1903 Campaign Underway, Month of April in the Books
In the inaugural month of the season, the Pittsburg club continues its fast pace to lead all clubs in the standings. The club is lead by its pitching staff which is tops in the major leagues. Notably, Rube Waddell appears to have shaken off the effects of a torn bicep muscle suffered last year and has posted a 3-1 record for the champs. He hasn’t quite found the control but striking out 33 batsmen in 36 innings sure makes up for it. And the young lad Jim St. Vrain, over from Chicago and just 19 years old, leads all pitchers with a 0.34 ERA. Meanwhile, last year’s second place finishers Cincinnati, has struggled out of the gates, falling to 3-10 on the season. Favorite Jim Beckley has struggled without the support of Sam Crawford, who is now with Detroit in the American League. Otherwise dependable
Noodles Hahn has given up more than 6 runs in 3 of his 4 starts this year.
Slippery Elm Boys Watch:
The National Leagues only spitball pitcher,
Frank Corridon, made the opening day roster for the Philadelphia Phillies. Perhaps aided by the new roster limits, Corridon was granted a spot on the staff in a relief role. Corridon pitched one inning in an 8-1 loss to Brooklyn, surrendering a walk which later scored on a throwing error. He was sent packing to Toronto at the end of the month when second baseman Cupid Childs returned from injury. He’s been inserted as the number one pitcher ahead of
Fred Mitchell.
Dusty Rhoads strained his rotator cuff during training and is out for several weeks.
National Club Standing, April 30, 1903
Code:
Club Won Lost Pct G.B. Avg. ERA
Pittsburgh 9 4 .692 - .264 1.46
Chicago 9 5 .643 .5 .272 2.24
Brooklyn 8 5 .615 1 .282 3.72
New York 7 6 .538 2 .294 2.41
Philadelphia 7 8 .467 3 .259 2.92
St. Louis 6 8 .429 3.5 .228 2.49
Boston 6 9 .400 4 .224 3.52
Cincinnati 3 10 .231 6 .227 3.52
In the American League, the Athletics of Philadelphia lead all combatants with a 7-3 record in the early going. Expectations were set high right away as the team took two against the Bostons on opening day. Eddie Plank pitched well enough and his teammates walloped on Cy Young for 10 runs. Young, who continues to struggle to find ways to win for a team many thought to contend this year, is 1-1 with a 6.00 ERA. In the afternoon game, 18 year old Chief Bender debuted to a 16-1 win over Boston’s
Bill Dinneen, who is also struggling mightily on the mound. Worse than Young, Dinneen is 0-3 with a 8.31 ERA. Bender is the new rave, pitching with the guile of a veteran, going 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA. The new team in the league, the New York Highlanders, won its first game on opening day against Washington. Former Pittsburg great Jesse Tannehill picked up the 4-1 win.
Clark Griffith pitched 12 grueling innings, surrendering 16 hits in a tough 4-3 loss to Washington in the first game ever at New York’s new Hilltop Park.
Slippery Elm Boys Watch:
The American League has turned out to be the battleground so far for the new breed of spitballers.
Happy Jack Chesbro, now with New York after a year in California, hasn’t quite got the hang of the spitball, only having trained with
Elmer Stricklett for a month over the winter. Still, he’s pitched well enough to win in his return against major leaguers, but has an 0-2 record. In his first start, he held Washington to only 2 hits but his own team scattered 5 hits and could not score against George Prentiss. In his second start against Philadelphia rookie Weldon Henley, shoddy defense lost him the game 5-1. Chesbro’s own fielding mistakes followed him to New York, committing an error that eventually allowed 2 runs to score that inning.
Clark Griffith, who recruited Chesbro, is the anchorman of the staff, and so far is 1-1, 2.51 ERA. Baltimore carryover
Harry Howell has had the opposite fortune of Chesbro with nearly the same performance. He sports a 2-0 record with a 0.50 ERA but had also outlasted the talented Eddie Plank of Philadelphia in a close 5-4 victory.
Slow Joe Doyle and
George McConnell are working at Newark to start the season.
In Boston, as mentioned before,
Bill Dinneen has struggled and is now 0-3 with a 8.31 ERA. He’s been throwing up slow and saucy meatballs that batsmen are just hammering. Perhaps by ignoring
George Hildebrand(who made the team but has not played) he hasn’t enjoyed the success that
Tom Hughes and
Norwood Gibson have enjoyed so far. Hughes has been the best starter in only 2 games, going 1-1 with 10 strikeouts in 17 innings. Gibson has pitched no less than 3 innings in each of 3 games that ended in blowouts. Despite a lack of control, he’s managed to quiet the scoring, earning a 2.03 ERA.
In Cleveland, hurler
Earl Moore has had a rocky start, allowing 23 hits in 17 innings netting him an 0-2 record for the defending champions. Did the limelight of the western winter tour too much for our heralded young star? Both
Heinie Berger and
Glenn Liebhardt start the season in Columbus and their mentor,
Frank Bowerman, has been inexcusably filling in at second base for the Naps. So far he’s been entirely inept, committing 8 errors in 7 games. Cleveland better work in their other more capable infielders at shortstop so Lajoie can move back to his natural position or else there will be no consecutive league crown this year.
American Club Standing, April 30, 1903
Code:
Club Won Lost Pct G.B. Avg. ERA
Philadelphia 7 3 .700 - .299 2.32
Detroit 5 3 .625 1 .320 2.92
New York 5 3 .625 1 .251 1.60
Cleveland 4 3 .571 1.5 .280 3.14
Washington 4 4 .500 2 .247 3.24
St. Louis 3 4 .429 2.5 .266 3.38
Chicago 3 5 .375 3 .303 2.54
Boston 2 8 .200 5 .260 5.58