1901, and an end to a
means
Major League Baseball at the turn of
the twentieth century meant one thing, National League baseball.
Founded in 1876, the National League had remained a constant through
the early turbulent years of professional baseball. Several leagues
tried to compete with the NL, and they all failed.
The National Association began play in
1871, but has not been officially recognized as a Major League.
However, a few of the National Association teams were charter members
of the National League in 1876. Some of the cities that were hosts of
'major league' caliber teams include Hartford, Elizabeth, Rockford,
Troy , Keokuk and Fort Wayne.
The National League monopolized Major
League Baseball from 1876 through 1881, and then the American
Association debuted in 1882. There were other leagues scattered
throughout the country, but none had the prestige or the financial
strength to consistently put forth the type of play, and player, that
would exemplify the epitome of what professional baseball should be.
At least in their minds.
The challenge of the American
Association to the established National League was great. And the
league was successful, lasting from 1882 through 1891. And while it
was not a harmonious relationship, the two leagues did agree to have
a championship series at the conclusion of their season, the
forerunner to the modern World Series.
The American Association placed teams
in the 'lesser' cities that were passed over by the National League,
and tried to appeal to a more 'blue collar' crowd than the
established National League. When the American Association finally
disbanded, seven of its teams were absorbed into the National League.
There was also the Union Association
in 1884, which struggled to finish the season intact. This was the
third major league that played that year, not very successfully. Four
of its teams folded and were replaced by the end of the season.
However, the champions of this one season league, the St. Louis
Maroons, were adopted into the National League for the 1885 season.
The Players League in 1890 was the
last attempt at a second major league this century. It also lasted a
year. The brainchild of star John Montgomery Ward as a protest to
help alleviate the lopsided player-management situation in the
National League. It was, by several reports, underfunded and under
appreciated, and didn't last very long.
In 1901, Byron Bancroft “Ban”
Johnson led a group of minor league owners from the Western League,
and brought them into direct competition with the established
National League. Calling their newly formed league the American
League, and placed teams in Boston, Washington, Baltimore, Detroit,
Cleveland, Milwaukee and Chicago.
(In 1902 the Milwaukee team would move
to St. Louis and become the Browns, who would then move to Baltimore
to become the Orioles; In 1903 the Baltimore team would move to New
York and become the Highlanders, later the Yankees)
At this time, the National League
teams had, for all intents and purposes, a salary cap for each
player. This made it easier to lure the underpaid players from the NL
to the upstart AL, and player raiding became all the rage in the very
early years of the two leagues. Over 100 players jumped leagues to
take advantage of the higher pay.
For the first two seasons of its
existence, the AL out drew the NL in attendance, and the two leagues
agreed in principle to work together, signing a National Agreement
bringing 'peace' and confirming the two 'major leagues' as we know
them today.
There were other attempts at a third
major league, the first being the Federal League, who played for two
seasons, 1914 and 1915, they were the first to challenge baseball's
'reserve clause' which I have discussed in earlier articles, and will
discuss in later articles as well.
The Federal league was considered to
be an 'outlaw league' since it played its games outside of the
aforementioned National Agreement. Many sportswriters considered the
play in the Federal to be on par, if not beyond par with the two
current leagues.
During their off-season between 1914
and 1915, the Federal League filed and anti-trust lawsuit against the
American ans National Leagues. The suit was brought before Federal
Judge Kennesaw Landis (future baseball commissioner) who let the case
languish as he urged the three parties to negotiate a resolution. It
didn't work, and essentially, the Federal league ran out of the
financial resources to continue the battle.
The other attempt at a third league
came in response to western expansion. After the Dodgers and Giants
left New York for California, several influential businessmen decided
to pool their resources to begin the Continental League. The
Continental, who recruited the legendary Branch Rickey to help with
its formation, planned to place teams in New York, Toronto, Denver,
Houston and Minneapolis-St. Paul initially. Then were going to add
teams in Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth and Buffalo.
