Sunday, March 26, 2017

1927 Murderers and Poison

1927, Murderers and Poisons
(Note this article revisits an earlier post, which looked only
at the American League season.
I will highlight in blue text what remains from the original)


      In the 1927 real world, that being the world outside of baseball, there were several significant historical events of note. Some of those events include:
  • The first ever game played by the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team
  • The first armored car robbery is perpetrated near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • Charles “Lucky” Lindbergh completes the first nonstop transatlantic flight
  • The carving on Mount Rushmore begins

      But on to the diamond we go...

      As baseball continued to distance itself from the 'dead-ball era', the offensive numbers also continued to grow exponentially. Really, from the 1921 season through to the war, the hitters far outpaced the pitchers. And the 1927 season bears that out as well, but more on that a bit later.
      As with every season, there was plenty of change afoot, none more so than in Philadelphia. The Athletics were an eclectic mix of talent, youngsters like Al Simmons and Mickey Cochrane teamed with two very impressive forty year-olds, in Eddie Collins and Ty Cobb.
      Cobb, who was forced to 'retire' from the Detroit organization over gambling allegations involving himself, Tris Speaker and Joe Wood, found employment with Connie Mack's ball club.
      When the 1927 season was said and done, Cobb wound up with the highest season batting average for a forty year old (.357) and Eddie Collins tallied the fourth highest average (.338). Cobb became the first to homer before his twentieth birthday, and after his fortieth. It would be more than fifty years before that was done again. (Rusty Staub was the next to do it, and Alex Rodriguez is the only other to complete that feat)

      The Georgia Peach also became the founding member of the exclusive four thousand hit club, gaining entry on July 18th, against his former Detroit teammates.
      A's pitcher lefty Grove won twenty games, his first of seven consecutive twenty win seasons. The powerful A's would finish in second place, nineteen games behind what has been described as the greatest ball club in history, the Yankees.
      But more on them in a moment.

      Across town from the Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies slugger Cy Williams, aged thirty-nine, became to oldest player to win a home run title. He still holds that record.

      In Cincinnati, pitcher Red Lucas established a National League record for hits by a pitcher with 47.

      In Chicago, White Sox pitcher Ted Lyons became the third American league pitcher to lead the league in wins while on a losing team.

      The Cubs became the first National League team to reach the one million mark in attendance. On May 30th, Cubs shortstop Jimmy Cooney grabbed a line drive off the bat of Pittsburgh's Paul Waner and turned it into an unassisted triple play, the rarest of all defensive gems.

      The next day, Detroit Tiger first baseman Johnny Neun snagged a liner off the bat of Indian hitter Homer Summa, and turned that into an unassisted triple play. It remains the only instance of unassisted triple plays happening on consecutive days, and Neun is only the second first-baseman to pull off this feat. (George Burns did it in 1923)
      Neun, who only played in seventy-nine games that year, also has the distinction of stealing home during both games of a doubleheader.

      Tiger shortstop Jackie Tavener stole second, third and home in the same inning in a game, which was common during this era. He would do it again the following season, and then there wouldn't be another American Leaguer to accomplish the feat until 1941.

      Yankees outfielder Bob Meusel would become the second Yankee to accomplish the same feat.

      And speaking of consecutive day feats, On June 11th, the Brooklyn Robins would defeat the Pirates by a score of 11-10. The next day, the Robins would beat the Pirates by that same score, 11-10. that remains the only time that unusual final score was duplicated on consecutive days.

     Now, on to the poison. Or poisons as the case may be. Namely Big Poison and Little Poison. The Waner brothers in Pittsburgh, in their first season playing together. Little brother Lloyd (Little Poison) joining older brother Paul (Big Poison) in the outfield for the Pirates.
Between 1927 and 1929, the Waner brothers would be responsible for an incredible26.9% of the Pirates base hits.

      Twenty-one year old Lloyd set the National League record with 198 singles. He was the first rookie player in the NL to reach 200 hits, the first of three straight 200-hit seasons) and holds the second highest batting average by a National League rookie.
      Big brother Paul holds a freak statistical distinction. He is one of four players whose career batting average is identical to his career World Series batting average. He played in just one Series, but amassed a .333 average, the same number as he accomplished in his Hall of Fame, three-thousand hit, twenty year career.

      (In case you were wondering, the other three are Duffy Lewis, Phil Linz and Danny Murphy)

      But the story of the 1927 baseball season starts and ends in the Bronx.

      The Bronx Bombers, playing in 'The House That Ruth Built' are one of the most legendary teams in baseball history. Led by Babe Ruth, and his then record setting sixty home runs. Babe hit more home runs that year than any other team did.
      George Herman Ruth was THE GUY. His exploits on and off the field were legendary. He transcended the game, and was entrenched in the culture of America like no other before or since. There have been so many pieces written about The Babe, and his saving the game of baseball, bringing a new approach to offensive, hypnotizing the fans with his prodigious home runs.

      But the Babe had help. First-baseman “Larrupin' Lou” Gehrig hit 47 homers, which was second to Ruth, and bested only by Detroit, Philadelphia and St. Louis. In fact, Ruth and Gehrig combined for 107 homers, while the Senators, Indians, White Sox and Red Sox combined for just 119.

      The legendary Yankee lineup featured future Hall of Famers Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, Earle Combs, and Waite Hoyt. They won 110 games, winning the pennant by 19 games over the Philadelphia Athletics.
The Yankees:
  • Were the first team to be in first place for the entirety of the season.
  • Outscored the league average by more than 200 runs.
  • Had three players who scored more than 130 runs (Ruth, Gehrig and Earle Combs).
  • Had the top three home run hitters in 1927 (Ruth, Gehrig and Tony Lazzeri)

      Babe Ruth established a new home run record, one of the most revered numbers in baseball, with sixty. Later broken by Roger Maris, who may be forgotten, but Maris to this day holds the American League record for homers in a season.
      He also reached the 50 home run/.350 average plateau for the third time. On September 4th, Babe established the four hundred home run club, just as he did the two hundred and three hundred previously. Ruth and Gehrig remain the only teammates to tally four hundred total bases in the same season.
      Speaking of Gehrig, he became the first player, who was not named Ruth, to total 40 homes and 200 hits in a season. Ruth accomplished that three times, Gehrig did it five times. Only Alex Rodriguez has accomplished it more than once.
      Gehrig also established a still standing record for total bases for a first-baseman.

      The Yankees swept into the Series, and by a many accounts, won the Series with their first batting practice before the first game. The Pirate players stood in the dugout ans watched in awe as the Murderer's Row lineup blasted the balls all over Forbes Field, which was a noted hitters ballpark.
The Pirates struggled all Series, managing just the runs in the four games, as the Yankees swept the Series. The Yankees became the first American League team to sweep a World Series.

      Getting back to my earlier point, in looking at the statistics, using a mean average as a starting point, the offensive performance across both leagues was 19% better than the pitching. And then from there, the American league offense was then 7.3% better than the National League. The National League pitchers held a 4.75% statistical advantage over their American League counterparts.
      For our sake, we'll take a look at the National League pitching first. Our initial ranking brings us this top ten list:
Pitcher
Team
W-L
ERA
Pete Alexander
Cardinals
21-10
2.52
Jesse Haines
Cardinals
24-10
2.72
Ray Kremer
Pirates
19-8
2.47
Dazzy Vance
Brooklyn
16-15
2.70
Carmen Hill
Pirates
22-11
3.24
Red Lucas
Reds
18-11
3.38
Dolph Luque
Reds
13-12
3.20
Hal Carlson
Phillies/Reds
16-13
3.70
Bill Sherdel
Cardinals
17-12
3.53
Charlie Root
Cubs
26-15
3.76

      Then comparing the pitcher to their team's performances, we get this top ten list:
Dutch Ulrich
Phillies
8-11
3.17
Dazzy Vance
Above


Pete Alexander
Above


Jesse Haines
Above


Ray Kremer
Above


Kent Greenfield
Giants/Braves
13-16
4.37
Alex Ferguson
Phillies
8-16
4.84
Red Lucas
Above


Hal Carlson
Above


Carmen Hill
Above



      So our overall ranking brings us this list of top National League hurlers:
Pete Alexander, tied for 20th in MVP
Jesse Haines, 8th in MVP
Ray Kremer, 9th in MVP
Dazzy Vance, no votes
Dutch Ulrich, tied for 23rd in MVP
Carmen Hill, tied for 23rd in MVP
Red Lucas, 11th in MVP
Dolph Luque, no votes
Hal Carlson, no votes
Charlie Root, tied for 4th in MVP

