1902 National League
Code:
Team W L % GB
Philadelphia Phillies 79 61 .564 -
Pittsburgh Pirates 77 63 .550 2
St. Louis Cardinals 73 67 .521 6
Brooklyn Superbas 70 70 .500 9
Chicago Orphans 69 71 .493 10
Boston Beaneaters 67 73 .479 12
Cincinnati Reds 67 73 .479 12
New York Giants 58 82 .414 21
League AVG: .272
League ERA: 3.29
Philadelphia Phillies
With 7 games left in the season, the Phillies had a 6-game lead on Pittsburgh. The Phillies went 1-6 over that final stretch, but still managed to clinch the pennant on Sept 25th with a 7-0 shutout of Boston.
SS Cupid Childs led the team with a .334 average, but the team's most important bat belonged to Nap Lajoie, who hit .320 with 84 RBI. CF Ed Delahanty hit .306 with 69 RBI. 1B Mike Grady hit .283 with 88 RBI. The ageless Bill Vinton went 22-14 with an excellent 2.73 ERA. His career stats now rest at 360-250 with a 3.05 ERA and 2902 strikeouts in 5899 innings. Roomike Ham Iburg went 17-14 with a 3.39 ERA.
Pittsburgh Pirates
3B Frank Shugart finished 2nd in the league with a .341 average, and the Pirates led both leagues with a .284 team average. LF Fred Clarke hit .311 with 88 RBI. Honus Wagner's average dipped to .295 with 71 RBI. Jack Chesbro had a breakout season, anchoring the rotation by going 24-12 with a 2.98 ERA. Rube Waddell went 18-16, 3.25 and Deacon Phillippe went 15-18, 3.36 in his first season as a regular starter. Bill Phillips' role was reduced to just 19 starts at age 33, but he went 12-7, 3.04.
St. Louis Cardinals
3B Bobby Wallace led the team with a .306 average and 79 RBI, but no other regular hit abover Duff Cooley's .295. However, outfielders Emmet Heidrick (.331) and Homer Smoot (.316) hit above .300 but had just 353 and 335 AB's respectively. The Cards had the best ERA in the NL (3.05). Joe Corbett (20-15, 2.44) led the NL in ERA, and rookie Bob Wicker (20-11, 2.58) was named Top Rookie. Jack Powell (15-19, 3.12) also pitched well but nearly lost 20 games after winning 20 or more in each of the past three seasons.
Brooklyn Superbas
SS Hughie Jennings was an offensive catalyst, hitting .302, stealing 56 bases and scoring 82 runs. LF Jimmy Sheckard hit .326, `1B John Anderson hit .304 with 74 RBI and CF Fielder Jones hit .317 with 60 RBI. Even though the team improved by 13 games from last season, pitching was still a concern. Harry Howell went 21-11 with a 3.06 ERA, but the rest of the rotation was unimpressive. At 29, Doc McJames improved his ERA from 4.62 in 1901 to 3.63 this year, but he still has coaches worried about whether or not he'll be what they hoped when they got him. Joe McGinnity was not in the rotation for the first half of the season, but once he returned to a starting role, he was strong. He finished the season at 9-8, 3.18.
Chicago Orphans
Chicago improved by 9 games from last year, finishing just 2 games below .500. 1B Bill Everitt won the batting title with a .359 record. SS Bill Dahlen led the team with 79 RBI despite a .284 average. Catcher Frank Chance hit .305, and rookie CF Zaza Harvey hit .309. Rookie Carl Lundgren went 16-11 and led the team with a 2.90 ERA. Fellow rookie Jim St. Vrain's 3.06 ERA was good, but his record (12-21) didn;t show it. Sophomore Tom Hughes matched his 3.21 ERA from last season, but his record went from 20-14 to 16-18. That is largely due to him being moved to the #1 spot in the rotation. The Orphans have high hopes for their team, and they like the idea of this young pitching staff maturing together.
Boston Beaneaters
3B Billy Nash hit a strong .332. At age 37, he has 2848 hits and a .318 career average. He has 700 more hits than any other 3B in history. Bill Dinneen (9-25, 3.59) had a disappointing season, but his NL-leading 25 losses was as much a result of the team's sluggish offense as it was his pitching. The rest of the rotation was solid: Bill Daley (21-15, 2.76), Vic Willis (13-10, 2.71) and Kid Nichols (19-13, 3.17).
Cincinnati Reds
Sam Crawford (.308, 79 RBI), Jimmy Barrett (.309, 30 SB), LF Topsy Hartsel (.294, 91 runs, 47 SB) and catcher Jocko Halligan (.299) were the core of this offense. Once regarded as a team strength, the pitching staff finished last in the league in allowing 4.6 runs per game. Amos Rusie (8-10, 5.03) may have worked himself out of next year's rotation. He started 11 games in the first half of the season and just 5 in the 2nd half. 29-year-old rookie Bob Ewing took over Rusie's missed starts in the 2nd half and went 5-4, 2.99 overall.
After going 13-18 with a respectable 3.57 ERA as a 23-year-old rookie in 1897, Jesse Tannehill had been a disappointment. He posted ERA's of 4.71, 4.90, 5.12 and 4.93 over the next four years. This season, he led the pitching staff by going 19-16 with a 2.96 ERA. Elton Chamberlain (17-18, 3.84) continues to frustrate the team, and Noodles Hahn (15-17, 3.84) failed to rebound from last season when he went 17-18, 4.02.
New York Giants
Willie Keeler led New York with a .326 average and scored a team high 85 runs. 1B Tom McCreery (.306, 68 RBI) and LF Jesse Burkett (.310, 62 RBI) finished 2-3 on the team in average and 1-2 in RBI. The rest of the team's starters hit anywhere from .251 (CF Mike Tiernan, 9 HR) to .177 (3B Denny Lyons). Ed Doheny's 2.67 ERA led the team, as did his 18 wins. Christy Mathewson (14-22, 3.07) and Pink Hawley (12-22, 3.03) both lost 22 games despite good seasons.
Batting AVG
.359 Bill Everitt, CHC
.341 Frank Shugart, PIT
.334 Cupid Childs, PHI
.332 Billy Nash, BSN
.326 Willie Keeler, NYG
.326 Jimmy Sheckard, BRO
HOMERUNS
9 Mike Tiernan, NYG
7 Ed Delahanty, PHI
7 Mike Grady, PHI
7 Honus Wagner, PIT
RBI
88 Fred Clarke, PIT
88 Mike Grady, PHI
84 Nap Lajoie, PHI
79 Bobby Wallace, STL
79 Bill Dahlen, CHC
79 Sam Crawford, CIN
OPS
.818 Jimmy Sheckard, BRO
.808 Frank Chance, CHC
.799 Frank Shugart, PIT
.797 Nap Lajoie, PHI
.789 Bill Everitt, CHC
STEALS
58 Willie Keeler, NYG (58-15, 79.45%)
58 Mike Tiernan, NYG (58-18, 76.32%)
56 Hughie Jennings, BRO (56-29, 65.88%)
54 Sammy Strang, BRO (56-29, 65.88%)
53 Bill Everitt, CHC (53-14, 79.10%)
52 Honus Wagner, PIT (52-13 80.00%)
ERA
2.44 Joe Corbett, STL (20-15)
2.58 Bob Wicker, STL (20-11)
2.67 Ed Doheny, NYG (18-17)
2.71 Vic Willis, BSN (13-10)
2.73 Bill Vinton, PHI (22-14)
2.76 Bill Daley, BSN (21-15)
WINS
24 Jack Chesbro, PIT (24-12, 2.98)
22 Bill Vinton, PHI
21 Bill Daley, BSN
21 Harry Howell, BRO (21-11, 3.06)
20 Bob Wicker, STL
20 Joe Corbett, STL
STRIKEOUTS
160 Bill Daley, BSN
159 Joe Corbett, STL
140 Tom Hughes, CHC (16-18, 3.21)
137 Rube Waddell, PIT (18-16, 3.25)
131 Doc White, PHI (18-18, 3.45)
POY: Jack Chesbro, 28, PIT, 24-12, 2.98 ERA, 93 BB, 105 K, .240 OAVG, 1.17 WHIP
BOY: CF Ed Delahanty, 34, PHI, .306 AVG, 7 HR, 69 RBI, 25 SB, .787 OPS
ROY: Bob Wicker, 24, STL, 20-11, 2.58 ERA, 73 BB, 103 K, .268 OAVG, 1.29 WHIP