This league never did come to
fruition, but it did lead to the expansion in 1961 and 1962. It is
interesting to note that of the ten cities selected by the
Continental League, only Buffalo has not been selected to receive a
Major League team.
But back to the American League. Ban
Johnson was the President of the league from its inception until he
was removed from office in 1927, after being placed on a sabbatical
due to declining health. In reality, he suffered a breakdown, and was
no longer able to recognize friends and family members.
He was deeply troubled by the events
of the 1919 World Series, (again mentioned in an earlier article) and
tried to be a moral compass for the league. He was made aware of a
situation where some of the games greatest players conspired to throw
a game at the end of the 1919 season. The information came to light
in 1926, when two letters were presented by pitcher Dutch Leonard
that he maintained showed proof of wagering of a game between the
Tigers and the Indians.
Allegedly, the story was put forth,
that the Indians had already clinched their second place finish, and
were willing to lose a game so that the Tigers might clinch third
place instead of the Yankees. Those finishing in the top three
positions received bonus monies from the league. (The third place
bonus was approximately $400 for each man)
Leonard said that he and Ty Cobb met
under the stands with Tris Speaker and Joe Wood of the Indians to
guarantee that the Indians would win. During this meeting, Leonard
alleges, monies were then given to a runner to place a bet on the
game,since the four knew the outcome.
The foursome had pooled about $5,000
to bet on the Tigers, but the runner, a clubhouse man couldn't get
such a large bet covered in time, and was only able to get $600 bet
on the game. (The Tigers won, by the way)
Leonard kept these correspondences to
himself for a few years, until he became convinced that Cobb and
Speaker (both managers by this time) had conspired to keep him out of
the game, so he made these letters available to Ban Johnson.
Johnson, not wanting to give
Commissioner Landis any more headlines gave Cobb and Speaker an
ultimatum...quit baseball right now or these letters go public.
Both men retired from baseball within
the week, and never took the field in an official capacity again.
But, now to the field of play...
Since the World Series as we know it
today didn't begin until 1903, there was no post season championship.
But the top 5 teams (according to the power rankings) were:
Pittsburgh Pirates 1st
NL
Chicago White Sox 1st
AL
Brooklyn Superbas 3rd
NL
Boston Americans 2nd AL
Philadelphia Phillies 2nd
NL
I use an overall number as my initial
starting point. Each players statistics are measured on a scale to
determine an actual numeric value. I do the same for each player,
each team and each league overall. In 1901, the American League
offense was far better than the pitching, which stands to reason. As
Casey Stengel would say, “Good pitching stops good hitting, and
vice versa.”
I mention this because the discrepancy
is a pretty sizable one, the hitters fared 23% better than the
pitchers, and 13.8% better than their National League counterparts.
This was buoyed by the first modern baseball Triple Crown winner, Nap
Lajoie of the Cleveland Blues. His .426 batting average still has yet
to be beaten, and his overall performance number was 25% better than
the second best offensive player in the league, Jimmy Williams of the
Baltimore Orioles.
Lajoie averaged 1.95 Runs Produced per
game, while the league itself averaged just under 6 runs scored per
game. He was wholly responsible 32% of Philadelphia's runs scored
during the season. His 1901 season may in fact be the greatest
offensive season ever.
