You are here: Home
/ General
/ Hardball Retrospective – 1914 Season Replay
Hardball Retrospective – 1914 Season Replay
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, Miller Huggins is listed on the Reds roster for the duration of his career while the Senators claim Clyde Milan and the Tigers declare Eddie Cicotte. 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 1914 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 and Tommy Leach (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.
- I included Federal League statistics for “Original” players on the 1914 rosters. However I restricted their usage with a handful of exceptions.
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 1914 Replay Results
Boston amassed 99 victories en route to the American League pennant. Gavvy Cravath (.298/18/105) topped the circuit in home runs, bases on balls (114), OBP (.418) and SLG (.468). Cravath, Duffy Lewis and Tris Speaker scored more than 100 runs apiece. Speaker finished runner-up in doubles (41), triples (22) and stolen bases (50). Dutch H. Leonard (17-10, 2.02) led the Junior Circuit in ERA while mound mate Ray Collins contributed 21 victories along with a 2.76 ERA. “Shoeless” Joe Jackson claimed his second straight batting title with a .332 average as the Athletics mounted a late change but came up short. Stuffy McInnis (.315) and Eddie Collins (.311) completed a trio of A’s atop the batting charts. Frank “Home Run” Baker knocked in 121 baserunners to lead the League while Collins topped the leader boards with 128 aces and 53 steals. McInnis matched Senators’ center fielder Clyde Milan with 207 safeties.
The Tigers and Yankees tied for third place with 86 victories each. Ty Cobb batted .302 with 36 stolen bases but missed 46 games due to injury. Donie Bush pilfered 44 bases and recorded 121 tallies. George H. Burns placed fourth in the League with a .306 BA. Hooks Dauss (21-13, 3.04) and Eddie Cicotte (20-12, 2.93) bolstered the Detroit pitching staff. The Yankees received offensive contributions from outfielders Wilbur Good (107 runs scored) and Ray Demmitt (20 triples) while the mound crew featured support from multiple hurlers including swingman Ray Caldwell (16-12, 2.58) and Ray Fisher (14-12, 2.38). The mainstay of the Senators’ rotation, Walter Johnson (19-20, 3.09) paced the circuit with 361 innings pitched and 36 complete games in 40 starts. Joe Connolly (.294/8/98) led the League with 44 doubles and finished third in slugging percentage (.441) while teammate Tillie Walker legged out a League-leading 23 three-base hits. Rankin Johnson fashioned a 16-11 record with a 2.97 ERA for the Naps. Joe Benz accrued 20 wins for the Pale Hose while fellow hurler Reb Russell placed runner-up with a 2.34 ERA. Burt Shotton nabbed 46 bags for an otherwise non-descript Browns squad.
Four teams contended for the National League pennant throughout the summer of 1914. The Brooklyn Robins triumphed over the Reds, Giants and Phillies, compiling a 25-14 mark after September 1. Brooklyn featured three of the top four hitters in the chase for the batting crown, led by Jake Daubert (.334/7/120). Casey Stengel batted .331 with 41 stolen bases and 110 runs scored. Zack Wheat tallied 101 aces and swatted 10 big-flies. Reds’ second-sacker Miller Huggins scored 119 runs and swiped a League-high 59 bases while “Wahoo” Sam Crawford laced 25 triples. Giants’ outfielder George J. Burns pilfered 53 bags and topped the leader boards with 103 bases on balls and 122 runs. Sherry Magee paced the League in doubles (50), RBI (123) and SLG (.475) while placing runner-up with 15 jacks. Phillies’ aces Harry Coveleski and George McQuillan reached the 20-win plateau.
Al Shaw of the Cardinals led the National League with a .407 OBP. Chief Wilson blasted 10 long balls and plated 104 baserunners for the Pirates. Hans Lobert contributed a .307 BA and Max Carey added 48 stolen bases and 105 runs scored. Vic Saier crushed a League-best 22 circuit clouts and drove in 102 runs for the Cubbies. Heinie Zimmerman ripped 49 doubles and laced 18 three-base knocks. Bill L. James (20-23, 3.03) completed 40 of 42 starts and logged a League-high 386.2 innings pitched for the last-place Braves.
1914 Hardball Retro Replay – Final Standings
Replay Results vs. Hardball Retrospective Findings
The final standings in the American League mirrored the previous campaign in the top 3 slots as the Athletics bested the Senators and Red Sox. However, Boston edged the Athletics in OWAR (48) and OWS (291). The Giants claimed back-to-back pennants and paced the Senior Circuit in OWAR (47) and OWS (247). On Deck
1915 Season Replay References and Resources
Baseball America – Executive Database
Baseball-Reference
James, Bill, with Jim Henzler. Win Shares. Morton Grove, Ill.: STATS, 2002. Print. Retrosheet – Transactions Database
Seamheads – Baseball Gauge
Sean Lahman Baseball Archive
About the Author
I am a New Jersey native with a passion for baseball, statistics, computers and video games who enjoys spending quality time with his family. “Hardball Retrospective”is available in paperback
and digital ( Kindle
) format at Amazon.com. 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
. “Hardball Retrospective – Addendum 2014 to 2016”supplements my research for Hardball Retrospective, providing retroactive standings based on Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and Win Shares (WS) for each “original” team over the past three seasons (2014-2016). Team totals from 2010 – 2013 are included for reference purposes. “Addendum” is available in paperback
and digital ( Kindle
) format at Amazon.com. “ Hardball Retroactive”,published in June 2018, is available in paperback
and digital ( Kindle
) format at Amazon.com. A cross-section of essays that I penned for Seamheads.com along with my Baseball Analytics blog spanning nearly a decade touching on subjects including “Taking the Extra Base”, “General Manager Scorecard”, “Worst Trades”, “BABIP By Location” and “Baseball Birthplaces and the Retro World Baseball Classic”. Rediscover your favorite hardball arcade and simulations in “Play Retro Baseball Video Games In Your Browser” or take a deep dive into every franchise’s minor league successes and failures in relation to their major league operations in “Minors vs. Majors”. “Hardball Architects”examines the trades, free agent acquisitions, draft picks and other transactions for the 30 Major League Baseball franchises, divided into a 2-volume set (American League and National League). All key moves are scrutinized for every team and Sabermetric principles are applied to the roster construction throughout the lifetime of the organization to encapsulate the hits and misses by front office executives. “Volume 1 – American League Teams” is available in paperback
and digital ( Kindle
) format at Amazon.com. “Volume 2 – National League Teams” is tentatively scheduled for publication in the spring of 2022.
