The Bucs Start Here - A Pirates Do-Over

[luckymann]

AL CHAMPIONS: Philadelphia Athletics (92-56)

NL CHAMPIONS: New York Giants (105-48)

WORLD SERIES: Giants 4, A’s 1

Top Ten Lists (courtesy of thisgreatgame.com)

NL Hitters

1. HONUS WAGNER, PITTSBURGH

• Key Numbers: .363 average, 114 runs, 199 hits, 6 home runs, 101 RBIs, 57 stolen bases.
• The Flying Dutchman continued to soar as the NL’s best despite not leading the league in any one single offensive category for the only time in the decade.

2. CY SEYMOUR, CINCINNATI

• Key Numbers: .377 average, 219 hits, 40 doubles, 21 triples, 8 home runs, 121 RBIs.
• As major league pitchers dominated more than ever, Cy Seymour managed to collect more total bases (325) than any other National Leaguer during the Deadball Era.

3. MIKE DONLIN, NEW YORK

• Key Numbers: .356 average, 124 runs, 216 hits, 16 triples, 7 home runs, 80 RBIs.
• Donlin got his mind off of both theater and trouble long enough to get in a full season—and a spectacular one at that.

4. SHERRY MAGEE, PHILADELPHIA

• Key Numbers: .299 average, 100 runs, 17 triples, 5 home runs, 98 RBIs, 48 stolen bases.
• The sophomore campaign of the 20-year-old Magee, literally plucked off a sandlot in Pennsylvania, made many solid veteran hitters look ordinary.

5. FRANK CHANCE, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: 118 games, .316 average, 92 runs, 70 RBIs, 78 walks, 17 hit-by-pitches, 38 stolen bases, .450 on-base percentage.
• Taking over the reins as Cubs player-manager at midseason had little effect on Chance’s performance at the plate, setting a personal best in on-base percentage.

6. SAM MERTES, NEW YORK

• Key Numbers: .279 average, 27 doubles, 17 triples, 5 home runs, 108 RBIs, 52 stolen bases.
• In his last solid year before being distracted by earthquake-related events back in his native San Francisco, Mertes notched career highs in triples and RBIs.

7. JOHN TITUS, PHILADELPHIA

• Key Numbers: .308 average, 99 runs, 36 doubles, 14 triples, 89 RBIs, 69 walks.
• Perhaps Titus’ handlebar mustache—he was reportedly the last to wear one in the majors until the A’s of the 1970s revived it—had grown passé, but his playing abilities surely had not.

8. DAN MCGANN, NEW YORK

• Key Numbers: .299 average, 88 runs, 14 triples, 5 home runs, 75 RBIs, 19 hit-by-pitches.
• A disciple of Giants’ manager John McGraw’s combative tactics, McGann led the charge with strong numbers and a NL-leading five ejections.

9. ROY THOMAS, PHILADELPHIA

• Key Numbers: .317 average, 118 runs, 93 walks.
• Thomas didn’t lead the NL in walks for the first time in five years, but with a stellar batting average remained just as potent in his ability to reach base.

10. FRED CLARKE, PITTSBURGH

• Key Numbers: .299 average, 95 runs, 15 triples.
• The Pirates’ outfielder-manager returned to full-time everyday play after logging only 72 games in 1904.

AL Hitters

1. ELMER FLICK, CLEVELAND

• Key Numbers: .308 average, 29 doubles, 18 triples, 35 stolen bases.
• An early season injury to Cleveland superstar Nap Lajoie made Flick the lead guy in the Naps’ lineup; his batting average was the lowest for a league leader until 1968.

2. HARRY DAVIS, PHILADELPHIA

• Key Numbers: .285 average, 93 runs, 47 doubles, 8 home runs, 83 RBIs, 36 stolen bases.
• Davis continued his reign as the American League home run king, for all it was worth in 1905.

3. SAM CRAWFORD, DETROIT

• Key Numbers: .297 average, 38 doubles, 6 home runs, 75 RBIs.
• In virtually his last season B.C. (Before Cobb), Crawford did well to pull his own weight for the Tigers.

4. TOPSY HARTSEL, PHILADELPHIA

• Key Numbers: .275 average, 88 runs, 8 triples, 121 walks, 37 stolen bases, .409 on-base percentage.
• A career-high total in walks catapulted Hartsel’s batting average to an AL-best on-base percentage.

5. JIGGS DONAHUE, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: .287 average, 76 RBIs, 32 stolen bases.
• Given his name because he used to dance at his family store as a kid, Jiggs certainly got White Sox fans on their feet with his initial everyday effort.

6. DANNY MURPHY, PHILADELPHIA

• Key Numbers: .277 average, 34 doubles, 6 home runs, 71 RBIs, 23 stolen bases.
• Strong numbers given the times, Murphy set career highs in doubles and steals.

7. GEORGE STONE, ST. LOUIS

• Key Numbers: .296 average, 187 hits, 13 triples, 7 home runs.
• The Browns got Stone (zero career hits) from Boston for aging star Jesse Burkett (2,703); of course, the Browns got the better of the deal.

8. JAKE STAHL, WASHINGTON

• Key Numbers: .250 average, 12 triples, 5 home runs, 66 RBIs, 17 hit-by-pitches, 41 stolen bases.
• Unrelated to the ill-fated Chick Stahl in Boston, Jake forged enough productivity from a .250 batting average to make this cut.

9. HARRY BAY, CLEVELAND

• Key Numbers: .301 average, 90 runs, 10 triples, 36 stolen bases.
• In what would be his last year as an everyday player, Bay was one of only three AL players to hit over .300.

10. SOCKS SEYBOLD, PHILADELPHIA

• Key Numbers: .274 average, 37 doubles, 6 home runs, 59 RBIs.
• Despite a drop in batting average (down to a still-respectable-for-the-Deadball-Era .274), Socks still managed to possess enough sock to keep A’s fans content.

NL Pitchers

1. CHRISTY MATHEWSON, NEW YORK

• Key Numbers: 1.28 ERA, 31 wins, 9 losses, .775 win percentage, 338.2 innings.
• With his third straight 30-win season and first sub-2.00 ERA campaign in the books—and with teammate Joe McGinnity having peaked—Mathewson firmly established himself in the position most everyone had predicted of him: The game’s best pitcher.

2. ED REULBACH, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: 1.42 ERA, 18 wins, 14 losses, 291.2 innings.
• By finishing second in NL ERA and firing two wins taking 18-plus innings, some wondered aloud if the 22-year-old rookie was first in line to dethrone Mathewson.

3. DEACON PHILLIPPE, PITTSBURGH

• Key Numbers: 2.19 ERA, 20 wins, 13 losses, 279 innings.
• After an off-year—perhaps recovering from his overuse at the 1903 World Series—Phillippe got back on track and secured the final 20-win season of his career.

4. IRV YOUNG, BOSTON

• Key Numbers: 2.90 ERA, 20 wins, 21 losses, 7 shutouts, 42 starts, 378 innings.
• Playing for a pathetic Boston team (103 losses) with no offense, the 28-year-old rookie—no relation to Cy Young, across town—managed to be the only one of the Beanaters’ four 20-game losers to also win 20.

5. TOGIE PITTINGER, PHILADELPHIA

• Key Numbers: 3.09 ERA, 23 wins, 14 losses, 46 appearances, 337.1 innings.
• Pittinger, who could relate to Young after tolerating back-to-back 20-loss campaigns in Boston from 1903-04, turned his fortunes around with a much better team in Philadelphia.

6. BOB WICKER, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: 2.02 ERA, 13 wins, 6 losses.
• A late arrival after a bout with bronchitis—and then, two weeks quarantined in his apartment building after it was hit by smallpox—Wicker quietly put together a stifling effort.

