Pittsburg reclaims NL Pennant, New York City Alive in '05
The Pittsburg Pirates reclaimed the National League pennant with a very strong finish, winning 7 out of 10 games in every month except the two inaugural months of the campaign. The acquisitions of pitchers Tully Sparks from Brooklyn and Wiley Piatt from Boston proved that pitchers thrive in Pittsburg, as both old NL hurlers pitched as well as they had in years. Jim St. Vrain and
Clark Griffith continued their success from the mound as well, each winning over 22 games. The league’s best pitching was supported by the league’s best hitting yet again, an attack led by Cy Seymour (.311 average, 12 homeruns) and shortstop Honus Wagner (43 doubles and 75 thefts). Pittsburg’s push was enough to demoralize the Cincinnati Redlegs, who had grabbed ex-Pirate Rube Waddell in a bizarre trade last year. The easily distracted but tremendously talented Waddell pitched to form but several injuries dampened his impact chasing his former team. Philadelphia standout pitcher Chappie McFarland did not make the squad this year and star Bob Wicker suffered with a weakened offense and 24 losses. Chicago fell to 93 losses and eventually traded dependable Ham Iburg to the Pacific Coast League after losing a spot in the rotation due to “uninspired” play. Rookie Ed Reulbach shouldered the load but
Long Bob Ewing, from the lowly Athletics, fooled no one and lost nearly 30 games. World’s Series hero
Cy Morgan was traded back to St. Louis in December and was relegated to relief work as the Cards’ management got stupidly drunk on Doc Reisling and sported no regular batsman who hit above .270. The only thing to write about in Boston is middle-aged rookie Irv Young (1.76 ERA, 16-20) who some cranks have dubbed “the Young Cy”.
Complete National Club Standing 1905
Code:
Club Won Lost Pct G.B. Avg. ERA
Pittsburg 100 54 .649 - .255 2.19
New York 91 63 .591 9 .240 2.25
Cincinnati 83 71 .539 17 .250 2.36
Brooklyn 78 76 .506 22 .253 2.56
Philadelphia 78 76 .506 22 .244 2.45
Chicago 63 91 .409 37 .255 2.93
St. Louis 63 91 .409 37 .230 3.01
Boston 60 94 .390 40 .232 2.60
The New York Highlanders in their third season were enjoying their best season to date playing ten games over .500 ball at the end of July. The team managed to sign Cy Young away from Boston and it turned out to be a bonanza in what would become the great pitcher’s swan song. The New York club caught fire and went 44-16 the rest of the season to capture their first American League pennant. Young finished the year with a 20 wins, his first such season in five years. Spitballers
Jack Chesbro and
Buffalo Bill Hogg, along with Ambrose Puttmann shored up the team’s league leading pitching staff. Defending champion Cleveland made a push early but couldn’t sustain a winning percentage equal to that of New York. A dislocated shoulder sidelined batting champ Napoleon Lajoie in the season’s final weeks, hurting the effort. Boston’s only hope without Cy Young was
Tom Hughes but the rest of the staff equaled the offense in futility, but still managed to far-surpass the ugly play in Philadelphia. Pitcher Andy Coakley took 30 losses and Chief Bender, who had a fantastic rookie campaign in 1903 (26-8), lost 29, his second-consecutive 20-loss season.
Complete American Club Standing 1905
Code:
Club Won Lost Pct G.B. Avg. ERA
New York 93 61 .604 - .256 1.96
Cleveland 88 66 .571 5 .262 2.35
Chicago 81 73 .526 12 .253 2.68
Washington 80 74 .519 13 .241 2.56
Detroit 79 75 .513 14 .246 2.68
St. Louis 74 80 .481 19 .244 2.67
Boston 71 83 .461 22 .233 2.72
Philadelphia 50 104 .325 43 .236 3.26