1893 National League

Unchallenged as the "major league," the National rolled on in 1893. Boston beat out Pittsburgh for the pennant, and the field stretched from Boston's 86-43 to Washington's 40-89, 46 games back. By now, rules had evolved to roughly the same as today, so any fan would recognize the game: 60 feet, 6 inches; 4 balls; 3 strikes; bunts, hit and run, fielder gloves, pitchers throwing overhand, the works. We now meet the era which would qualify as "modern baseball."

The top three in batting average were Phillies: Billy Hamilton (.380), Sam Thompson (.370), and Ed Delahanty (.368). Hugh Duffy was next at .363. Thompson led in hits (222) and doubles (37), Delahanty in total bases, home runs (19), and RBI (146). Tom Brown had 66 stolen bases. Offense exploded all over the league with the new rules, especially pitchers moving back 10 feet.

Ted Breitenstein led the league with a 3.18 ERA, followed by Amos Rusie at 3.23, Cy Young at 3.36, Red Ehret at 3.44, John Clarkson at 3.48. Frank Killen led with 36 wins, Young and Kid Nichols won 34 each, Rusie 33. Rusie led with 208 strikeouts, while second was all the way down to Brickyard Kennedy with 107. Rusie almost doubled up the second-place guy.

Pitching Win Shares: Frank Killen (Pittsburgh) 42, Amos Rusie (New York) 41, Kid Nichols (Boston) 40, Cy Young (Cleveland) 35, Ted Breitenstein (St. Louis) 30, Brickyard Kennedy (Brooklyn) 29, Sadie McMahon (Baltimore) 26, Jack Stivetts (Boston) 25, Red Ehret (Pittsburgh) 24, Frank Dwyer (Cincinnati) and Kid Gleason (St. Louis) 22.

Position players; Hugh Duffy (Boston) and Ed Delahanty (Philadelphia) 28, Herman Long (Boston) 26, Billy Nash (Boston) and Elmer Smith (Pittsburgh) 25, Tommy McCarthy (Boston) and Jesse Burkett (Cleveland) 24, Cupid Childs (Cleveland) 23, Bobby Lowe (Boston) and George Davis (New York) 22, Bid McPhee (Cincinnati) and Denny Lyons (Pittsburgh) 21.

WARP3 leaders, position players: Delahanty 10.7, Smith 8.3, Billy Hamilton (Philadelphia) 7.1, Lyons 6.6, Davis 6.5, McPhee 6.2, Nash 6.0, Childs 5.6, Duffy and Bob Allen (Philadelphia) 5.4, Jake Beckley (Pittsburgh) and Jack Crooks (St. Louis) 5.3, Mike Griffin (Brooklyn) 5.2, Long 5.1.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Rusie 11.1, Young 10.5, Breitenstein 9.7, Nichols 8.9, Killen 7.6, Kennedy 6.7, McMahon 5.9, Al Maul (Washington) 4.9, Willie McGill (Chicago) 4.8, Duke Esper (Washington) 4.5.

WAR leaders, pitchers: Rusie 11.0, Nichols 10.8, Young 9.9, Breitenstein 9.2, Killen 8.8, Kennedy 5.5. Position players: Delahanty 7.3, Davis 5.8, Hamilton 5.3, Smith 5.1, Childs 5.0, Connor and Lyons 4.6, Burkett 4.3, Beckley 4.2, McGraw and McPhee 4.1.

Best pitcher: Amos Rusie is by far the best choice. Leader in strikeouts and innings, 2nd in ERA, 4th in wins. A good field, I'd put Cy Young #2 and Kid Nichols #3 with Frank Killen 4th and Ted Breitenstein 5th.

Best hitter: Ed Delahanty. Sliding Billy Hamilton tops the rate stats, but played only 82 games. Delahanty exploded on the league, leading in slugging, HR and RBI, 2nd to Hamilton in OPS, 3rd in batting average.
#1 Ed Delahanty, #2 Elmer Smith, #3 George Davis, #4 Hugh Duffy, #5 Cupid Childs.

Top rookie was almost certainly Bill Lange, .281 in 117 games. Not many rookies of note.

Top manager: Al Buckenberger got Pittsburgh up from the middle of the league to a battle for the pennant.

1892 National League

Now the NL is the only major league, the "Big League" at 12 teams, having taken on four AA teams in cities where the NL did not have markets: Baltimore, Louisville, St. Louis, and Washington. Other AA players wound up on other teams, such as Dan Brouthers and Charlie Buffinton from AA Boston to Brooklyn in the NL. Others stayed in the same city, some moved on to other leagues and never got back to the "major league." Boston won the pennant, comfortably ahead of Cleveland and Brooklyn. Baltimore finished last, 54.5 games out, something that would become a problem: it's difficult to draw fans to see a 12th place team, 40 or 50 games out of 1st place.

Statistical leaders included: Dan Brouthers won the batting title at .335, a little ahead of Sliding Billy Hamilton at .330. Cupid Childs hit .317, Oyster Burns .315, Ed Delahanty .306, Sam Thompson .305, and 41-year-old Jim O'Rourke hit .304. Childs led in on-base, Delahanty in slugging. Childs led in runs with 136, then came Hamilton with 132, Duffy with 125, Roger Connor 123, and Brouthers 121. Brouthers led in hits (197), total bases (282), and RBI (124). John M. Ward led in steals with 88, Delahanty in triples with 21. Connor led with 37 doubles.

Cy Young led in ERA at 1.93 with Tim Keefe second at 2.36, John Clarkson third at 2.48, Nig Cuppy 2.51, Adonis Terry 2.57. Young tied with Bill Hutchinson with 36 wins. Kid Nichols and Jack Stivetts had 35, Gus Weyhing and Amos Rusie 32. Hutchinson edged Amos Rusie in strikeouts 314 to 304, with Hutchinson again pitching a great many innings. He had 622, Rusie 541, Weyhing 470. Weyhing was also third in strikeouts at 202.

1892 Win Shares, pitchers; Jack Stivetts (Boston) 49, Kid Nichols (Boston) 48, Bill Hutchison (Chicago) 45, Cy Young (Cleveland) 44, Gus Weyhing (Philadelphia) 36, Nig Cuppy (Cleveland) and Amos Rusie (New York) 32, Ed Stein (Brooklyn) 30, Harry Staley (Boston) and Scott Stratton (Louisville) 29, George Haddock (Brooklyn) 27.

Position players; Dan Brouthers (Brooklyn) 34, Bill Dahlen (Chicago) and Cupid Childs (Cleveland) 32, Elmer Smith (Pittsburgh) 31, Hugh Duffy (Boston) 29, Herman Long (Boston) 28, Bid McPhee (Cincinnati) 27, Oyster Burns (Brooklyn) and Bug Holliday (Cincinnati) 26, Jimmy Ryan (Chicago), and Billy Hamilton (Philadelphia) 25.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Rusie 9.1, Young 7.7, Hutchison 7.0, Stivetts 5.8, Tony Mullane (Cincinnati) 5.5, Nichols 4.9, Stein 4.8, Frank Killen (Washington) 4.5, Stratton 4.4.

WARP3 leaders, position players: Childs 9.6, Brouthers 9.2, Hamilton 7.5, Roger Connor (Philadelphia) 7.4, Sam Thompson (Philadelphia) 7.1, McPhee 7.0, Dahlen 6.9, Holliday 6.2, Dave Foutz (Brooklyn) and Chief Zimmer (Cleveland) 6.1, Jack Clements (Philadelphia) 5.7.

WAR leaders, pitchers: Young 12.6, Hutchinson 9.3, Nichols 8.6, Weyhing 8.2, Stein 6.8, Cuppy 6.5, Rusie 6.2. Position players, Brouthers 9.4, Childs 7.7, Hamilton 6.4, Connor 6.2, Dahlen 5.7, McPhee 5.4, Long and Jack Virtue (Cleveland) 5.2.

Top pitcher: Cy Young was ERA leader by a safe margin, and tied for the lead in wins and led in WHIP. I'll take him. #2 was Hutchison, tied for lead in wins and the league workhorse.
#1 Cy Young, #2 Bill Hutchinson, #3 Amos Rusie, #4 Kid Nichols, #5 Gus Weyhing.

Top player is Brouthers again. He led in average, OPS, hits and RBI.
#1 Dan Brouthers, #2 Cupid Childs, #3 Billy Hamilton, #4 Bill Dahlen, #5 Bid McPhee.

Top rookie: Nig Cuppy had the best year. Not too many rookies of note, with two leagues folding into one. Willie Keeler became the best player.

Top manager to Frank Selee, for molding together Boston's pennant winners and winning another championship in the enlarged league.

1891 National League

Boston won the pennant, the first of three in a row, in a close race with Chicago. New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh followed in that order.

Billy Hamilton took the batting title with a .340 average. Bug Holliday hit .319, Pete Browning .317, Jack Clements .310, and Mike Tiernan .306. Hamilton scored 141 runs, Herman Long 129 and Cupid Childs 120. Hamilton had 179 hits, Ed McKean 170. Mike Griffin had 36 doubles and George Davis 35. Harry Stovey led with 20 triples, Jake Beckley had 19. Stovey and Tiernan had 16 homers each. Cap Anson led with 120 RBI, Stovey, Billy Nash, and Jim O'Rourke had 95 each. Hamilton had 111 steals and Arlie Latham was second with 87.

Bill Hutchinson led the league with 44 victories. John Clarkson and Amos Rusie were next with 33 wins each. Kid Nichols notched 30 and Cy Young 27. John Ewing led the league with a 2.27 ERA, followed by Nichols at 2.39 and Rusie at 2.55. Rusie had 337 strikeouts, Hutchinson 261, Nichols 240.

1891 NL Win Shares, pitchers; Bill Hutchinson (Chicago) 49, John Clarkson (Boston) 42, Kid Nichols (Boston) 39, Amos Rusie (New York) 36, Harry Staley (Pittsburgh/Boston) and Kid Gleason (Philadelphia) 29, Cy Young (Cleveland) 28, Mark Baldwin (Pittsburgh) 25, Tony Mullane (Cincinnati) 24, Ad Gumbert (Chicago) 23.

Position players; Billy Hamilton (Philadelphia) 36, Herman Long (Boston) 29, Harry Stovey (Boston) and Mike Tiernan (New York) 26, Arlie Latham (Cincinnati) 25, Roger Connor (New York) 23, Jimmy Ryan (Chicago) and Sam Thompson (Philadelphia) 22, Cap Anson, Bill Dahlen, Fred Pfeffer, Walt Wilmot (Chicago) and Cupid Childs and George Davis (Cleveland) 21.

WARP3 scores: Rusie 7.5, Hutchinson 7.2, Clarkson 7.1, Young 6.3, Gleason 4.9, Staley 4.6, Nichols 4.5, Mullane 4.3. Not among WARP leaders: Baldwin 3.4, Gumbert 2.2.

