1902 Baltimore Orioles season
Baltimore, Maryland | ||
---|---|---|
Owners | John Mahon, Andrew Freedman, Ban Johnson | |
Managers | John McGraw, Wilbert Robinson | |
|
The 1902
During the season,
The Orioles' second season in Baltimore would ultimately prove to be their last, as after the season the team was replaced by the New York Highlanders, now known as the New York Yankees.
Season
Offseason
Knowing that placing a franchise in New York City was key to the success of the
In March, Mike Donlin went on a drinking binge in Baltimore, during which he was arrested for urinating in public and assaulting two chorus girls. The Orioles released Donlin when he was sentenced to six months in prison.[2]
Notable players jumped to the Orioles from the rival
Regular season
The Orioles drew over 10,000 fans on Opening Day.[1] Three players returned to the NL in April 1902. Jack Dunn and Steve Brodie jumped to the Giants in April.[4] Sheckard changed his mind about playing for the Orioles after four games, returning to Brooklyn.[3]
Johnson openly feuded with McGraw. Many Orioles found themselves suspended by Johnson by midseason, including McGraw and Kelley. In early July, McGraw resigned from the team and signed with the
The franchise began to fall into significant debt by July. Kelley, son-in-law of part-owner John Mahon, reported that the team owed as much as $12,000 ($422,585 in current dollar terms).[7] Unable to afford that debt, Mahon purchased shares of the team from Kelley and McGraw. With this, Mahon became the majority shareholder, owning 201 of the team's 400 shares.[5] On July 17, 1902, Mahon sold his interest in the Orioles to Andrew Freedman, principal owner of the Giants, and John T. Brush, principal owner of the Cincinnati Reds, also of the NL. The transaction was reported to have been in the range of $20,000 ($704,308 in current dollar terms).[1] That day, Freedman and Brush released Kelley, Joe McGinnity, Roger Bresnahan, Jack Cronin, Cy Seymour, and Dan McGann from their Oriole contracts. Brush then signed Kelley and Seymour to the Reds, while Freedman signed McGinnity, Bresnahan, Cronin, and McGann, joining McGraw, his new player-manager, on the Giants.[8]
Though Kip Selbach and Jimmy Williams were both pressed to agree to relocate as well, they refused to leave Baltimore, saying they would honor their two-year contracts.[9] McGinnity allegedly attempted to contact Johnson that night, offering to stay with the Orioles if he could receive Johnson's personal assurance that he was welcome to stay. McGinnity did not hear back from Johnson, who had left his phone off the hook that night to avoid being contacted, and joined his teammates with the Giants.[10] On that day, the Orioles were forced to forfeit their game against the St. Louis Browns, as Baltimore lacked the minimum number of players required to compete.[7]
Johnson used a league rule to join the Orioles' minority owners to seize control of the team. Now running the Orioles, Johnson sought to restock the team. He requested players from the other AL franchises to fill the Orioles' roster.
Season results
The Orioles finished the season with a 50–88 record, good for last place in the AL. For their final game at Oriole Park, the team drew only 138 fans. During the owners meetings in late 1902, the franchise was transferred to New York.[1] MLB would not return to Baltimore until the former Browns moved to Baltimore in 1954.[13]
Season standings
American League | W
|
L
|
Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Philadelphia Athletics | 83 | 53 | 0.610 | — | 56–17 | 27–36 |
St. Louis Browns | 78 | 58 | 0.574 | 5 | 49–21 | 29–37 |
Boston Americans | 77 | 60 | 0.562 | 6½ | 43–27 | 34–33 |
Chicago White Stockings | 74 | 60 | 0.552 | 8 | 48–20 | 26–40 |
Cleveland Bronchos | 69 | 67 | 0.507 | 14 | 40–25 | 29–42 |
Washington Senators | 61 | 75 | 0.449 | 22 | 40–28 | 21–47 |
Detroit Tigers | 52 | 83 | 0.385 | 30½ | 34–33 | 18–50 |
Baltimore Orioles | 50 | 88 | 0.362 | 34 | 32–31 | 18–57 |
Record vs. opponents
Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | BLA | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | PHA | SLB | WSH | |||||
Baltimore | — | 4–16 | 8–11–1 | 9–11 | 10–10 | 6–13 | 2–18–1 | 11–9–1 | |||||