So we'll look at the American League
offense first. I will include the overall raw number for comparison)
Player
|
Team |
HR |
RBI |
AVG |
SB |
Raw # |
Napoleon Lajoie |
Athletics |
14 |
125 |
.426 |
27 |
3.0629 |
Jimmy Williams |
Baltimore |
7 |
96 |
.317 |
21 |
2.4482 |
Buck Freeman |
Boston |
12 |
114 |
.339 |
17 |
2.4035 |
Lave Cross |
Philadelphia |
2 |
17 |
.328 |
23 |
2.3641 |
Bill Keister |
Baltimore |
2 |
93 |
.328 |
24 |
2.3249 |
Jimmy Collins |
Boston |
6 |
94 |
.332 |
19 |
2.3032 |
Mike Donlin
|
Baltimore |
5 |
67 |
.340 |
33 |
2.2915 |
Socks Seybold |
Athletics |
8 |
90 |
.334 |
15 |
2.2803 |
Fielder Jones |
Chicago |
2 |
65 |
.311 |
38 |
2.1723 |
Harry Davis |
Philadelphia |
8 |
76 |
.306 |
21 |
2.1658 |
Now compared to their team's
performances, with their percentage above their team average:
Nap Lajoie |
|
|
|
|
|
1.6382 |
John Anderson |
Milwaukee |
8 |
99 |
.330 |
35 |
1.4702 |
Buck Freeman |
|
|
|
|
|
1.3615 |
Jimmy Williams |
|
|
|
|
|
1.3460 |
Jimmy Collins |
|
|
|
|
|
1.3047 |
Bill Keister |
|
|
|
|
|
1.2783 |
Lave Cross |
|
|
|
|
|
1.2644 |
Mike Donlin |
|
|
|
|
|
1.2599 |
Jack McCarthy |
Cleveland |
0 |
32 |
.321 |
9 |
1.2298 |
Mike Grady |
Washington |
9 |
56 |
.285 |
14 |
1.2282 |
And then averaging their overall
performance, and their performances against both their teams, and the
rest of the league, it brings us this overall audited ranking:
Nap Lajoie |
|
|
|
|
|
1.7160 |
Jimmy Williams |
|
|
|
|
|
1.3899 |
Buck Freeman |
|
|
|
|
|
1.3846 |
John Anderson |
|
|
|
|
|
1.3659 |
Jimmy Collins |
|
|
|
|
|
1.3268 |
Lave Cross |
|
|
|
|
|
1.3245 |
Bill Keister |
|
|
|
|
|
1.3199 |
Mike Donlin |
|
|
|
|
|
1.3009 |
Socks Seybold |
|
|
|
|
|
1.2775 |
Chick Stahl |
Boston |
6 |
72 |
.303 |
29 |
1.2350 |
Over in the National League, the
competition was a little closer,but there was a clear cut winner as
well. The overall raw numbers:
Player |
Team |
HR |
RBI |
AVG |
SB |
Raw # |
Jimmy Sheckard |
Brooklyn |
11 |
104 |
.354 |
35 |
2.5201 |
Honus Wagner |
Pittsburgh |
6 |
126 |
.353 |
49 |
2.5022 |
Ed Delahanty |
Philadelphia |
8 |
108 |
.354 |
29 |
2.4481 |
Jesse Burkett |
S. Louis |
10 |
75 |
.376 |
27 |
2.4110 |
Elmer Flick |
Philadelphia |
8 |
88 |
.333 |
30 |
2.3050 |
Sam Crawford |
Cincinnati |
16 |
104 |
.330 |
13 |
2.2746 |
Lefty Davis |
Pittsburgh |
2 |
33 |
.313 |
22 |
2.2066 |
Fred Clarke
|
Pittsburgh |
6 |
60 |
.324 |
23 |
2.2306 |
Ginger Beaumont |
Pittsburgh |
8 |
72 |
.332 |
36 |
2.1978 |
Patsy Donovan |
St. Louis |
1 |
73 |
.303 |
28 |
2.1880 |
Okay, now we'll look at the comparison
against their team's performances:
Jimmy Sheckard |
|
|
|
|
|
1.8495 |
Wee Willie Keeler |
Brooklyn |
2 |
43 |
.339 |
23 |
1.7909 |
Sam Crawford |
|
|
|
|
|
1.7744 |
Ed Delahanty |
|
|
|
|
|
1.5895 |
Topsy Hartsell |
Chicago |
7 |
54 |
.335 |
41 |
1.5015 |
Bill Dahlen |
Brooklyn |
4 |
