1957, the dawning of a new age...

      1957 was a huge turning point for the baseball landscape in the United States. Team transfers, while still not the norm, but had occurred during this decade. The Boston Braves vacated to the northern plains, making a home in Milwaukee. The St. Louis Browns, who were originally thinking about moving to Los Angeles, moved east instead, to re-emerge as the Baltimore Orioles. And the Philadelphia A's had moved to Kansas City, becoming the most westward team in Major League baseball.

      The St. Louis Browns had inquired as to the move to the coast in 1941, but the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the subsequent travel restrictions, made that move impossible at the time.

      The Milwaukee Braves were a rousing success, establishing National League attendance records in three of their first five years, and brought with them the nucleus of the 1957 World Champions. (Unfortunately, they would leave Milwaukee a few years after, taking up residence in Atlanta)

      But the biggest, most lucrative moves were announced during the 1957 season, and would take place at the season's end. The Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants would become Major League Baseball's first west coast teams. In doing so, New York became a one baseball team town for the first rime since 1887.

      The politics of big business sports casts long shadows. The Giants and Dodgers both were trying to get municipal funding for new stadiums, but to no avail in either case. And the California markets were more than happy to open their wallets to make accommodations for their new tenants.

      But there is always a domino effect that happens.

      As such:

      Both the Pittsburgh and Cincinnati franchises were rumored to be interested in moving into the New York market to replace the relocated teams. I'm not sure why the Pirates backed out, but the Reds definitely used the possibility of relocating as a leverage ploy to get funding for a new facility, or at least upgrades to their existing one.

      One ironic fact is that the Pirates were the opponent for the last game played by the Giants and the Dodgers in New York and Brooklyn. The Dodgers beat the Pirates, but the Giants lost to them.

The next part of that domino involved the Pacific Coast League, which had acted as almost a third major league team. Many stars began in the PCL before having their contracts sold to the established big league clubs. Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams are probably the best known of those players. (Remember, DiMaggio had a 61 game hitting streak for the San Francisco Seals before he donned the Yankee pinstripes. Plus, the nickname “The Yankee Clipper” has a better ring to it than just about anything involving a seal)

      With the influx of the 'real' Major league teams, combined with the territorial rights held by the PCL teams, it necessitated a realignment of the league, and a step down in classification. The Hollywood Stars franchise was sold and moved to Salt Lake City. The San Francisco Seals sold to a group in Phoenix, and the Los Angeles Angels were sold and moved to Spokane.

      But wait, the domino's ripple would be felt for a few years after. The never-come-to-fruition Continental League was formed, primarily to bring a second team to New York as a third Major League. It also included founding teams from Toronto, Dallas, Buffalo, Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

      That league never did get off the ground, but it did force the hand of the two existing leagues, and resulted in the expansions of 1961 and 1962. Those expansions, which had the existing Washington Senators relocate to Minneapolis to become the Minnesota Twins, welcomed a new team to Washington, also known as the Senators, who would stay for ten years, before themselves moving to Arlington, Texas to become the Texas Rangers.

      The move of two National League teams to California also forced the American League to investigate placing a franchise on the coast to compete, so they expanded into Los Angeles with the Angels, who would share Wrigley Field and later Dodger Stadium before moving to Anaheim.

      Incidentally, the Dodgers were the first team to purchase their own team airplane.

      Now, having just one team in California proved costly for travel arrangements in the AL, so the owners looked for another franchise to relocate, or to further expand out west. They found the team that did move, Charlie Finley's Kansas City Athletics. They moved before the 1968 season, but only after a contentious legal battle, which was resolved by major League Baseball agreeing to include Kansas City in the next round of expansion, which happened in 1969. Hence, the Kansas City Royals came into existence.

      But wait, not done with the ripples yet.

      Seeing an opportunity, the 1969 expansion by both leagues, included two new West Coast teams. The National League added the San Diego Padres, while the American League dded to Seattle Pilots.

      Well, the Seattle Pilots, who played their home games in Sicks Stadium, didn't last very long, and actually bankrupted themselves before the 1970 season. They became an American League team without a home.

      Well, here comes the city of Milwaukee to the rescue, with a group led by car salesman Allan “Bud' Selig, the gave home to the displaced Seattle Pilots, and re-branded them as the Milwaukee Brewers in honor of the original Milwaukee team in the 1901 inaugural American League season (a team that relocated to St. Louis to become the Browns in time for 1902),

      A few years later, when Mr. Selig became the commissioner, his dream of Milwaukee being a National League city came true, after he decided to move the Brewers from the American League to the National League to allow the expansion Tampa Bay franchise to enter the American League. It was the first time that a Major League team switched leagues. The Houston Astros would do the same a few years later, in order to even out each league at fifteen teams apiece, to easily facilitate the forced expansion of inter-league play, essentially causing at least one of each series of games to be the inter-league variety.

      Of course, sixty years after the fact, the initial move to California has proved to be both beneficial and profitable for all involved. And while this article is really about the 1957 season as it was played, there were more dealings after the season that should be noted.

      Ten years after breaking the color line, the Dodgers attempted to trade their beloved Jackie Robinson to their cross-town (soon to be cross-state) rival Giants, in exchanged for southpaw pitcher Dick Littlefield. It was a shocking move.    

     First, because Robinson was a mainstay in Brooklyn, and the Giants-Dodgers rivalry was a real, and a very tempestuous reality.

     Second, it was shocking because, unbeknownst to anyone, Robinson had decided that he was going to retire. Jackie had signed a deal with Look magazine, which was granted exclusive rights to Jackie and his family. Jackie was in negotiations, and later signed on with the Chock Full O' Nuts coffee company as a Vice President, but was not allowed to tell anyone until the story broke in the magazine.

      Before that could happen, the Dodgers' Walter O'Malley instructed his team to formulate a trade to send Robinson elsewhere. O'Malley and Jackie were not fans of each other, and apparently O'Malley wanted to trade Jackie a season earlier, but Buzzie Bavasi convinced O'Malley that the Dodgers could win the pennant in '56 with Jackie. So that trade was never made.

      So, with the trade in place a week before the magazine article was to run, Jackie sent a letter to Giants owner Horace Stoneham, thanking him for the opportunity, as well as the offer of a renegotiated contract, but that for the sake of the Robinson family's future, he would retire from baseball.

      Many fans believed that the trade forced the retirement, but this actually wasn't the case.

     That December trade was then voided, but the Dodger family would be rocked again a couple of weeks later.

      Legendary Dodger catcher Roy Campanella would be seriously injured in an automobile accident in January. While returning home to his estate near Glen Cove, Long Island, from his liquor store in Harlem, Campanella 'failed to negotiate a curve on a wet road' and slid into a telephone pole, and then back across the road, flipping the car onto its side.

      Campy would break his neck and undergo four hours of surgery. Doctors said that if his injury had occurred one inch higher than it did, that it would have been a fatal injury. As it was, Roy was paralyzed for the rest of his life.

      The former Negro League star, three-time NL Most Valuable Player and future Baseball Hall of Famer, continued to work for the Dodgers for many years after his injury, acting as a good-will ambassador for the team.

      In 1946, he and Don Newcombe, both African-American players, were assigned to the class B Nashua team of the New England League. There, they sat in wait for the color line to be broken by future teammate Jackie Robinson, who had been assigned to Montreal.

      Of forgotten historical significance, Nashua manager Walter Alston was ejected from a game, and Campanella took over for him, becoming the first African-American to manage white players in an organized professional baseball game.

      Campy took over with his team down by three runs, but was able to lead the team to a victory, partially because he used pitcher Don Newcombe as a pinch-hitter, and he responded with a game tying two-run homer.

      During the 1957, Cleveland Indians ace Herb Score was leveled by a line drive off the bat of the Yankees' Gil McDougald. The ball hit Score in the right eye, breaking his nose, his orbital bone, and the eyeball itself. The injury also damaged Score's depth perception.

      McDougald, for his part, was devastated by the injury. In fact, at the time that his batted ball hit Score, McDougald ran to the mound to aid Score instead of running to first base. As a result, he was thrown out at first. McDougald also vowed to retire immediately in the even that Score was unable to regain his sight. Score did return to 20/20 vision, but did miss the remainder of that season.

      Score did return to the mound for the 1958 season, but had altered his pitching motion, some believed that the fear of being hit caused that. Score said that wasn't so, but rather he had strained a ligament in his arm pitching on a damp day against Washington.

      1959 brought yet another pitching motion from Score, neither one as effective as he was before the 1957 injury, and he was out of baseball a short time later.

      The Major Leagues also changed their batting qualifications prior to the 1957 season, to the current 3.1 Plate Appearances for each scheduled game. Prior to that, the qualifications were a little lax. From 1920 through 1949, the standard was 100 games played, regardless of how many at-bats or plate appearances resulted. The American League changed their qualifications in 1936 to 400 at bats, but the National League held onto the 100 game standard until 1949.

      In 1950, both leagues adopted the 2.6 at bats per scheduled team game, which was rounded down to 400 at bats for the 154 game schedule. (comes to 400.4 for you sticklers).

      The current 3.1 plate appearance standard (which translates to 477 plate appearances for a 154 game schedule, and 502.2 for a 162 game schedule) actually helps protect the players who received a lot of walks. Since walks, especially intentional walks, counted as a plate appearance, a prodigious hitter who would receive many intentional walks wouldn't be penalized for his lack of at bats when it came to batting titles.

      One of the oddest occurrences of 1957 happened in the Class D Sooner State League. Ardmore Cardinals player-manager J.C. Dunn was shot twice during a game in Ponca City against the Cubs. A hotel porter was shooting at an unnamed Ardmore player, but shot Dunn instead.

      The game was suspended as Dunn was taken to the hospital, but his injuries were not severe, and he returned to action eighteen days later. He finished the season hitting .323, including a .592 clip in the last seven games before the playoffs.
     In a very bizarre twist, Mr. Dunn was shot and killed at his home some twelve years later, in a crime that was never solved.

      On to the big league oddities and milestones:

      Yankee pitcher Bob Grim hit a game ending (walk-off) homer on September 5^th, and White Sox pitcher Dixie Howell hit a game ending homer on September 6^th. It remains the only instance of 'walk-off' homers hit by pitchers on consecutive days.

      Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Richie Ashburn met Mrs. Alice Roth in a most unusual way. He fouled a ball into the stands, which unfortunately struck Mrs. Roth, who was attending the game with her grandsons. While she was not seriously hurt, she did require some medical attention, and was placed on a stretcher to be removed from her seat in the stands.

      As luck would have it, Ashburn was still at bat while this was going on, and somehow fouled another ball into the stands, striking Mrs. Roth once again as she was being carried out.

      Mrs. Roth, as I mentioned earlier, was not seriously injured, and Ashburn invited her and her grandsons to the game the following day, as his guest, The boys were given tours of the clubhouse, autographs, balls and bats.

      Allegedly, one of the grandsons asked Mrs. Roth if she could take them to an Eagles game and be hit by a football.
    
     The season ended with the Milwaukee Braves beating the New York Yankees in a seven game World Series. 

      In Milwaukee, lefty Warren Spahn, who began his career with the Boston Braves, under manager Casey Stengel, pitched his 41^st shutout, establishing a National League record for southpaws that still remains. He extended that mark to 63 shutouts.Spahn, who would be reunited with Stengel in 1965 with the lowly Mets, remarked that he "...played for Casey both before and after he was a baseball genius."

      Spahn would win the second Cy Young Award given out, the first Brave to win the award. He also began a streak of five straight seasons of leading the league in victories, 1957-1961.

      Outfielder Henry Aaron won the Most Valuable Player Award, the first Brave to win that award as well.

      First baseman Frank Torre set a record by scoring 6 runs in a 23-10 win over the Cubs.

      In Boston, ted Williams hit three homers in a game twice in 1957. Surprisingly, he was the first American League slugger to accomplish this feat in the same season. Williams hit .388, which was the highest single season average since his.406 in 1941. He also was the last to have a .700 slugging percentage until 1994.

      His .388 average set the record for the highest qualifying individual average over the league average. He hit .131 higher than the league (.388 against .257)

      In New York, Willie Mays of the Giants became the first in the National league to reach two 30 HR and 30 SB seasons.

      He hit 20 triples, and is the only player to have a 20 triple season and 50 homer season in their career. He was the first to join the illustriously random 33/33/.333 club. Where the 33's are homers and stolen bases, with a .333 batting average.

      Larry Walker and Vladimir Guerrero are the only others to do it.

      Mickey Mantle of the Yankees established a record of reaching base 319 times, most ever by a switch hitter. (Babe Ruth holds the all-time record with 379. He won his second (of three) MVP awards, and was the first AL switch hitter to have won the award altogether. In fact, the only other switch hitter to have won the AL MVP Award is pitcher Vida Blue for the 1971 Oakland A's.

      The Mick also hit for the cycle, the only time he ever accomplished that feat.

In the minors, Yankee farmhand Bob Riesener, pitching for Alexandria of the Class C Evangeline League, finished the season with a perfect 20-0 record.

      In St. Louis, Stan Musial led the league in batting for the seventh, and last time in his career.

      Cubs outfielder Lee Walls hit for the cycle, the only National Leaguer to do so in 1957.

      For the Senators, pitcher Pedro Ramos allowed a record 43 homers. This AL record would stand until Bert Blyleven allowed 50 dingers in 1986.

      And outfielder Roy Sievers became the first Washington player to reach 40 homers. He became just the second player from a last place team to lead his league in homers and runs batted in.

      On to the season's statistical review...

    

      While there were many of the games' great hitters active during this time, the overall pitching was actually 6.7% better than the overall offense.

      Pitching wise, the top five teams were:

Yankees

White Sox

Braves

Dodgers

Cardinals

      And the offense top five teams were:

Braves

Cardinals

Reds

Red Sox

Yankees

      And the top overall power rankings landed as such:

Yankees	AL Champions
Braves	World Series Champions
White Sox	2nd place, 8 games back
Dodgers	3rd place, 14 games back
Cardinals	2nd place, 8 games back

      We'll look at the American league pitchers, who held a 2.3% statistical advantage over the National League, first, with the initial top ten list as follows:

Pitcher	Team	W-L	ERA	Svs
Tom Sturdivant	Yankees	16-6	2.54	0
Dick Donovan	White Sox	16-6	2.77	0
Bobby Shantz	Yankees	11-5	2.45	5
Jim Bunning	Tigers	20-8	2.69	1
Frank Sullivan	Red Sox	14-11	2.73	0
Billy Pierce	White Sox	20-12	3.26	2
Bob Turley	Yankees	13-6	2.71	3
Bob Grim	Yankees	12-8	2.63	19
Billy Loes	Orioles	12-7	3.24	4
Jim Wilson	White Sox	15-8	3.48	0

      Then comparing them to their team average performances, that list looks like this:

Bud Byerley	Senators	6-6	3.13	6
Camilo Pascual	Senators	08-17	4.10	0
Frank Sullivan	Above
Virgil Trucks	A's	9-7	3.03	7
Jim Bunning	Above
Ray Narleski	Indians	11-5	3.09	16
Tex Clevenger	Senators	7-6	4.19	8
Jack Urban	A's	7-4	3.34	0
Dick Donovan	Above
Pedro Ramos	Senators	12-16	4.79

      Combining and comparing brings our top AL pitchers to this final list:

Dick Donovan	13th in MVP, 2nd in Cy Young
Tom Sturdivant	No votes
Frank Sullivan	No votes
Jim Bunning	9th in MVP
Billy Pierce	11th in MVP
Bobby Shantz	26th in MVP (tied)
Bob Turley	No votes
Bob Grim	16th in MVP (tied)
Ray Narleski	No votes
Billy Loes	No Votes

      This was the second year in which the Cy Young Award was given out, and the award was given to just one pitcher. Dick Donovan received the only American league vote, and that one vote kept Warren Spahn from a unanimous award.

