1900 - Batter Strikeouts Year in Review

Season Comments:

Over the fall/winter of 1899-1900, the National League contracted to 8 teams.   Most of Louisville’s players ended up with Pittsburgh, while players from Cleveland, Washington, and Baltimore scattered to the 4 winds (so to say), some ending up with other NL teams, some in the various minor leagues (including the recently renamed American League), and the rest gone forever.

As for 1900, there were a few highlights to the 8 team circuit:

       

                      

1. The number of games was scaled back to 140 (20 per opponent) from the 154 (14 per opponent) of the previous 2 seasons.
2. Brooklyn Superbas won their 2^nd straight pennant with an 82-54 record.  Pittsburgh, strengthened by the addition of Wagner, Clarke, Waddell, & Leach finished 2^nd, 4 ½ out.   The last place NY Giants, were only 23 games out – meaning a respite from the St. Louis Browns/Cleveland Spiders-type teams of the previous few seasons.
3. Rightfielder Honus Wagner won the 1^st of his 8 batting titles, with a .381 average.  With league leading 45 doubles and 22 triples, his OPS+ of 175 also led the circuit.
4. John McGraw, who landed in St. Louis after some early season holding out, ended with a .344 BA and a league leading .505 OBA (85 bb in 99 games).   After debuting as a manager for the Baltimore Orioles the previous season, McGraw would not manage, and it would be the last season that he would not manage until 1933.
5. Philadelphia’s Elmer Flick continued to blossom (.342 in 1899), finishing 2^nd in BA with a .367 average and a WAR with 6.7 (Wagner had 7.1).
6. Noodles Hahn won his 2^nd of 3 straight K titles with 132, in this last year before the institution of the foul strike rule(NL).
7. Pittsburgh’s Rube Waddell led the league with a 2.37 ERA and 5.6 K/9IP.
8. 33 year old Cy Young, in spite of a pedestrian looking 19-19, 3.00 (121 ERA+) record, led the league with a 6.5 WAR by pitchers.

Total Pct Completed:   98.7%

Hardest to Strike Out (BK+):

Team:

Brooklyn - 270 k’s

Individual:

1. Willie Keeler, Brook  - 4 k’s in 136 games  (814 BK+)
2. Lave Cross, St.L/Brook – 7 k’s in 133 g (454)
3. Claude Ritchey, Pitt  - 8 k’s in 123 g (376)
4. Napoleon Lajoie, Phil – 8 k’s in 102 g (310)
5. Jimmy Collins, Bos – 13 k’s in 142 g (270)

1900 would mark the only season (or part of a season) where the 1 & 2 BK+ leaders would come from the same team – the convergence of the 2 top “hardest to strikeout” players for part of the season, as Cross was purchased by Brooklyn from St. Louis in mid-May and would jump to the AL Philadelphia A’s for 1901.

 Keeler's 4 k's:

1. May 14 (at St.L, Jack Powell, 1st)
2. June 23 (at NY, Ed Doheny, 1st)
3. August 25 (at Bos, Vic Willis, 1st)
4. September 18 (vs. St.L, Cy Young, 1st)

Interestingly, all 4 of Keeler’s K’s occurred in the 1^st inning.

Most Strikeouts:

Team:

Cincinnati – 411 k’s

Individual:

1. Jimmy Barrett, Cin – 63
2. Bill Bradley, Chi –61
3. Roy Thomas, Phil – 52
4. Monte Cross, Phil – 51
5. Barry McCormick, Chi - 44

Most Strikeouts by a Pitcher:

Season:

Noodles Hahn - 132

Game:

June 19 – Rube Waddell, Pitt, 12 (at Chi –Green(3), Nichols(2), Griffith(2), Childs, Mertes, McCarthy, McCormick, Clingman)

October 11 – Rube Waddell, Pitt, 12 (vs. Chi – Strang(3), C Dolan(2), McCarthy(2), Green(2), Garvin(2), Bradley)

This marked the 2^nd straight year that Rube Waddell had the high K mark for a pitcher and was against the same opponent in all 3 occurrences.  Only Danny Green (7 k’s) appeared in all 3 games.