7. THREE FINGER BROWN, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: 2.17 ERA, 18 wins, 12 losses, 249 innings.
• An unspectacular and yet still impressive campaign for Brown, on the eve of his far more spectacular run of success.

8. JOE MCGINNITY, NEW YORK

• Key Numbers: 2.87 ERA, 21 wins, 15 losses, 46 appearances, 320.1 innings.
• Ironman Joe cooled off from his über-productive ace work—his 320.1 innings were the fewest he had thrown in seven seasons to date—but he remained a worthy companion to Mathewson.

9. TULLY SPARKS, PHILADELPHIA

• Key Numbers: 2.18 ERA, 14 wins, 11 losses.
• Sparks bounced back from a 7-16 record in 1904; it didn’t hurt that the Phillies gave him an additional two runs’ worth of offensive support.

10. BUTTONS BRIGGS, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: 2.14 ERA, 8 wins, 8 losses, 168 innings.
• Despite an innocuous 8-8 record, Briggs enjoyed a far better (albeit brief) return to the Cubs after a rough first spell in Chicago during the late 1890s.

AL Pitchers

1. RUBE WADDELL, PHILADELPHIA

• Key Numbers: 1.48 ERA, 27 wins, 10 losses, .730 win percentage, 46 appearances, 287 strikeouts, 328.2 innings.
• The Wild One enjoyed the peak of his career—but he got too wild with Andy Coakley on a train platform just before the World Series and missed what would have been the only postseason experience of his career.

2. CY YOUNG, BOSTON

• Key Numbers: 1.82 ERA, 18 wins, 19 losses, 320.2 innings, 30 walks.
• Young was the victim of a growing baseball epidemic: A losing record despite a sub-2.00 ERA.

3. NICK ALTROCK, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: 1.88 ERA, 23 wins, 12 losses, 315.2 innings.
• Later to be known as part of a famed entertainment sideshow at ballparks, Altrock was hardly clowning around for the moment in Chicago.

4. FRANK OWEN, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: 2.10 ERA, 21 wins, 13 losses, 334 innings.
• Owen followed up his breakout season with similar numbers for the White Sox.

5. EDDIE PLANK, PHILADELPHIA

• Key Numbers: 2.26 ERA, 24 wins, 12 losses, 41 starts, 346.2 innings.
• While Waddell was stealing the headlines—good and bad—teammate Plank quietly and contentedly went about his usual sterling business.

6. DOC WHITE, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: 1.76 ERA, 17 wins, 13 losses.
• Like teammate Frank Owen above, White hummed along with an effort virtually cloned from his 1904 numbers.

7. ADDIE JOSS, CLEVELAND

• Key Numbers: 2.01 ERA, 20 wins, 12 losses, 286 innings.
• The calm and collected right-hander settled into his role as Cleveland ace by recording his first 20-win season.

8. ED KILLIAN, DETROIT

• Key Numbers: 2.27 ERA, 23 wins, 14 losses, 8 shutouts, 313.1 innings.
• From flop to flip; after losing 20 in his first full season, Killian turned things around and notched 20-plus wins.

9. FRANK SMITH, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: 2.13 ERA, 19 wins, 291.2 innings.
• After a superlative rookie showing, Smith worked himself into more of a workhorse role and ensured that all four White Sox starters would make this list.

10. HARRY HOWELL, ST. LOUIS

• Key Numbers: 1.98 ERA, 15 wins, 22 losses, 35 complete games, 323 innings.
• The quality-driven Howell continued to get no breaks from a lousy (54-99) Browns side, suffering the most losses ever by an AL pitcher with a sub-2.00 ERA.

[luckymann]

An 11-7 Spring Training tune-up with everyone seemingly raring and ready to go.

I am most shocked indeed when the BNN prognosticators pick us to win the division handily, 11 games clear of the Cubs with a 96-win campaign. I’ll take that gladly, but I just don’t see it happening that way.

FULL PRESEASON PREDICTIONS

[luckymann]

As I mentioned above, I don’t see us running away with the division this season; in fact, I fear we risk losing further ground to the Cubs, who have added yet another live arm to their pitching ranks in Ed Reulbach. When your fourth starter is a guy who went 24-15 last season with a 1.94 ERA, as is the case with Dummy Taylor, you know you’ve got a pretty good thing going on.

Because of the Legacy Player rules, we are fairly handcuffed to do much with our staff, not that I’d really want to change it all that much anyway. Same goes with our position players for the most part, but we need to keep improving as things only get harder from here on in. So I’ll be looking to try and mould our squad with a couple key trades that help us be more competitive in the short-term and set the club up beyond this year for sustained success. Easier said than done, I know, but I have been working extra hard on this and have a few ideas I aim to implement once the season has kicked off.

To see more on our squad, HERE is our team page. Here are the Cliff Notes.

Catchers

• C Billy Maloney (L) – gets the everyday starting role to begin with and we’ll see what develops from there.
• Ossee Schreckengost (R) – will start against LHP and whenever Billy needs a rest.

Infielders

• 1B Charlie Hickman (R)
• 2B Danny Murphy (R)
• 3B Harry Steinfeldt (R)
• SS Honus Wagner (R)
• Charlie Dexter (R) – will continue to be our C / IF utility backup
• Art Hoelskoetter (R) – pure cannon fodder

Outfielders

• LF Fred Clarke (L)
• CF Rabbit Robinson (R)
• RF Matty McIntyre (L)
• Rip Cannell (L)
• Otis Clymer (S)
• Kid Nance (R)

Rabbit gets the nod ahead of Kid as everyday starter and I’ve switched him into CF with Matty manning RF.

Rotation

1. RHP Jack Chesbro
2. RHP Deacon Phillippe
3. RHP Frank Owen
4. LHP Mike O'Neill

Concerns remain about overuse for Deacon last season, so Jack will take his turn to bear the brunt of the SP1 workload, at least to begin with. I’m looking for a smooth transition over the next few seasons as our two veteran stalwarts age out and Camnitz and Leifield are the front-runners to slot up. For now I want them to get as much experience in the pressure-cooker as possible.

Bullpen

• LHP Nick Altrock
• RHP Howie Camnitz
• LHP Win Kellum
• LHP Lefty Leifield
• RHP Doc McJames

Charlie Smith hasn’t really come on as we had expected but there is a lot of interest in him from around the traps, which means that, should this well-telegraphed reshuffle I keep alluding to materialize, he will almost certainly form part of the transaction, especially given our surfeit of pitching.

[luckymann]

We lose three of four in our opening series at the Reds but bounce back with a four-game home sweep of the Cards.

Three in a row at the Cubs takes our win streak to six before Brown shuts us out on two hits and then Taylor one-hits us in a rain-shortened six-inning game to put us back in our place.

Another loss and then a 1-0 win in which we collect just three hits but a superb game by Phillippe gets us home and I’ve seen just about enough. There’s no way I’m letting this season get away from us.

Out go the feelers.

I know precisely the two players I want. Problem is to get them both I’d have to clone the same two players the other sides each want in return. For me to swing the second deal without them in it would take four players and really rip the stuffing out of our squad. I’m not after a gutting here, just an improvement. Even the first trade would mean giving up a pitcher I’m not all that keen to lose. While we have excess mound depth, neither Jack nor Deacon are getting any younger and we still don’t know if Camnitz and Leifield are going to turn out.

So I play it on the conservative tip, sit and wait to see if we can turn things around over the next fortnight or so.

We finish April at 9-6, 2 ½ GB Brooklyn.

Hot

• Deacon Phillippe: only early, but so far none of the fatigue problems I feared Deacon may be suffering have made an appearance; on the contrary he has been sensational, going 3-1 / 0.74 with a FIP- of 70. Here’s hoping I was only imagining things.
• Honus Wagner: his 357 BA is even more important given how poorly those around him are going.

