The wait was certainly worth it. For two years teams in both the National and American Leagues had been scrambling to get the rights to a particularly talented outfielder in the Pacific Coast League. His name: Mike Womble. The reason? He might be the best player in all of baseball. In late 1911, the St. Louis Browns purchased Womble from the Vernon Tigers. In 1910 for Vernon - in his first season as a professional - Womble hit a tidy .337 with 155 runs and 122 batted in (he played 209 games in the lengthy PCL season). In 1911, he improved his average to a eye-popping .373 and had baseball fans from Boston to St. Louis salivating at the thought of having him in their club's uniform. In 1912, in the Browns' uniform, Womble put together the most staggering debut in baseball history, hitting .396, while drawing 100 walks (for an on-base percentage of .497), stealing 115 bases, scoring 126 runs and driving home 94. Best of all for the fans of St. Louis, he did this for a pennant-winner as the Browns took home the AL flag for the first time in club history.

The Browns' run away victory (they led by double-digits most of the second half of the season) was not a one-man show as the St. Louis nine got quality contributions from third baseman Sam Nunley (.319-0-101), center fielder Bob Keil (.313-3-64) and second baseman Jasper Crutchfield (.301-1-73). The pitching was none-too-shabby either: ace Dusty Magoon won 27 games with a 2.62 ERA and was backed up by Cuban-import Juan Rodriguez (21-11, 2.82) and youngster Al Blevins (19-13, 3.26). The formula was good enough for a 93-61 record and ten-game margin over the second-place Washington Senators.

The National League was once again the playground of the New York Giants, who put together a monster season in the Polo Grounds. While the Browns lead was never seriously challenged after the first month of the season, the Giants' supremacy was even more marked. The Goliaths of Gotham won 103 games with a dazzling blend of pitching, defense and offense. The team's top hitter was Tom Bogard, a 25-year-old left fielder whose rookie season was overshadowed by that of Womble, but was nonetheless outstanding as he led the club in batting (.381), home runs (11) and runs batted in (96). Bogard was supported by 32-year-old veteran RF Paul Samples (.325-2-48) and 30-year-old rookie catcher George Turgeon (.305-4-89). The pitching was outstanding with Mike Jay (28-6, 2.66) emerging as the ace, Ray Shannon (26-3, 2.46) excellent again and John Knisely (22-8, 2.58) giving New York a triumvirate of pitchers unequaled in baseball. With Aidan O'Day and Chuck Flinn also on the staff, the pitching in New York was historically outstanding. The Giants finished 14 games ahead of Boston in the NL race to repeat as league champions.

1911 quite possibly represented a changing of the guard as one league offered up a first-time pennant winner while the other saw a return to the top by a former powerhouse. It was also a good year for individual performances as one of the league's top players posted a pitching Triple Crown and a pedigreed, fresh-faced rookie in the Eastern League raised some eyebrows at the ripe old age of 17 while the hottest thing on the West Coast finally punched a ticket East, raising expectations for 1912.

The 1911 pennant races started off with a bang. The Red Sox, thrice-defending champions of the American League, came out of the gate strong behind the game's top hitting lineup. With names such as Sean McGonigle, Sammy Brodsky, Frank Dorsey, Charley Dunham, Gus Hearn and Aeolus Gidding, the Sox came out swinging. But they faced a new challenge from the Cleveland Blues. Manager Tom Ewart's charges included such stalwarts as Nat Caudle, James Kirk and Dick Paper, and the team finished atop the AL in batting with a .285 composite average (Boston's was .284), but also could pitch. The ace, Larry Singer, no spring chicken at 34, still managed a 31-win season, but he also had ample support in Justin Tapp (26-11), George Huntington (17-9, 2.08 ERA) and Kevin Spitzer who battled injuries in posting a 16-12 record. Boston could not match the Blues, and fell to third with an 87-67 record, 17 games behind the stellar 104-50 record of Cleveland. The runner-up position went to perennial bridesmaid Chicago. The White Sox (90-64) posted their fourth-straight 90+ win season... and fourth straight second-place finish. The bright spot for the Chicago South Siders was the Triple Crown performance of star pitcher Bill McCullough who emerged as a bona fide shut-down ace at the age of 25 with a 31-11 record, 1.68 ERA and 312 strikeouts - all tops in either league (the 31 wins equalled Singer of Cleveland).