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JENSEN TAKES APBL BATTING TITLE BY .0008
BEATS OUT MASS. BAY’S STOFFERS IN CLOSEST AVERAGE RACE IN YOUNG LEAGUE’S HISTORY

PROVIDENCE (Aug. 24, 1873) - The APBL season concluded on Sunday afternoon, and with it the closest Batting Title race in baseball since the famous 1870 Northeastern League race that saw Quaker State’s Cormack Alexander & William Dickerson claim a tie after the teammates finished the season just .0001 apart.

Going into Sunday’s play, St. Johns’ legendary OF Konrad Jensen was batting .380 with 3x Massachusetts Bay All-Star 1B Albert Stoffers at .379. Both players went 2/5 in their final game, and as a result here was how the APBL batting charts looked at the end of the 1873 season:

• #1: Konrad Jensen (RF, STJ) at .380 (.3805; 156/410)
• #2: Albert Stoffers (1B, MB) at .380 (.3797; 161/424)
• #3: Edward Huntley (SS, KNI) at .374 (156/417)
• #4: James Burke (CF, AME) at .368 (155/421)
• #5: Samuel Kessler (LF, ORA) at .355 (151/425)

The final difference of .0008 between Jensen & Stoffers is easily the closest in the American Professional Baseball League’s three-year history, as Jensen won the Batting Title by nineteen points in 1872 and Nelson Townsend won it by a dozen points in the APBL’s inaugural season of 1871.

Unfortunately for Stoffers this is the second season in a row that he has been forced to take on the mantle of runner-up for the Batting Title to Jensen, as he hit .383 last season to Jensen’s .402. Stoffers finished #3 in the 1871 batting race.

This is Jensen’s third Batting Title between the NBBO & APBL. His .416 On-Base also led the APBL, making it the tenth time he has led his league in OBP. In addition, his .904 OPS led the APBL, which was his fifth time leading his league in On-base + Slugging.