1.
National League
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Both leagues currently have 15 teams. The two league champions of 1903 arranged to compete against each other in the inaugural World Series, after the 1904 champions failed to reach a similar agreement, the two leagues formalized the World Series as an arrangement between the leagues. National League teams have won 48 of the 112 World Series contested from 1903 to 2016, the 2016 National League champions are the Chicago Cubs. By 1875, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players was dangerously weak, additionally, Hulbert had a problem—five of his star players were threatened with expulsion from the NAPBBP because Hulbert had signed them to his club using what were considered questionable means. Hulbert had a vested interest in creating his own league. After recruiting St. Louis privately, four western clubs met in Louisville, Kentucky, Boston Red Stockings, the dominant team in the N. A. Hartford Dark Blues from the N. A. Mutual of New York from the N. A. St. Louis Brown Stockings from the N. A, the only strong club from 1875 excluded in 1876 was a second one in Philadelphia, often called the White Stockings or Phillies. The first game in National League history was played on April 22,1876, at Philadelphias Jefferson Street Grounds, 25th & Jefferson, the new leagues authority was tested after the first season. The National League operated with six clubs during 1877 and 1878, over the next several years, various teams joined and left the struggling league. By 1880, six of the eight members had folded. The two remaining original NL franchises, Boston and Chicago, remain in operation today as the Atlanta Braves, in 1883 the New York Gothams and Philadelphia Phillies began National League play. Both teams remain in the NL today, the Phillies in their original city, the NL encountered its first strong rival organization when the American Association began play in 1882. The A. A. played in cities where the NL did not have teams, offered Sunday games and alcoholic beverages in locales where permitted, the National League and the American Association participated in a version of the World Series seven times during their ten-year coexistence. These contests were less organized than the modern Series, lasting as few as three games and as many as fifteen, with two Series ending in disputed ties, the NL won four times and the A. A. only once, in 1886. Starting with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1887, the National League began to raid the American Association for franchises to replace NL teams that folded and this undercut the stability of the A. A. Other new leagues that rose to compete with the National League were the Union Association, the Union Association was established in 1884 and folded after playing only one season, its league champion St. Louis Maroons joining the NL. The NL suffered many defections of star players to the Players League, the Brooklyn, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and New York franchises of the NL absorbed their Players League counterparts. The labor strife of 1890 hastened the downfall of the American Association, after the 1891 season, the A. A. disbanded and merged with the NL, which became known legally for the next decade as the National League and American Association
2.
Palace of the Fans
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Palace of the Fans was a Major League baseball park located in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was the home of the Cincinnati Reds from 1902 through 1911, the ballpark was on an asymmetrical block bounded by Findlay Street, Western Avenue, York Street and McLean Avenue. The Findlay and Western intersection was the field of the Reds from 1884 through June 24,1970. The location of the diamond and consequently the main seating area was shifted several times during the 86½ seasons that the Reds played there. The Reds were forced to spend most of May and June on the road while League Park was reconfigured to move the grandstand to its old location in the southeast corner, however, Reds owner John Brush decided to build a new grandstand for the 1901 season. The Palace of the Fans, so named, also presented a striking appearance. The grandstand actually sat atop carriage stalls so that the wealthy could simply drive directly to the game and it was built mostly of concrete, and was the second park to use concrete for the bulk of its construction. The grandstand was unique, a blend of Roman and Greek styling that had never used before in a grandstand. The 3, 000-seat grandstand featured 19 fashion boxes along the front railing that could hold 15 or more well-to-do fans, beneath the grandstand, at field level, was standing room for 640 more spectators in a rowdy section known as Rooters Row. This section was so close to the players, the fans could take part in on-field conversations, Rooters Row was also strategically placed by the bar. The facade behind home plate contained the word CINCINNATI and this was obviously of no benefit to anyone in attendance, assuming they knew where they were, but it ensured that pictures of the stands would inform viewers. However, the designers of the park forgot to include dugouts or clubhouses for the players, the original 1884 stand remained as right field seating, having escaped the fire. A less elaborate stand connected the old and the new structures, both the contemporary club owners and modern baseball historians consider the 1902 structure to be a new ballpark. Cincinnati fans not interested in the continued to call the facility League Park, hence the alternate historical name. On Opening Day, April 17,1902, some 10,000 spectators crowded into the park and watched the Reds lose to the Chicago Colts, 6-1. The Reds had little success during their stay at the Palace. On June 19,1909, a game was held at the Palace under temporary lighting developed by George F. Cahill. This was not the first time baseball had been attempted
3.
Cincinnati
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Cincinnati is a city in the U. S. state of Ohio that serves as county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the side of the confluence of the Licking with the Ohio River. With a population of 298,550, Cincinnati is the third-largest city in Ohio and its metropolitan statistical area is the 28th-largest in the United States and the largest centered in Ohio. The city is part of the larger Cincinnati–Middletown–Wilmington combined statistical area. In the 19th century, Cincinnati was an American boomtown in the heart of the country, it rivaled the larger cities in size. Throughout much of the 19th century, it was listed among the top 10 U. S and it was by far the largest city in the west. By the end of the 19th century, with the shift from steamboats to railroads drawing off freight shipping, trade patterns had altered and Cincinnatis growth slowed considerably. Cincinnati is home to two sports teams, the Cincinnati Reds, the oldest franchise in Major League Baseball. The University of Cincinnati, founded in 1819, is one of the 50 largest in the United States, Cincinnati is known for its historic architecture. In the late 1800s, Cincinnati was commonly referred to as Paris of America, due mainly to such ambitious projects as the Music Hall, Cincinnatian Hotel. The original surveyor, John Filson, named it Losantiville, in 1790, Arthur St. Ethnic Germans were among the early settlers, migrating from Pennsylvania and the backcountry of Virginia and Tennessee. General David Ziegler succeeded General St. Clair in command at Fort Washington, after the conclusion of the Northwest Indian Wars and removal of Native Americans to the west, he was elected as the mayor of Cincinnati in 1802. Cincinnati was incorporated as a city in 1819, exporting pork products and hay, it became a center of pork processing in the region. From 1810 to 1830 its population tripled, from 9,642 to 24,831. Completion of the Miami and Erie Canal in 1827 to Middletown, Ohio further stimulated businesses, the city had a labor shortage until large waves of immigration by Irish and Germans in the late 1840s. The city grew rapidly over the two decades, reaching 115,000 persons by 1850. Construction on the Miami and Erie Canal began on July 21,1825, the first section of the canal was opened for business in 1827. In 1827, the canal connected Cincinnati to nearby Middletown, by 1840, during this period of rapid expansion and prominence, residents of Cincinnati began referring to the city as the Queen City
4.
