The May Campaign 1902
After the two initial months of the season, the surprising New York Giants hold a slim lead over the hard charging Pirates and Reds in the National League. Despite having two stellar moundsmen in workhorse Christy Mathewson (6-4, 1.84 ERA and league leader in strikeouts with 72 in 93 innings of work) and Crese Heismann who has been lights out (7-1, 1.95 ERA, 3 shutouts), it is actually their ability to get on base and score runs that puts the Giants on top. The purchase of first baseman Kitty Bransfield from Pittsburgh this offseason has been the steal of the year. Bransfield is leading the league in hits and average at .415. His offensive prowess has made up for the lack of production from last year’s NL batting champion van Haltren, who currently has a sluggish .250 mark out of the gates. Pittsburgh leads the league in hitting behind the steady play of Honus Wagner, hitting .323 with 10 triples already. Ginger Beaumont at .352 and Fred Clarke at .329 aptly follow Wagner in the hit parade. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh, star pitcher Waddell went down with a season-ending injury in a May 18th start against Chicago. He was 5-2 with an ERA a shade under 2 with an incredible 59 punchouts in 63 innings. One wonders if Pittsburgh will try to mend fences and regain the services of lost boxman
Chesbro of the California League to fill-in. Boston climbs out of the second division for the first time thanks to the pitching of backend starters McCann (2.18 ERA) and Dresser (1.93 ERA). Overall, the race for the pennant is much closer this year, with all eight teams of the National league within 7 games of each other.
National League Club Standing May 31
Code:
Club. Won. Lost. P.C. Club. Won. Lost. P.C.
New York 23 15 .605 | Philadelphia 18 20 .474
Pittsburgh 22 18 .550 | Chicago 18 22 .450
Cincinnati 20 17 .541 | St. Louis 17 21 .447
Boston 19 19 .500 | Brooklyn 17 22 .436
In the American League, Baltimore continues its dominance of spring, sporting the best record in the major leagues with 25 victories to only 9 defeats. McGraw has trained his boys well in the mold of the old Orioles, despite himself being ejected from numerous games, with mounting fines and suspensions levied against him. Young jumper Shad Berry has been a lightning rod for a well-balanced offense hitting an amazing .548 batting average in tight games whereas
Tom Hughes, Nig Cuppy and Bill Phillips all claim ERA’s under 2. Chicago has returned to form with steady Roy Patterson, who in his second start of the season, pitched 16 strong innings to outlast the Tigers 2-1. Second-year man
Dusty Rhoads has flipped his fortunes in 1902, showing remarkable poise for a 22 year old, going 6-1 with a league-leading 1.29 ERA. Champion Detroit is still trying to find its pace while the new St. Louis club meekly tries to eek out wins with a .204 team batting average. Philadelphia hasn’t fared any better without Lajoie, who was finally granted free agency and later released to Cleveland. Lajoie was released on condition that he not play in Philadelphia this season. The teams who were successful in luring NL players to their rosters find themselves mired in the second division.
American League Club Standing May 31
Code:
Club. Won. Lost. P.C. Club. Won. Lost. P.C.
Baltimore 25 9 .735 | Detroit 16 18 .471
Chicago 22 12 .647 | Washington 13 21 .382
Boston 20 14 .588 | Philadelphia 11 23 .324
Cleveland 19 15 .559 | St. Louis 10 24 .294