82 |
.266 |
23 |
1.5010 |
Elmer Flick |
|
|
|
|
|
1.4967 |
Kip Selbach |
Giants |
1 |
56 |
.289 |
8 |
1.4879 |
Jake Beckley
|
Cincinnati |
3 |
79 |
.307 |
4 |
1.4795 |
Billy Hamilton |
Boston |
3 |
38 |
.287 |
20 |
1.4629 |
And then their overall performances:
Jimmy Sheckard |
|
|
|
|
|
1.7642 |
Sam Crawford |
|
|
|
|
|
1.6445 |
Ed Delahanty |
|
|
|
|
|
1.6102 |
Wee Willie Keeler |
|
|
|
|
|
1.5677 |
Honus Wagner |
|
|
|
|
|
1.5400 |
Elmer Flick |
|
|
|
|
|
1.5162 |
Jesse Burkett |
|
|
|
|
|
1.4814 |
Tom Daly |
Brooklyn |
3 |
90 |
.315 |
31 |
1.4404 |
Topsy Hartsell |
|
|
|
|
|
1.4246 |
Kip Selbach |
|
|
|
|
|
1.3722 |
Now, onto the pitching performances.
While compiling these, I discovered an interesting anomoly, which
I'll uncover at the end. Cy Young won the pitching triple crown,
leading in Wins, ERA and strikeouts. Young also was the most dominant
pitcher in the league, statistically speaking, he was 20.6% higher
than his nearest competition. In winning 33 games, he won 41.7% of
the Boston Americans games that year.
The American league raw numbers first,
featuring ERA and total Runs Allowed average. The runs allowed is
crucial here, since the fielding of this era was not very good,
between field conditions and the essential lack of fielders gloves:
Player |
Team |
W-L |
ERA |
RA |
Cy Young |
Boston |
33-10 |
1.62 |
2.71 |
Clark Griffth |
White Sox |
24-7 |
2.67 |
3.85 |
Jimmy Callahan |
White Sox |
15-8 |
2.42 |
3.93 |
Roscoe Miller |
Detroit |
23-13 |
2.95 |
4.55 |
George Winter |
Boston |
16-12 |
2.80 |
4.74 |
Snake Wiltse |
Athletics |
13-5 |
3.58 |
4.93 |
Joe Yeager |
Detroit |
12-11 |
2.61 |
4.73 |
Earl Moore |
Cleveland |
16-14 |
2.90 |
4.62 |
Eddie Plank |
Athletics |
17-13 |
3.31 |
4.59 |
Joe McGinnity |
Baltimore |
26-20 |
3.56 |
5.16 |
And against their teams average:
Earl Moore |
|
|
|
|
Cy Young |
|
|
|
|
Snake Wiltse |
|
|
|
|
Casey Patten |
Washington |
18-10 |
3.93 |
5.77 |
Eddie Plank |
|
|
|
|
Roscoe Miller |
|
|
|
|
Clark Griffith |
|
|
|
|
Joe McGinnity |
|
|
|
|
Bill Reidy |
Milwaukee |
16-20 |
4.21 |
5.47 |
Joe Yeager |
|
|
|
|
And then the overall rankings are as
follows:
Cy Young |
|
|
|
|
Earl Moore |
|
|
|
|
Clark Griffith |
|
|
|
|
Snake Wiltse |
|
|
|
|
Roscoe Miller |
|
|
|
|
Jimmy Callahan |
|
|
|
|
George Winter |
|
|
|
|
Joe Yeager |
|
|
|
|
Eddie Plank
|
|
|
|
|
Casey Patten |
|
|
|
|
Now for the raw numbers in the
National League:
Deacon Phillipe |
Pittsburgh |
22-12 |
2.22 |
3.50 |
Al Orth |
Philadelphia |
20-12 |
2.27 |
3.23 |
Jesse Tannehill |
Pittsburgh |
18-10 |
2.17 |
3.35 |
Jack Chesboro |
Pittsburgh |
21-10 |
2.38 |
3.25 |
Sam Leever |
Pittsburgh |
14-5 |
2.86 |
4.19 |
Red Donahue |
Philadelphia |
20-13 |
2.59 |
3.38 |
Vic Willis |
Boston |
20-17 |
2.36 |
3.27 |
Christy Mathewson |
Giants |
20-17 |
2.41 |
3.51 |
Bill Donovan |
Brooklyn |
25-15 |
