1897 National League

1897 in baseball
1897 National League
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The 1897 season of the National League was the twenty-second season of the league.

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Standings

Bold indicates league champion

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS (RS/G)	RA (RA/G)	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	FPCT
1	Boston Beaneaters	135	93	39	3	.689	-.-	1025 (7.59)	665 (4.93)	0.319	0.373	0.426	3.65	0.951
2	Baltimore Orioles	136	90	40	6	.662	2.0	964 (7.09)	674 (4.96)	0.325	0.381	0.414	3.55	0.951
3	New York Giants	137	83	48	6	.606	9.5	895 (6.53)	695 (5.07)	0.299	0.353	0.392	3.47	0.930
4	Cincinnati Reds	134	76	56	2	.567	17.0	763 (5.69)	705 (5.26)	0.290	0.345	0.383	4.09	0.948
5	Cleveland Spiders	132	69	62	1	.523	23.5	773 (5.86)	680 (5.15)	0.298	0.359	0.389	3.95	0.950
6	Washington Senators	135	61	71	3	.452	32.0	781 (5.79)	793 (5.87)	0.297	0.349	0.395	4.01	0.933
7	Brooklyn Bridegrooms	136	61	71	4	.449	32.0	802 (5.90)	845 (6.21)	0.279	0.328	0.366	4.60	0.936
8	Pittsburgh Pirates	135	60	71	4	.444	32.5	676 (5.01)	835 (6.19)	0.276	0.328	0.370	4.67	0.936
9	Chicago Colts	138	59	73	6	.428	34.0	832 (6.03)	894 (6.48)	0.282	0.341	0.386	4.53	0.932
10	Philadelphia Phillies	134	55	77	2	.410	38.0	752 (5.61)	792 (5.91)	0.293	0.347	0.398	4.60	0.944
11	Louisville Colonels	134	52	78	4	.388	40.0	669 (4.99)	859 (6.41)	0.265	0.320	0.358	4.42	0.929
12	St. Louis Browns	132	29	102	1	.220	63.5	588 (4.45)	1083 (8.20)	0.275	0.326	0.356	6.21	0.933

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Tom McCreery	Louisville Colonels/New York Giants	138
At Bats	Duff Cooley Gene DeMontreville Fred Tenney	Philadelphia Phillies Washington Senators Boston Beaneaters	566
Runs Scored	Billy Hamilton	Boston Beaneaters	152
Hits	Willie Keeler	Baltimore Orioles	239
Doubles	Jake Stenzel	Baltimore Orioles	43
Triples	Harry Davis	Pittsburgh Pirates	28
Home Runs	Hugh Duffy	Boston Beaneaters	11
Total Bases	Nap Lajoie	Philadelphia Phillies	310
Runs Batted In	George Davis	New York Giants	136
Stolen Bases	Bill Lange	Chicago Colts	73
Walks	Billy Hamilton	Boston Beaneaters	105
Hit by Pitch	Hughie Jennings	Baltimore Orioles	46
Sacrifice Hits	Tom McCreery	Louisville Colonels/New York Giants	30
Batting Average	Willie Keeler	Baltimore Orioles	0.424
On-Base Percentage	John McGraw	Baltimore Orioles	0.471
Slugging Percentage	Nap Lajoie	Philadelphia Phillies	0.569
On-Base plus Slugging	Willie Keeler	Baltimore Orioles	1.003
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Fred Clarke	Louisville Colonels	165

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Kid Nichols	Boston Beaneaters	31
Losses	Red Donahue	St. Louis Browns	35
Win-Loss Percentage	Fred Klobedanz	Boston Beaneaters	0.788
Appearances	Red Donahue Win Mercer Kid Nichols Cy Young	St. Louis Browns Washington Senators Boston Beaneaters Cleveland Spiders	46
Games Started	Red Donahue Win Mercer	St. Louis Browns Washington Senators	42
Complete Games	Red Donahue Clark Griffith Frank Killen	St. Louis Browns Chicago Colts Pittsburgh Pirates	38
Shutouts	Doc McJames Win Mercer	Washington Senators Washington Senators	3
Games Finished	Red Ehret	Cincinnati Reds	11
Saves	Win Mercer Kid Nichols	Washington Senators Boston Beaneaters	3
Innings Pitched	Kid Nichols	Boston Beaneaters	368.0
Batters Faced	Kid Nichols	Boston Beaneaters	1516
Hits Allowed	Red Donahue	St. Louis Browns	484
Home Runs Allowed	Red Donahue	St. Louis Browns	16
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Cy Seymour	New York Giants	164
Hit Batsmen	Win Mercer Jack Taylor	Washington Senators Philadelphia Phillies	28
Strikeouts	Doc McJames	Washington Senators	156
Wild Pitches	Chick Fraser	Louisville Colonels	22
Balks	Cy Seymour	New York Giants	2
Runs Allowed	Red Donahue	St. Louis Browns	306
Earned Runs Allowed	Red Donahue	St. Louis Browns	237
Earned Run Average	Amos Rusie	New York Giants	2.54
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Kid Nichols	Boston Beaneaters	1.168

Postseason

The Temple Cup featured a match-up between two National League teams, the first place Boston Beaneaters against the second place Baltimore Orioles. The Baltimore club won the series four games to one.

Umpires

• Charlie Abbey*
• Harry Adams*
• Red Bittmann*
• Jack Boyle*
• Dick Butler*
• Dan Campbell
• Bill Carpenter
• Bob Clark*
• Bert Cunningham*
• Charlie Dexter*
• Red Donahue*
• Frank Dwyer*
• John Dyler*
• Red Ehret*
• Bob Emslie
• Bill Hart*
• John Heydler*
• Ed Hogan*
• Bug Holliday*
• Tim Hurst
• Kick Kelly
• Frank Killen*
• Herman Long*
• Tom Lynch
• Sandy McDermott
• Jim McDonald
• Horace McFarlan
• Deacon McGuire*
• Ed Morris*
• Tony Mullane*
• Yale Murphy*
• Hank O'Day
• Frank Pears
• Fred Pfeffer*
• Jack Sheridan
• Joe Sugden*
• Mike Sullivan*
• Jesse Tannehill*
• John Warner*
• Walt Wilmot*
• Zeke Wilson*
• Chicken Wolf*

* Denotes a fill-in umpire

Further Reading

• Bill Felber: A Game of Brawl: The Orioles, the Beaneaters, and the Battle for the 1897 Pennant, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE, 2007.