OOTP5: Replaying Baseball History - Chapter 1: 1903-1909

[timmyw3]

I couldn’t resist the urge. I told myself I wouldn’t cave in but like a sucker I did. I just had to purchase OOTP5 and recreate baseball history. With OOTP4 I started in 1970 and went all the way up to the present and had a great time with it. So I figured I might as well go all out with this release. I’m going to start this dynasty back in the dead-ball era in the year of 1903 with the actual rosters. The team of choice will be the St. Louis Browns.

For those not familiar with MLB’s 1903 structure, there are 16 teams, 8 each in the American and National. In the American it is the Boston Pilgrims, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Naps, Detroit Tigers, New York Highlanders, Philadelphia Athletics, St. Louis Browns, and Washington Senators. The National League consists of the Boston Beaneaters, Brooklyn Superbas, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, New York Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, and St. Louis Cardinals.

I saw this idea in another dynasty somewhere and I’ll use it here. I’ll control the Browns until we win a World Championship. If and when that happens, I’ll change over to the worst team in the league at that point (though this self-imposed rule will not take effect for 5 seasons). All incoming rookies will be not be assigned to their real life teams but will be placed in the draft pool. There will be no editing of players when they come in though I may make an exception with the Babe. Relocations and expansion will be reflected as it happened; hopefully I won’t screw it up.

A project of this magnitude will require me to sim most games but I’ll play a few out here and there. I’ll report monthly, mostly on the team I’m controlling with a peek at the standings, league leaders, trades, and anything else that is worth reporting. If anybody wants to see anything specific or wants an update of an individual player along the way then I’ll be happy to oblige. All history pre-1903 will be deleted so older players probably won’t meet the numbers that they reached IRL.

I’m going to use the talent based ratings (Brilliant, Good, Average, Fair, Poor) to put my managing skills to a true test. I’ve never heard of about 90% of the guys initially so that will make it tough. I set the salary cap to a generous $90 million with a max cash limit of $20 million. Arbitration is enabled. Fan interest for each team starts at 66/100. I don’t want to bore anybody with further minutia so without further ado, let’s meet the 23 members of the 1903 St. Louis Browns.

Catchers

Mike Kahoe, 29, 6-0, 185, R/R, 350k signed through 1903, *
Owen Shannon, 23, 6-1, 185, R/R, 300k automatic re-sign, * prospect
Joe Sugden, 32, 5-10, 180, S/R, 300k signed through 1903, *

Kahoe looks like the better hitter over Sugden with Joe being a better option defensively. Neither will tear it up at the plate though. Sugden has better leadership skills so he will get the nod initially while Kahoe will backup and play semi-regularly. Shannon is a marginal prospect and will see limited PT. Kahoe can also play CF and RF while Shannon and Sugden can fill in at first.

1st Base

John Anderson, 29, 6-2, 180, S/R, 3.385m signed through 1906, ***

“Honest John” looks like a prototypical top of the lineup hitter with great base-stealing ability. Unusual for a first baseman these days but I guess not so much back then. He should be one of our better hitters and can also play all 3 outfield positions as well.

2nd Base

Benny Bowcock, 23, 5-7, 150, R/R, 300k automatic re-sign, ** prospect
Bill Friel, 27, 5-10, 165, L/R, 300k eligible for arbitration, *
Claude Gouzzie, 30, 5-9, 170, R/R, 300k automatic re-sign, *
Barry McCormick, 28, 5-9, 170, R/R, 300k signed through 1903, *
Dick Padden, 32, 5-10, 165, R/R, 300k signed through 1903, *

We have quite a logjam of mediocre players at this position. Padden is the most well-rounded and will play the most. Bowcock has some upside and should see some time as well. Friel will probably get most of his time at 3rd base or in the outfield. McCormick and Gouzzie are strictly end of the bench guys.

3rd Base

Hunter Hill, 23, 6-0, 180, R/R, 300k automatic re-sign, * prospect

Hill is the only natural 3rd baseman on the roster. He’s young and the scouts don’t think he’ll amount to much. He’ll probably split time with Friel. We seek help from elsewhere at this position.

Shortstop

Bobby Wallace, 29, 5-8, 170, R/R, 2.735m signed through 1907, ***

Wallace is a solid offensive player with great speed and base stealing ability. He’s got good range at short but is still a little shaky in the field. We have him locked up for the next 5 years and he should be one of our better performers.

Outfield

LF Jesse Burkett, 34, 5-8, 155, L/L, 5.766m signed through 1905, **1/2
CF Emmet Heidrick, 26, 6-0, 185, L/R, 2.178m signed through 1903, **
RF Charlie Hemphill, 26, 5-9, 160, L/L, 300k eligible for arbitration, *1/2
RF Pinky Swander, 22, 5-9, 180, L/L, 300k automatic re-sign, **1/2 prospect

Burkett is probably the team’s best hitter though he struggles with consistency. He has a gun for an arm but he’s not the best fielder around. Haidrick has good leadership skills and has a solid all-around game. He’s a free agent at the end of the year so depending on how he plays the first few months, we will try to re-sign him. Hemphill is known as a clutch hitter and can play all 3 outfield positions. We’ll keep an eye on Swander. He can hit, no doubt about that, but he is as slow as molasses and is brutal in the field. The fact that all 3 are left handed hitters kind of takes away the platoon possibility.

Starting Pitchers

Red Donahue, 30, 6-0, 187, R/R, 5.24m signed through 1903, ***
Jack Powell, 28, 5-11, 195, R/R, 6.13m signed through 1904, ***
Ed Siever, 25, 6-0, 205, L/L, 5.804m signed through 1907, ***1/2 prospect
Willie Sudhoff, 28, 5-7, 165, R/R, 7.94m signed through 1907, ****

While the offense is a question mark, our pitching should be solid. Sudhoff, the team’s highest paid player, is the ace. Powell will be a strong #2 though the scouts say he’ll suffer in the clutch. Siever, the youngest of the 4, is the only lefty and has a bright future ahead of him. Donahue will be the number 4. His contract is up at the end of the year and we have some nice pitchers behind him so he’ll begin the year on the trading block.

Relief Pitchers

Cy Morgan, 24, 6-0, 175, R/R, 300k automatic re-sign, **** prospect
Barney Pelty, 22, 5-9, 175, R/R, 300k automatic re-sign, **** prospect
Bill Reidy, 29, 5-10, 175, R/R, 601k eligible for arbitration, **1/2
John Terry, 23, 6-2, 220, R/R, 300k automatic re-sign, **** prospect

Morgan, Pelty, and Reidy are all listed as starters but they get squeezed out in the numbers game. Morgan and Pelty are the organization’s top 2 prospects and will enter the rotation if anyone struggles or gets injured. Reidy will be a mop-up type guy. Terry, our only listed reliever, has a ton of talent as well. Morgan will be our designated closer, though it remains to be seen how often we’ll need him with this being 1903 and all.

[timmyw3]

Our payroll is at $45.15 million, 8th highest in the league giving us a little over $38 million freed up for extensions and $24.5 to spend on free agents (at this point numbering 0). I’m not sure how that is all determined but that is what the report tells me. Sudhoff is the highest paid player at almost $8 million, good for 13th in the league. Pittsburgh’s Honus Wagner is the highest paid player at over $11 million, just under the price of his rookie card.

Our lineup will look a little like this:
1. John Anderson, 1B
2. Bobby Wallace, SS
3. Jesse Burkett, LF
4. Emmet Heidrick, CF
5. Charlie Hemphill, RF
6. Dick Padden, 2B
7. Hunter Hill, 3B
8. Joe Sugden, C

With this being the dead ball era and all, I’m not quite sure how to handle without a “power hitter”. There is sure to be some juggling going on, plus the talent only ratings carry a lot of vagueness about them.

The rotation will be:

1. Willie Sudhoff, RHP
2. Jack Powell, RHP
3. Ed Siever, LHP
4. Red Donahue, RHP

Reidy will be the mop-up guy and spot starter. Terry will be the middle man with Pelty carrying set-up duties. Morgan will close.

[timmyw3]

April 1903

The Browns get off to a less than stellar start, stumbling to a 12-16 record at the end of April. We are already 7 games behind league leading Cleveland.

On April 21st we made our first trade of the year. The Boston (A) Pilgrims offered us 26 year old righthander Norwood Gibson in exchange for 4th starter Red Donahue. At that point Donahue was 0-4 with a 3.41 ERA while Gibson was 3-1 with a 2.00 ERA and had just beaten us 4 days prior. They were similar talent wise and salary wise but Gibson is 4 years younger and will definitely be around next year as at the worst we’d have to go through arbitration with him. Really a no-brainer for us.

American League
Cleveland 19-9 (.679)
Detroit 16-12 (.571) 3 gb
Chicago 15-13 (.536) 4 gb
Philadelphia 15-13 (.536) 4 gb
Boston 14-14 (.500) 5 gb
New York 14-14 (.500) 5 gb
St. Louis 12-16 (.429) 7 gb
Washington 7-21 (.250) 12 gb

National League
Chicago 17-11 (.607)
St. Louis 17-11 (.607)
Pittsburgh 16-12 (.571) 1 gb
Boston 14-14 (.500) 3 gb
Cincinnati 14-14 (.500) 3 gb
Philadelphia 12-16 (.429) 5 gb
Brooklyn 11-17 (.393) 6 gb
New York 11-17 (.393) 6 gb

Awards

Batters of the Month for April

AL- Cleveland’s Nap Lajoie wins the first Player of the Month award for the year. He hit .362 with a league leading 5 home runs and 22 runs batted in.
NL- Ginger Beaumont of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit an astounding .510 for the month with 1 home run and 26 RBIs to take the award.

Pitchers of the Month for April

AL- Our own (at least for part of the month) Norwood Gibson grabbed the hardware after a fine month. He was 6-1 with a 1.55 ERA in 7 starts. For us he was 3-0 with an 0.96 ERA.
NL- Cincinnati’s Jack Taylor was the Pitcher of the Month in the NL with a 3-0 record and 0.64 ERA. Jack, however, was injured toward the end of the month and will be out until the end of May.

Players of the Week

4/7 – AL LF Topsy Hertzel PHI, NL P Jack Taylor CHI
4/14 – AL P George Mullin DET, NL 3B Ed Gremminger BOS
4/21 – AL P Martin Glendon CLE, NL CF Ginger Beaumont PIT
4/28 – AL 1B John Anderson STL, NL SS Honus Wagner PIT

League Leaders (AL, NL)

AVG – Charlie Carr DET .369, Ginger Beaumont PIT .510
HR – Nap Lajoie CLE 5, Homer Smoot STL/Tommy Corcoran CIN 3
RBI – Nap Lajoie CLE 22, Harry Steinfeldt CIN 29

WINS – N. Gibson STL/Clark Griffith NY 6, Bob Wicker STL 6
ERA – Addie Joss CLE 1.23, Jack Taylor CHI 0.64
K- Rube Waddell PHI 46, Ed Murphy STL 40

Browns’ April Highlights

4/7 – Ed Siever took a no-hitter into the 8th inning and we won at Philadelphia 2-1. He had the no-no broken up on a triple by Socks Seybold with 1 out in the inning. Charlie Hemphill and Emmet Heidrick had RBI singles in the top of the 8th to provide the offense.

4/11 – We beat Cleveland 3-2 in 10 innings on Bobblehead Day at Sportsman’s Park. The Naps scored the go-ahead run on a Barry McCormick error in the top of the 10th but Charlie Hemphill saved the day with a 2-run blast in the bottom of the 10th for the win.

4/21 – After acquiring him earlier in the day, Norwood Gibson hopped on a train to Chicago and took the mound against the White Sox. He showed us the reason that we traded for him, going the distance in a 4-2 win giving up 6 hits and striking out 6.

4/25 – Jesse Burkett singled home the game winning run in the bottom of the 10th as we beat the Senators 2-1 in St. Louis. Gibson pitched all 10 innings, giving up just 4 hits while striking out 4.

Browns’ Stats to Date

Hitters
C- Joe Sugden - .181 0 HR 1 RBI (13/72)– threw out 15 of 36 base stealers
1B- John Anderson - .343 0 HR 4 RBI (35/102) – stole 10 bases in 13 attempts
2B- Dick Padden - .210 1 HR 6 RBI (17/81) – homered in 1st at bat of year, downhill from there
3B- Hunter Hill - .239 0 HR 5 RBI (17/71) – slumping, 2 for last 18
SS- Bobby Wallace - .190 0 HR 7 RBI (19/100) – 10 runs scored, started slow, showing signs of life
LF- Jesse Burkett - .248 0 HR 11 RBI (26/105) – 7 stolen bases, avg a little low
CF- Emmet Heidrick - .311 1 HR 10 RBI (32/103) – solid performance
RF- Charlie Hemphill - .140 1 HR 7 RBI (12/86) – 1 big HR, nothing else

Bench
UTIL Bill Friel - .156 0 HR 1 RBI (7/45) – played mostly at 3rd, 2 for last 23
2B Benny Bowcock - .250 0 HR 2 RBI (4/16)
C/1B Owen Shannon - .286 0 HR 0 RBI (4/14) – 3 of 4 games at 1st
C Mike Kahoe - .071 0 HR 1 RBI (1/14)
OF Pinky Swander - .385 0 HR 1 RBI (5/13) – could get more PT with Hemphill struggling
2B Barry McCormick - .200 0 HR 2 RBI (1/5)
2B Claude Gouzzie – did not play – coach’s decision

Pitchers
#1 Willie Sudhoff – 3-4, 3.28 ERA, 20 K/60.1 IP – not as good as hoped
#2 Jack Powell – 2-4, 2.42 ERA, 22 K/52 IP – opponents held to .207 avg
#3 Ed Siever – 3-1, 2.68 ERA, 15 K/37 IP - out with back spasms for next 3-4 weeks
#4 Norwood Gibson – 6-1, 1.55 ERA, 23 K/64 IP – AL Pitcher of the Month, will move to #3 spot with Siever out.
RP Bill Reidy – 1-2, 4.56 ERA, 11 K/23.2 IP – has Siever’s spot, 1-1 with 5.00 ERA in 2 starts
RP Barney Pelty – 0-1, 2.84 ERA, 3 K/12.2 IP
RP Cy Morgan – 0-0, 1 SV, 0.00 ERA, 1 K/2 IP
RP John Terry – Did not pitch

Player Development

Claude Gouzzie increases his talent in hitting doubles
Benny Bowcock increases his talent in taking walks

No big deal there.

[timmyw3]

May 1903

The Brownies went 13-14 for the month of May, putting us in a tie for 5th place with New York in the American League. The high point was a 6 game win streak from the 9th to the 14th but towards the end of the month we had a 5-game skid to balance it.

We locked up 2 of our players long term. First we signed newcomer Norwood Gibson to a 3 year extension worth 7.5 million a year. We didn’t want to go through arbitration next year with him and risk losing the young star after that. He’ll be around through 1906. We’ll also have Cf Emmet Heidrick in the lineup until then as we signed him to a 3-year extension worth 3.45 million dollars a year.

On May 18th, the first no-hitter was tossed in the league’s history by Cleveland’s Bill Bernhard. Bernhard blanked Boston 2-0 facing the minimum 27 batters. He only struck out 1 and the only batter to reach base, who was thrown out trying to steal second, was on an error by Bernhard himself.

American League
Cleveland 37-18 (.673)
Boston 33-22 (.600) 4 gb
Detroit 33-22 (.600) 4 gb
Chicago 26-29 (.473) 11 gb
New York 25-30 (.455) 12 gb
St. Louis 25-30 (.455) 12 gb
Philadelphia 24-31 (.436) 13 gb
Washington 17-38 (.309) 20 gb

National League
Pittsburgh 31-24 (.564)
Cincinnati 30-25 (.545) 1 gb
Boston 29-26 (.527) 2 gb
Chicago 28-27 (.509) 3 gb
New York 28-27 (.509) 3 gb
Philadelphia 28-27 (.509) 3 gb
St. Louis 24-31 (.436) 7 gb
Brooklyn 22-33 (.400) 9 gb

Awards

Batters of the Month for May

AL – Patsy Dougherty of the Boston Pilgrims is the AL Batter of the Month for May. Patsy hit .392 with 1 home run and 18 RBIs for the month.
NL – The New York Giants’ Roger Bresnahan was awarded the NL Batter of the Month. In May, Roger hit .474 with no home runs and 14 RBIs.

Pitchers of the Month for May

AL – Earl Moore of the Cleveland was the Pitcher of the Month in the AL. Earl was 6-1 with a 1.40 ERA for the league leading Naps.
NL – The immortal Noodles Hahn was the NL’s Pitcher of the Month for May. Noodles was 5-2 with a 1.57 ERA.

Players of the Week

5/5 – AL 2B Nap Lajoie CLE, NL P Jake Wiemer CHI
5/12 – AL P Rube Kisinger DET, NL C Johnny Kling CIN
5/19 – AL P Addie Joss CLE, NL CF Roger Bresnahan NY
5/26 – AL RF Sam Crawford DET, NL P Noodles Hahn CIN

League Leaders (AL, NL)

AVG – Bill Bradley CLE .380, Mike Donlin CIN .431
HR – Buck Freeman BOS 7, Homer Smoot STL 5
RBI – Nap Lajoie CLE 43, Harry Steinfeldt CIN 51

WINS – Cy Young BOS 11, John Malarkey BOS/Bob Ewing CIN 10
ERA – Bill Bernhard CLE 1.44, Chick Fraser PHI 2.22
K – Rube Waddell PHI 76, Ed Murphy STL/Roscoe Miller NY 71

Browns’ May Highlights

5/2 – Jack Powell had the best performance by a Browns pitcher thus far, shutting out the Detroit Tigers in Tiger Stadium 1-0. Powell gave up just 3 hits and struck out 11. Joe Sugden supplied the offense with an RBI double.

5/5 – Red Donahue, we hardly knew ye. Red came back to St. Louis and haunted his old team beating us and our new ace Norwood Gibson 4-3.

5/9 – Ed Siever returned from the DL and promptly tossed a 2-hitter in a 2-1 win over the Chicago White Sox at Sportsman’s Park. We scored the game winning run on a passed ball to break a 1-1 tie.

5/14 – Norwood Gibson pitched his first shutout in a Browns’ uniform, blanking the hapless Washington Senators 7-0. Gibson gave up just 5 hits and struck out 4 in the victory.