August Herrmann
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August Garry Herrmann was an American executive in Major League Baseball. Herrmann was born on May 3,1859 and he served as president of the Cincinnati Reds of the National League from 1902 to 1927. He served as the president of National Baseball Commission from 1903 to 1920 and he is often regarded as having filled the role of Baseball Commissioner before that position was officially established in 1920. With two other Commission members he established the nature of the World Series by 1905. A Cincinnati reporter stated that his partners, George B. Cox and Rud Hynicka made millions more. He died on April 25,1931, on July 19,2008, Herrmann was posthumously inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame. SABR biography August Garry Hermann, A Baseball Biography/William A. Cook/McFarland and Company, Inc
5.
Clark Griffith
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Clark Calvin Griffith, nicknamed The Old Fox, was an American Major League Baseball pitcher, manager and team owner. He began his MLB playing career with the St. Louis Browns, Boston Reds and he then served as player-manager for the Chicago White Stockings and New York Highlanders. He retired as a player after the 1907 season, remaining manager of the Highlanders in 1908 and he managed the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Senators, making some appearances as a player with both teams. He owned the Senators from 1920 until his death in 1955, Griffith was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946. Griffith was born in Clear Creek, Missouri, to Isaiah and Sarah Anne Griffith and his parents were of Welsh ancestry. They had lived in Illinois prior to Clark Griffiths birth, the family took a covered wagon west toward the Oklahoma Territory. Along the way, the family encountered hungry and disenchanted people returning from the Oklahoma Territory, Griffith grew up with five siblings, four of them older. When Griffith was a child, his father was killed in a hunting accident when fellow hunters mistook him for a deer. Sarah Griffith struggled to raise her children as a widow, but Clark Griffith later said that his neighbors in Missouri had been helpful to his mother, planting crops for her. Fearing a malaria epidemic that was sweeping through the area, the Griffith family moved to Bloomington, a childhood incident taught him about the money side to baseball, Griffith recalled. When he was 13, he and a few young boys had raised $1.25 to buy a baseball. They sent one of the boys 12 miles on horseback to make the purchase, the ball burst on the second time that it was struck. Griffith later found out that the boy who purchased the ball only spent a quarter, at the age of seventeen, Griffith had made ten dollars pitching in a local baseball game in Hoopeston, Illinois. Griffith entered the American Association in 1891, pitching 226 1⁄3 innings and winning 14 games for the St. Louis Browns and he began the following season with the Chicago Colts. In 1893, the box was moved back, it had been 55 feet from home plate and was moved to the modern distance of 60 feet. Following that change, offensive numbers increased across baseball and many pitchers had to adjust their approaches, cap Anson was the player-manager of the Colts during Griffiths tenure and he utilized a rotation of only three starting pitchers. Just before Griffiths arrival on the team, pitcher Bill Hutchinson had thrown more than 600 innings in a season for Anson. Griffith tried a new pitch to increase his longevity, by modifying the grip of a curveball, he threw a pitch similar to the screwball that Christy Mathewson had developed
6.
1909 Cincinnati Reds season
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The 1909 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fourth in the National League with a record of 77–76, the Reds replaced player-manager John Ganzel after one season of managing the club. Ganzel led Cincinnati to a 73-81 record in the 1908 season and his replacement was former New York Highlanders manager, Clark Griffith, who had managed the club from 1903 until 1908, posting a 437-370 record. Griffith also pitched with the Highlanders until he retired in 1907 and he also was a player-manager with the Chicago White Sox from 1901-1902, going 157-113 in his two seasons with the club, and led them to the pennant in 1901. On December 12th, the Reds traded catcher Admiral Schlei to the St. Louis Cardinals, getting pitchers Art Fromme and Ed Karger. Fromme had a 5-13 record with a 2.72 ERA with the Cardinals in 1908, Cincinnati continued to make moves in the winter months, as on January 18, the team traded outfielder John Kane to the Chicago Cubs for outfielder Kid Durbin and shortstop Tom Downey. Also on January 18th, the Reds acquired outfielder Rebel Oakes from the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League in exchange for outfielder Tom Daley, Oakes batted.288 with the Angels, and had 212 hits in the 1908 season. Newly acquired Tom Downey became the Reds starting shortstop, and the club traded away Rudy Hulswitt to the St. Louis Cardinals on May 2nd. Downey finished his season with a.231 batting average, hitting one home run and had 32 RBI. Another rookie, Rebel Oakes, hit.270 with three runs,31 RBI and 23 stolen bases in 120 games while playing in the outfield. Dick Hoblitzell became the Reds starting first baseman, and the 20 year old had a great season, outfielder Mike Mitchell led the Reds with a.310 batting average, while hitting four home runs and a team high 86 RBI in 145 games. Outfielder Bob Bescher hit.240 and led the Reds with 56 stolen bases. Newly acquired pitcher Art Fromme anchored the pitching staff, earning a record of 19-13 with a 1.90 ERA in 37 games, pitching a team high 279.1 innings, while throwing 22 complete games. Harry Gaspar also had a season, going 19-11 with a 2.01 ERA in 44 games. The club eventually rebounded, and through 73 games, the Reds had a 40-33 record, Cincinnati would finish the season with a 77-76 record, making it the first time since 1905 that the club finished over.500. They finished in place,33.5 games behind the Pirates. May 28,1909, Kid Durbin was traded by the Reds to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Ward Miller, Note, Pos = Position, G = Games played, AB = At bats, H = Hits, Avg. = Batting average, HR = Home runs, RBI = Runs batted in Note, G = Games played, AB = At bats, H = Hits, Avg
7.
