Hardball Retrospective – 1911 Season Replay
November 16, 2015 by Derek Bain · Leave a Comment
In “Hardball Retrospective: Evaluating Scouting and Development Outcomes for the Modern-Era Franchises”, I placed every ballplayer in the modern era (from 1901-present) on their original team. Therefore, Eddie Plank is listed on the Athletics roster for the duration of his career while the White Sox claim Ed Walsh and the Giants declare Larry Doyle. I calculated revised standings for every season based entirely on the performance of each team’s “original” players. I discuss every team’s “original” players and seasons at length along with organizational performance with respect to the Amateur Draft (or First-Year Player Draft), amateur free agent signings and other methods of player acquisition. Season standings, WAR and Win Shares totals for the “original” teams are compared against the “actual” team results to assess each franchise’s scouting, development and general management skills.
Using a modified version of the Lahman Database (with the ballplayers linked to their original franchises), I imported the players into Digital Diamond Baseball and conducted a full-season replay with the as-played 1911 schedule. The “Player Libraries” which include the Opening Day rosters, lineups and starting rotations for each season replay (1901-1910) are available on the Digital Diamond Baseball website via the following link:
http://digitaldiamondbaseball.com/libraries/v5/HardballRetro-1901-1910.zip
A few housekeeping items:
- Players on defunct teams such as Honus Wagner, Tommy Leach and Fred Clarke (Louisville Colonels) are excluded because their original team’s league ceased to exist by 1901.
- I attempted to emulate player usage in the DDBB replay to real-life usage whenever possible.
This series of articles will reveal the results for each season replay and compare the outcomes to the OPW%, OWAR and OWS standings from Hardball Retrospective. “Hardball Retrospective”is available in digital format on Amazon , Barnes and Noble , GooglePlay , iTunes and KoboBooks . The paperback edition is available on Amazon , Barnes and Noble and CreateSpace. Supplemental Statistics, Charts and Graphs along with a discussion forum are offered at TuataraSoftware.com .
Don Daglow (Intellivision World Series Major League Baseball, Earl Weaver Baseball, Tony LaRussa Baseball) contributed the foreword for Hardball Retrospective. The foreword and preview of my book are accessible here .
Terminology
OWAR– Wins Above Replacement for players on “original” teams
OWS– Win Shares for players on “original” teams
OPW%– Pythagorean Won-Loss record for the “original” teams
1911 Replay Results
Connie Mack’s Athletics secured the organization’s third consecutive pennant with 104 wins. A greenhorn in the A’s outfield named “Shoeless” Joe Jackson battled perennial champion Ty Cobb for the batting title. Jackson emerged victorious as he batted at a .373 clip and topped the circuit with 142 runs scored and a .440 OBP. Frank “Home Run” Baker tied for the league lead with 9 round-trippers and placed second with 129 RBI. The Philadephia rotation featured three 20-game winners: Eddie Plank (29-9, 3.03), Chief Bender (28-2, 3.00) and Jack Coombs (25-17, 3.48). Tris Speaker supplied a .335 BA with 116 runs scored, 47 two-baggers and 43 steals for the Red Sox. “Smoky” Joe Wood paced the Major Leagues with 32 victories and finished third in the American League with a 2.81 ERA. Frank LaPorte drilled a League-best 50 doubles and produced a .319 BA for the third-place Highlanders.
Cobb sat atop the leader boards with 235 safeties, 23 triples, 132 RBI and a .553 SLG. “The Georgia Peach” as well as teammates Donie Bush and Doc Gessler eclipsed the century mark in runs scored. Cleveland’s rookie southpaw Vean Gregg (19-10, 2.48) claimed the American League ERA title. “Big” Ed Walsh racked up 22 victories and completed 36 of 41 starts for the Pale Hose. Ping Bodie rapped 206 base knocks and finished fourth in the League with a .327 BA. Burt Shotton pilfered 45 bags for the Browns, placing a distant second behind the Senators’ Clyde Milan (59).
John McGraw’s Giants conquered the opposition in the Senior Circuit, seizing the pennant by a 20.5 game margin over the runner-up Reds. Danny F. Murphy clinched the batting title with a .372 mark while posting League-highs in OBP (.434), SLG (.543) and runs scored (147). “Laughing” Larry Doyle tied Cardinals’ outfielder Red Murray with 25 three-base hits while contributing the second-highest home run (17) and RBI (118) totals in the National League. Rube Marquard (25-7, 3.18) paced New York in victories as Christy Mathewson and Doc Crandall similarly surpassed the 20-win mark. “Wahoo” Sam Crawford delivered a League-leading 220 base hits and finished second in the batting race with a .355 average. Harry Gaspar amassed 27 wins for the Cincinnati moundsmen. Chief Wilson slashed 40 doubles and registered 119 tallies for the third-place Pirates.
“Old” Pete Alexander (29-11, 2.29) captured the ERA title and topped the charts in victories and complete games (39). Phillies’ backstop Red Dooin enjoyed a career year, posting a .348 BA to finish third in the League. Doc Miller delivered a .323 BA with 202 safeties and a League-high 46 doubles. Frank “Wildfire” Schulte belted 20 long balls, surpassing the HBRetro single-season record established by Jimmy Sheckard (1901) and equaled by Bill Bradley (1902). Cubs’ first-sacker Fred Luderus launched 17 moon-shots and paced the circuit with 134 ribbies. Bobby Byrne tore up the base paths with 54 steals. Cardinals’ ace Babe Adams (23-11, 3.00) placed third in the ERA race behind Alexander and King Cole (13-6, 2.87) of the Cubs. Mordecai Brown notched 13 victories and 14 saves primarily in a relief role for St. Louis. Jake Daubert drove in 115 runs for the Dodgers while teammate Jimmy Sheckard nabbed 49 bags. Johnny Bates recorded 115 tallies and fellow Boston outfielder Fred Beck plated 102 baserunners for the last-place Rustlers.
1911 Hardball Retro Replay – Final Standings
Replay Results vs. Hardball Retrospective Findings
The Philadelphia Athletics achieved back-to-back pennants and tallied 101 victories, outdistancing the runner-up Red Sox by nine games. The New York Giants posted a record of 102-52, providing a 17-game cushion over second-place Pittsburgh. The OWAR and OWS leader boards reflect the dominance of both teams. The Giants posted a Major League leading 61 OWAR and 310 OWS while the Athletics registered an OWAR of 53 along with a 304 OWS.
On Deck
1912 Season Replay
References and Resources
Baseball America – Executive Database
James, Bill, with Jim Henzler. Win Shares. Morton Grove, Ill.: STATS, 2002. Print.