4 or more Strikeouts by Batter:

July 8 – Noodles Hahn, Cin (4) vs. Brook (Brickyard Kennedy/Frank Kitson)

August 1 – Bill Carrick, NY (4) vs. Chi (Jack W. Taylor)

Resources:

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

Boston home - Boston Globe

Cincinnati – Cincinnati Commercial-Tribune

Philadelphia home – Philadelphia Inquirer

Pittsburgh home – Pittsburgh Press & Post

Chicago home & away – Chicago Tribune

St. Louis home – St. Louis Globe Democrat

Help Wanted Section:

NONE!    This has been one of only 2 seasons during my research period (1897-1910, so far), in which I have found explicitly documented batter strikeouts in EVERY cities’ newspaper (1908 NL, the other).    1901 would proved to be an entirely different story, as you will find out.

Other Individual Player Comments:

-          The #6 & #7 leaders in most strikeouts were both pitchers.  Noodles Hahn, with 43 k’s in 40 games held down the #6 position, while the previous season’s #6, Bill Carrick, checked in with 38 k’s in 45 games for the 7^th most in the league.

-          Former K leaders

o   Tommy McCreery, Pit – 23 (in 42 games)

o   Billy Clingman, Lou – 18 (47 g)

-          Other “Future” Hall of Famers: 

o   Sam Crawford, Cin – 36

o   Ed Delahanty, Phil – 36

o   Jesse Burkett, St. L – 35

o   Elmer Flick, Phil – 30

o   Hughie Jennings, Brook – 29

o   George Davis, NY – 23

o   Billy Hamilton, Bos – 23

o   Wilbert Robinson, St.L – 20

o   Fred Clarke, Pitt – 20

o   Joe Kelley, Brook – 18

o   Jake Beckley, Cin – 18

o   Jack Chesbro, Pitt – 17

o   Joe McGinnity, Brook – 17

o   Bobby Wallace, St.L – 17

o   Honus Wagner, Pitt – 17

o   Rube Waddell, Pitt – 15

o   Frank Chance, Chi – 12

o   Vic Willis, Bos – 10

o   John McGraw, St.L – 9 (BK+ of 273 in 99 games)

o   Kid Nichols, Bos – 8

o   Clark Griffith, Chi – 7

o   Cy Young, St.L – 7

o   Hugh Duffy, Bos – 5

o   Christy Mathewson, NY – 2 (1^st season, 5 games)

o   Roger Bresnahan, Chi – 0 (2 games)

1899 - Batter Strikeouts Year in Review

Well, it has been a few weeks since I have posted a blog entry, but here is my next season review.  And by far, my favorite one - 1899.   Love those Spiders!

Season Comments:

This is the season that started it all for me.    The season that the hapless Cleveland Spiders went 20-134.   But 1899 had much more to offer than just the Spiders, it had

1.       Syndication (Brooklyn-Baltimore, Cleveland-St. Louis) – the combined ownership of these two pairings made for a farce in the pennant race.

2.       John McGraw’s best season as a player that also included heartbreaking tragedy -  McGraw hit .391 in 117 games w/ 124 walks and 73 stolen bases, all while missing a 30 or so games, after his new bride, Minny passed away.  His .547 On-base pct. set a new standard that wasn’t broken until Ted Williams’s .553 in 1941.  His .391 was only 3^rd best in the league as Ed Delahanty, .410 w/ 55 doubles & 9 homers and Jesse Burkett, .396 finished ahead of him.

3.       His Orioles team stole (modern rule interpretation) 364 stolen bases – led by rookie Jimmy Sheckard (77), McGraw (73), Ducky Holmes (50), Bill Keister (33), and Candy LaChance (31).   This stands as the team “modern stolen base” record.   Not too coincidentally, McGraw’s NY Giant teams hold the #2, #4, #7, #8, #10, #11 spots on that same list.

4.       Rookie Jimmy Williams had 28 triples for the Pirates.  Incidentally, a fellow Pirate, Harry Davis (later part of the pennant winning Philly A’s), hit 28 triples just 2 years earlier.  Williams hit .355 in addition to his triples.   His teammate and fellow rookie, Ginger Beaumont hit .352, including a 6 for 6 game in which all 6 hits were bunt hits.

5.       Buck Freeman blasted 25 homers for the Washington Senators in their last season in the National League (at least for a LONG time).  In addition, he hit 25 triples, and had 21 stolen bases.  Incidentally, he struck out only 26 times.  