Cincinnati Reds
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The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League Central division. They were a member of the American Association in 1882. The Reds played in the NL West division from 1969 to 1993 and they have won five World Series titles, nine NL pennants, one AA pennant, and 10 division titles. The team plays its games at Great American Ball Park. Bob Castellini has been executive officer since 2006. The origins of the modern Cincinnati Reds can be traced to the expulsion of a team bearing that name. Both were important activities to entice the citys large German population, while Hulbert made clear his distaste for both beer and Sunday baseball at the founding of the league, neither practice was actually against league rules in those early years. On October 6,1880, however, seven of the eight team owners pledged at a league meeting to formally ban both beer and Sunday baseball at the regular league meeting that December. Only Cincinnati president W. H. Kennett refused to sign the pledge, when these attempts failed, he formed a new independent ballclub known as the Red Stockings in the Spring of 1881, and brought the team to St. Louis for a weekend exhibition. The Reds first game was a 12–3 victory over the St. Louis club, upon arriving in the city, however, Caylor and Thorner discovered that no other owners had decided to accept the invitation, with even Phillips not bothering to attend his own meeting. By chance, the duo met a former pitcher named Al Pratt, the ploy worked, and the American Association was officially formed at the Hotel Gibson in Cincinnati with the new Reds a charter member with Thorner as president. The club never placed higher than second or lower than fifth for the rest of its tenure in the American Association, the National League was happy to accept the teams in part due to the emergence of the new Players League. This new league, a failed attempt to break the reserve clause in baseball. Because the National League decided to expand while the American Association was weakening and it was also at this time that the team first shortened their name from Red Stockings to Reds. The Reds wandered through the 1890s signing local stars and aging veterans, during this time, the team never finished above third place and never closer than 10½ games. At the start of the 20th century, the Reds had hitting stars Sam Crawford, seymours.377 average in 1905 was the first individual batting crown won by a Red. In 1911, Bob Bescher stole 81 bases, which is still a team record, like the previous decade, the 1900s were not kind to the Reds, as much of the decade was spent in the leagues second division
8.
Bob Ewing
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George Lemuel Ewing, was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He played in the majors from 1902 to 1912 for the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, Ewing was born on April 24,1873, in New Hampshire, Ohio. He grew up on a farm in Auglaize County where as a young boy, the nickname Long Bob came about due to him being 6 ft 6 in. Later he would be given the moniker of Old Wapak, in reference to the town he called home, Bob started his baseball career at a relatively late age,24, before signing his first contract. Long Bob played his first game away from New Hampshire in 1895 at the Wapakoneta fairgrounds and he then played for Wapakoneta from 1896 to 1897. Ewings first semi-pro experience was in August 1897, when he joined the Toledo Mud Hens team in the Interstate League and his professional debut with a 9–4 victory over Springfield, Ohio. He was consistently the best pitcher in the league, going 21–9, over the next three seasons, Ewing pitched nearly 900 innings and won more than 20 games annually for Toledo. In 1901, he went out to Kansas City in the Western League where he went 21–5. With Ewing, the Blues won the pennant by 10 games, Ewing later recalled that Kansas City was. the only pennant winning team I ever played on. While at home from Kansas City, Bob played ball with a club in Sidney. On October 10,1901, the Cincinnati Reds arrived in Sidney after going through local Ohio teams looking to find some competition with the Sidney semi-pro team, as the Reds warmed up, they could not have anticipated what they were about to see. The visitors were up to bat first, on the mound stood all six feet six inches of Long Bob Ewing. Ewing dueled Schwab, his Reds counterpart, to a 3–3 tie when the game was called because of darkness after eight innings, Ewing struck out many more batters than Schwab. Within two weeks he was under contract to the Cincinnati Reds, Long Bob Ewing made his major league game debut on April 19,1902. He walked ten batters, seven of them in one inning and it was nearly a month before he gained his first victory, then he missed the second half of the season with a sore arm. Bob fought for a place on the roster the next two seasons before establishing himself as one of the Reds top pitchers, Ewing finished with a 6 and 6 won-lost record. He pitched ten complete games in twelve starts and compiled a fine 2.98 earned run average, a sore arm limited his playing time toward the end of the season. In 1903, Long Bob developed into the workhorse of the staff, completing 27 of the 28 games he started, Ewing posted 14 wins and lowered his ERA to 2.73
9.
Ad Brennan
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Addison Foster Brennan was a pitcher in Major League Baseball. Brennan began his career in 1908 with the Springfield Midgets. He played in 1909 with the Wichita Jobbers, and had a record of 18-16 with them that season. After the season, the Cincinnati Reds purchased his contract without having seen him pitch, the Philadelphia Phillies traded for him in January 1910 due to finding this out, acquiring Brennan and Bob Ewing for Harry Coveleski and Frank Corridon. Brennan made his league debut on May 19,1910, and played in 19 games his rookie season, finishing the year with a 2-0 record. The following season, he split the season between the Phillies and the Buffalo Bisons, in 1912, he rejoined the Phillies major league roster full-time, and pitched for them until a late-July bout of Diphtheria sidelined him for the rest of the season. In 27 games he had an 11-9 record and a 3.57 ERA, the following season, Brennan pitched in 40 games, and had a career-high of 14 wins,12 losses, and a 2.39 ERA. In one game against the New York Giants, manager John McGraw threw insults at Brennan while he was pitching, after the game, Brennan went after McGraw and punched him twice, both were fined and suspended for five days. After the season ended, Brennan jumped to the newly formed Federal League and he pitched in 16 games in 1914 and 19 games in 1915, and spent most of both seasons suffering from arm trouble. He then spent two years with the minor league Atlanta Crackers, winning 28 games over that time and his career ended the following year after playing in two games for the Washington Senators and one game for the Cleveland Indians. After retiring, he served as coach of the Fulton High School baseball team for two decades, and lived in Kansas City, Missouri until his death in 1962. Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference
10.