      Now over to the American League pitchers. The top initial rankings were:
Waite Hoyt
Yankees
22-7
2.63
Wilcy Moore
Yankees
19-7
2.28
Ted Lyons
White Sox
22-14
2.84
Urban Shocker
Yankees
18-6
2.84
Herb Pennock
Yankees
19-8
3.00
Tommy Thomas
White Sox
19-16
2.98
Bump Hadley
Senators
14-6
2.85
Lefty Grove
A's
20-13
3.19
Jack Quinn
A's
15-10
3.26
Dutch Ruether
Yankees
13-6
3.38

      Now compared to team average performance, our pitching leaders in that regard were:
Ted Lyons
Above


Tommy Thomas
Above


Slim Harriss
Red Sox
14-21
4.18
Lefty Stewart
Browns
8-11
4.28
Jake Miller
Indians
10-08
3.21
Bump Hadley
Above


Willis Hudlin
Indians
18-12
4.01
Waite Hoyt
Above


Lefty Grove
Above


Milt Gaston
Browns
13-17
5.00
Hod Lisenbee
Senators
18-9
3.57
      That brings our top American League pitching performances to this result:
Ted Lyons, 3rd in MVP
Waite Hoyt
Wilcy Moore
Tommy Thomas
Urban Shocker
Herb Pennock
Bump Hadley
Lefty Grove
Jack Quinn
Hod Lisenbee, 15th in MVP

     The overall top pitching team performances, across both leagues, were:
Yankees
Cardinals
Pirates
A's
Giants
      Now, we'll move to the National League batters., saving the best for last. Six Hall of Famers grace this initial list of top performers, with the Runs Created per Game added:
Player
Team
HR
RBI
AVG
RCG
SB
Rogers Hornsby
Giants
26
125
.361
1.50
9
Paul Waner
Pirates
9
131
.380
1.52
5
Hack Wilson
Cubs
30
129
.318
1.49
13
Bill Terry
Giants
20
121
.326
1.35
1
Jim Bottomley
Cardinals
19
124
.303
1.32
8
Pie Traynor
Pirates
5
106
.342
1.30
11
Riggs Stephenson
Cubs
7
82
.344
1.16
8
Frank Frisch
Cardinals
10
78
.337
1.18
48
Travis Jackson
Giants
14
98
.318
1.19
8
Cy Williams
Phillies
30
98
.274
1.18
0

      Comparing to team averages, we get this top ten list:
Hack Wilson
Above





Babe Herman
Brooklyn
14
73
.272
0.95
4
Rogers Hornsby
Above





Paul Waner
Above





Cy Williams
Above





Jim Bottomley
Above





Max Carey
Brooklyn
1
54
.266
0.85
32
Bill Terry
Above





Harvey Hendrick
Brooklyn
4
50
.310
0.79
29
Riggs Stephenson
Above





Chick Hafey
Cardinals
18
63
.329
1.04
12

      So that brings our final National League top overall offensive performers to this list:
Rogers Hornsby, 3rd in MVP
Hack Wilson, 12th in MVP
Paul Waner, NL MVP
Jim Bottomley, tied for 13th in MVP
Bill Terry, tied for 13th in MVP
Pie Traynor, 7th in MVP
Cy Williams, tied for 13th in MVP
Riggs Stephenson, tied for 20th in MVP
Frank Frisch, 2nd in MVP
Chick Hafey, 26th in MVP


      Now, to the very impressive American league offensive lists. First off, in looking at the basic baseball stats, Ruth and Gehrig have the most impressive numbers, and this ranking reflects that...
Lou Gehrig
Yankees
47
173
.373
1.77
10
Babe Ruth
Yankees
60
165
.356
1.74
7
Al Simmons
A's
15
108
.392
1.69
10
Harry Heilman
Tigers
14
120
.398
1.50
11
Ty Cobb
A's
5
93
.357
1.44
22
Fats Fothergill
Tigers
9
114
.359
1.38
9
Mickey Cochrane
A's
12
80
.338
1.17
9
Goose Goslin
Senators
13
120
.334
1.37
21
Earle Combs
Yankees
6
64
.357
1.28
15
Bob Meusel
Yankees
8
103
.337
1.26
24

      Four of that top ten played for the Yankees that year, and eight are enshrined in Cooperstown.
Comparing how the players did against their own team's average, remembering that the Yankees had the obscenely high team number, as well as four players on the top ten list, we get this list:
Al Simmons
Above





