The Philadelphia Athletics came into the 1907 season looking for a repeat as world champions. During the summer months the AL's title chase became a two-team race as the White Elephants and the New York Highlanders were neck-and-neck. When September rolled around, Philadelphia held a 2-1/2 game lead over New York and were able to stretch the lead enough to kill the Highlanders' hopes with four games to go.
One of the key figures and a main reason for Philadelphia's defending of the league title was the maturing of Ty Cobb. The 20-year old Georgia Peach, in his fourth season with the Athletics, blossomed into a batting terror by socking the ball at a .342 clip, enough for second place in the league's batting race. The pugnacious center fielder also rang fear into the hearts of the infielders just as much as the pitchers with his 46 steals, enough for fourth place in the AL, achieved mostly via a style of sliding in high with razor-sharp spikes.
With Cobb batting third in the lineup, the Athletics led the junior circuit with 595 runs and Cobb driving in 80 of them. Eddie Plank paced Philadelphia with 25 wins with Jim Buchanan chipping in with 22 and Rube Waddell with 18. Plank also had a 1.86 ERA and 194 strikeouts in winning the league's Outstanding Pitcher award.
The New York Highlanders finished in second place, five games behind the front running Athletics, thanks in part to the hitting of Mike Grady and Doc Gessler. The Highlanders' mound staff was led by Charlie Smith, who won 24 games.
In the National League, it was a different story. The defending champion Pittsburgh Pirates were in a tight race involving four other teams throughout the summer months. Heading into September, the Pirates led by only 1 game over St.Louis, 2 games over New York, 4-1/2 games over Boston with the fading Reds now 10 games back. The Boston Doves got on a roll during the month and pulled into the lead by 1 game over Pittsburgh with only 6 games remaining. It wasn't until the next to last day of the season that the NL crowned it's champion as the Doves clinched the title and finished a single game ahead of the Pirates and two over the Cardinals.
The Boston Doves were led on offense by the bat of George Stone. Stone finished second in the league in hitting (.318) and finishing first in home runs (5) and RBIs (74). However, he finished second in the voting for the NL's Outstanding Batter award behind Honus Wagner of the Cardinals. Wagner's final stats were .320-1-57 with 57 stolen bases as he led the red birds to a third place finish. The Doves' mound corps was led by Chief Bender and Johnny Lush. Chief Bender led the NL in wins, with 26, and in strikeouts, with 220, and combined it with an ERA of 1.85 to with the league's Outstanding Pitcher award.
During the World Series, the big matchup for the fans was the batting match between the Athletics' Cobb and the Doves' Stone. Cobb ended up with a .385 postseason average and drove in the game winning run in game six. However, his batting was overshadowed by that of Harry Niles, who batted .455 with two home runs.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Philadelphia 95 59 .617 -- Boston 85 69 .552 --
New York 90 64 .584 5 Pittsburgh 84 70 .545 1
Washington 80 74 .519 15 St.Louis 83 71 .539 2
Chicago 77 77 .500 18 New York 82 72 .532 3
St.Louis 71 83 .461 24 Cincinnati 75 79 .487 10
Cleveland 70 84 .455 25 Brooklyn 74 80 .481 11
Boston 69 85 .448 26 Philadelphia 70 84 .455 15
Detroit 64 90 .416 31 Chicago 63 91 .409 22
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
M.Grady, NYA .359 H.Wagner, SLN .320
T.Cobb, PHA .342 G.Stone, BSN .318
H.Armbruster, DET .341 B.Congalton, PHI .317
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
T.Jordan, WS1 10 B.Rickey, CIN 5
H.Lumley, BOS 7 G.Stone, BSN 5
S.Magee, PHA 6 B.Herzog, BSN 4
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
D.Gessler, NYA 86 G.Stone, BSN 74
T.Cobb, PHA 80 P.Clark, NY1 73
T.Jordan, WS1 74 M.McCormick, PIT 62
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
T.Leach, WS1 87 G.Stone, BSN 82
M.Grady, NYA 84 R.Bresnahan, NY1 81
D.Gessler, NYA 80 B.Keister, CIN 78
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
T.Leach, WS1 61 I.Waldron, NY1 62
B.Bescher, BOS 56 H.Wagner, SLN 57
E.Flick, PHA 52 B.Hamilton, SLN 51
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
R.Waddell, PHA 1.48 I.Young, PIT 1.66
J.Wood, BOS 1.73 G.Winter, NY1 1.72
J.Buchanan, PHA 1.79 J.Lush, BSN 1.83
Wins W Wins W
E.Plank, PHA 25 C.Bender, BSN 26
C.Smith, NYA 24 D.Phillippe, PIT 23
J.Buchanan, PHA 22 J.Lush, BSN 22
Saves SV Saves SV
B.Popp, NYA 6 C.Roy, PHI 3
M.Cunnington, NYA 3 F.Corridon, NY1 2
T.Fisher, NYA 2 G.Disch, NY1 2
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
R.Waddell, PHA 234 C.Bender, BSN 220
R.Ames, PHA 215 W.Johnson, BRO 211
N.Rucker, NYA 206 C.Mathewson, NY1 200
1907 World Series
Game #1
Boston (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 3 1
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 x - 1 9 2
T.Hughes and A.Schlei. J.Buchanan and G.Street.
WP - J.Buchanan (1-0)
LP - T.Hughes (0-1)
HR - PHA: J.Kane (1)
Game #2
Boston (N) 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 - 8 12 1
Philadelphia (A) 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 - 5 13 3
J.Lush and A.Schlei. R.Vickers and G.Street.
WP - J.Lush (1-0)
LP - R.Vickers (0-1)
HR - none
Game #3
Philadelphia (A) 1 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 - 7 12 1
Boston (N) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 9 1
R.Waddell and G.Street. C.Bender, K.Nichols (8) and A.Schlei.
WP - R.Waddell (1-0)
LP - C.Bender (0-1)
HR - none
Game #4
Philadelphia (A) 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 7 1
Boston (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 7 0
E.Plank and G.Street. H.Hillebrand and A.Schlei.
WP - E.Plank (1-0)
LP - H.Hillebrand (0-1)
HR - PHA: H.Niles (1)
Game #5
Philadelphia (A) 0 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 5 10 4
Boston (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 7 x - 9 12 1
J.Buchanan and G.Street. T.Hughes and A.Schlei.
WP - T.Hughes (1-1)
LP - J.Buchanan (1-1)
HR - PHA: H.Niles (2)
Game #6
Boston (N) 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 6 1
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 - 3 9 0
J.Lush and A.Schlei. R.Vickers and G.Street.
WP - R.Vickers (1-1)
LP - J.Lush (1-1)
HR - none