Browns’ Stats to Date

Hitters
C – Joe Sugden - .185 0 HR 9 RBI – hit .190 in May, will lose time to Kahoe
1B – John Anderson - .321 1 HR 14 RBI – leads team in runs (32), stolen bases (21), and doubles (15)
2B – Dick Padden - .226 1 HR 15 RBI – hit .241 for month
3B – Hunter Hill - .204 0 HR 14 RBI – struggling badly but other options worse
SS – Bobby Wallace - .205 0 HR 14 RBI – disappointing, dropped in order to 7th
LF – Jesse Burkett - .259 0 HR 17 RBI – had a better month at .277 but we need more
CF – Emmet Heidrick - .271 1 HR 20 RBI – hit just .230 in May after contract extension was finalized
RF – Pinky Swander - .363 1 HR 11 RBI – youngster taking over for Hemphill, tearing cover off the ball

Bench
OF – Charlie Hemphill - .155 2 HR 14 RBI – benched but will still play some, leads team in HR with 2
C – Mike Kahoe - .173 0 HR 4 RBI – hit .211 for the month, should be regular C vs. LHP
UTIL – Bill Friel - .132 0 HR 2 RBI – dreadful month, going 3 for 31
2B – Benny Bowcock - .240 0 HR 2 RBI – 2 for 9 in May
2B – Barry McCormick - .067 0 HR 2 RBI – 0 for 10 month
C/1B – Owen Shannon - .174 0 HR 0 RBI – 0 for 9 in May
2B – Claude Gouzzie - .333 0 HR 0 RBI – went 1 for 3 in only game of the year

Pitchers
#1 Willie Sudhoff – 6-8, 3.31 ERA, 50 K/122.1 IP – highest ERA on staff, 3-4 in month
#2 Ed Siever – 6-4, 2.59 ERA, 40 K/93.2 IP – came back strong from injury
#3 Norwood Gibson – 9-4, 2.15 ERA, 45 K/117 IP – 3-3, 2.89 in May
#4 Jack Powell – 5-7, 2.26 ERA, 54 K/111.1 IP – leads team in Ks, needs more support from offense
RP Bill Reidy – 2-3, 4.01 ERA, 16 K/33.2 IP – 1-1, 2.70 ERA in 10 IP in May
RP Barney Pelty – 0-1, 2.70 ERA, 3 K/13.1 IP – pitched 2/3 inning in month
RP Cy Morgan – 0-0, 1 SV, 0.00 ERA, 1 K/2.1 IP – only pitched a third of an inning
RP John Terry – 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 K/1 IP – pitched scoreless inning in only appearance of year

Player Development

None to speak of

[Anrhydeddu]

Very nice job. Please keep it up.

[timmyw3]

June 1903

We finished an even .500 for June at 12-12 and we’ve gained some ground on the competition moving up to 4th place, 14 games behind Cleveland. The Naps and the Boston Pilgrims look like they are trying to distance themselves from the pack in the AL while it’s all jumbled up in the NL with all 8 teams being separated by 10 games.

On June 26, the first annual All-Star Game was held. The Browns only managed to get one invitee this year, starting pitcher Norwood Gibson. The American League came out victorious by a 6-4 count. The MVP was Cleveland’s Nap Lajoie who went 2 for 4 with a pair of RBI singles. Addie Joss of the Naps was your winning pitcher while Pittsburgh’s Sam Leever gave up 4 earned in 3 innings and got the loss. Gibson did not represent us well, almost blowing the 6-1 lead. In 1 2/3 innings, Norwood gave up 6 hits and 3 earned runs. Athletics’ reliever Conny McGeehan, a 20 year old phenom, came in and struck out Roger Bresnahan with the tying run at 1st to end it and earn the save.

AL All-Stars
BOS – P Cy Young, C Duke Farrell, LF Patsy Dougherty, RF Buck Freeman
CHI – P Doc White, 3B Nixey Callahan, RF Danny Green
CLE – P Bill Bernhard, P Earl Moore, P Addie Joss, C Harry Bemis, 2B Nap Lajoie, CF Harry Bay, 1B Charlie Hickman, 3B Bill Bradley
DET – P Rube Kisinger, 1B Charlie Carr, SS Kid Eberfield, RF Sam Crawford
NY – none
PHI – P Conny McGeehan, LF Topsy Hartsel, 3B Lave Cross
STL – P Norwood Gibson
WAS – none

NL All-Stars
BOS – C Pat Moran, 1B Fred Tenney
BRK – none
CHI – P Jack Taylor, P Jake Wiemer, C Johnny Kling, 1B Frank Chance, LF Jimmy Slagle, 2B Johnny Evers
CIN – P Noodles Hahn, P Bob Ewing, LF Mike Donlin, CF Cy Seymour, 3B Harry Steinfeldt
NY – P Bill Bartley, CF Roger Bresnahan
PHI – P Chick Fraser, 2B Kid Gleason, 3B Harry Wolverton, RF Bill Keister
PIT – P Sam Leever, P Deacon Phillippe, SS Honus Wagner, CF Ginger Beaumont
STL - none


American League
Cleveland 51-28 (.646)
Boston 50-29 (.633) 1 gb
Detroit 46-33 (.582) 5 gb
St. Louis 37-42 (.468) 14 gb
Chicago 36-43 (.456) 15 gb
New York 36-43 (.456) 15 gb
Philadelphia 33-46 (.418) 18 gb
Washington 27-52 (.342) 24 gb

National League
Pittsburgh 45-34 (.570)
Chicago 42-37 (.532) 3 gb
Cincinnati 42-37 (.532) 3 gb
Philadelphia 41-38 (.519) 4 gb
New York 40-39 (.506) 5 gb
Boston 36-43 (.456) 9 gb
Brooklyn 35-44 (.443) 10 gb
St. Louis 35-44 (.443) 10 gb

Awards

Batters of the Month for June

AL – Buck Freeman of Boston was named Batter of the Month for June. Freeman hit .419 with 1 homer and 18 RBIs for Pilgrims, who are battling Cleveland for the top spot.
NL – Pittsburgh Pirate SS Honus Wagner won the award in the NL after posting a .404 average with 4 homers and 15 runs batted in.

Pitchers of the Month for June

AL – Highball Wilson was one of the few bright spots for the Washington Senators. He went 4-1 with an 0.60 ERA for the month earning him AL Pitcher of the Month
NL – Henry Schmidt of the Brooklyn Superbas won the award in the NL. For June, Henry was a perfect 5-0 with a 1.40 ERA.

Players of the Week (AL, NL)

6/2 – SS Freddy Parent BOS, LF Mike Donlin CIN
6/9 – P Highball Wilson WAS, 3B Harry Steinfeldt CIN
6/16 – P Willie Sudhoff STL, 1b Jake Beckley CIN
6/23 – P Red Donahue BOS, P Chick Fraser PHI
6/30 – P Rube Waddell PHI, P Ned Garvin BRK

League Leaders (AL, NL)

AVG – Patsy Dougherty BOS .353, Mike Donlin CIN .420
HR – Buck Freeman BOS 8, Homer Smoot STL 6
RBI – Buck Freeman BOS 56, Ginger Beaumont PIT 64

WINS – Cy Young BOS 15, 3 tied with 12
ERA – Bill Bernhard CLE 1.41, Jack Taylor CHI 1.30
K – Rube Waddell PHI 108, Vic Willis BRK/Ed Murphy STL 93

Browns’ June Highlights

6/2 – We beat Detroit in St. Louis 5-4 on the individual play of Emmet Heidrick. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, Heidrick slapped a single to right. He stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and then with the Tiger pitcher focused on him forced another wild pitch for the game winning run.

6/8-6/9 – Back-to-back shutouts as we beat Philadelphia 4-0 and 2-0. Jack Powell did the honors on the 8th giving up 4 hits while Willie Sudhoff did the honors on the 9th, scattering 7 hits.

6/17 – This was the game of the year thus far. After 6 full innings we trailed New York 8-0. We rallied to put 2 up in the 7th and 2 up in the 8th. In the top of the 9th pitcher Jack Powell hit a bases loaded triple to cut it to 1. With 2 outs, Jesse Burkett hit a game tying double to score Powell to tie it. We went all the way to the 17th inning when Charlie Hemphill scored on a Emmet Heidrick ground out for the game winning run. Burkett was 4 for 8 with 3 RBIs on the night.

6/20 – We downed the Boston Pilgrims 4-3 in 11 innings. John Anderson hit a game winning double with two outs in the bottom of the 11th for the win.

Browns’ Stats to Date

Hitters
C – Joe Sugden - .204 0 HR 16 RBI – now officially splitting time with Kahoe, .244 in June – best month so far
1B – John Anderson - .304 1 HR 21 RBI – Is now up to 29 steals on the year, hit just .269 in the month
2B – Dick Padden - .233 1 HR 21 RBI – starting to lose ABs to Bowcock
3B – Hunter Hill - .240 0 HR 25 RBI – stepping up big, .300 avg in June, leads lg in triples with 9
SS – Bobby Wallace - .206 0 HR 20 RBI – still has yet to turn it on, losing patience but there are no other options
LF – Jesse Burkett - .284 1 HR 28 RBI – Player of the Month for us, hit .327 in June
CF – Emmet Heidrick - .276 1 HR 33 RBI – leading run producer had 3rd solid month in a row
RF – Pinky Swander - .337 1 HR 17 RBI – kid continues to hit, on flipside is killing us in the field and striking out a lot too.

Bench
2B – Benny Bowcock - .359 0 HR 8 RBI – was 17 of 39 in June (.436), will see more PT in July
C – Mike Kahoe - .204 0 HR 5 RBI – had same amount of ABs in June as Sugden
OF- Charlie Hemphill - .169 2 HR 17 RBI – hit .250 in June in spot duty
UTIL – Bill Friel - .133 0 HR 4 RBI – another dismal month, 3 for 22
2B – Barry McCormick - .174 0 HR 5 RBI – was 3 for 8 with 3 RBIs in June
C- Owen Shannon - .143 0 HR 0 RBI – 0 for 5 with 4 Ks in June
2B- Claude Gouzzie - .333 0 HR 0 RBI – did not play this month

Pitchers
#1 Willie Sudhoff – 11-9, 2.91 ERA, 67 K/179.1 IP – just when we were about to write him off he has a good month (5-1, 2.05) Has completed all 20 of his starts
#2 Ed Siever – 8-7, 2.93 ERA, 59 K/144.1 IP – not a good month for Ed, 2-3, 3.55 ERA
#3 Norwood Gibson – 12-7, 2.54 ERA, 61 K/170 IP – has tailed off a bit after a torrid start, 3-3, 3.40 in June
#4 Jack Powell – 6-10, 2.28 ERA, 68 K/157.2 IP – still not getting any offensive support, was 1-3 with a 2.33 ERA in June
RP Bill Reidy – 3-5, 3.80 ERA, 20 K/45 IP – started once in June, 1-2, 3.18 for month
RP Barney Pelty – 0.1, 2.35 ERA, 4 K/15.1 IP – threw 2 shutout innings in June
RP Cy Morgan – 0-0, 1 SV, 0.00 ERA, 5 K/5.1 IP – still has not been scored on in limited action, will try to get him more innings
RP John Terry – 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 K/1 IP – did not pitch in June, will try to get him more action as well

Player Development

Still none to report. It would be nice to have a minor league system to monitor.

[timmyw3]

July 1903

We had our first winning month of the year in July going 15-13 and are 52-54 overall, good for 4th in the AL. We are 27-26 at home and 25-28 on the road. We actually reached the .500 mark for a day before losing 3 of our last 4. Boston and Cleveland are tied atop the standings, 7 games ahead of 3rd place Detroit. Pittsburgh currently holds a 3 game lead over Cincinnati in the NL.

2 minor injuries for our pitching staff. Jack Powell took a line drive off the face and missed 2 starts with a bruised cheekbone. Ed Siever came down with an inflamed bicep tendon late in the month and will be out until mid-August. We’ll have the opportunity now to give our young arms some work.

On July 25th, Chick Stahl of the Boston Pilgrims became the first player to hit for the cycle in league history in a 6-3 win over the Detroit Tigers. He led off the game with a double, had an infield hit in the 3rd, and legged out a triple in the 4th. He completed the cycle in the top of the 11th when he followed a Red Donahue 2-run homer with a solo shot off of Mel Eason.

1 trade to report, the St. Louis Cardinals added some outfield depth acquiring outfielder Ollie Pickering from the Philadelphia A’s. Pickering is hitting .245 with 1 home run and 21 RBIs and should play the role of 4th outfielder. The A’s, who are way out of the playoff race, picked up 22 year old pitching prospect Harry Betts. Betts is regarded as the 8th best prospect in the majors but has struggled at the AA level going 3-6 with a 7.83 ERA this season.

American League
Boston 65-41 (.613)
Cleveland 65-41 (.613)
Detroit 58-48 (.547) 7 gb
St. Louis 52-54 (.491) 13 gb
New York 50-56 (.472) 15 gb
Chicago 49-57 (.462) 16 gb
Philadelphia 47-59 (.443) 18 gb
Washington 38-68 (.358) 27 gb

National League
Pittsburgh 61-45 (.575)
Cincinnati 58-48 (.547) 3 gb
Philadelphia 55-51 (.519) 6 gb
Chicago 53-53 (.500) 8 gb
Brooklyn 52-54 (.491) 9 gb
St. Louis 50-56 (.472) 11 gb
Boston 48-58 (.453) 13 gb
New York 47-59 (.443) 14 gb

Awards

Batters of the Month for July

AL – Harry Davis of the Philadelphia Athletics was awarded Batter of the Month honors for August. Davis hit .364 in 107 at bats with 2 homers and 15 RBI.
NL – St. Louis Cardinal 1st Baseman Joe Kelley won the award in the NL. Kelley batted .379 in July with 2 home runs and 19 RBI.

Pitchers of the Month for July

AL – Our old friend Red Donahue, formerly of the St. Louis Browns now with the Boston Pilgrims, was awarded Pitcher of the Month honors for July. Red was 5-0 in 5 starts with a 1.53 ERA.
NL – Pittsburgh’s Deacon Phillippe won the award in the NL after a 5-1 record in 6 starts with a 1.17 ERA and 2 shutouts.

Players of the Week (AL, NL)

7/7 – CF Harry Bay CLE, SS Honus Wagner PIT
7/14 – RF Elmer Flick CLE, C Johnny Kling CHI
7/21 – P Tom Hughes BOS, P Carl Lundgren CHI
7/28 – P Norwood Gibson STL, P Ned Garvin BRK

League Leaders (AL, NL)

AVG – Nap Lajoie CLE .346, Mike Donlin CIN .408
HR – Buck Freeman BOS 11, Pat Moran BRK/Homer Smoot STL 7
RBI – Buck Freeman BOS 82, Ginger Beaumont PIT 86

WINS – Cy Young BOS 17, Deacon Phillippe PIT 17
ERA – Addie Joss CLE 1.80, Jack Taylor CHI 1.82
K – Rube Waddell PHI 139, Wiley Piatt BRK 126

Browns’ July Highlights

7/9 – Ed Siever shut out the Senators in Washington 3-0. He allowed just 3 hits while Charlie Hemphill’s 2 run single provided the offense.

7/14 – In another amazing win we beat the New York Highlanders 3-2 up in the Big Apple. New York’s Barney Wolfe no-hit us through 8 1/3 holding on to a 2-0 lead. John Anderson homered to break it up and cut the lead to 2-1. After a Pinky Swander ground out, Jesse Burkett singled and Emmet Heidrick reached on a error. Hunter Hill was the hero as he tripled home Burkett and Heidrick for the 3-2 win.

7/18 – Wee Willie Sudhoff blanked the powerful Cleveland Indians 4-0 at Sportsman’s Park. Willie scattered 5 hits, none to leading hitter Nap Lajoie.

7/23 – Jack Powell gave up just 3 hits in 9 shutout innings and Jesse Burkett hit a solo homer in the top of the 9th off of Doc White as the Browns beat the White Sox 1-0 in Chicago.

7/25 – We outlasted the A’s 5-4 in 15 innings. Little used Barry McCormick knocked in John Anderson with a single in the bottom of the 15th for the game winning run.

Browns’ Stats to Date

Hitters
C – Joe Sugden - .197 0 HR 19 RBI – hit .190 in 58 at bats for the month
1B - John Anderson - .299 2 HR 30 RBI – 37 of 47 SB attempts, hit .284 in July
2B – Dick Padden - .234 4 HR 36 RBI – our unlikely power threat, 3 HR for month
SS – Bobby Wallace - .192 0 HR 22 RBI – another awful month, .149 in 94 AB
3B – Hunter Hill - .254 0 HR 35 RBI – a pleasant surprise, 2nd straight good month with .290 avg, 10 RBI
LF – Jesse Burkett - .283 2 HR 42 RBI – had team highs of 14 RBI and 14 runs for July, has stolen 31 bases in 35 attempts
CF – Emmet Heidrick - .260 1 HR 45 RBI – batted just .210 for the month
RF – Pinky Swander - .305 1 HR 25 RBI – has committed 18 errors and has a .881 fielding pct. Only 70 more years until the DH.

Bench
2B – Benny Bowcock - .296 0 HR 12 RBI – slowed a bit, .205 in July
OF – Charlie Hemphill - .189 2 HR 21 RBI – starting to come around, .294 for the month
C – Mike Kahoe - .184 0 HR 8 RBI – hit .125 in 32 July ABs – thought he might be better
UTIL – Bill Friel - .140 0 HR 4 RBI – PT severely cut, dreadful year
2B – Barry McCormick - .182 0 HR 6 RBI – has as many hits as RBIs
C – Owen Shannon - .129 0 HR 0 RBI – hasn’t had a hit since April
2B- Claude Gouzzie - .333 0 HR 0 RBI – did not play, again

Pitchers
#1 Willie Sudhoff – 15-11, 2.72 ERA, 86 K/231.1 IP – solid month, 4-2 with a 2.08 ERA
#2 Ed Siever – 12-8, 2.62 ERA, 74 K/206.1 IP – rebounded from poor month to post 4-1, 1.89 in 7 starts, also hit a homer
#3 Norwood Gibson – 15-11, 2.84 ERA, 85 K/231.2 IP – Player of the Week for 7/28 but fade continues with 3-4, 3.65 month
#4 Jack Powell – 7-12, 2.37 ERA, 72 K/178.2 IP – missed half the month with injury, still leads team in ERA – and losses
RP Bill Reidy – 5-5, 1 SV, 3.23 ERA, 25 K/61.1 IP – put on trading block, pitched well in July with a 1-2 record and a 1.65 ERA
RP Barney Pelty – 1-1, 2.35 ERA, 4 K/15.1 IP – was somehow awarded a win despite not throwing a single pitch in the game where Powell was injured
RP Cy Morgan – 0-3, 1 SV, 3.74 ERA, 16 K/33.2 IP – started 3 games and lost them all, 0-3, 4.45 for July
RP John Terry – 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 K/1.2 IP – pitched 2/3 of an inning this month

Player Development

Jesse Burkett has lost some momentum, his range in LF drops to E.
Owen Shannon increases his talent in hitting for average.
Owen Shannon increases his talent in hitting homers.