Lou Gehrig
Above





Babe Ruth
Above





Harry Heilman
Above





Goose Goslin
Above





Ira Flagstead
Red Sox
4
69
.285
0.98
12
Ty Cobb
Above





Joe Sewell
Indians
1
92
.316
1.14
3
George Burns
Indians
3
78
.319
1.14
13
Alex Metzler
White Sox
3
61
.319
1.08
1


      Simmons, was twenty-five year old, four year major league veteran who played a majority of his career with Philadelphia. Often overshadowed by the exploits of Ruth and Gehrig, he had a pretty substantial career, finishing with a lifetime .334 batting average. And the 1927 season is proof of that overshadowing.
      “Bucketfoot Al” was Born Aloisius Szymanski, and had a pretty substantial career in his own right. Simmons played for twenty years, finishing with a career slash line of 307/1828/.334. He held the American league record for career hits (2,927) until Al Kaline bested that in 1974.

      In a totally obscure fact, Simmons holds the record for the most hits made by someone born in the state of Wisconsin. And was the first player in the twentieth century to make six hundred hits over his first three big league seasons. He and Chuck Klein were the second and third players to reach 200 hits in five straight seasons. (They both began their streak in 1929)

      Sorry for another digression, but a little clarification is needed here. According to 'baseball-reference.com', which cites Bill Deane's Award Voting, there was a league MVP Award just called "The League Award" given during this era. But there are some issues that arose. Firstly, a player could only win one MVP award during his career, so Babe Ruth having won the award in 1923, was ineligible for the award. Secondly player managers were also ineligible. That award was given yearly from 1922-1928 in the American League, and 1924-1929 in the National League.
      These League Awards were forerunners of today's MVP Awards, but the voting appears to be similar, and the voting results are available on the internet.

      The top offensive AL rankings at the conclusion of our research are:
Lou Gehrig, AL MVP
Babe Ruth, no votes, ineligible
Al Simmons, tied for 4th in MVP
Harry Heilman, 2nd in MVP
Ty Cobb, no votes, ineligible
Goose Goslin, 6th in MVP
Fats Fothergill, no votes
Mickey Cochrane, tied for 4th in MVP
Earle Combs, no votes
Bob Meusel, no votes


      So, with all of the hoopla around the Babe and his historic home run totals, statistically speaking, he wasn't even the best player on his own team. That distinction belonged to Columbia Lou, Mr. Gehrig.

      With hindsight, and poetic license, I will put forthwith my hypothetical post season award winners:
National League Player of the Year:


Rogers Hornsby

National League Pitcher of the Year:


Grover Cleveland “Pete” Alexander


American League Player of the Year:

Lou Gehrig



American League Pitcher of the Year:


Ted Lyons



     Thanks for reading...


Sunday, March 19, 2017

RIP Jimmy Breslin

RIP Jimmy Breslin

News came today of the passing of legendary columnist, and Pulitzer Prize winner, Jimmy Breslin. While he wasn't a baseball writer per se, he did write a wonderful book "Can't Anybody Here Play This Game?" which recounts the 1962 New York Mets inaugural season.

On the back cover of my copy, it talks about that season, and how the Mets "discovered new and previously unimagined ways of befuddling their opponents, and perfected the art of snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory."

And it does so with Breslin's unique writing style: biting humor, wry observations and human emotions.

Each November 22nd, I post a link on my personal Facebook page to an article Breslin wrote in 1963. It tells the story of a man named Clifton Pollard, who was assigned to dig the grave of President Kennedy. It is a great read.


Rest in Peace, sir. 


Thursday, March 9, 2017

1907, a Mystery, a Myth, a Repeat, and Two of the Greatest...


The Chicago Cubs steamrolled through the National League once again. Coming off of their record setting one hundred sixteen win season in '06, the 1907 edition won one hundred seven games, and far outpaced the second place Pittsburgh Pirates by seventeen games.
The Cubs would also steamroll their American League opponent Detroit Tigers in the World Series, winning four games to none, with one tie. The Tigers won their pennant by a game and a half over the Philadelphia Athletics, winning ninety-two games in the process.
The fifth and deciding game in Detroit drew just 7,370 fans, the second lowest attendance for a World Series game.
The Cubs, with their win over the Tigers, became the first franchise to win multiple World Championships. They would win a third title in 1908, and then wait, well, you know how long by this point.

The league's power rankings, which measures a balance between pitching and offense, looked like this at the end of the regular season:
Cubs
World Series Champions
Pirates
2nd in NL, 16 games behind
Tigers
AL Champions
Athletics
2nd in AL, 4 games behind
White Sox
3rd in AL, 5 games behind


In 1906, the Cubs were upset in the World Series by the “Hitless Wonder” Chicago White Sox. As an historical curiosity, during the 1907, as the White Sox were raising their World Championship flag, the flagpole snapped in two.

