Another year at war with the American League has resulted in battle fatigue setting in on the Executive Committee of the NL along with it's member clubs. The league did chalk up it's greatest triumph in the purchasing of the Baltimore franchise in the rival league and releasing it's major players to sign with NL clubs. The New York Giants, using the help from incoming players John McGraw, Joe McGinnity and Roger Bresnahan, tried to get back into the race for the NL pennant but could only manage to finish fourth, 11 games behind the title winning Pittsburgh Pirates.
Pittsburgh was led at the plate by Ginger Beaumont, who won the league's batting title with a .361 average, and by Fred Clarke, who finished third in the batting title race with a .346 average plus had 85 runs batted in and 72 stolen bases, good enough for him to be awarded the NL's Outstanding Batter award. The Pirates were in control heading into September, leading by 8.5 games, but the Cincinnati Reds started a comeback but eventually was eliminated with five games to go. Cincinnati finished second thanks to the pitching of Noodles Hahn. Hahn won 28 games plus had an earned run average of 2.12 and struckout 161 enemy batters as he won the league's Outstanding Pitcher award.
The Phillies were raided again by the AL clubs as the team lost Ed Delahanty, Red Donahue and Al Orth. Although they were raided for the second time in two seasons, the Phillies played well enough to finish third, ten games behind the front running Pirates.
St.Louis, which suffered a major blow when it lost several players in the raid by the AL franchise in their city, finished the season in dead last, 32 games behind as the Cardinals went from fifth and contending in 1901 to worst in the NL.
Code:
National League W L PCT GB
Pittsburgh 86 54 .614 --
Cincinnati 80 60 .571 6
Philadelphia 76 64 .593 10
New York 75 65 .536 11
Brooklyn 69 71 .493 17
Boston 61 79 .436 25
Chicago 59 81 .421 27
St.Louis 54 86 .386 32
Batting AVG AVG
G.Beaumont, PIT .361
P.Donovan, SLN .350
F.Clarke, PIT .346
Homeruns HR
S.Seybold, BSN 11
G.Beaumont, PIT 5
D.Green, CHN 5
Runs Batted In RBI
C.Hickman, NY1 96
H.Wagner, PIT 88
H.Woolverton, PHI 88
Runs Scored RS
G.Beaumont, PIT 108
F.Clarke, PIT 105
T.Leach, PIT 99
Stolen Bases SB
F.Clarke, PIT 72
H.Wagner, PIT 58
T.Leach, PIT 50
Earned Run Average ERA
N.Hahn, CIN 2.12
H.Felix, NY1 2.16
D.White, PHI 2.21
Wins W
N.Hahn, CIN 28
D.Phillippe, PIT 24
O.Hess, BRO 21
Saves SV
J.Lundbom, PHI 3
F.Burchell, NY1 1
M.Eaton, CHN 1
Strikeouts SO
D.White, PHI 180
C.Mathewson, NY1 167
N.Hahn, CIN 161