Burkett is 34 years old so some drop off there is expected. Our OF defense is suspect to begin with so this doesn’t help. Shannon’s increase must have been from non-existent. I’ll try to get him more at bats here and there if possible.

[timmyw3]

August 1903

The Browns are still trying to get over that .500 hump. For August we finished up at 14-14, leaving us at 66-68 with 1 month to go. We had a 5 game win streak from the 8th to the 12th but finished the month losers of 6 of our last 7. Cleveland went 20-8 over the month and opened up a 6 game lead over Boston in the American League. Pittsburgh also went 20-8 and widened their gap to 9 games over 2nd place Cincinnati.

On August 1st a lot of players signed contract extensions with their current teams. The 2 most prominent names on the list are Reds 1st Baseman Harry Steinfeldt and Athletics CF Topsy Hartsel. Steinfeldt is currently batting .251 with 2 homers and 88 RBIs and signed a 3-year extension worth 6.327 per season. Hartsel is tied for the league lead in homeruns with 12 and signed for 3 years for 5.814 million a year. One questionable signing was by the Detroit Tigers who re-upped with LF Billy Lush for 3 years at 5.13 million annually. Lush is currently hitting a whopping .183 with 1 homer and 28 RBIs.

In other news, the Tigers lost promising pitcher George Mullin for the year with a torn bicep muscle. The 23 year old Mullin was 10-7 with a 2.16 ERA. For the Browns, Bill Friel will be out until mid-September with a pulled back muscle. He has played terribly this year so it is no great loss at all.

American League
Cleveland 85-49 (.634)
Boston 79-55 (.590) 6 gb
Detroit 70-64 (.522) 15 gb
St. Louis 66-68 (.493) 19 gb
New York 64-70 (.478) 21 gb
Chicago 63-71 (.470) 22 gb
Philadelphia 57-77 (.425) 28 gb
Washington 52-82 (.388) 33 gb

National League
Pittsburgh 81-53 (.604)
Cincinnati 72-62 (.537) 9 gb
Philadelphia 71-63 (.530) 10 gb
Chicago 66-68 (.493) 15 gb
Brooklyn 63-71 (.470) 18 gb
St. Louis 63-71 (.470) 18 gb
Boston 60-74 (.448) 21 gb
New York 60-74 (.448) 21 gb

Awards

Batters of the Month for August

AL – Cleveland Naps outfielder Elmer Flick won Batter of the Month in the AL. Flick batted .363 in 102 at bats with 1 homer and 19 RBIs for the league leaders.
NL – Over in the NL, Honus Wagner, shortstop for the 1st place Pirates took home the award. Wagner batted .386 in August with 1 home run and 19 runs batted in.

Pitchers of the Month for August

AL – Barney Wolfe of the New York Highlanders was Pitcher of the Month for August. Wolfe was 5-1 with 2 shutouts and a 0.83 ERA in 6 starts.
NL – The Phillies’ Fred Burchell was Pitcher of the Month in the NL. Fred was 5-1 with a 1.58 ERA in 6 August starts.

Players of the Week (AL, NL)

8/4 – RF Danny Green CHI, P Tully Sparks PHI
8/11 – CF Emmet Heidrick STL, RF Patsy Donovan STL
8/18 – P Barney Wolfe NY, 1B Klondike Douglass PHI
8/25 – P Bill Dinneen BOS, P Togie Pittinger BOS

League Leaders (AL, NL)

AVG – Sam Crawford DET .343, Honus Wagner PIT .388
HR – Topsy Hartsel PHI/Buck Freeman BOS 12, 3 tied with 7
RBI – Buck Freeman BOS 93, Ginger Beaumont PIT 103

WINS – Bill Bernhard BOS 21, Deacon Phillippe PIT 22
ERA – Addie Joss CLE 1.78, Noodles Hahn CIN 2.18
K – Rube Waddell PHI 178, Wiley Piatt BRK 155

Browns’ August Highlights

8/3 – It took us 10 innings but we beat the Boston Pilgrims in Boston 4-2. Pinky Swander’s 2-out, 2-run single in the top of the 10th was the difference. Willie Sudhoff pitched all 10 innings and earned his 16th win of the year.

8/8 – Sudhoff pitched a 3 hit shutout over the New York Highlanders 1-0. Bill Friel’s RBI single in the 4th provided the only run of the game.

8/10 – We were on the right side of another 1-0 game as Jack Powell blanked the Philadelphia A’s. Emmet Heidrick’s 1st inning RBI double held up.

8/23 – We experienced our best offensive output of the season in a 13-3 thrashing of the Tigers. Heidrick and Hunter Hill had 3 hits a piece and Benny Bowcock was 2 for 4 with 4 RBIs.

8/28 – We won our 3rd 1-0 game of the month as Powell did the honors again, outdueling Boston ace Cy Young. We entered the bottom of the 9th scoreless and after Young retired the 1st 2 batters. Jesse Burkett, Heidrick, and Hill hit back-to-back-to-back singles to provide the only run of the game.

Browns’ Stats to Date

Hitters
C – Joe Sugden - .195 0 HR 25 RBI – another subpar month, 10 hits in 53 at bats
1B – John Anderson - .295 3 HR 40 RBI – had a team high 10 RBI for August out of the leadoff spot.
2B – Dick Padden - .213 4 HR 29 RBI – hit just .123 in August, he won’t be around next year
3B – Hunter Hill - .248 0 HR 48 RBI – had a bit of a dropoff (.228) but is still 3rd on the team in RBIs
SS – Bobby Wallace - .197 0 HR 30 RBI - .218 in August, we are paying this guy 2.75 million a year
LF – Jesse Burkett - .285 2 HR 48 RBI – another solid month for the old man, .288, 11 runs scored
CF – Emmet Heidrick - .273 1 HR 54 RBI – Player of the Month for us, hit .326 with 9 doubles, 9 RBI, and 11 runs scored.
RF - Pinky Swander - .300 1 HR 34 HR – hit .286 in August, but struck out 21 times in 84 at bats

Bench
OF - Charlie Hemphill - .206 2 HR 27 RBI – finally got the average back over the Mendoza line
2B - Benny Bowcock - .292 1 HR 21 RBI – managed to knock in 9 runs in 36 August ABs, the future for us at this position.
C - Mike Kahoe - .193 0 HR 11 RBI – hit .217 in 46 at bats
2B - Barry McCormick - .224 0 HR 7 RBI – was 5 for 16 in month, probably deserves more time
UTIL - Bill Friel - .144 0 HR 5 RBI – had GW-RBI in only appearance before getting injured
C - Owen Shannon - .175 0 HR 1 RBI – had first RBI of the year and was 3 for 9 in August
2B - Claude Gouzzie - .333 0 HR 0 RBI – did not play, 1 for 3 on year.

Pitchers
#1 - Willie Sudhoff – 18-15, 2.92 ERA, 105 K/293 IP – lost 3 straight at the end of the month in unimpressive fashion, 3-4, 3.65 for Aug
#2 - Ed Siever – 15-9, 2.42 ERA, 84 K/241.1 IP – quietly becoming the staff ace, was 3-1 with a 1.29 ERA after returning from injury
#3 - Norwood Gibson – 18-15, 2.94 ERA, 105 K/293.2 IP – 3-4, 3.34 in August, I don’t regret re-signing him long term but the amount is a bit high, 86 walks are a bit high
#4 - Jack Powell – 11-15, 2.25 ERA, 94 K/239.2 IP – 4-3, 1.92 for the month, only one on the staff with a WHIP under 1.00 (0.981)
RP - Bill Reidy – 5-5, 2 SV, 3.21 ERA, 25 K/61.2 IP – only pitched 1/3 of an inning, trying to get the younger guys more action.
RP - Barney Pelty – 1-3, 3.44 ERA, 16 K/36.2 IP – started 3 games in place of Siever, was 0-2, 4.22 ERA
RP – Cy Morgan – 0-3, 4.00 ERA, 18 K/36 IP – rocked in 2 apps, 7.72 ERA
RP – John Terry – 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 K/3 IP – earned first career win this month

Player Development

Pinky Swander is getting faster, his speed increases to D
Bobby Wallace is getting faster, his speed increases to B
Hunter Hill has lost some momentum, his range at 3B drops to D

2 good, 1 bad. Swander looks like he could amount to something so I’m happy about his progression. Hopefully Wallace’s increase can help him leg out some infield hits. Defense has not been our forte so the Hill regression hurts a bit.

[timmyw3]

September 1903

September was a great month for the St. Louis Browns as we went 15-5 for the month to finish the season at 81-73, tied for 3rd in the AL with the Detroit Tigers. We finished 43-34 at home and 38-39 on the road. We particularly excelled in 1-run games, going a league best 39-17, and in extra innings with a 9-2 record.

Cleveland held off Boston to win the AL pennant by 3 games. Pittsburgh coasted to the NL title by 7 games over Cincinnati. Unfortunately for the Pirates, they will be without All-Star pitcher Deacon Phillippe who experienced back spasms and will miss the series.

American League
Cleveland 96-58 (.623)
Boston 93-61 (.604) 3 gb
Detroit 81-73 (.526) 15 gb
St. Louis 81-73 (.526) 15 gb
Chicago 71-83 (.461) 25 gb
New York 71-83 (.461) 25 gb
Philadelphia 64-90 (.416) 32 gb
Washington 59-95 (.383) 37 gb

National League
Pittsburgh 93-61 (.604)
Cincinnati 86-68 (.558) 7 gb
Philadelphia 81-73 (.526) 12 gb
St. Louis 75-79 (.487) 18 gb
Chicago 74-80 (.481) 19 gb
New York 71-83 (.461) 22 gb
Brooklyn 69-85 (.448) 24 gb
Boston 67-87 (.435) 26 gb

Awards

Batters of the Month for September

AL – Boston Pilgrim Patsy Dougherty put together a spectacular month, batting .486 in 74 at bats with 2 homers and 14 RBIs
NL – George Browne of the New York Giants was the NL’s Player of the Month. George batted .421 with 1 homer and 19 RBI.

Pitchers of the Month for August

AL – Chicago White Sox pitcher Frank Owen was tops in the AL for September with a 4-1 record, including 1 shutout, and an ERA of 1.07.
NL – Sam Leever of the Pittsburgh Pirates led their charge to the playoffs with a 4-1 record and an ERA of 0.80 in September.

Players of the Week (AL, NL)

9/1 – P Rube Kisinger DET, P Henry Schmidt BRK
9/8 – P Frank Owen CHI, RF George Browne NY
9/15 – P Bill Donovan DET, P Clarence Currie STL
9/22 – P Frank Owen CHI, LF Mike Donlin CIN

Browns’ September Highlights

9/8 – Willie Sudhoff was the star in a 6-0 win over Chicago. Sudhoff blanked the Sox on 4 hits and helped his own cause going 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs

9/14 – Norwood Gibson won his 20th game of the year, beating the Tigers 4-3. Hunter Hill was the hitting star going 3 for 3 with 2 RBI.

9/17 – Sudhoff became the 2nd Brown to win 20 games this year in a 4-3 win over Chicago. Benny Bowcock’s RBI single broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the 7th.

9/21 – We roughed up Boston ace Cy Young in a 10-6 victory that knocked the Pilgrims out of playoff contention. Young gave up 16 hits and 9 earned runs in 6.1 innings. Hill was 4 for 5 with 2 runs batted in.

9/25 – Ed Siever became the final member of the 20 win club in a 5-4 win over the New York Highlanders. Bobby Wallace thumped his first and only homer of the year.

Final stats and league leaders to come…

[timmyw3]

1903 World Series

Game 1 at Cleveland
The Pirates stole Game 1 in Cleveland 11-5 in 10 innings. The Pirates were down 5-1 entering the top of the ninth and behind Kitty Bransfield’s 3-run homer, tied it up. The Naps’ bullpen imploded in the top of the 10th allowing 6 runs.
W- Sam Leever L- Gene Wright

Game 2 at Cleveland
The Naps tied up the series behind staff ace Bill Bernhard’s strong performance. Bernhard scattered 6 hits in a complete game win, striking out 4.
W- Bill Bernhard L- Kaiser Wilhelm

Game 3 at Pittsburgh
Cleveland takes a 2-1 lead in the series with an exciting 8-7 win in Pittsburgh. Harry Bay was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI and Nap Lajoie and Billy Klingman had 3 hits a piece for the victors. Earl Moore got pinch hitter Otto Krueger to ground into a fielder’s choice with the tying run on 3rd in the bottom of the 9th.
W- Earl Moore L- Ed Doheny

Game 4 at Pittsburgh
The Pirates knotted the series up at 2 with a thrilling 7-6 win in 12 innings. The Naps were down 6-3 but scored 3 in the top of the 9th on a Bill Bradley bases-loaded double. Tommie Leach’s double drove in Claude Ritchey in the bottom of the 12th for the game winner.
W- Sam Leever L- Gene Wright

Game 5 at Pittsburgh
The Pirates took ever important Game 5 with a 6-2 win. The Bucs roughed up the Naps’ #1 guy Bill Bernhard who beat them in Game 2 while Kaiser Wilhelm pitched a complete game. Fred Clarks led off the 1st with a home run and went 3 for 4 with 3 RBI for the game.
W- Kaiser Wilhelm L- Bill Bernhard

Game 6 at Cleveland
The Pittsburgh Pirates are your 1903 World Champions after a 4-1 win in Game 6. Series MVP Kitty Bransfield hit his 3rd homer of the series breaking a 1-1 tie in the top of the 9th. For the series, Bransfield hit .304 with 3 homers, 1 less than his season total, and 8 RBI. Pirate star and the NL’s leading hitter Honus Wagner went 0 for 23 over the 6 games.
W- Ed Doheny L- Earl Moore

[timmyw3]

1903 Season Awards

AL Most Valuable Player
Buck Freeman, 1st Baseman for the Boston Pilgrims was awarded the American League’s Most Valuable Player award. Buck led the league in home runs and runs batted in with 15 and 109 respectively while batting .314 in 557 at bats.

NL Most Valuable Player
Cincinnati Reds’ leftfielder Mike Donlin was the recipient of the NL’s MVP award . Donlin flirted with the .400 mark all season, finishing with a .384 average. He also smacked 6 homers and drove in 96 runs.

AL Cy Young Award
Cleveland Naps starter Bill Bernhard won the Cy Young Award in the American League. Bernhard led the AL with 24 wins against 12 losses including 8 shutouts. He struck out 133 and walked just 61 in 344.2 innings of work.

NL Cy Young Award
One of the all-time great names will be attached to this award as Noodles Hahn of the Cincinnati Reds won the Cy Young Award in the NL. Noodles was 22-12 with an ERA of 2.04 and 8 shutouts in 38 starts. In 355 innings he fanned 151 and walked 57.

AL Rookie of the Year
New York Highlanders pitcher Barney Wolfe was the AL’s top rookie. Barney had a record of 22-14 and an ERA of 2.46 in 37 starts.

NL Rookie of the Year
A second member of the Cincinnati pitching staff won a major award as Bob Ewing won top rookie honors in the NL. Bob had a record of 23.13 with an ERA of 3.46.

AL Gold Glove Winners
P – Clark Griffith NY
C – Ossee Schreckengost PHI
1B – John Ganzel NY
2B – Hobe Ferris BOS
3B – Bill Bradley CLE
SS – Bobby Wallace STL
LF – Dave Fultz NY
CF – Jimmy Ryan WAS
RF – Kip Selbach WAS

NL Gold Glove Winners
P – Ed Doheny PIT
C – Jack O’Neill STL
1B – Kitty Bransfield PIT
2B – Ed Abbaticchio BRK
3B – Harry Wolverton PHI
SS – Honus Wagner PIT
LF – Jimmy Slagle CHI
CF – Ollie Pickering STL
RF – Jack Hardy CIN

[timmyw3]

1903 Browns’ Final Stats

Catchers

Joe Sugden, 64 for 321 .199, 0 HR, 30 RBI, 27 R, .251 OBP, .252 SLG
Sugden didn’t supply much from an offensive perspective, though he did lead the team in sac bunts with 11. He gunned down 49 of 143 (34.3%) would be basestealers.

Mike Kahoe, 35 for 186 .188, 0 HR, 12 RBI, 13 R, .244 OBP, .215 SLG
Mike was supposed to be the better catcher hitting wise but that wasn’t the case. Threw out 25% on the basepaths.

Owen Shannon, 9 for 56 .161, 0 HR, 1 RBI
Struck out in almost a third of his ABs. Actually played more at 1st base than catcher. Had a ratings increase late and he’s still young so he could become a serviceable backup down the line.

1st Basemen

John Anderson, 176 for 617 .285, 4 HR, 46 RBI, 85 R, 48 SB, .313 OBP, .395 SLG
John led us in many offensive categories including at bats, hits, doubles (40), homers, runs, and steals. In the AL he was 4th in doubles and steals and 5th in hits and runs. Did everything we could ask for out of the leadoff spot.

2nd Basemen

Dick Padden, 81 of 376 .215, 4 HR, 34 RBI, 45 R, 27 SB, .256 OBP, .335 SLG
Dick started out strong but ended up the mediocre player we thought he’d be. Showed a little pop with 4 homers and was successful on 27 of 31 steal attempts. Grounded into a team high 17 double plays.

Benny Bowcock, 54 of 189 .286, 1 HR, 28 RBI, 13 R, .317 OBP, .354 SLG
Benny looks like the future at 2nd for us pending any free agent additions. The 23-year old played extremely well in the 2nd half after not playing much earlier in the year.

Bill Friel, 17 of 119 .143, 0 HR, 5 RBI, 6 R, .183 OBP, .160 SLG
Bill had the lowest average on the team, including the pitchers. At the beginning of the season I actually thought he might start at 3rd. He’s eligible for arbitration in the offseason, we will just cut our ties with him.

Barry McCormick, 12 of 57 .211, 0 HR, 8 RBI
Barry filled in at 2nd, 3rd, and short. Did about as well, or poorly, as expected.

Claude Gouzzie, 1 for 7 .143, 0 HR, 0 RBI
I have nothing to say here. Was kept on the roster because we were under 25 anyway.

3rd Basemen

Hunter Hill, 132 of 511 .258, 0 HR, 59 RBI, 43 R, .300 OBP, .346 SLG
Hunter was the biggest surprise considering he was just a 1-star prospect at the beginning of the year. Had 17 doubles and led the team in triples with 14. Was also second on the team in RBI. Committed 25 errors defensively.

Shortstops

Bobby Wallace, 113 of 531 .213, 1 HR, 39 RBI, 54 R, .266 OBP, .282 SLG
I thought he might provide some stability offensively but I was mistaken. He did win the Gold Glove though so he’s not totally worthless. I’ll see if someone wants to take his 2.7 million dollar salary in the offseason.

Outfielders

Jesse Burkett, 161 of 550 .293, 2 HR, 53 RBI, 60 R, 47 SB, .350 OBP, .375 SLG
Burkett, the oldest player on the team, led most categories that Anderson didn’t (average, walks, on base percentage). Was only caught stealing 7 times in 54 attempts. He will play a big role next year.

Emmet Heidrick, 155 of 564 .275, 1 HR, 68 RBI, 56 R, .315 OBP, .332 SLG
Emmet batted in the 4 slot for us all year and led us in RBI. He also managed to swipe 29 bases. He’s only 26 so he should have a bright future ahead of him.

Pinky Swander, 125 of 399 .313, 3 HR, 37 RBI, 38 R, .341 OBP, .358 SLG
The 22-year old Swander took over for Charlie Hemphill and had a great year at the dish. He would have led the team in batting if he had enough at bats. He did lead the team in strikeouts with 92 and committed 22 errors in 202 chances in rightfield.

Charlie Hemphill, 60 of 268 .224, 2 HR, 33 RBI, 23 R, .258 OBP, .310 SLG
Struggled badly early and lost his spot to Swander. He did play pretty well in the second half of the year in backing up all 3 OF spots. We’ll have a decision to make on the 26 year old in the offseason as he’s eligible for arbitration.

Pitchers

Willie Sudhoff, 21-17, 2.77 ERA, 338.0 IP, 119 K, 60 BB, 4 SHO, 1.104 WHIP
Willie had an up and down year but showed up every time out and won 21 games. He completed 37 of his 38 starts and led the team in strikeouts. Not the ace I thought he’d be still solid. I’m thinking of using him as trade bait for a hitter.

Norwood Gibson, 21-17, 3.10 ERA, 336.2 IP, 112 K, 108 BB, 2 SHO, 1.331 WHIP
We dealt for Gibby early in the year and he pitched great in the first half, making the All-Star team. He was very inconsistent in the second half though and I’m hoping he wasn’t a flash in the pan. He did give up the most hits and the most walks in the AL. Also did a lot of damage at the plate batting .264 with 9 RBI in 125 at bats.

Ed Siever, 20-9, 2.26 ERA, 287.1 IP, 94 K, 50 BB, 1 SHO, 1.055 WHIP
Ed quietly became the ace of the staff, winning 20 games and leading the team in ERA, 5th in the AL. He’s also only 25 too and we have him locked up until ’07. Was a bit injury prone though as he missed time twice due to arm troubles.

Jack Powell, 15-16, 2.48 ERA, 279.1 IP, 110 K, 46 BB, 5 SHO, 1.024 WHIP
Jack had a solid year but fell victim to poor run support. He had the best WHIP and K/BB ratio on the staff. His 5 shutouts were 2nd in the American League. Also led the AL in hit batsmen with 19.

Bill Reidy, 5-5, 2 SV, 3.19 ERA, 62 IP, 25 K, 8 BB, 1.242 WHIP
Bill started 5 games for us and pitched OK out of the bullpen. We tried to deal him away because he has good attributes but there were no takers. He probably won’t be around next year.

Barney Pelty, 1-3, 1 SV, 3.32 ERA, 38 IP, 16 K, 8 BB, 1.342 WHIP
Pelty, the youngest member of the staff, has a bright future. Started 4 games and didn’t pitch well in any of them.

Cy Morgan, 0-3, 1 SV, 4.00 ERA, 36 IP, 18 K, 10 BB, 1.444 WHIP
Like Pelty, Morgan has a high ceiling. A couple bad outings jacked up his ERA but you’ll be hearing more from Cy soon.

John Terry, 1-0, 1.59 ERA, 5.2 IP, 2 K, 3 BB, 1.588 WHIP
Terry pitched pretty well in limited innings. He’s only 23 so he’s more innings ahead of him.

[timmyw3]

1903 League Leaders

American League

Batting Average
Patsy Dougherty BOS .344
Sam Crawford DET .340
Bill Bradley CLE .337
Nap Lajoie CLE .324
Buck Freeman BOS .314

Home Runs
Buck Freeman BOS 15
Topsy Hartsel PHI 12
Charlie Hickman CLE 12
Nap Lajoie CLE 10
Patsy Dougherty BOS 8

Runs Batted In
Buck Freeman BOS 109
Charlie Hickman CLE 93
Nap Lajoie CLE 92
Topsy Hartsel PHI 83
Sam Crawford DET 83

Wins
Bill Bernhard CLE 24
Cy Young BOS 23
Barney Wolfe NY 22
6 tied with 21

Earned Run Average
Addie Joss CLE 1.77
Bill Bernhard CLE 1.88
Doc White CHI 2.09
George Mullin DET 2.16
Ed Siever STL 2.26

Strikeouts
Rube Waddell PHI 210
Bill Donovan DET 150
Eddie Plank PHI 147
Cy Young BOS 140
Roy Patterson CHI 140

Other Categories
On Base % – Kid Eberfield DET .392
Slugging % – Buck Freeman BOS .494
Doubles – Socks Seybold PHI 52
Triples – Willie Keeler NY 17
Runs – Elmer Flick CLE 92
Stolen Bases – Elmer Flick CLE 55

Innings Pitched – Cy Young BOS 346
Losses – Highball Wilson WAS 23
Saves – Ed Killian CLE 8
Shutouts – Bill Bernhard CLE 8
Runners/9 IP – Addie Joss CLE 8.56

National League

Batting Average
Honus Wagner PIT .385
Mike Donlin CIN .384
Cy Seymour CIN .368
Ginger Beaumont PIT .362
Patsy Donovan STL .345

Home Runs
Tommie Leach PIT 9
Jimmy Burke STL 8
Honus Wagner PIT 8
Pat Moran BOS 8
Fred Clarke PIT 8

Runs Batted In
Sam Mertes NY 109
Cy Seymour CIN 109
Ginger Beaumont PIT 109
Harry Steinfeldt CIN 103
Mike Donlin CIN 96

Wins
Sam Leever PIT 24
Deacon Phillippe PIT 23
Bob Ewing CIN 23
Noodles Hahn CIN 22
Tully Sparks PHI 22

Earned Run Average
Noodles Hahn CIN 2.04
Deacon Phillippe PIT 2.52
Vic Willis BOS 2.71
Sam Leever PIT 2.84
Kaiser Wilhelm PIT 2.89

Strikeouts
Wiley Piatt BOS 174
Vic Willis BOS 156
Noodles Hahn CIN 151
Ed Murphy STL 147
Ned Garvin BRK 142

Other Categories
On Base % - Honus Wagner PIT .450
Slugging % - Honus Wagner .537
Doubles – Harry Steinfeldt CIN 44
Triples – Sam Mertes NY 21
Runs – Honus Wagner PIT 126
Stolen Bases – Mike Donlin CIN 64

Innings Pitched – Vic Willis BOS 364.2
Losses – John Malarkey BOS 24
Saves – Jack Doscher CHI 6
Shutouts – Noodles Hahn CIN 8
Runners/9 IP – Deacon Phillippe PIT 9.45

[Anrhydeddu]

I think the numbers look good except the Wins seem to be on the low side. This, I believe, a function of the AI insisting on carrying a full modern-day bullpen. In this era, three relievers is all that is need (to go along with only 3 SPs).

[timmyw3]

I’ve decided to go a different route with this dynasty. I’d like to get into manager mode and I’d also like to have the alternative history the dynasty currently seeks to create. So instead of controlling 1 team from here on out, I will control none. I’m basically going to run the seasons, importing the real players each year, taking care of relocations, expansions, etc. I’ll report on each year’s offseason news (free agency, trades, draft, retirements), then follow-up with the play on the field (major achievements, All-Stars, trades, pennant race, World Series), and then finish with a season wrap-up (league leaders, awards). As always if there is any way I can make this more readable, please let me know.

Once I hit 2003 and all the expansion to date has been finished and all actual players have been imported, I’ll turn the manager mode on and go from there. At my current pace, I’d probably get to current day at the time OOTP 13 is released.

[timmyw3]

1904 Offseason

Retirements

Only 2 players hung up their cleats, a pair of aging catchers. 39 year old Deacon McGuire hit .229 in 367 at bats as Detroit’s regular catcher. 42 year old Chief Zimmer hit .242 in 66 ABs with the Philadelphia A’s.

Free Agency

A lot of big-time talent changed uniforms in the offseason. 1st baseman Frank Chance signed the biggest contract in league history, leaving the Cubs to sign with the New York Giants for 4 years and $49.36 million. So much for Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance ever happening. Chance batted .317 with 3 homers and 77 RBI for the Cubs in ’03. The Giants also inked right fielder Danny Green, formerly of the Chicago White Sox, for 4 years and $28.84 million. Green hit .337 with 7 home runs and 71 RBI last year.

Cy Seymour will switch leagues from National to American signing with the Boston Pilgrims. He’ll roam centerfield for the next 5 years for Boston at $9.73 million a year. Last season for the Reds, Seymour batted .368 with 6 homers and 109 RBI.

3rd baseman Tommie Leach is leaving the World Champion Pirates to sign with the Philadelphia A’s. Last year Leach led the NL in home runs with 9 and also batted .300 and drove in 73 runs. He’ll make $7.96 million a year for the next 4 seasons.

Pitcher Red Donahue, who was traded from St. Louis to Boston last season, signed with the Cincinnati Reds for 4 years and $29.11 million. Red was 21-14 with a 2.54 ERA in Boston last season.

Other big contracts:
LF Joe Kelley (’03 - .298, 3, 69) – from the Cardinals to the Phillies – 3 yrs, $21.45 mil
RF Elmer Flick (’03 - .296, 4, 68) – from the Naps to the Browns – 5 yrs, $32.5 mil
1B Fred Tenney (’03 - .302, 4, 41) – from the Beaneaters to the Tigers – 5 yrs, $29.6 mil
P Jack Cronin (’03 – 12-17, 4.76) – from the Giants to the Phillies – 3 yrs, $20.7 mil

Trades

None made in the offseason.

Draft

Round 1
1. Washington Senators – P Beany Jacobsen
2. Philadelphia Athletics – P Hooks Wiltse
3. Boston Beaneaters – P Frank Corridon
4. Brooklyn Superbas – P Frank Smith
5. New York Highlanders – P Chick Robitaille
6. New York Giants – P Ralph Caldwell
7. Chicago White Sox – P Charlie Jaeger
8. Chicago Cubs – P Mike Lynch
9. St. Louis Cardinals – P Tom Fisher
10. Detroit Tigers – P Joe Koulalik
11. St. Louis Browns – P Ed Walsh
12. Philadelphia Phillies – P Del Mason
13. Cincinnati Reds – P Ed McNichol
14. Boston Pilgrims – P Jim McGinley
15. Pittsburgh Pirates – P Claude Elliott
16. Cleveland Naps – RF Sherry Magee

Other notables:

2B Miller Huggins – Round 2, 20th overall to the Brooklyn Superbas
LF Frank Schulte – Round 2, 25th overall to the St. Louis Cardinals
3B Art Devlin – Round 2, 26th overall to the Detroit Tigers
P Howie Camnitz – Round 3, 33rd overall to the Washington Senators
1B George Stovall – Round 4, 51st overall to the Boston Beaneaters

[timmyw3]

1904 Season

The surprise of the early part of the season was the Washington Senators, who finished dead last in the American League last year. They jumped out to a 24-12 start to take a 3 game lead over New York in mid-May. They began to slide towards the break and were overtaken by both New York and Philadelphia. All 8 teams were separated by just 9 games at the break.

Over in the National League, things were not as tight. Defending champion Pittsburgh struggled mightily and has much catching up to do to get back in the race. The trio of Brooklyn, New York, and Chicago are ahead of the pack with New York and Chicago tied and New York 1 game back.

A pair of no-hitters were tossed in the early goings. The first was thrown by the Highlanders’ Clark Griffith on April 27th. Griffith shut down the Senators, striking out 3 and walking 1 in a 6-1 victory. Over in the NL, Jack Cronin of the Philadelphia Phillies no-hit the Giants, striking out 2 and walking 1. Like Griffith, Cronin did not get the shutout as the Phils won it 5-1.

There were three trades made, 2 of which could be considered major. The biggest deal happened right at the All-Star break with the Reds acquiring All-Star RF Danny Green from the Giants. Green led the NL in homers at the time with 10 and was batting well over .300 and had signed a big contract in the offseason. The Giants did not get much in return it appears as they got LF Dan Kerwin, a 25-year-old prospect, and pitcher Jimmy Wiggs, currently sporting an ERA over 6.00.

The Philadelphia teams swapped players in the first week of the season with the A’s receiving LF John Titus from the Phillies. Titus hit .292 with 2 homers and 87 RBI in ’03 for the Phillies. In return, the Phillies received pitching prospect Harry Betts. The 23-year-old Betts was traded from the Cardinals last July and was 0-3 with a 7.81 ERA in a September callup with the A’s. Also the Superbas and Giants swapped backup outfielders with Deacon Van Buren going to Brooklyn and Tom McCreary headed to New York.

For the 2nd straight year, the American League won the Midseason Classic. Barney Wolfe of the Highlanders was the winning pitcher with Tully Sparks of the Phillies getting the loss. Ed Delahanty of the Washington Senators was the MVP going 2 for 3 with 3 RBI. Here are the All-Star rosters:

American League
BOS – CF Cy Seymour, RF Buck Freeman
CHI – P Roy Patterson, P Frank Owen
CLE – P Addie Joss, 1B Charlie Hickman, RF Sherry Magee
DET – P Frank Kitson, C Tom Needham, SS Kid Elberfeld, CF Jimmy Barrett
NY – P Barney Wolfe, P Clark Griffith
PHI – P Eddie Plank, P Conny McGeehan, 3B Tommy Leach, 1B Harry Davis, 2B Danny Murphy
STL – 2B Benny Bowcock
WAS – P Howie Camnitz, C Lew Drill, LF Ed Delahanty, RF Kid Selbach

National League
BOS – P Tom Dougherty, 1B Jack Doyle
BRK – P Oscar Jones, P Frank Smith, LF Jimmy Sheckard
CHI – P Jake Wiemer, SS Joe Tinker
CIN – P John Brackenridge, C Heinie Peitz, 3B Harry Steinfeldt, LF Mike Donlin, RF Danny Green
NY – P Christy Mathewson, 1B Frank Chance, CF Roger Bresnahan
PHI – P Tully Sparks, C Frank Roth, 2B Kid Gleason
PIT – SS Honus Wagner, CF Ginger Beaumont, RF Jimmy Sebring
STL – P Clarence Currie, P Ed Murphy, SS Dave Brain

In the AL, Detroit, Boston and Philadelphia got off to good starts after the break and took turns holding the lead throughout July and August with Cleveland and New York lurking. Chicago and St. Louis weren’t out of it yet either, staying within 10 games of the lead. Washington could not keep up its hot start and faded to the back of the pack.

In the National League, Brooklyn and New York kept up their pace of the first half and along with surging St. Louis looked to make it a three horse race. Chicago had a rough July and stood in the second group with Philadelphia. Pittsburgh could still get nothing going and looks to be out of it. Cincinnati, despite their powerful lineup, and Boston are looking towards next year.

Going into the final weekend there were ties in both leagues. Detroit, Philadelphia, and New York were in a dead heat at 79-72 in the American while Brooklyn and New York were tied at 89-62 in the NL. The Highlanders lost all 3 of their game to be eliminated and as luck would have it, the AL pennant would be decided on the final day as the Tigers and A’s came down to a winner-take-all finale.

In dramatic fashion, the Detroit Tigers were the American League champions as they won it 8-7 in 11 innings. Fred Tenney will forever be remembered as the Tiger hero that brought the crown to Detroit. His RBI single in the bottom of the 11th scored Jimmy Barrett and sent the Tigers to the World Series. All drama was gone in the NL as the Giants lost the 1st 2 games in their series against Cincinnati while Brooklyn won their first 2 against Boston giving the NL crown to Brooklyn.

Your 1904 World Series will pit the 81-73 Detroit Tigers against the 91-63 Brooklyn Superbas.

1904 Final Standings

American League
Detroit 81-73 (.526)
Philadelphia 80-74 (.519) 1 gb
New York 79-75 (.513) 2 gb
Cleveland 78-76 (.506) 3 gb
Boston 77-77 (.500) 4 gb
Chicago 76-78 (.494) 5 gb
St. Louis 76-78 (.494) 5 gb
Washington 69-85 (.448) 12 gb

National League
Brooklyn 91-63 (.591)
New York 89-65 (.578) 2 gb
St. Louis 88-66 (.571) 3 gb
Philadelphia 80-74 (.519) 11 gb
Chicago 78-76 (.506) 13 gb
Pittsburgh 73-81 (.474) 18 gb
Cincinnati 64-90 (.416) 27 gb
Boston 53-101 (.344) 38 gb

1904 World Series

Games 1 and 2 in Brooklyn were won by the home team. Game 1 was an exciting 13-10 slugfest. Jimmy Sheckard had a World Series record 5 hits in 5 at bats and drove in 2. Rookie 2B Miller Huggins was 3 for 5 and knocked in 5 runs. The Tigers scored their 10 runs on just 5 hits. Game 2 was a more normal 4-3 game. The Superbas scored all 4 of their runs in the bottom of the 4th. Oscar Jones scattered 12 hits in a complete game win, striking out 3.

On to Detroit for the next 3 games, again all won by the home team and all requiring late inning heroics. Game 3 saw a 6-3 Brooklyn lead going into the bottom of the 8th but the Tigers scored 4 in the bottom of the 8th with the tiebreaker coming on a 2-out Jimmy Barrett single scoring winning pitcher George Mullin.

Game 4 was a great game with the Tigers pulling it out 6-5 in 11 innings. Detroit was down 4-3 heading to the bottom of the 9th when Fred Tenney led off with a triple and then scored on a sac fly by Billy Lush. In the Top of the 11th, Huggins reached on an error, stole 2nd, went to 3rd on a wild pitch, and scored on an infield hit by Fred Jacklitsch to give Brooklyn a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Kid Elberfeld singled, stole 2nd, went to third on a throwing error, and scored on a Jimmy Barrett single to tie it. Barrett stole 2nd and after an intentional walk to Sam Crawford, Tenney knocked Barrett home with a single for the game winner to tie up the series.

