1898 - Batter Strikeouts Year in Review

Season Comments:

-          Boston Beaneaters wins its 2^nd of 2 straight NL Pennants

-          1^st year of “modern” stolen base rule

-          Willie Keeler leads league w/ .385 average – 216 hits, only 10 for extra bases

-          Jimmy Collins of the Beaneaters leads the league with 15 homers

-          Kid Nichols of the Beaneaters goes 31-12, his 3^rd straight 30+ win season

-          Clark Griffith, future owner of the Washington Senators, leads league with 1.88 ERA (retro)

Total Pct Completed:   89.3%

Hardest to Strike Out (BK+):

Team:

Boston– 299 k’s

Individual:

1. Willie Keeler, Balt  - 4 k’s in 561 at-bats  (729 BK+)
2. Lave Cross, St.L – 8 k’s in 602 ab’s (443)
3. Hugh Duffy, Bos  - 13 k’s in 568 ab’s (290)
4. John McGraw, Balt – 13 k’s in 515 ab’s (272)
5. Bobby Wallace, Clev – 14 k’s in 593 ab’s (265)

 Keeler's 4 k's:

1. August 13, gane 2 (vs Pitt, Jim Gardner)
2. September 5, game 2 (at Phil, Wiley Piatt)
3.  September 13, game 2 (at NY, Ed Doheny, 5th)
4. October 13 (vs. Bos, Vic Willis)

Most Strikeouts:

Team:

Louisville – 433 k’s

Individual:

1. Jake Gettman,  Wash –60
2. Bill Joyce, NY – 60
3. Candy LaChance, Brook – 59
4. Billy Clingman, Lou – 57
5. Barry McCormick, Chi – 54

Most Strikeouts by a Pitcher:

Season:

Cy Seymour, NY – 239

Game:

September 12 – Cy Seymour, NY, 12 (vs. Wash)

4 or more Strikeouts by Batter:

September 21 – Bill Damman, Cin (5) vs. Wash (Jack Sutthoff)

Resources:

Brooklyn and New York home & away - New York Evening Telegram (play-by-play)

Boston home - Boston Globe

Baltimore home -Baltimore Sun

Cleveland home - Cleveland Plain Dealer

Philadelphia home – Philadelphia Inquirer

Washington home – Washington Post

Pittsburgh home – Pittsburgh Press & Post

Chicago home & away – Chicago Tribune

Help Wanted Section:

Cincinnati, Louisville and St. Louis are my 3 home game “sore spots” – I have gleaned some scattered k’s from the Louisville Courier- Journal (LCJ).   The Cincinnati Commercial Tribune began a 2 year “sabbatical” in batter strikeout coverage.  They would resume that stat in the boxscores in 1900.   St. Louis Globe Democrat began to include batter strikeouts in their boxscores late in the season.

Other Individual Player Comments:

-          Matt Kilroy makes a comeback after 3 years out of the majors – going 6-7 and also playing 11 games in the of.   He struck out 7 times.

-          Candy LaChance had the worst BK+ with a rating of 53.  He also had the highest percentage of his team’s (Brooklyn) strikeouts  with 19.0% - the highest percentage in the NL from 1897-1909 that a player had of his team k’s.

-          Sam Thompson, in his penultimate season (he will show up in 1908 at age 46 for 8 games), hits .349 in 63 at-bats and strikes out only once.

-          Other Hall of Famers: 

o   Elmer Flick, Phil - 37

o   Bid McPhee, Cin – 35

o   Jesse Burkett, Clev – 30

o   Billy Hamilton, Bos – 29

o   Jake Beckley, Cin – 28

o   Ed Delahanty, Phil – 28

o   Napoleon Lajoie, Phil – 24

o    Fred Clarke, Lou – 22

o   Honus Wagner, Lou – 21

o   Hughie Jennings, Balt – 21

o   Jimmy Collins, Bos – 18

o   Wilbert Robinson, Balt – 18

o   George Davis, NY – 15

o   Frank Chance, Chi – 14 (1^st year – 33 games at c, 17 in of, 2 at 1b)

o   Bobby Wallace, Clev – 14

o   Hugh Duffy, Bos – 13

o   John McGraw, Balt – 13

o   Cy Young, Clev – 12

o   Amos Rusie, NY – 8

1897 - Batter Strikeouts Year in Review

Season Comments:

-          Cap Anson’s last season in the National League

-          Baltimore and Boston battled down to the last games to determine the pennant winner

-          Last season of 132 game schedule

-          St. Louis Brown went 29-102

Total Pct Completed:   91.3%

Hardest to Strike Out (BK+):

Team:

Cincinnati – 216 k’s

Individual:

1. Willie Keeler, Balt  - 5 k’s in 564 at-bats  (595 BK+)
2. Tommy  Corcoran, Cin – 6 k’s in 445 ab’s (423)
3. Hughie Jennings, Balt  - 10 k’s in 439 ab’s (298)
4. Mike Griffin, Brook – 13 k’s in 534 ab’s (260)
5. Bill Lange, Chi – 12 k’s in 479 ab’s (242)

