The American League saw a battle right from the opening bell as Cleveland jotted out to the early lead and held a 2.5-game lead on Memorial Day over St.Louis with the Highlanders 3 games back. As the season wore on though, Cleveland's all around team took control and had built the lead to 11.5 games over the Browns on Labor Day. St.Louis got hot but ran out of time in trying to catch the Bronchos as Cleveland nailed their first title with just under a week to go. The Bronchos were led by Mike Donlin, a last minute free agent acquisition on opening day, as he batted .357 and drove in 95 runs as he was named the league's Outstanding Hitter Award winner. AL Rookie of the Year Award winner Nig Clarke batted .349 with 98 RBI to help the cause while a mound crew was led by the junior circuit's Outstanding Pitcher Award winner, Bob Wicker, who earned 25 wins, one of them a perfect game, and compiled a league-leading 2.19 ERA. St.Louis managed to finish in second place, 6 games behind, as hitters George Stone (.360 avg) and Wid Conroy (8 HR) led the attack with a pair of 20-game winners, Cy Morgan (23) and Jim Buchanan (22) on the hill. While defending AL champs Detroit faultered and limped home in 4th place, 17 games back, an important event took place as a young Ty Cobb took the field for the first time and batted .302.
In the National League, it seemed like business as usual as Pittsburgh, led by probably the league's best hitter Honus Wagner (.344), took the early lead but found themselves 3 games behind the St.Louis Cardinals on Labor Day. The Pirates came back to take a 3-game lead with 10 games remaining and then held off an on charging Cardinals team to pick up the pennant on the next-to-last day of the season. Besides having the league's Outstanding Hitter Award winning Wagner, they also were led by Cy Seymour (7 HR, 100 RBI) and pitching aces Deacon Phillippe (23 wins, 1.97 ERA) and Jack Chesbro (2.41 ERA). St.Louis kept within striking distance and finished in second place, 3 games back, behind the pitching of NL Outstanding Pitcher Award winner Rube Waddell, who collected his second pitching triple crown as he compiled 27 wins, a 1.79 ERA and fanned 341 hitters. The Chicago Cubs, led by the hitting of Bunk Congalton (.333 avg) and the arm of Jake Weimer (24 wins), finished in third place, 13 games behind the winning Bucs.
The World Series was a back and forth affair as the teams split the first four games before Pittsburgh took a 3-2 game advantage thanks to the shutout pitching of Willie Sudhoff. Back in Cleveland for game six, the Bronchos pounded Pfiester for 10 runs in the first five innings to force a game seven. The high powered Bronchos, who led the AL with 852 runs, plated 5 in their half of the first inning off of Pirates' starter "Happy Jack" Chesbro to take a 5-2 lead then stretched it to 8-4 before a Pittsburgh comeback fell short as Cleveland wins the world's championship, 4 games to 3.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Cleveland 93 61 .604 -- Pittsburgh 93 61 .604 --
St.Louis 87 67 .565 6 St.Louis 90 64 .584 3
Chicago 80 74 .519 13 Chicago 80 74 .519 13
Detroit 76 78 .494 17 Cincinnati 78 76 .506 15
Philadelphia 73 81 .474 20 Philadelphia 73 81 .474 20
Boston 71 83 .461 22 New York 72 82 .468 21
New York 71 83 .461 22 Boston 69 85 .448 24
Washington 65 89 .422 28 Brooklyn 61 93 .396 32
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
G.Stone, STL .360 H.Wagner, PIT .344
M.Donlin, CLE .357 B.Congalton, CHI .333
N.Clarke, CLE .349 C.Seymour, PIT .327
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
T.Jordan, WAS 13 D.Murphy, NY 8
H.Davis, PHI 11 B.Dahlen, CIN 7
W.Conroy, STL 8 C.Seymour, PIT 7
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
J.Titus, CLE 108 C.Seymour, PIT 100
N.Clarke, CLE 98 D.Murphy, NY 92
M.Donlin, CLE 95 H.Smoot, STL 89
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
D.Hoffman, PHI 64 F.Chance, CHI 51
F.Isbell, CLE 56 A.Devlin, NY 46
J.Stahl, BOS 53 E.Heidrick, NY 46
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
B.Wicker, CLE 2.19 R.Waddell, STL 1.79
E.Siever, DET 2.35 D.Phillippe, PIT 1.97
G.Winter, BOS 2.35 J.Chesbro, PIT 2.41
Wins W Wins W
B.Wicker, CLE 25 R.Waddell, STL 27
C.Morgan, STL 23 J.Weimer, CHI 24
J.Buchanan, STL 22 D.Phillippe, PIT 23
Saves SV Saves SV
J.Dygert, PHI 5 B.Durham, BRO 4
L.Leroy, NY 4 N.Hahn, PHI 4
J.Harris, BOS 3 O.Johns, CIN 4
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
C.Morgan, STL 194 R.Waddell, STL 341
A.Coakley, PHI 190 R.Ames, NY 259
E.Plank, PHI 172 H.Howell, BOS 183
1905 World Series
Game #1
Pittsburgh 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 - 3 4 2
Cleveland 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 x - 5 6 3
W.Sudhoff, L.Leifield (5) and H.Bemus.
B.Wicker and N.Clarke.
WP - B.Wicker (1-0)
LP - W.Sudhoff (0-1)
HR - none
Game #2
Pittsburgh 2 2 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 - 8 15 1
Cleveland 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 5 9 1
J.Pfiester, L.Leifield (6) and H.Bemus, L.Criger (9)
C.Smith, H.West (6) and N.Clarke
WP - J.Pfiester (1-0)
LP - C.Smith (0-1)
SV - L.Leifield (1)
HR - PITT: J.Burkett (1)
Game #3
Cleveland 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 3 1
Pittsburgh 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 1 4 3
A.Joss and N.Clarke.
J.Chesbro, H.West (6) and H.Bemus.
WP - A.Joss (1-0)
LP - J.Chesbro (0-1)
HR - none
Game #4
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 5 0 2 2 0 - 9 8 5
Pittsburgh 0 3 0 3 0 0 2 2 x - 10 11 2
E.Moore, H.West (4), G.Dormer (8) and N.Clarke.
D.Phillippe, L.Leifield, (7), C.Robitaille (8) and H.Bemus, L.Criger (9).
WP - C.Robitaille (1-0)
LP - H.West (0-1)
HR - none
Game #5
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 7 2
Pittsburgh 0 1 0 2 0 0 3 0 x - 6 12 1
B.Wicker, G.Dormer (7) and N.Clarke
W.Sudhoff and H.Bemus
WP - W.Sudhoff (1-1)
LP - B.Wicker (1-1)
HR - none
Game #6
Pittsburgh 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 0 1 - 6 8 5
Cleveland 0 2 3 0 0 5 0 1 x - 11 11 4
J.Pfiester, L.Leifield (5), C.Robitaille (6) and H.Bemus
C.Smith, G.Dormer (8) and N.Clarke
WP - C.Smith (1-1)
LP - J.Pfiester (1-1)
HR - CLEV: M.Donlin (1)
Game #7
Pittsburgh 2 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 0 - 7 17 2
Cleveland 5 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 x - 8 10 2
J.Chesbro, L.Leifield (2), C.Robitaille (6) and H.Bemus
A.Joss, H.West (7) and N.Clarke
WP - A.Joss (2-0)
LP - J.Chesbro (0-2)
SV - H.West (1)
HR - none