Philadelphia Phillies
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The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball franchise based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, the Phillies compete in Major League Baseball as a member club of the National League East division. Since 2004, the home has been Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies have won two World Series championships and seven National League pennants, the first of which came in 1915, the franchise has also experienced long periods of struggle. The 77 season drought is the fourth longest World Series drought in Major League Baseball history, the longevity of the franchise and its history of adversity have earned it the dubious distinction of having lost the most games of any team in the history of American professional sports. Despite the teams lack of success historically, they are one of the more successful franchises since the start of the Divisional Era in Major League Baseball. The Phillies have won their division 11 times, which ranks 6th among all teams and 4th in the National League, the franchise was founded in Philadelphia in 1883, replacing the team from Worcester, Massachusetts in the National League. The teams spring training facilities are located in Clearwater, Florida and its Double-A affiliate is the Reading Fightin Phils, which plays in Reading, Pennsylvania, and its Triple-A affiliate is the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, which plays in Allentown, Pennsylvania. After being founded in 1883 as the Quakers, the changed its name to the Philadelphias. This was soon shortened to Phillies, Quakers continued to be used interchangeably with Phillies from 1883 until 1890, when the team officially became known as the Phillies. Player defections to the newly formed American League, especially to the cross-town Philadelphia Athletics, poor fiscal management after their appearance in the 1915 World Series, however, doomed the Phillies to sink back into relative obscurity, from 1918 to 1948 they only had one winning season. Though Chuck Klein won the Most Valuable Player Award in 1932 and the National League Triple Crown in 1933, after lumber baron William B. Cox purchased the team in 1943, the Phillies rose out of the standings cellar for the first time in five years. As a result, the fan base and attendance at home games increased, but it soon became clear that not all was right in Coxs front office. Eventually Cox revealed that he had been betting on the Phillies, the new owner, Bob Carpenter, Jr. scion of the Delaware-based DuPont family, tried to polish the teams image by unofficially changing its name to the Bluejays. However, the new moniker did not take, and it was dropped by 1949. This led to the advent of the Whiz Kids, led by a lineup of players developed by the Phillies farm system that included future Hall of Famers Richie Ashburn. In contrast, the Philadelphia Athletics finished last in 1950 and long-time manager Connie Mack retired, the team struggled on for four more years with only one winning season before abandoning Philadelphia under the Johnson brothers, who bought out Mack. They began play in Kansas City in 1955, as part of the deal selling that team to the Johnson brothers, the Phillies bought Shibe Park, where both teams had played since 1938
11.
Frank Corridon
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Frank Joseph Corridon was a pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for three teams between the 1904 and 1910 seasons. Listed at 6 ft 0 in 170 lb. Corridon was a switch-hitter and he was born in Newport, Rhode Island. The invention of the spitball has been credited to several pitchers and he later wet the ball during games and went on to have a respectable major league career. Corridon entered the majors in 1904 with the Chicago Cubs, appearing for them in 24 games before joining the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals. His most productive season came with the 1907 Phillies, when he posted career-numbers in wins, starts, complete games and innings pitched and he finished 14–10 with a 2.51 ERA the next season, and went 11–7 with a career-high 2.11 in 1909. He faded to 6–14 with the Cardinals in 1910, his last major league season, Corridon died at the age of 60 in Syracuse, New York. Baseball Library Baseball Reference BR Bullpen Retrosheet
12.
Harry Coveleski
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Harry Frank Coveleski was a Major League Baseball pitcher with the Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, and Detroit Tigers. Coveleski was born as the fourth of five ball-playing brothers in the community of Shamokin. His oldest brother Jacob died while serving in the Spanish–American War, and his other brothers Frank and John played baseball as well and his younger brother Stan Coveleski went on become a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Coveleski began his career with the Phillies in 1907, thereafter, Coveleski was called The Giant Killer. Traded to the Reds after the 1909 season, Coveleski had a disappointing 1910 season, including a game in which he walked sixteen batters, and was out of the Major Leagues for three seasons. That year A. H. Coveleski got the start on the parks August 18,1910 opening day and he ended up pitching two no-hitters for the Barons, and won 21 games, including eleven straight decisions, to end the season with a 1.55 ERA. His final appearance for Birmingham was a 1-0 shutout against the league-champion New Orleans Pelicans in which he held their star slugger Shoeless Joe Jackson hitless in four appearances. Following an arm injury, Woodward traded Coveleski to the Chattanooga Lookouts, in their 1913 campaign he led the Southern Association with 28 wins and attracted the notice of the Detroit Tigers scouts. Coveleski joined the Tigers for the 1914 season, and pitched over 300 innings, completed 23 of his 36 games, and won 22 games, second in the American League only to Walter Johnson. In four of his five seasons with the Tigers, Coveleskis ERA was under three, and his 2.34 ERA with the Tigers is still the franchises all-time career record. In a 1976 Esquire magazine article, sportswriter Harry Stein published an All Time All-Star Argument Starter, Harry Coveleski was the left-handed pitcher on Steins Polish team. In the 2008–2009 comic book series I Kill Giants, protagonist Barbara Thorsons fantasy world features a war hammer named Coveleski, Barbara explains that it is named after Harry Coveleski and his performance against the New York Giants. Best pitching seasons by a Detroit Tiger 1915 Detroit Tigers season Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference
13.
