Well folks, the raidings have stopped and peace is at hand under the new National Agreement between the two, now equal, leagues. The players and managers can now concentrate on the field and the owners can start concetrating where it matters most to them, the turnstiles.
In the National League, the Boston Beaneaters held a 3-game lead then built their lead to seven games heading into September and it stayed that way as they headed into the final ten games of the season. It took them awhile but with five games to go, they clinched the NL title, staving off the threat by New York. Boston was led by the best pitching staff in the lead as they had a team ERA of a minuscule 1.88. The mound corps had three 20-game winners, Bill Dineen, Bill Reidy and Chief Bender, who won the pitcher's triple crown by leading the league in wins (26), ERA (1.73) and strikeouts (216). The Giants finished second, nine games back, thanks to the hitting of Roger Bresnahan, who led the league in runs scored with 95. St.Louis bounced back strong enough to finish in fifth after feeling the effects of several raids during the previous three years.
In the American League, Cleveland and Detroit were in a dogfight until the Tigers caught fire in July and coasted easily to the AL title, eventually winning by 17 games. Detroit was led at the plate by the hitting of Jimmy Barrett and Sam Crawford, who they had signed in the preseason after raiding the Cincinnati Reds. On the mound the Tigers were lead by Wild Bill Donovan, who they also grabbed in the last player raid of the senior loop, and rookie Red Ames, who finished first in wins and ERA plus finished second in strikeouts on his way to winning the league's Rookie of the Year award.
With ten games to go, the owners of the Detroit Tigers and the Boston Beaneaters had a gentleman's agreement to have the teams face each other after the end of the regular season in a nine-game series. This agreement sets up the first World Series and the first inter-league championship series since the 1890 matchup between the National League and the American Association champs.
A large crowd assembled in Detroit to watch the first game of the series, won by the Tigers by a score of 1-0 behind the pitching of Red Ames. Ed Siever went the distance scattering 13 hits and leading Detroit to an 8-6 victory in game two. The series shifted to Boston for games 3-5 but it was more of the same. Wild Bill Donovan bested Bill Dineen in game three, winning 4-1 then Mike O'Neill and Red Ames pitched Detroit to victory the next two games, 2-1 and 5-2 respectively, as the Tigers swept the series in five games to win the first world's championship.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Detroit 94 46 .671 -- Boston 93 47 .664 --
Cleveland 77 63 .550 17 New York 84 56 .600 9
St.Louis 76 64 .543 18 Cincinnati 76 64 .543 17
Philadelphia 71 69 .507 23 Brooklyn 67 73 .479 26
Washington 65 75 .464 29 St.Louis 63 77 .450 30
New York 61 79 .436 33 Chicago 61 79 .436 32
Chicago 59 81 .421 35 Philadelphia 58 82 .414 35
Boston 57 83 .407 37 Pittsburgh 58 82 .414 35
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
J.Barrett, DET .344 P.Dougherty, SLN .327
E.Delahanty, CHA .328 J.Beckley, CIN .323
G.Beaumont, PHA .326 F.Tenney, BSN .322
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
B.Freeman, BOS 13 C.Hickman, PIT 11
E.Delahanty, CHA 10 T.Needham, CIN 9
B.Keister, NYA 8 T.McCreery, BRO 6
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
B.Keister, NYA 86 C.Hickman, PIT 82
S.Crawford, DET 83 J.Beckley, CIN 81
E.Beck, CLE 75 P.Dougherty, SLN 81
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
J.Barrett, DET 92 R.Bresnahan, NY1 95
E.Flick, PHA 79 H.Bay, CIN 93
D.Holmes, CLE 77 P.Donovan, SLN 91
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
J.Barrett, DET 56 H.Bay, CIN 64
S.Mertes, DET 56 J.McGraw, NY1 60
M.Donlin, NYA 49 B.Hamilton, PIT 50
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
R.Ames, DET 1.37 C.Bender, BSN 1.73
E.Moore, CLE 1.51 B.Reidy, BSN 1.85
B.Donovan, DET 1.53 B.Dineen, BSN 1.92
Wins W Wins W
B.Donovan, DET 26 C.Bender, BSN 24
R.Ames, DET 24 B.Dineen, BSN 24
R.Waddell, PHA 24 B.Reidy, BSN 23
Saves SV Saves SV
R.Patterson, CHA 5 D.McJames, BSN 6
C.Griffith, NYA 4 D.Newton, CIN 2
R.Caldwell, CLE 3 G.Prentiss, PIT 2
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
R.Waddell, PHA 315 C.Bender, BSN 216
R.Ames, DET 299 D.White, PHI 167
V.Willis, SLA 181 B.Dineen, BSN 162
1903 World Series
Game #1
Boston (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 2
Detroit 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 8 1
B.Jacobson and J.Kling. R.Ames and C.Dexter.
WP - R.Ames (1-0)
LP - B.Jacobson (0-1)
HR - none
Game #2
Boston (N) 3 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 - 6 13 1
Detroit 0 2 4 0 0 2 0 0 x - 8 10 3
C.Bender and J.Kling. E.Siever and C.Dexter.
WP - E.Siever (1-0)
LP - C.Bender (0-1)
HR - none
Game #3
Detroit 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 4 12 1
Boston (N) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 5 1
B.Donovan and C.Dexter. B.Dineen and J.Kling.
WP - B.Donovan (1-0)
LP - B.Dineen (0-1)
HR - none
Game #4
Detroit 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 - 2 10 3
Boston (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 1 3 1
M.O'Neill and C.Dexter. B.Reidy and J.Kling.
WP - M.O'Neill (1-0)
LP - B.Reidy (0-1)
HR - none
Game #5
Detroit 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 - 5 12 1
Boston (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 - 2 7 0
R.Ames and C.Dexter. B.Jacobson and J.Kling.
WP - R.Ames (2-0)
LP - B.Jacobson (0-2)
HR - none