Halfway through it's second season, the American League found it's Baltimore franchise in the hands of the enemy, making the completion of the leagues schedule a little muddy. Baltimore manager John McGraw kept finding his way into AL President Ban Johnson's doghouse. Johnson kept getting on "Mugsy" for harassing the umpires that finally McGraw had enough and opened negotiations with John T. Brush, the chairman leading the three-manned counsil of the NL. In the middle of July, the purchase was finally made and Brush released John McGraw, Joe McGinnity, Roger Bresnahan, Dan McGann, Jack Cronin and Cy Seymour from their contracts so that they could sign with NL clubs. Baltimore at the time was 48-27, in first place three games ahead of the St.Louis Browns. The Orioles immediately got into a losing streak but somehow was able to continue to contend and finished with an 82-58 record, good enough for second place, thanks to the bats of Mike Donlin and Jimmy Williams. After a couple of days, AL President Ban Johnson found a loophole in the leagues bylaws and revoked the franchise. He decided that the league would run the team the rest of the way on AL funds.
Ban Johnson had other problems besides McGraw in 1902. The Philadelphia Supreme Court, after being pushed by the NL's Phillies, tried to use it's state law to get the players back that were raided from the NL club. Johnson said no and pointed out the Rusie vs. NL case that disolved the reserve clause. The Philadelphia Supreme Court got involved because Pennsylvania was the only state, of those that had major league baseball teams, that recognized a reserve clause.
Milwaukee finished it's move to St.Louis and quickly raided the NL's Cardinals. The Browns signed Jesse Burkett, Dick Padden, Emmet "Snags" Heidrick, and Jack Harper. The Browns used the new players to repeat as the AL title champions. St.Louis, who was trailing the then first place Orioles when the National League took them over, passed Baltimore and was leading by six games heading into September. With only five games left in the schedule, the Browns clinched the AL title. Along with those players, several players continued to be lured by the higher salaries and jumped from the NL to the AL. Two of the NL stars that crossed over were outfielder Ed Delahanty and pitcher Red Donahue. Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics raided the NL's Pittsburgh Pirates and lured pitcher Rube Waddell to join their club.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB
St.Louis 89 51 .636 --
Baltimore 82 58 .586 7
Philadelphia 78 62 .557 11
Chicago 68 72 .487 21
Boston 63 77 .450 26
Detroit 63 77 .450 26
Washington 59 81 .421 30
Cleveland 58 82 .414 31
Batting AVG AVG
M.Donlin, BLA .357
Z.Harvey, CHA .356
D.Gessler, BLA .347
Homeruns HR
J.Williams, BLA 9
B.Coughlin, WS1 8
J.Burkett, SLA 7
Runs Batted In RBI
H.Davis, PHA 99
J.Collins, BOS 85
B.Keister, BLA 80
Runs Scored RS
J.Barrett, DET 100
E.Flick, PHA 94
J.Williams, BLA 94
Stolen Bases SB
M.Donlin, BLA 57
E.Flick, PHA 54
O.Pickering, CLE 48
Earned Run Average ERA
E.Plank, PHA 1.95
R.Waddell, PHA 1.96
F.Kitson, SLA 2.04
Wins W
F.Kitson, SLA 24
R.Donahue, SLA 21
A.Orth, WS1 18
Saves SV
F.Morrissey, BOS 4
B.Karns, BLA 3
B.Veil, BLA 3
Strikeouts SO
R.Waddell, PHA 216
F.Kitson, SLA 145
N.Garvin, SLA 141