman on a safe and solid basis. The season will open May 19 and the Harriman team will be ready to begin the friendly fight for the pennant. - Sporting Life, page 21, May 16, 1914 - at LA84.org

• The Middlesboro Club has secured catcher Mike Loan from the Richmond Club of the Virginia League. - Sporting Life, page 25, June 6, 1914 - at LA84.org
• The Middlesboro Club has signed pitcher John Runey, of Charleston, S.C. - Sporting Life, page 22, June 13, 1914 - at LA84.org
• Ambrose Gaines, former Southern League player, assumed charge of the Knoxville team on June 11, vice Frank H. Moffett resigned. - Sporting Life, page 24, June 20, 1914 - at LA84.org
• Harriman on June 11 made 16 hits and 10 runs off pitchers Womack and Decatur, of Middlesboro, and the latter made 14 hits for eight runs off pitchers Vernon and Sanford. - Sporting Life, page 24, June 20, 1914 - at LA84.org

Sources / References

• 1915 The Reach Official American League Base Ball Guide - page 358 at archive.org
• The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3d edition - page 253
• The Appalachian League Black Book (First Edition, 1949), compiled and edited by Karl Kingler (Damascus, Virginia)
• 2017 Appalachian League Media Guide at scribd.com
• 1914 Appalachian League page at Baseball-Reference.com
• Sporting Life newspapers at LA84.org

Methods

Source materials, namely the Reach guide, was transcribed. The guides were the best available info at the time, but they weren't always accurate. Typos and name variations were not unusual. Discernible typos were corrected.

Credit

This page was assembled and presented by Mark D. Aubrey.

Please see Copyright info.