The Tigers moved out to a 3-2 series lead with a 4-3 win in Game 5. Down 2-1 entering the bottom of the 8th, the Tigers scored 3 in the inning, the last 2 on Tom Needham’s 2-out, 2-run single. Brooklyn plated 1 in the 9th but pitcher Oscar Jones grounded out with the tying run on 1st base.

Brooklyn returned home and forced a Game 7 with an 8-7 win in Game 6. The Superbas led 8-2 after 5 innings then withstood a furious Tiger rally in the late innings. Fred Jacklitsch had a pair of doubles and was 3 for 4 with 5 RBI for Brooklyn.

Game 7 turned out to be a pitcher’s duel, unlike most of the rest of the series, between Brooklyn’s rookie ace Frank Smith and Detroit’s Bill Donovan. With the score ties in the top of the 9th, Tiger catcher Tom Needham legged out a 1-out triple. Heinie Smith followed with a single to give Detroit the 2-1 lead. Donovan set down the Superbas in order in the 9th to bring the world championship to Detroit. Donovan was shelled in game 1 but pitched well in Games 4 and 7. Tiger SS Kid Elberfield was named MVP, hitting a series best .387 with a pair of homers and 3 RBI out of the leadoff spot.

[timmyw3]

1904 Season Awards

American League Most Valuable Player
For the second year in a row the award goes to Boston Pilgrim rightfielder Buck Freeman. Freeman batted .310 with 16 homers and 94 runs batted in, putting him in the Top 6 in a 3 categories in the league. The numbers were similar to his .314, 15, 109 effort from a year ago.

National League Most Valuable Player
Traded from the Giants to the Reds in midseason didn’t faze Danny Green as the Cincinnati rightfielder took the MVP trophy home in 1904. Green had an NL leading 14 homers to go along with his gaudy .331 average and 91 RBI. The 27 year old also led the NL in slugging percentage, triples, and runs scored and won a Gold Glove as well.

American League Cy Young Award
Roy Patterson of the Chicago White Sox was named the AL’s Cy Young Award winner in ’04 as he posted a 26-11 record with a 2.59 ERA. He completed all 37 of his starts including 4 shutouts, striking out 108 batters in 337 innings of work.

National League Cy Young Award & Rookie of the Year
Brooklyn rookie phenom Frank Smith took home both pieces of hardware after his superlative efforts helped Brooklyn to the National League pennant. Smith had a record of 25-11 with a league leading 2.15 ERA. In 339 innings, the 4th overall pick in the draft struck out 129 batters and shutout the opponent 5 times.

American League Rookie of the Year
New York Highlander Spike Shannon was the AL’s top rookie in 1904. A 2nd round pick, Shannon took over rightfield duties and ended up second in the league in batting at .341. He added 3 homers, drove in 67 runs, and crossed the plate himself 97 times. He also led the league in steals with 62.

American League Gold Glove Winners
P – Bill Bernhard CLE
C – Ossee Schreckengost PHI
1B – John Ganzel NY
2B – Nap Lajoie CLE
3B – Tommy Leach PHI
SS – Billy Clingman CLE
LF – Billy Lush DET
CF – Rabbit Robinson WAS
RF – Harry Lumley CHI

National League Gold Glove Winners
P – Henry Schmidt BRK
C – Jack O’Neill STL
1B – George Stovall BOS
2B – Claude Ritchey PIT
3B – Bobby Lowe CHI
SS – Honus Wagner PIT
LF – Jimmy Slagle CHI
CF – John Dobbs BRK
RF – Danny Green CIN

[timmyw3]

1904 League Leaders

American League

Batting Average
Nap Lajoie CLE .343
Spike Shannon NY .341
Cy Seymour BOS .337
Ed Delahanty WAS .327
Tommy Leach PHI .312

Home Runs
Charlie Hickman CLE 18
Tom Needham DET 18
Harry Davis PHI 17
Buck Freeman BOS 16
Sherry Magee CLE 16

Runs Batted In
Charlie Hickman CLE 98
Buck Freeman BOS 94
Topsy Hartsel PHI 93
Wid Conroy NY 92
Herm McFarland NY 91

Wins
Roy Patterson CHI 26
Barney Wolfe NY 24
Eddie Plank PHI 23
Addie Joss CLE 21
Nick Altrock BOS 20
Bill Bernhard CLE 20

Earned Run Average
Doc White CHI 2.18
Frank Kitson DET 2.25
Eddie Plank PHI 2.29
Frank Owen CHI 2.39
Addie Joss CLE 2.51

Strikeouts
Rube Waddell PHI 234
Eddie Plank PHI 140
George Winter BOS 135
Jack Powell STL 122
Bill Bernhard CLE 117

Other Categories
On Base % - Lew Drill WAS .401
Slugging % - Charlie Hickman CLE .514
Doubles – Nap Lajoie CLE 49
Triples – Spike Shannon NY 19
Runs – Nap Lajoie CLE 99
Stolen Bases – Spike Shannon 62 NY

Innings Pitched – Jack Powell STL 348
Losses – Willie Sudhoff STL 22
Saves – John Terry STL 10
Shutouts – Patterson, Owen, Winter, Plank 4
Runners/9 IP – Bill Bernhard CLE 9.23

National League

Batting Average
Ginger Beaumont PIT .342
Danny Green CIN .331
Frank Chance NY .323
Honus Wagner PIT .318
Harry Steinfeldt CIN .313

Home Runs
Danny Green CIN 14
Jimmy Sheckard BRK 14
Fred Clarke PIT 12
Roger Bresnahan NY 12
Mike Donlin CIN 12

Runs Batted In
Jimmy Sebring PIT 98
Sam Mertes NY 96
Jimmy Sheckard BRK 92
Danny Green CIN 91
Roger Bresnahan NY 91

Wins
Oscar Jones BRK 26
Frank Smith BRK 25
Tully Sparks PHI 25
Christy Mathewson NY 22
Bob Rhoads STL 21
Deacon Phillippe PIT 21

Earned Run Average
Frank Smith BRK 2.15
Tully Sparks PHI 2.21
Sam Leever PIT 2.26
Christy Mathewson NY 2.47
Deacon Phillippe PIT 2.67

Strikeouts
Noodles Hahn CIN 138
Clarence Currie STL 135
Oscar Jones BRK 130
Frank Smith BRK 129
Bob Rhoads STL 126

Other Categories
On Base % - Ginger Beaumont PIT .429
Slugging % - Danny Green CIN .544
Doubles – Bill Keister PHI 45
Triples – Danny Green CIN 23
Runs – Danny Green CIN 104
Stolen Bases – Honus Wagner PIT 58

Innings Pitched – Oscar Jones BRK 350.1
Losses – Togie Pittinger BOS 24
Saves – Ralph Caldwell NY 8
Shutouts – Jones, Currie, Smith 5
Runners/9 IP – Tully Sparks PHI 9.05

[timmyw3]

1905 Offseason

Retirements

No one of any superstar stature called it quits prior to 1905, just a six-pack of players past their prime who never really had a prime in this historical replay. I guess the biggest name was Washington CF Jimmy Ryan, 41, who was a regular on a crappy team in ’03 and a part-timer in ’04. Ryan batted .200 in 620 at bats over those 2 years.

Other players to retire:
George Van Haltren, CF, 38 - .257 in 167 AB in 03-04 for Phillies
Aleck Smith, C, 33 – Tiger minor leaguer
Pat McCauley, C, 34
Jack O’Connor, C, 35
Snake Wiltse, P, 32 – All 3 of the above were in the minor leagues of the Highlanders.

Free Agency

There wasn’t as much movement as in 1904 but some of the heroes from last years World Series were snatched up by other squads. The top contract was snagged by World Series MVP Kid Elberfeld who left the Detroit Tigers for the St. Louis Browns. The 30-year-old Elberfeld is a 2-time All-Star and batted .286 with 8 homers and 56 RBI with 40 stolen bases from the leadoff spot in ’04. He’ll make $7.4 million a year for the next 3 seasons in St. Louis. The Browns further improved their left side of the infield by signing 28 year old 3B Sammy Strang from the Brooklyn Dodgers. Strang hit .295 with 6 homers and 73 RBI last year but hit just .115 in the World Series. His contract is for 4 years at $6.73 million annually.

The Phillies also made a major splash in free agency, inking perhaps the biggest catch in 26 year old LF Jimmy Sheckard to a 5 year deal worth $48 million. Sheckard was an All-Star in 1904, batting .310 with 14 home runs and 92 RBI. He also lit it up in the postseason batting .536 in the Series. He has plenty of baseball ahead of him. The Phils also bolstered their pitching staff by signing 33 year old Deacon Phillippe from the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5 year deal worth $33.5 million. Phillippe has won 20 games the last 2 seasons, going 21-14 with a 2.67 ERA a year ago.

Cincinnati signed a CF in Ollie Pickering to replace Cy Seymour who signed with the Pilgrims a year ago. Pickering is a career .271 hitter and is regarded as one of the better defensive centerfielders in the game. His contract is for 4 years at $6.34 million a year.

Trades

Only 1 offseason trade was made. The Detroit Tigers added some outfield depth when they acquired LF Bill Hallman from the Chicago White Sox. Hallman, 28, batted .233 with 3 homers and 46 RBI last season. In return, the White Sox got 24 year old OF prospect Bill O’Neill. O’Neill was a 3rd round pick of the Tigers a year ago and was on the major league roster all year, hitting just .203 in 138 at bats.

Draft

1. Boston Beaneaters – P Orval Overall
2. Cincinnati Reds – P Ed Reulbach
3. Washington Senators – P Homer Hillebrand
4. Pittsburgh Pirates – P Jake Thielman
5. St. Louis Browns – P Louis Leroy
6. Chicago White Sox – P Ed Barry
7. Boston Pilgrims – P Charlie Chech
8. Cleveland Naps – P Irv Young
9. Chicago Cubs – CF Ty Cobb (9th!!!!! WTF)
10. New York Highlanders – P Bill Hogg
11. Philadelphia Athletics – P Buster Brown
12. Philadelphia Phillies – P Lefty Leifield
13. Detroit Tigers – P Harry McIntire
14. St. Louis Cardinals – P Hi West
15. New York Giants – P Joe Harris
16. Brooklyn Superbas – P Hank Olmsted

Other notables:

P Eddie Cicotte – Round 2, 29th overall to the Detroit Tigers
1B Hal Chase – Round 3, 36th over all to the Pittsburgh Pirates
C Branch Rickey – Round 4, 62nd overall to the St. Louis Cardinals
RF Moonlight Graham – Round 7, 102nd overall to the Chicago White Sox (Will he get to bat in this historical replay? Only time will tell.)

[timmyw3]

1905 Season

The Philadelphia A’s got out of the gates quickly and took an early 3-game lead over the White Sox and the Highlanders entering mid-May. The new look Browns look to be much improved as they are just 4 games back. Defending champion Detroit looks like they’ve lost the magic they had last year and are 7 games back.

Over in the NL, the Phillies with newcomers Sheckard and Phillippe have gotten out to a quick 25-16 record. Right on their heels are the Cincinnati Reds, an underachieving team from last year. The Giants are 3 games back followed by the Cardinals who are 5 games off the pace. Like the Tigers, the Brooklyn Superbas have not been able to build on last year and look to be suffering the losses of Sheckard and Strang as they linger in 7th place.

On May 21st a pair of trades were completed. The White Sox, looking for second base help, acquired John Farrell from the Cardinals. The 28 year old Farrell hit .299 in 1904 and drove in 79 runs. They also received minor league pitcher Charlie Moran. The Cards got a nice prospect in 22 year old third baseman Pep Clark. Clark hit .268 with 2 homers and 23 RBI last season in spot duty. The Brooklyn Superbas looked to jump start their sluggish squad by picking up 33 year old LF Joe Kelley from the Phillies. Kelley and his $7.15 million salary became expendable with Sheckard in the mix and will join his 4th team in 2 years. Last year he batted .260 with 2 dingers and 70 RBI. In exchange the Phils received 24 year old 2B prospect Rabbit Nill. Nill was a 4th round pick in the ’04 draft and was 4 for 45 at the plate last season.

In late May and June the A’s began to falter and fell behind the surging White Sox and Browns who are now tied for first. The Browns had a poor April at 12-16 but have played at a .600 clip since. New York is just a game behind with Philadelphia in 4th, 3 games back.

The Phillies have fallen off considerably and now sit tied for 3rd with the Giants 5 games out of first. There is a first place tie at the top between the Reds and the Cardinals. St. Louis is a buzz with both the Cardinals and the Browns playing fabulous baseball heading into the break.

The National League got some revenge on the AL from the last 2 All-Star games in a big way as they thumped the AL 16-2 in the 3rd annual Midseason Classic. Billy Lauder of the New York Giants was the first player to hit a home run in All-Star Game competition and went 3 for 5 with 4 RBI to win the MVP. Brooklyn’s Frank Smith picked up the win while Barney Wolfe of the Highlanders was shelled and took the loss. Those players making the All-Star team this year:

American League
BOS – CF Cy Seymour
CHI – P Doc White, P Patsy Flaherty, RF Harry Lumley, 2B John Farrell
CLE – 2B Nap Lajoie, SS Billy Clingman
DET – P Rube Kisinger, P Bill Donovan, P Dick Harley, 3B Art Devlin, RF Sam Crawford, 1B Fred Tenney, CF Jimmy Barrett
NY – P Barney Wolfe, P Elmer Bliss, P George Disch, C Jack Zalusky
PHI – P Hooks Wiltse, C Ossee Schreckengost, LF John Titus
STL – P Norwood Gibson, 1B John Anderson, RF Elmer Flick
WAS – SS George Davis

National League
BOS – P Vic Willis
BRK – P Frank Smith, 2B Miller Huggins, 1B Jack Doyle, CF John Dobbs
CHI – C Johnny Kling
CIN – P Bob Ewing, P John Brackenridge, LF Mike Donlin
NY – P Christy Mathewson, C Frank Bowerman, 1B Frank Chance, 3B Billy Lauder, RF Roger Bresnahan, LF Sam Mertes
PHI – P Deacon Phillippe, P Ollie Johns, LF Jimmy Sheckard, 3B Harry Wolverton
PIT – P Jack Pfiester, SS Honus Wagner, CF Ginger Beaumont, 2B Claude Ritchey
STL – P Bob Wicker

[Anrhydeddu]

This is great stuff, Timmy but I am wondering if it can be condensed a bit so you can make more progress?

[timmyw3]

Originally posted by Anrhydeddu
This is great stuff, Timmy but I am wondering if it can be condensed a bit so you can make more progress?

The problem is that I haven't had much time to play lately. I'm getting married in 5 short weeks so I have some other priorities to take care of there.

What I've been doing is basically pasting the HTML reports to a word document and taking them to work with me and creating the posts at work from that. So to answer your question condensing the posts wouldn't speed it up much, though it may help my productivity at work.

Thanks for the feedback though. I'm glad somebody is reading.

[Katon]

Originally posted by timmyw3
Draft

1. Boston Beaneaters – P Orval Overall
2. Cincinnati Reds – P Ed Reulbach
3. Washington Senators – P Homer Hillebrand
4. Pittsburgh Pirates – P Jake Thielman
5. St. Louis Browns – P Louis Leroy
6. Chicago White Sox – P Ed Barry
7. Boston Pilgrims – P Charlie Chech
8. Cleveland Naps – P Irv Young
9. Chicago Cubs – CF Ty Cobb (9th!!!!! WTF)
10. New York Highlanders – P Bill Hogg
11. Philadelphia Athletics – P Buster Brown
12. Philadelphia Phillies – P Lefty Leifield
13. Detroit Tigers – P Harry McIntire
14. St. Louis Cardinals – P Hi West
15. New York Giants – P Joe Harris
16. Brooklyn Superbas – P Hank Olmsted

:confused: How can dead-ball teams be suffering from a pitching shortage? Where Cobb's picked might actually be less wierd than the number of other position players in the first round. How'd that happen?

[timmyw3]

Originally posted by Katon
:confused: How can dead-ball teams be suffering from a pitching shortage? Where Cobb's picked might actually be less wierd than the number of other position players in the first round. How'd that happen?

The only thing I can think of is that even though teams in that era got by with 7 or 8 pitchers the AI wants to carry 10 or 11. The rosters that I imported had 7 or 8 pitchers per team and since there's is nothing in free agency initially they use the draft to fill those spots.

It's something I could have exploited if I were managing a team myself but since it's running itself and all teams are grabbing the pitchers it shouldn't create a big imbalance in the quality of the teams. Hopefully in a few seasons as more pitchers populate the rosters, the draft will stop being so top heavy with pitchers.

[timmyw3]

1905 Season cont…

In the AL, the St. Louis Browns couldn’t keep up their torrid pace from the last 45 games and lost ground to both the White Sox and the Highlanders heading into September. Chicago pitcher Doc White has been mowing them down as he looks like he has an outside shot at the 30 win plateau. On September 1, the Sox held a slim 1 games lead over New York with the Browns 5 back.

In the NL, the Giants started the 2nd half with a 9 game winning streak and jumped ahead of both the Cardinals and Reds. As good as White was for the White Sox, Christy Mathewson has been better for the Giants. He looks like a lock to win 30. Heading into the final month, the Giants held a 5 game lead over the 2nd place Reds with the Phillies hanging around 6 back.

The Tigers lost pitcher George Mullin for the rest of the year at the end of July with a torn bicep muscle. This is the 3rd time in 3 years that the 26 year old has missed a large portion of the season and the 2nd year in a row that this injury ended his season.

Chicago Cubs’ 18-year-old Ty Cobb suffered a fractured ulna on August 18th and will miss the rest of the year. The Cubs have been taking it slow with this youngster but he has been highly productive when in the lineup. In 81 at bats Cobb hit .407 with 4 homers and 13 RBI.

The worst injury of the second half happened to 25 year old pitcher Oscar Jones of the Brooklyn Superbas. Jones, who led the NL with 26 wins in 1904, suffered a torn rotator cuff and it looks like it might end his career. For this year he struggled going 12-18 with a 3.74 ERA.

A couple of big trades were made at the trading deadline as teams make a final push to the pennant. The A’s, lounging in 4th place in the AL, managed to acquire 25 year old RF Sam Crawford from the Tigers, who look to be giving up on this year after winning the series last season. Crawford is a 2 time All-Star, a .322 career hitter, and is signed through 1907. In exchange the Tigers received 24 year old pitching prospect King Brady. Brady was a 2nd round draft pick this year and has spent the year in AA going 11-8 with a ton of strikeouts. The Tigers also acquired the 1st overall pick in the ‘05 draft in Orval Overall from the Boston Beaneaters. Overall has struggled in the majors this year with a 2-10 record and a 4.63 ERA and 51 walks in 96 innings. In return, the Tigers gave up their first round pick from a year ago, Harry McIntire. He’s pitched better than Overall (6-7, 4.69) but has less up side and is 2 years older.

