U.S. President William H. Taft opened the 1910 baseball season by throwing out the first ball. His actions served to mark baseball as the "official" national pastime and advanced the state of the political art into the 20th century. Those in attendance, including Vice President James Sherman, hailed the event. The Washington pitcher responded to the turnout of the robust chief executive by tossing a complete game victory over the Philadelphia Athletics. Taft's presence, though, was not an omen of prosperity for the Senators, who finished sixth with a 65-89 record.
The Philadelphia Athletics bounced back from that defeat and played winning ball all season long. It wasn't meant to be for the mackmen. Heading into September, Philadelphia trailed the Boston Red Sox by 3 games and it stayed that was for all of the month. In early October, the Athletics got to within 2 games with 3 to play but were eliminated the next day as the red hose held on to gain the American League pennant. The Red Sox were led by the bats of Larry Doyle and Tris Speaker and on the mound by pitchers Ray Collins and Smokey Joe Wood. Larry Doyle led the league in average (.311) and runs (110) and also finished third in RBI with 95 and was rewarded by the league with the Outstanding Hitter award. The second-place Athletics once again was led by their ace pitchers Eddie Plank and Rube Waddell. Waddell was awarded the league's Outstanding Pitcher award for leading the league in both ERA (1.76) and in wins (26).
The American League did not hold a monopoly on close races as the National League did them one better. Heading into September, the Philadelphia Phillies led the second-place Boston Doves by 1.5 games, with Cincinnati 5.5 games back and St.Louis 7. As the teams headed into the home stretch, the Phillies lead was now 1 game over Boston and 2 over St.Louis. The Cardinals bowed out, but not until the next-to-last day, and the Doves tied the Phillies. Philadelphia and Boston remained tied and the Doves defeated the Phillies in a one-game playoff to capture the NL's title. Boston was led by Rookie of the Year Armando Marsans, who finished 3rd in the league in average, batting .344, and by the pitching of Jack Powell. Powell led the NL in ERA and wins and was awarded the league's Outstanding Pitcher award. The St.Louis Cardinals, who finished in 3rd place 1.5 games behind the winning Doves, were led by the bats of Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb, who they signed as a free agent. The Georgia Peach rewarded the Cardinals management by leading the league in batting (.378) and was awarded the league's Outstanding Hitter award, making him the first player in history to win the award in each league.
The Boston Red Sox, who won a record setting 101 games during the regular season, quickly disposed of their intra-city rivals, 4 games to none, in the World Series to win their first world's championship.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Boston 101 53 .656 -- Boston 91 64 .587 --
Philadelphia 99 55 .643 2 Philadelphia 90 65 .581 1
St.Louis 84 70 .545 17 St.Louis 89 65 .578 1.5
Cleveland 83 71 .539 18 Cincinnati 78 76 .506 12.5
New York 70 84 .455 31 New York 71 83 .461 19.5
Washington 65 89 .422 36 Chicago 69 85 .448 21.5
Detroit 61 93 .396 40 Brooklyn 68 86 .442 22.5
Chicago 53 101 .344 48 Pittsburgh 61 93 .396 29.5
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
L.Doyle, BOS .311 T.Cobb, STL .378
E.Collins, CHI .309 H.Lord, PIT .371
H.Zimmerman, PHI .307 A.Marsans, BOS .344
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
F.Luderus, DET 14 H.Lobert, PIT 14
S.Magee, PHI 12 R.Murray, NY 10
F.Baker, PHI 10 V.Campbell, CIN 8
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
F.Baker, PHI 107 H.Wagner, STL 100
T.Speaker, BOS 97 E.Konetchy, CHI 85
L.Doyle, BOS 95 H.Lobert, PIT 85
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
L.Doyle, BOS 110 J.Devore, STL 110
B.Bescher, BOS 106 C.Stahl, PHI 110
S.Magee, PHI 103 A.Bridwell, BRO 96
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
D.Jones, STL 85 J.Devore, STL 75
B.Daniels, PHI 83 T.Cobb, STL 66
B.Bescher, BOS 73 M.Carey, BOS 57
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
R.Waddell, PHI 1.76 J.Powell, BOS 1.93
J.Raleigh, STL 1.90 O.Graham, STL 2.25
R.Collins, BOS 2.12 W.Johnson, BRO 2.26
Wins W Wins W
R.Waddell, PHI 26 J.Powell, BOS 24
J.Wood, BOS 26 D.White, PHI 23
R.Collins, BOS 24 H.Wiltse, CIN 22
Saves SV Saves SV
H.Suter, CHI 8 D.Phillippe, PIT 10
E.High, DET 6 G.Disch, BOS 7
B.Keefe, NY 5 C.Roy, PHI 7
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
O.Overall, PHI 237 R.Ford, CHI 207
J.Wood, BOS 211 E.Walsh, STL 197
R.Waddell, PHI 202 C.Bender, BOS 188
1910 World Series
Game #1
Boston (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 0
Boston (A) 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 x - 1 4 1
T.Hughes and R.Bresnahan. B.Schlitzer and T.Easterly.
WP - B.Schlitzer (1-0)
LP - J.Powell (0-1)
HR - none
Game #2
Boston (N) 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 - 8 10 3
Boston (A) 0 0 0 1 (11) 0 0 2 x - 14 10 1
C.Bender, E.Reulbach (5) and R.Bresnahan. C.Smith and T.Easterly.
WP - C.Smith (1-0)
LP - C.Bender (0-1)
HR - none
Game #3
Boston (A) 2 0 0 1 1 0 3 0 0 - 7 13 1
Boston (N) 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 - 6 9 4
J.Wood and T.Easterly. J.Powell, C.Disch (8) and R.Bresnahan.
WP - J.Wood (1-0)
LP - J.Powell (0-1)
HR - none
Game #4
Boston (A) 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 0 0 - 5 10 0
Boston (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 1 5 1
R.Collins and T.Easterly. R.Caldwell and R.Bresnahan.
WP - R.Collins (1-0)
LP - R.Caldwell (0-1)
HR - none