Today we'll take a look at some Baseball History. The year - 1901. This was the season the American League was established. To put it mildly - The National League was not happy to have company and it took two long years before the AL and NL learned to play nice. Let's see how and why the AL got going and also take a look at some teams and key players from both leagues in 1901.
The National League, which started in 1876 was pretty much alone up until 1901. It was only a matter of time before there was infighting about, what else - the almighty dollar. Some owners in the National League were known as tyrants and tight with the wallet. But the fat-cats rolling in the money didn't notice the wolf stalking in the form of the American League.
A guy named Ban Johnson joined with other owners and formed 8 AL teams - Chicago White Stockings, Boston Americans, Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Senators, Cleveland Blues, and Milwaukee Brewers. Not only did they start up their own league, they did a little pillaging at the expense of the NL. Some big names jumped ship to the kinder and gentler AL. Players like Nap Lajoie and Cy Young (big enough for ya?) found success in the AL.
Let's take a look at some of the players from 1901. We talked about Nap Lajoie. He hit .426 for Connie Macks' (more on him in a future post) Athletics. Cy Young resurrected his career with Boston at age 34. In the National League, 27 year old Honus Wagner hit .353 with 49 stolen bases. For the Giants a 20 year old rookie by the name of Christy Mathewson was 20-17 with a 2.41 ERA.
Other players of note:
Sam Crawford (OF - Reds) batted .320 and lad the NL with 16 HR's.
Jack Chesbro (P - Pirates) had a 21-10 record with a 2.38 ERA.
Rube Wadell (P - Pirates/Orphans) in his third year was 14-16 with a 3.01 ERA
Rookie Eddie Plank (P - Athletics) was 17-13 with a 3.31 ERA.
The standings from 1901:
Sam Crawford (OF - Reds) batted .320 and lad the NL with 16 HR's.
Jack Chesbro (P - Pirates) had a 21-10 record with a 2.38 ERA.
Rube Wadell (P - Pirates/Orphans) in his third year was 14-16 with a 3.01 ERA
Rookie Eddie Plank (P - Athletics) was 17-13 with a 3.31 ERA.
The standings from 1901:
1901
American League Standings
|
||||
Team
|
Wins
|
Losses
|
WP
|
GB
|
Chicago White Stockings
|
83
|
53
|
.610
|
0
|
| Boston Americans |
79
|
57
|
.581
|
4
|
Detroit Tigers
|
74
|
61
|
.548
|
8½
|
| Philadelphia Athletics |
74
|
62
|
.544
|
9
|
| Baltimore Orioles |
68
|
65
|
.511
|
13½
|
| Washington Senators |
61
|
72
|
.459
|
20½
|
| Cleveland Blues |
54
|
82
|
.397
|
29
|
| Milwaukee Brewers |
48
|
89
|
.350
|
35½
|
1901 National League Standings
|
||||
Team
|
Wins
|
Losses
|
WP
|
GB
|
| Pittsburgh Pirates |
90
|
49
|
.647
|
0
|
| Philadelphia Phillies |
83
|
57
|
.593
|
7½
|
| Brooklyn Superbas |
79
|
57
|
.581
|
9½
|
| St. Louis Cardinals |
76
|
64
|
.543
|
14½
|
| Boston Beaneaters |
69
|
69
|
.500
|
20½
|
| Chicago Orphans |
53
|
86
|
.381
|
37
|
| New York Giants |
52
|
85
|
.380
|
37
|
| Cincinnati Reds |
52
|
87
|
.374
|
38
|
Hope you enjoyed this. Please feel free to offer opinions.
Thanks for reading,
-Tom
It's hard to imagine what a full contact sport baseball was back in those days.
ReplyDeleteThere's something rather symmetrically reassuring that the NL started in 1876 (during the USA Centennial year) and the AL started in 1901, the first year of the 20th century. The fact they started 25 years apart also appeals to the math geek in me. lol
More numerology than pre-calc, but impressive non the less
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading
-Tom