Miller Huggins
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Miller James Huggins was an American professional baseball player and manager. Huggins played second base for the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals and he managed the Cardinals and New York Yankees, including the Murderers Row teams of the 1920s that won six American League pennants and three World Series championships. He received a degree in law from the University of Cincinnati, rather than serve as a lawyer, Huggins chose to pursue a professional baseball career. He played semi-professional and minor league baseball from 1898 through 1903, as a player, Huggins was adept at getting on base. Despite fielding successful teams for the Yankees in the 1920s, he continued to make changes in order to maintain his teams superiority in the AL. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1964, Huggins was born in Cincinnati, where his father, an Englishman, worked as a grocer. His mother was a native of Cincinnati and he had two brothers and one sister. Huggins attended Woodward High School, Walnut Hills High School, where he studied law and played college baseball for the Cincinnati Bearcats baseball team. A shortstop, he was named captain of the Bearcats in 1900. Seeing him consumed with baseball, his law professors summoned him to justify why they should keep him in the law program, Huggins father, a devout Methodist, objected to his son playing baseball on Sundays. In 1900, he played for Fleischmanns semiprofessional team based in the Catskill Mountains and he was admitted to the bar, but never practiced law. Huggins began his career in minor league baseball with the Mansfield Haymakers of the Class B Interstate League in 1899. He continued his minor league apprenticeship with the St. Paul Saints of the American Association from 1901 through 1903, in 1903, he pulled off the first delayed steal in recorded baseball history. Fleischmann, part-owner of the Cincinnati Reds of the National League, the Reds duly purchased his contract from the Saints before the 1904 season. He made his MLB debut on April 15,1904, and he batted.264 with the Reds that season and improved in the 1906 season, finishing with a.292 batting average and 41 stolen bases, while spending considerable time developing his upper-body strength. Although Huggins hoped to be selected as Ned Hanlons successor as Cincinnatis manager after the 1907 season, in 1908, He played with the Reds in the Cuban-American Major League Clubs Series. Hampered by an ankle and torn ligaments in his shoulder. Before the 1910 season, the Reds traded Huggins, along with Frank Corridon and Rebel Oakes, to the St. Louis Cardinals in return for Fred Beebe and Alan Storke
14.
Rebel Oakes
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Ennis Telfair Rebel Oakes was an American Major League Baseball player. Oaks was born in Lisbon, Louisiana, the following year, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals along with future Hall of Fame manager Miller Huggins for Fred Beebe. He played for the Cardinals for four seasons as a center fielder. After two seasons as the player-manager for the Pittsburgh Rebels, named in Oakes honor, the league folded and Rebel never returned to Major League Baseball. After his Major League baseball career, Oakes moved on to play and manage for the Denver Bears of the Western League in 1916 and he died at the age of 64 in Lisbon, Louisiana, and is interred at Rocky Springs Cemetery in Lisbon. List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders List of Major League Baseball player-managers Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
15.
St. Louis Cardinals
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The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League Central division. Busch Stadium has been their home ballpark since 2006, with origins as one of the early professional baseball clubs in St. Upon the discontinuation of the AA, St. Louis joined the NL in 1892, at time, they were called the Browns. One of the most successful franchises in history, the Cardinals have won 11 World Series championships. Their 19 National League pennants rank third in NL history, in addition, St. Louis has won 13 division titles in the East and Central divisions. While still in the AA, St. Louis won four league championships, the Cardinals have won 105 or more games in four different seasons and won 100 or more a total of nine times. Cardinals players have won 20 league MVPs, four batting Triple Crowns, and three Cy Young Awards. Baseball Hall of Fame inductees include Lou Brock, Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson, Whitey Herzog, Rogers Hornsby, Joe Medwick, Stan Musial, Branch Rickey, Red Schoendienst, Ozzie Smith, and Bruce Sutter. In 2016, Forbes valued the Cardinals at $1.6 billion, making them the 7th-most valuable franchise in MLB, their revenue the year was $300 million. Since their purchase in 1995, owner William DeWitt, Jr. s investment group has seen enormous growth from the $147 million purchase price, John Mozeliak is the general manager and Mike Matheny is the manager. Professional baseball began in St. Louis with the inception of the Brown Stockings in the National Association in 1875, the NA folded following that season, and the next season, St. Louis joined the National League as a charter member, finishing in third place at 45-19. George Bradley hurled the first no-hitter in Major League history, the NL expelled St. Louis from the league after 1877 due to a game-fixing scandal and the team went bankrupt. Without a league, they continued play as a barnstorming team through 1881. For the 1882 season, Chris von der Ahe purchased the team, reorganized it, and made it a member of the American Association. 1882 is generally considered to be the first year existence of the St. Louis Cardinals, the next season, St. Louis shortened their name to the Browns. Soon thereafter they became the dominant team in the AA, as manager Charlie Comiskey guided St. Louis to four pennants in a row from 1885 to 1888. Pitcher and outfielder Bob Caruthers led the league in ERA and wins in 1885 and he also led the AA in OBP and OPS in 1886 and finished fourth in batting average in 1886 and fifth in 1887
16.
Fred Beebe
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Frederick Leonard Beebe was a professional baseball player. He played for the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, Beebe played baseball for the Hyde Park High School in Chicago and the University of Illinois. Beebe made his debut on April 17,1906. In his rookie year, Beebe led the Major Leagues with 171 strikeouts, after leaving the league, he served as the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers college baseball team
17.
Mike Mitchell (baseball)
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Michael Francis Mitchell was an outfielder in Major League Baseball from 1907 to 1914. He played for the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, known for his powerful throwing arm, Mitchell was also a decent hitter who led the National League in triples twice. He stood at 61 and weighed 185 lbs. Mitchell was born in Springfield and he started his professional baseball career in 1902 with the New York State Leagues Schenectady Electricians. He stayed in the NYSL for the two seasons and then moved to the Pacific Coast League in 1905. In 1906, he had one of the greatest minor-league seasons of the Deadball Era, winning the title and also leading the PCL in hits, home runs, total bases. Mitchell went to the leagues the following season with the Cincinnati Reds. He made an impact as a rookie, finishing seventh in the batting race and leading the National League in outfield assists. The assists mark set a record that was not broken until 1930, according to Bill James, Mitchell had the best outfield arm of his era. Mitchell slumped in 1908, but he rebounded in 1909 with a career-high.310 batting average and he led the league in triples, with 17, and finished second in batting average and slugging percentage. Mitchell then hit 18 more triples in 1910 to lead the league again, from 1909 to 1911, he scored over 70 runs, drove in over 80 runs, hit over 15 triples, and stole over 30 bases each season. Mitchells power numbers went down slightly in 1912, and in December he was traded to the Chicago Cubs and he played for the Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Washington Senators over the next two seasons before retiring from the game. Mitchell died in 1961 in Phoenix, Arizona
18.