2.77 |
3.87 |
Bill Duggleby |
Philadelphia |
20-12 |
2.88 |
3.79 |
And then against their teams:
Noodles Hahn |
Cincinnati |
22-19 |
2.71 |
3.81 |
Christy Mathewson |
|
|
|
|
Rube Waddell |
Chicago |
14-14 |
2.81 |
4.54 |
Dummy Taylor |
Giants |
18-27 |
3.18 |
4.92 |
Vic Willis |
|
|
|
|
Al Orth |
|
|
|
|
Bill Donovan |
|
|
|
|
Jack Harper |
St. Louis |
23-13 |
3.62 |
4.61 |
Red Donahue |
|
|
|
|
Deacon Phillipe |
|
|
|
|
And then the overall ranking:
Noodles Hahn |
|
|
|
|
Christy Mathewson |
|
|
|
|
Al Orth |
|
|
|
|
Deacon Phillipe |
|
|
|
|
Vic Willis |
|
|
|
|
Rube Waddell |
|
|
|
|
Jesse Tannehill |
|
|
|
|
Jack Chesboro |
|
|
|
|
Red Donahue |
|
|
|
|
Bill Donovan |
|
|
|
|
Historical note here, Frank George
“Noodles” Hahn was a twenty-two year old pitcher for the
Cincinnati Reds. He won 22 games for a team that won 52 games. He led
the league in strikeouts for the third consecutive season. He struck
out 16 batters in a game, becoming the first to do that in the modern
era.
He was the youngest player to win 100
games in his career (Bob Feller would be younger when he reached that
milestone, and Dwight Gooden would be five months older). But wise
beyond his years, Hahn realized that he would not play baseball
forever, and began looking for a vocation beyond his playing days.
The Nashville native thought about
medicine and the legal profession, but decided to enroll in classes
at Cincinnati Veterinary College. Hahn's career lasted only a handful
of years beyond the 1901 season, a victim of a dead arm, but Doctor
Hahn did enjoy a lengthy career as a veterinary inspector in
Cincinnati.
The anomoly that I found involves the
runs allowed. The raw numbers are the basis for all the other
comparisons, but the raw number uses a formula that includes earned
runs, NOT total runs allowed. If I replace the earned runs, the top
performers in the AL maintain pretty consistent, and are ranked as
follows:
Cy Young
Clark Griffith
Roscoe Miller
George Winter
Snake Wiltse
Earl Moore
Joe Yeager
Eddie Plank
Roy Patterson, White Sox
And the National League,
the variance is much greater:
Red Donahue
Al Orth
Deacon Phillipe
Jack Chesboro
Jesse Tannehill
Vic Willis
Christy Mathewson
Sam Leever
Bill Donovan
Bill Duggleby
If nothing else, this shows
the consistency of the quality of National League play, and the
inconsistency of the upstart American League play. I say this
because of the two performances in the AL that were head and
shoulders above the rest of the league. This type of inconsistency
would level itself out over the next two or three seasons.
Or perhaps these players
were just in the right place at the right time
In the AL, the player is
obviously Napoleon Lajoie
And the pitcher is Cy Young.
In the NL, the player is
Jimmy Sheckard
And the pitcher is Noodle
Hahn
I hope you enjoyed reading this article...