2 or more consecutive team starts - 1887-88 AA

I have been working on batter strikeouts and lineups for the 19th century American Association as a number of previous blog posts have noted.   I have finally got through entering all of my lineups into my Access databases for the 1887 & 1888 seasons.

I still am waiting scans of good deal of home 1887 Louisville games from 3 or 4 Louisville papers from my UK source (who has a full time job too, so I am very patient).  Right now my batter k documented pct for the whole 1887 season is at 79.4% - this is driven primarily by the lack of decent game writeups from the Louisville papers.  I have been having scans made of the Courier-Journal, Times, & Post.  So far, I have scans through the end of May.  Yesterday, I discovered a 4th possible paper, the Commercial.  I am hoping that either the Commercial's coverage is better or that any of the papers coverage picks up in June. :)

While I am waiting on this, as follow-up to my previous post of 2 or more consecutive team starts in the 1897-1912 era, I am posting here similar information on my 2 completed AA seasons.

It serves as an interesting contrast, but also illustrates that even by 1887, the concept of the "iron man" who would pitch multiple consecutive team games was already slowly becoming a myth.  Indeed there are a couple of pitchers who still fit the mold, but overall there was alot less than I anticipated.  Not exactly 4 or 5 man rotations, but more 2-3 man rotations.

As you see below there were 12 occurrences of 3 or more consecutive starts, 2 of those, which I will highlight below,  extended to 4 straight start occurrences.
I will present spreadsheets similar to what I did in the previous blog post:

First, I want to present the overall numbers of consecutive team starts by year:

Year	2	3	4	Grand Total
1887	60	6	1	67
1888	54	6	1	61
Grand Total	114	12	2	128

Quite a difference from the highest total of the latter era, where the greatest total was 34 and that was in the 12 team 1899 NL - a less than 3 average consecutive start occurrences per team.
By contrast, in the 8 team AA, the average is 7-8 per team (the "3" and "4" in the above table are included in the lesser #'s respectively.   As noted, this is to be expected, based on "how the game was played" and managed - smaller rosters, shorter distances, etc.    Interestingly, teams averaged over 6.5 runs per game in 1887, with St. Louis having an amazing 8.2 runs per game.  Cleveland & New York allowed an average of nearly and over 8 runs a game.


If we look at which pitchers contributed to these numbers, we see the following:

	2 or more Consecutive Starts
	Year
player	1887	1888	Grand Total
Ramsey	15	3	18
Ma Kilroy	10	1	11
Seward	4	6	10
King	1	8	9
Mullane	4	5	9
Bakley		8	8
Porter	3	4	7
E Smith	5	1	6
Caruthers	2	4	6
G Weyhing	4	1	5
Mays	5		5
P Smith	2	2	4
Hughes		3	3
Hudson		3	3
Crowell	2		2
Cunningham		2	2
Kirby		1	1
Shaw		1	1
M Morrison	1		1
Chamberlain		1	1
Weidman	1		1
Foutz	1		1
Grand Total	60	54	114

The overall leader for the 2 seasons is Toad Ramsey.   What I discovered in my research is 2 main things about Toad Ramsey -
1.  He liked to drink (Pete Browning, no doubt, was a frequent drinking buddy) which resulted in various fines/suspensions/gone missings.
2.  He struck out a bunch of batters.  In fact, in 1887  he had 7 games where he struck out 10 or more.  3 pitchers were in a distant 2nd (Mike Morrison, Elmer Smith, & Matt Kilroy) with only 2 each.

What struck me more than learning a bunch more about Ramsey was how, the 2 top pitchers, Ramsey & Kilroy,  with the most basically dropped off the face of the earth in 1888.    Pitching 500-600 innings has a tendency to hurt the arm and this tends to show that. 

Granted this is a very limited study, only 2 years, but anyone who would like to add thoughts on this, I would love to hear from you.

