The Boston Red Sox, who were the defending title holders in the American League, moved to a new American League record for victories - 105 - and their third straight AL pennant. The Sox played steady ball all year and avoided any slumps in finishing 22 games ahead of the second place Cleveland club. An excellent attack centered around outfielders Tris Speaker and Bob Bescher, and the arms of Ray Collins and Smokey Joe Wood, who proved to be one of the aces of the staff by recording 24 wins and a league-leading 240 strikeouts, second in the majors to whiff master Walter Johnson of the Brooklyn Dodgers. George Suggs debuted in high fashion as he finished tied for first in wins (26) and finished in third in ERA with 2.51 as he copped both the league's Outstanding Pitcher and Rookie of the Year awards. The Red Sox victory was even more pleassant in light of the fact that Fenway Park opened it's doors for the first time in April and by October it had an American League pennant flying high over its freshly painted walls. The Cleveland ballclub, who finished second in 1911, finished second again behind the mighty bat of Shoeless Joe Jackson, who led the junior circuit in average (.377) and finished third in home runs (11) while being awarded the league's Outstanding Hitter award.
In the senior circuit, the race was tight among five teams as September rolled around with Philadelphia leading by 2.5 games over St.Louis, 5 games over Cincinnati, 6 games over Chicago and 7.5 games over Boston. By the time the last week rolled around, the Phillies and the Cardinals were separated by only 1 game and with 2 games left, they were tied. The two teams stayed that way and a one-game playoff had to be held, which was won by Philadelphia by the score of 8-5. The Phillies' attack was strengthened over the past winter with the addition of free agent shortstop Honus Wagner. Behind Wagner and Amos Strunk, Philadelphia had plenty of offense and the mound staff, led by Jack Quinn and Ed Hughes, was good enough to carry the Phillies to their first National League pennant. Ty Cobb and John Titus, who had set a new major league record for home runs with 22, were the one-two punch that carried St.Louis to the second place finish.
During the World Series, the Boston Red Sox jumped out to a 3 games to 0 lead by the scores of 8-2, 11-4 and 8-1. Philadelphia, behind Wagner and Strunk, rallied from the deficit and tied the series at three games apiece by the scores of 6-4, 7-3 and 5-2. In game seven Ed Hughes and Smokey Joe Wood fought in a pitcher's duel that ended up tied after nine innings, 3-3. In the 10th inning, Honus Wagner drove in what proved to be the winning run with a sacrifice fly and George Liebhardt came in to shut the door and give the Phillies their first world's championship.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Boston 105 49 .682 -- Philadelphia 89 66 .574 --
Cleveland 83 71 .539 22 St.Louis 88 67 .568 1
New York 77 77 .500 28 Cincinnati 83 71 .539 5.5
Chicago 75 79 .487 30 Chicago 82 72 .532 6.5
Detroit 73 81 .474 32 Boston 80 74 .519 8.5
Philadelphia 72 82 .468 33 Brooklyn 75 79 .487 13.5
Washington 67 87 .435 38 Pittsburgh 66 88 .429 22.5
St.Louis 64 90 .416 41 New York 54 100 .351 34.5
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
J.Jackson, CLE .377 A.Marsans, BOS .403
T.Speaker, BOS .370 T.Cobb, STL .380
E.Collins, CHI .363 A.Strunk, PHI .342
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
G.Cravath, NY 19 J.Titus, STL 22
T.Erwin, NY 13 E.Konetchy, CHI 12
J.Jackson, CLE 11 B.Becker, BRO 10
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
R.Smith, CLE 100 E.Konetchy, CHI 120
G.Cravath, NY 97 J.Titus, STL 109
T.Speaker, BOS 96 J.Kirke, BRO 98
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
T.Speaker, BOS 127 J.Titus, STL 115
B.Bescher, BOS 121 T.Cobb, STL 112
E.Collins, CHI 116 A.Strunk, PHI 110
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
B.Bescher, BOS 70 C.Milan, BOS 87
T.Speaker, BOS 69 T.Cobb, STL 73
E.Collins, CHI 64 A.Marsans, BOS 50
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
R.Collins, BOS 2.04 J.Quinn, PHI 2.60
J.Rowan, NY 2.37 E.Hughes, PHI 2.63
G.Suggs, BOS 2.51 R.Hitt, CIN 2.73
Wins W Wins W
J.Harris, CLE 26 E.Walsh, STL 25
G.Suggs, BOS 26 E.Hughes, PHI 23
J.Wood, BOS 24 C.Bender, BOS 20
Saves SV Saves SV
E.Hendricks, CHI 6 G.Liebhardt, PHI 7
C.Hoff, CLE 6 G.Disch, STL 5
O.Overall, NY 5 C.Roy, PHI 5
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
J.Wood, BOS 240 W.Johnson, BRO 255
D.Leonard, CHI 199 E.Walsh, STL 195
E.Plank, PHI 172 V.Gregg, CHI 188
1912 World Series
Game #1
Philadelphia (N) 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 2 5 4
Boston (A) 0 0 1 2 0 0 3 2 x - 8 13 0
G.McQuillan and C.Meyers. G.Suggs and T.Easterly.
WP - G.Suggs (1-0)
LP - G.McQuillan (0-1)
HR - BOS: T.Shafer (1)
Game #2
Philadelphia (N) 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 - 4 10 4
Boston (A) 0 1 2 0 3 0 0 5 x - 11 14 3
J.Quinn, C.Roy (6), G.Leibhardt (8) and C.Meyers. B.Keeley and T.Easterly.
WP - B.Keeley (1-0)
LP - J.Quinn (0-1)
HR - none
Game #3
Boston (A) 0 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 2 - 8 13 1
Philadelphia (N) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 5 2
J.Wood and T.Easterly. E.Hughes and C.Meyers.
WP - J.Wood (1-0)
LP - E.Hughes (0-1)
HR - PHI: C.Wilson (1)
Game #4
Boston (A) 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 - 4 7 3
Philadelphia (N) 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 x - 6 10 2
R.Collins and T.Easterly. J.Scott and C.Meyers, P.Livingston (9).
WP - J.Scott (1-0)
LP - R.Collins (0-1)
HR - PHI: D.Miller (1)
Game #5
Boston (A) 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 3 12 3
Philadelphia (N) 0 1 0 0 4 0 2 0 x - 7 11 0
G.Suggs, C.Smith (8) and T.Easterly. D.Hale, G.McQuillan (9) and C.Meyers.
WP - D.Hale (1-0)
LP - G.Suggs (1-1)
HR - PHI: P.Dougherty (1)
Game #6
Philadelphia (N) 0 0 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 - 5 9 1
Boston (A) 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 - 2 7 2
J.Quinn, C.Roy (7) and C.Meyers. B.Keeley and T.Easterly.
WP - J.Quinn (1-1)
LP - B.Keeley (1-1)
SV - C.Roy (1)
HR - none
Game #7
Philadelphia (N) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 1 - 4 7 1
Boston (A) 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 11 3
E.Hughes, G.Liebhardt (10) and C.Meyers. J.Wood, B.Schlitzer (10) and T.Easterly.
WP - E.Hughes (1-1)
LP - J.Wood (1-1)
SV - G.Liebhardt (1)
HR - BOS: L.Doyle (1)