Boston | 16–4 | — | 12–8 | 6–14 | 11–7–1 | 9–11 | 15–5 | 8–11 | |||||
Chicago | 11–8–1 | 8–12 | — | 12–7 | 12–7–1 | 10–10 | 9–9–1 | 12–7–1 | |||||
Cleveland
|
11–9 | 14–6 | 7–12 | — | 8–10 | 8–12 | 9–10–1 | 12–8 | |||||
Detroit | 10–10 | 7–11–1 | 7–12–1 | 10–8 | — | 4–16 | 5–15 | 9–11 | |||||
Philadelphia | 13–6 | 11–9 | 10–10 | 12–8 | 16–4 | — | 9–10–1 | 12–6 | |||||
St. Louis | 18–2–1 | 5–15 | 9–9–1 | 10–9–1 | 15–5 | 10–9–1 | — | 11–9 | |||||
Washington | 9–11–1 | 11–8 | 7–12–1 | 8–12 | 11–9 | 6–12 | 9–11 | — |
Roster
1902 Baltimore Orioles | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers | Catchers
Infielders |
Outfielders
Other batters |
Manager |
Player stats
Batting
Starters by position
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
C | Wilbert Robinson | 91 | 335 | 98 | .293 | 1 | 57 |
1B | Dan McGann | 68 | 250 | 79 | .316 | 0 | 42 |
2B | Jimmy Williams | 125 | 498 | 156 | .313 | 2 | 38 |
3B | Roger Bresnahan | 65 | 235 | 64 | .272 | 4 | 34 |
SS | Billy Gilbert | 129 | 445 | 109 | .245 | 8 | 83 |
OF | Harry Arndt | 68 | 248 | 63 | .254 | 2 | 28 |
OF | Kip Selbach | 128 | 503 | 161 | .320 | 3 | 60 |
OF | Cy Seymour | 72 | 280 | 75 | .268 | 3 | 41 |
Other batters
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Harry Howell | 96 | 347 | 93 | .268 | 2 | 42 |
Herm McFarland | 61 | 242 | 78 | .322 | 3 | 36 |
Joe Kelley | 50 | 222 | 69 | .311 | 1 | 34 |
Tom Jones | 37 | 159 | 45 | .283 | 0 | 14 |
Aleck Smith | 41 | 145 | 34 | .234 | 0 | 21 |
Jimmy Mathison | 29 | 91 | 24 | .264 | 0 | 7 |
Andy Oyler | 27 | 77 | 17 | .221 | 1 | 6 |
John McGraw | 20 | 63 | 18 | .286 | 1 | 3 |
George Yeager | 11 | 38 | 7 | .184 | 0 | 1 |
Bill Mellor | 10 | 36 | 13 | .361 | 0 | 5 |
Jimmy Sheckard | 4 | 15 | 4 | .267 | 0 | 0 |
Sport McAllister | 3 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | 1 |
Jack Thoney | 3 | 11 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
Lew Drill | 2 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 0 | 0 |
Pop Dillon |
2 | 7 | 2 | .286 | 0 | 0 |
Ernie Courtney | 1 | 4 | 2 | .500 | 0 | 1 |
Slats Jordan | 1 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
C. B. Burns | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 |
Pitching
Starting pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Harry Howell | 26 | 199.0 | 9 | 15 | 4.12 | 33 |
Joe McGinnity | 25 | 198.2 | 15 | 10 | 3.44 | 39 |
Snake Wiltse | 19 | 164.0 | 7 | 11 | 5.10 | 37 |
Charlie Shields | 23 | 142.1 | 4 | 11 | 4.24 | 28 |
Ike Butler | 16 | 116.1 | 1 | 10 | 5.34 | 13 |
Tom Hughes | 13 | 108.1 | 7 | 5 | 3.90 | 45 |
Jack Katoll | 15 | 123.0 | 5 | 10 | 4.02 | 25 |
Jack Cronin | 10 | 75.2 | 3 | 5 | 2.62 | 20 |
Ernie Ross | 2 | 17.0 | 1 | 1 | 7.41 | 2 |
Frank Foreman | 2 | 16.1 | 0 | 2 | 6.06 | 2 |
Crese Heismann | 3 | 16.0 | 0 | 3 | 8.44 | 2 |
George Prentiss | 2 | 13.0 | 0 | 1 | 10.80 | 1 |
Other pitchers
Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dad Hale | 3 | 14.0 | 0 | 1 | 4.50 | 6 |
Bob Lawson | 3 | 13.0 | 0 | 2 | 4.85 | 5 |
References
- ^ a b c d e Baltimore Morning Herald – Google News Archive Search
- ^ Mike Donlin at the SABR Baseball Biography Project , by Michael Betzold, Retrieved November 9, 2013.
- ^ a b Jimmy Sheckard at the SABR Baseball Biography Project , by Don Jensen, Retrieved November 9, 2013.
- ^ a b c 1902 Baltimore Orioles Trades and Transactions – Baseball-Reference.com
- ^ a b c Sport McAllister at the SABR Baseball Biography Project , by Jimmy Keenan, Retrieved November 9, 2013.
- ^ "M'graw Has Release". The Sun. July 9, 1902.
- ^ a b c Joe Kelley at the SABR Baseball Biography Project , by Jimmy Keenan, Retrieved March 24, 2012.
- ISBN 1-894963-37-7.
- ^ "LATEST BASEBALL DEAL; Freedman Practically Buys Baltimore American League Team. PLAYERS TO JOIN NEW YORKS Ban Johnson to Organize Another Club to Take Place of McGraw's Former Combination" (PDF). The New York Times. July 17, 1902.
- ^ The Pittsburgh Press – Google News Archive Search
- ^ Pop Dillon at the SABR Baseball Biography Project , by Brian McKenna, Retrieved November 9, 2013.
- ^ Snake Wiltse at the SABR Baseball Biography Project , by Mike Piazzi, Retrieved November 9, 2013.
- ^ "50,000 To See Orioles' Home Opener Today". Chicago Daily Tribune. April 15, 1954.