21 April 2007

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.

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