07 July 2007

1911 American League

Philadelphia won the pennant and then the World Series again, with a 101-50 regular season record. Detroit was second, while Cleveland, Boston, Chicago, New York, and Washington were around .500, and St. Louis lost 107 games again to finish last. The A's were best in the league in both offense and pitching/defense, while Detroit had hitting but not so much pitching.

On to the numbers:

Statistical leaders: With some rule changes, it was a breakout year for offense. Ty Cobb (.420) and Joe Jackson (.408) each topped .400, followed by Sam Crawford at .378. Jackson led in on-base, Cobb in slugging and OPS. Cobb also led with 147 runs, 248 hits, 47 doubles, 24 triples, 127 RBI, and 83 steals. Home Run Baker had 11 home runs. Jackson and Donie Bush tied for second in runs with 126. Crawford and Baker tied for second in RBI with 115.

Jack Coombs again led pitchers in wins, this time with 28, while Ed Walsh had 27 and Walter Johnson had 25. Vean Gregg led with a 1.80 ERA, followed by Johnson at 1.90 and then Joe Wood at 2.02. Walsh led in strikeouts with 255, then came Wood at 231 and Johnson at 207. Walsh led with 369 innings, then came Coombs at 337 and Johnson at 322.

Win Shares leaders---
Players; Ty Cobb (Detroit) 47, Joe Jackson (Cleveland) 39, Frank Baker and Eddie Collins (Philadelphia) 35, Sam Crawford (Detroit) 32, Tris Speaker (Boston) and Clyde Milan (Washington) 27, Birdie Cree (New York) and Danny Murphy (Philadelphia) 25.

Pitchers; Ed Walsh (Chicago) and Walter Johnson (Washington) 31, Vean Gregg (Cleveland) and Russ Ford (New York) 28, Joe Wood (Boston) 26, Ray Caldwell (New York) and Jack Coombs (Philadelphia) 23.

WARP3 leaders: Cobb 9.4, Jackson 7.6 (first full season), Collins 7.3, Baker 6.7, Speaker and Cree (career year) 4.3, Milan 3.5 (best year), Germany Schaefer (Washington), Matty McIntyre (Chicago), and Bris Lord (Philadeliphia) 3.4, Crawford, Ira Thomas (Philadelphia), Jim Delahanty (Detroit), and Jimmy Austin (St. Louis) 3.2.

For pitchers, Walsh 9.0 (last great year), Johnson 8.8, Gregg 8.0 (rookie, best year), Wood 7.2, Ford 5.8, Eddie Plank (Philadelphia) and George Mullin (Detroit) 5.5, Caldwell 5.0, Chief Bender (Philadelphia) 4.7, Larry Pope (Boston) 4.1, Ray Collins (Boston) 3.8.

WAR, players: Cobb 11.6, Jackson 9.9, Collins 7.4, Baker 7.0, Crawford 6.4, Speaker 6.3, Cree 6.2, Milan 5.5, McIntyre, Hooper, and Murphy 4.6.

Pitchers: Walsh 8.2, Gregg 7.8, Johnson 7.2, Plank 6.1, Bender and Ford 5.8, Mullin and Wood 4.7, Caldwell 4.6, Scott 4.2.

This was also the first year for "official" balloting for a league award, in this case the league MVPs. There were 8 voters, one for each league city. Here are the results, from baseball-reference.com:
Place Name Team 1st-place votes Total points.
1 Ty Cobb DET 8 64
2 Ed Walsh CHW 0 35
3 Eddie Collins PHA 0 32
4 Joe Jackson CLE 0 28
5 Walter Johnson WSH 0 19
6 Birdie Cree NYY 0 16
6 Tris Speaker BOS 0 16
8 Ira Thomas PHA 0 12
9 Clyde Milan WSH 0 10
10 Vean Gregg CLE 0 9
11 Frank Baker PHA 0 8
12 Jack Coombs PHA 0 6
13 Nap Lajoie CLE 0 5
14 Donie Bush DET 0 4
14 Sam Crawford DET 0 4
14 John Knight NYY 0 4
14 Bris Lord PHA 0 4
18 Jack Barry PHA 0 3
18 Russ Ford NYY 0 3
20 Jimmy Austin SLB 0 2
20 Frank LaPorte SLB 0 2
22 George McBride WSH 0 1
22 Stuffy McInnis PHA 0 1
In case you wanted to know what the contemporary voters thought.

Best player: I agree with the contemporary voters, Ty Cobb was the best in the league. Joe Jackson was great, but Cobb was better. Cobb led in OPS, runs, hits, doubles, triples, RBI, and steals. Jackson #2, Collins #3, Baker (home run leader) #4, Sam Crawford #5.

Best pitcher: Interestingly, the 1911 voters favored Ed Walsh, 2nd in wins and 6th in ERA, over other pitchers, placing him 2nd in the MVP voting. I agree, Big Ed was the top pitcher. Walter #2, Gregg #3, Wood #4, Russ Ford #5.

Best Rookie: Vean Gregg, leader in ERA and WHIP.

Best manager: Has to be A's skipper Connie Mack.

No comments: