Murray 8 23 1 1000|Lewis 8 14 1 .933
Becker 1 1 1000|Speaker 8 21 2 2 .920
Hooper 8 16 3 1000|Devore 7 10 2 2 .857
Snodgrass 8 17 1 1 .947|
Team fielding average: Boston, .958; New York, .951.
THE PITCHERS' RECORDS.
The pitching averages show Marquad and Bedient the only pitchers with
clean records. Marquad won two games and did not meet defeat, and
Bedient won one without a defeat. Wood won three and lost one. Following
are the figures:
G. W. L. T. TO. PC. H. BB. HB. SO. IP. AB.
Bedient 4 1 1 1 1000 10 7 2 7 17 59
Marquard 2 2 1000 14 2 9 18 66
Wood 4 3 1 1 .750 27 3 1 21 22 88
Tesreau 3 1 2 2 .333 19 11 1 15 23 85
Collins 2 1 1 .000 14 6 14-1/3 52
Hall 2 1 1 .000 11 9 1 10-2/3 41
Mathewson 3 2 1 .000 23 5 10 29-2/3 108
Ames 1 .000 3 1 2 8
Crandall 1 .000 1 2 2 6
O'Brien 2 2 2 .000 12 3 4 9 34
Wild pitches--Tesreau 3.
Wiltse, Ames, Hall and Crandall did not pitch a full game and are
charged with neither defeat nor victory. Tesreau pitched first 7 innings
of first game and is charged with defeat. Crandall finished game.
Collins pitched first 7-1/3 innings of second game, Hall followed for
2-2/3 innings and Bedient for 1 inning, but as game was tie no one has
defeat or victory charged against him. O'Brien pitched 8 innings of
third game and is charged with defeat. Bedient pitched in the last
inning. In fourth game Tesreau pitched first 7 innings and is marked
with defeat. Ames finished the game. In sixth game O'Brien pitched only
1 inning, but lost the game. Collins completed the game. Wood pitched
only one inning of seventh game and is charged with a defeat. Hall
pitched the last 8 innings. Bedient pitched first 7 innings of eighth
game and retired to permit Henriksen to bat for him with New York
leading. Boston then tied score and Wood, who succeeded Bedient, finally
won out in the tenth inning, Wood getting credit for game.
FINANCIAL RESULT.
The attendance and receipts of the 1912 World's Championship Series were
the highest of any series ever played, excelling even the receipts of
the 1911 Athletic-Giant series, which reached proportions of such
magnitude that it was thought they would not soon be exceeded, or even
equaled. In the 1911 Athletic-Giant series the total attendance was
179,851 paid; the receipts, $342,364; each club's share, $90,108.72;
National Commission's share, $34,236.25; the players' share for four
days, $127,910.61; each player's share on the Athletic team, $3,654.58;
and each player's share on the New York team, $2,436.30. For purposes of
comparison we give the official statement of the 1911 World's Series:
Attendance. Receipts.
First game, New York................ 38,281 $77,359.00
Second game, Philadelphia........... 26,286 42,962.50
Third game, New York................ 37,216 75,593.00
Fourth game, Philadelphia........... 24,355 40,957.00
Fifth game, New York................ 33,228 69.384.00
Sixth game, Philadelphia............ 20,485 36,109.00
--------- -------------
Totals ............................ 179,851 $342,364.50
Each club's share................................ $90,108.72
National Commission's share....................... 34,236.25
Players' share for four games................ 127,910.61
Herewith is given the official attendance and receipts of the Giant-Red
Sox world's Series of 1912, together with the division of the receipts,
as announced by the National Commission. The players shared only in the
first four games, divided 60 percent, to the winning team and 40 per
cent, to the losing team.
Attendance. Receipts.
First game, New York................ 35,722 $75,127.00
Second game, Boston................. 30,148 58,369.00
Third game, Boston.................. 34,624 63,142.00
Fourth game, New York............... 36,502 76,644.00
Fifth game, Boston.................. 34,683 63,201.00
Sixth game, New York................ 30,622 66,654.00
Seventh game, Boston................ 32,630 57,004.00
Eighth game, Boston ................ 16,970 30,308.00
--------- -------------
Totals............................. 251,901 $490,449.00
Each club's share............................... $146,915.91
National Commission's share....................... 49,044.90
Players' share for four games.................... 147,572.28
NATIONAL LEAGUE SEASON OF 1912
BY JOHN B. FOSTER.
Spurts of energy on the part of different clubs, unexpected ill fortune
on the part of others, and marked variations of form, which ranged from
the leaders almost to the lowliest teams of the second division,
injected spasmodic moments of excited interest into the National League
race for 1912 and marked it by more vicissitudes than any of its
immediate predecessors.
By careful analysis it is not a difficult matter to ascertain why the
New Yorks won. Their speed as a run-getting machine was much superior to
that of any of their opponents. Every factor of Base Ball which can be
studied demonstrates that fact. They led the National League in batting
and they led it in base running. They were keenly alive to the
opportunities which were offered to them to win games. Indeed, their
fall from the high standard which they had set prior to the Fourth of
July was quite wholly due to the fact that they failed to take advantage
of the situations daily, as they had earlier in the season, and their
return to that winning form later in the season, which assured them of
the championship, was equally due to the fact that they had regained
their ability to make the one run which was necessary to win. That,
after all, is the vital essential of Base Ball. To earn the winning run,
not by hook or crook, but to earn it by excelling opponents through
superior play in a department where the opponents are weak, is the story
of capturing a pennant.
They were dangerous men to be permitted to get on bases, and their
dearest and most bitter enemies on the ball field, with marked candor,
confessed that such was the case. Opposing leaders admitted that when
two or three of the New York players were started toward home plate one
or two of them were likely to cross the plate and that, too, when one
run might tie the score and two runs might win the game.
While there were some who were quite sanguine before the beginning of
the season that the Giants would win the championship, there were others
who were convinced that they would have a hard time to hold their title,
and after the season was over both factions were fairly well satisfied
with their preliminary forecast.
The runaway race which New York made up to the Fourth of July gave
abundant satisfaction to those who said they would win, and the setback
which the team received after the Fourth of July until the latter part
of August afforded solace to those who were certain in their own minds
that the New Yorks would have much trouble to repeat their victory of
1911.
It must not be forgotten, too, that the New York team had the benefit of
excellent pitching throughout the year. In the new record for pitchers,
which has been established this season by Secretary Heydler of the
National League, and which in part was the outcome of the agitation in
the GUIDE for a new method of records, in which the various Base Ball
critics of the major league cities so ably contributed their opinions,
Tesreau leads all the pitchers in the matter of runs which were earned
from his delivery. Mathewson is second, Ames is fifth, Marquard seventh
and Wiltse and Crandall lower, and while both the latter were hit freely
in games in which they were occasionally substituted for others, they
pitched admirably in games which they won on their own account.
In the opinion of the writer this new method, which has been put into
usage by Secretary Heydler, is far superior to anything which has been
offered in years as a valuable record of the actual work of pitchers. It
holds the pitcher responsible for every run which is made from his
delivery. It does not hold him responsible for any runs which may have
been made after the opportunity has been offered to retire the side, nor
does it hold him responsible for runs which are the result of the
fielding errors of his fellow players. On the other hand, if he gives
bases on balls, if he is batted for base hits, if he makes balks, and if
he makes wild pitches, he must stand for his blunders and have all such
runs charged against him as earned runs.
Nothing proves more conclusively the strength of this manner of
compiling pitchers' records than that Rucker, by the old system, dropped
to twenty-eighth place in the list of National League pitchers, finished
third in the earned run computation, showing that if he had been given
proper support he probably would have been one of the topmost pitchers
of the league, even on the basis of percentage of games won, which is
more vainglorious than absolutely truthful.
The Giants are to be commended for playing clean, sportsmanlike Base
Ball. There were less than a half dozen instances in which they came
into conflict with the umpires. The president of the National League
complimented Manager McGraw in public upon the excellent conduct of his
team upon the field and the players deserved the approbation of the
league's chief executive.
* * * * *
The general work of the Pittsburgh team throughout the year was good. It
must have been good to have enabled the players to finish second in the
championship contest, but the team, speaking in the broadest sense,
seemed to be just good enough not to win the championship. As one man
dryly but graphically put it: "Pittsburgh makes me think of a wedding
cake without the frosting."
Fred. Clarke, manager of the team, adhered resolutely to his
determination not to play. It was not for the reason that the impulse to
play did not seize upon him more than once, but he had formed a
conviction, or, at least, he seemed to have formed one, that it would be
better for the organization if the younger blood were permitted to make
the fight. It was the opinion of more than one that Clarke incorrectly
estimated his own ball playing ability, in other words, that he was a
better ball player than he credited himself with being.
As batters the Pittsburghs were successful. As fielders they were
superior to the team that won the championship. As run-getters they were
not the equal of the Giants. In brief, fewer opportunities were accepted
to make runs by a much larger percentage than was the case with the New
York club, which can easily be verified by a careful study of the scores
of the two teams as they opposed one another, and as they played against
the other clubs of the league.
It took more driving power to get the Pittsburgh players around the
bases than it did those of New York. In tight games, where the advantage
of a single run meant victory, the greater speed of the New York players
could actually be measured by yards in the difference of results.
Naturally it was not always easy for the Pittsburgh enthusiasts to see
why a team, which assuredly fielded better than the champions and batted
almost equally as well, could not gain an advantage over its rivals, but
the inability of Pittsburgh Base Ball patrons to comprehend the lack of
success on the part of their team existed in the fact that they had but
few opportunities, comparatively speaking, to watch the New York players
and found it difficult to grasp the true import of that one great factor
of speed, which had been so insistently demanded by the New York manager
of the men who were under his guidance.
Pittsburgh had an excellent pitching staff. Even better results would
have been obtained from it if Adams had been in better physical
condition. An ailing arm bothered him. While he fell below the standard
of other years, one splendid young pitcher rapidly developed in Hendrix,
and Robinson, a left-hander, with practically no major league
experience, pushed his way to a commanding position in the work which he
did.
Until the Giants made their last visit to Pittsburgh in the month of
August the western team threatened to come through with a finish, which
would give them a chance to swing into first place during the month of
September, but the series between New York and Pittsburgh turned the
scale against the latter.
Fired with the knowledge that they were at the turning point in the race
the New York players battled desperately with their rivals on
Pittsburgh's home field and won. Even the Pittsburgh players were filled
with admiration for the foe whom they had met, and while they were not
in the mood to accept defeat with equanimity, they did accept it
graciously and congratulated the victors as they left Pittsburgh after
playing the last game of the season which had been scheduled between
them on Forbes Field.
First base had long bothered Clarke. Frequent experiments had been made
to obtain a first baseman, who could play with accuracy on the field and
bat to the standard of the team generally. Clarke transferred Miller
from second base to first and the change worked well. More graceful and
more accurate first basemen have been developed than Miller, but in his
first year of play at the bag he steadied the team perceptibly and
unquestionably gave confidence to the other men.
But making a first baseman out of Miller took away a second baseman and
second base gave Clarke more or less concern all of the season. At that,
Pittsburgh was not so poorly off in second base play as some other of
the teams of the senior circuit.
* * * * *
Two important factors contributed to the success of the Chicagos in
1912. For a few days they threatened to assume the leadership of the
National League. With the opportunity almost within their grasp the
machine, which had been patched for the moment, fell to pieces, and the
Cubs, brought to a climax in their work by all the personal magnetism
and the driving power of which Chance was capable, were exhausted by
their strongest effort. The courage and the wish were there, but the
team lacked the playing strength.
To return to the factors which contributed to the club's success. They
were the restoration to health of Evers, and a complete change in the
manner of playing second base, added to the consistent and powerful
batting of Zimmerman. The latter led the league in batting and
repeatedly pulled his club through close contests by the forceful manner
in which he met the ball with men on bases.
A third contributing force, though less continuous, was the brief spurt
which was made by the Chicago pitchers in the middle of the season. They
were strongest at the moment that the New York team was playing its
poorest game, and their temporary success assisted in pushing the
Chicagos somewhat rapidly toward the top of the league. They were not
resourceful enough nor strong enough to maintain their average of
victories and finished the season somewhat as they had begun.
The most of Chicago's success began to date from the early part of July,
when Lavender, pitching for the Cubs, won from Marquard of the Giants,
who, to that time, had nineteen successive victories to his credit.
Chicago continued to win, and the New York team made a very poor trip
through the west.
Lavender's physical strength held up well for a month and then it became
quite evident that he had pitched himself out. Then was the time that
the Chicagos could have used to good advantage two and certainly one
steady and reliable pitcher, who had been through the fire of winning
pennants and would not be disturbed by the importance which attached to
games in which his club was for the moment the runner-up in the
championship race.
Chicago managed to hold its own fairly well against the New York team.
Indeed, the Cubs beat the New Yorks on the series for the season, but
there were other clubs, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Cincinnati, which won
from Chicago when victories were most needed by the Cubs, and their hope
to capture the pennant deserted them as they were making their last trip
through the east.
The race was not without its bright side for Chicago. Even if the Cubs
did finish third for the first time since Chance had been manager of the
organization, it was a welcome sight to see Evers apparently in as good
form as ever and Zimmerman so strong with the bat that the leadership of
the batters finally returned to Chicago after it had been absent for
years.
* * * * *
Cincinnati, under the management of Henry O'Day, finished fourth in the
race. It was by no means a weak showing for the new manager, in view of
the team which he was compelled to handle. Until the New York club
played its first series in Cincinnati, which began May 18, the Reds were
booming along at the top of the league, apparently with no intention
that they might ever drop back. It was New York that won three out of
the five games played and took the lead in the race, and when that
happened Cincinnati never was in front again.
To the other managers, who had been watching the work of the Cincinnatis
it was apparent that sooner or later the break would have to come for
the reason that, as the season progressed, better pitching would have to
be faced by the Cincinnati club, while it was doubtful whether the
Cincinnati pitchers could do any better than they were doing. The
manager seemed to have known this, for when the break did come and the
Reds began to totter, he said in reference to their downfall that no
team could be expected to win with only ordinary pitching to assist it.
In this manner Cincinnati played through the middle of the season always
just a little behind most of its opponents. As the latter days of the
year began to dawn the Reds began to improve and not the least of which
was in the better work of the pitchers.
They did well enough to beat Philadelphia for fourth place, and while
O'Day did not have the satisfaction of finding his first year as a
manager generous enough to him to make him the runner-up for the
championship team, he actually put his club in the first division, which
is something in which many managers have failed and some of them
managers of long experience.
* * * * *
Misfortune and ill luck always attaches itself in a minor degree to
every team which engages in a championship contest, but most assuredly
Philadelphia had more of its share of reverses through accidents to
players and illness than any team of the National League. Yet the
Philadelphias were courageous players from whom little complaint was
heard. They took their misfortunes with what grace they could and played
ball with what success they could achieve, whether they had their best
team in the field or their poorest.
Strangely enough they played an important part in the results of the
race. Frequently they defeated the Chicagos, all too frequently for the
comfort of the Chicago Base Ball enthusiasts, and when the loss of a
game or two by the Philadelphias to the Chicagos might have turned the
race temporarily one way or the other, the Philadelphias, with decided
conviction, refused to lose.
It may not be necessary to call attention to the fact of absolute
fairness in the contests for championships in the various leagues which
comprise Base Ball in its organized form. The day has passed when the
Base Ball enthusiast permits his mind to dwell much upon that sort of
thing, if ever he did. But if it were necessary to advance an argument
as to the integrity of the sport and the high class of the men who are
engaged in the summer season in playing professional Base Ball, there
could be nothing better to prove that the price of victory is the one
great consideration, greater than the fact of Philadelphia's success
against a team which was a strong contender against that which finally
won the championship.
As much as Philadelphia desired that New York should be beaten, for
there was no love lost between the teams in a ball playing way, the
fighting spirit and the predominant desire to add to the column of
victories as many games as possible brought forth the best efforts of
the team of ill fortune against Chicago and struck telling blows against
Chicago's success at the most timely moments.
* * * * *
As a whole the St. Louis team did not play as well in 1912 as it did in
the preceding year. There was some bad luck for St. Louis as well as
Philadelphia. The players did not get started as well as they had in the
previous two years. Their spring training was more or less disastrous,
for they were one of the clubs to run into the most contrary of spring
weather.
Perhaps the worst trouble which the St. Louis team had, take the season
through from beginning to finish, was in regard to the pitchers. There
were two or three young men on the team who seemed at the close of the
season of 1911 to be likely to develop into high class pitchers in 1912.
They pitched well in 1912 at intervals. One day it seemed as if they at
last had struck their stride and the next they faltered and their
unsteadiness gave their opponents the advantage which they sought.
Perhaps, if the St. Louis team had been a little stronger to batting it
would have rated higher among the organization of the National League.
Several games were lost which would have been taken into camp by a
better display at bat. In fielding the team was much stronger and the
success of the infield, combined with some excellent outfield work now
and then, frequently held the team up in close battles, but when the
pitchers faltered on the path the fielders were not able to bear the
force of the attack.
* * * * *
For three seasons in succession Brooklyn seems to have been fated to
start the season with bad luck and misfortune. The spring training trip
did not bring to Brooklyn all that had been expected owing to the
inclement weather.
When the team began the season at Washington Park a tremendous crowd
filled the stands. Long before it was time for the game to begin the
spectators became unruly and swarmed over the field. It was impossible
for the ground police to do anything with the excited enthusiasts and at
last the city police were asked to assist. They tried to clear the
field, but only succeeded in driving the crowd from the infield.
Spectators were so thick in the outfield that they crowded upon the
bases and prevented the players from doing their best. For that matter
the outfielders could not do much of anything.
A ground rule of two bases into the crowd was established, and the New
York players, who were the opponents of Brooklyn, took advantage of it
to drive the ball with all their force, trusting that it would sail over
the heads of the fielders and drop into the crowd. They were so
successful that they made a record for two-base hits and Brooklyn was
overwhelmed.
This unfortunate beginning appeared to depress the Brooklyn team. The
players recovered slightly, but had barely got into their stride again
when accidents to the men began to happen. Some of them became ill, and
the manager was put to his wits end to get a team on the field which
should make a good showing.
Fighting against these odds Brooklyn made the best record that it could.
As the season warmed into the hotter months the infield had to be
rearranged. There was disappointment in the playing of some of the
infielders. It was also necessary to reconstruct the outfield. Unable to
get all of the men whom he would have desired the manager continued to
experiment and his experiments brought forth good fruit, for
unquestionably the excellent work of Moran, who played both right field
and center field for Brooklyn, was a great help to the pitchers. By the
time that the Base Ball playing year was almost concluded Brooklyn had
so far recovered that it was able to place a better nine on the diamond
than had been the case all of the year.