About Me

I am a long time baseball fan who became interesting in documenting the "missing" batter strikeouts a few years back as an outgrowth of my interest in the 1899 Cleveland Spiders. Grew up w/ the Big Red Machine. I now follow them and my new hometown, Detroit Tigers. Member of SABR off and on since 1979.

Monday, January 10, 2011

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


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 8th the other 7 times.  He batted 4th 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 1st full season, struck out 25 times in 127 games, mostly at 1st 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 (1st season, 2 games)


No comments:

Post a Comment

Popular Posts