The NL may have had 8 teams, but only 3 really competed. And even then an unprecedented (and while I may be biased in my thoughts) run by the Braves made this look like more of a cake walk than it really was.
Final 1883 Standings
Boston Braves 69-29
Providence Grays 59-39
Chicago Cubs 55-43
Cleveland Blues 55-43
Detroit Wolverines 48-50
Buffalo Bisons 45-53
New York Gothams 40-58
Philadelphia Quakers 21-74
Boston Braves 69-29
The Braves were my preseason pick, but with just over a month to go in the season they were just 3 games ahead of the second place Cubs, and 3 and a half over third place Providence. Then reality seemed to end. The Braves reeled off a 27 game winning streak and 30 of their final 35 games to coast to the World Series.
Boston really could do it all. Jack Burdock hit .373 with 7 HR and 12 triples. Ezra Sutton hit .363 with 6 HR. Joe Hornung hit .306 and a league best 12 homers. Mort Hackett hit .286 with 6 homers and Sam Wise hit .283.
John Morrill hit .320 with 4 homers and in an emergency start on the mound went the distance and threw a shutout!
Charles Buffington went 30-18 with 292 strikeouts and finished with a 1.93 ERA and .90 WHIP. Jim Whitney was even better going 38-11 and a 2.18 ERA. He went 7-0 down the stretch and basically sealed the deal.
Providence Grays 59-39
Providence finished better than their actual third place finish thanks to a final push in the final week. This was a team that could hit every bit as good as Boston, but needed a bit more pitching. Providence finished with a .285 team batting average.
Arthur Irwin hit .315, Joe Start hit .314 with 4 homers. Paul Hines was the backbone of the offense with a .348 average, Jack Farrell hit .300, and Jerry Denny hit .280.
Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn was the ultimate work horse, going 37-11, striking out 249 with a 1.97 ERA, .86 WHIP, and like his teammates swung the bat well, hitting .327 with a homer and 7 extra base hits, helping his own cause several times.
Chicago Cubs 55-43
The Cubs were within striking distance and unfortunately their pitching let up at the wrong time. They would not have caught the Braves anyway, but it still stings knowing they were in contention and finished third. The Cubs were the best overall hitting team, finishing with a .315 team average.
George Gore finished second in the MVP voting with a .402 batting average with 5 home runs. Tom Burns hit .339 with 73 RBI, Ned Williamson was among the leaders in most categories and ended up with a .333 average and 5 homers. His big day was on a fourth of July double header when he hit for the cycle in the second game against the Quakers.
Albert Dalrymple hit .353 with 3 HR and drove in a team high 75 RBI. Cap Anson hit .325, and Mike Kelly was the most valuable player on the team, hit .291 and played all 9 positions and came in as a relief pitcher a couple times as well.
Larry Corcoran was 30-19 and hit .324 at the plate.
Cleveland Blues 55-43
Cleveland had a tough time pitching, but had a couple of hitters, but really played about as well as could be expected. Joe Glasscock hit .323, as did Jim Dunlap. Tom York hit .305. Jim McCormick was the only pitcher of note, earning 18 victories and a 1.64 ERA.
Detroit Wolverines 48-50
The wolves were a team that relied heavily on hitting, and they did that well enough, hitting .280 as a team. George Wood hit .334 with 16 triples. Tom Mansell hit .313, and Ned Hanlon hit .308. Sargent Houck hit .293. The pitching was pretty bad, but Fred Shaw did manage 23 wins.
Buffalo Bisons 45-53
Buffalo was another team that was “hitting first”. The Bisons hit .296 as a team and had 5 players hit better than .300, led by MVP Dan Brouthers, who hit .407. Dan also had 73 RBI, 67 extra base hits, and a record setting 27 triples.
Jim O’Rourke hit .357, Jim White hit .327, Jack Rowe hit .312 and George Shaffer hit .311. Pud Galvin was the ace of the team, finishing with a 24-12 record and a 1.98 ERA.
New York Gothams 40-58
Given the team name, I could almost picture Bruce Wayne owning the team. That may be about the most interesting thing to say about the team. No actually it is not, as William Erving hit .303 with 8 homers and 5 steals. Roger Connors led the league with a .410 average. Pete Gillespie hit .316.
The pitching was terrible, but Mickey Welch managed 16 wins while hitting .290. Monte Ward got beat a lot, but still managed a 2.76 ERA.
Philadelphia Quakers 21-74
And the 1901 Reds and Giants have finally been dethroned as worst APBA team ever! Make room for the Philadelphia Quakers!!
If you are looking for a team that can do it all, and do it all poorly, than this is your team. Despite playing just 98 games, they easily set the new record for most errors in a season with 184!
The hitting was terrible, despite Emil Gross hitting .314 and Fred Lewis hitting .291, and of his 3 homers, one was a 9th inning game winner against the Wolverines. Despite having one of the few 3 man rotations, not one pitcher managed even 10 games, and the team ERA was a putrid 5.92.