Not

• Our offence ex-Wagner: 226 team BA is 7th in the league, as is our 278 wOBA. The grand total of 1 HR to our credit.
• Our bullpen: with three of our four starters struggling to assert themselves, our performance has not been helped by a relief corps bleeding runs like nobody’s business, to the tune of a 5.62 ERA.

Around the Leagues

• The Cards get off to a nightmare start to the campaign, losing their first 12 games.
• The White Sox begin their ’05 campaign strongly to lead the AL by 3 games with a 12-4 record.
• Cincinnati’s Noodles Hahn joins Rube Waddell in the 100-win club.

Awards

• 04/28 POTW: AL – George Stovall (St. Louis) .529 / 6 RBI; NL – John Titus (Philadelphia) .619 / 4 RBI.

• AL Batter of the Month: Nap Lajoie (Philadelphia) 345 / 13 RBI.
• NL Batter of the Month: Harry Lumley (Brooklyn) 356 / 3 HR / 13 RBI.
• AL Pitcher of the Month: Frank Corridon (Chicago) 4-0 / 1.00 / 23 K / 36 IP.
• NL Pitcher of the Month: Bill Donovan (Brooklyn) 5-0 / 1.00 / 29 K / 45 IP.
• AL Rookie of the Month: Harry McIntire (Chicago) 3-1 / 2.00 / 13 K / 36 IP.
• NL Rookie of the Month: Ed Reulbach (Chicago) 2-2 / 1.42 / 9 K / 38 IP.

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[luckymann]

Most PA with 0 HR (excluding pitchers)

[luckymann]

We show no signs of improvement in the next week, so I juggle the lineup to try and spark some action. Robinson continues to underperform (189 BA / 8 RBI / 53 OPS+ / -0.4 WAR) and is back on the bench, with Nance back manning RF and McIntyre moving back to CF. It helps little, as we lose three of four to the Phillies and drop below 500.

We lose Dexter with a groin tear for 6 weeks.

And then, after a split series at the Superbas, I pull the trigger.

TRADE 1 OF 5: (05/17): P Frank Owen and Charlie Smith traded to Brooklyn for C Roger Bresnahan.

In the end, these continued struggles have made the decision for me, along with Frank’s really poor start to the year. Had we gone on a tear, I doubt I would have gone ahead with it. But we look dreadful and while I am in no way under the misapprehension that this is the panacea to all our ills, I do believe it’s a fine first step that sets us up for the next few years.

For now, the other trade will have to wait. We’ve got too many position players now and that will need attending to before too long. Like I said, Frank’s poor showing to this point was the tipping-point to my reservations about dealing away a talented age-25 pitcher. And we just didn’t like how Charlie was developing, or, more to the point, not. Roger gives us a big bat and a strong arm, and I’ll hit him at three with Honus moving to clean-up and everyone else down a slot. I’d already moved Nance to leadoff and Murph to 8.

Defensively, Roger will obviously take over the reins as our everyday catcher, with Maloney backing him up v RHP and Ossee v LHP. Matty McIntyre is one of our worst-performing hitters so far, and he’ll need to up his game or else he might lose his starting spot to Billy.

Leifield will move into the rotation with O’Neill now SP3. Even though Active Rosters increased to 23 this season, we’ll just run 22 until Dexter comes back in late June / early July. Then we will take stock.

Roger then proceeds to go yard in his debut for us, an omen perhaps for those so inclined. Me, I’ll just happily take the 9-5 win it helps procure. Because it isn’t as if we just click into winning gear. Rather, we chop in and out of games with poor showings followed by efforts such as three consecutive shutout wins, with the middle of those a three-hitter by Leifield, who to this point is yet to give up an earned run in 22 IP.

Our final record for the month is a pedestrian 12-15, which puts us at 21-22 overall and leaves us six games adrift of the Superbas.

Hot

• Charlie Hickman / Harry Steinfeldt: with even Honus down from his usual excellence, their contribution is key to us getting as many wins as we do, with both hitting 300+ and combining for 31 ribbies.

Not

• Jack Chesbro: a real struggle for Happy Jack so far, and his May is no exception as he posts a2-6 / 3.96 sectional. FIP- of 87 along with 1.5 WAR suggests some unluckiness has come his way, same with the 312 BABIP. Let’s hope this is the case.
• Rabbit Robinson: has never really found his form with us and is looking more like a bust with every unproductive month, such as his 095 / 3 RBI effort here.
• Our metrics in general: 7th in the NL for both BA (2.39) and ERA (2.85) speaks volumes about why we are where we are in the standings.

Around the Leagues

• The White Sox pace the AL and have a 3-game mini break entering into June. But still pretty bunched.
• The NL has again split into the contenders and the also-rans, as was the case last season. Main difference being, of course, that this time around we find ourselves in the latter camp, 3 ½ games behind the third-placed Phillies, who themselves trail Brooklyn by 2 ½.
• A nasty knock to the head from an errant pitch will keep Highlanders 1B Doc Gessler out of action for a month or so.

Awards

• 05/01 POTW: AL – Ollie Pickering (Boston) 500 / 2 RBI; NL – Deacon Phillippe (Pittsburgh) 2-0 / 0.00 / 9 K / 19 IP.
• 05/08 POTW: AL Jimmy Williams (New York) 478 / 1 HR / 5 RBI; NL – Jimmy Slagle (Boston) 571 / 2 RBI.
• 05/15 POTW: AL Chick Stahl (New York) 520 / 3 RBI; NL – Christy Mathewson (New York) 2-0 / 0.00 / 13 K / 18 IP.
• 05/22 POTW: AL – Bill Bernhard (St. Louis) 2-0 / 1.00 / 7 K / 18 IP; NL – Cy Young (St. Louis) 2-0 / 0.00 / 9 K / 18 IP.
• 05/29 POTW: AL – Bill Bradley (Cleveland) .522 / 3 RBI; NL – Al Orth (Philadelphia) 2-0 / 0.50 / 7 K / 18 IP.

• AL Batter of the Month: Zaza Harvey (New York) 406 / 12 RBI.
• NL Batter of the Month: John Titus (Philadelphia) 340 / 1 HR / 21 RBI.
• AL Pitcher of the Month: Doc White (Detroit) 6-1 / 1.00 / 39 K / 63 IP.
• NL Pitcher of the Month: Al Orth (Philadelphia) 7-2 / 1.59 / 30 K / 84.2 IP.
• AL Rookie of the Month: Orval Overall (Cleveland) 5-3 / 1.66 / 33 K / 70.2 IP.
• NL Rookie of the Month: Ed Reulbach (Chicago) 5-2 / 2.66 / 23 K / 61 IP.

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[luckymann]

Most pitching losses for a winning team

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by luckymann

Not

• We just don’t have what it takes this season, from start to finish we are a step or two off the pace with all aspects of our game slipping a little from ’03.

One of those only if we could do just a little bit better seasons. Just out of reach.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by Brad K

One of those only if we could do just a little bit better seasons. Just out of reach.

Yeah, and '05 is shaping up the same. Squad's getting older. Dutchie 31, Clarke 32, Chesbro 30, Phillippe 33. All starting the slow decline.

Big names coming into the league elsewhere amping up the challenge each year. Gotta be smarter than the rest, especially with no real superstars on the horizon for us (Mayne Pie Traynor will be our next decent one? Not sure, I've made it a rule that I can't do the Legacies in advance of the next season or else it would give me a longer-term advantage over the rest. IE Cheating...) Cobb already here, Alexander and Johnson and Hornsby not long after then of course it's Yankee time... All of which means if we don't nail down another ring in the next couple years we're going to find it near-impossible to do so for quite a while.

Loving it, though! A fantastic way to play the game and reacquaint myself with its history at the same time.