Bob Bescher
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Robert Henry Bob Bescher was a baseball outfielder who played 11 seasons in the major leagues. Born in London, Ohio, he played his best seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, Bescher originally attended the University of Notre Dame, but did not play college baseball there. He played college football at Wittenberg University before signing his first minor league contract in 1906, in September 1908, he joined the Reds for the first time and became the teams regular left fielder in 1909. The switch-hitting Bescher played 5 seasons with Cincy, and established himself as a player on the basepaths with the Reds. He led the NL in stolen bases for four years from 1909 to 1912. Outside of stolen bases, he was the NL leader in runs in 1912, also in 1912, he hit a career-best.282 and finished 5th in voting for the Chalmers Award, a forerunner to the modern MVP award. He played for the New York Giants in 1914, after being traded there in exchange for Buck Herzog, and hit.270 in his lone year in the Big Apple. Bescher eventually returned to the majors in 1918 to play 25 games for the Cleveland Indians to end his big league career and he settled back down in London after his Major League career to run a local lodge. He later died at the age of 58 in a car accident after being hit by an oncoming train
19.
Dick Hoblitzell
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Richard Carleton Dick Hoblitzell played first base in the major leagues from 1908 to 1918. He played for the Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox, nicknamed Doc by his teammates, Hoblitzells baseball career was cut short with his World War I induction into the US Army as a dentist in 1918. Born in Waverly, West Virginia, Hoblitzell excelled in football at Parkersburg High School in Parkersburg, West Virginia, he was the teams halfback and he played minor-league baseball at the age of 16, taking an assumed name so that he would not lose his collegiate eligibility. He played football at Marietta College and the University of Pittsburgh and he played football in the days preceding professional football, so he decided to pursue a career in baseball. He later became the first Pitt alumnus to enter major-league baseball, Hoblitzell signed with the Cincinnati Reds in 1908, playing with the team through 1914 and studying dentistry in the offseasons. He was the National League at-bats leader in 1910 and 1911, in the middle of the 1914 season, he was waived by the Reds and claimed by the Boston Red Sox. With Boston, Hoblitzell won two consecutive World Series, Hoblitzell was often assigned to room with Babe Ruth when the team traveled, as the teams management hoped that Hoblitzell would be a good influence on the rowdy superstar. Hoblitzells baseball career was interrupted by his induction into the U. S. Army Dental Corps in 1918 and he finished his career with 1,318 games played,1,310 hits,27 home runs,593 RBIs and a.278 batting average. After his military service, Hoblitzell was a manager in minor-league baseball, in 1929 and 1930, he spent two years managing the Charlotte team in the South Atlantic League. Though he liked Charlotte, he ended up managing a team in Charleston in 1931. Hoblitzell had distant relatives in Charleston, including future politician John D. Hoblitzell Jr. after that season, Hoblitzell moved to a 540-acre farm in Wood County, West Virginia. He began umpiring minor-league baseball in the 1930s, assigned to the Class AAA International League, Hoblitzell became the county commissioner for Wood County in 1942, and he served for six years. In 1952, he began a stint as the county sheriff. He also worked in real estate, at various times, Hoblitzell also coached baseball at West Point and worked in newspaper and radio. Though Hoblitzell did not open a practice, he performed some dental work for friends at his home. He died of cancer in 1962. Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
20.
Larry McLean
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John Bannerman McLean was a professional baseball catcher between 1901 until 1915. During his years in Major League Baseball, he played for five different teams, beginning his career with the Boston Americans, his final professional game was played with the New York Giants on June 6,1915. McLean was the tallest catcher in major league history, known for his heavy drinking and violent behavior, McLeans career ended after a 1915 brawl with New York Giants manager John McGraw and coach Dick Kinsella. He was fatally shot by a six years after his last major league appearance. McLean was born in Fredericton, New Brunswick and he earned the nickname Larry after the alternate moniker ascribed to Nap Lajoie, a star baseball player who McLean was said to resemble. In 1901, while McLean and Fred Mitchell were playing for a team in Saint John, New Brunswick. On December 12,1903, McLean was traded from the Cubs to the Cardinals in what has been described as one of the worst trades in Cardinals history. McLean and Jack Taylor were traded to the Cardinals in exchange for future Baseball Hall of Fame member Three Finger Brown, McLean was known to chew large amounts of Browns Mule tobacco and was a heavy drinker of corn whiskey. When he signed with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League in 1905, he became teammates with a pitcher who struggled with alcohol use. Baseball author Dennis Snelling said that this pitcher-catcher combination formed one of the most volatile batteries in the history of the game, in 1906, McLean signed with Portland again for a $1400 annual salary. McLeans wife publicly voiced her objection to the salary, and she said that Portland owner William Wallace McCredie was not paying McLean consistent with his value and she said that the minor-league team in Altoona was willing to sign him for $2400 per year. McLean did play in 88 games for the 1906 Portland Beavers, the team won the Pacific Coast League, the second-place team was 21 games out of first place. I can pitch to Larry real good, but I cant manage him worth a dime, before the 1910 season, the Reds suspended McLean after he violated team rules during spring training at Hot Springs, Arkansas. In response to the suspension, McLean wrote a letter of resignation from the club. His resignation was accepted, but he was allowed to rejoin the team with the caveats that he would play for a reduced salary. In August 1913, McLean was traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the New York Giants in exchange for Doc Crandall, chief Meyers was the Giants primary catcher, but he was injured during the 1913 postseason, so McLean played five games in the 1913 World Series. McLean was the first player born in New Brunswick to appear in a World Series, in June 1915, McLean engaged in a brawl with Giants manager John McGraw and scout Dick Kinsella. McLean had recently suspended for ten days for failing to stay in shape
21.
