The St.Louis Browns capped a three-year rise from near the bottom of the standings by winning the American League title over the Boston Red Sox by two games. St.Louis led by four games heading into September then Boston closed the gap to 1.5 games with 5 games to go before the Browns pulled away and clinched the title two games later. Good hitting and pitching made St.Louis the class of the league this season. Shortstop Charlie Hollocher and rookie outfielder Ross Youngs were .300 hitters, and pitcher Hippo Vaughn led the way in wins with 26 and ERA with 1.69.
The Red Sox entered their title defense and won only three games less than their 1916 winning season but it could only get them a runner-up position. Joe Judge batted .346 and won the league's Outstanding Hitter award with Tris Speaker and Vin Campbell also batting over .300. Ed Hughes logged a 20-win season to lead the pitching staff.
The Pittsburgh Pirates went from seventh place in 1915 to the top of the National League in 1917 thanks to the pitching staff which led the NL with a 2.18 ERA. Ace pitcher Pete Alexander led the league in wins (26), ERA (2.01) and strikeouts (159) to achieve the pitcher's triple crown and was awarded the NL's Outstanding Pitcher award for his efforts. Fred Toney chipped in with 19 wins and Eddie Cicotte had 16 wins to help support "Ol' Pete". Pittsburgh headed into September leading the Boston Braves by two games and the St.Louis Cardinals by nine. While the Redbirds faded, the Braves hung on and eventually tied the Pirates early in the last week of the regular season. However, it just wasn't meant to be for the beantowners as Pittsburgh was able to grab sole possession of first place again the next day and clinched the title on the next to last day of the season. The Braves were led by their pitching staff, most notably Harry Coveleski and rookie Hod Eller, each whom were 20-game winners, and Lefty Tyler, who finished second in the NL in ERA with 2.10 and third in strikeouts with 141.
In the World Series, the teams battled through seven games with St.Louis finally winning 4 games to 3 behind the pitching of Hippo Vaughn and Roy Witherup, who each won two games. The Browns outscored the Pirates 9-2 in the last two games to come from behind to take the world's championship.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
St.Louis 90 64 .584 -- Pittsburgh 92 64 .597 --
Boston 88 66 .571 2 Boston 89 65 .578 3
New York 81 73 .526 9 St.Louis 83 71 .539 9
Washington 80 74 .519 10 Brooklyn 77 77 .500 15
Chicago 77 77 .500 13 Chicago 75 79 .487 17
Detroit 75 79 .487 15 Cincinnati 74 80 .481 18
Philadelphia 69 85 .448 21 New York 67 87 .435 25
Cleveland 56 98 .364 34 Philadelphia 59 95 .383 33
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
B.Shotton, DET .356 T.Cobb, STL .324
J.Judge, BOS .346 S.Rice, STL .320
C.Hollocher, STL .309 J.Daubert, CHI .310
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
G.Cravath, NY 6 B.Becker, NY 11
W.Pipp, CLE 6 L.Gardner, CHI 6
V.Saier, PHI 6 A.Wickland CIN 6
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
W.Pipp, CLE 83 A.Wickland,CIN 73
R.Hornsby, STL 76 L.Gardner, CHI 69
H.Hooper, BOS 70 S.Evans, PIT 67
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
H.Hooper, BOS 86 S.Evans, PIT 87
R.Youngs, STL 83 T.Cobb, STL 86
T.Shafer, BOS 76 H.Myers, BRO 86
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
H.Hooper, BOS 51 H.Myers, BRO 40
J.Judge, BOS 43 M.Berghammer, PIT 39
T.Shafer, BOS 40 D.Robertson, CIN 27
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
A.Nehf, DET 1.09 P.Alexander, PIT 2.01
L.Williams, CHI 1.30 L.Tyler, BOS 2.10
H.Vaughn, STL 1.69 F.Toney, PIT 2.12
Wins W Wins W
H.Vaughn, STL 26 P.Alexander, PIT 26
E.Hughes, BOS 21 H.Coveleski, BOS 23
C.Johnson, NY 21 H.Eller, BOS 21
Saves SV Saves SV
C.Schmutz, PHI 8 F.Lamline, STL 15
C.Smith, WAS 8 H.Dauss, STL 14
A.Clauss, Was+Det 7 P.Strand, PIT 12
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
H.Vaughn, STL 167 P.Alexander, PIT 159
E.Rixey, WAS 160 W.Johnson, BRO 155
R.Marquard, NY 145 L.Tyler, BOS 141
1917 World Series
Game #1
St.Louis (A) 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 3 10 1
Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 x - 4 9 2
A.Sothoron and L.Nunamaker. F.Toney and W.McAvoy.
WP - F.Toney (1-0)
LP - A.Sothoron (0-1)
HR - none
Game #2
St.Louis (A) 1 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 - 5 9 0
Pittsburgh 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 4 10 2
R.Witherup and L.Nunamaker. D.Akers, T.Seaton (7) and W.McAvoy.
WP - R.Witherup (1-0)
LP - D.Akers (0-1)
HR - none
Game #3
Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 6 3
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 x - 2 9 1
P.Alexander and W.McAvoy. H.Vaughn and L.Nunamaker.
WP - H.Vaughn (1-0)
LP - P.Alexander (0-1)
HR - none
Game #4
Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 2 0 - 5 5 0
St.Louis (A) 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 6 0
E.Cicotte, H.Finnerran (9) and W.McAvoy. A.Sothoron and L.Nunamaker.
WP - E.Cicotte (1-0)
LP - A.Sothoron (0-2)
HR - none
Game #5
Pittsburgh 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 - 3 12 0
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 - 2 10 0
F.Toney and W.McAvoy, J.Stephens (9). B.Harmon and L.Nunamaker.
WP - F.Toney (2-0)
LP - B.Harmon (0-1)
HR - STL: W.Cruise (1)
Game #6
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 - 3 8 0
Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 7 0
R.Witherup and L.Nunamaker, S.O'Neill (9). D.Akers, T.Seaton (7) and
W.McAvoy.
WP - R.Witherup (2-0)
LP - D.Akers (0-2)
HR - none
Game #7
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 - 6 7 1
Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 1 8 1
H.Vaughn and L.Nunamaker, S.O'Neill (9). P.Alexander and W.McAvoy.
WP - H.Vaughn (2-0)
LP - P.Alexander (0-2)
HR - none