When the American League's first season opened, each team found itself stocked with talent from the other league. Probably the brightest star this first year was Nap Lajoie, second sacker for the Philadelphia Athletics, who finished second in the AL in average after jumping over from the rival Phillies. In addition to his hitting .342, Lajoie also drove in 100 runs and hit 10 home runs to capture the league's Outstanding Hitter Award. However, this was not enough to carry Philadelphia into contention for the AL title as they were a distant sixth, finishing 33 games behind the title winning Boston Americans. The Americans took over first place on July 1 and never looked back as they won by 8 games over the second placed Baltimore Orioles. Boston was led by the arm of Cy Young, who won 22 games as well as recorded an AL-leading 2.08 ERA and was second in strikeouts (147) to nab the league's Outstanding Pitcher Award. The Orioles were led by Mike "Turkey" Donlin, who batted .331 to go along with 12 home runs and 73 stolen bases.
While the upstart American League was playing its first major league schedule, the National League finished its 25th season. The New York Giants attained first place with less than ten games to go after trailing by as many as 12 games then held off the Phillies, Pirates and Cardinals up to and including the final game of the season to capture the NL pennant. The Giants were led at the plate by George Van Haltren (.334) and Charlie Hickman (NL leading 14 home runs and 96 RBIs), and on the mound by Christy Mathewson (22 wins, 2.36 ERA, 212 strikeouts). The second-place Phillies were hurt by the defection of Lajoie but still packed dynamite in the bat of Ed Delahanty (NL leading .342 average, 91 RBIs) and led by the arm of Bill Duggleby (22 wins, MLB leading 2.03 ERA). Pittsburgh ended the season in third place and were led by the bat of Tommy Leach (11 home runs) and the arm of NL Outstanding Award winner Rube Waddell (MLB leading 25 wins and 251 strikeouts).
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Boston 92 48 .657 -- New York 81 59 .579 --
Baltimore 84 56 .600 8 Philadelphia 80 60 .571 1
Detroit 78 62 .557 14 Pittsburgh 80 60 .571 1
Cleveland 72 68 .514 20 St.Louis 79 61 .564 2
Milwaukee 63 77 .450 29 Cincinnati 71 69 .507 10
Philadelphia 59 81 .431 33 Brooklyn 61 79 .436 20
Chicago 58 82 .414 34 Chicago 60 80 .429 21
Washington 54 86 .386 38 Boston 48 92 .343 33
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
O.Schreckengost,BOS .347 E.Delahanty, PHI .342
N.Lajoie, PHI .342 J.Burkett, StL .338
M.Donlin, BAL .331 G.Van Haltren, NY .334
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
S.Seybold, PHI 15 C.Hickman, NY 14
M.Donlin, BAL 12 S.Crawford, CIN 12
P.Foster, WAS 11 T.Leach, PIT 11
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
J.Williams, BAL 117 C.Hickman, NY 96
C.Seymour, BAL 104 B.Wallace, StL 93
N.Lajoie, PHI 100 E.Delahanty, PHI 91
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
S.Mertes, CHI 98 D.Green, CHI 65
B.Keister, BAL 89 J.Sheckard, BRO 65
M.Donlin, BAL 73 D.McGann, StL 64
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
C.Young, BOS 2.08 B.Duggleby, PHI 2.03
B.Hoffer, CLE 2.16 C.Mathewson, NY 2.36
J.Yeager, DET 2.53 N.Hahn, CIN 2.38
Wins W Wins W
N.Garvin, MIL 23 R.Waddell, PIT 25
J.Nops, BAL 22 B.Duggleby, PHI 22
C.Young, BOS 22 C.Mathewson, NY 22
Saves SV Saves SV
B.Karns, BAL 5 B.Cunningham, CHI 5
F.Morrissey, BOS 5 H.Felix, NY 5
E.Frisk, DET 4 B.Lawson, BOS 5
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
N.Garvin, MIL 154 R.Waddell, PIT 251
C.Young, BOS 147 C.Mathewson, NY 212
D.Taylor, WAS 119 D.White, PHI 189