1901 Major League Baseball season

Sports season

1901 MLB season
League	American League, National League
Sport	Baseball
Duration	April 24 – September 28, 1901 (AL) April 18 – October 6, 1901 (NL)
Number of games	140
Number of teams	8 (AL), 8 (NL)
Pennant Winners
AL champions	Chicago White Stockings
AL runners-up	Boston Americans
NL champions	Pittsburgh Pirates
NL runners-up	Philadelphia Phillies
MLB seasons
← 1900 1902 →

Orioles

Americans

White Stockings

Blues

Tigers

Brewers

Athletics

Senators

Locations of teams for the 1901 American League season

American League

Beaneaters

Superbas

Orphans

Reds

Giants

Phillies

Pirates

Cardinals

Locations of teams for the 1900–1901 National League seasons

National League

The 1901 major league baseball season was contested from April 18 through October 6, 1901. It was the inaugural season for the American League (AL), with the Chicago White Stockings finishing first in league standings. In the National League (NL), in operation since 1876, the Pittsburgh Pirates finished atop the league standings. There was no postseason.

Teams

League	Team	City	Stadium	Capacity
American League	Baltimore Orioles	Baltimore, Maryland	Oriole Park	Unknown
	Boston Americans	Boston, Massachusetts	Huntington Avenue Grounds	11,500
	Chicago White Stockings	Chicago, Illinois	South Side Park	15,000
	Cleveland Blues	Cleveland, Ohio	League Park	9,000
	Detroit Tigers	Detroit, Michigan	Bennett Park	8,500
	Milwaukee Brewers	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Lloyd Street Grounds	Unknown
	Philadelphia Athletics	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Columbia Park	9,500
	Washington Senators	Washington, D.C.	American League Park	Unknown
National League	Boston Beaneaters	Boston, Massachusetts	South End Grounds	2,300
	Brooklyn Superbas	New York, New York	Washington Park	18,800
	Chicago Orphans	Chicago, Illinois	West Side Park	16,000
	Cincinnati Reds	Cincinnati, Ohio	League Park	3,000
	New York Giants	New York, New York	Polo Grounds	16,000
	Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	National League Park	18,000
	Pittsburgh Pirates	Allegheny, Pennsylvania	Exposition Park	16,000
	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis, Missouri	Robison Field	Unknown

Schedule

The 1901 schedule consisted of 140 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 20 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This format had previously been used by the National League during their 1888–1891 seasons. This format would last until 1904, which saw an increase of games played.

National League Opening Day took place on April 18 with a game between the Brooklyn Superbas and the Philadelphia Phillies, while American League Opening Day did not take place until April 24, with a game between the Chicago White Stockings and the Cleveland Bluebirds. The American League would see its final day of the season on September 28, while the National League would see its final day of the season on October 6.

Rule changes

On February 27, 1901, the National League Rules Committee announced several rule changes, effective immediately.^[1]^[2]

All foul balls are to count as strike balls, except after two strikes. Previously, foul balls would not affect the count. To cut the cost of lost foul balls, the committee urges that batters who foul off good strikes are to be disciplined. The American League will not adopt this rule until the 1903 season.
catchers must play within 10 feet of the batter
A ball will be called if the pitcher does not throw to a ready and waiting batter within 20 seconds
Players using indecent or improper language will be banished by the umpire.
A ball will be called when a batter is hit by a pitch.

Further changes were made in April:

In a mail vote, the owners will rescinded the new hit by pitch rule, restoring the rule that a HBP will earn a batter first base.

Standings

American League

v t e 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 Blues	54	82	0.397	29	28–39	26–43
Milwaukee Brewers	48	89	0.350	35½	32–37	16–52

National League

v t e National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Pittsburgh Pirates	90	49	0.647	—	45–24	45–25
Philadelphia Phillies	83	57	0.593	7½	46–23	37–34
Brooklyn Superbas	79	57	0.581	9½	43–25	36–32
St. Louis Cardinals	76	64	0.543	14½	40–31	36–33
Boston Beaneaters	69	69	0.500	20½	41–29	28–40
Chicago Orphans	53	86	0.381	37	30–39	23–47
New York Giants	52	85	0.380	37	30–38	22–47
Cincinnati Reds	52	87	0.374	38	27–43	25–44

Managers

American League

Team	Manager
Baltimore Orioles	John McGraw
Boston Americans	Jimmy Collins
Chicago White Stockings	Clark Griffith
Cleveland Bluebirds	Jimmy McAleer
Detroit Tigers	George Stallings
Milwaukee Brewers	Hugh Duffy
Philadelphia Athletics	Connie Mack
Washington Senators	Jim Manning