[luckymann]

Again, it’s far from panic stations, but we need to ensure June is a month in which we at worst do not fall further behind, but preferably make up some ground on the leaders. 10 games back going into July is pretty much game over.

We drop the first two games of the month at home to the Cubs and only avoid the sweep with an 11-inning walkoff in the third. 5-5 for our first 10.

We go on a little run that gets us back above the 500 water-line. Then Detroit comes a-callin’, looking to do a trade that actually suits our needs but is a really tough one to execute. After a few days’ deliberation, the head wins over the heart and I make the deal.

TRADE 2 OF 5: (06/15): OF Fred Clarke and Art Bader traded to Detroit for OF Pop Foster.

Like I said this was a toughie, with the internal battle raging of heart vs head. Fred is a great player and an excellent club man, but he is rising 33 and we are already seeing the signs. If you make a commitment to a player of his age you usually have to live with it for longer than is good for the club, so the goal is to extract all you can out of them before leaving a little bit on the table and engaging in a trade like this.

Pop lives up to his nickname, as he led the league in HR last season with 13. He’s 27 and pretty similar to Fred in his style of play, although he can hold down RF as well whereas Fred is purely a left-fielder, albeit a more accomplished one than Pop.

We run our win streak to 7 as we begin a series at home to Brooklyn, who are 3½ games ahead of us but now trail the Reds by a game. The first game in this series is against Charlie Smith, who seems to have flourished at his new home, but we get a 3-1 win all the same behind a resurgent O’Neill. Two days later, our string is snapped at 9 in a 4-3 loss to Frank Owen.

The Reds have been on a run of their own, which means we’ve made up little ground on them and remain 4½ back. Still, it’s better than the alternative.

We stumble a bit from there, dropping 5 of our 8 remaining games for the month including a 19-inning heartbreaker at the Cards. Fortunately, though, everybody seems to be having a similar problem and we don’t lose too much ground. We close out June with a 16-10 record that leaves us at 37-32 and 5 GB the Superbas in a bunched field.

We get Charlie Dexter back from the IL toward the end of the month, and I’m off hunting again.

Hot

• Honus Wagner: coming into peak Dutchie form after a quietish start. Hits 380 for June to lead the NL with 349, and his 187 OPS and 447 wOBA for the sectional are much more Honus-like.
• Jack Chesbro: not entirely convinced his 5-3 / 1.89 showing is worth the Pitcher of the Month Award he receives, but all the same it’s great to have Happy back to something resembling his best form.

Not

• Harry Steinfeldt: it almost goes without saying that Robinson is our least productive hitter yet again, but Harry is also really struggling to have an impact this season. Even in the depths of Deadball, 25 RBI / 111 OPS+ / 1.0 WAR from the 6-slot with the guys he has ahead of him just isn’t cutting it.
• Mike O’Neill: despite a nice run in mid-month, Mike’s continued inconsistency is a real concern. 3.94 ERA for June with a 109 FIP- is fairly damning.

Around the Leagues

• Arguably the tightest race we’ve seen so far. The White Sox tried to make a break but some late-month struggles drag them back to the pack, led by Detroit. We may be just 5 GB, but that means we’re 5th in the NL and both divisions look set for fantastic stretches with nobody really dominating to this point.
• Cubs rookie Ed Reulbach pitches the league’s second ever no-no in a 3-0 win over the Phillies.
• Brooklyn shortstop Bill Keister has a game to remember in a 19-6 thrashing of the Reds, going 6-for-6 with two doubles, two triples and 5 ribsters.
• Mike Grady, catcher for Detroit, hits for the cycle in a 7-3 loss to Boston.

Awards

• 06/05 POTW: AL – Zaza Harvey (New York) 600 / 7 RBI; NL – Cy Seymour (Chicago) 464 / 6 RBI.
• 06/12 POTW: AL – Zaza Harvey (New York) 583 / 4 RBI; NL – Bill Keister (Brooklyn) 462 / 2 HR / 11 RBI.
• 06/19 POTW: AL – Eddie Plank (Philadelphia) 2-0 / 0.56 / 9 K / 16 IP; NL – Honus Wagner (Pittsburgh) 609 / 5 RBI.
• 06/26 POTW: AL – Eddie Plank (Philadelphia) 2-0 / 0.00 / 15 K / 13.2 IP; NL – Ed Reulbach (Chicago) 2-0 / 0.47 / 8 K / 19 IP.

• AL Batter of the Month: Zaza Harvey (New York) 460 / 14 RBI.
• NL Batter of the Month: Bill Keister (Brooklyn) 352 / 3 HR / 24 RBI.
• AL Pitcher of the Month: Eddie Plank (Philadelphia) 8-1 / 1.02 / 46 K / 70.2 IP.
• NL Pitcher of the Month: Jack Chesbro (Pittsburgh) 5-3 / 1.87 / 36 K / 72.1 IP.
• AL Rookie of the Month: Jimmy Dygert (Washington) 2-5 / 2.63 / 42 K / 75.1 IP.
• NL Rookie of the Month: Ed Reulbach (Chicago) 5-1 / 1.89 / 30 K / 57 IP.

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[luckymann]

Worst 100 (scaled to 95 for this league) RBI season by OBP

[luckymann]

As is almost tradition, July is a tough schedule from the off, with 11 straight without a break including the July 4th doubleheader. We have to be a bit more aggressive with our assault on the lead this month, as we pass the halfway mark and the game of catch-up increases exponentially in difficulty.

It is a real struggle early as we drop three of four against Cincy and fall 7 GB. There’s no point beating about the bush, the squad – in particular, the offence – simply isn’t performing up to its capability day-in, day-out. Not much we can do about it except plug away. This is, to some degree, on me. I’ll be the first to admit that 1905 has been far from my finest season as a Manager. My confidence is pretty shot for the moment.

A rare highlight in this period is Deacon Phillippe’s 100th career win in a 9-1 victory at Chicago that only teases by showing what exactly we are capable of at full throttle.

At the halfway point we sit at 40-37.

The hitting funk deepens, but we eventually turn it around a bit, and this signals an upswing in our performance as we win six of seven. Just as it seems like we are getting some momentum going and Brooklyn coming back to the pack, injury strikes not once but twice. We “lose” Robinson for a stint on the IL after getting beaned, and then Leifield goes down with an arm injury. A couple days later, unfathomable news comes through – it is such a bad UCL tear that his career is over.

How will the group respond? They are obviously shell-shocked, as am I. We lose four of the five games left in the month after getting the news.

Which is understandable, but at the same time, unacceptable. As professional baseball players, these guys know that baseball is merely a subset of life. And just like in the universe that contains it, sometimes bad things – such as a young man having his dreams and ambitions torn asunder by an injury – befall good people. Unfair as that fact may be, they simply have to put what happened to Lefty to one side and get on with it.

Meanwhile, I need to get on and sort out the pressing matter of who fills his spot in the rotation.

As much as I don’t regret the Bresnahan trade, I sure wouldn’t mind being able to call on one of those pitchers we swapped right now. But I can’t, which leaves me with a choice – trade or promote? Or, putting it another way, forget about ’05 and look toward the future or have one last crack at trying to salvage this season.

Nick Altrock – who has been great out of the bullpen with an ERA of less than 1 over 28 innings – makes a cameo as starter while I’m trying to figure things out. As has been the case with him right through, he goes poorly.

To promote Howie Camnitz, who is still extremely raw and about whom I remain unconvinced he is a starter, would be an acceptance that this season is done.

The thing is, we only trail Brooklyn by 6½ with just under 60 games left. Which means we aren’t entirely without hope. And it is for this reason I cannot throw in the towel just yet, especially when a trade manifests itself that would cost us very little to complete. And so, complete it I do on the eve of the deadline.


TRADE 3 OF 5: (07/15): C Ossee Schreckengost and P Win Kellum traded to St. Louis (NL) for P Cy Young.