In an effort to clear up any doubt about the origination of baseball, former player and then current sporting goods magnate Albert Spalding called for a national committee to begin a long-term investigation as to baseball's true origin.
That committee, which was organized in 1905, contained several handpicked baseball experts to do the work and appointed former National League President Abraham Mills to be the chairman. The Mills Commission would release its findings in December, 1907.
But first, a little historical background...Henry Chadwick (inventor of baseball's box score) wrote an article explaining baseball's relation to Rounders, which was widely accepted by most people. Most, that is, except for Abraham Mills and Albert Spalding. Spalding, in fact, called out Chadwick's account in his 1905 edition of Spalding's Guide, and spoke of being taunted around the world over baseball's coming from rounders.
“...I am now convinced that Base Ball did not originate from rounders, any more than Cricket originated from that asinine pastime”
Spalding claimed that baseball was uniquely American, and can be traced back to a game called “one old cat” that was played during Colonial times. (How that game differs from rounders is beyond me, but I digress...) Mills, like Spalding, did not like the allegations that baseball originated from an English game.
In December of 1907, they released the results of their exhaustive research, in which they put forth the story that Abner Doubleday, of Cooperstown, New York, developed and invented baseball.
Doubleday, a Union general during the Civil War, who actually fired the first shot in defense of Fort Sumter, made no mention of baseball, or any sport, similar to it in any of his writings. While he was an important man in the history of our Nation, his being credited with being the “Father of Baseball” seems to be undeserved.

The biggest piece of evidence uncovered by the Commission was a letter from a 'reputable gentleman' named Abner Graves. Graves, who by this time was living in Denver, was brought up in Cooperstown, and recalled day in 1839, he and some boys were playing marbles behind a tailor shop. They watched Abner Doubleday draw a diamond shaped diagram in the dirt, and explained the game to them. He added a rule that the 'put-out' had to be made by touching the base or the runner. (In rounders, and 'one old cat, the runners needed to be hit by a thrown ball to be 'out'). Doubleday also named the game 'baseball'.
Spalding and Mills were thrilled to have such a patriotic and esteemed person such as Major-General Doubleday be the one to have devised such a great game, and they heralded the announcement. The commission also announced that baseball “has no traceable connection whatever with 'Rounders' or any other foreign game.”
Mills, who was a close personal friend of Doubleday for almost twenty-five years, was not even aware that Doubleday had 'invented' baseball until the results of the commission was released. The only shred of any sort of evidence that even ties Doubleday to baseball may be that in acting as an Army morale officer, Doubleday was able to secure the balls and bats for the men to play the game.
Curiously, the letter from Graves, along with any other evidence gleaned by the commission, were destroyed in a fire in 1911.
A few years after the release of the report, and the start of the legend, a trunk belonging to Mr. Graves was found in a farmhouse in New York. Inside was a dust covered, torn-up, battered ball. Cooperstown resident Stephen Clark purchased the ball for $5. Clark, who was an investor in the Singer Sewing Machine Company, decided to put the ball on display in the Cooperstown Village Club, where the idea was conceived to create a museum dedicated to baseball, its history and its legends.
That ball is still on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame, described as the 'Abner Doubleday baseball'.
To this day, the Hall of Fame Game (along with dozens of youth baseball tournaments, are played at Doubleday Field, in the shadows of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Now, we'll go around the league looking at milestones and curiosities.

In Brooklyn, Harry Lumley finished the season with nine homers, exactly half of his team's season total. That had been done thirteen times in National League history, but Lumley and Wally Berger were the only ones to do it more than once. Lumley did it twice, and Berger three times.
(For comparison sake, Babe Ruth did it in the American League just twice)

In Cincinnati, pitcher Ed “Cotton” Minahan became the first to play in the big leagues after being an Olympian. Minahan competed in Track and Field in the Paris Olympics of 1900. Jim Thorpe would be the next (and last) to do so (except for those who appeared by playing baseball). Thorpe competed in the Decathlon during the Stockholm games of 1912.
Albert Spalding, yes, the same guy from the Doubleday story, also appeared in the 1900 games, in Shooting.

In St. Louis, Ed Konetchy stole home twice, and Joe Delahanty stole home once for the Cardinals against the Boston Doves.

For the Pirates, rookie pitcher Nick Maddox made his debut in September with a two-hit, fourteen strikeout performance over the Cardinals. Two starts later, the twenty-year old tossed a no-hitter against the Dodgers, the first no-no by a Pirates pitcher. He would finish the season with a 5-1 record.

In New York, Giants catcher Roger Bresnahan became the first catcher to wear shin guards. He wore them under his trousers at first. During the season, he would be hit in the head by a pitched ball. So severe was the injury was given last rites, before he recovered and returned to the field.

In Chicago, pitcher Doc White became the first White Sox pitcher to lead the American League in wins, tying with Cleveland Naps hurler Addie Joss, who was the first to lead for his franchise as well.
And Naps hitter Bill Bradley established a still standing record of forty-six sacrifice hits.

In St. Louis, shortstop Bobby Wallace of the Browns was reportedly the highest paid player in baseball. According to a report from the Washington Post, Wallace raked in a whopping $6,500 in 1907.


In Washington, the Senators took advantage of an injury to New York Highlander Red Kleinow forced Branch Rickey, who was nursing a shoulder injury, to be behind the plate. The Senators proceeded to steal a record thirteen bases against Rickey, who by all accounts was pressed into service too soon after his own injury. Rickey wouldn't catch another game that season.

Senator's rookie pitcher Walter Johnson started his first game during the season.. The twenty-one year old lost to the Tigers, 3-2. The first hit he gave up was a bunt single to Ty Cobb.


In Detroit, apart from the aforementioned Ty “The Georgia Peach” Cobb, pitcher George Mullin became the first and only twenty-game loser to pitch in a World Series game. And Bill Donovan established a Tiger's record for winning percentage, winning at an .862 clip. That record would stand until Max Scherzer reached .875 in 2013.
But getting back to Cobb...1907 was the first of his twelve consecutive seasons of thirty or more stolen bases, the first of his twelve league batting titles, and the first of three consecutive Runs Batted In titles. (he was also the first Tiger to lead the league in RBI). The legendary Cobb is the first American League to lead the league in stolen bases AND total bases in the same season.
From 1907-1919 Cobb's batting average was better than the American league's slugging percentage over that same time.

Interestingly, the Tigers tried to trade Cobb to Cleveland for outfielder Elmer Flick, one for one, but the Naps turned the offer down. Reportedly due to Tiger manager Hughie Jennings' frustration over Cobb's abrasive personality.

Legendary Pirate shortstop Honus “The Flying Dutchman” Wagner also became the first to lead the National League in Runs Batted In for three straight seasons, also beginning in 1907. He became the first National Leaguer to steal 2nd, 3rd and home in the same game.

So, two of the game's greatest hitters each began an amazing run of batting dominance that ran concurrent with each other. With baseball, especially with the two league format which we have now, it makes me wonder if the fans of the day appreciated what they were seeing at the time.


But the story that overshadowed the season, at least the start of the season was in Boston.
Red Sox manager Chick Stahl had taken over the reins following the suspension of his friend Jimmy Collins. That combined with new owners that were not happy with the team's performance in 1906, named Stahl the manager in December of 1906.
On the 28th of March, during Spring Training in West Baden, Indiana, Stahl took his own life by drinking carbolic acid. He left behind a cryptic suicide note that said “Boys, I just couldn't help it. It drove me to it.”
To this day, no one knows exactly what “it” was. I have read many different suspicions and theories on the matter, but we will never know for sure. By all accounts, he was a care-free type who had many lovers across the country. Perhaps it was guilt over his indiscretions or guilt over having to discharge his friend Collins from the team. Perhaps it was a threat from a jealous spouse (or two, or three). Perhaps it was alcohol abuse.
Whatever the reason, the drinking of the carbolic acid (four ounces by most accounts) led him to a painful death, causing the victim to “suffer the greatest of agonies, before they finally shuffle”.

According to one of the reports I read, his wife Julia, passed away the following year also under mysterious circumstances. She had been seen lavishly dressed, while walking in one of the poor sections of Boston. No one saw what happened, but she was found lying in a tenement doorway.
According to the Pittsburgh Press article of November 16, 1908, “So striking was her appearance that when she turned onto a dark street, several persons followed her.”
No one saw exactly what happened, but she was found lying in a tenement doorway. She had allegedly been addicted to drugs, and had attempted suicide herself in her past. The cause of death was ruled to be an alcohol and drug overdose.