Players; Hamilton 9.0, Long 7.8, Latham 7.0, Connor 6.8, Chief Zimmer (Cleveland) 6.7, Stovey and Thompson 6.4, Tiernan 6.3, Jack Clements (Philadelphia) and Mike Griffin (Brooklyn) 6.1, George Gore (New York) and Bid McPhee (Cincinnati) 5.6, Dahlen (rookie) 5.3. Not among WARP leaders: Ryan 4.5, Anson 4.8, Pfeffer 3.4, Wilmot 4.1, Childs 3.4, Davis 3.4.

WAR leaders, pitchers: Hutchinson 9.0, Clarkson 8.8, Nichols 8.7, Rusie 8.2, Staley 6.8, Young 6.3, John Ewing (New York) 5.6, Gleason 5.4. Position players, Hamilton 7.1, Latham 5.9, Connor 5.6, Long 5.3, Stovey 5.2, Tiernan 4.6, McPhee 4.5, Anson 4.0.

Top pitcher: Bill Hutchison, Chicago workhorse. Cap Anson worked his best pitchers hard. Hutchison led in wins and innings, 2nd in strikeouts.

#1 Bill Hutchison, #2 Amos Rusie, #3 John Clarkson, #4 Kid Nichols, #5 Cy Young.

Top player: Sliding Billy Hamilton, leader in average, hits, runs, walks, and steals.

#1 Billy Hamilton, #2 Herman Long, #3 Roger Connor, #4 Mike Tiernan, #5 Harry Stovey.

Top rookie: Bill Dahlen, batting .260 and scoring 114 runs for Chicago.

Top manager: Frank Selee, the Boston skipper.

1891 American Association

The final year as a major league. A same-named league would become a minor league a few years later. The Cincinnati franchise folded in midseason and was replaced by Milwaukee, with some players transferring and others scattering around the league. Boston won the pennant battle with St. Louis, while Baltimore, Philadelphia, Columbus, Louisville and Washington trailed. After the year, the league folded, with four franchises joining the NL, as others had before.

Dan Brouthers led hitters in batting average with a .350 mark for the Boston team, teammate Hugh Duffy hit .336, Tip O'Neill batted .323, and a third Boston player, Tom Brown, hit .321. George Van Haltren batted .318. Brown scored 177 runs, with Van Haltren tallying 136 and Duffy and Dummy Hoy scored 134. Brown led with 189 hits, Van Haltren and Duffy had 180. Jocko Milligan had 35 doubles and Brown 30. Brown had 21 triples and Brouthers 19. Duke Farrell hit 12 home runs with Milligan and Denny Lyons at 11. Farrell and Duffy brought in 110 runs each. Brouthers got 1-09. Brown had 106 steals.

Sadie McMahon led pitchers with 35 victories. George Haddock had 34, Jack Stivetts had 33, Gus Weyhing 31. Ed Crane led with a 2.45 ERA, followed by Haddock at 2.49 and Charlie Buffinton at 2.55. Stivetts led with 259 strikeouts, Phil Knell had 228, McMahon and Weyhing 219.

AA Win Shares:
Pitchers; Jack Stivetts (St. Louis) 46, Sadie McMahon (Baltimore) 39, Gus Weyhing (Philadelphia) 37, George Haddock (Boston) 34, Phil Knell (Columbus) 32, Charlie Buffinton (Boston) 31, Elton Chamberlain (Philadelphia) 27, Frank Dwyer (Cincinnati/Milwaukee) 24.

Position players; Tom Brown (Boston) 31, Dan Brouthers (Boston) 29, Hugh Duffy (Boston) and Dummy Hoy (St. Louis) 28, George Van Haltren (Baltimore) 26, Curt Welch (Baltimore) and Duke Farrell (Boston) 24, Jack Crooks (Columbus) and Denny Lyons and Tip O'Neill (St. Louis) 23 each.

WARP3 scores, pitchers: Stivetts 8.6, Buffinton 6.4, Haddock 6.2, McMahon 6.0, Frank Foreman (Washington) 5.3, Weyhing 4.7, Knell 4.6. Not among WARP leaders were Chamberlain 2.2, Dwyer 0.1.

Players, Farrell 6.7 (best year), Duffy 6.4, Brouthers 6.2, Welch 5.7, Paul Radford (Boston), Jocko Milligan (Philadelphia), and King Kelly (Cincinnati/Boston) 5.4, Crooks 5.3, Brown 4.9 (career year), Lyons and Charlie Duffee (Columbus) 4.3. Not among WARP leaders are Hoy 3.6, Van Haltren 2.2, O'Neill 2.8.

WAR leaders, pitchers: McMahon 11.0, Weyhing 10.4, Stivetts 10.3, Buffinton 9.3, Haddock 8.7, Knell 8.3. Position players: Brouthers 5.6, Duffy 5.1, Radford and Brown 4.8, Crooks 4.3, Lyons 4.2, Welch 4.1, Farrell 4.0, Milligan 3.9, Werden 3.6.

Top pitcher: Jack Stivetts led in strikeouts, third in wins and fifth in ERA, but second in ERA+.

#1 Jack Stivetts, #2 Sadie McMahon, #3 George Haddock, #4 Charlie Buffinton, #5 Gus Weyhing.

Top player: Dan Brouthers led in the rate stats, and in runs created. Tom Brown led in most others.

#1 Dan Brouthers, #2 Tom Brown, #3 Hugh Duffy, #4 Curt Welch, #5 Duke Farrell.

Top rookie: Hughie Jennings batted .292 in 90 games.

Top manager: Arthur Irwin led Boston to the last AA major league pennant.

1890 Players' League

It was a one-year league only, an attempt by labor to trump management. It could have worked, but management declared all-out war, and pursued a scorched-earth policy. The best players by and large were in the PL, but fans got so confused they tended to stay away. Everyone lost money, the PL's money men backed out, and the AA folded one year later leaving only the National as the "major league." They played some pretty good baseball in the PL, the best of 1890. The teams finished in this order: Boston, Brooklyn, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo. Only Buffalo played poorly, and the pennant race was pretty good, but it got buried under the rhetoric at the time.

Pete Browning took the PL batting title with a .373 average, just ahead of Dave Orr's .371, vindication for the American Association veterans. Jim O'Rourke batted .360, Roger Connor .349, and Jimmy Ryan .340. Hugh Duffy led with 161 runs, Tom Brown 146, and Harry Stovey 142. Duffy had 191 hits, Billy Shindle 189, and John M. Ward 188. Browning led with 40 doubles, Jake Beckley had 38 and O'Rourke 37. Beckley and Joe Visner had 22 triples. Connor had 14 home runs and Hardy Richardson 13. Richardson drove in 146 runs while Orr had 124 and Beckley 120. Stovey had 97 steals.

Mark Baldwin led the league with 33 wins, Silver King and Gus Weyhing won 30, Charley Radbourn 27. King ran away with the ERA title by posting a 2.69 mark. Harry Staley was at 3.23 and Radbourn 3.31. Baldwin led with 206 strikeouts, King had 185, Weyhing 177.

Win Shares leaders, Player's League Pitchers; Silver King (Chicago) 44, Mark Baldwin (Chicago) 42, Charley Radbourn (Boston) 34, Gus Weyhing (Brooklyn) 32, Ben Sanders (Philadelphia) 28, Harry Staley (Pittsburgh) 27, Ad Gumbert (Boston) 25, Hank O'Day (New York) 23, John Sowders (Brooklyn) and Ed Crane (New York) 22, Charlie Buffinton and Phil Knell (Philadelphia) 21.

PL Position players; George Van Haltren (Brooklyn) 30 (about one-third pitching), John Ward (Brooklyn) 27, Hugh Duffy (Chicago) and Billy Shindle (Philadphia) 26, Roger Connor (New York) 25, Jimmy Ryan (Chicago) and Pete Browning (Cleveland) 23, Jake Beckley (Pittsburgh) 21, Billy Nash, Hardy Richardson, and Harry Stovey (Boston), Lou Bierbauer (Brooklyn), Buck Ewing and Jim O'Rourke (New York) 20 each, Dan Brouthers (Boston), Dave Orr (Brooklyn) and Tip O'Neill (Chicago) 19. The PL was pretty deep in stars and "name" players.

WARP3 scores: King 11.1, Radbourn 8.4, Baldwin and Staley 6.0, Weyhing 5.2, Sanders 4.0, Knell 3.9, Gumbert 3.4, Tim Keefe (New York) 3.3. Not among WARP leaders: O'Day 1.4, Sowders 2.4, Crane 1.4, Buffinton 2.7.

Players, Browning 7.1, Shindle 6.7, Connor 6.4, Ewing 6.3, Duffy 6.1, Duke Farrell (Chicago) 5.6, Ward and O'Rourke (at 39 years old) 5.5, Beckley 5.2, Nash 4.9, Stovey and Henry Larkin (Cleveland) 4.8, Richardson 4.7, Patsy Tebeau (Cleveland) 4.6, Bierbauer 4.4, Ryan and King Kelly (Boston) 4.3. Not among WARP leaders were Van Haltren 4.0, Brouthers 3.9, Orr 2.9 (last season), O'Neill 1.8.

WAR leaders, pitchers: King 13.7, Baldwin 9.8, Radbourn 9.7, Weyhing 8.6, Staley 6.2, Sanders 5.7, Keefe 5.5. Position players: Connor 7.5, Browning 6.2, Duffy 5.6, Stovey 4.7, Brouthers, Richardson, and Beckley 4.2, O'Rourke 4.1.

Top pitcher: Silver King. First in ERA and WHIP, second in wins and strikeouts. Teammate Baldwin won more but didn't pitch as well.
#1 Silver King, #2 Charley Radbourn, #3 Mark Baldwin, #4 Harry Staley, #5 Gus Weyhing.

Best player: Roger Connor, leader in slugging, OPS and homers. Second in OPS+ to Browning, but Browning's defense was, well, offensive as usual.
#1 Roger Connor, #2 Pete Browning, #3 Hugh Duffy, #4 Billy Shindle, #5 John M. Ward.

Most valuable: John Ward, who conceived and was the power behind the league, as well as one of its best players.

No rookies of note, this was a league by and for established players.

Best manager: King Kelly (?), directing Boston to the pennant. Why not?

1890 National League

Most stars went to the new Players' League, created in protest by the stars over conditions in the NL and to a lesser extent, the AA. Cap Anson was a notable exception. It was a year of labor war, and fans stayed away from the ballparks in droves, bankrupting to PL and soon the AA as well. By 1892, only the National League would be left standing. Brooklyn and Cincinnati jumped to the NL from the AA, and Indianapolis and Washington were dropped. Brooklyn won the pennant with a roster mostly intact from the year before, comfortably ahead of Chicago, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Boston. New York was fair, Cleveland was bad, and Pittsburgh was terrible, finishing 23-113.

Jack Glasscock won the batting title with a .336 average. Following were Billy Hamilton at .325, Jack Clements at .315, Sam Thompson at .313, Cap Anson and Joseph Knight at .312, and Jesse Burkett and George Pinkney at .309. Hub Collins scored 148 runs, Cliff Carroll 134, Hamilton 133 and Mike Tiernan 132. Thompson and Glasscock had 172 hits each. Thompson led with 41 doubles. John Reilly had 26 triples and Bid McPhee 22 while Tiernan had 21. Tiernan, Walt Wilmot, and Oyster Burns had 13 home runs. Burns had 128 RBI, Anson 107 and Thompson 102. Hamilton led the way with 102 steals, Collins had 85 and Billy Sunday 84.

