07 April 2007

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.

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