 Keeler's 5 k's:

1. July 19 (at Clev, Zeke Wilson, 5th)
2. August 15 (vs. Brook, Brickyard Kennedy, 1st)
3. August 24, game 1 (vs. Chi, Clark Griffith, 5th)
4. August 28 (vs. Cin, Red Ehret)
5. Sept 22 (at NY, Cy Seymour, 1st)

Corcoran's 6 k's:

1. June 11 (at NY, Amos Rusie, 4^th)
2. July 27 (at Chi, Jimmy Callahan)
3. August 31, game 1 (at NY, Amos Rusie,5^th)
4. August 31, game 2 (at NY, Jouett Meekin, 4^th)
5. September 2 (at NY, Jouett Meekin, 4^th)
6. September 18, game 2 (at Clev, Jack Powell, 3^rd)

Most Strikeouts:

Team:

Louisville – 453 k’s

Individual:

1. Tom McCreery,  Lou/NY – 72 (Lou-45, NY-27)
2. Tom Brown, Wash – 63
3. Barry McCormick, Chi – 51
4. Billy Clingman, Lou – 51
5. Ollie Pickering, Lou/Clev – 41 (Lou-22, Clev-19)

Most Strikeouts by a Pitcher:

Season:

Doc McJames, Balt – 156

Cy Seymour, NY – 156

Game:

May 4 - Fred Klobedanz, Bos, 10 (vs. Phil – Lajoie(3), Hallman(2), E Delahanty(2), Grady(2), Fifield))

August 21 – Walter Thornton, Chi, 10 (at Wash – Gettman(2), Tucker(2),  Fox(2), T Brown, McGuire, Wrigley, Mercer)

August 28 – Cy Seymour, NY, 10 (vs. Chi – Everitt(3), Decker(2), Dahlen, Ryan, Callahan, Thornton, T Donahue)

4 or more Strikeouts by Batter:

May 25 - Jerry Nops, Balt  vs. Pitt (Frank Killen)

August 17 – Duff Cooley, Phil vs. NY (Cy Seymour)

Resources:

Brooklyn and New York home & away - New York Evening Telegram (play-by-play)

Boston home - Boston Globe

Cincinnati home - Cincinnati Commercial-Tribune with the assistance of Jim Farmer

Baltimore home -Baltimore Sun with the assistance of Willis Felber (author of “A Game of Brawl”)

Cleveland home - Cleveland Plain Dealer

Philadelphia home – Philadelphia Inquirer

Washington home – Washington Post

Pittsburgh home – Pittsburgh Press & Post

Chicago home & away – Chicago Tribune

Help Wanted Section:

Louisville and St. Louis are my 2 “sore spots” – I have gleaned some scattered k’s from the Louisville Courier- Journal (LCJ).   Have someone lined up to check the Louisville Times.  I have needs for any papers in St. Louis

Other Individual Player Comments:

-          Cap Anson struck out 27 times in his final season to give him a career total of 330 strikeouts.

-          Louis Sockalexis, in his spotlight season with Cleveland, struck out 38 times in 66 games, with a BK+ of 42.

-          The top 3 lowest full-time BK+ seasons occurred in 1897 – Tommy McCreery (45), Tom Brown (46), and Barry McCormick (48).

-          Brooklyn’s John Grim struck out only 2 times in 80 games.

-          McCreery had led the NL in K’s in 1896 as well with 58.

-          Anson caught 11 games at the beginning of the season (Apr 23, 26, 28, 30, May 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 20).  He batted 9th 4 times and 8^th the other 7 times.  He batted 4^th at 1b the rest of the season.

-          Honus Wagner, in his rookie season, struck out 14 times in 62 games, mostly in center field.

-          Napoleon Lajoie, in his 1^st full season, struck out 25 times in 127 games, mostly at 1^st base.

-          Other Hall of Famers: 

o   Bobby Wallace, Clev – 32

o   Billy Hamilton, Bos - 30

o   Fred Clarke, Lou - 26

o   Jesse Burkett, Clev - 25

o   Ed Delahanty, Phi – 23

o   George Davis, NY – 23

o   Cy Young, Clev – 22

o   Joe Kelley, Balt – 19

o   Kid Nichols, Bos – 18

o   Hugh Duffy, Bos – 16

o   John McGraw, Balt – 16

o   Jake Beckley, NY/Cin – 14 (2/12)

o   Deacon McGuire, Wash – 12

o   Clark Griffith, Chi – 8

o   Wilbert Robinson, Balt – 8

o   Amos Rusie, NY – 8

o   Roger Connor, StL – 4 (last season)

o   Roger Bresnahan, Wash – 2 (1st season, all 6 games as a pitcher)

o   Rube Waddell, Lou – 2 (1^st season, 2 games)