National League

Team	Manager
Boston Beaneaters	Frank Selee
Brooklyn Superbas	Ned Hanlon
Chicago Orphans	Tom Loftus
Cincinnati Reds	Bid McPhee
New York Giants	George Davis
Philadelphia Phillies	Bill Shettsline
Pittsburgh Pirates	Fred Clarke
St. Louis Cardinals	Patsy Donovan

League leaders

American League

Hitting leaders
Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Nap Lajoie¹ (PHA)	.426
HR	Nap Lajoie¹ (PHA)	14
RBI	Nap Lajoie¹ (PHA)	125
R	Nap Lajoie (PHA)	145
H	Nap Lajoie (PHA)	232
SB	Frank Isbell (CWS)	46

¹ American League Triple Crown batting winner
² American League Triple Crown pitching winner

Pitching leaders
Stat	Player	Total
W	Cy Young² (BSA)	33
L	Pete Dowling (MIL/CLE)	25
ERA	Cy Young² (BSA)	1.62
K	Cy Young² (BSA)	158
IP	Joe McGinnity (BAL)	382.0
SV	Bill Hoffer (CLE)	3

National League

Hitting leaders
Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Jesse Burkett (STL)	.376
HR	Sam Crawford (CIN)	16
RBI	Honus Wagner (PIT)	126
R	Jesse Burkett (STL)	142
H	Jesse Burkett (STL)	142
SB	Honus Wagner (PIT)	49

Pitching leaders
Stat	Player	Total
W	Bill Donovan (BKN)	25
L	Luther Taylor (NY)	27
ERA	Jesse Tannehill (PIT)	2.18
K	Noodles Hahn (CIN)	239
IP	Noodles Hahn (CIN)	375.1
SV	Bill Donovan (BKN) Jack Powell (STL)	3

Milestones

Batters

Nap Lajoie (PHA):
- Became the fourth player in MLB history and the first in American League history to win the Triple Crown, an achievement of leading a league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in (RBI) over the same season.^[3]

Pitchers

Cy Young (BSA):
- Won the pitching triple crown.

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
St. Louis Cardinals^[4]	76	16.9%	379,988	40.7%	5,278
Chicago White Stockings^[5]	83		354,350		4,991
New York Giants^[6]	52	-13.3%	297,650	56.7%	4,192
Boston Americans^[7]	79		289,448		4,195
Detroit Tigers^[8]	74		259,430		3,706
Pittsburgh Pirates^[9]	90	13.9%	251,955	-4.6%	3,652
Philadelphia Phillies^[10]	83	10.7%	234,937	-22.2%	3,405
Philadelphia Athletics^[11]	74		206,329		3,126
Cincinnati Reds^[12]	52	-16.1%	205,728	21.0%	2,857
Chicago Orphans^[13]	53	-18.5%	205,071	-17.5%	2,930
Brooklyn Superbas^[14]	79	-3.7%	198,200	8.3%	2,915
Washington Senators^[15]	61		161,661		2,377
Boston Beaneaters^[16]	69	4.5%	146,502	-27.5%	2,093
Baltimore Orioles^[17]	68		141,952		2,151
Milwaukee Brewers^[18]	48		139,034		1,986
Cleveland Blues^[19]	54		131,380		1,904

References

^ "The National League Rules Committee decrees that all foul balls are to count as strikes, except after two strikes. - This Day In Baseball". February 27, 1901. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
^ "This Day in Sports: The National League Makes it Way Harder for Fans to Catch a Foul Ball". ESPN.com. February 27, 2010. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
^ "1901 American League Batting Leaders".
^ "St. Louis Cardinals Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
^ "Chicago White Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
^ "San Francisco Giants Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
^ "Boston Red Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
^ "Detroit Tigers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
^ "Pittsburgh Pirates Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
^ "Philadelphia Phillies Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
^ "Oakland Athletics Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
^ "Cincinnati Reds Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
^ "Chicago Cubs Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
^ "Los Angeles Dodgers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
^ "Minnesota Twins Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
^ "Atlanta Braves Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
^ "Baltimore Orioles Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
^ "Baltimore Orioles Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
^ "Cleveland Guardians Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 28, 2024.

External links

1901 in baseball history from ThisGreatGame.com
1901 Major League Baseball season schedule at Baseball Reference

v t e 1901 MLB season by team
American League	Baltimore Boston Chicago Cleveland Detroit Milwaukee Philadelphia Washington
National League	Boston Brooklyn Chicago Cincinnati New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis

Major League Baseball seasons

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