Total Pct Completed:   91.8%

Hardest to Strike Out (BK+):

Team:

Brooklyn - 263 k’s

Individual:

1. Willie Keeler, Brook - 2 k’s in 570 at-bats  (1,483 BK+)
   - era best, nearly 15 times harder to strike out than the league average!
2. Lave Cross, Clev/St.L – 3 k’s in 602 ab’s (991)
3. Tommy Dowd, Clev  - 8 k’s in 605 ab’s (411)
4. Joe Quinn, Clev – 8 k’s in 615 ab’s (404)
5. Chick Stahl, Bos – 10 k’s in 576 ab’s (314)

 Keeler's 2 k's:

1. April 17 (vs. Bos, Vic Willis, 1st)
2. May 6 (at Bos, Kid Nichols, 3rd)

 Cross’s 3 k's:

1. Sept 13, game 2 (vs Bos, Harvey Bailey)
2. September 17 (at NY, Bill Carrick or Willie Garoni)
3. October 4 (vs Pitt, Bill Hoffer)

Most Strikeouts:

Team:

Baltimore – 380 k’s

Individual:

1. Ducky Holmes, Balt – 57
2. Jimmy Sheckard, Balt – 51
3. Monte Cross, Phil – 50
4. Danny Green, Chi – 50
5. Jimmy Williams, Pit - 49

Most Strikeouts by a Pitcher:

Season:

Noodles Hahn - 145

Game:

October 2 – Rube Waddell, Lou, 13 (vs. Chi – Callahan(3), Green(2), Lange(2), Everitt(2), Bradley(2), Magoon, T.Donahue)

4 or more Strikeouts by Batter:

August 15 – Bill Dowling, Lou (5) vs. NY (Ed Doheny)

September 14, game 1 – Jimmy Williams, Pit (4) vs. Brook (Doc McJames)

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

St. Louis home & away – St. Louis Globe Democrat

Help Wanted Section:

Cincinnati and Louisville are this year’s weak areas  – As before, I have gleaned some scattered k’s from the Louisville Courier- Journal (LCJ).   I will be hopefully getting a few more from the Cincinnati Enquirer and Louisville Times.

Other Individual Player Comments:

-          In an interesting twist, the Spiders hitters were amongst the hardest to strike out – L Cross (2), Dowd (3),  Quinn(4) in the top 5.   As a result, Cleveland actually set the era high by having their pitchers record 36.4% of their team’s strikeouts.

-          Pitcher Bill Carrick of the Giants finished 6^th in total strikeouts with 47, in 45 games.

-          Rookie Roy Thomas of the Phillies, a player who would become for his ability to reach base via the walk in his career (and not hit too many EBH’s) finished 7^th in k’s with 45.

-          Former K leaders

o   Tommy McCreery, Pit – 37 (in 117 games)

o   Billy Clingman, Lou – 34 (110 g)

o   Jake Gettman, Wash – 4 (18 g)

-          Other “Future” Hall of Famers: 

o   Honus Wagner, Lou – 38

o   Elmer Flick, Phil – 31

o   Bid McPhee, Cin – 31 (last season)

o   Jesse Burkett, StL – 23

o   Joe Kelley, Brook – 23

o   Jake Beckley, Cin – 22

o   Ed Delahanty, Phil – 22

o   Wilbert Robinson, Balt – 22

o   John McGraw, Balt – 21

o   Bobby Wallace, StL – 20

o   Joe McGinnity, Balt – 19 (rookie season)

o   Jimmy Collins, Bos – 18

o   Fred Clarke, Lou – 17

o   Billy Hamilton, Bos – 16

o   George Davis, NY – 15

o   Cy Young, StL – 12

o   Sam Crawford, Cin – 11 (rookie year, 31g)

o   Hugh Duffy, Bos – 11

o   Clark Griffith, Chi – 9

o   Hughie Jennings, Balt/Brook – 10

o   Kid Nichols, Bos – 9

o   Vic Willis, Bos – 9 (27 wins, 2.50 ERA in 40g)

o   Jack Chesbro, Pit – 7 (rookie season – 6-9, 19g)

o   Nap Lajoie, Phil – 7 (only 77 games due to injury)

o   Rube Waddell, Lou – 6 (10 g)