1901 Boston Americans season

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1901 Boston Americans
Inaugural season
Boston Americans team picture.jpg
Team photo; Cy Young third from left in middle row, Jimmy Collins seated center of front row
Major League affiliations
  • American League (since 1901)
Location
Results
Record79–57 (.581)
League place2nd (4 GB)
Other information
Owner(s)Charles Somers
Manager(s)Jimmy Collins
StatsESPN.com
BB-reference
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The 1901 Boston Americans season was the first season for the professional baseball franchise that later became known as the Boston Red Sox, and the first season of play for the American League (AL). It resulted in the Americans finishing second in the AL with a record of 79 wins and 57 losses, four games behind the Chicago White Stockings. The team was managed by Jimmy Collins and played its home games at Huntington Avenue Grounds.

Regular season[]

Prior to the regular season, the team held spring training in Charlottesville, Virginia.[1]

  • April 26: The franchise's first-ever American League contest ends as a 10–6 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park in Baltimore.[2] Boston's first run was scored by player-manager Jimmy Collins in the fifth inning.[3] In 1903, the Orioles relocated to New York City as the Highlanders, then in 1913 became known as the New York Yankees.
  • April 30: After losing their first three games, the team records its first win, an 8–6 victory in 10 innings over the Philadelphia Athletics at Columbia Park in Philadelphia.[2] Cy Young was the winning pitcher.[4]
  • May 2: In their highest-scoring game of the year, Boston defeats Philadelphia, 23–12 in a road victory.[2]
  • May 8: The team plays and wins its first-ever home game, 12–4 over the visiting Athletics.[2]
  • May 11: Buck Freeman receives the first ejection in franchise history, sent off by umpire Jack Haskell following a call at second base,[5] in a home loss to the Washington Senators.
  • May 17: The team's longest losing streak of the season, five games between May 11 and 16, comes to an end with a victory over the visiting Orioles.[2]
  • June 10: A 7–4 win over the visiting Milwaukee Brewers gives the team a winning record for the first time, as they reach 17–16.[2] In 1902, the Brewers moved and became the St. Louis Browns, then in 1954 moved again and became today's Baltimore Orioles.
  • June 24: The team's longest winning streak of the season, nine games between June 14 and 22, comes to an end with a loss to the visiting Cleveland Blues.[2]
  • August 27: The team's longest game of the season ends as a 2–1 win in 15 innings over the visiting Detroit Tigers.[2]
  • September 28: The season ends with a home doubleheader against the Brewers; Boston wins both games, 8–3, and 10–9 in seven innings.

Statistical leaders[]

The offense was led by Buck Freeman, who hit 12 home runs and had 114 RBIs while recording a .339 batting average. The pitching staff was led by Cy Young, who made 43 appearances (41 starts) and pitched 38 complete games with a 33–10 record and 1.62 ERA, while striking out 158 in 371+1⁄3 innings.

Season standings[]

  • v
  • t
American League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago White Stockings 83 53 0.610 — 49–21 34–32
Boston Americans 79 57 0.581 4 49–20 30–37
Detroit Tigers 74 61 0.548 8½ 42–27 32–34
Philadelphia Athletics 74 62 0.544 9 42–24 32–38
Baltimore Orioles 68 65 0.511 13½ 40–25 28–40
Washington Senators 61 72 0.459 20½ 31–35 30–37
Cleveland Bluebirds 54 82 0.397 29 28–39 26–43
Milwaukee Brewers 48 89 0.350 35½ 32–37 16–52

The team had two games end in a tie; August 31 at Detroit Tigers and September 12 at Washington Senators.[2] Tied games are not counted in league standings, but player statistics during tied games are counted.[6]

Record vs. opponents[]

1901 American League Records
  • v
  • t

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BAL BOS CWS CLE DET MIL PHI WSH
Baltimore — 9–9 4–14–1 11–9 9–10 12–7–1 12–8 11–8
Boston 9–9 — 12–8 12–6 9–11–1 15–5 10–10 12–8–1
Chicago 14–4–1 8–12 — 13–7 10–10 16–4 12–8 10–8
Cleveland 9–11 6–12 7–13 — 6–14 11–9 6–14 9–9–2
Detroit 10–9 11–9–1 10–10 14–6 — 13–7 7–9 9–11
Milwaukee 7–12–1 5–15 4–16 9–11 7–13 — 6–14 10–8–1
Philadelphia 8–12 10–10 8–12 14–6 9–7 14–6 — 11–9–1
Washington 8–11 8–12–1 8–10 9–9–2 11–9 8–10–1 9–11–1 —

Opening Day lineup[]

Tommy Dowd LF
Charlie Hemphill RF
Chick Stahl CF
Jimmy Collins 3B
Buck Freeman 1B
Freddy Parent SS
Hobe Ferris 2B
Lou Criger C
Win Kellum P

Source: [7]

Roster[]

1901 Boston Americans
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager
  • Jimmy Collins

Player stats[]

Batting[]

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Starters by position[]

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Ossee Schreckengost 86 280 85 .304 0 38
1B Buck Freeman 129 490 166 .339 12 114
2B Hobe Ferris 138 523 131 .250 2 63
SS Freddy Parent 138 517 158 .306 4 59
3B Jimmy Collins 138 564 187 .332 6 94
OF Charlie Hemphill 136 545 142 .261 3 62
OF Chick Stahl 131 515 156 .303 6 72
OF Tommy Dowd 138 594 159 .268 3 52

Other batters[]

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Lou Criger 76 268 62 .231 0 24
Charlie Jones 10 41 6 .146 0 6
Larry McLean 9 19 4 .211 0 2
Jack Slattery 1 3 1 .333 0 1
Harry Gleason 1 1 1 1.000 0 0
all pitchers   506 95 .188 1 45

Pitching[]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Starting pitchers[]

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Cy Young 43 371+1⁄3 33 10 1.62 158
Ted Lewis 39 316+1⁄3 16 17 3.53 103
George Winter 28 241 16 12 2.80 63
Fred Mitchell 17 108+2⁄3 6 6 3.81 34
George Cuppy 13 93+1⁄3 4 6 4.15 22

Other pitchers[]

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Win Kellum 6 48 2 3 6.38 8
George Prentiss 2 10 1 0 1.80 0
Ben Beville 2 9 0 2 4.00 1
Frank Foreman 1 8 0 1 9.00 1
Jake Volz 1 7 1 0 9.00 5
Frank Morrissey 1 4+1⁄3 0 0 2.08 1

References[]

  1. ^ "Collins' Men Take It Easy". The Boston Globe. April 11, 1901. p. 7. Retrieved November 4, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "The 1901 Boston Americans Regular Season Game Log". Retrosheet. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  3. ^ "Takes the Crowd: American League Opens With Boom in Baltimore". The Boston Globe. April 27, 1901. p. 5. Retrieved November 3, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Cy Young Wins for Boston". Pittsburgh Daily Post. May 1, 1901. p. 6. Retrieved November 3, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "The Ejections for the 1901 Boston Americans". Retrosheet. November 4, 2018.
  6. ^ "Tie". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  7. ^ Murnane, T. H. (April 27, 1901). "Box score". The Boston Globe. p. 8. Retrieved November 13, 2018 – via newspapers.com.

External links[]

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