The Cubs and Reds exchanged pitchers as the Cubs received Bob Ewing, 32, and the Reds got Carl Lundgren, 25. Ewing won 23 in 1903 and is currently 15-10 with a 3.38 ERA. Lundgren is 13-12 this season with a 3.18 ERA, is 7 years younger than Ewing, and costs less for the contending Reds. The 2 last place teams swapped struggling 33 year old pitchers as Al Orth (6-21, 4.50) was shipped from the Senators to the Beaneaters for Togie Pittinger (10-12, 4.32).

St. Louis caught fire to start September and jumped right back into the AL playoff race along side Chicago and New York. Heading into the final weekend the Sox and Browns were tied for first with New York 1 game back. In the NL it wasn’t as tight as the Giants clinched the NL pennant with a week to go.

For some reason the 3 AL leaders play single games against different opponents to finish the year. To further jumble things up, New York won while Chicago and St. Louis lost to create a 3 way tie with 2 games left. On Saturday, Chicago beat Washington while St. Louis and New York lost giving Chicago the 1 game lead over both the Highlanders and Browns. Chicago choked under the pressure and lost to Detroit. Later in the day, St. Louis lost to Boston to knock them out of the race. The Highlanders had to beat the lowly Senators to force a tie and they did just that 7-3.

In the 1 game playoff played in New York, the Highlanders pulled out a 4-3 win over the White Sox in 13 innings. Wid Conroy hit a 1-out triple and catcher Jack Zalusky hit a sacrifice fly to give the crown to the Highlanders and create an all-New York World Series between the 86-69 Highlanders and the 90-64 Giants.

1905 Final Standings

American League
New York 86-69 (.555)
Chicago 85-70 (.548) 1 gb
St. Louis 84-70 (.545) 1.5 gb
Philadelphia 82-72 (.532) 3.5 gb
Boston 78-76 (.506) 7.5 gb
Detroit 77-77 (.500) 8.5 gb
Cleveland 73-81 (.474) 12.5 gb
Washington 52-102 (.338) 33.5 gb

National League
New York 90-64 (.584)
Philadelphia 86-68 (.558) 4 gb
Cincinnati 81-73 (.526) 9 gb
Pittsburgh 75-79 (.487) 15 gb
St. Louis 75-79 (.487) 15 gb
Brooklyn 74-80 (.481) 16 gb
Boston 70-84 (.455) 20 gb
Chicago 65-89 (.422) 25 gb

1905 World Series

Not much traveling needs to be done in this World Series as the American League champion Highlanders meet the crosstown Giants with the Highlanders having home field advantage this year.

The Giants sent out 30 game winner Christy Mathewson in Game 1 and took a 1-0 series lead with a 5-1 win. Mathewson pitched a complete game, giving up 7 hits and striking out 3. Shortstop John McGraw was 2 for 4 with 3 RBI to pace the offensive attack. The Highlanders tied the series at 1 in Game 2 behind the pitching of Jack Chesbro. Chesbro tossed a 5 hit shutout in the 4-0. Tim Jordan’s 1st inning homer was all the offense they needed.

Games 3 through 5 took place in the Giants’ home park. But the Highlanders made themselves at home in Game 3 winning it 4-2. The Highlanders scored 3 runs in the last 2 innings and scored the game winner on a 2-out RBI single by Dave Fultz in the 8th. They also took Game 3 as Barney Wolfe outdueled Mathewson in a 4-3 Highlander win. The Giants scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 3rd but the Highlanders put up a 4 spot in the top of the 4th that stood up the rest of the day. The Giants came back to win Game 5 4-3. McGraw continued his fine play in the series by going 3 for 4 with 2 RBI. The Highlanders will head back home with a 3-2 series lead.

Game 6 ended up a no contest. The Highlanders jumped out quick and cruised to a series clinching 10-4 victory. Jimmy Williams was 3 for 4 with 3 RBI which included a 2 run homer in the 2nd to get the scoring parade started. Rookie 1st baseman Tim Jordan of the Highlanders is your Series MVP. Jordan batted a team best .400 with a homer and 5 RBI. The New York Highlanders are your 1905 World Champions.

[timmyw3]

1905 Season Awards

American League Most Valuable Player
Nap Lajoie of the Cleveland Naps was awarded the AL’s MVP award for 1905. The second baseman finished in the top 5 of all 3 major offensive categories, finishing 2nd in both homeruns (17) and batting (.328) while finishing 5th in RBI with 89. Naps also led the league in runs scored with 93.

National League Most Valuable Player
Mike Donlin of the Cincinnati Reds won his 2nd MVP Award in 1905. He flirted with the magical .400 mark for most of the season before finishing with a league best .378 mark while driving in 88 runs. Besides batting average he led the senior circuit in on base % (.442), slugging % (.564), doubles (42), triples (19), and runs scored (115) and he finished 2nd in stolen bases with 58.

American League Cy Young Award
Doc White of the Chicago White Sox won this year’s Cy Young Award after leading the AL in wins with 27 versus 10 losses. Doc started 38 games in ’05, striking out 113 batters in 341 innings of work and an ERA of 2.35. He also led the majors in shutouts with 7.

National League Cy Young Award
This on was a no-brainer. Christy Mathewson of the New York Giants was the runaway winner of the Cy Young Award in the NL. Mathewson was the first pitcher to reach 30 wins as he posted a 30-9 record in 39 starts. He fanned 129 batters, walking 78, and had an ERA of 2.80.

American League Rookie of the Year
It was a pretty weak rookie class in the AL but since the award had to be handed out, it went to Cleveland’s Irv Young. Young won 13 games for the Naps but also lost 21. In 31 starts Irv struck out 107 batters in 298.2 innings of work with an ERA of 3.25.

National League Rookie of the Year
22 year old Ed Reulbach of the Cincinnati Reds was the runaway winner of the Rookie of the Year in the NL. Reulbach went 17-12 with a league best 2.09 ERA in 38 starts. He fanned 97 while giving up 212 hits in 297.1 innings with 14 complete games and 6 shutouts.

American League Gold Glove Winners
P – Bill Donovan DET
C – Ossee Schreckengost PHI
1B – Charlie Hickman CLE
2B – John Farrell CHI
3B – Tommy Leach PHI
SS – Billy Clingman CLE
LF – Dave Fultz NY
CF – Willie Keeler NY
RF – Sam Crawford PHI

National League Gold Glove Winners
P – Jock Menefee CHI
C – Ed Phelps PIT
1B – Johnny Lush PIT
2B – Miller Huggins BRK
3B – Hans Lobert PIT
SS – Honus Wagner PIT
LF – Jimmy Slagle CHI
CF – Steamer Flanagan NY
RF – Roger Bresnahan NY

[timmyw3]

1905 League Leaders

American League

Batting Average
Cy Seymour BOS .348
Nap Lajoie CLE .328
Sam Crawford PHI .312
Elmer Flick STL .301
John Farrell CHI .297

Home Runs
Cy Seymour BOS 18
Buck Freeman BOS 17
Nap Lajoie CLE 17
Charlie Hickman CLE 17
Harry Lumley CHI 15

Runs Batted In
Buck Freeman BOS 98
Charlie Hickman CLE 95
Sam Crawford PHI 92
Bill Bradley CHI 90
Wid Conroy NY 89

Wins
Doc White CHI 27
Barney Wolfe NY 25
Jack Chesbro NY 23
Bill Donovan DET 23
Rube Waddell PHI 22

Earned Run Average
George Winter BOS 2.23
Norwood Gibson STL 2.28
Jack Powell STL 2.29
Addie Joss CLE 2.31
Jesse Tannehill NY 2.34

Strikeouts
Rube Waddell PHI 179
Homer Hillebrand WAS 137
Roy Patterson CHI 127
George Winter BOS 125
Ed Walsh STL 117

Other Categories
On Base % - Cy Seymour BOS .408
Slugging % - Cy Seymour BOS .540
Doubles – Benny Bowcock STL 45
Triples – Jimmy Barrett DET 23
Runs – Nap Lajoie CLE 93
Stolen Bases – Spike Shannon NY 55

Innings Pitched – Roy Patterson CHI 352
Losses – Homer Hillebrand WAS 25
Saves – Eddie Plank PHI 6
Shutouts – Doc White CHI 7
Runners/9 IP – Addie Joss CLE 8.41

National League

Batting Average
Mike Donlin CIN .378
Bob Ganley BOS .328
Honus Wagner PIT .327
Frank Chance NY .325
Ginger Beaumont PIT .316

Home Runs
Sam Mertes NY 18
Honus Wagner PIT 14
Jimmy Sheckard PHI 13
Pat Moran BOS 13
Ginger Beaumont PIT 12
Frank Bowerman NY 12
Danny Green CIN 12

Runs Batted In
Sam Mertes NY 126
Honus Wagner PIT 94
Ed Abbaticchio BOS 94
Fred Clarke PIT 90
Mike Donlin CIN 88

Wins
Christy Mathewson NY 30
Frank Smith BRK 25
Deacon Phillippe PHI 24
Jake Wiemer CHI 21
Fred Burchell PHI 20
Clarence Currie STL 20
Vic Willis BOS 20

Earned Run Average
Ed Reulbach CIN 2.09
Deacon Phillippe PHI 2.13
Clarence Currie STL 2.42
Jack Pfiester PIT 2.62
Frank Corridon BOS 2.78

Strikeouts
Hank Olmsted BRK 201
Dummy Taylor NY 165
Jock Menefee CHI 162
Noodles Hahn CIN 161
Bob Wicker STL 149

Other Categories
On Base % - Mike Donlin CIN .442
Slugging % - Mike Donlin .564
Doubles – Mike Donlin CIN 42
Triples – Mike Donlin CIN 19
Runs – Mike Donlin CIN 115
Stolen Bases – Miller Huggins BRK 64

Innings Pitched – Christy Mathewson NY 357
Losses – Al Orth BOS 23
Saves – Ralph Caldwell NY & Tom Dougherty BOS 5
Shutouts – Ed Reulbach CIN & Tully Sparks PHI 6
Runners/9 IP – Ed Reulbach CIN 9.14

[timmyw3]

1906 Offseason

Retirements

Now that the league has at least a little bit of history, some players who made their mark are starting to retire. There were 5 such instances this year.

P Oscar Jones, 25 – As feared, Jones of the Superbas was forced to retire after tearing his rotator cuff last summer. Oscar led the National League in wins in 1904 with 26 and teamed with Frank Smith to form a formidable duo at the front of the Brooklyn staff. For his career Oscar was 52-45 with a 3.47 ERA.

P Chick Fraser, 34 – Chick pitched for the Phillies in 1903-04 with a record of 30-32 with a 3.28 ERA, making the All-Star team in 1903. He was signed by the Highlanders in ’05 but spent the season in AAA and decided to hang it up after the season.

OF Patsy Donovan, 40 – Patsy spent most of the last 3 seasons with the Cardinals, finishing 5th in batting average in ’03 at .345. He was released in August of last year and was picked up by the Highlanders, winning a World Series without ever leaving the bench.

3B Lave Cross, 39 – Cross was a fixture at the hot corner for the A’s in 1903-04, making the All-Star team in 1903. He spent last season in AAA as his skills declined. He retires with a .312 career batting average.

2B Kid Gleason, 38 – Unlike the others, Gleason was a regular right up to the end, manning 2nd Base for the Phillies. He was an All-Star in 1903 and 1904 but saw his average slide from .301 to .292 to .228. He stole 106 bases in those 3 years with a high of 51 in 1903.

Free Agents

There wasn’t much on the market to help teams offensively but there were some marquee pitchers that switched uniforms. The biggest name was probably the best pitcher in the game in reigning NL Cy Young winner Christy Mathewson. Mathewson is heading west from New York to play for the St. Louis Cardinals. The 25 year old has a 69-31 career record and signed for 5 years at $9.18 million per season.

Former Pittsburgh Pirate Sam Leever left the Steel City for the greener pastures of Cleveland where he will fill the Naps #2 spot behind Addie Joss. Leever has a 63-38 career record and was 19-18 with a 2.97 ERA in ’05. The 34 year old will make just over $6 million annually for the next 4 seasons.

Pitcher Bill Donovan is leaving Detroit to play for the Philadelphia A’s. The 29 year old made his 1st All-Star team in ’05 going 23-14 with a 3.53 ERA. He’ll make almost $21 million over the length of his 4 year contract.

Trades

Only 1 offseason deal was made, nothing groundbreaking. The Boston Pilgrims sent centerfielder Chick Stahl to the Giants for 1st baseman Klondike Douglass. Stahl, 33, perhaps best known for being the 1st player to hit for the cycle in league history, has been a part-timer for the past 2 years while Douglass, also 33, spent 1905 in AAA where he hit .283 with 2 bombs and 33 RBI.

Draft

1. Washington Senators – P Willy Wilson
2. Chicago Cubs – SS Eddie Collins
3. Boston Beaneaters – P Art Fromme
4. Cleveland Naps – P Rube Kroh
5. Brooklyn Superbas – P Bob Edmondson
6. Pittsburgh Pirates – P Irv Higgenbotham
7. St. Louis Cardinals – P Ed Smith
8. Detroit Tigers – P Glenn Liebhardt
9. Boston Pilgrims – P Jack Coombs
10. Cincinnati Reds – P Carl Druhot
11. Philadelphia A’s – P Ralph Glaze
12. St. Louis Browns – P Cy Barger
13. Chicago White Sox – P Ed Willett
14. New York Highlanders – P Jack Rowan
15. Philadelphia Phillies – P Ed Karger
16. New York Giants – P Babe Adams

Other Notables:

CF Johnny Bates – Round 3, 36th overall to the Cleveland Naps
3B Roy Hartzell – Round 3, 45th overall to the Chicago White Sox
RF Red Murray – Round 4, 52nd overall to the Cleveland Naps

[timmyw3]

1906 Season

The Brooklyn Superbas made a lot of noise at the start of ’06 reeling off 10 Ws to start the year. They couldn’t keep up the pace heading into mid-May as the surging Pittsburgh Pirates at 27-13 had a 4 game lead over both Brooklyn and New York with Philadelphia 6 back.

The AL was much more bunched together with all 8 teams just 6 games apart. The Boston Pilgrims took the early lead with the Browns a game behind and the Naps and Highlanders 2 back.

The big news of the first month and a half was the first ever perfect game thrown. Doing the honors was Pittsburgh Pirate righthander Jake Thielman on April 29. Thielman faced 27 Reds hitters and retired them all with 94 pitches and 3 strikeouts. The 26 year old was the 4th overall pick in the ’05 draft by the Bucs and the no-no ran his record to 5-1 with a 2.12 ERA.

The was also an early season trade between the Highlanders and Pirates as 25 year old outfielder Moose McCormick went to New York with 18 year old pitching prospect Jack Rowan going to Pittsburgh. McCormick is rated as a 3 star prospect and spent the last 2 years as a 5th outfielder in a crowded Pirates outfield. He hit .274 in ’04 and .220 in ’05 but should see more time in NY. The youngster Rowan is a 4-star prospect and was the Highlanders 1st round pick in this year’s draft.

The Phillies caught fire in the month of June and ran out into the NL lead at the break with a 48-29 record. It looks like it will be a 3 team race with the Pirates 2 back and the defending NL champ Giants 3 back. Everyone else had a double digit deficit, including the Superbas who have gone 25-42 since their 10-0 start.

Over in the AL it appears that 5 teams still have a realistic shot at the crown with the Pilgrims still holding on to the top spot, 2 games ahead of Cleveland. The Highlanders lurk 4 games back while the Browns and A’s are 5 and 6 games out respectively.

On June 11th, Harry Steinfeldt of the Reds became the 3rd player in league history to hit for the cycle. He did it in a 22-3 rout of the Beaneaters and he also did it in order, a single in the first, a double in the 5th, a triple in the 7th, and finally the homer in the 8th which also happened to be a grand slam. For the day, Steinfeldt was 4 for 6 with 6 RBI and 3 runs scored.

There was also a pair of major trades made in June. The first sent K master Rube Waddell from the A’s to the Beaneaters for fellow pitcher Frank Corridon. Waddell, 29, has led the AL in strikeouts the last 3 years but now goes to a last place team. Before the trade he was 10-4 with a 2.78 ERA, afterwards he has gone 0-4 with an ERA approaching 5. Corridon, 25, is a highly regarded prospect, 5 star, but has lost 43 games over the last 2 years. Probably the result of being on a horrible team. Maybe a change of scenery will get that W-L number turned around.

In another questionable trade, the last place Washington Senators sent their own 25 y/o, 5 star pitcher Beany Jacobson to the contending Browns in exchange for aging veteran pitcher Willie Sudhoff. Sudhoff, 31, has had a solid year going 13-5 with a 2.79 ERA and has been durable through the years but he’s not the future. Jacobson, 25, has a 30-45 career record and is 6-10 with a 2.79 ERA in ’06.

A sellout crowd in Brooklyn saw the most exciting All-Star game in the league’s 4 year history as the National League scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th to beat the American League 7-6. With 2 outs, Roger Bresnahan singled scoring Claude Ritchey to tie the game at 6. Pittsburgh’s Ginger Beaumont then singled home Pirate teammate Honus Wagner for the game winner off of Highlander reliever George Disch. George Ferguson of the Ginats earned the win. Bresnahan was named MVP as he went 2 for 5 with 2 RBI. Harry Steinfeldt has 3 hits and for the AL Doc Gessler of the Tigers was 3 for 4 with an RBI and run scored. Here are the rosters from the 4th All-Star Game.

American League
BOS – P George Winter, P Nick Altrock, C Jake Stahl, RF Buck Freeman
CHI – 3B Bill Bradley
CLE – P Addie Joss, P Sam Leever, 2B Nap Lajoie, LF Harry Bay, 1B Charlie Hickman, SS Billy Clingman
DET – P Dick Harley, RF Doc Gessler, 3B Art Devlin
NY – P Jack Chesbro, P Elmer Bliss, P George Disch, 1B Tim Jordan, LF Moose McCormick
PHI – C Ossee Schreckengost
STL – P Barney Pelty, SS Kid Elberfeld, RF Elmer Flick
WAS – P Willie Sudhoff, CF Herm McFarland

National League
BOS – 1B George Stovall
BRK – P Frank Smith, C Fred Jacklitsch, CF John Dobbs, 2B Miller Huggins
CHI - none
CIN – P Noodles Hahn, 3B Harry Steinfeldt, LF Mike Donlin
NY – P Red Ames, P Leo Hafford, P George Ferguson, RF Roger Bresnahan, LF Sam Mertes
PHI – P Ed Karger, P Deacon Phillippe, LF Jimmy Sheckard, 3B Harry Wolverton
PIT – P Jake Thielman, P Cy Falkenberg, P Lou Fiene, C Ed Phelps, 2B Claude Ritchey, SS Honus Wagner, CF Ginger Beaumont, 1B Johnny Lush
STL - none

[timmyw3]

1906 Season cont…

The dog days of July and August were not kind to the Boston Pilgrims who had led at the All-Star break by 2 games. Taking their place in the lead heading to the stretch run is none other than the St. Louis Browns. The Brownies hold a 3 game lead over the defending World Champion Highlanders with 1 month to go. Cleveland is in third at 6 games back while the Pilgrims have fallen to fourth, 7 games back, 1 ahead of 5th place Philadelphia. Washington is actually not in last for once, that distinction belongs to the free falling Detroit Tigers.

Over in the NL it is a lot less crowded. One of the 3 main contenders at the break has fallen back as the Giants are now 10 games back. The team to beat is the Pittsburgh Pirates. They’ve found 2 stud pitchers in Falkenburg and Thielman to complement their powerful offense led by Honus Wagner. They are currently 4 games up on their only competition, the cross state rival Philadelphia Phillies.

A trio of solid performers saw their season end prematurely due to injury. Most notable on this list is 2-time NL MVP Mike Donlin who broke his foot on August 24th and will miss the rest of the year. Donlin was having another solid campaign batting .332. Washington’s top pitcher Homer Hillebrand ruptured his bicep and will also miss the rest of the year. Hillebrand lost 25 games in ’05 but at the time of his injury he led the AL in ERA at 2.13 and had an 18-12 record. Also, A’s pitcher Hooks Wiltse suffered a torn tricep and was put on the shelf at the end of July. Wiltse, a 20 game winner in ’05, had posted a 10-15 record and a 2.60 ERA in ’06.

On the trade front there was 1 blockbuster. Brooklyn sent their top pitcher Frank Smith to the Highlanders for pitcher Jack Chesbro. Smith, 26, burst onto the scene in 1904 winning the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year. He posted identical 25-11 records in 1904 and 1905 and in ’06 was 16-10 at the time of the trade. Chesbro, 32, earned his 1st All-Star berth this year and has been a solid performer for the Highlanders. At the time of the trade he was 16-10 with a 2.44 ERA.

The only other trade to affect the pennant race involved the Phillies who sent veteran pitcher Tully Sparks to the Cardinals for rookie pitcher Tom Fisher. Sparks, 31, won 25 in ’04 and tossed a no-hitter in ’05 but has dropped off this year despite a 14-12 record. Fisher, 25, has had a solid year for the Cards posting a 12-7 record and a 2.89 ERA.

One deal I scratched my head at was made by the Cubbies who shipped 19 year old shortstop Eddie Collins, the 2nd overall pick in this year’s draft, to the Beaneaters for journeyman outfielder Otis Clymer. Collins is tearing up A ball and Clymer, while hitting .340 in a part time role, is 30 years old. I think the Cubs may regret this one.

Finally, the White Sox acquired 2-time All-Star CF Jimmy Barrett (31 y/o, .225 in ’06) from the Tigers in exchange for 21 year old hurler Rip Vowinkel (6-10, 4.02 in AAA) and the Reds added 27 year old pitcher Clarence Currie (20 gm winner in ‘05, 6-16 in ’06) giving up rookie pitcher Fred Beebe (25 y/o, 10-12, 4.12 ERA) to the Cardinals.

On September 14th, another promising young player probably had his career ended due to injury as Tiger centerfielder Doc Gessler broke his hip sliding into second base. The 26 year old Gessler made his first All-Star team this year and was batting .273 with 4 homers and 52 RBI at the time of the injury.

Pennant races in both leagues failed to develop as both league champions clinched the pennant before the final week of the season. In the American League it was the St. Louis Browns who won their 1st American League Crown by 4 games over both Cleveland and New York. The Pirates strolled to their 2nd NL title as they ended up 6 games ahead of the Phillies.

1906 Final Standings

American League
St. Louis 88-66 (.571)
Cleveland 84-70 (.545) 4 gb
New York 84-70 (.545) 4 gb
Philadelphia 78-76 (.506) 10 gb
Boston 76-78 (.494) 12 gb
Chicago 76-78 (.494) 12 gb
Washington 69-85 (.448) 19 gb
Detroit 61-93 (.396) 27 gb

National League
Pittsburgh 96-58 (.623)
Philadelphia 90-64 (.584) 6 gb
New York 85-69 (.552) 11 gb
Cincinnati 75-79 (.487) 21 gb
Brooklyn 71-83 (.461) 25 gb
Boston 70-84 (.455) 26 gb
St. Louis 70-84 (.455) 26 gb
Chicago 59-95 (.383) 37 gb

1906 World Series

The Pittsburgh Pirates are prohibitive favorites in this World Series over the upstart St. Louis Browns who are making their first World Series appearance. Pittsburgh features the NL’s top offense as well as the leading game winner in the majors in Cy Falkenburg plus they have home field advantage. St. Louis has a young but strong staff anchored by Ed Walsh but offensively they are no better than average.

In Game 1 in Pittsburgh, Walsh outdueled Falkenburg in a 2-0 Browns win. Walsh pitched a complete game shutout, giving up just 4 hits while striking out 9. Emmet Heidrick hit a 2 run homer in the 5th for the only runs of the game. In Game 2, the Pirates plated 3 in the bottom of the 1st off of Barney Pelty on their way to a 6-3 win. Fred Clarke was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI.

Game 3 in St. Louis saw a shutout, this one was thrown by Pittsburgh’s Jack Pfiester in a 6-0 Pirates win to give them a 2-1 series lead. Pfiester scattered 7 hits and struck out 4. Honus Wagner, who was 0 for 26 in the 1903 World Series and 0 for 6 in Games 1 & 2, exploded with a 3 for 4 night with 3 RBI. The Pirates’ Cy Falkenberg followed that up with a shutout of his own in a 7-0 win in Game 4. Cy gave up just 4 hits and struck out 4 in the win. Fred Clarke had a 3-run triple in the 1st inning and Jimmy Sebring hit a 2-run homer off of losing pitcher Ed Walsh. Another whitewashing was administered in Game 5 but this time it was the Pirate bats that were silenced. Barney Pelty K’d 10 and surrendered 6 hits in the 3-0 Browns victory. Fred Odwell and Sammy Strang had RBI singles in the 4th to provide the offense.

The Browns came up short in their attempt to force a Game 7 as Series MVP Jack Pfiester had another dazzling performance in the series clinching 4-1 win. Pfiester gave up just 4 hits and fanned 3 in the complete game win. Fred Clarke was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI. For the series, Pfiester was 2-0 with a 0.50 ERA while giving up 11 hits in 18 innings, striking out 7. The Pittsburgh Pirates are your 1906 World Champions, their 2nd title in 4 years.

[timmyw3]

1906 Season Awards

American League Most Valuable Player
First baseman Tim Jordan of the New York Highlanders, fresh off his World Series MVP performance of 1905, took it one step forward by winning the AL MVP in 1906, his first year as a full time player. Jordan batted .306 with 7 homers and 89 RBI, top 5 totals in all 3 categories with a league leading total in the RBI category.

National League Most Valuable Player
For the 4th time in 4 years the NL MVP goes to a Cincinnati Red and for the 2nd time it goes to rightfielder Danny Green. Green, who also won the award in 1904, led the NL in RBI with 99 and was 4th in batting average at .332. The 29 year old also smacked 5 homers and scored 84 runs.

American League Cy Young Award
One of the most solid pitchers of the last 4 years was finally rewarded with his first Cy Young Award. That man is New York Highlander righthander Barney Wolfe. Wolfe won a league high 25 games against 13 losses and posted an ERA of 2.40. Wolfe struck out 114 batters in 334.1 innings and tossed 5 shutouts along the way.

National League Cy Young Award
Righthander Cy Falkenberg of the World Champion Pirates is your NL Cy Young Award winner. Cy led the NL in wins with 28 against 7 losses while posting a 2.42 ERA. Opposing batters hit just .236 against him and he fanned 164 in his 37 starts.

American League Rookie of the Year
28 year old Vive Lindaman of the Boston Pilgrims was awarded the Rookie of the Year after a strong second half of the year. Vive started the year in the minors but was called up in May and put into the starting rotation in July. Lindaman had an 11-10 record and a 3.08 ERA with 73 strikeouts.

National League Rookie of the Year
Pitcher Ed Karger was the easy choice for NL Rookie of the Year. The Philadelphia Phillies’ 23 year old was a first round choice this year and made the All-Star team in his first season. Karger had a record of 17-4 in 30 starts with a sparkling ERA of 2.23, fanning 99 and walking 50.

American League Gold Glove Winners
P – Harry Howell STL
C – Lew Drill WAS
1B – Charlie Hickman CLE
2B – John Farrell CHI
3B – Art Devlin DET
SS – Gene Demontreville WAS
LF – Fred Odwell STL
CF – Willie Keeler NY
RF – Elmer Flick STL

National League Gold Glove Winners
P – Christy Mathewson STL
C – Heinie Peitz CIN
1B – George Stovall BOS
2B – Miller Huggins BRK
3B – Dutch Jordan BRK
SS – John McGraw NY
LF – Rube Vinson STL
CF – John Dobbs BRK
RF – Roger Bresnahan NY

[timmyw3]

1906 League Leaders

American League

Batting Average
Elmer Flick STL .344
Nap Lajoie CLE .319
Ossee Schreckengost PHI .316
Moose McCormick NY .312
Tim Jordan NY .306

Home Runs
Charlie Hickman CLE 15
Bill Bradley CHI 10
Buck Freeman BOS 8
Benny Bowcock STL 8
Herm McFarland WAS 7
Tim Jordan NY 7

Runs Batted In
Tim Jordan NY 89
Charlie Hickman CLE 86
Myron Grimshaw WAS 75
Sammy Strang STL 74
Fred Tenney DET 74

Wins
Barney Wolfe NY 25
Addie Joss CLE 24
George Winter BOS 23
Willie Sudhoff WAS 23
Frank Smith NY 21
Barney Pelty STL 21

Earned Run Average
Homer Hillebrand WAS 2.13
Roy Patterson CHI 2.26
George Winter BOS 2.26
Patsy Flaherty CHI 2.27
Addie Joss CLE 2.29

Strikeouts
Ed Walsh STL 207
Barney Pelty STL 190
Frank Corridon PHI 190
Ambrose Puttmann NY 180
Irv Young CLE 172

Other Categories
On Base % - Elmer Flick STL .393
Slugging % - Nap Lajoie CLE .437
Doubles – Nap Lajoie CLE 32
Triples – Spike Shannon NY 16
Runs – Elmer Flick STL 95
Stolen Bases – Elmer Flick STL 66

Innings Pitched – Roy Patterson CHI 354.2
Losses – Roy Patterson CHI & Ambrose Puttmann NY 22
Saves – John Terry STL 9
Shutouts – Patterson, Winter, & Nick Altrock BOS 6
Runners/9 IP – George Winter BOS 8.61

National League

Batting Average
Ginger Beaumont PIT .343
Duff Cooley BOS .333
Mike Donlin CIN .332
Danny Green CIN .332
Honus Wagner PIT .330

Home Runs
Jimmy Sheckard PHI 9
Honus Wagner PIT 8
Ginger Beaumont PIT 8
Sam Mertes NY 8
Pep Clark STL 7

Runs Batted In
Danny Green CIN 99
Harry Steinfeldt CIN 93
Sam Mertes NY 90
Roger Bresnahan NY 89
Claude Ritchey PIT 88

Wins
Cy Falkenberg PIT 28
Noodles Hahn CIN 24
Jake Thielman PIT 24
Jack Chesbro BRK 23
Red Ames NY 21
Harry McInitre BOS 21

Earned Run Average
Christy Mathewson STL 1.90
Red Ames NY 2.17
Ed Karger PHI 2.23
Jake Thielman PIT 2.42
Cy Falkenberg PIT 2.42

Strikeouts
Jack Pfiester PIT 220
Rube Waddell BOS 217
Fred Beebe STL 202
Red Ames NY 201
Clarence Currie CIN 199

Other Categories
On Base % - Roy Thomas PHI .440
Slugging % - Honus Wagner .469
Doubles – Bill Keister PHI 36
Triples – Honus Wagner PIT & Jimmy Sheckard PHI 14
Runs – Honus Wagner PIT 107
Stolen Bases – Pep Clark STL 58

Innings Pitched – Christy Mathewson STL 355.2
Losses – Clarence Currie CIN 24
Saves – Leo Hafford NY 7
Shutouts – Rube Waddell BOS & Noodles Hahn CIN 6
Runners/9 IP – Red Ames NY 8.44

[timmyw3]

1907 Offseason

In the offseason, the Boston Beaneaters in the National League changed their name to the Doves.

Major Retirements

P Cy Young, 39 – Young really only played a year and a half full-time. His best year was the first when he went 23-15 with a 2.42 ERA. Cy pitched in relief for much of 1904 putting up modest numbers and was released early in 1905. He was picked up by the Giants for the remainder of the year but was used sparingly. In 1906 he signed with the Senators but could not crack the major league roster. Without much motivation in AAA, Cy was 1-12 with an astronomical 8.88 ERA spelling the end of the line.

LF Ed Delahanty, 39 – Big Ed played for 4 different teams in 4 years, the Senators, Cardinals, A’s, and Highlanders. His best year was in 1904 with Washington when he hit .327 with 8 homers and 86 RBI. For his career he batted .286 in 1547 at bats.

SS Billy Clingman, 37 – Clingman was a regular for the Naps all 4 years. Unlike other retirees, Billy went out on the top of his game making All-Star teams in 1905 and 1906. Along the way he picked up 2 Gold Gloves and batted .265.

C Frank Bowerman, 38 – Bowerman worked behind the plate for the Giants for the past 4 seasons with his best year coming in 1905 when he made the All-Star team and hit .268 with 12 bombs and 85 RBI. For his career, Bowerman hit .266 with 20 HR and 233 RBI in 1591 at bats.

Free Agency

A bit more movement than last year. I’ll go over the 6 deals that I think could have the most impact.

1B John Anderson, 33 – from the Browns to the Reds for 4 years, $38.72 million
Honest John joins an already powerful lineup in Cincinnati with Danny Green and Mike Donlin. He’s been a solid contributor for the Browns the last 4 years where he has amassed a .284 career average. He’s also been one of the top stolen base threats in the AL. Last year he hit a career high .300 with 5 homers and 70 RBI to go with 47 steals.

CF Roy Thomas, 32 – from the Phillies to the Naps for 4 years, $32.84 million
Thomas has been quietly putting together a solid career with the Phils and now will try out the AL. He’s a top on-base guy who has led the NL in walks the last 4 years. He’s a .295 career hitter and has averaged over 50 steals a year but has never made an All-Star team. In ’06, Thomas hit .293 with 0 homers and 57 RBI and 55 steals.

P Roy Patterson, 30 – from the White Sox to the Pilgrims for 4 years, $32 million
Patterson went from Cy Young in ’04 (26-11, 2.59) to leading the league in losses in ’06 with 22. Despite the 22 losses he finished with a 2.26 ERA. Patterson is an innings eater and has led the AL in that category the last 2 seasons in Chicago.

P George Winter, 28 – from the Pilgrims to the Giants for 5 years, $37.8 million
Winter has been one of the top pitchers in the AL in recent history, winning 20 the last 2 years in Boston. Last year he was 23-14 with a 2.26 ERA and led the league in WHIP at 0.93. For his career he is 76-68 with a 2.52 ERA.

LF Billy Lush, 33 – from the Tigers to the Highlanders for 5 years, $34.45 million
This one was a head scratcher. Lush is a fine defensive outfielder, having won a Gold Glove in 1904 but is a career .236 hitter. He did have his best last in 1906, batting .268 with 45 RBI but he is well past his prime and should not have commanded that high of a salary.

3B Harry Steinfeldt, 29 – from the Reds to the Phillies for 5 years, $33.05 million
Steinfeldt could have stayed in Cincy to form one of the most lethal lineups in history but decided to head east to Philly. A career .286 hitter, Harry has made 3 All-Star teams and had his best offensive year last season with a .318 average, 5 homers, and 93 RBI. He has finished in the NL’s Top 10 in RBI the last 4 seasons.

Trades

None to speak of.

Draft

1. Chicago Cubs – P Walter Johnson
2. Detroit Tigers – RF Tris Speaker
3. Washington Senators – P Henry Gehring
4. Boston Doves – P Nap Rucker
5. St. Louis Cardinals – P George McQuillan
6. Brooklyn Dodgers – P Bill Bailey
7. Cincinnati Reds – P Roy Hitt
8. Boston Pilgrims – P Nick Maddox
9. Chicago White Sox – P Sam Frock
10. Philadelphia Athletics – P Tex Neuer
11. New York Highlanders – P Rube Manning
12. Cleveland Naps – P Heinie Berger
13. New York Giants – P Bill McGill
14. St. Louis Browns – P Bill Otey
15. Philadelphia Phillies – P Roy Castleton
16. Pittsburgh Pirates – P Jake Boultes

Other Notables:

2B Heinie Zimmerman – Round 2, 18th overall to the Detroit Tigers
2B Larry Doyle – Round 2, 20th overall to the Boston Doves
1B Fred Merkle – Round 2, 31st overall to the Philadelphia Phillies
CF Clyde Milan – Round 3, 40th overall to the Boston Pilgrims
1B Ed Konetchy – Round 4, 54th overall to the Brooklyn Superbas

[Katon]

Have there been any drafts with multiple position players going in the first round? This is getting silly.

[timmyw3]

Originally posted by Katon
Have there been any drafts with multiple position players going in the first round? This is getting silly.

Not as of yet. I agree it is getting ridiculous. At some point this has got to change. But since I'm not actively playing as one of the teams, I'm not jeopardizing the integrity of the game.

Do I sound like Bud Selig or what?

[timmyw3]

1907 Season

The new season started off with a pair of trades. The Highlanders shipped outfielder Moose McCormick to the Tigers for prospect Heinie Zimmerman and minor league pitcher Ed Walker. McCormick, 26, was acquired last season and had a great year, batting .312 and making the All-Star team. Zimmerman, 20, should be the future at second for the Highlanders and will start the year in AA. Also, the Browns sent 1B-OF reserve Del Howard, 27, and his .265 career average to the A’s for a pair of pitchers in 24 year old closer John McCloskey (4 gms, 2 saves in ’06) and 21 year old Herm Malloy (2nd round pick in ’07).

Just 40 games into the young season it looks like 6 of the 8 teams might already be out of the AL race. The Highlanders have sped out to a 29-11 record with reigning MVP Tim Jordan and Spike Shannon both hitting over .380 and free agent pickup from Boston, Nick Altrock, pitching to a sub-1.00 ERA. The defending AL champion Browns are hanging tough with their strong pitching staff headed by Ed Walsh and Barney Pelty sitting just 1 game back. Everyone else is under .500 and at least 10 games out.

The NL is much closer. The Reds and their stellar offensive game lead the pack at 25-15 with the Giants 2 games back and the Phillies and newly named and surprising Doves sitting 3 games out. Defending champ Pittsburgh is having troubles as thier pitching staff, namely Falkenberg and Thielman, have taken a step back from last year.

On April 24th, Ginger Beaumont of the Pirates became the first player in major league history to record 6 hits in a game. He did so in a Pirates 12-3 romp over the Boston Doves.

On the injury front, the A’s #1 pitcher Hooks Wiltse came down with an inflamed rotator cuff on Opening Day and missed the next 6 weeks. Highlander pitcher Frank Smith strained a tricep in late April and will be out until the end of May. Naps hurler Sam Leever ruptured an elbow ligament on May 13th and he’ll be out until the All-Star break.

On June 24th, the first no hitter was thrown by an unlikely source against the team least likely to be no-hit. Hank Olmsted of Brooklyn did the honors against the league leading Cincinnati Reds. He walked the first 3 batters of the game then allowed a sac fly for a 1-0 Reds lead. From there on out he settled down and proved to be unhittable in the 9-1 Superbas win. He walked 5 and struck out 4 improving his record to 6-13 and lowering the ERA to 5.71.

A month to the day after his 6-hit game, Ginger Beaumont racked up 5 hits in a Pirate win over the Cardinals.

More injuries to report, one is serious, both to the Phillies. Pitcher Bill Dinneen came down with a mysterious shoulder injury, ending the career of the 31-year-old. Dinneen had won 20 games twice in his career but has been relegated to spot starts and relief duty the last 2 years. He’ll retire with a 57-52 career record and an ERA of 2.86. But the one that really hurts the Phils is Fred Burchell. Burchell has been their best pitcher thus far (9-4, 2.45) but will miss 2 to 3 months with a pulled rotator cuff.

We look to have a serious threat for the first Triple Crown in league history. John Anderson of the Reds has benefited greatly from batting in the 4 slot with Donlin and Green in front of him and is in the top 3 in all categories at the All-Star break. He’s first in average (.365), 2nd in homers (3), and 2nd in RBI (48).

Heading into the break, the Highlanders are keeping up their torrid pace at 51-26 and have opened up a 4 game lead over the Browns. The Naps are still hanging around and are 9 games out followed in order by Philadelphia (12 back), Detroit (16), Chicago (19), Washington (19), and Boston (21).

Over in the NL, the Reds, 48-29, still have a hold on the top spot with 4 teams holding a realistic shot of catching them. The Phillies are 3 back but injuries may catch up to them. The Giants have lost a little ground and sit 5 back while the Cardinals and ace pitcher Christy Mathewson are 7 games out of first. Those that can start planning for next year are Boston (11), Pittsburgh (12), Brooklyn (15), and of course Chicago (23).

The 5th annual All-Star game was won this year by the American League by a count of 5-1 at the home of the Boston Doves. Barney Pelty of the Browns was your winning pitcher and MVP, going 3 innings, giving up just 2 hits and 0 runs while striking out 1 batter. Tim Jordan of the Highlanders provided the big hit with a 2-run single in the 2nd. Harry Steinfeldt of the Phillies and Ginger Beaumont of the Pirates each had 2 hits. Here are the 1907 All-Star rosters:

American League
BOS – P Roy Patterson, SS Dave Altzier
CHI – CF Jimmy Barrett, 2B John Farrell
CLE – P Martin Glendon, 2B Nap Lajoie, LF Joe Kelley
DET – P Eddie Cicotte, LF Moose McCormick
NY – P Nick Altrock, P Barney Wolfe, P Ambrose Puttmann, P George Disch, 1B Tim Jordan, 3B Wid Conroy, RF Spike Shannon, 2B Dick Padden
PHI – C Ossee Schreckengost, LF Mike Mitchell
STL – P Barney Pelty, P Ed Walsh, P Mike Cunningham, 1B Harry Davis, LF Fred Odwell
WAS – C Lew Drill

National League
BOS – none
BRK – P Jack Chesbro, 2B Miller Huggins
CHI – P John Halla, SS Joe Tinker
CIN – P Carl Druhot, P Ed Reulbach, C Heinie Peitz, 1B John Anderson, RF Danny Green
NY – P George Winter, P George Ferguson, C Red Kleinow, 3B Billy Lauder, LF Sam Mertes, 1B Frank Chance, RF Roger Bresnahan
PHI – P Deacon Phillippe, LF Jimmy Sheckard, CF Shad Barry, 3B Harry Steinfeldt
PIT – CF Ginger Beaumont
STL – P Tully Sparks, P Christy Mathewson, 2B Harry Berte

[timmyw3]

1907 Season cont…

The month of July means trades galore and honestly there were a few that just didn’t make sense. The one that stands out is AL leading New York sending their top pitcher of the last 5 years, Barney Wolfe, to the A’s for a 30 year old rookie. Wolfe has won 20 the last 4 years and was 14-11 with a 2.54 ERA this year. In return, the Highlanders, who must have been high at the time, get pitcher Tex Neuer, a first round pick by the A’s, who is 2-6 with a 3.52 ERA in his rookie year. Wolfe is eligible for arbitration for the last time this year and if they didn’t re-sign him he’d be a free agent the following year. New York is dangerously close to the $90M salary cap so I guess they were just dumping salary, but right in the middle of a playoff race?

For the second straight year the Cubs dealt a top prospect for a bag of used baseballs. This one wasn’t as bad as the Eddie Collins deal because they got a decent player in return but to think what might have been. In this one the Cubs sent their top pick from this year, Walter Johnson, to the Cardinals for pitcher Bob Rhoads. Johnson, 19, had been in the #1 slot in the Cub rotation and was 7-8 with a 2.75 ERA. Now he’ll join the rotation with Mathewson. Scary. Rhoads, 27, won 21 games with the Cards in 1904 and is 9-10, 2.74 this season. The Cubs’ Ty Cobb looks to be safe for now but you never know when they might need a backup catcher.

The Pirates sent their top 2 pitchers from a year ago packing in separate deals. Reigning Cy Young winner Cy Falkenberg, 26, was sent to the Senators for veteran Willie Sudhoff, 32. Falkenberg has taken a step back this year after a fantastic ’06 and is 10-10 with a 2.59 ERA. Sudhoff has compiled an 85-80 career record with Washington and the Browns and is 8-10, 2.78 this year. They then sent 28 year old Jake Thielman to the Giants for another older pitcher, Dummy Taylor, 32. Thielman was 24-9 last year but is 10-11, 3.30 this year. Taylor has pitched well this year, going 16-9 with a 3.01 ERA.

Finally the cellar dwellers in the NL swapped struggling pitchers as the Doves sent Jake Wiemer (6-15, 3.69), 33, to the Cubs for Big Jeff Pfeffer (11-14, 3.30), 25.

Former 1st overall draft pick Willy Wilson was put on the shelf for the rest of the year for the Senators after he tore his rotator cuff. He’s struggled this year, his first full season in the bigs, with a 7-11 record and ERA of 4.36.

The 2nd no hitter of the year was tossed and, unlike the last one, it was spun by one of the game’s best. Ed Walsh of the Browns silenced the Tigers bats in a dominating 2-0 win. Walsh hit 1 batter and 1 reached on an error and that was it. No walks and 12 strikeouts for the front runner for the Cy Young.

Heading into September, the Browns have absolutely left the Highlanders in their wake as they enter the month with a 7 game lead. Predictably, New York has struggled ever since they traded away Barney Wolfe. Newcomer Davy Jones has sparked the Browns offense and pitchers Walsh, Wolfe, and Jacobson have been mowing down hitters.

The NL also looks like it might be without a true pennant race as the Reds have stretched their lead to 8 games over the Giants. John Anderson still has an outside shot at the Triple Crown but teammate Mike Donlin has passed him in the batting average category and New York’s RBI machine Sam Mertes has gone out in front for the RBI crown. The Phillies have a 9 game deficit to make up and their season looks about over.

As expected it will be the St. Louis Browns and Cincinnati Reds in the 1907 World Series. The Highlanders tried to make a late charge but ended up 6 games out of first while the Reds were never threatened and finished 9 games in fron of 2nd place New York. The Reds will be coming in shorthanded as former Cy Young winner and current #3 starter Noodles Hahn tore his bicep on September 6th and will miss the series.

1907 Final Standings

American League
St. Louis 95-59 (.617)
New York 89-65 (.578) 6 gb
Philadelphia 84-70 (.545) 11 gb
Cleveland 76-78 (.494) 19 gb
Washington 73-81 (.474) 22 gb
Detroit 70-84 (.455) 25 gb
Chicago 66-88 (.429) 29 gb
Boston 63-91 (.409) 32 gb

National League
Cincinnati 97-57 (.630)
New York 88-66 (.571) 9 gb
Philadelphia 85-69 (.552) 12 gb
St. Louis 79-75 (.513) 18 gb
Boston 74-80 (.481) 23 gb
Pittsburgh 73-81 (.474) 24 gb
Brooklyn 60-94 (.390) 37 gb
Chicago 60-94 (.390) 37 gb

1907 World Series

This will be the ultimate battle between great hitting and great pitching. We know what the old adage says but will it hold true here. The AL Champs were here last year but lost to the Pirates in 6 games. They probably have the best trio of young pitchers in the game in Ed Walsh, Barney Pelty, and Beany Jacobson. Their offense could hold them back in the series but they have been good enough to this point behind Davy Jones, Kid Elberfeld, and Harry Davis. The Reds have the top offensive team in the league headed by 2 time MVPs Mike Donlin and Danny Green and former Brown John Anderson. They’ll be without Noodles Hahn but Ed Reulbach and Carl Druhot have been spectacular this season.

St. Louis has the home field advantage this series and the held serve in Game 1 with a 2-1 win. Ed Walsh outdueled Ed Reulabch to give the AL champs the early series lead. John Anderson’s solo homer gave the Reds a 1-0 lead in the 2nd but Kid Elberfeld tied it with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning and Owen Shannon’s RBI single in the 6th proved to be the game winner.

The Reds came back to tie the series at 1 with their own 2-1 win in Game 2. Carl Druhot pitched a complete game scattering 8 hits and fanning 5. Jesse Purnell supplied the offense with a 2-run homer off of Barney Pelty in the 4th inning.

Game 3 in Cincinnati will be talked about forever as this one took 6 hours, 21 minutes, and 19 innings to decide. St. Louis won it 5-3, scoring the winning runs in the top of the 19th on a 2-out, 2-run single by pinch hitter and 3rd string catcher Fred Payne. Beany Jacobson pitched 16 innings, giving up just 1 earned run while K’ing 11. Norwood Gibson picked up the win in relief.

The Reds tied up the series again in Game 4 with a 3-2 win as Reulbach beat Walsh in Round 2 of the Battle of the Eds. Tied at 2 in the bottom of the 9th, Jimmy Archer singled home Anderson with the winning run. Reulbach pitched a complete game, giving up 8 hits and striking out 8 to get the win.

The first shutout of the series was thrown in Game 5 as Barney Pelty’s performance helped the Browns come within 1 game of their first title in an 8-0 win.Pelty struck out 7 and gave up 6 hits in the shutout while Davy Jones was 3 for 4 with 3 RBI and 3 stolen bases to ignite the offensive attack.

The Reds didn’t give up easily as they took Game 6 to force a Game 7 with a 5-3 win in St. Louis. The Reds built an early 4-0 lead thanks in part to a Mike Donlin 2-run triple and that proved to be enough. The Reds decided to go with 32-year-old rookie George Bell and he showed off his escape artistry as he gave up 9 hits and walked 7 but managed to keep the damage to a minimum.

They say big players make big plays in big games and that is what happened in Game 7. Ed Walsh sent the city of St. Louis into pandemonium as he pitched the Browns to their first world title in a 3-1 win in Game 7. Owen Shannon’s 2-run single in the bottom of the 6th broke a 1-1 tie and Walsh made it stand up with a solid 9 innings, giving up 6 hits, 0 walks, and striking out 6. Walsh is your Series MVP, going 2-1 with a 1.37 ERA in 3 starts, striking out 16 in 26.1 innings. The St. Louis Browns are your 1907 World Series champions.

[timmyw3]

1907 Season Awards

American League Most Valuable Player
This year’s AL MVP is Wid Conroy of the New York Highlanders. Wid had a great offensive year batting .311 with 6 homers and 86 RBI. His RBI total led the American League. He also banged 20 doubles and legged out 12 triples and scored 71 runs.

National League Most Valuable Player
Another year, another MVP for a member of the Cincinnati Reds. This year it goes to 1st baseman John Anderson. Anderson was signed as a free agent from the Browns and paid immediate dividends batting .332 with 5 homers and 91 RBI, finishing in the top 3 in the NL in all 3 categories. He led the NL in slugging at .423 and was 2nd in runs scored at 96.

American League Cy Young Award
Ed Walsh of the World Champion St. Louis Browns is the hands down winner of the Cy Young Award. Walsh had a record of 25-7 with a sparkling 1.71 ERA. He was 1st in both wins and ERA and finished 2nd in the league in strikeouts behind teammate Barney Pelty with 214. He also tossed 6 shutouts among his 27 complete games.

National League Cy Young Award
Ed Reulbach of the NL champion Reds is the Cy Young winner in the National League. Ed posted a 26-8 record and a 2.13 ERA. His win total led the league while he was 2nd in ERA. In 317.1 innings, Reulbach struck out 155 and walked 60 and pitched 2 shutouts amongst his 33 complete games.

American League Rookie of the Year
Leftfielder Mike Mitchell of the Philadelphia A’s earned the Rookie of the Year award in the AL. Mitchell was an unheralded 4th round selection in the 1907 draft but quickly earned a starting spot with his strong play. He finished 3rd in the batting race at .312 and had 24 extra base hits resulting in a .379 slugging percentage as well as winning the Gold Glove Award for leftfielders.

National League Rookie of the Year
21 year old 2nd baseman Larry Doyle of the Boston Doves won the NL Rookie of the Year award. Doyle, a 2nd round pick this season, batted a respectable .314 with no homers, 70 RBI, and 63 runs scored.

American League Gold Glove Winners
P – Frank Owen CHI
C – Owen Shannon STL
1B – Charlie Carr CHI
2B – Dick Padden NY
3B – Jimmy Burke WAS
SS – Rudy Hulswitt CHI
LF – Mike Mitchell PHI
CF – Willie Keeler NY
RF – Spike Shannon NY

National League Gold Glove Winners
P – Jake Thielman NY
C – Frank Roth PHI
1B – George Stovall BOS
2B – Miller Huggins BRK
3B – Mike Mowrey BOS
SS – Honus Wagner PIT
LF – Rube Vinson STL
CF – Ollie Pickering CIN
RF – Otis Clymer CHI

[timmyw3]

1907 League Leaders

American League

Batting Average
Spike Shannon NY .328
Nap Lajoie CLE .315
Mike Mitchell PHI .312
Wid Conroy NY .311
Tim Jordan NY .311

Home Runs
Davy Jones STL 7
Owen Shannon STL 6
Wid Conroy NY 6
Moose McCormick DET 6
Topsy Hartsel PHI 6
Charlie Hickman CLE 6

Runs Batted In
Wid Conroy NY 86
Cy Seymour BOS 84
Davy Jones STL 77
Kid Elberfeld STL76
Nap Lajoie CLE 73
Buck Freeman BOS 73

Wins
Ed Walsh STL 25
Beany Jacobson STL 22
Barney Wolfe PHI 21
Nick Altrock NY 21
Martin Glendon CLE 20

Earned Run Average
Ed Walsh STL 1.71
Barney Pelty STL 1.86
Roy Patterson BOS 1.91
Homer Hillebrand WAS 2.06
Doc White CHI 2.13

Strikeouts
Barney Pelty STL 290
Ed Walsh STL 214
Heinie Berger CLE 181
Frank Corridon PHI 174
Ed Barry CHI 165

Other Categories
On Base % - Roy Thomas CLE .409
Slugging % - Wid Conroy NY .430
Doubles – Harry Davis STL 40
Triples – Spike Shannon NY & Wid Conroy NY 12
Runs – Harry Davis STL 106
Stolen Bases – Sammy Strang STL 60

Innings Pitched – Roy Patterson BOS 353
Losses – Roy Patterson BOS 23
Saves – Mike Cunningham STL 3
Shutouts – Ed Walsh STL 6
Runners/9 IP – Ed Walsh STL 8.23

National League

Batting Average
Ginger Beaumont PIT .337
Mike Donlin CIN .336
John Anderson CIN .332
Matty Fitzgerald STL .326
Miller Huggins BRK .325

Home Runs
Harry Berte STL 5
John Anderson CIN 5
Miller Huggins BRK 4
Bill Keister PHI 4
Roy Brashear PHI 4
Danny Green CIN 4

Runs Batted In
Sam Mertes NY 97
John Anderson CIN 91
John McGraw NY 90
Bill Keister PHI 84
John Dobbs BRK 82

Wins
Ed Reulbach CIN 26
Carl Druhot CIN 24
George Winter NY 24
Christy Mathewson STL 23
Dummy Taylor PIT 23

Earned Run Average
Jack Chesbro BRK 1.92
Ed Reulbach CIN 2.13
Carl Druhot CIN 2.39
Tom Fisher PHI 2.41
Willie Sudhoff PIT 2.44

Strikeouts
Red Ames NY 234
Clarence Currie CIN 205
George Winter NY 199
Del Mason PHI 196
Christy Mathewson STL 156

Other Categories
On Base % - Roger Bresnahan NY .430
Slugging % - John Anderson CIN .423
Doubles – Pep Clark STL 28
Triples – Pep Clark STL 14
Runs – Frank Chance NY 99
Stolen Bases – Mike Donlin CIN 59

Innings Pitched – Christy Mathewson STL 351.2
Losses – Hank Olmsted BRK 28
Saves – Vic Willis BOS 6
Shutouts – Jack Chesbro BRK 7
Runners/9 IP – Red Ames NY 9.38