George Suggs
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George Franklin Suggs was a major league baseball pitcher. Suggs made his league debut on April 21,1908. Besides playing for Detroit, Suggs also played for the Cincinnati Reds, Suggs led the National League in least number of Bases on balls per 9 innings pitched in 1910 and as of June 2012 is ranked 76th on the all-time list in that category. He was a two-time twenty game winner and came just one win shy of the mark in 1912, Suggs finished his career with a 3.11 ERA and 99 wins. Following his retirement from major league baseball, Suggs took an active role in promoting baseball in his hometown of Kinston. He managed two independent teams in Kinston, the Kinston Robins and the Kinston Highwaymen and he was also the designer of their stadium, West End Park, which was modified in 1925 for the Virginia League Kinston Eagles. He was one of the inductees in the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame on February 11,1983. Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference
22.
Harry Gaspar
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Harry Lambert Gaspar was a professional baseball player. He was a pitcher over parts of four seasons with the Cincinnati Reds. For his career, he compiled a 46–48 record in 143 appearances, Gaspar was born in Kingsley, Iowa, and later died in Orange, California at the age of 57. List of Major League Baseball annual saves leaders Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference
23.
Pittsburgh Pirates
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The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League Central division. Founded on October 15,1881 as Allegheny, the franchise has won five World Series championships, the Pirates are also often referred to as the Bucs or the Buccos. They also won the 1971 World Series, led by the talent of Roberto Clemente, overall, the Pirates have won five World Series and lost two. They would then advance to the NL Division Series round, where they lost in 5 games to the St. Louis Cardinals, the Pirates would continue their success and make the playoffs in both 2014 and 2015, losing in the Wild Card Game both times. Professional baseball has been played in the Pittsburgh area since 1876, the teams of the era were independents, barnstorming throughout the region and not affiliated with any organized league, though they did have salaries and were run as business organizations. On October 15,1881, the strongest team in the joined the American Association as a founding member to begin play in 1882. Their various home fields in the 19th century were in a city called Allegheny City. After five mediocre seasons in the A. A, Pittsburgh became the first A. A. team to switch to the older National League in 1887. At this time, the team renamed itself the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, at that time, owner-manager Horace Phillips sold the team to Dennis McKnight, Phillips stayed on as manager. Before the 1890 season, nearly all of the Alleghenys best players bolted to the Players Leagues Pittsburgh Burghers, the Players League collapsed after the season, and the players were allowed to go back to their old clubs. However, the Alleghenys also scooped up highly regarded second baseman Lou Bierbauer, although the Athletics had failed to include Bierbauer on their reserve list, they loudly protested the Alleghenys move. In an official complaint, an AA official claimed the Alleghenys signing of Bierbauer was piratical and this incident quickly accelerated into a schism between the leagues that contributed to the demise of the A. A. Although the Alleghenys were never found guilty of wrongdoing, they made sport of being denounced for being piratical by renaming themselves the Pirates for the 1891 season, the nickname was first acknowledged on the teams uniforms in 1912. The Pirates were a team in the early 1900s, winning National League pennants from 1901–1903. They again won the NL in 1925 and 1927 and the World Series in 1925, after a slow period, they returned to dominance and won the 1960 World Series,1971 World Series and 1979 World Series. They won Eastern Division titles from 1990–1992 but did not return to the post-season after that until 2013, on Opening Day 2015 the Pirates loss to the Cincinnati Reds represented its 10, 000th franchise loss since moving to the NL. This made the Pirates the fourth MLB team to achieve distinction, following the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves
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Chicago Cubs
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The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League Central division. The team plays its games at Wrigley Field, located on the citys North Side. The Cubs are one of two league teams in Chicago, the other, the Chicago White Sox, is a member of the American League Central division. The Cubs, first known as the White Stockings, was a member of the NL in 1876. The Cubs have appeared in a total of eleven World Series, the 1906 Cubs won 116 games, finishing 116–36 and posting a modern-era record winning percentage of.763, before losing the World Series to the Chicago White Sox by four games to two. The Cubs won back-to-back World Series championships in 1907 and 1908, the 108-year drought was also the longest such occurrence in all major North American sports. Since the start of play in 1969, the Cubs have appeared in the postseason eight times through the 2016 season. The Cubs are known as the North Siders, a reference to the location of Wrigley Field within the city of Chicago, there is a divisional rivalry with the St. Louis Cardinals and also a newer rivalry with the Milwaukee Brewers. There is also a rivalry with the White Sox. The Cubs began play in 1876 as the Chicago White Stockings, joining the National League as a charter member. Owner William Hulbert signed multiple star players, such as pitcher Albert Spalding and infielders Ross Barnes, Deacon White, the White Stockings played their home games at West Side Grounds and quickly established themselves as one of the new leagues top teams. Spalding won forty-seven games and Barnes led the league in hitting at.429 as Chicago won the first ever National League pennant, which at the time was the games top prize. After back-to-back pennants in 1880 and 1881, Hulbert died, and Spalding, the White Stockings, with Anson acting as player-manager, captured their third consecutive pennant in 1882, and Anson established himself as the games first true superstar. In 1885 and 86, after winning N. L. pennants, both seasons resulted in match ups with the St. Louis Brown Stockings, with the clubs tying in 1885 and with St. Louis winning in 1886. This was the genesis of what would become one of the greatest rivalries in sports. In all, the Anson-led Chicago Base Ball Club won six National League pennants between 1876 and 1886. As a result, Chicagos club nickname transitioned, and by 1890 they had known as the Chicago Colts, or sometimes Ansons Colts
25.