Bill Hutchinson led the loop with 41 wins. Kid Gleason won 38, Tom Lovett 30, and Amos Rusie won 29 at age 19. Billy Rhines won 28 at age 21 and Kid Nichols 27 at age 20. The veterans were in the Players' League, so the teams had to find some new, mostly young, pitchers. Rhines had a 1.95 ERA, Nichols 2.23, Tony Mullane 2.24. Rusie was on top with 341 strikeouts, Hutchinson had 289.

Win Shares leaders, NL Pitchers; Bill Hutchinson (Chicago) 54, Kid Gleason (Philadelphia) 45, Kid Nichols (Boston) 43, Adonis Terry (Brooklyn) and Billy Rhines (Cincinnati) 41, Amos Rusie (New York) 40, John Clarkson (Boston) 33, Bob Caruthers (Brooklyn) 30, Charlie Getzien (Boston) and Tom Lovett (Brooklyn) 29.

NL Position players; George Pinkney (Brooklyn) 29, Hub Collins (Brooklyn) 28, Dave Foutz (Brooklyn, playing 1B) 27, Walt Wilmot (Chicago) and Mike Tiernan (New York) 26, Jack Glasscock (New York) and Billy Hamilton (Philadelphia) 25, Cap Anson (Chicago) 24, Jimmy Cooney (Chicago) 22, Oyster Burns (Brooklyn), Bid McPhee (Cincinnati), Ed McKean (Cleveland) and Bob Allen (Philadelphia) 21.

WARP3 scores: Gleason 7.0, Nichols 6.9 (rookie), Rusie 6.6, Rhines 6.4 (rookie), Tony Mullane (Cincinnati) 5.1, Hutchinson 4.9, Clarkson 4.6, Terry 3.3, Mickey Welch (New York) 3.1, Caruthers and Lovett 3.0. Not a leader was Getzien 2.1 (last good year).

Players, Collins 7.3, Glasscock 6.9, Pinkney 6.6, Tiernan 6.4, Cooney (rookie) and McPhee 6.3, Jack Clements (Philadelphia) 5.9, Wilmot 5.4, Tom Burns (Chicago) 5.3, Chief Zimmer (Cleveland) 4.8, Foutz and Charlie Bennett (Boston) 4.7, Anson 4.5. WS leaders not among WARP leaders were Hamilton 4.0, Burns 4.0, McKean 3.8, Allen 4.4 (rookie). A big year for rookies and other young players, with so many holes to fill.

WAR leaders, pitchers: Nichols 11.2, Gleason 10.4, Rhines 9.9, Hutchinson 8.6, Clarkson 7.8, Rusie 7.3. Position players, Glasscock 6.7, Collins 5.9, Pinkney 5.3, Anson 5.0, Cooney 4.8, McPhee and Hamilton 4.6, Tiernan 4.4.

Top pitcher: Rookie Billy Rhines, ERA and WHIP leader. Rhines made an impressive debut.

#1 Billy Rhines, #2 Kid Nichols, #3 Amos Rusie, #4 Kid Gleason, #5 Bill Hutchinson.

New York shortstop Pebbly Jack Glasscock was the best in the year of the decimated NL.

#1 Jack Glasscock, #2 Hub Collins, #3 George Pinkney, #4 Mike Tiernan, #5 Cap Anson.

Top rookie: Billy Rhines, league ERA leader. Rhines also led in WHIP and was 5th in wins.

Top manager: Bill McGunnigle, holding together Brooklyn as they changed leagues and winning another pennant.

1890 American Association

This was the beginning of the end for the AA. 1890 was the year of the Players' League, as the top players of the game banded together, found some guys with money, and started their own league. Stars were lured away, and the general depression of attendance would kill off the AA after the 1991 season. The slipping of AA franchises to the NL continued, as Cincinnati and Brooklyn went to the National for 1890. Kansas City also dropped out, and Baltimore moved to Brooklyn partway into the season. Rochester, Syracuse, and Toledo joined the league to fill out the schedule. Louisville won the league, with Columbus and St. Louis in contention. Toledo and Rochester were also above .500.

Pete Browning, Harry Stovey, Henry Larkin, Dave Orr, and Tip O'Neill were in the Players' League, as well as pitchers Silver King and Matt Kilroy. Billy Hamilton and Tommy Tucker went to the NL. Ditto pitchers Tony Mullane, Bob Caruthers, and Dave Foutz.

William "Chicken" Wolf won the batting title with a .363 average, and next came Denny Lyons at .354, Tommy McCarthy at .350, Spud Johnson with .346, and Cupid Childs .345. Jim McTamany scored 149 runs, McCarthy 137. Wolf had 197 hits. Childs hit 33 doubles. Perry Werden hit 20 triples. Johnson had 113 RBI. McCarthy stole 83 bases.

Sadie McMahon led with 36 wins, followed by Scott Stratton with 34, Hank Gasright with 30, Bob Barr 28, Jack Stivetts 27, and Red Ehret 25. Stratton posted a 2.36 ERA, Ehret 2.53, Frank Knauss 2.81, and Elton Chamberlain 2.83. McMahon had 291 strikeouts to edge out a lead over Stivetts with 289 while Toad Ramsay had 257.

Win Shares leaders, AA Pitchers; Scott Stratton (Louisville) 51, Jack Stivetts (St. Louis) 41, Red Ehret (Louisville) and John Healy (Toledo) 34, Sadie McMahon (Baltimore/Philadelphia) 33, Bob Barr (Rochester) 31, Hank Gastright (Columbus) 30, Toad Ramsey (St. Louis) 28, Frank Knauss (Columbus) and Fred Smith (Toledo) 22.

AA Position players; Cupid Childs (Syracuse) 31, Chicken Wolf (Louisville) and Denny Lyons (Philadelphia) 27, Spud Johnson (Columbus) 25, Tommy McCarthy (St. Louis) 24, Ed Swartwood (Toledo) 23, Jim McTamany (Columbus) 22, Jack O'Connor (Columbus) and Jimmy Knowles (Rochester) 21, Charlie Reilly (Columbus) and Perry Werden (Toledo) 20.

WARP3 scores: McMahon 8.2, Stratton 5.4 (career year), Healy 4.4 (career year), Stivetts 3.0. Not among leaders: Ehret -0.1, Barr 1.6, Gastright -0.2, Ramsey 0.3 (last major league year), Knauss 1.0 (rookie), Smith 2.2 (rookie).

Players, Childs 7.0 (rookie, 4 previous ABs), O'Connor 5.7 (best year), Lyons and McTamany 4.8, Wolf 4.6, Swartwood 4.4, Reilly 4.1 (rookie), Johnson and Phil Tomney (Louisville) 3.6, McCarthy 3.5, Knowles 3.4 with Werden 2.7.

WAR leaders, pitchers: Stratton 10.5, McMahon 9.3, Healy 7.5, Stivetts 6.8, Ehret 6.4, Barr 5.6, Ramsay 5.0. Position players, Childs 6.0, Wolf 5.5, Swartwood 5.1, McCarthy 4.8, Lyons 4.3, McTamany, Reilly, and Knowles 4.1, Johnson 4.0.

Best pitcher: Scott Stratton was the best pitcher in the league, leading in ERA and second in wins. It was by far his best year as a major leaguer.

#1 Scott Stratton, #2 Sadie McMahon, #3 Jack Stivetts, #4 John Healy, #5 Red Ehret.

Best player: I'll go with Cupid Childs, 2nd in OPS in a very tough park to hit. He also led the league in doubles and was 3rd in RBI. Chicken Wolf and Denny Lyons were better hitters, but counting in defense Childs was the top of the league.

#1 Cupid Childs, #2 Denny Lyons, #3 Chicken Wolf, #4 Ed Swartwood, #5 Jack O'Connor.

Best rookie: Childs, the best player in the league. He went on to a good career, mostly with Cleveland.

Best manager: Jack Chapman of Louisville, in his only successful season.

1889 National League

Detroit dropped out of the league, and Cleveland joined up, abandoning the AA. New York won its second straight pennant, edging out the Beaneaters of Boston, in spite of the heroic efforts of Boston pitcher John Clarkson. Chicago was just above .500 in third, then came Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Indianapolis, with Washington last.

Dan Brouthers won the batting title at .373. Next came Jack Glasscock at .352, Cap Anson .342, Mike Tiernan .335, Fred Carroll .330, Buck Ewing .327, Jimmy Ryan .325. Tiernan scored 147 runs, Hugh Duffy 144, Ryan 140, George Gore 132. Glasscock had 205 hits. King Kelly led with 41 doubles, Glasscock had 40. Walt Wilmot had 19 triples. Sam Thompson had 20 homers. Roger Connor had 130 RBI, Brouthers 118, Anson 117. Jim Fogarty stole 99 bases.

Clarkson won 49 games while pitching in 73, an astonishing total by this time. Next highest was 49 games pitched. It was serious overwork, but it was effective. Charlie Buffinton and Tim Keefe won 28, Mickey Welch 27, Pud Galvin won 23, Cinders O'Brien 22, Henry Boyle and Harry Staley 21, Ed Beatin and Charley Radbourn 20. Clarkson led with a 2.73 ERA, Jersey Bakley at 2.96, Welch 3.02, Buffinton 3.24, Keefe 3.36. Clarkson completed his pitcher's triple crown with 284 strikeouts, Keefe had 225, Staley 159.

Win Shares leaders, NL Pitchers; John Clarkson (Boston) 60, Charlie Buffinton (Philadelphia) 33, Mickey Welch (New York) 31, Henry Boyle (Indianapolis) and Ben Sanders (Philadephia) 28, Darby O'Brien (Cleveland) 23, Jersey Bakely and Ed Beatin (Cleveland) and Harry Staley (Pittsburgh) 22, Charley Radbourn (Boston) 21.

NL Position players; Dan Brouthers (Boston) and Mike Tiernan (New York) 28, Jack Glasscock (Indianapolis) 27, Roger Connor (New York) 26, Hardy Richardson (Boston) and Jimmy Ryan (Chicago) 25, King Kelly (Boston) 24, Buck Ewing and George Gore (New York) and Fred Carroll (Pittsburgh) 23, Cap Anson and George Van Haltren (Chicago) 21.

WARP3 scores: Pitchers, Clarkson 12.2, Buffinton 9.5, Boyle 5.9 (last and best year), Welch 5.8, Sanders 5.3. Not among WARP leaders were: O'Brien 2.5, Bakely 3.3, Beatin 2.2, Staley 3.0, Radbourn 3.6.

Players, Tiernan and Ewing 8.5, Glasscock 7.6, Ryan 7.3, Ed McKean (Cleveland) 6.8, Connor 6.6, Carroll 6.5 (best year), Brouthers 6.3, Richardson 6.2, Gore 6.1. Not among WARP leaders: Kelly 4.6, Anson 5.0, Van Haltren 5.0.

WAR leaders, pitchers: Clarkson 16.0, Buffinton 9.7, Welch 6.8, Sanders 6.1, Boyle 5.9, Radbourn 5.0, Keefe 4.7, Bakley 4.6, Beatin 4.5. Position players: Glasscock 6.6, Connor 6.4, Brouthers 6.3, Tiernan and Tucker 6.2, Anson 5.3, McKean 5.0, Ewing 4.5, Ryan 4.4, Richardson 4.1.

Best pitcher: John Clarkson. Clarkson nearly doubled up everybody in Win Shares, leading with 620 innings which was 200 more than anyone else. It was an astounding season, and by far the best of the year. Perhaps it was even more astonishing that his arm didn't fall off. He also led in wins, ERA and strikeouts.

#1 John Clarkson, #2 Charlie Buffinton, #3 Mickey Welch, #4 Henry Boyle, #5 Ben Sanders.

Best player: Mike Tiernan scored 147 runs for the pennant winners, batted .335, and was a solid all-around player. Pebbly Jack Glasscock was superb defensively and batted .352, but his also-ran team hurts him. Dan Brouthers hit .373, Roger Connor drove in 130 runs, and Buck Ewing was widely regarded as the best player in the league. There are also others who could rank here.

#1 Mike Tiernan, #2 Jack Glasscock, #3 Dan Brouthers, #4 Buck Ewing, #5 Roger Connor.

Amos Rusie had a lousy rookie season, but would become the best of the lot.

Best manager: Jim Hart got Boston within a game of the top.

1889 American Association

Cleveland was replaced by Columbus in this year, and Brooklyn won a close race with St. Louis to take the pennant. Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Baltimore had good years. Louisville had a horrible year, losing 111 games while winning only 27.

Tommy Tucker won the batting title with a .372 average, while Tip O'Neill was second with a .335 average. Denny Lyons batted .329, Dave Orr .327, Bug Holliday .321, Henry Larkin .318. Harry Stovey and Mike Griffin tied with 152 runs scored, Darby O'Brien 146, Billy Hamilton 144. Curt Welch had 39 doubles, Stovey 38. Lefty Marr had 15 triples. Stovey and Holliday had 19 home runs. Stovey had 119 RBI, Dave Foutz had 113 RBI, O'Neill 110 RBI. Hamilton stole 111 bases, O'Brien 91.

Bob Caruthers won 40 games, Silver King 35, Elton Chamberlain and Jesse Duryea 32, Gus Weyhing 30, Matt Kilroy 29. Jack Stivetts had a 2.25 ERA, Duryea 2.56, Kilroy 2.85, Weyhing 2.95, Chamberlain 2.97, Tony Mullane 2.99. Mark Baldwin led with 368 strikeouts, Kilroy 217, Weyhing 213, Chamberlain 202.

Win Shares, pitchers; Bob Caruthers (Brooklyn, sending Caruthers back to the mound full-time) 46, Matt Kilroy (Baltimore) and Silver King (St. Louis) 44 each, Elton Chamberlain (St. Louis) 42, Jesse Duryea (Cincinnati) 37, Adonis Terry (Brooklyn) and Gus Weyhing (Philadelphia) 30, Frank Foreman (Baltimore) 28, Mark Baldwin (Columbus) 27, Tony Mullane and Lee Viau (Cincinnati) 24.

AA Position players; Tommy Tucker (Baltimore) and Darby O'Brien (Brooklyn) 30 each, Harry Stovey (Philadelphia) 28, Billy Shindle (Baltimore) and Tip O'Neill (St. Louis) 27 each, Oyster Burns (Brooklyn) and Denny Lyons (Philadelphia) 25 each, Hub Collins and Dave Foutz (Brooklyn), Lee (Lefty) Marr (Columbus) and Billy Hamilton (Kansas City) 24.

WARP3 scores: Pitchers, Kilroy 7.9 (his last good year), Caruthers 7.2 (his best pitching year), Duryea 6.5 (rookie, best year), Chamberlain 6.1 (best year), Jim Conway (Kansas City) 5.8, Foreman 5.3 (rookie, 21 previous innings), King 4.3, Terry 3.6, Weyhing 3.5. Not among leaders: Baldwin 3.0, Mullane 2.8, Viau 1.9.

Players, Stovey 7.8, Lyons 7.6 (best year), Shindle 6.0, Marr 5.7 (career year), Lee Bierbauer (Philadelphia) 5.5, Jim Keenan (Cincinnati) 5.1, Curt Welch (Philadelphia) 4.9, Tucker 4.8, and well as Jocko Milligan (St. Louis) 4.8, Bid McPhee (Cincinnati) 4.6, O'Brien 4.5 (rookie), O'Neill 4.2. Not among leaders: Burns 3.1, Collins 3.3, Foutz 1.0, Hamilton 1.5 (nearly a rookie).

WAR leaders, pitchers: Chamberlain 10.4, Caruthers 10.3, King 9.9, Duryea 9.2, Kilroy 9.1, Foreman 6.8, Viau 6.1, Weyhing 6.0, Stivetts 5.8. Position players: Tucker 6.2, Stovey 5.1, Lyons 4.6, Marr 4.2, Shindle 3.9, O'Neill and O'Brien 3.6, Hamilton 3.2.

Top pitcher: Bob Caruthers, returning to full-time mound duty after several years as an outfielder-pitcher. He led in wins and shutouts, and pitched for the pennant winners.

#1 Bob Caruthers, #2 Matt Kilroy, #3 Jesse Duryea, #4 Elton Chamberlain, #5 Silver King.

Top player: Harry Stovey, in a close decision over Tommy Tucker. Denny Lyons deserves a special mention. Tucker led in OPS and OPS+ by a slim margin over Stovey, but Stovey led in runs and RBI, as well as slugging and home runs.

#1 Harry Stovey, #2 Tommy Tucker, #3 Denny Lyons, #4 Billy Shindle, #5 Lee Marr.

Top rookie: Jesse Duryea, Cincinnati pitcher second in ERA and 4th in wins.

Top manager: Bill McGunnigle, piloting Brooklyn to the pennant.

1888 National League

New York took the pennant, winning easily over good clubs in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit and Pittsburgh. The Giants even drove their AA rivals from the city. Indianapolis and Washington trailed badly again, but the league franchise setup remained the same.

Cap Anson won the batting title with a .344 average. Jimmy Ryan was second at .332, then King Kelly at .318, Dan Brouthers .307, and Buck Ewing .306. Brouthers led with 118 runs scored, followed by Ryan with 115, Dick Johnston 102, and Anson 101. Ryan led with 182 hits. Ryan and Brouthers tied with 33 doubles. Johnston had 18 triples, Roger Connor 17. Ryan had 16 homers, Connor 14. Anson led with 84 RBI.

Tim Keefe led the way with 35 wins, John Clarkson had 33, Pete Conway 30, Ed Morris 29, Charlie Buffinton 28. Keefe led with a 1.74 ERA, Ben Sanders 1.90, Buffinton 1.91, Mickey Welch 1.93. Keefe swept his pitcher's Triple Crown with 335 strikeouts, Clarkson got 223, Pretzels Getzein 202.

The WS data, NL Pitchers; Charlie Buffinton (Philadelphia) 44, Ben Sanders (Philadelphia) and Tim Keefe (New York) 35 each, Ed Morris (Pittsburgh) 34, John Clarkson (Boston) and Mickey Welch (New York) 32, Pud Galvin (Pittsburgh) 30, Pete Conway (Detroit) 29, Gus Krock (Chicago) 26, Bill Sowders (Boston) 21.

NL Position Players; Jimmy Ryan (Chicago) 34, Roger Connor (New York) 32, Cap Anson (Chicago) 29, Dummy Hoy (Washington) 28, Dan Brouthers (Detroit) and Buck Ewing (New York) 27, Mike Tiernan (New York) 26, Dick Johnston and King Kelly (Boston) 24, Billy Nash (Boston) 23.

WARP3 scores: Pitchers, Buffinton 9.7, Conway 7.6 (career year), Sanders 6.7 (rookie, best year), Welch 5.5, Keefe 5.2. Those not among WARP leaders: Morris 2.3 (his last good year), Clarkson 1.9, Galvin 2.8, Krock 4.1 (rookie, career year), Sowders 1.3 (rookie).

Players, Ewing 9.5, Connor 9.0, Kelly 8.3, Nash 8.0, Brouthers 7.7, Anson and Tiernan 7.6, Johnston 7.4 (career year), Ryan 6.8. Not among WARP leaders was Hoy 4.7 (rookie).

WAR leaders, pitchers: Buffinton and Keefe 10.1, Welch 7.9, Sanders 6.5, Krock 6.4, Galvin 5.7, Conway 5.5, Morris 5.4. Position players, Connor 7.7, Brouthers 6.8, Anson 6.6, Ryan 5.9, Nash and Tiernan 5.1, Hoy 4.8, Ewing 4.7, Kelly 4.3.

Top pitcher: Tim Keefe, leader in wins, WHIP, ERA and strikeouts. Buffinton gets extra WS and WARP points due to better hitting, but I'll take Keefe.

#1 Tim Keefe, #2 Charlie Buffinton, #3 Ben Sanders, #4 Mickey Welch, #5 Pete Conway.

Top player: Buck Ewing. He was held for some years as the best of the 19th century players, not just catchers, and this season was a reason why.

#1 Buck Ewing, #2 Roger Connor, #3 Cap Anson, #4 Jimmy Ryan, #5 Dan Brouthers.

Top rookie: Dummy Hoy, breaking in at age 26 and leading the league in SB, Hoy would go on to have a fine career.

Top manager: Jim Mutrie led New York from 5th to the pennant.

1888 American Association

New York dropped out of the league and was replaced by Kansas City, an unusual move. St. Louis won the pennant, their fourth straight, in a good race with Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Cincinnati. The pitching-outfielding tandem of Bob Caruthers and Dave Foutz moved their act from St. Louis to Brooklyn, but the Browns still had plenty of weapons.

Tip O'Neill won the batting title with a .335 average, followed by John Reilly at .321, Pete Browning at .313, and Hub Collins at .307. George Pinkney led with 134 runs scored, Collins had 133 and Harry Stovey 127. Collins led with 31 doubles. Stovey led with 20 triples and Reilly with 13 homers. Reilly led with 103 RBI and Larkin had 101. Arlie Latham stole 109 bases and Hugh Nicol 103.

Silver King, the new young St. Louis ace, won 45 games. Ed Seward won 35, Caruthers 29, Gus Weyhing 28, Lee Viau 27, and Tony Mullane 26. King led with a 1.63 ERA, Seward 2.01, Adonis Terry 2.03. Seward led with 272 strikeouts, King had 258, Toad Ramsay 228.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Silver King (St. Louis) 71, Bob Caruthers (P-OF, Brooklyn) 46, Ed Seward (Philadelphia) 44, Nat Hudson (St. Louis) 36, Mickey Hughes (Brooklyn) and Tony Mullane (Cincinnati) 33, Gus Weyhing (Philadelphia) 31, Elmer Smith and Lee (Lefty) Viau (Cincinnati) 30, Bert Cunningham (Baltimore) 24.

AA Position players; Dave Foutz (RF-P, Brooklyn) 33, Harry Stovey (Philadelphia) and Tip O'Neill (St. Louis) 28 each, John Reilly (Cincinnati) Ed McKean (Cleveland) and Curt Welch (Philadelphia) 25 each, George Pinkney (Brooklyn) and Hub Collins (Louisville/Brooklyn) 23, Arlie Latham and Yank Robinson (St. Louis) 21, Tommy Tucker (Baltimore) and Denny Lyons (Philadelphia) 20 each.

WARP3 scores: King 9.6 (at the tender age of 20), Seward 9.0 (career year), Caruthers 5.7, Weyhing 4.7. Not among leaders (less than 4.0): Hudson 2.4 (career year), Hughes 2.7 (rookie), Mullane 2.5, Smith 2.4, Viau 1.7 (rookie), Cunningham 1.5 (rookie, 23 innings previous year).

Players; Stovey 7.7, Latham 6.7, O'Neill 6.5, Welch and Reilly 5.9, Tommy McCarthy (St. Louis) 5.7, Collins 5.5, Pinkney 5.0, Robinson 4.7, Foutz 4.6 (mostly hitting). Not among WARP leaders: McKean 3.7, Tucker 3.4, Lyons 4.0.

WAR leaders, pitchers: King 16.5, Seward 12.5, Caruthers 6.8, Hughes 6.3, Viau 6.1, Hudson and Smith 6.0, Weyhing 5.9, Mullane 5.5. Position players: Stovey 5.8, Reilly 5.6, Collins 4.4, O'Neill 4.3, Welch 4.2, Latham and Tucker 3.9.

Top player: Cincy 1B Long John Reilly gets my vote. Reilly led the league in OPS, as well as slugging, home runs, total bases, and RBI. Harry Stovey would get 2nd place on my ballot.

#1 Long John Reilly, #2 Harry Stovey, #3 Hub Collins, #4 Tip O'Neill, #5 Ed McKean.

Top pitcher: Silver King, although Ed Seward pitched very well. King led in wins, ERA, innings and WHIP, and was the top player on the winning team. Seward tied him in shutouts and was 2nd in wins and ERA.

#1 Silver King, #2 Ed Seward, #3 Bob Caruthers, #4 Nat Hudson, #5 Gus Weyhing.

Mickey Hughes had the best rookie year, although Billy Hamilton would become the better player. Sliding Billy was not impressive in his first outing.

Top manager: Charles Comiskey, remaking his pitching staff in St. Louis while winning again.

1887 National League

Kansas City and St. Louis dropped out, replaced by Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, moving the league decidedly east. With the AA's team dominating St. Louis, it was getting tough there for the NL. The Pittsburgh franchise simply moved lock, stock and barrel from the American Association. Indy included most of the best players from the previous year's St. Louis franchise.

Detroit won the pennant, in a knock-down drag-out with Philadelphia and Chicago as New York was not far off the pace. Boston was also above .500. Pittsburgh was competitive, Washington and Indianapolis trailed.

Sam Thompson won the batting title with a .372 average, Cap Anson was second with .347. Following were Dan Brouthers and John Ward at .338, Sam Wise .334, Fred Carroll and Hardy Richardson .328, and Ed Andrews .325. Brouthers led with 153 runs scored, Jack Rowe 135, and Richardson 131. Thompson had 203 hits. Brouthers had 36 doubles, Jerry Denny and King Kelly 34 each. Thompson had 23 triples, Roger Connor 22. Billy O'Brien had 19 homers while Connor had 17. Thompson had 166 RBI while second place was just 104 by Connor, then 102 by Anson and 101 by Brouthers. Ward had 111 steals, Jim Fogarty 102.

John Clarkson led with 38 wins, Tim Keefe 35, Charlie Getzein won 29, Dan Casey and Pud Galvin 28. Casey led with a 2.86 ERA, Pete Conway posted a 2.90, Charlie Ferguson a 3.00, Clarkson 3.08, Keefe 3.12. Clarkson led with 237 strikeouts, Keefe had 189, Mark Baldwin 164, Charlie Buffinton 160.

Win Shares, pitchers; John Clarkson (Chicago) 51, Tim Keefe (New York) 39, Charlie Ferguson (Philadelphia) 36, Jim Whitney (Washington) 34, Pud Galvin (Pittsburgh) 33, Dan Casey (Philadelphia) 30, Mark Baldwin (Chicago) and Mickey Welch (New York) 27, Charlie Getzien (Detroit) 25, Charlie Buffinton (Philadelphia) 23, Charley Radbourn (Boston) 22. Staffs were starting to open up a bit, and a three-man rotation of some form was becoming common. Pitcher Win Shares will start to drop accordingly.

Position Players; Sam Thompson (Detroit) 29, Dan Brouthers (Detroit) 26, John Ward (New York) and Jim Fogarty (Philadelphia) 25 each, King Kelly (Boston) and Hardy Richardson (Detroit) 23 each, Sam Wise (Boston) 22, Roger Connor (New York) 21, Jack Rowe (Detroit) 20, Billy Nash (Boston), Cap Anson (Chicago) and Jerry Denny (Indianapolis) 19 each. Detroit won the pennant without a standout pitcher, but with two outstanding hitters.

WARP3 scores: Pitchers, Clarkson 10.6, Ferguson 8.0 (his last year, he died of typhoid the next spring), Keefe 7.9, Whitney 7.6, Galvin 6.6 (last big year), Casey 6.3 (career year), Henry Boyle (Indianapolis) 5.0. Not among WARP leaders were Baldwin 3.4 (rookie), Welch 3.6, Getzien 3.5, Buffinton 1.8, Radbourn 1.4.

Players, Thompson 8.9, Ward 7.4 (best year as position player), Fogarty (career year) and Richardson 7.0, Connor 6.2, Nash 5.7, Brouthers 5.6, Wise 5.2 (career year), Denny 5.0 (best year). Not among WARP leaders: Kelly 4.3, Rowe 4.7, Anson 4.3.

WAR for pitchers: Clarkson 12.4, Casey 9.3, Ferguson 6.9, Keefe 6.5, Galvin 5.9, Whitney 5.7, Baldwin 5.1, Getzein 4.8. Position players: Ward 7.2, Connor 6.3, Thompson 5.7, Anson 5.5, Brouthers 5.4, Fogarty and Jack Glasscock 5.1, Sam Wise (Boston) 4.8.

Best pitcher: John Clarkson, the leader in wins, innings and strikeouts, fourth in ERA and second in ERA+. Clarkson started nearly half the White Stockings' games, a practice soon to disappear.

#1 John Clarkson, #2 Charlie Ferguson, #3 Jim Whitney, #4 Tim Keefe, #5 Dan Casey.

Best player: Sam Thompson, leader of Detroit's pennant winners. Led in batting average and slugging, hits and triples, and RBI by a 166-104 margin over Connor.

#1 Sam Thompson, #2 John M. Ward, #3 Roger Connor, #4 Dan Brouthers, #5 Jim Fogarty.

Best rookie: Mike Tiernan, batting .287 for New York at age 20, over Mark Baldwin, 18-17 at age 23. Hindsight helps here.

Best manager: Bill Watkins again, guiding Detroit to the pennant.

1887 American Association

Pittsburgh jumped leagues, joining the National, and a new Cleveland franchise was added. St. Louis won easily again, with Cincinnati, Baltimore, and Louisville also above .500. The new Cleveland team trailed badly, just behind New York. Run scoring jumped about 50% over 1886, as new rules were enacted. Five balls became a walk, and strikeouts went from three to four strikes (they went back the next year). The pitcher's box was reduced in size, and pitchers could not take a run before delivering the ball any more. On the other hand, batters couldn't call for a high or low pitch any longer. In all, it added up to an offensive explosion, and a need for more pitchers.

How big an explosion? Tip O'Neill led the league in batting with a .435 average, and Pete Browning was next at .402. Denny Lyons came in at .367, Bob Caruthers and Dave Foutz .357. Oyster Burns hit .341 and Charlie Comiskey .335. O'Neill scored 167 runs, Arlie Latham 163. Mike Griffin scored 142 and Tom Poorman 140. O'Neill had 225 hits and Browning 220. O'Neill had 52 doubles and Lyons 43. Six players tied with 19 triples. O'Neill had 14 home runs. O'Neill also led with 123 RBI, Browning had 118, Jumbo Davis 109, Foutz and Curt Welch 108. Hugh Nicol stole 138 bases, Latham 129, Comiskey 117, Browning 103.

Matt Kilroy led with 46 wins, Toad Ramsay had 37, Mike Smith 34, Silver King 32, Tony Mullane 31. ERA numbers jumped, so that Smith led with a 2.94 mark, Kilroy 3.07, Mullane 3.24, Caruthers 3.30, Ramsay 3.43. Ramsay led with 355 strikeouts, Kilroy was down to 217, Phenomenal Smith had 206.

Win Shares for AA Pitchers; Mike Smith (Cincinnati) and Bob Caruthers (P-RF of St. Louis) 54 each, Matt Kilroy (Baltimore) 51, Tony Mullane (Cincinnati) and Toad Ramsey (Louisville) 46 each, Dave Foutz (St. Louis, P/OF) 43, Silver King (St. Louis) 37, Ed Seward (Philadelphia) 33, John "Phenomenal" Smith (Baltimore) 32.

AA Position Players; Tip O'Neill (St. Louis) 36, Pete Browning (Louisville) 30, Oyster Burns (Baltimore) 28, Denny Lyons(Philadelphia) 27, Arlie Latham (St. Louis) 24, Jumbo Davis and Mike Griffin (Baltimore), Frank Fennelly (Cincinnati), Yank Robinson (St. Louis) 20 each.

The AA had a lot of guys like Caruthers doubling between a position and the mound; Dave Foutz, Guy Hecker, Adonis Terry of Brooklyn. With Caruthers' success, it became a pretty common strategy.

WARP3 scores: Pitchers, Caruthers 10.1 (about half offense, half pitching), Kilroy 9.8, Smith 6.7 (first full year), Seward 5.4 (rookie, 6 previous innings), Ramsey 4.9, Mullane 4.1. Not WARP leaders are Foutz 3.3 (more hitting than pitching), King 1.1 (a rookie, 39 innings in 1886), Phenomenal 1.2.

Players, O'Neill 8.0, Lyons 6.4 (first full season), Bid McPhee (Cincinnati) 6.2, Browning 5.8, Latham 5.7, Robinson 4.7, Reddy Mack (Louisville) 4.1, Burns 4.1. Not among leaders: Davis 2.7 (best season), Griffin 2.5 (rookie), Fennelly 3.8.

WAR for pitchers: Kilroy 12.7, Smith 11.3, Ramsay 9.9, Mullane and Seward 8.6, Caruthers 8.3, King 8.1. Position players: O'Neill 7.3, Browning 6.9, Lyons 4.6, Oyster Burns 4.5, Caruthers 4.4, Latham 4.3, Robinson 3.7.

Top pitcher: Matt Kilroy, leader in wins and innings, 2nd in ERA and strikeouts. A lot fewer strikeouts than the year before, but a better all-around performance.

#1 Matt Kilroy, #2 Mike Smith, #3 Toad Ramsey, #4 Tony Mullane, #5 Bob Caruthers.

Top position guy was Tip O'Neill, who led in virtually every offensive category.

#1 Tip O'Neill, #2 Denny Lyons, #3 Pete Browning, #4 Arlie Latham, #5 Bob Caruthers.

Caruthers gets the AA "Heisman" again, for two-way brilliance. He could hang with both the top hitters and the top pitchers.

Top rookie: Mike Griffin of Baltimore, batting .301 to kick off a solid career, at age 22.

Top manager: Charles Comiskey, guiding St. Louis to another pennant.

1886 National League

Buffalo and Providence dropped out of the league, replaced by new franchises in Kansas City and Washington, making the league a bit more "national." KC would only last the year, as travel proved difficult, even paired with St. Louis. Chicago won the pennant in a close race with Detroit. The new teams trailed badly, and St. Louis was a poor 6th, so a western swing was an up-and-down matter for the eastern clubs.

King Kelly won the batting title at .388, followed by Cap Anson at .371, Dan Brouthers .370, Roger Connor .355, Hardy Richardson .351. Kelly scored 155 runs, Gore 150, Brouthers 139, Richardson 125, Anson 117. Brouthers led with 40 doubles, Anson 35, Kelly 32, Paul Hines 30. Connor had 20 triples, Brouthers and George Wood 15. Anson had 147 RBI, and next was Fred Pfeffer with 95. Ed Andrews had 56 stolen bases, Kelly 53 and Ned Hanlon 50.

Lady Baldwin and Tim Keefe tied with 42 wins, John Clarkson 36, Mickey Welch 33, Jim McCormick 31, Charlie Ferguson and Charlie Getzein 30. Henry Boyle led with a 1.76 ERA, Ferguson 1.98, Baldwin and Jocko Flynn 2.24, Clarkson and Dan Casey 2.41. Baldwin led the way with 323 strikeouts, Clarkson had 313, Keefe 297, Welch 272.

NL Win Shares, pitchers; Lady Baldwin (Detroit) 53, Charlie Ferguson (Philadelphia) 49, John Clarkson (Chicago) 42, Tim Keefe (New York) 38, Jim McCormick (Chicago) 33, Charley Radbourn (Boston) and Charlie Getzien (Detroit) 32, Mickey Welch (New York) and Dan Casey (Philadelphia) 29.

Position players; Roger Connor (New York) 36, King Kelly (Chicago) 35 (which seems a very large total for a guy who made 58 errors), Hardy Richardson (Detroit) 32, Dan Brouthers (Detroit) 31, Cap Anson (Chicago) 30, George Gore (Chicago) 26, Jim O'Rourke (New York) 24, Jack Glasscock (St. Louis) 22, Sam Thompson (Detroit) and John M. Ward (New York) 21. These numbers jumped because of an increase in league games, up to around 120 from 100, as well as the two strong teams with lots of wins.

WARP3 scores: Ferguson 10.0 (best year), Baldwin 7.1 (career year), Keefe 5.5, Radbourn 5.1. Not among the very best were McCormick 3.7 (last good year), Clarkson 3.4, Getzien -0.9, Welch 0.1, Casey 2.3 (rookie or nearly so).

Players, Kelly 10.5, Richardson 10.2, Brouthers 9.4, Connor 8.6, Glasscock 8.3, O'Rourke 7.3, Thompson 7.2 (first full season), Anson 7.1 (back after three-year slump), Charlie Bennett (Detroit) 6.2, Gore 5.9 (last year with Chicago), Buck Ewing (New York) 5.8, Paul Hines (Washington) 5.0. Trailing was Ward at 2.4.

WAR, pitchers: Baldwin 11.8, Ferguson 10.6, Keefe 9.9, Clarkson 8.6, McCormick 8.0, Casey 6.8. Position players: Brouthers 8.5, Kelly 7.7, Richardson 7.5, Connor 7.3, Anson 7.2, Glasscock 6.6.

Top player: King Kelly. I'm gonna go with the King on this one, leader in average and OBA, even though Brouthers led in OPS. This is an importance of OBA vote. WARP and WAR have Kelly in the lead, WS has him a close second.

#1 King Kelly, #2 Dan Brouthers, #3 Hardy Richardson, #4 Roger Connor, #5 Cap Anson.

For top pitcher, Charlie Ferguson of Philly. Baldwin got a lot of help from a fine team, and Ferguson did the better pitching job.

#1 Charlie Ferguson, #2 Lady Baldwin, #3 Tim Keefe, #4 Jim McCormick, #5 John Clarkson.

Top rookie: Jocko Flynn is a good choice in a not-so-good year for debuts. Flynn was 23-6 for Chicago, in essentially his only major league year.

Top manager: Bill Watkins, who engineered a big turnaround in Detroit. He was just 28, and didn't play, but he sure turned the team around.

1886 American Association

Same eight teams as last year, with St. Louis winning again. Pittsburgh and Brooklyn were the only other teams over .500. Louisville, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore filled out the standings.

Pete Browning won another batting title with a .340 average, Dave Orr was close behind at .338, Tip O'Neill hit .328, Henry Larkin .318, and Arlie Latham rounded out the .300 hitters at .301. Latham scored 152 runs, Bid McPhee 139, Larkin 133, Bill McClellan 131. Larkin had 36 doubles, McClellan 33, Curt Welch and Sam Barkley 31. Orr had 31 triples. O'Neill had 107 RBI, Pop Corkhill 97, Welch 95, Orr 91. They started keeping stolen base records, and Harry Stovey had 68, Latham 60. Bob Caruthers had the best OPS+, 200.

Dave Foutz and Ed Morris won 41 games each, Toad Ramsay 38, Tony Mullane 33, and Bob Caruthers 30. The ERA leader was Foutz at 2.11, followed by Caruthers at 2.32, Ramsay and Morris at 2.45. Matt Kilroy set the all-time record with 513 strikeouts, though Ramsay was right behind at 499. Morris had 326 strikeouts.

AA Win Shares, pitchers; Dave Foutz (St. Louis) 62, Bob Caruthers (St. Louis) 57, Toad Ramsey (Louisville) 47, Ed Morris (Pittsburgh) 44, Guy Hecker (Louisville) 39, Tony Mullane (Cincinnati) 34, Matt Kilroy (Baltimore) and Pud Galvin (Pittsburgh) 32.

Position players; Henry Larkin (Philadelphia) 29, Tip O'Neill (St. Louis) 27, Harry Stovey (Philadelphia) 24, Frank Fennelly and Bid McPhee (Cincinnati), Dave Orr (New York) and Arlie Latham (St. Louis) all with 23, Fred Carroll (Pittsburgh) 22, Ed Swartwood (Brooklyn) and Curt Welch (St. Louis) 21.

WARP3: Pitchers, Caruthers 9.6 (about 3/5 pitching and 2/5 hitting), Foutz and Ramsey 7.9, Hecker 6.5, Morris 5.7, Kilroy 5.1 (as a rookie), Mullane 3.3 (returned after one-year absence), with Galvin at 1.5.

Players, John Kerins of Louisville leads with an anomalous 6.6, mostly based on defense: I think this is a data hiccup. In real life, Latham 6.2, O'Neill 6.0, Orr also 6.0 (best year), McPhee 5.4, Yank Robinson (St. Louis) 5.2, Carroll 4.8, Welch and Chris Fulmer of Baltimore 4.5, Fennelly 3.7, Larkin and Swartwood 3.6, Stovey 3.5.

WAR leaders, pitchers: Ramsay 13.7, Morris 13.2, Foutz 12.3, Caruthers 9.6, Mullane 7.3, Galvin and Kilroy 7.0. Position players: Orr 6.4, O'Neill 4.5, Latham 4.1, Larkin 4.0, Kerins 3.9, Carroll, McPhee, and Stovey 3.7, Fennelly 3.6.

The overall MVP of the league was Parisian Bob Caruthers, who was both the top of the league in OPS, and 30-14 on the mound. He was not, however, either the top pitcher or hitter in the AA, due largely to split playing time. Give him a "Heisman Trophy."

Top pitcher, I'll name Dave Foutz, although Ed Morris, the innings and strikeouts leader, was the best overall on the mound. Adding in other considerations, it's Foutz. He led in wins (tied with Morris) and ERA.

#1 Dave Foutz, #2 Toad Ramsey, #3 Ed Morris, #4 Bob Caruthers, #5 Matt Kilroy.

Top hitter is Dave Orr, in a season where he had 31 triples. Special mention for Henry Larkin, with a fine year at bat and in LF.

#1 Dave Orr, #2 Tip O'Neill, #3 Henry Larkin, #4 Arlie Latham, #5 Bid McPhee.

Top rookie: Matt Kilroy, the strikeout king. 513 Ks, given he pitched 588 innings.

Top manager is Charles Comiskey again, as the Browns repeat.

1885 National League

Cleveland dropped out of the league, replaced by St. Louis, leaving Cleveland with no major league teams and St. Louis with two. Chicago won the pennant after a two-year drought, in a hard-fought battle with New York. No other teams even came close. Hoss Radbourn returned to the ranks of mortal men, and Providence sank to 4th place.

Roger Connor won the batting title with a .371 average, and Dan Brouthers was second at .359. Third was Mike Dorgan at .326. Next came Hardy Richardson (.319), George Gore and Ezra Sutton (.313), Cap Anson (.310), Buck Ewing (.304), Ned Hanlon (.302), and Jim O'Rourke (.300). King Kelly scored 124 runs, O'Rourke 119, and Gore 115. Anson had 35 doubles and Brouthers 32. O'Rourke had 16 triples and Connor 15. Anson had 108 RBI, Kelly was second with 75.

John Clarkson led in wins with 53, Mickey Welch had 44, Tim Keefe 32, Charley Radbourn 28, Ed Daily and Charlie Ferguson 26. Keefe led in ERA with 1.58, Welch posted a 1.66, Clarkson a 1.85. Clarkson had 308 strikeouts, Welch 258, Charlie Buffinton 242.

NL Win Shares leaders, pitchers; John Clarkson (Chicago) 62, Mickey Welch (New York) 57, Tim Keefe (New York) 42, Charlie Ferguson (Philadelphia) 41, Charley Radbourn (Providence) 39, Ed Daily (Philadelphia) 35, Charlie Buffinton (Boston) 28, Jim Whitney (Boston) and Henry Boyle (St. Louis) 24.

Position players; George Gore (Chicago) and Roger Connor (New York) 30 each, Dan Brouthers (Buffalo) 26, Abner Dalrymple (Chicago) 25, King Kelly (Chicago) and Jim O'Rourke (New York) 24 each, Cap Anson (Chicago) 23, Ezra Sutton (Boston) 22, Ned Williamson (Chicago) 21, Sam Wise (Boston), Hardy Richardson (Buffalo) and Buck Ewing (New York) 19.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Clarkson 11.8, Radbourn 6.0, Ferguson 5.7, Buffinton 5.0, Daily 4.4 (rookie, best season), Welch 4.2, Lady Baldwin (Detroit) 4.1. Not among leaders are Keefe 2.2, Boyle 0.7 (rookie), Whitney 0.6.

WARP3 leaders, players: Connor 10.0, Charlie Bennett (Detroit) 8.4, Brouthers 8.0, Ewing 7.9, Gore 7.8, Kelly 7.5, O'Rourke 7.4, Fred Dunlap and Jack Glasscock (St. Louis) 6.6 each, Mike Dorgan (New York) 6.2, Williamson 5.9 (last big year), Dalrymple and Sutton (last big year for both) 5.6. Not among WARP leaders: Anson 3.1, Wise 3.2, Richardson 5.0.

WAR leaders, pitchers: Clarkson 13.8, Welch 10.6, Keefe 7.0, Daily 5.7, Radbourn 5.5, Ferguson 5.0, Buffinton 4.1. Position players: Connor 8.0, Gore 5.0, Brouthers 4.9, Glasscock 4.7, Williamson and Bennett 4.4, Dunlap 4.1, O'Rourke 3.9, Ewing 3.7, Sutton and Anson 3.6.

Top pitcher: John Clarkson's first full season was a big success, and helped bring the pennant back to Chicago. He threw more innings than anybody, and as effectively as anyone else. He was 1st in wins, innings, and strikeouts, and 3rd in ERA.

#1 John Clarkson, #2 Mickey Welch, #3 Tim Keefe, #4 Charley Radbourn, #4 Charlie Ferguson.

Top player is Roger Connor. Connor led in average, hits, and total bases, and tied Brouthers for top OPS+.

#1 Roger Connor, #2 Dan Brouthers, #3 George Gore, #4 Charlie Bennett, #5 Jack Glasscock.

Top rookie: Ed Daily had a fine season for Philadelphia.

Top manager: Cap Anson brought Chicago back to the pennant after two years away.

1885 American Association

Back to a more normal eight teams in the AA for this year, with St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Louisville, Brooklyn, New York, and Baltimore finishing in that order. Columbus, Indianapolis, Richmond, Toledo and Washington were gone. The Browns actually ran away with the pennant, ending ahead of Cincinnati by 16 games, but there were no real patsies.

Pete Browning topped the loop with a .362 average, then came Dave Orr at .342, Henry Larkin .329, Charley Jones .322, Harry Stovey .315, Tom Brown .307, and Bill Phillips at .302. Stovey scored 130 runs, Larkin 114 and Jones 108. Larkin had 37 doubles and Browning 34. Orr had 21 triples, Bill Kuehne 19. Stovey hit 13 home runs and Frank Fennelly 10. Fennelly had 89 RBI and Larkin 88.

Bob Caruthers emerged at age 21 with 40 wins. Ed Morris won 39, Dave Foutz and Henry Porter 33, Guy Hecker and Bobby Mathews won 30. Caruthers led in ERA with a 2.07 mark, Hecker was at 2.18, Morris 2.35, Mathews 2.43, Foutz 2.63. Morris led with 298 strikeouts, Mathews 286, Hardie Henderson 263.

AA Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Ed Morris (Pittsburgh) 56, Bob Caruthers (St. Louis) 51, Guy Hecker (Louisville) 42, Dave Foutz (St. Louis) 37, Hardie Henderson (Baltimore) 36, Henry Porter (Brooklyn) 35, Bobby Mathews (Philadelphia) 26.

Position players; Pete Browning (Louisville) 28, Dave Orr (New York) 27, Charley Jones (Cincinnati) 24, Frank Fennelly (Cincinnati), Henry Larkin and Harry Stovey (both Philadelphia) 23 each, Curt Welch (St. Louis) 22, Candy Nelson (New York) and Sam Barkley (St. Louis) 21, Tom Brown (Pittsburgh) 20.

WARP3 leaderboard scores: Pitchers, Morris 8.1, Henderson 5.5 (career year), Hecker and Porter 5.2 (rookie year, career year for Porter), Caruthers 3.7 (first full year), Not WARP3 leaders were Mathews 2.6 (last good year) and Foutz 2.0.

WARP3 leaders, position players; Browning 8.5 (best year), Jones 7.1, Orr 6.7, Larkin 6.5 (best year), Stovey 6.3, Brown 5.7, Doc Bushong (St. Louis) and John Reilly (Cincinnati ) 5.2, Harry Stovey (Philadelphia) 4.8, Pop Snyder (Cincinnati) 4.7, Welch 4.3, Barkley 4.0. Not faring as well in WARP were Fennelly 1.9, and Nelson 1.8.

WAR leaders, pitchers: Morris 13.5, Caruthers 10.9, Hecker and Mathews 7.5, Henderson and Porter 7.2, Foutz 6.2, McKeon 5.1. Position players: Browning 5.4, Orr 4.6, Stovey 3.9, Jones 3.8, Nelson 3.4, Barkley, Brown, and Fennelly 3.0.

Top pitcher: Ed "Cannonball" Morris was throwing lefty heat again, from an underhand delivery as required at the time. Morris was 2nd in wins, 3rd in ERA, and 1st in strikeouts.

#1 Ed Morris, #2 Bob Caruthers, #3 Guy Hecker, #4 Bobby Mathews, #5 Henry Porter.

Top player: Pete Browning was the top hitter in the league again, and that overcame his fielding miscues to make him the top player.

#1 Pete Browning, #2 Dave Orr, #3 Charley Jones, #4 Henry Larkin, #5 Harry Stovey.

Top rookie: Harry Porter was the best rookie, in his only above-average year.

Top manager: Charles Comiskey, riding two ace pitchers to bring a pennant to St. Louis.

1884 National League

The NL had the same 8 teams in 1884. Providence won the pennant with an all-time classic performance by Charles (Old Hoss) Radbourn. The other four good teams in the league were Boston, Buffalo, New York and Chicago; Philadelphia, Detroit and Cleveland were also-rans. Providence also won the post-season series against AA champions New York by sweeping three games, all won by Radbourn of course.

King Kelly led the league with a .354 average, followed by Jim O'Rourke at .347, Ezra Sutton .346, Cap Anson .335, Dan Brouthers .327, and Deacon White .325. Kelly scored 120 runs, O'Rourke and Joe Hornung 119. Paul Hines had 36 doubles, O'Rourke 33 and Anson 30. Buck Ewing had 20 triples, Brouthers 15. Four Chicago players had at least 20 homers, due to the short porch in left field. Before and after this year, balls hit over it were doubles. So, Ed Williamson had 27 homers which lasted for some time as a record.

Charley Radbourn had 59 wins, more than anyone since, Charlie Buffinton won 48, Pud Galvin 46, Mickey Welch 39, Larry Corcoran 35. Radbourn led with a 1.38 ERA, followed by Charlie Sweeney at 1.55, Pretzels Getzein at 1.95, and Galvin at 1.99. Radbourn completed his Triple Crown with 441 strikeouts, Buffinton had 417, Galvin 369, Mickey Welch 345.

NL Win Shares data, pitching; Charley Radbourn (Providence) 89, Charlie Buffinton (Boston) 62, Pud Galvin (Buffalo) 57, Mickey Welch (New York) 46, Jim Whitney (Boston) and Larry Corcoran (Chicago) 37, Charlie Sweeney (Providence) 32.

Position players; Ezra Sutton (Boston) and Paul Hines (Providence) 28 each, Jim O'Rourke (Buffalo) 25, Roger Connor (New York) 23, Dan Brouthers (Buffalo) 22, Deacon White (Buffalo), King Kelly (Chicago) and Buck Ewing (New York) 21, Hardy Richardson and Jack Rowe (Buffalo), Cap Anson, Fred Pfeffer and Ned Williamson (Chicago) and Jack Manning (Philadelphia) all with 19.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Galvin 12.0, Radbourn 9.5, Buffinton 8.4, Corcoran 7.7, Welch 7.0, Whitney 6.0, Sweeney 5.4.

WARP3 leaders, players: Ewing 9.2, Sutton 7.7, Hines 7.6, Williamson 7.2, George Gore (Chicago) 7.1, O'Rourke 7.0, Pfeffer 6.9, Kelly 6.8, Barney Gilligan (Providence) 6.4, Abner Dalrymple (Chicago) 6.3, Brouthers and Rowe 6.1, Richardson 5.1. WS leaders not among WARP leaders are White 4.4, Anson 4.8, Connor 4.3, Manning 2.5.

WAR for pitchers: Radbourn 19.8, Galvin 19.1, Buffinton 15.4, Welch 11.4, Corcoran 8.3, Whitney 7.8, Sweeney 6.5, McCormick 5.8. Position players: Williamson 6.7, Sutton 6.3, Pfeffer 5.9, Brouthers 5.4, Kelly 5.3, Hines 5.2, Anson 5.0, White 4.8, Ewing 4.7.

Best pitcher: Radbourn, pitching every game down the stretch after #2 pitcher Charlie Sweeney jumped to the Union Association, led the league in wins, ERA, strikeouts, and innings. WARP likes Galvin even better, but that's crazy talk. 1884 belonged to the Old Hoss.

#1 Charley Radbourn, #2 Pud Galvin, #3 Charlie Buffinton, #4 Mickey Welch, 5 Larry Corcoran.

Best player: Ezra Sutton, the stellar third baseman from Boston.

#1 Ezra Sutton, #2 Paul Hines, #3 King Kelly, #4 Jim O'Rourke, #5 Dan Brouthers.

Best rookie: No good candidates.

Best manager: Frank Bancroft was Providence's non-playing manager (a rarity) in their pennant year.

1884 American Association

The AA expanded to a previously-unheard of 12 teams in 1884. Actually, 13 teams played, but Richmond dropped out partway through the year and was replaced by Washington...part of the perils of a big expansion program. The added teams were Brooklyn, Indianapolis, Richmond/Washington, and Toledo. New York won the pennant, with Columbus, Louisville, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Baltimore, and Philadelphia making strong showings.

Dave Orr won the batting title with a .354 average, with John Reilly second at .339 and Pete Browning third at .336. Harry Stovey hit .326, Fred Lewis .323, Dude Esterbrook and Charley Jones .314. Stovey led the way with 124 runs (the games each team played had increased again, into triple digits now), trailed by Jones at 117 and Arlie Latham at 115. Sam Barkley had 39 doubles, Browning 33 and Orr 32. Stovey had 23 triples, Reilly 19 and Fred Mann 18. Reilly hit 11 homers and Stovey 10. Orr had 112 RBI.

Guy Hecker ran away with the league lead in wins with 52, next were Tim Keefe and Jack Lynch with 37. Tony Mullane had 36, Ed Morris and Will White 34, Bob Emslie 32, Bobby Mathews 30. Hecker also led with a 1.80 ERA, Morris and Dave Foutz 2.18, Keefe 2.25, Frank Mountain 2.45. Hecker completed his pitching Triple Crown with 385 strikeouts, Hardie Henderson was next with 346, Keefe 334, Mullane 325, Larry McKeon 308, and Morris 302.

AA Win Shares data; pitching; Guy Hecker (Louisville) 74, Tony Mullane (Toledo) 58, Tim Keefe (New York) 47, Ed Morris (Columbus) 44, Frank Mountain (Columbus) and Jack Lynch (New York) 36, Will White (Cincinnati) 33, Hardie Henderson (Baltimore) 32, Bob Emslie (Baltimore) and Bobby Mathews (Philadelphia) 31.

