1905 Chicago Cubs replay update: 1905 NL Review

Christy Mathewson NL Pitcher of the Year	Mike Donlin NL MVP

1905 National League Review

Final Standings

MVP
Mike Donlin, New York Giants
.379 AVG 6 HR 116 RBI 61 SB

Pitcher Of The Year
Christy Mathewson, New York Giants
37-8 2.39 ERA 7 shutouts 236 strikeouts 1 no hitter

Batting Average (Min. 434 AB)

Mike Donlin Giants .379
Frank Chance Cubs .350
Honus Wagner Pirates .333
Ginger Beaumont Pirates .321
George Browne Giants .317

Home Runs

Fritz Odwell Reds 19
Joshua Clarke Cardinals 11
Sherwood Magee Phillies 10
Mike Grady Cardinals 10
Dan McGann Giants 9

RBI

Mike Donlin Giants 116
George Browne Giants 112
Dan McGann Giants 110
Frank Chance Cubs 93
Harry Lumley Dodgers 89

Stolen Bases

Art Devlin Giants 79
Frank Chance Cubs 77
Billy Maloney Cubs 75
Harry Gessler Dodgers 71
Mike Donlin Giants 61

Victories

Jake Weimer Cubs 37
Christy Mathewson Giants 37
Joe McGinnity Giants 37
Mordecai Brown Cubs 31
Charles Phillippe Pirates 30

ERA

Irving Young Braves 1.80
Tully Sparks Phillies 1.92
Jake Weimer Cubs 1.92
Joe McGinnity Giants 2.17
Charlie Case Pirates 2.35

Strikeouts

Christy Mathewson Giants 236
Bob Ewing Reds 191
Bill Duggleby Phillies 162
Joe McGinnity Giants 161
Charles Phillippe Pirates 160

NL Wrap-up

While the NL certainly had solid pitching, it was not as dominant as the AL, so batting was able to flourish for many players. For those who faced me during the Chicagoland tournament, your prayers were answered. I got a taste of my own medicine. There was plenty of speed to burn and the long ball seems more prevalent in the senior circuit as well.

New York Giants

This team can do it all. Power pitching, speed, hitting for average and a few players with power. Christy Mathewson won a very tight Pitcher Of The Year. His 37 wins are tied for most in a season (tied with teammate Joe McGinnity and Jake Weimer of the Cubs who also did it this season) He also set a new record for strikeouts in a season with 236, pitched a no hitter. Oddly enough he allowed a fair amount of hits and in a deadball era a lot of home runs. But he always seemed to come up big when needed. If being a deadly fireballer was not enough he hit .299 with 3 homers and stole seven bases when batting himself. Joe McGinnity also won 37 games, and after a average first half was probably the difference maker in overcoming the Cubs in the final two weeks of the season. Joe also was dangerous at the plate, hitting .228 with one home run and 12 stolen bases.

Mike Donlin won the MVP in a tight contest with Frank Chance of the Cubs hit .379 with 6 HR, 116 RBI, 61 steals, led all hitters with 217 hits and runs scored with 121. He hit 28 doubles and 17 triples to boot. Art Devlin led the league with 79 steals and scored 104 runs despite a horrible first half of the year. George Browne hit .317 with 51 steals. Dan McGann, a player who reminds me of Mark Grace just lulls you to sleep. With Donlin, McGinnity, Mathewson and McGraw getting the headlines he just quietly produces. He hit .300 with 9 HR, 23 doubles, 14 triples, drove in 110 runs while scoring 112 himself, and stole 43 bases while playing solid defense at first base.

Chicago Cubs

Where did it all go wrong?  That is what Frank Chance must be thinking. It is not like a collapse, but they were two games in front with 5 to play and finished 2 out at the end. The fact is that the Giants simply refused to lose, and they absolutely destroyed the Phillies in 4 of the final games, while the Cubs played well and dropped a couple of close games. Ed Reulbach won 32 games and threw 9 shutouts despite missing a fair amount of time. Jake Weimer was the true ace of the staff, coming from relative obscurity to being a hair short of winning the Pitcher Of The Year award. He tied McGinnity and Mathewson with a record 37 wins while throwing an amazing 13 shutouts and pitching a no hitter. Mordecai Brown was good, but sometimes inconsistent but pulled in 31 wins and 10 shutouts. He was prone to the long ball however, and had a few rough outings. Frank Chance nearly won the MVP, but Donlin was just a little better in most categories. Frank finished with a .350 AVG 8 HR 93 RBI 76 walks and 77 steals and played great defense. Billy Maloney faded late but had 75 steals. Frank Schulte hit a solid .288 with 16 triples and 42 steals.

Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pirates had a good team, but early struggles offensively. Honus Wagner was hitting .198 as late as May 15 then went on an unbelievable tear to finish third in the league at .333 and 53 steals and was among the leaders in all categories and finished third in MVP voting. Ginger Beaumont hit .321 with 45 stolen bases. Fred Clarke slipped at the end but still .285. Pitching was their strong suit as Deacon Phillippe won 30 games. Charlie Case surprised with 23 wins and a 2.35 ERA.

Philadelphia Phillies

This is a team that really under performed with the bats. John Titus hit .307, but other than Sherwood Magee, who was very streaky during the season and hit just .246 with 10 HR and 36 SB and Hugh Duffy who missed a big chunk of time with injuries but managed 16 triples nobody was of any use. On the hill is where they did well. Bill Duggleby was better than his 18-22 record would indicate and had a no hitter and Tully Sparks really became the ace and finished at 20-20 with a 1.92 ERA and pitched the first perfect game in history.

St. Louis Cardinals

This was a pretty weak collection of players that made matters worse by underperformances by their better players early. Pepper Clarke hit 11 homers, but only hit .235. Mike Grady struggled through May but came alive to finish with a .279 AVG and 10 HR and 39 SB. Homer Smoot hit .274 with 74 SB. Pitching was not very solid either but Jake Thielman only lost twice during the second half and went 22-18 for the year with a .291 ERA and a solid .94 WHIP. John Taylor was decent but under performed. He picked up two saves on the final two games of the year as the redbirds snuck ahead of the Reds by percentage points for fifth place.

Cincinnati Reds

Here is a team that I expected more from. Unfortunately underperformances and a string of injuries to Harry Steinfeldt really hurt. Fritz Odwell led the majors with 19 homers, and stole 44 bases, but hit just .244. Jim Seymour had a monster card but really under performed for the first three months before the law of averages finally helped, but if you look at his card on monster Monday you would be surprised to see he only hit .315 with 8 HR 78 RBI and 42 SB. I would have expected a much higher average. Jimmy Sebring struggled even worse but came alive in August to finish at .270 with 42 SB. Joe Kelley was the linchpin during the numerous injuries and played multiple positions and hit .277 with 4 HR. Bob Ewing was the ace and picked up 22 win with a 2.49 ERA and 191 strikeouts.

Boston Braves

This is a bad team that had some bright spots. Fred Tenney hit .279 with 35 steals. Jim Delahanty struggled with the bat most of the year but managed 8 HR. Virgin Cannell looked solid as a pinch hitter and when given a chance to play regularly came alive to hit .267 with 13 SB. Irving Young was a solid Pitcher Of The Year candidate and was the victim of bad hitting and horrible defense (236 errors) he allowed less than 5 hits on 7 occasions yet still picked up the loss. On the day he allows just one run on three hits to the Phillies Tully Sparks throws a perfect game which sums up Irving’s year. He still managed 23 victories, a 1.91 ERA and a record .66 WHIP. Had this man pitched for the Giants he would have won 40 games easily.

Brooklyn Dodgers

FAIL. I probably could just leave it at that. But I don’t want to gloss over a team that actually over produced the final month yet still managed to lose 98 games. 232 errors is a big hill to climb. Combined with horrible pitching and hitting that didn’t realize the season started before July. Harry Gessler hit .290 with 71 SB. Jimmy Sheckard hit .290 as well with 4 HR, 12 triples and 40 steals. Harry Lumley really came on strong to finish with a .284 AVG, 89 RBI, 32 SB and 6 HR (all in the second half). Elmer Stricklett was 16-21 with a 3.11 ERA and was the victim of the early hitting struggles. Bill Scanlan was an interesting case as he was a B (Y) and had one of the better walk to strikeout ratio of all starters with 68 walks and 127 strikeouts. He managed just 10 victories. Congratulations to John McIntire who wins the worst pitcher of the year honors. He went 10-30 with a league worst 6.40 ERA for starters.

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