The 2 occurrences with 4 consecutive team starts were the following:
Toad Ramsey, Louisville, 1887 - June 23, 24, 26, & 27:

6/23: at Cin - Lost 3-1.  Ramsey allowed 6 hits and 3 "phantom hits" (walks).  He also struck out 6.

6/24: at Cin -Won 10-9, barely surviving as he gave up 3 runs in the top of the 9th.  He allowed 13 hits and a walk.

6/26: at Cin -Won 7-3.  Game was tied at 2-2 thru 6, the Colonels score 4 in the 7th & 1 in th 8th.  Ramsey allows 7 hits & 2 walks while striking out 9.


6/27: at Cin -Won 12-11.  Louisville was up 8-6 going after 7.  Cincinnati scored 2 in the 8th & 3 in the 9th to take a 11-8 lead going to the bottom of the 9th.  Browning, Chicken Wolf, and Reddy Mack singled producing the 1st 2 runs.  White single moved Mack to 3rd, where he scored momentarily when Cincy's catcher muffed a 4th strike, batter Werrick being thrown out at 1st as Mack raced home with the 3rd run and White to 3rd. Ramsey then hit a grounder to Bid McPhee who threw home to try to catch White.  The throw was low and Keenan could not handle it as White scored the winning run.   Ramsey gave up 18 hits and 5 walks while


Silver King, St. Louis, 1888 - July 23, 25, 26, & 27:

7/23: at Louisville - Lost 10-4.  King allowed 6 in the 8th to make a 4-4 tie into a Colonel blowout.  King allowed 14 hits and 3 walks.  He struck out 2.

7/25: at Baltimore - Won 5-2.  King allowed 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5.

7/26: at Baltimore - Won 7-1.  King allowed 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 3. 

7/27: at Baltimore - Won 9-5.  King allowed 8 hits.  He had no walks or strikeouts.

King actually pitched in the next game, 7/28.   He started in rightfield, swapping positions with Tommy McCarthy in the 2nd inning for Tommy McCarthy.  King switched back to rightfield in the 8th.
King then started on the 29th, before Nat Hudson started and completed the game on the 30th.

Apparently, part of the reason for King's consecutive start string was due to "sickness of Hudson and Devlin".

So King pitched in 6 straight games, starting 5 of them and pitching in all but about 6 innings of that stretch.




In respect to pitching both ends of a doubleheader, there were not too many, part of this probably due to lower number of doubleheaders.

	Started both ends of DH
	Year
player	1887	1888	Grand Total
Ma Kilroy	2		2
P Smith	1		1
Seward		1	1
Mullane		1	1
Grand Total	3	2	5

2 or more consecutive starts 1897-1912

I recently read of Zack Greinke having 3 consecutive starts for his team.  They were not complete games, but I thought I would check my lineup databases from my research to see how often that occurred in the years of my research.   Other research indicated that Greinke's feat was the first time since 1917 & Red Faber that it occurred.   Stories of Joe McGinninty and much earlier eras of consecutive starts made me want to check.

Below is my summary of players with 3 consecutive starts in my research years (1897-1909 NL & 1901-1912 AL):

Win Mercer, Wash (NL), 1897 - 9/13 (ejected in 3rd), 9/14 (CG), 9/15 (CG)

9/13 - Mercer was thrown out of the game versus Cincinnati in the 3rd by Carpenter for "criticising the umpire's ruling on a ball".  Mercer "resorted to a pantomimical play by prospecting his pocket and pulling out a pair of smoked spectacles and handing them to Carpenter."   He left the game with the score 0-0.  Washington ended up losing an 8 inning darkness shortened 2-1 decision.

9/14 - Won a 10-9 6 inning darkness shortened decision.  Washington scored 1 in the 5th & 4 in the 6th to overcome a 9-5 defecit to the Cincinnatis.   Mercer allowed 7 hits (4 doubles), 4 walks, & 1 hbp.  He struck out 3 batters.

9/15 - Lost a 5-4 decision to Brooklyn.   Allowed the winning run with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th.  Mercer allowed 8 hits & 3 walks.  He struck out 5.