Road (sports)
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A road game or away game is a sports game where the specified team is not the host and must travel to another venue. Most professional teams represent cities or towns and amateur sports teams often represent academic institutions, each team has a location where it practices during the season and where it hosts games. When a team is not the host, it must travel to games. Thus, when a team is not hosting a game, the team is described as the team, the visiting team, or the away team. The venue in which the game is played is described as the stadium or the road. The host team is said to be the home team, major sporting events, if not held at a neutral venue, are often over several legs at each teams home ground, so that neither team has an advantage over the other. Occasionally, the team may not have to travel very far at all to a road game. These matches often become local derbies, a few times a year, a road team may even be lucky enough to have the road game played at their own home stadium or arena. This is prevalent in college athletics where many schools will play in regional leagues or groundshare. The related term true road game has seen increasing use in U. S. college sports in the 21st century, while regular-season tournaments and other special events have been part of college sports from their creation, the 21st century has seen a proliferation of such events. These are typically held at sites, with some of them taking place outside the contiguous U. S. or even outside the country entirely. In turn, this has led to the use of true road game to refer to contests played at one home venue. In some association football leagues, particularly in Europe, the teams fans sit in their own section. Depending on the stadium, they will either sit in a designated section or be separated from the home fans by a cordon of police officers. However, in the leagues in England, supporters may be free to mix. When games are played at a site, for instance the FA Cup final in England which is always played at Wembley Stadium. This results in each team occupying one half of the stadium and this is different from other sports, particularly in North America, where very few fans travel to games played away from their home stadium. Home and away fans are not separated at these games
26.
History of the St. Louis Browns
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This article covers the franchises history in St. Louis, which began when the team moved from Milwaukee after the 1901 season and ended with the teams move to Baltimore after the 1953 season. As of April 6,2017, there are only 14 living former St. Louis Browns players, in the late 19th century, the team existed as the Milwaukee Brewers in the Western League. For the 1900 season, the Western League was renamed to American League, Johnson had originally intended to move the Milwaukee Brewers to St. Louis. When he couldnt find an owner, he was forced to operate the team in Milwaukee for a lame-duck season in 1901. Hedges built a new park on the site of the old Browns former home, in their first St. Louis season, the Browns finished second. Although the Browns had only four winning seasons from 1902 to 1922, in 1909, the Browns rebuilt Sportsmans Park as the third concrete-and-steel park in the majors. During this time, the Browns were best known for their role in the race for the 1910 American League batting title. Ty Cobb took the last game of the season off, believing that his lead over Nap Lajoie, of the Cleveland Naps. Browns manager Jack OConnor had ordered rookie third baseman Red Corriden to play on the outfield grass and this all but conceded a hit for any ball Lajoie bunted. Lajoie bunted five straight times down the base line and made it to first easily. On his last at-bat, Lajoie reached base on an error – officially giving him a hitless at-bat, OConnor and coach Harry Howell tried to bribe the official scorer, a woman, to change the call to a hit – even offering to buy her a new wardrobe. Cobb won the title by just a few thousandths of a point over Lajoie. After news broke of the scandal, a writer for the St. Louis Post claimed, All St. Louis is up in arms over the spectacle, conceived in stupidity. The resulting outcry triggered an investigation by American League president Ban Johnson, at his insistence, Hedges fired OConnor and Howell, both men were informally banned from baseball for life. In 1916, Hedges sold the Browns to Philip DeCatesby Ball, Balls early tenure saw the clubs first real sustained period of success on the field, they were a contender for most of the early 1920s. This was fueled by Balls free spending to put a winner of the field, however, Ball made a series of blunders that would ultimately doom the franchise. Shortly after buying the team, he fired general manager Branch Rickey, four years later, Ball allowed the Cardinals to move out of dilapidated Robison Field and share Sportsmans Park with the Browns. Rickey and Cardinals owner Sam Breadon used the proceeds from the Robison Field sale to build baseballs first modern farm system and this effort eventually produced several star players that brought the Cardinals more drawing power than the Browns
27.
Rube Benton
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John Cleave Rube Benton was a pitcher, born in Clinton, North Carolina, for Major League Baseballs Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants. He helped the Giants win the 1917 National League pennant and the 1921 World Series, Benton threw a shutout against the Chicago White Sox in Game 3 of the 1917 World Series, but was the losing pitcher in Game 6 on the final day of the Series. He pitched for the Giants in the 1921 season but did not make an appearance in that World Series and he died in an automobile accident in Dothan, Alabama. Led National League in Games, Games Started, Hit Batsmen, led National League in Hit Batsmen in 1915. Led National League in walks per 9 innings pitched in 1924, ranks 74th on List of Major League Baseball career hit batsmen leaders
28.
Bill Burns (baseball)
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William Thomas Bill Burns, nicknamed Sleepy Bill, was an American baseball player who played as a pitcher in Major League Baseball for five different teams from 1908 to 1912. Burns earned his nickname for his lack of intensity on the mound. Burns is best known for his involvement in the fixing of the 1919 Chicago White Sox World Series. In his five-year career, Burns played for the Washington Senators, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, in his rookie season,1908, Burns had a 1.69 earned run average which was sixth best in the American League. However, he had a record of 30–52 as a pitcher and never won more than eight games in a season. Pitching against the Tigers on May 21,1908, Burns bid for a no-hitter ended after 8 2/3 innings when Germany Schaefer singled to drive in the only run. On July 31,1909, now pitching for the White Sox against Walter Johnson, yu Darvish would have become the third on May 9,2014, but a seventh-inning error was officially re-scored as a hit five days later after an appeal by David Ortiz. Stieb would go on to break Burnss record on August 4,1989, prior to the start of the 1919 World Series, a group of players from the Chicago White Sox agreed to intentionally lose the world series in exchange for money from gamblers. Burns met with Eddie Cicotte and Chick Gandil at The Ansonia and it is likely that Burns operated on behalf of Arnold Rothstein, a New York businessman and gambler. Burns relayed messages back and forth between the players who had agreed to fix the games and a person whose initials were A. R, after news of the scandal broke, a trial took place in Chicago, Illinois. During this trial, Burns served as a witness for the prosecution, assistant State Attorney Edward Prindeville examined Burns during the trial. Burns testified, I told them I had the hundred dollars to handle the throwing of the World Series. I also told them that I had the names of the men who were going to finance it, I told them they were waiting below. Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference
