For the past three seasons the fans in Pittsburgh had been waiting for the Pirates to seriously contend after being in the middle of the pack but a lot of games behind the NL title winners. In 1906, behind the hitting of Jimmy Barrett and Charley Hickman, Pittsburgh headed into September trailing the St.Louis Cardinals by 3 games. The Pirates scratched and clawed their way to the top and tied St.Louis with four games to go. The two teams battled each other in the standings and ended up tied going into the final day of the regular season. Deacon Phillippe pitched a four-hit shutout to defeat the Cubs, while St.Louis lost to the Giants, to win the NL title for Pittsburgh. The second placed Cardinals were paced by 25-game winners Big Ed Walsh and rookie Ed Karger, who won the Rookie of the Year award, while Walsh garnered the Outstanding Pitcher award. The Chicago Cubs finished in third-place, nine games behind, showing that last season's finish was not a fluke.
In the American League, the Philadelphia Athletics jumped to a double-digit lead during the summer and headed into September 10.5 games ahead of the St.Louis Browns. The Mackmen coasted and clinched the league's title with about a week to go. Philadelphia was led by their terrific pitching staff as Rube Waddell led the AL in ERA and strikeouts plus had 22 wins, good enough to win the league's Outstanding Pitcher award. Star hurler Eddie Plank had 24 wins and Jim Buchanan chipped in with 22 wins. The White Sox caught fire late in September to drive past St.Louis and finish in second place, seven games behind the title winning Athletics. Chicago's rookie pitcher Slow Joe Doyle finished second in ERA and co-led the AL with 24 wins to get the league's Rookie of the Year award. St.Louis continued it's fade and finished in third place, a distant 13 games behind.
During the World Series, Pittsburgh jumped out to a 2 games to 1 lead with games two and three being shutouts by Irv Young and Jack Pfiester. Philadelphia then roared back winning the next three games by the scores of 7-5, 2-0 and 3-0, the last game being a no-hitter by Al Orth.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Philadelphia 91 63 .591 -- Pittsburgh 91 63 .591 --
Chicago 84 70 ,545 7 St.Louis 90 64 .584 1
St.Louis 78 76 .506 13 Chicago 82 72 .532 9
Cleveland 76 78 .494 15 Boston 81 73 .526 10
Washington 76 78 .494 15 New York 79 75 .513 12
New York 74 80 .481 17 Cincinnati 77 77 .500 13
Detroit 73 81 .474 18 Philadelphia 68 86 .442 22
Boston 64 90 .416 27 Brooklyn 48 106 .312 42
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
K.Elberfeld, CHA .301 G.Stone, BSN .338
M.Donlin, NYA .299 J.Barrett, PIT .308
H.Davis, PHA .296 H.Wagner, SLN 308
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
H.Lumley, BOS 12 B.Bowcock, CIN 4
G.Beaumont, WS1 7 B.Congalton, PHI 4
H.Davis, PHA 7 B.Keister, CIN 4
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
D.Gessler, NYA 76 H.Wagner, SLN 80
N.Clarke, SLA 75 C.Hickman, PIT 77
H.Lumley, BOS 75 B.Congalton, PHI 72
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
K.Elberfeld, CHA 83 I.Waldron, NY1 93
A.Devlin, NYA 82 T.Hartsel, CHN 87
B.Lush, SLA 80 J.Ward, CHN 87
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
A.Devlin, NYA 51 F.Chance, CHN 65
K.Elberfeld, CHA 50 H.Wagner, SLN 61
B.Lush, SLA 50 T.Hartsel, CHN 49
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
R.Waddell, PHA 1.67 E.Walsh, SLN 1.45
S.Doyle, CHA 1.74 E.Karger, SLN 1.76
R.Patterson, CHA 1.84 A.Pearson, NY1 1.88
Wins W Wins W
S.Doyle, CHA 24 E.Karger, SLN 25
E.Plank, PHA 24 E.Walsh, SLN 25
J.Buchanan, PHA 22 C.Bender, BSN 23
Saves SV Saves SV
J.Deering, CHA 7 B.Donovan, PIT 6
D.Williams, CHA 3 D.Gear, CIN 3
C.McGeehan, BOS 2 B.Pounds, CHN 3
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
R.Waddell, PHA 257 C.Bender, BSN 224
R.Ames, DET 217 J.Pfiester, PIT 204
R.Caldwell, CLE 214 H.Hillebrand, BSN 202
1906 World Series
Game #1
Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 1 6 1
Philadelphia (A) 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 x - 4 7 0
B.Pelty and P.Moran. E.Plank and T.Raub, R.Dooin (9).
WP - E.Plank (1-0)
LP - B.Pelty (0-1)
HR - none
Game #2
Pittsburgh 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 6 1
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 0
I.Young and P.Moran. A.Orth and T.Raub.
WP - I.Young (1-0)
LP - A.Orth (0-1)
HR - C.Hickman (1)
Game #3
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 5 3
Pittsburgh 0 5 1 0 2 0 0 0 x - 8 11 0
R.Waddell and T.Raub. J.Pfiester and P.Moran.
WP - J.Pfiester (1-0)
LP - R.Waddell (0-1)
HR - none
Game #4
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 2 0 0 2 1 0 2 - 7 14 1
Pittsburgh 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 - 5 10 1
J.Buchanan and T.Raub, R.Dooin (9). D.Phillippe and P.Moran.
WP - J.Buchanan (1-0)
LP - D.Phillippe (0-1)
HR - C.Hickman (2)
Game #5
Philadelphia (A) 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 6 2
Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 3 3
E.Plank and T.Raub, R.Dooin (9). B.Pelty and P.Moran.
WP - E.Plank (2-0)
LP - B.Pelty (0-2)
HR - none
Game #6
Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 1
Philadelphia (A) 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 x - 3 8 0
I.Young and P.Moran. A.Orth and T.Raub, R.Dooin (9).
WP - A.Orth (1-1)
LP - I.Young (0-2)
HR - none