At age-38, Cy is obviously well closer to the end of his career than the start. That said, he has had a fantastic ’05, going 14-11 with a 1.69 ERA, a 74 FIP- and 6.4 WAR. So we might get a few more seasons yet out of the veteran.

Even if he only stays to the season's end, as I said the trade cost us little. Ossee was barely getting any action and had started bellyaching about it, so this is a win-win. On the subject of, Win Kellum was completely expendable.

And so July comes to a close with us going 14-14 and sitting at 51-46. Like I said, we’re not totally out of contention. But we’ll need everything to fall our way. More to the point, we’ll need to make everything fall our way.

Hot

• Deacon Phillippe: a rock for us all season, and July is no different as he posts a 6-2 / 1.42 month.
• Roger Bresnahan and Pop Foster: as I’ve said, I’m in a real second-guessing-myself kind of mood right now, but there’s no doubt these two trades – or at least our side of them, if not the net effect – have been good for us. Both players have settled in well and have been among our few consistent contributors since joining us.

Not

• Charlie Hickman / Danny Murphy / Matty McIntyre: all need to turn things around if we are to have any chance.

Around the Leagues

• The White Sox consolidate their position atop the AL with a 17-10 month and now lead by 5 from Detroit.
• Brooklyn leads the NL by the barest margin from the Reds, with the surprising Phillies a real dark horse just 1½ GB.
• Nap Lajoie becomes the first player with 1000 career hits. Honus currently sits around 850.
• The updated Top 100 Prospects list is released. Lefty Leifield is at #7. Our highest-ranked position player is #44 Art Hoelskoetter.

Awards

• 07/03 POTW: AL – Eddie Plank (Philadelphia) 2-0 / 0.82 ERA / 6 K / 11 IP; NL – Jack Chesbro (Pittsburgh) 2-0 / 0.47 ERA / 11 K / 19 IP.
• 07/10 POTW: AL – Homer Smoot (Philadelphia) 467 / 5 RBI; NL – Harry Arndt (Cincinnati) 417 / 1 HR / 10 RBI.
• 07/17 POTW: AL – Zaza Harvey (New York) 522 / 1 HR / 8 RBI; NL – John Titus (Philadelphia) 478 / 2 HR / 6 RBI.
• 07/24 POTW: AL – Ed McFarland (Washington) 600 / 1 HR / 3 RBI; NL – Emmet Heidrick (St. Louis) 536 / 2 RBI.
• 07/31 POTW: AL – Otto Hess (Washington) 2-0 / 0.00 ERA / 9 K / 18 IP; NL – Red Dooin (Brooklyn) 500 / 1 RBI.

• AL Batter of the Month: Mike Grady (Detroit) 415 / 2 HR / 19 RBI.
• NL Batter of the Month: Elmer Flick (Philadelphia) 389 / 1 HR / 15 RBI.
• AL Pitcher of the Month: Otto Hess (Washington) 5-2 / 1.33 / 35 K / 67.2 IP.
• NL Pitcher of the Month: Deacon Phillippe (Pittsburgh) 6-2 / 1.52 / 21 K / 71 IP.
• AL Rookie of the Month: Harry McIntire (Chicago) 4-1 / 1.41 / 27 K / 51 IP.
• NL Rookie of the Month: Ed Reulbach (Chicago) 4-3 / 2.47 / 26 K / 62 IP.

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August commences with a wild, wild 11-10 win at home over Frank Owen in which Mike O’Neill doesn’t last 5 but the bats get us home – Wagner triples twice, homers and drives in 5 – and Young wins in relief. Cy’s first start for us a few days later is an odd one, as he gets belted but also hits a 2-run dinger in a 10-inning 7-6 loss to the Giants.

The bats certainly warm up in the early part of the month and it shows in our results, as we win seven from ten. But – and this is the problem with trying to come from behind, you have to rely on some slippage from your prey – Cincy stays hot and we aren’t making up any ground on them whatsoever.

And of course when we start regressing, they just keep on winning.

A home sweep at the hands of the Phillies that leaves us 11 games adrift signifies the end. Time to turn my focus to next year. Time to see who fits into those plans and who does not.

I finally run out of patience with Owen, who has been simply dreadful from his very first start. He heads to the pen and Altrock gets a proper go in the SP4 slot. Or at least that is the plan.

I won’t drag this out any more than is necessary. Here are the high / lowlights from the rest of the month:

• We are no-hit by Jesse Tannehill; only a hit batsman stops it from being a perfect game. In fact, that entire four-game series sees us score 3 runs and collect 17 hits in total.
• Jack Chesbro wins his 100th career game.
• We lose Deacon Phillippe to another torn labrum, with initial estimates of him being out for 9 months. Although at his age this may well finish him off.
• Howie Camnitz is moved into the rotation.

We go 15-14 for the month, which puts us at 66-60 and a dozen-plus games behind the Reds.

Hot

• Harry Steinfeldt: having a most consistent season and slashes 320/369/485 for the month.
• Rip Cannell / Billy Maloney: both certainly do their future claims no damage with strong performances in whatever role assigned to them.
• Jack Chesbro: his 6-1 / 2.30 with 2.6 WAR sectional is even more impressive when you consider the turmoil going on all around him.

Not

• Cy Young: not quite the steady veteran presence we are hoping for so far, posting a 3.91 ERA in his time with us.

Around the Leagues

• Detroit goes on a 20-6 tear that allows them to catch the White Sox and then get their noses in front to lead by a half-game entering September. It’s pretty much down to these two, with the Browns at 8 GB probably too far back.
• They might only lead the Phillies by 5 ½, but Cincy is playing really well and looks home for mine. Everyone else is gone.

Awards

• 08/07 POTW: AL – Mike Grady (Detroit) 652 / 6 RBI; NL – Roy Thomas (Cincinnati) 600 / 1 RBI.
• 08/14 POTW: AL – Charles Bender (Philadelphia) 2-0 / 0.00 / 14 K / 18 IP; NL – Danny Green (Chicago) 522 / 2 RBI.
• 08/21 POTW: AL – John Anderson (St. Louis) 464 / 9 RBI; NL – Roy Thomas (Cincinnati) 440 / 2 RBI.
• 08/28 POTW: AL – Joe Yeager (Detroit) 647 / 4 RBI; NL – Noodles Hahn (Cincinnati) 3-0 / 0.98 / 14 K / 27.2 IP.

• AL Batter of the Month: Frank LaPorte (St. Louis) 410 / 1 HR / 22 RBI.
• NL Batter of the Month: Roy Thomas (Cincinnati) 478 / 1 HR / 11 RBI.
• AL Pitcher of the Month: Andy Coakley (Chicago) 5-3 / 1.62 / 37 K / 72 IP.
• NL Pitcher of the Month: Noodles Hahn (Cincinnati) 8-0 / 0.70 / 33 K / 76.2 IP.
• AL Rookie of the Month: Frank LaPorte (St. Louis).
• NL Rookie of the Month: Ed Reulbach (Chicago) 3-2 / 3.15 / 24 K / 54.1 IP.

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Most Stolen Bases in rookie season (excluding inaugural year)

[luckymann]

The quirks of the September schedule I have found so endearing in previous campaigns strike me as an annoyance this time around, prolonging unnecessarily a season i want over and done with as quickly as possible.

Again, I’ll only bore you with a few key updates, none of which hopefully features any of our pitchers’ arms falling clean off their torsos:

• We get a rare series sweep over the Reds, with Cy the First beating Irv “Cy the Second” Young in the closer.
• Despite our offence remaining stubbornly inconsistent, we actually have our best run of sustained form all season. So much so, in fact, that by the time September is nearly October we have cut our deficit to 5 and are still mathematically alive, albeit only just.
• In fact, we aren’t officially eliminated until the 151st game of the season, a fair effort indeed from the lads with seemingly nothing to play for. Hopefully a good springboard out of this horror-show season into the next.
• We suffer our second no-no of the season the very next game, this time to Rube Waddell and the Cubs.
• We go a combined 19-9 down the stretch, finishing at 85-69, 3 GB of the Reds.