Position players; Charley Jones (Cincinnati) and Dave Orr (New York) 27, Dude Esterbrook (New York) 26, John Reilly (Cincinnati) 25, Pete Browning (Louisville), Candy Nelson (New York) and Arlie Latham (St. Louis) 23 each, Harry Stovey (Philadelphia) 22, Chief Roseman (New York), Tip O'Neill (St. Louis) and Sam Barkley (Toledo) 21.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Mullane 10.2 (best year), Hecker 10.0 (career year), Mountain 3.9 (only good season), Billy Taylor (Philadelphia) 3.3, Keefe 3.2, Morris 3.1 (as a rookie). Pitchers not among the leaders, but on the WS leaderboard: Lynch -1.2, White -2.5, Henderson 1.7, Emslie 1.8, Mathews -0.8.

WARP3 leaders, players; Jones 7.1, Esterbrook 6.3 (best season), Orr 5.8 (as a rookie, 53 AB the previous year), Reilly 5.2, Jocko Milligan (Philadelphia) 5.0, Barkley 4.9 (rookie, best year), Pop Snyder (Cincinnati) 4.7, Browning and Stovey 4.5, Latham and Fred Carroll (Columbus) 4.4. Players on the WS leaderboard but with lower WARP: Nelson 2.6, Roseman 3.2 (best year), O'Neill 0.1 (also a rookie, 76 previous AB).

WAR for pitchers: Hecker 16.6, Mullane 10.8, Morris 9.5, Keefe 9.4, White 7.7, Emslie 7.5, Lynch 7.2, Henderson 7.0. Position players: Orr 6.1, Esterbrook 5.2, Barkley 4.9, Reilly and Latham 4.6, Stovey 4.5, Sadie Houck 4.4, Jones 4.3.

Best pitcher: Guy Hecker. Busiest, and best. Led league in wins, ERA, strikeouts, innings, and WHIP. One of those "explosion" seasons, or career years.

#1 Guy Hecker, #2 Tony Mullane, #3 Tim Keefe, #4 Ed Morris, #5 Bob Emslie.

Best player: Dave Orr, leader in average, hits, RBI, and OPS+. This was his best year, but he would continue to be a star in the AA.

#1 Dave Orr, #2 Dude Esterbrook, #3 John Reilly, #4 Charley Jones, #5 Harry Stovey.

Best rookie: Ed Morris. Beats out Orr by a nose. Morris would pitch well for Pittsburgh for the rest of the decade.

Best manager: Jim Mutrie led New York to the pennant, and was one of the first non-playing managers.

Pass on the UA. I don't see the Union Association as a major league, and will disregard it.

1883 National League

Pushed by the AA, the NL moved back into New York and Philadelphia, dropping the small-town Troy and Worcester franchises. This ended a dangerous era in NL history, when it was on the verge of losing its "major league" aura and becoming just another league. New York picked up the best players from Troy, Mickey Welch, Buck Ewing and Roger Connor, and gained John Ward from Providence. No trades in this era, players were free agents when they could manage, but generally stayed with one team until they were released. The Philadelphia team had little in the way of talent and would have to build slowly. Boston won the pennant in a good race, with five teams contending through the year and everyone but Philly putting up a .400 or better percentage.

Dan Brouthers won the batting title with a .374 average followed by Roger Connor at .357, George Gore at .334, Jack Burdock at .330, Jim O'Rourke at .328, Fred Dunlap at .326, and Ezra Sutton at .324. Joe Hornung led the loop with 107 runs; Gore scored 105, O'Rourke 102, Sutton 101. Brouthers had 97 RBI, Burdock 88.

Old Hoss Radbourn led the pitchers with 48 wins and Pud Galvin had 46. Jim Whitney was third with 37 wins, Larry Corcoran next with 34. Jim McCormick led the way with a 1.84 ERA, Radbourn posted a 2.05, Whitney came in at 2.24. Whitney led the way with 345 strikeouts, followed by Radbourn at 315 and Galvin at 279.

1883 NL Win Shares, pitchers; Charley Radbourn (Providence) 60, Jim Whitney (Boston) 57, Pud Galvin (Buffalo) 47, Jim McCormick (Cleveland) 40, Larry Corcoran (Chicago) 38, Hugh (One Arm) Daily (Cleveland) 34, Mickey Welch (New York) 31.

Position players; Charlie Buffinton (Boston) and John M.Ward (New York) 28 (again, most for their pitching), Dan Brouthers (Buffalo) 24, George Gore (Chicago) 22, Ezra Sutton (Boston) 21, John Morrill (Boston) 20, Jack Burdock (Boston) and Roger Connor (New York) 19, Charlie Bennett (Detroit) and Jack Farrell (Providence) 18, Jim O'Rourke and Hardy Richardson (Buffalo), George Wood (Detroit), Buck Ewing (New York) and Paul Hines (Providence) 17 each.

WARP3 scores: Radbourn 11.7, Whitney 9.9 (best season, about 2/3 pitching and 1/3 hitting), Galvin 8.3, McCormick 3.7, Corcoran 4.9, Daily 1.1, Welch 3.4. Players; Buffinton 0.8 (a rookie, after 15 games the year before), Ward 6.2, Brouthers 7.5, Gore 7.2, Sutton 6.6, Morrill 5.9, Burdock 6.9 (last good year), Connor 6.5, Bennett 8.7, Farrell 8.5, O'Rourke 5.1, Richardson 7.1, Wood 5.5 (best year), Ewing 9.5, Hines 6.4. Among those who were not WS leaders, Fred Dunlap of Cleveland posted an 8.2 score, Jack Glasscock of Cleveland 6.4, and Jerry Denny of Providence 6.1.

WAR for pitchers: Radbourn 12.8, Whitney 10.2, Galvin 9.7, McCormick 7.3, Daily 5.8, Corcoran 5.5, Buffinton 4.9. Position players: Farrell 6.0, Brouthers 5.9, Bennett 5.1, Connor 4.9, Glasscock, Burdock, and Dunlap 4.8, Ewing 4.6, Morrill 4.5.

Top pitcher: Charley Radbourn, although Whitney had a fine year. The Old Hoss was 1st in wins, 2nd in ERA and strikeouts. Whitney was 1st in strikeouts, third in wins and ERA, and also best in BB/9 innings. Galvin was the third-best pitcher, leading in innings and shutouts.

#1 Charley "Old Hoss" Radbourn, #2 Jim Whitney, #3 Pud Galvin, #4 Jim McCormick, #5 Larry Corcoran.

Top player: Dan Brouthers, the league's best hitter. Led the league in average, on-base, slugging, OPS, hits, total bases, triples, RBI, and times on base. He was also a competent first baseman in this bare-handed era.

#1 Dan Brouthers, #2 Charlie Bennett, #3 Roger Connor, #4 Buck Ewing, #5 Jack Farrell.

Top rookie: Charlie Buffinton, although his rookie status could be questioned. He had 50 AB and 5 games pitching the year before, so I think he's under the wire. There is no one else. Buffinton was Boston's #2 pitcher, 25-14 with a 3.03 ERA, just below league average.

Top manager: Harry Wright, keeping Providence in the race after the loss of John Ward to New York.

1883 American Association

The 1883 edition of the AA featured a new New York team as well as one in Columbus, as the loop expanded to eight teams from six. Philadelphia and St. Louis battled to the wire, the A's winning by a game, with Cincinnati close behind. New York and Louisville weren't far back, while Columbus, Pittsburgh and Baltimore were doormats. Tim Keefe moved from Troy of the NL to New York of the AA, the first real talent to move in that direction.

Ed Swartwood won the batting title with a .357 average, followed by Pete Browning at .338. Jim Clinton hit .313, John Reilly .311, Mike Moynahan .310, Candy Nelson .305, and Harry Stovey .304. Stovey scored 110 runs and Reilly 103 as team schedules neared 100 games. Charley Jones had 80 RBI, Reilly 79.

Will White led in wins again with 43, followed by Tim Keefe with 41. Tony Mullane had 35 and Bobby Mathews 30, then came Guy Hecker and Jumbo McGinnis with 28. White led with a 2.09 ERA and Mullane was second at 2.19. Keefe nearly lapped the field with 359 strikeouts, second was Mathews with 203.

AA Win Shares, pitchers; Tim Keefe (New York) 70, Tony Mullane (St. Louis) 55, Will White (Cincinnati) 51, Jumbo McGinnis (St. Louis) 42, Guy Hecker (Louisville) 36, Bobby Mathews (Philadelphia) 30.

Position players; Harry Stovey (Philadelphia) 25, Mike Moynahan (Philadelphia) 24, George Bradley (Philadelphia--sensing a trend?) 22, Pete Browning (Louisville) 20, Jack O'Brien (Philadelphia) and Ed Swartwood (Pittsburgh) 19, Charley Jones and John Reilly (Cincinnati) and Fred Corey (Philadelphia) 18, Hick Carpenter (Cincinnati) and Bill Gleason (St. Louis) 16. Bradley got all those Win Shares for a .234 average, but also as the team's #2 pitcher when not playing 3B.

WARP3 scores: Keefe 8.0 (best year), Mullane 0.4, White 4.0, McGinnis -0.7, Hecker -0.6, Mathews 0.5; not in the top WS group is Bob Emslie of Baltimore with a 3.7; position players, Stovey 2.9, Moynahan 3.2 (only full season), Bradley 1.3, Browning 3.4, O'Brien 3.0, Swartwood 3.4, Jones 5.2, Reilly 3.0, Corey -2.2, Carpenter 4.1, Gleason 4.0. Other high scores not among the WS leaders are Candy Nelson of New York at 4.4, Pop Snyder of Cincinnati and Hugh Nicol of St. Louis at 4.0, Bid McPhee of Cincinnati at 3.8, Bill Holbert of New York at 3.7, and John Richmond of Columbus at 3.5.

WAR for pitchers: Keefe 16.6, White 10.9, Mullane 7.6, McGinnis 7.2, Mathews 6.0. Position players: Stovey 3.6, Reilly 3.1, Nelson and Swartwood 3.0, Richmond 2.9, Browning 2.8, Gleason and Carpenter 2.7, Jones 2.6.

Top pitcher was easily Tim Keefe. 5th in ERA, 2nd in wins, led in WHIP, innings, and strikeouts, propping up a mediocre New York team. After being a good but not exceptional NL pitcher, his work in the AA helped establish it as the "lesser" league.

#1 Tim Keefe, #2 Will White, #3 Tony Mullane, #4 Jumbo McGinnis, #5 Bobby Mathews.

Top player: Harry Stovey. Swartwood was the best hitter, but no defensive player. Stovey could go both ways, and was right with the hitting leaders, first in slugging, runs, doubles, homers, and extra-base hits.

#1 Harry Stovey, #2 Pete Browning, #3 Ed Swartwood, #4 John Reilly, #5 Charley Jones.

No good candidates for top rookie.

Top manager: Lon Knight, leading Philadelphia to a close pennant victory while playing right field. One of only two "captain" seasons for the veteran Knight.