1902
Again there was a tight race down to the final day (and beyond) but this time it was in the NL as the Phillies made a bid to be the first repeat NL champs, but came up short in the one game playoff as the Cincinnati Reds made their first trip to the Series against the AL champion Washington Senators.
The Senators were led offensively in the regular season by 1B Tim Jordan and C Clarence Williams who both had 68 rbi's, and Williams paced the team with 5 hr's. Pitching-wise, the Sens had 4 pitchers with at least 14 wins, topped by 18 game winner Case Patten, a 6' southpaw hailing from Westport, Connecticut. Unfortunately Patten suffered a broken elbow late in the season and never regained his form, and ultimately left the game wondering what if!
The Reds on the other hand, were led by a trio of offensive studs in Jake Beckley, Sam Crawford (NL MVP), and Patsy Dougherty. All three men had at least 74 rbi's and 150 hits to pace their NL leading offense. Crawford even tied with Chicago's Topsy Hartsel for the NL lead in homers with 10. On the pitching side of things, Noodles Hahn was clearly the team's ace with 21 wins (second only to Philly's Deacon Phillippe with 22) and 176 strikeouts (second to only the Cubs Chief Bender's 178).
World Series - Washington 4 Cincinnati 2