Pitcher Cy Young took over control of the team, reluctantly. After six games, he gave way to George Huff, who managed eight games. Bob Unglaub managed the next twenty-nine before Deacon McGuire helmed the rest. The Red Sox finished with fifty-nine wins and ninety losses.
But Stahl, who is the only man to commit suicide while an active manager, may have been the biggest loss of all.

But to the stats for the 1907 season, we'll start with the American league offense, where the league batting average was .247, but it still performed 8% better than the National League, and their .243 average. This was a pitching rich time, and was in the middle of baseball's 'dead ball' era. Combined, both leagues averaged scoring 3.35 runs per game, compared to the 2016 season, where teams averaged scoring 4.48 runs per game, with a .255 league batting average.

The top ten initial performances in the American league were:
Player
Team
HR
RBI
AVG
SB
RCG
Ty Cobb
Tigers
5
119
.350
53
1.41
Sam Crawford
Tigers
4
81
.323
18
1.24
Harry Davis
Athletics
8
87
.266
20
1.09
Hal Chase
Highlanders
2
68
.287
32
1.10
Elmer Flick
Naps
3
58
.302
41
0.92
Davy Jones
Tigers
0
27
.273
30
1.02
Socks Seybold
Athletics
5
92
.271
10
0.99
Joe Delahanty
Browns/Senators
2
60
.279
24
0.78
George Stone
Browns
4
59
.320
23
0.85
Kid Elberfeld
Highlanders
0
51
.271
22
0.93

The team offensive rankings were:
Tigers
Highlanders
Athletics
White Sox
Browns
Naps
Senators
Red Sox

Then, compared to their team averages, we get this list of top performers:
Elmer Flick
Above





Ty Cobb
Above





Joe Delahanty
Above





John Anderson
Senators
0
44
.288
19
0.89
George Stone
Above





Nap Lajoie
Naps
2
63
.301
24
0.83
Harry Davis
Above





Sam Crawford
Above





Bob Unglaub
Red Sox
1
62
.254
14
0.79
Buck Congalton
Red Sox/Naps
2
49
.282
13
0.70

Which brings our list of top ten American League hitters to this:
Ty Cobb
Sam Crawford
Harry Davis
Elmer Flick
Hal Chase
Joe Delahanty
George Stone
Socks Seybold
John Anderson
Napoleon Lajoie

Going over to the National League, we get this top ten list:
Honus Wagner
Pirates
6
82
.350
61
1.23
Sherry Magee
Phillies
4
85
.325
46
1.11
Fred Clarke
Pirates
2
59
.289
37
1.04
Roger Bresnahan
Giants
4
38
.253
15
0.83
Tommy Leach
Pirates
4
43
.303
43
0.95
Frank Chance
Cubs
1
49
.293
35
0.95
Johnny Kling
Cubs
1
43
.284
9
0.83
Ed Abbaticchio
Pirates
2
82
.262
35
0.97
Cy Seymour
Giants
3
75
.294
10
0.90
John Titus
Phillies
3
63
.275
9
0.91

The National League offensive rankings were:
Pirates
Giants
Cubs
Phillies
Reds
Doves
Brooklyn Superbas
Cardinals

So, compared to their teams averages:
Sherry Magee
Above





Honus Wagner
Above





Harry Lumley
Dodgers
9
66
.267
18
0.82
Ginger Beaumont
Boston Doves
4
62
.322
25
0.83
Red Murray
Cardinals
7
46
.262
23
0.64
Dave Brain
Doves
10
56
.279
10
0.80
John Titus
Above





Frank Chance
Above





Johnny Kling
Above





Larry McLean
Reds
0
54
.289
4
0.79


Which brings our final list of top National League hitters to:
Honus Wagner
Sherry Magee
Fred Clarke
Roger Bresnahan
Frank Chance
Johnny Kling
Tommy Leach
Ginger Beaumont
Harry Lumley
John Titus


Now switching over to the pitchers, where the pitchers far outperformed the hitters by 26.5%. This being the heart of the 'dead-ball' era, where station to station baseball was the name of the game. Where batters choked up on the bats, and placed the ball between fielders, or bunted to reach base. Where balls fouled into the stands were returned to the field of play whenever possible. Where a game could take place using just one or two balls for the entire afternoon. Where spit-balls, shine-balls and grease-balls were all legal.
It was a much different game than we see twenty years later. And even further than we see today.
First, we'll look at the National League pitchers, who had a 3% statistical advantage over their American League counterparts, and a 33.6% advantage over the hitters. The National Leaguers had to contend with the almost unhittable Cubs pitching staff (who finished the season with an incredible 1.73 team earned run average, and giving up less than seven hits per nine innings). The Cubs had one pitcher lose as many as nine games, but just the one. Reliever Jack Taylor was the weak link (?) on the staff, with a winning percentage of just .583. The Cubs won a pretty fair 107 games. I say that because the 1906 Cubs won 116 games.

That being said, a very top heavy listing of top ten pitching performances overall. Here is that list, featuring the runs allowed factor before earned runs allowed:
Pitcher
Team
W-L
RAF
ERA
Carl Lundgren
Cubs
18-7
1.83
1.17
Orval Overall
Cubs
23-7
2.08
1.68
Mordecai Brown
Cubs
20-6
1.97
1.39
Ed Ruelbach
Cubs
17-4
2.25
1.69
Tully Sparks
Phillies
22-8
2.65
2.00
Christy Mathewson
Giants
24-12
2.51
2.00
Vic Willis
Pirates
21-11
2.95
2.34
Jim Pastorious
Brooklyn Superbas
16-12
3.00
2.35
Jack Pfiester
Cubs
14-9
2.82
1.15
Sam Leever
Pirates
14-9
2.91
1.66

The Team pitching rankings were:
Cubs
Pirates
Phillies
Giants
Reds
Brooklyn
Cardinals
Boston

So, comparing pitchers with their team performances, we get this top ten list:
Ed Karger
Cardinals
15-19
2.92
2.04
Patsy Flaherty
Boston
12-15
3.73
2.70
Tully Sparks
Above



Jim Pastorious
Above



Christy Mathewson
Above



Bob Ewing
Reds
17-19
2.81
1.73
Nap Rucker
Brooklyn
15-13
3.07
2.06
Andy Coakley
Reds
17-16
3.29
2.34
Johnny Lush
Cardinals/Phillies
10-15
3.80
2.64
Carl Lundgren
above




So our top ten final rankings for National League pitchers are:
Carl Lundgren
Orval Overall
Mordecai brown
Tully Sparks
Christy Mathewson
Ed Ruelbach
Jim Pastorious
Ed Karger
Vic Willis
Bob Ewing

Swinging to the American League, the top initial rankings brings us this:
Addie Joss
Cleveland
27-11
2.66
1.83
Doc White
White Sox
27-13
2.88
2.26
Ed Killian
Tigers
25-13
2.95
1.78
Cy Young
Red Sox
21-15
2.65
1.99
Chief Bender
Athletics
16-8
2.75
2.05
Eddie Plank
Athletics
24-16
3.01
2.20
Ed Walsh
White Sox
24-18
2.56
1.60
Frank Smith
White Sox
23-10
3.05
2.47
Jake Thielman
Cleveland
11-8
3.25
2.33
Ed Siever
Tigers
18-11
2.92
2.16

The league pitching rankings were:
White Sox
Athletics
Tigers
Cleveland
Browns
Red Sox
Highlanders
Senators

That brings this list of top pitchers compared to their teams:
Cy Young
Above



Addie Joss
Above



Charlie Smith
Senators
10-20
3.58
2.61
Fred Glade
Browns
13-9
3.61
2.67
Jack Chesboro
Highlanders
10-10
3.63
2.53
Doc White
Above



Chief Bender
Above



Harry Howell
Browns
16-15
3.19
1.93
Slow Joe Doyle
Highlanders
11-11
4.00
2.65
George Winter
Red Sox
12-15
3.19
2.07
Jimmy Dygert
Athletics
21-8
3.37
2.34

That brings our overall American league pitching final rankings to:
Addie Joss
Cy Young
Doc White
Chief Bender
Eddie Plank
Jake Thielman
Frank Smith
Fred Glade
Jimmy Dygert

Since this era was without post-season awards, once again I have free reign to pick the best players for each league. Pitchers dominate the lists, but interestingly, a hitter tops each list.
In the American League, my final top five rankings are:



Ty Cobb
PLAYER OF THE YEAR


Addie Joss
PITCHER OF THE YEAR

Cy Young
Sam Crawford
Doc White

And in the National League, the final top five are:


Honus Wagner
PLAYER OF THE YEAR


Carl Lundgren
PITCHER OF THE YEAR

Orval Overall
Mordecai Brown
Tully Sparks