      Over in the National League, our initial ranking looks like this:

Warren Spahn	Braves	21-11	2.69	0
Don Drysdale	Dodgers	17-9	2.69	0
Jack Sanford	Phillies	19-8	3.08	0
Bob Buhl	Braves	18-7	2.74	0
Johnny Podres	Dodgers	12-9	2.66	0
Billy Muffett	Cardinals	3-2	2.25	8
Don McMahon	Braves	2-3	1.54	8
Lindy McDaniel	Cardinals	15-9	3.49	0
Turk Farrell	Phillies	10-02	2.38	10
Vern Law	Pirates	10-08	2.87	0

      And against their teams, we get this list:

Vern Law	Above
Jack Sanford	Above
Moe Drabowsky	Cubs	13-15	3.53	0
Dick Drott	Cubs	15-11	3.58	0
Bob Friend	Pirates	14-18	3.38	0
Warren Spahn	Above
Brooks Lawrence	Reds	16-13	3.52	4
Don Drysdale	Above
Turk Farrell	Above
Billy Muffett	Above

      Our then overall ranking is as follows:

Warren Spahn	Cy Young winner, 5th in MVP
Jack Sanford	10th in MVP
Don Drysdale	19th in MVP (tied)
Bob Buhl	14th in MVP
Johnny Podres	No votes
Billy Muffett	No votes
Vern Law	No votes
Don McMahon	No votes
Turk Farrell	No votes
Lindy McDaniel	No votes

      On to the American League batters, who were 1.7% behind the National Leaguers. Their star friendly initial rankings are:

Player	Team	HR	RBI	AVG
Mickey Mantle	Yankees	34	94	.365
Ted Williams	Red Sox	38	87	.388
Roy Sievers	Senators	42	114	.307
Minnie Minoso	White Sox	12	103	.310
Vic Wertz	Indians	28	105	.282
Jackie Jensen	Red Sox	23	103	.281
Yogi Berra	Yankees	24	82	.251
Gene Woodling	Indians	19	78	.321
Nellie Fox	White Sox	6	61	.317
Larry Doby	White Sox	14	79	.288

      Then compared to their teams, we get this list:

Roy Sievers	Above
Mickey Mantle	Above
Ted Williams	Above
Al Kaline	Tigers	23	90	.295
Charlie Maxwell	Tigers	24	82	.276
Vic Wertz	Above
Minnie Minoso	Above
Gene Woodling	Above
Bob Nieman	Orioles	13	70	.273
Gus Zernial	A's	27	69	.236

      So our overall rankings are:

Mickey Mantle	AL MVP
Ted Williams	2nd in MVP
Roy Sievers	3rd in MVP
Minnie Minoso	8th in MVP
Vic Wertz	6th in MVP
Gene Woodling	No votes
Jackie Jensen	No votes
Yogi Berra	No votes
Al Kaline	10th in MVP
Charlie Maxwell	18th in MVP

      Over to the National League, with an even more superstar laden list, that initial top ten comes out to:

Hank Aaron	Braves	44	132	.322
Stan Musial	Cardinals	29	102	.351
Willie Mays	Giants	35	97	.333
Eddie Mathews	Braves	32	94	.292
Ernie Banks	Cubs	43	102	.285
Duke Snider	Dodgers	40	92	.274
Gil Hodges	Dodgers	27	98	.299
Del Ennis	Cardinals	24	105	.286
Frank Robinson	Reds	29	75	.322
Wes Covington	Braves	21	65	.284

      Then against their team averages, that top list is:

Willie Mays	Above
Ernie Banks	Above
Hank Aaron	Above
Stan Musial	Above
Stan Lopata	Phillies	18	67	.237
Duke Snider	Above
Gil Hodges	Above
Walt Moryn	Cubs	19	88	.289
Frank Thomas	Pirates	23	89	.290
Wes Covington	above

      Then our final rankings look like this:

Hank Aaron	NL MVP
Willie Mays	4th in MVP
Stan Musial	2nd in MVP
Ernie Banks	6th in MVP
Eddie Mathews	8th in MVP
Duke Snider	18th in MVP
Wes Covington	No votes
Stan Lopata	No votes
Del Ennis	15th in MVP
Walt Moryn	No votes

      The post season awards voters seemed to be in line with the rankings I came up with, so no arguments there. The one Cy Young between the leagues was the norm, but if I had to vote for one ion each league, I would have again voted the same as the voters. Spahn in the NL and Donovan in the AL.

Aaron

Spahn

Mantle

Donovan

1902...Growing Pains and a Rube

1902...Growing Pains...and a Rube

      In its second year of existence, the American League was still undergoing changes. The Milwaukee Brewers franchise had relocated to St. Louis to become the Browns before the season, And midway through the 1902 season, the Baltimore Orioles literally fell apart.

      The reasoning for the move to St. Louis was allegedly to 'raid' the Cardinals team of talent to fill the Browns roster, much easier done across town. During this time, the upstart American League was constantly pirating players from the well established National League. The most famous case was the Philadelphia Athletics signing of Napoleon Lajoie from the Phillies for the 1901 season.

      The Phillies were then raided again before 1902, losing Elmer Flick and Bill Duggleby to their crosstown rivals. The Phillies were understandably upset, and as such, before the 1902, filed an injunction against the Athletics which essentially forbade Lajoie from playing baseball in the state of Pennsylvania until the dispute was settled.

      Lajoie played in only one game for the Athletics in 1902, before he was sold to Cleveland, along with Flick . (Duggleby was returned to the Phillies) He played in 86 games for the Cleveland Bronchos, none of those anywhere near Philadelphia.

     
     The Orioles situation, on the other hand, was caused by the financial collapse of the team. Prior to the season, plans were made to move the Franchise to New York, but the League was unable to find a suitable venue, so the team remained in Baltimore.

      Principal Owner John Mahon and manager/partial owner John McGraw were frustrated by their inability to relocate, but forged ahead with the season.

      McGraw was an incendiary personality on the ball field, and was abusive towards the opposing players (and some of his own as well) and the umpires. On several occasions in the early season, McGraw was fined by American League President Ban Johnson for his actions. Those fines did not stop McGraw's continued bad behavior, so Johnson suspended McGraw indefinitely. Several other Orioles players had been fined/suspended by Johnson through the first third of the season.

      McGraw (“Little Napoleon”) resigned as manager of the Orioles, and jumped leagues to become manager of the New York Giants.

      In July of 1902, it was revealed that Mahon was deeply in debt, to the tune of approximately $15,000. At that point, he purchased shares from his son-in-law Joe Kelley, and McGraw, giving him a majority stake in the team, which he then sold to two men: Andrew Freedman and John Brush.

      Freedman, who was the principal owner of the New York Giants, and Brush, who was the principal owner of the Cincinnati Reds, then dismantled the Orioles by taking the best players from the team to fill their own rosters.

      Joe McGinnity, Roger Bresnahan, Jack Cronin and Dan McGann joined the Giants, while Cy Seymour and Joe Kelley joined the Reds.

     
     The day after this took place, the Orioles had only five players available for a game against the St. Louis Browns, and were forced to forfeit.

      Ban Johnson then used a league rule to join with the remaining Oriole minority owners to fill the roster by asking the other American League teams to volunteer players to play for Baltimore. This met with very little success, as teams would 'lend players' but ask for them back before they had to play the Orioles.

      The Orioles stumbled to finish with a 50-88 record, 34 games behind the pennant winning Philadelphia Athletics.

      On the last game of the season at Orioles Park, only 138 fans passed through the turnstiles.

      But let's not make McGraw out to be a bad guy. In fact, he tried (unsuccessfully) to integrate the game long before Branch Rickey did. He attempted to sign a native American player named “Chief Tokahama”, a full-blooded Cherokee. In reality, he was trying to sign Charlie Grant, a second-baseman for a Negro League team that played in Chicago.

      White Sox owner Charlie Comiskey discovered the ruse, and called McGraw on it, so that's why Chief Tokahama isn't in your Baseball Encyclopedia.

     The Baltimore franchise would then, in fact, move to New York for 1903, becoming the Highlanders (later the Yankees) and they found a home at Hilltop Park in Washington Heights. The stadium was approximately half a mile or so from the Polo Grounds, home of the New York Giants.

      With all that aside though, the American League was outdrawing the National League by almost a thousand fans per game. The National League owners were very worried, combining the loss in revenue and the player raids, and they decided to negotiate a peace treaty between the two leagues, which resulted initially in the first World Series to be played in 1903.

      And peace and calm would level the playing field.

      And on the field, the pennants were won by the Pittsburgh Pirates, who were led by Honus Wagner; and the Philadelphia Athletics, led by Rube Waddell.

      George Edward “Rube” Waddell enjoyed some moderate success in the National League, bouncing between a couple of teams. The left-hander won a combined twenty-nine games for Louisville, Chicago and Pittsburgh.

      He was playing for a semi-pro team when he was signed by the Athletics and brought east. He went on to lead the American League in strikeouts, while winning twenty-four games. He established the American League record for strikeouts in a season in '02, striking out 240 batters. That record would fall in 1903, when Rube would fan 302 batters. Then he struck out 349 batters in 1905.

      That American League record would stand until Nolan Ryan's 383 in1973.

      If Waddell were playing today, he would be described as 'being in the spectrum' for being mentally challenged. He had a fascination with firetrucks, and would sometimes leave the ballpark to follow them if they were responding nearby to a fire. One teammate recalled being at the scene of a fire, and saw Waddell, in full gear, leaning out the third floor window of a building that was fully engulfed.

      He was also known to leave games to go fishing, whether he was pitching or not.

      Some opposing players and managers would distract him by placing toys in front of their dugout with the hopes of breaking his concentration. Sometimes it worked.

      There was one time when Rube disappeared for days, finally showing up at the ballpark wearing a drum major's uniform and “a look of ineffable bliss on his face”.

      Waddell battled with alcohol for most of his short life, and was purported to have spent his first signing bonus on a drinking binge. He, like a few other stars in their time, had his salary given to a trusted teammate, who would dole it out to Rube in small amounts, lest he spend it all on a week long bender.

      While he may have had some mental issues, he was not considered to be illiterate. Just sometimes he might forget how many women he had married.

      On the field, playing in an era when 'small ball' was the way of the game, his strikeout numbers are monumental. This was a time when players were embarrassed to be struck out, and would choke up on the bat, shorten swings, bunt at the ball, anything to keep from being struck out. But Rube got them.

      Connie Mack said the Rube was the “...atom bomb of baseball long before the atom bomb was discovered.”

      Mack also summed up Rube's life, saying; “He had four passions and four only: He loved to fish. He loved the stuff that the vintners sell. He loved fires. And he loved to pitch ballgames. In about that order,”

      Rube was living in the Kentucky town of Hickman when the town began to flood. Twice. First in 1912 and then the next year. He was credited with helping to save the town, but caught pneumonia in the process, both times. He eventually came down with tuberculosis, and was sent to live with his sister until his passing.

      He was born on Friday the 13^th of October, 1876, and died on April Fool's day, 1914.

      Waddell and Honus Wagner were teammates in Louisville, before that team was disbanded and merged with the Pittsburgh franchise.

      Wagner, one of the original five inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame was in just his fifth season in the major leagues. In fact, he tied with Babe Ruth for second place in the voting. Primarily known as a shortstop, he played all over the field (except as catcher) as needed. By all accounts, he excelled at each of the positions he played.

      He pitched in one game in '02, coming in as a reliever, he pitched five and a third innings, striking out five, and allowing four hits walking two and allowed no earned runs. He pitched before in 1900, going three innings to finish a game. He struck out one, walked four allowed three hits, and no earned runs.

      While “The Flying Dutchman” didn't win the batting title in 1902 (teammate Ginger Beaumont took that honor), he would do so in 1903, and win the title in six of the following seven seasons, and seven of the next nine. (He is the only player named Honus to play in the major leagues. Almost nineteen thousand men have played in the majors, and only one Honus. Litearlly.

      Ty Cobb called Wagner “maybe the greatest ballplayer to ever take the diamond”.

      Card collectors know Wagner well. His T-206 card is the most valuable card out there. In 2016, one of these cards sold for $3.12 million.

      Why so rare?

      Well, the cards were distributed by tobacco companies then, so to get a card, one had to purchase tobacco. Wagner, who was a non-smoker, did not wish to have his name on any packaging of cigarettes. But the company, the American Tobacco Company had already started production of the cards. They did stop printing the cards once they learned of Wagner's wish, but some of the cards had already been distributed by that time.

      There are only fifty-seven of these cards known to exist.

      One of these cards in the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of the Jefferson Burdick Collection.

      So, the season at hand...

      The leagues were still in their infancy, so there were plenty of firsts, and plenty of unusual happenings as well. Let's go around the league:

      In Pittsburgh, Tommy Leach became the first to lead the league in homers and triples. That has only been done six times. He set the still standing record for triples by a third baseman (22) and became the first to lead the league in homers with 25 or more stolen bases.

      Pitcher Jack Chesboro recorded 20 more wins than losses.

      The Pirates had three 20 game winners: Chesboro, Deacon Phillippe and Jesse Tannehill.

      Ginger Beaumont became the first to lead the league in batting without hitting a homer. It has only been done one other time, by Rod Carew in 1972.

      The Pirates never lost more than 2 consecutive games all season en route to a 103-36 record.

      For the Philadelphia Athletics, Dave Fultz became the first player to steal 2^nd, 3^rd and home in the same inning.

      Rube Waddell became the first to strikeout the side on nine pitches.

      Socks Seybold became the second Athletic to led the American League in homers (Nap Lajoie led the league in 1901)

      Seybold established the home run record with 16, which lasted until Babe Ruth hit 29 in 1919.

      Danny Murphy made six hits in a game, and it was his first game with the Athletics.

      Lave Cross remains to this day, the only player to drive in 100 or more runs without hitting a home run.

      Harry Davis, who was on first base while there was a runner on third, stole second base to try to draw a throw from the catcher. It didn't work. So then he stole first base, again trying to draw a throw. Again it didn't work. So he tried to steal second a second time, this time drawing the throw, but that throw got him out.

      In Cincinnati, the “Palace of the Fans” opened as the home ballpark of the Reds.

      Catcher Johnny Kling set a record for stolen bases by a catcher, which was broken by John Wathan in 1982.

      All nine batters collected at least two hits in a 24-2 rout of the Philadelphia Phillies.

      Cy Seymour established a record of four sacrifice flies in a game.

      Rube Vickers set a record for six passed balls in a game. This happened in a game that was a farce. Playing in Pittsburgh, on a field that was in bad shape, the Reds had hoped the game would be postponed. It wasn't. The Reds then played all their players out of position. Vickers, who was behind the plate, was a pitcher by trade. He never caught another game again.

     As a result of the farcical play by the Reds, Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss refunded the money to the fans in attendance.

      In Boston, Red Sox ace Cy Young had 20 more wins than losses for the second time. He won 41.6% of the Red Sox games.

      Bill Dineen was the first pitcher on a winning team to lead the league in losses.

      Patsy Dougherty set the American League record for batting average by a rookie, hitting .342. That record stood until Joe Jackson hit .408 for Cleveland in 1911.

      Across town, Vic Willis and Togie Pittinger combined for 74% of the Beaneaters wins.

      Vic Willis would establish the still unbroken record of 45 complete games, and he was the first Boston pitcher to lead the National League in strikeouts. Warren Spahn would be the next to do so in 1949.

      In Detroit, pitcher Ed Siever led the league in ERA, becoming the first to do so with a losing record, and the first to do so with less than 10 wins. He was 8-11.

      In Cleveland, the Bronchos were the first team to hit three consecutive homers in a game (Nap Lajoie, Charlie “Piano Legs” Hickman, Bill Bradley) A remarkable feat, especially considering the era in which it happened, and that the Bronchos only hit 33 homers on the season.

      Bradley would establish a record by hitting a hoe run in four consecutive games.

      Bill Armour, one of the rare managers who wore street clothes during the game, was the first lawyer to become a major league manager.

      Future Hall of Famer Addie Joss pitched a one-hitter in his major league debut, a feat not matched again until 1949.

      Zaza Harvey had six hits in a game.

      Cleveland committed six errors during one inning against Baltimore, a record that still stands.

      In Baltimore, Jimmy Williams made six hits in a game, and Roger Bresnahan hit two inside the park homers against Cleveland in the same game.

      Chicago Orphans (soon to be Cubs) pitcher John Menaffee became the first pitcher to steal home in a game.

      Philadelphia Phillies slugger Shad Barry was responsible for 60% of the Phillies total homers for the season. For the record, he hit three of the team's five.

      In St. Louis, Cardinals pitcher Mike O'Neill, the pride of Maam, in County Galway, Ireland, is credited with hitting the first ever pinch-hit grand slam home run.

      And in lower classifications, the Corsicana Oil City's beat the Texarkana Casketmakers by a score of 51-3. The game, which was played on a Sunday, was moved to small park in Ennis, Texas, where the right field fence measured just 210 feet from home plate.

      The resulting onslaught tallied 21 homers among the 53 hits registered that day. Future big leaguer Nig Clarke hit eight homers in eight consecutive at bats.

      During Clarke's nine year big league career, he recorded just six homers, two less than he did in the one afternoon in 1902.

      But on to the season at hand.

      We'll take a look at the team overall rankings first, the top three in offense for each league were:

Athletics	Pirates
Senators	Reds
Orioles	Brooklyn

      And the top three teams in pitching were:

Boston	Pirates
Browns	Brooklyn
Athletics	Chicago Orphans

      That brings the 1902 power rankings to this:

Pirates	NL Champs
Athletics	AL Champs
Boston Americans	3rd in AL
White Sox	2nd in AL
Browns	4th in AL

      Looking at these rankings show us that the American League must have been a stronger league through and through, and further numbers support this. More offense in the AL, which statistically tallied 19.3% better than in the National League. Conversely, the National League pitchers enjoyed a 28.2% statistical advantage over their Junior Circuit counterparts.

      But where the great discrepancy arises is in the league comparisons.

      In ranking the teams, much the same as I do with the players, I reach a mean number. The pitchers in the NL made an average score of 1.3108, while the offense averaged 1.3008, giving the pitchers a slight statistical edge of .77%. But in the American League, the hitters average was 1.5516 against the pitcher average of 1.0221. The American League batters fared 51.8% better than the league's pitchers, which would justify the above numbers.

      A good reason for that huge discrepancy is Baltimore. Their pitching staff finished with a Runs Allowed factor of over 6 per game. They allowed over one hundred more hits than their nearest rival, which was the Washington Senators. In using the same average numbers from above, the Orioles pitching average was 0.3959 and the Senators was 0.6727. The Boston Americans average was 1.3188.

      So, we'll take a look at the initial pitching rankings first, with Runs Per Game featured, beginning with the American League.

Pitcher	Team	W-L	RPG	ERA
Rube Waddell	Athletics	24-7	2.93	2.05
Cy Young	Boston	32-11	3.18	2.15
Bill Bernhard	Athletics/Cleveland	18-5	3.15	2.15
Red Donahue	Browns	22-11	3.81	2.76
Roy Patterson	White Sox	19-14	3.73	3.06
Jack Powell	Browns	22-17	3.95	3.21
Bill Dineen	Boston	21-21	3.76	2.93
Addie Joss	Cleveland	17-13	4.01	2.77
George Winter	Boston	11-9	4.12	2.99
Ned Garvin	White Sox	10-10	3.49	2.21

      Garvin also spent part of his season pitching for the Brooklyn Superbas, but these are just the American League numbers.

      Now, looking at how the pitchers fared against their team's average performance, we get this list:

Joe McGinnity	Orioles	13-10	4.53	3.44
Bill Bernhard	Above
Rube Waddell	Above
Al Orth	Senators	19-18	5.03	3.97
Ed Siever	Tigers	8-11	3.49	1.91
Cy Young	Above
Win Mercer	Tigers	15-18	4.12	3.04
Addie Joss	Above
Casey Patten	Senators	18-17	5.59	4.05
Red Donahue	above

      This makes the top rated pitching performers in the American League look like this:

Rube Waddell

Bill Bernhard

Joe McGinnity

Cy Young

Red Donahue

Roy Patterson

Addie Joss

Ed Sevier

Jack Powell

Bill Dineen

      (Note that McGinnity also pitched for the Giants in the National League, but as above, these are his American League statistics only, pitching for a very pitching poor team.)

      And speaking of the National League, our initial rankings are:

Jack Chesboro	Pirates	28-6	2.55	2.17
Jack Taylor	Chicago Orphans	23-11	2.32	1.29
Jesse Tannehill	Pirates	20-6	3.04	1.95
Noodles Hahn	Reds	23-12	2.72	1.77
Bill Doheny	Pirates	16-4	3.25	2.53
Deacon Phillipe	Pirates	20-9	2.98	2.05
Ed Poole	Pirates/Reds	12-4	3.14	2.10
Sam Leever	Pirates	15-7	2.96	2.39
Vic Willis	Boston Beaneaters	27-20	3.12	2.20
Togie Pittinger	Beaneaters	27-16	3.21	2.52

      And against their team averages, we get this list:

Noodles Hahn	Above
Doc White	Phillies	16-20	3.71	2.53
Mike O'Neill	Cardinals	16-15	4.25	2.90
Jack Taylor	Above
Ed Poole	Above
Christy Mathewson	Giants	14-17	3.73	2.12
Ed Murphy	Cardinals	10-6	4.72	3.02
Vic Willis	Above
Togie Pittinger	Above
Jack Chesboro	Above

      That brings our final National top ten pitching ranking as such:

Jack Chesboro

Jack Taylor

Ed Poole

Noodles Hahn

Jesse Tannehill

Ed Doheny

Deacon Phillipe

Vic Willis

Togie Pittinger

Sam Leever

      We'll move on to the offensive side of the game, where as I mentioned above, the American League hitters held a pretty significant advantage over the National League. Again, in an era when home runs are scarce, only five players reached double digits in long balls, and they were all in the American League (and all in the following list). Tommy Leach led the National League with six.

      The preliminary American league list is as follows:

Player	Team	HR	RBI	AVG	SB
Nap Lajoie	Cleveland Bronchos	7	65	.378	20
Ed Delahanty	Senators	10	93	.376	16
Charlie Hickman	Cleveland/Boston	11	110	.361	9
Lave Cross	Athletics	0	108	.342	25
Buck Freeman	Boston Americans	11	121	.309	17
Bill Keister	Senators	9	90	.300	27
Bill Bradley	Cleveland	11	77	.340	11
Socks Seybold	Athletics	16	97	.316	6
Jimmy Williams	Orioles	8	83	.313	14
Harry Davis	Athletics	6	92	.307	28

      And against their team averages, we get this ranking:

Nap Lajoie	Above
Ed Delahanty	Above
Charlie Hickman	Above
Buck Freeman	Above
Charlie Hemphill	Browns/Cleveland	6	69	.308	27
Emmet Heidrick	Browns	3	56	.289	17
Bill Bradley	Above
George Davis	Athletics	3	93	.299	31
Bill Keister	Above
Jimmy Williams	Above
Jimmy Collins	Boston	6	61	.322	18

      So our final ranking for American League hitters is as follows:

Nap Lajoie

Ed Delahanty

Charlie Hickman

Buck Freeman

Lave Cross

Bill Keister

Bill Bradley

Charlie Hemphill

Jimmy Williams

Jimmy Collins

      Over to the National League, our initial performance rankings bring us this:

Honus Wagner	Pirates	3	91	.330	42
Fred Clarke	Pirates	2	53	.316	29
Ginger Beaumont	Pirates	0	67	.357	33
Tommy Leach	Pirates	6	85	.278	25
Sam Crawford	Reds	3	78	.333	16
Jake Beckley	Reds	5	69	.330	15
Kitty Bransfield	Pirates	0	69	.305	23
Johnny Kling	Chicago Orphans	0	59	.289	25
Heinie Peitz	Reds	1	60	.315	7
John Dobbs	Reds/Chicago	1	51	.299	10

      As you can see from the National League lists, the Pirates were the dominant team in the league. The top five hitters, and four of the top six pitchers didn't spread much joy among their National League opponents.

      But, since the Pirates offense was so far ahead of the rest of the league, it means that players that performed well for under-performing teams populate our next list, the players measured against their team's averages.

      That list:

George Browne	Phillies/Giants	0	40	.286	24
Johnny Kling	Above
Sam Crawford	Above
George Barclay	Cardinals	3	53	.300	30
Steve Brodie	Giants	3	42	.281	11
Shad Barry	Phillies	3	58	.287	14
Roy Thomas	Phillies	0	24	.286	17
Frank Bowerman	Giants	0	27	.249	12
Jake Beckley	Above
Duff Cooley	Brooklyn Superbas	0	58	.296	27

      So, our final National League offensive rankings are:

Honus Wagner

Fred Clarke

Sam Crawford

Ginger Beaumont

Tommy Leach

Jake Beckley

Johnny Kling

Kitty Bransfield

Heinie Peitz

Duff Cooley

      No voting for post season awards during this era, so I will put forth my hypothetical ballot in each league.

Nap Lajoie

American League Offensive Player of the Year

Rube Waddell

American League Pitcher of the Year

Honus Wagner

National League Offensive Player of the Year

Jack Chesboro

National League Pitcher of the Year