1903 American League

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The 1903 season of the American League was the third season of the league.

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Season summary[edit]

The 1903 campaign was a breakthrough season for the American League and was characterized by several major changes. The first, and by far most important, was a peace agreement with the National League, which agreement legitimized the American League, placing it on an even standing with the older league. It compelled teams in both leagues to honor the contracts (including the reserve clause) of players in the other league and also led to the formation of a three man National Commission, consisting of the two league presidents and one owner, to rule on inter-league disputes. The commission forced the American League to adopt the foul strike rule. The peace agreement also paved the way for the first (albeit unofficial) modern World Series between the league champions. To cap a triumphant season, American League champion Boston Americans topped the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Series, demonstrating that the league had achieved parity with or even superiority over the National League.

Standings[edit]

Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion
Rank Team G W L T WPCT GB RS (RS/G) RA (RA/G) AVG OBP SLG ERA FPCT
1 Boston Americans 141 91 47 3 .645 -.- 708 (5.02) 504 (3.57) 0.272 0.308 0.392 2.57 0.959
2 Philadelphia Athletics 137 75 60 2 .547 14.5 597 (4.36) 519 (3.79) 0.264 0.304 0.363 2.98 0.960
3 Cleveland Naps 140 77 63 0 .550 15.0 639 (4.56) 579 (4.14) 0.265 0.303 0.373 2.73 0.946
4 New York Highlanders 136 72 62 2 .529 17.0 579 (4.26) 573 (4.21) 0.249 0.300 0.330 3.08 0.953
5 Detroit Tigers 137 65 71 1 .474 25.0 567 (4.14) 539 (3.93) 0.268 0.312 0.351 2.75 0.950
6 St. Louis Browns 139 65 74 0 .468 26.5 500 (3.60) 525 (3.78) 0.244 0.286 0.317 2.77 0.953
7 Chicago White Sox 138 60 77 1 .435 30.5 516 (3.74) 613 (4.44) 0.247 0.296 0.314 3.02 0.949
8 Washington Senators 140 43 94 3 .307 47.5 437 (3.12) 691 (4.94) 0.231 0.272 0.311 3.82 0.953

League leaders[edit]

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting[edit]

Statistic Leader Team Number
Games Played Hobe Ferris
Buck Freeman
Candy LaChance
Boston Americans
Boston Americans
Boston Americans
141
At Bats Patsy Dougherty Boston Americans 590
Runs Scored Patsy Dougherty Boston Americans 107
Hits Patsy Dougherty Boston Americans 195
Doubles Socks Seybold Philadelphia Athletics 45
Triples Sam Crawford Detroit Tigers 25
Home Runs Buck Freeman Boston Americans 13
Total Bases Buck Freeman Boston Americans 281
Runs Batted In Buck Freeman Boston Americans 104
Stolen Bases Harry Bay Cleveland Naps 45
Walks Jimmy Barrett Detroit Tigers 74
Hit by Pitch Kid Elberfeld Detroit Tigers/New York Highlanders 15
Sacrifice Hits Billy Lush Detroit Tigers 34
Batting Average Nap Lajoie Cleveland Naps 0.344
On-Base Percentage Jimmy Barrett Detroit Tigers 0.407
Slugging Percentage Nap Lajoie Cleveland Naps 0.518
On-Base plus Slugging Nap Lajoie Cleveland Naps 0.897
On-Base plus Slugging Plus Nap Lajoie Cleveland Naps 169

Pitching[edit]

Statistic Leader Team Number
Wins Cy Young Boston Americans 28
Losses Patsy Flaherty Chicago White Sox 25
Win-Loss Percentage Cy Young Boston Americans 0.757
Appearances Eddie Plank Philadelphia Athletics 43
Games Started Eddie Plank Philadelphia Athletics 40
Complete Games Bill Donovan
Rube Waddell
Cy Young
Detroit Tigers
Philadelphia Athletics
Boston Americans
34
Shutouts Cy Young Boston Americans 7
Games Finished Harry Howell New York Highlanders 10
Saves Bill Dineen
George Mullin
Al Orth
Jack Powell
Cy Young
Boston Americans
Detroit Tigers
Washington Senators
St. Louis Browns
Boston Americans
2
Innings Pitched Cy Young Boston Americans 341.2
Batters Faced Eddie Plank Philadelphia Athletics 1378
Hits Allowed Patsy Flaherty Chicago White Sox 338
Home Runs Allowed Case Patten
Jack Powell
Washington Senators
St. Louis Browns
11
Base-on-Balls Allowed George Mullin Detroit Tigers 106
Hit Batsmen Chief Bender Philadelphia Athletics 25
Strikeouts Rube Waddell Philadelphia Athletics 302
Wild Pitches Rube Waddell Philadelphia Athletics 9
Balks Chief Bender Philadelphia Athletics 2
Runs Allowed Al Orth Washington Senators 174
Earned Runs Allowed Al Orth Washington Senators 135
Earned Run Average Earl Moore Cleveland Naps 1.74
Walks plus Hits
per Inning Pitched
Addie Joss Cleveland Naps 0.948

Postseason[edit]

In the World Series, the American League champion Boston Americans defeated the National League's Pittsburgh Pirates, 5 games to 3.

Notable events[edit]

Umpires[edit]

* Denotes a fill-in umpire

Further Reading[edit]

  • Tom Ruane: "A Retro-Review of the 1900s (the 1903 edition)", Retrosheet.org [1]