Baseball in Boston -- 1901 & Beyond

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Received word from the front office that the Boston Americans fan loyalty has increased to a Great rating.

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To be honest, aside from winning the World Series I am not sure why the Market Size would increase to Big. No complaints though - I will take it!

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With all the good news happening, 3rd-base coach Mario Castro announced his retirement. I guess going out on top is a good thing. The search for his replacement begins now.

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The season is over and Boston Americans owner Kevin Kunz provided my end of season review. Overall he is clearly happy given the fact that the team won the World Series. Additionally, he was happy that fan attendance increased significantly and that the team is set up to contend for the playoffs. He did not like my lack of effort to acquire a Gold Glove player. Moving forward, Kunz wants the team to play .500 ball, still acquire a Gold Glove winner, increase season attendance, and focus on improving team bullpen ERA.

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What an amazing playoff run by the Shreveport Swamp Foxes! After finishing 20-games behind in the league race and sneaking in as a wild card team, the Swamp Foxes (75-65) proceeded to knock off the Lakeland Pelicans (95-45) in the SL2 Division league championship to advance to the Double-A championship. Here the Swamp Foxes defeated the Eugene Lumberjacks (100-40) to take home the Championship.

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The Clearwater Hooks (103-37), Boston's minor-league affiliate, took home the Triple-A Championship by beating the Providence Bandits (79-65) by a 4 to 2 score.

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After finishing in 7th place in the National League standings with a 66-74 record, the New York Giants announced they had terminated the contract of manager Bobby Sharp. In his 4 seasons with the team, Sharp posted a 250-310 (.446%) record.

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A look at the final regular season standings for 1904 MLB. A few things that stand out for me include the dismal post All-Star record of the Philadelphia Athletics (29-46); the New York Giants having a positive (+11) run differential despite finishing 8 games under .500; the St. Louis Cardinals (36-34) being 6-games better in road games than when playing at home; and the Philadelphia Phillies (29-18) being 11-games above .500 in 1-run games.

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A look at the American League player batting leaders. While there were several outstanding season performances, Philadelphia Athletics All-Star Honus Wagner did something rather special. For the 1904 regular season, Wagner led the AL in BA (.354), OBP (.405), SLG (.517), OPS (.922), WAR (8.1), Hits (193), Doubles (47), TB (282), EBH (65), ISO (.163), OPS+ (186), and wOBA (.435). It will not come as a surprise if Wagner takes home several of the major batting awards.

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While Noodles Hahn, Weldon Henley, and even Johnny Lush had fine pitching performances in the 1904 Season, this was once again the year of Washington Senators ace Rube Waddell. In what will likely be his 4th consecutive Platinum Pitcher award, Waddell tremednous pitching season saw him lead the AL in ERA (1.71), Wins (24), Pitching WAR (11.3), IP (336.1/3), Strikeouts (294), Ks/BB (3.8), Ks/ 9 IP (7.9), WHIP (1.00), FIP (1.62), ERA+ (155), RA9-WAR (10.6), Win % (.706), and Quality Starts (32).

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After three straight seasons in which he led the National League in batting average, the 1904 Season does not have Nap Lajoie atop the leader board. Rather, Pittsburgh Pirates 1B Fred Tenney took home the NL batting crown with a .327 average, as well as leading the league in OBP (.399), OPS (.803), OPS+ (149), and wOBA (.375). To note, Tenney's teammate Bill Keister had a fine season, leading the NL in SLG (.457), Doubles (37), TB (253), SF (9), EBH (57), and ISO (.143).

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The National League pitching leaderboard is an interesting one to review, as there was a wide range of pitchers leading in various categories. Overall, it seems like Brooklyn Superbas ace Bob Wicker may come out on top as he lead the NL in ERA (1.63), ERA+ (161), rWAR (10.4), BABIP (.236), OP Avg (.211), and Quality Starts (30).

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Interesting list to see, as there were no 6-hit games or multi-homer games during the season. Cleveland's Ed Delahanty (89 & 65) and Detroit's Mike Donlin (68 & 65) were the only batters to have multiple entries on the top-25 list. Noodles Hahn was the highest ranked pitcher on the list at #7 with a Score of 74.

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While several pitchers appeared multiple times on the list (Noodles Hahn, Johnny Lush, Addie Joss, Andy Coakley) the clear dominate pitcher here is Washington's Rube Waddell with four separate listings (117, 98, 89, and 88) on the top-25 list.

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A look at batting streaks for the 1904 MLB season. The one that stands out for me is Ed Delahanty's 29-game hitting streak, as it was 7-games better than the next hitter.

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Pitching streaks for the 1904 MLB season. Bob Wicker's 34 scoreless inning mark is impressive, and is 7 innings better than the next entry.

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A look at the end of season top prospects.

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With the upcoming draft now just a few months away, the player pool list has been generated and there are several players who will be in much demand. The Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Athletics, and New York Giants have the top picks in the draft.

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Award season is upon us and the first awards are going out. For the National League Fireman of the Year award, Boston Beaneaters reliever Ed Siever was the named winner for his outstanding 1904 season. On the year, Siever posted a 0-2 record and 0.67 ERA with 4 saves (led NL) and 10 shutdowns (led NL) in 27 innings of play.