Mercer's inclusion with the rest of the names on this list stands out.   A talented all around player who hit and played in the field as well - he would later be known for committing suicide

Joe McGinnity, Balt (AL), 1901 - 9/9 (CG), 9/12, G1 (CG), 9/12, G2 (CG) - ALL Complete Games!

9/9:   McGinnity lost a darkness shortened 8-4 decision at Detroit.  He allowed 14 hits and walked 2.  He struck out 2.

9/12, Game 1: "Iron Man" as we was already being referred to as, won game 1 4-3 versus Philadelphia when the Orioles scored 2 in the bottom of the 9th.  McGinnity allowed 7 hits and walked 3.  He struck out 2.    The Orioles scored their 2 winning runs on a Jimmy Williams triple, and singles by Bill Keister, Steve Brodie, and Wilbert Robinson.

9/12, Game 2:  McGinnity lost 5-4 in game 2 on a Philadelphia run in the 9th.  McGinnity allowed 10 hits, a walk, and an hbp.  He struck out none.

3 consecutive team complete games, albeit one was shortened by darkness.  1-2 record.


Rube Waddell, Phil (AL), 1904 - 6/5 (pulled after 3), 6/6 (CG), 6/7 (CG)

6/5:  Waddell was batted out of the box in the 3rd inning in Chicago in a 14-2 loss.  According to the Philadelphia Record, he "asked permission of Manager Mack to pitch the entire 4 game series, thereby establishing for himself a record that would stand for a long time unequaled".   Waddell gave up 7 hits and 3 runs in his outing.  Chief Bender reilieved him after 3 and he gave up 3 runs as well.  Barthold came in in the 6th and finished out the game.   Waddell did walk 1 and strike out 3 in his brief outing.

6/6: Rube was back out there for game 2 of the Chicago series.  This time he was a bit more successful, winning 6-3.  He allowed 8 hits and 2 walks.  He struck out 5.

6/7: In game 3 of the series, Waddell lost 6-1, allowing 10 hits.  He struck out only 1, his lowest total for the season (he struck out 349 (350 by my tabulation) for the season)).

Connie Mack decided to "try" Eddie Plank in the 4th game of series instead of Waddell.  Plank lost 8-2.

Waddell went 1-2 for his 3 game stretch and "only" 9 k's.


Walter Johnson, Wash (AL), 1908 - 9/4, 9/5, 9/7 G1

9/4:  Won 3-0 at New York.  He allowed 6 hits and 5 walks.  He struck out 4.

9/5:   Won 6-0 again in New York.  He allowed 3 hits, the first one in the 6th to Wid Conroy.  He was apparently used in this 2nd consecutive game because all of the other Washington pitchers were under the weather.  Johnson also struck out 3 batters.


9/7 Game 1: Johnson pitches his 3rd shutout in 4 days, winning 4-0 over New York again.  This time he allows only 2 hits and no walks.  He struck out 5 batters and scored 2 runs of his own.


For Johnson's 3 straight Nationals complete games - 27 ip, 11 hits, 0 RUNS, 4 walks, 12 strikeouts.


Ed Walsh, Chi (AL), 1908 - 9/29 G1 (CG), 9/29 G2 (CG), 10/2 (CG) - ALL CG's!


9/29, Game 1:   Won 5-1 at home versus the Red Sox.  He allowed 3 hits & 0 walks. 
He struck out 10 batters.  He also through in a double of his own for good measure.


9/29, Game 2:  Won 2-0 at home versus the Red Sox.  He allowed 4 hits & 1 walk.
He struck out 5 batters. 

10/2:  Many consider this among the Top Pitching Matchups of all time - Walsh vs. Joss, Joss pitching a perfect game.   As for Walsh, he didn't pitch too bad a game himself - 9 ip, 4 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 15 strikeouts!


For Walsh's 3 straight White Sox complete games - 27 ip, 11 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, 30 strikeouts.

Walsh's and Johnson's feats definitely rank up there as the best 3 game stretches whether in consecutive team games or individual games.   And you wonder why 1908 was considered a "year of the pitcher".



