For those of you embarking this trolley along the route, the premise of the exercise can be found HERE.
OVERVIEW
No franchise moves or changes to the league structure for the 1903 season.
OFFSEASON / PRESEASON
Two modified NeLers enter the league for 1903:
- OF Andrew Payne (22); Cardinals
- P Walter Ball (25); Red Sox SABR BIO
Notable MLBers embarking include Mordecai Brown (Cubs), Charles Bender (Athletics), Jake Stahl (Red Sox), George Gibson (Pirates) and Gavvy Cravath (Browns).
My Brooklyn club welcomes outfielder Doc “Brownie” Gessler to its ranks and also signs two-way NeLer Harry Buckner thru 1907, to give us our full complement of three “ringers”.
Other interesting moves include Dan McGann to the Red Sox, Grant Johnson to the A’s, Ned Garvin to the Pirates, Bill Monroe to the Cards and Jack Harper to the Phillies.
OPENING DAY PREVIEW
The top-ranked position player is Athletics 2B Nap Lajoie.
The top-ranked pitcher is Rube Waddell of the Pirates.
The top-rated prospect is age-22 OF Gavvy Cravath of the Browns.
Analysts believe the 102-52 Red Sox and Athletics have the AL between them, with the 105-49 Pirates cruising to another NL pennant.
REGULAR SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
04/07: The Pirates put a 24-2 hurtin’ on the Giants, with Cap Clarke knocking in 5.
05/16: Harry Steinfeldt belts 3 homers for the Reds as they beat the Giants 10-1.
05/20: Mike Donlin hits safely in 26 straight.
07/06: The AL wins the All-Star Game 2-1 with Red Sox captain Jimmy Collins named MVP.
07/31: The Pirates go all in at the Deadline, trading Frank “Wildfire” Schulte, Howie Camnitz and George Gibson for The Peerless Leader himself, Frank Chance.
09/11: Washington’s Carl Lundgren gives us our first (and only) no-hitter for the season, against Cleveland in a 6-0 win.
09/12: Cy Seymour hits for the cycle.
REGULAR SEASON RECAP
They have to grind it out til the final week but eventually the Red Sox claim their second AL Pennant.
The Pirates are in control pretty much throughout and put the race beyond doubt with a long win streak right at the end of August before clinching in early September with a 2-1 win against us in Brooklyn.
The Pirates are never troubled in making it three straight NL wins, clinching in early September and ending up winning 104 with Deacon Phillippe posting a stirring 28-6 record.
Always hard to know how to treat these stats in the early going but Ginger Beaumont’s total of 247 Hits is a new record, while Harry Steinfeldt ties Nap Lajoie’s mark of 32 HR.
Doc White finishes the season with 31 Wins.
Grant Johnson leads the NeL fraternity with 6.6 WAR, with Regino Garcia, Carlos Moran and Alfredo Cabrera registering 4 or more. Rube Foster’s 5.9 is the best among the pitchers.
Frank Grant takes his leave of us. I do ultimately plan to show the career stats of each NeLer as they retire but there’s little point with these early guys who only spend a short time in the league.
FINAL MLB STANDINGS
AL STAT LEADERS
NL STAT LEADERS
PLAYOFFS
This rematch of the 1901 Series also serves as a kind of “decider” between the league’s two Champions to this point.
Cy Young outduels Rube Waddell 4-2 in the opener and the Red Sox are never headed in a comfortable sweep of a very disappointing Pirates outfit.
Buck Freeman wins the Most Valuable Player award.
1903 RECAP
A second MVP each in this timeline for Nap Lajoie and Honus Wagner (unanimous).
CYAs to Iron Earl Moore in the AL and Deacon Phillippe in the NL.
RoYs to Charles Bender in the AL and Charlie Babb in the NL.
Reliever awards to Cy Falkenberg and our Harry Howell, both unanimously.
Just a Soft Glove @ SS in the AL for Grant Johnson this year.
NeL-obsessed member from Sydney, Australia who spends an inordinate amount of my free time running simulations of various natures on Out of the Park Baseball.
Wow – very disappointing result by the Pirates, they had a huge run differential advantage during the regular season over the Red Sox! But as we all know, randomness in baseball can emerge at any time, especially in a short series.
Yeah, Cy was just too good for them and he and his pals kept Honus and Cap Clarke to just 7 hits between them. That won’t get it done too often.