Hot

• Jack Chesbro: records 11 straight wins before dropping a tough 5-4 decision to Brooklyn. Finishes with an all-time record of 428 innings pitched and pretty much holds our club together in the second half of the year.

Not

• Yours truly: I am a very self-analytical being and as I have said numerous times I am not at all happy with how I have managed our club this season. For what has essentially been a waste of a year I have traded away a couple of guys who may have made the difference this season, one of whom it is becoming glaringly obvious I completely misread the talent of, and those two unexpected injuries shone the spotlight on precisely how much damage I had done to the depth of our squad. I keep track of the trades I do for the club and the tale of the tape is damning to put it mildly. Over the first five seasons my meddling has cost us in the vicinity of 25 WAR. Admittedly, the majority of that comes from trading away Seybold too early, and we have pivoted quite a few years younger through these trades, not to mention won two championships. But these figures seem to show that our success was in spite of my involvement rather than in any way because of it. I need to be smarter from here on in, because this league ain’t getting any easier.

Around the Leagues

• The Phillies keep nipping at the Reds’ heels, inching ever closer. We do our part in the proceedings, winning six straight against Cincy and taking two from three with Brooky. With four games to play the Reds are clinging to a half-game lead, but they manage to scrape through in the end by one game. Good luck to them, too, they deserve it after going so close in those first couple of seasons behind us.
• In what is almost certain to be – given the imminent arrival you’ll be hearing about in the off-season – merely the first in a long tradition of such battles, the Tigers and White Sox go toe to toe and slug it out all month. Slowly but surely, however, the Tigers take control and eventually clinch in early October.
• George Browne of the Cards puts together a 30-game hitting streak.
• A torn rotator cuff ends Beaneaters pitcher Joe Harris’s season prematurely.
• Zaza Harvey of New York wins the AL batting title with a superb 419, while Cincy’s Roy Thomas takes the NL crown with a much more mortal 323.
• A’s ace Eddie Plank gives the Triple Crown a good shake, finishing top 3 in all categories including an AL-best 252 strikeouts.

Awards

• 09/04 POTW: AL – Hobe Ferris (New York) 545 / 6 RBI; NL – Bob Ewing (Cincinnati) 2-0 / 0.50 / 14 K / 18 IP.
• 09/11 POTW: AL – Ned Garvin (St. Louis) 2-0 / 0.50 / 11 K / 18 IP; NL – Jake Beckley (Philadelphia) 433 / 4 RBI.
• 09/18 POTW: AL – Del Howard (Philadelphia) 462 / 8 RBI; NL – Rube Waddell (Chicago) 2-0 / 0.00 / 17 K / 18 IP.
• 09/25 POTW: AL – Jake Thielman (Detroit) 2-0 / 0.50 / 8 K / 18 IP; NL – Dave Brain (Philadelphia) 469 / 1 HR / 3 RBI.
• 10/02 POTW: AL – Harry Howell (New York) 2-0 / 0.47 / 5 K / 19 IP; NL – Jimmy Collins (Chicago) 538 / 3 RBI.

• AL Batter of the Month: Erve Beck (Chicago) 429 / 0 HR / 18 RBI.
• NL Batter of the Month: Sam Crawford (Cincinnati) 356 / 1 HR / 11 RBI.
• AL Pitcher of the Month: Charles Bender (Philadelphia) 7-1 / 1.73 / 54 K / 78 IP.
• NL Pitcher of the Month: Jack Chesbro (Pittsburgh) 6-1 / 2.19 / 32 K / 70 IP.
• AL Rookie of the Month: Jake Thielman (Detroit) 3-2 / 3.21 / 20 K / 42 IP.
• NL Rookie of the Month: Bill Hogg (Boston) 3-2 / 3.23 / 34 K / 53 IP.

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Detroit Tigers (94-60) v Cincinnati Reds (88-66)

Back to best-of-seven, Tigers with the home-field advantage.

A first playoffs appearance for both clubs, and it looks a pretty even match-up. I think the Tigers will prevail, though, in six games. They just seem to have the Reds covered in most aspects of the game.

DETROIT TIGERS S+ PAGE
CINCINNATI REDS S+ PAGE

Game 1 in Detroit, October 11th 1905
Doc White (30-14, 2.28) v Noodles Hahn (27-15, 2.32)

The Tigers come out with all guns blazing and make their intentions clear from the off, as two of their big guns – Mike Grady (3-4 / HR / 4 RBI) and Ty Cobb (3-4 / HR / 3 RBI) run rampant and 30-game winner Doc White keeps the Reds bats pretty quiet.

Detroit 14, Cincinnati 2.
BOX SCORE

Game 2 in Detroit, October 12th 1905
George Mullin (26-14, 2.80) v Bob Ewing (21-18, 2.48)
Detroit leads series 1-0

Detroit scores early and then pads their lead with a 2-run double by Charlie Jones in the 8th, while George Mullin shuts out the Reds on five hits to put the Tigers in a strong position heading to Cincy.

Detroit 3, Cincinnati 0.
BOX SCORE

Game 3 in Cincinnati, October 14th 1905
Irv Young (15-19, 2.88) v Barney Pelty (19-13, 2.69)
Detroit leads series 2-0.

Being back in front of their home fans seems to be the tonic for the Reds, as they take a hard-fought win to get back into the series. Detroit take an early lead again and seem to have all the answers until a 3-run 6th finally gets the Reds in front, and Irv Young digs deep to give them a complete game for the W.

Cincinnati 8, Detroit 6
BOX SCORE

Game 4 in Cincinnati, October 15th 1905
Noodles Hahn (0-1, 9.00) v Doc White (1-0, 1.00)
Detroit leads series 2-1

An error-riddled performance that sees all of Detroit’s runs unearned puts the Reds on the brink of elimination. The home side takes an early 2-0 lead but then it all comes unstuck in a 4-run 5th, with White knocking in two of them with a single. The Reds try valiantly to get back into it but in the end the Tigers do just enough to hold them off.

Detroit 5, Cincinnati 3
BOX SCORE

Game 5 in Cincinnati, October 16th 1905
Bob Ewing (0-1, 3.38) v George Mullin (1-0, 0.00)
Detroit leads series 3-1

Bob Ewing steps right up for the hosts, pitching a 5-hit gem to shutout the Tigers’ potent offence and send this series back to Michigan. Two runs in the first eases the scoreboard pressure for the home side and they add singles in the 5th and again in the 7th to cruise to a strong win that will give them some hope of pulling this out of the fire.

Cincinnati 4, Detroit 0
BOX SCORE

Game 6 in Detroit, October 18th 1905
Barney Pelty (0-1, 8.10) v Irv Young (1-0, 5.00)
Detroit leads series 3-2

Barney Pelty atones for his disappointing Game 3 effort with a magnificent performance here. A tentative start sees the game still scoreless thru 5 ½, but the Tigers finally break the deadlock with one in the 6th and then get a vital insurance run in the 8th, with Series MVP Kid Elberfeld driving both in. That’s all Pelty needs as he blanks the Reds on 5 hits to get the Tigers home for their first Championship, one I doubt will be their last.

Detroit 2, Cincinnati 0
BOX SCORE

DETROIT WINS SERIES 4-2.
SERIES MVP: Kid Elberfeld (Chicago)


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AL 1905 HISTORY INDEX

NL 1905 HISTORY INDEX

AWARDS HISTORY

[luckymann]

Held on 12/20/05.

There are just five new Legacies entering the League, including one who should really heat up the White Sox-Tigers rivalry big time.

These are the Legacy Players for the 1906 season:

Boston Americans: Bill Carrigan (13.2 WAR; 709 games played (conceded: one-club player))
Chicago White Sox: Eddie Collins (123.9 WAR; 1670 games played)
Detroit Tigers: Ed Willett (12.6 WAR; 274 games pitched)
Philadelphia Athletics: Jack Coombs (26.8 WAR; 238 games pitched)
Pittsburgh Pirates: Babe Adams (52.7; 481)

Eddie Collins was also eligible for the Philadelphia Athletics, but the White Sox’ higher Draft Pick gets him.

There are 112 rookies for this season, and the Draft will consist of 5 rounds.

The Draft order will be as follows (winning percentage from 1905 IRL season in brackets; bold indicates Legacy Pick in 1st Round):

Round 1
1. Chicago White Sox (605) – Eddie Collins
2. Pittsburgh Pirates (627) – Babe Adams
3. Philadelphia Athletics (622) – Jack Coombs
4. Boston Americans (513) – Bill Carrigan
5. Detroit Tigers (516; 15.5) – Ed Willett
6. Brooklyn Superbas (316)
7. Boston Beaneaters (331)
8. St. Louis Browns (353)
9. St. Louis Cardinals (377)
10. Washington Senators (424)
11. New York Highlanders (477)
12. Cleveland Naps (494)
13. Cincinnati Reds (516; 26 GB)
14. Philadelphia Phillies (546)
15. Chicago Cubs (601)
16. New York Giants (686)

Round 2 thru 5
1. Brooklyn Superbas (316)
2. Boston Beaneaters (331)
3. St. Louis Browns (353)
4. St. Louis Cardinals (377)
5. Washington Senators (424)
6. New York Highlanders (477)
7. Cleveland Naps (494)
8. Boston Americans (513)
9. Cincinnati Reds (516; 26 GB)
10. Detroit Tigers (516; 15.5)
11. Philadelphia Phillies (546)
12. Chicago Cubs (601)
13. Chicago White Sox (605)
14. Philadelphia Athletics (622)
15. Pittsburgh Pirates (627)
16. New York Giants (686)


For the third straight year we get a Legacy, although the jury’s still out on whether or not that’s a good thing.

Some handy types up for grabs but they are all pretty much gone by the time we get our first actual pick at #31 overall.
We end up taking the following players:

1. P Babe Adams
How useful an addition babe will be for our club will come down most of all to whether he develops as a starter or reliever.

2. LHSP Carl Druhot
With Deacon’s future still very much uncertain and Cy at the age he is, this was the sensible pick, especially given our plenitude in the position player ranks and the alternatives on offer here. No world-beater, but a warm body all the same.

3. RHRP Charley Rhodes
A pretty handy reliever who’ll free up one of those already on our books as trade bait.

4. RHRP Lou Fiene
See 3., above.

5. OF Gene Good
Unlikely to ever see action.

FULL DRAFT LOG

[luckymann]

AL CHAMPIONS: Chicago White Sox (93-58)

NL CHAMPIONS: Chicago Cubs (116-36)

WORLD SERIES: White Sox 4, Cubs 2


Top Ten Lists (courtesy of thisgreatgame.com)

NL Hitters

1. HONUS WAGNER, PITTSBURGH

• Key Numbers: .339 average, 103 runs, 38 doubles, 71 RBIs, 53 stolen bases.
• Without Wagner, the Pirates as a team hit .252—or nearly 90 points below the Flying Dutchman’s season figure.

2. FRANK CHANCE, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: .319 average, 103 runs, 10 triples, 71 RBIs, 70 walks, 57 stolen bases.
• Never to be confused for an iron man due to his dual role as manager—and his unfortunate penchant for getting hit in the noggin—Chance logged the most games (136) of his career while piloting the Cubs to a NL-record 116 victories.

3. HARRY STEINFELDT, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: .327 average, 91 runs, 176 hits, 10 triples, 83 RBIs.
• After eight years in Cincinnati, there was no trouble with Harry as he moved to Chicago and forged an anomalous season—hitting 60 points over his career average.

4. HARRY LUMLEY, BROOKLYN

• Key Numbers: .324 average, 12 triples, 9 home runs, 61 RBIs, 35 stolen bases.
• Only nine players hit 10 or more homers in a NL season during the 1900s, but Lumley once again came oh-so-close—hitting nine for one of three times in his career.

5. ART DEVLIN, NEW YORK

• Key Numbers: .299 average, 74 walks, 2 home runs, 65 RBIs, 54 stolen bases.
• It was a banner year for the young third baseman—setting career highs in batting average, doubles and walks, while tying the knot with a Chicago woman with family money.

6. SHERRY MAGEE, PHILADELPHIA

• Key Numbers: .282 average, 36 doubles, 6 home runs, 67 RBIs, 55 stolen bases.
• Magee’s 55 steals would be the most by a Phillie until Juan Samuel topped him nearly 78 years later.

7. TIM JORDAN, BROOKLYN

• Key Numbers: .262 average, 12 home runs, 78 RBIs, 59 walks.
• After a number of years trying to escape the minors, Jordan finally found major league bliss in his hometown and won the first of two NL home run titles—something no other Dodger has ever done.

8. CY SEYMOUR, CINCINNATI-NEW YORK

• Key Numbers: .286 average, 8 home runs, 80 RBIs.
• The man second only to Babe Ruth in a combination of pitching wins and base hits, Seymour rallied in New York (.320) after being traded from the Reds (.257) at midseason.

9. ROGER BRESNAHAN, NEW YORK

• Key Numbers: .281 average, 81 walks, 15 hit-by-pitches, .419 on-base percentage.
• The gifted catcher turned a somewhat innocuous batting average into a NL-high on-base percentage through a plethora of walks and hit-by-pitches.

10. MILLER HUGGINS, CINCINNATI

• Key Numbers: .292 average, 81 runs, 71 walks, 41 stolen bases.
• One of the stronger season performances for the future Yankees manager.

AL Hitters

1. GEORGE STONE, ST. LOUIS

• Key Numbers: .358 average, 91 runs, 208 hits, 20 triples, 6 home runs, 71 RBIs, 35 stolen bases.
• The second-year Stone—still giving the Boston Americans (Red Sox) hangovers for letting him go in an ill-advised trade—won the sabermetricians’ triple crown, pacing the AL in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

2. NAP LAJOIE, CLEVELAND

• Key Numbers: .355 average, 88 runs, 214 hits, 48 doubles, 91 RBIs.
• Back at full strength following a season-ending injury the previous July, Lajoie muscled up for another Hall of Fame-caliber campaign…all without hitting a single home run.

3. HARRY DAVIS, PHILADELPHIA

• Key Numbers: .292 average, 94 runs, 42 doubles, 12 home runs, 96 RBIs.
• Although Davis set a career high with 12 homers—and led the AL for the third of four straight years—he never knocked in more than 100 runs in a season. He came closest in 1906.

4. ELMER FLICK, CLEVELAND

• Key Numbers: .311 average, 98 runs, 194 hits, 34 doubles, 22 triples, 39 stolen bases.
• A busy year for the veteran star outfielder, who played every one of 157 games for the Naps while setting a personal best with 22 triples.

5. HAL CHASE, NEW YORK

• Key Numbers: .323 average, 84 runs, 193 hits, 76 RBIs.
• After learning the ropes as a 1905 rookie, future game-fixer Chase put up some of the best numbers he would see for a decade; perhaps integrity had something to do with it.

6. CHARLIE HEMPHILL, ST. LOUIS

• Key Numbers: .289 average, 90 runs, 4 home runs, 62 RBIs, 33 stolen bases.
• The closest thing to a complement for George Stone (above), Hemphill had arguably his best year yet—certainly better than younger brother Frank, who was a hitless blunder (3-for-40) among the White Sox’ hitless wonders.

7. SAM CRAWFORD, DETROIT

• Key Numbers: .295 average, 25 doubles, 16 triples, 72 RBIs.
• After a relatively few quiet years, Crawford began to crank it back up; the emergence of teammate Ty Cobb likely had something to do with it.

8. GEORGE DAVIS, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: .277 average, 26 doubles, 80 RBIs.
• The 36-year-old shortstop transcended the White Sox’ “Hitless Wonders” brand and played strong enough offense to be the only member of the Pale Hose to make this list.

9. TERRY TURNER, CLEVELAND

• Key Numbers: .291 average, 85 runs, 170 hits.
• Turner, whose long tenure at Cleveland spanned the entire Deadball Era (1901-19), was never better than in 1906.

10. BOBBY WALLACE, ST. LOUIS

• Key Numbers: .258 average, 67 RBIs, 58 walks, 24 stolen bases.
• The future Hall of Famer—why he’s in, we really don’t know—quietly had one of his better years.

NL Pitchers

1. THREE FINGER BROWN, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: 1.04 ERA, 26 wins, 6 losses, .813 win percentage, 277.1 innings.
• The disfigured pitcher’s remarkable breakout campaign included an ERA that’s the lowest in modern NL history.

2. TULLY SPARKS, PHILADELPHIA

• Key Numbers: 2.16 ERA, 19 wins, 16 losses, 316.2 innings.
• Workhorse for a year, Sparks nearly managed 20 wins despite offensive support that was nearly half of what he got in 1905.

3. VIC WILLIS, PITTSBURGH

• Key Numbers: 1.73 ERA, 23 wins, 13 losses, 322 innings.
• Unshackled from the NL basement in Boston, Willis went from an unsupported 20-game loser for the Beaneaters to a well-supported 20-game winner at Pittsburgh.

4. JACK PFIESTER, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: 1.51 ERA, 20 wins, 8 losses, 250.2 innings.
• The 28-year-old southpaw entered the season with one career major league win and finished it as one of two 20-win pitchers for the 116-36 Cubs.

5. JOE MCGINNITY, NEW YORK

• Key Numbers: 2.25 ERA, 27 wins, 12 losses, 45 appearances, 339.2 innings.
• As Christy Mathewson struggled with an early-season illness, McGinnity reclaimed the role of Giants ace and led the NL for the fifth (and last) time in wins.

6. ED REULBACH, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: 1.65 ERA, 19 wins, 4 losses, .826 win percentage.
• Nobody was tougher to hit off in the majors—Three Finger Brown included—than Reulbach, who allowed a .175 batting average.

7. JACK TAYLOR, ST. LOUIS-CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: 1.99 ERA, 20 wins, 12 losses, 302.1 innings.
• All seemed forgiven in Chicago for Taylor, traded back to the Cubs after being accused of throwing games during his last stay there.

8. LEFTY LEIFIELD, PITTSBURGH

• Key Numbers: 1.87 ERA, 18 wins, 13 losses.
• Strong debut for the southpaw from Illinois whose ERA would be the lowest of his 12-year career.

9. SAM LEEVER, PITTSBURGH

• Key Numbers: 2.32 ERA, 22 wins, 7 losses, 260.1 innings.
• The fourth and final 20-win campaign for Leever wrapped a six-year run in which he won 114 games and lost just 42.

10. JAKE WEIMER, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: 2.22 ERA, 20 wins, 14 losses, 304.2 innings.
• Jake could have been a contender, but the Cubs shipped him off to lowly Cincinnati (for Harry Steinfeldt); still, he responded with his third season of exactly 20 wins over a four-year stretch.

AL Pitchers

1. ADDIE JOSS, CLEVELAND

• Key Numbers: 1.72 ERA, 21 wins, 9 losses, 282 innings.
• The steady ascension from solid pitcher to top ace continued for Joss, who scored 20 wins with a sub-2.00 ERA in the same season for the first time.

2. BOB RHOADS, CLEVELAND

• Key Numbers: 1.80 ERA, 22 wins, 10 losses, 315 innings.
• It could be argued that Rhoads’ campaign was better than that of teammate Joss—and if anyone ever won 20 games while collecting more walks (92) than strikeouts (89), we have yet to know about it.

3. OTTO HESS, CLEVELAND

• Key Numbers: 1.83 ERA, 20 wins, 17 losses, 333.2 innings.
• Wrapping up the triumvirate of 20-game winners at Cleveland, the Swiss-born Otto Hess enjoyed his wonder season amid an otherwise neutral career.

4. ED WALSH, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: 1.88 ERA, 17 wins, 13 losses, 10 shutouts, 278.1 innings.
• No White Sox pitcher understood the importance of being at their best while getting low run support than the emerging Walsh, who threw 10 shutouts among his 17 wins for the Hitless Wonders.

5. BARNEY PELTY, ST. LOUIS

• Key Numbers: 1.59 ERA, 16 wins, 11 losses, 260.2 innings.
• Nicknamed the Yiddish Curver for his Jewish upbringing, Pelty had his finest season in an otherwise uninspiring career.

6. AL ORTH, NEW YORK

• Key Numbers: 2.34 ERA, 27 wins, 17 losses, 338.2 innings.
• After laboring for some truly awful Washington teams, Orth received long-overdue support—and thus recognition.

7. NICK ALTROCK, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: 2.06 ERA, 20 wins, 13 losses, 287.2 innings.
• Altrock was able to make it two straight 20-win seasons thanks to a victory in which he didn’t throw a single pitch—picking off a runner for the third out of the ninth just after being brought into the game as a reliever.

8. JACK POWELL, ST. LOUIS

• Key Numbers: 1.77 ERA, 13 wins, 14 losses.
• Being given 2.48 runs of support per start will always make it tough to sport a winning record even with an ERA as good as Powell’s.

9. JACK CHESBRO, NEW YORK

• Key Numbers: 2.96 ERA, 23 wins, 17 losses, 49 appearances, 42 starts, 325 innings.
• The fading Chesbro did well in an attempt to emulate his superhuman effort of two years earlier.

10. FRANK OWEN, CHICAGO

• Key Numbers: 2.33 ERA, 22 wins, 13 losses, 293 innings.
• Owen’s brief reign as a top White Sox pitcher hit its coda as he won 20-plus games for the third straight year; he notched only nine more victories in the following three seasons before exiting the majors for good, all before turning 30.

[luckymann]

I get in with an early trade that moves our squad toward the way I want it to look this season and beyond.

TRADE 1 OF 5: (03/19): P Doc McJames, OF Kid Nance and C Tom Doran traded to Boston (AL) for 3B / OF Tommy Leach and LHRP John Skopec.

I have covered Kid’s troubles with us at length in previous seasons, he just never really got going at our club (1.9 WAR in 2+ seasons) and didn’t fit in my starting lineup this year. Having already expressed his unhappiness with playing a backup role, I knew it was time for him to move on. Doc was an iffy one, given the uncertain state of our rotation he remained a near-to-last option, but an option nonetheless, for another crack at starting. But the medical reports on Deacon are really positive and it looks like he’ll be ready and raring to go for Opening Day. Let’s hope I haven’t just jinxed that. Tom was no hope of ever seeing action with us.

Tommy is a gun who will start as our everyday 3B with some other shuffling to accommodate this, as was always my plan in one guise or another. He also plays plus-outfield in left and centre. John is a quality LH reliever who’ll give our bullpen some much-needed strength from that side.

After last year I am hesitant to read too much into either our 13-5 Spring Training or the predictions of us going 87-67 and finishing 4 back of the Cubs.

FULL PRESEASON PREDICTIONS