Ed Walsh, Chi (AL), 1912 - 6/12 (left in ??),  6/13 (CG), 6/15 (left in ??)

6/12:  Walsh only pitched 3 innings against New York and is pulled by manager Jimmy Callahan in order "to practice of conservation of energy...so as to save up the rest of the Big Reel for the coming contest for first place with the Boston Red Sox."  (We know in this centennial year how that ended up).  Chicago was leading 8-0 when pulled, the White Sox going on to 11-2 win with George Mogridge in relief.

6/13: Walsh won versus Boston 3-2 on a run by Chicago in the bottom of the 9th.  Walsh allowed only 3 hits and a walk.  He struck out 5.   There was an hour rain delay in the 2nd.   The winning run was scored on a Ping Bodie single (Rollie Zeider pr for him), sacrifice by Buck Weaver, and a single by Walsh himself!

6/15: Walsh lasted only 2 innings, giving up 3 runs ("biffs according to the Chicago Tribune) in the 1st and none in the 2nd.  Benz came in in the 3rd.  Chicago later tied it with 3 in the 6th, but Benz gave up a go ahead run in the 7th in a "critical" 4-3 loss to the Red Sox. 

I learned that Walsh had the nickname of the "Big Reel" according to the Chicago Tribune, not sure of the origin.


While I was at it, I did some analysis of the number of occurrences of pitchers having consecutive (2 or more) team starts during the research era.  Here is what I discovered:

	Starts In a row
Year	2	3	Grand Total
1897	33	1	34
1898	18		18
1899	34		34
1900	13		13
1901	23	1	24
1902	21		21
1903	34		34
1904	22	1	23
1905	26		26
1906	28		28
1907	30		30
1908	23	2	25
1909	23		23
1910	6		6
1911	14		14
1912	10	1	11
Grand Total	358	6	364

Interestingly in 1901 & 1902, the NL did not have a single pitcher pitch consecutive team games.
The highest totals were in 1897 & 1899, but it should be noted that these seasons were 12 team seasons.



On an individual basis, here are the players with the most 2 or more consecutive team starts for the study era:

				2 or more Consecutive Starts
	Year
player	1897	1898	1899	1900	1901	1902	1903	1904	1905	1906	1907	1908	1909	1910	1911	1912	Grand Total
Waddell						3	6	2		1		2					14
Chesbro				1			1	4	1	3							10
Mullin								1		4	1	1			2		9
Powell		1	2	1		1			2					1			8
D White					1		1	1			2	1	1	1			8
McGinnity			1		2	1	3				1						8
Walsh								1		1	1	1	1	1		1	7
Coombs										1		1			4	1	7
Orth	1	1				1			2		1						6
Plank					1		1	3							1		6

Waddell is easily the leader here.  He was known to ask his manager to pitch consecutive games, especially if he didn't do well in the 1st of the 2 . Also of note is that Walter Johnson, one of the 6 3 consecutive game pitchers above only had that one and one other (in 1911) consecutive team starts (thru 1912).

Joe McGinnity was well known for his reputation for pitching both ends of doubleheaders and the data bears it out.  Here is the list of leaders in starting both games of a doubleheader:

						Started both ends of DH
	Year
player	1897	1898	1899	1901	1903	1904	1905	1906	1907	1908	1909	1910	1911	1912	Grand Total
McGinnity				2	3										5
Mullin						1		1							2
Seymour	1	1													2
Walsh						1				1					2
Waddell					1			1							2

It is nice to see Cy Seymour show up here for me.  Although he was quite a wild pitcher (and very good strikeout pitcher for the era), he did have a couple of decent seasons before becoming a solid outfielder.

Again, it should be noted that the analysis for the NL only goes through 1909.


.
As Retrosheet fills in data from 1910/1913 to 1915, we should be able to get an even better picture of this phenomenon.


Complete data is on my Google docs site:
https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B4NEDe8uYbdlME1mU2FmNWtkd1k/edit