1907 Pacific Coast League season

The Pacific Coast League faced many crises in the off-season leading up to the 1907 season.  An original franchise, the Seattle Siwashes had jumped to the rival Northwestern League, leaving the PCL with an odd number of teams; just one team, the Portland Beavers, remaining outside of California - far removed from the other teams; a struggling franchise in the Fresno Raisin Eaters, which had not found success in any of three markets it had played in during the League's first four years; two Bay Area franchises in cities still recovering from the earthquake of 1906 and a flagship Los Angeles Angels franchise still in transition after its founding owner had asked out of the League when the April 1906 earthquake put that season in doubt. As the 1907 season got going, the future of Baseball's National Commission's acknowledged top minor league was plainly in doubt.

Despite his efforts to keep the League afloat following the San Francisco Earthquake during the opening week of the 1906 season, League president Eugene Bert, who had survived a suicide attempt mid-way through the 1905 season, resigned during the 1906-07 off-season.  Cal Ewing, the owner of two of the League's franchises, was made League president (he'd bought the San Francisco Seals days before the 'quake with the stated intent of then selling the Oakland franchise, but remained unable to sell, with the value of each franchise diminished by the earthquake).

Owners solved the issues of an odd number of teams and the weak franchise that in the four years of the League had already moved from Sacramento to Tacoma to Fresno without finding success by folding the Fresno team and moving forward as a four-team league. Owners discussed Oakland spending the coming season as a traveling team, but instead Oakland ownership moved to combine the city's stadium resources by moving from Idora Park back to Freeman's Park while taking the former park's bleachers along to augment the new one.  San Francisco also needed a new home after Recreation Park had burned down in the fires following the 'quake.  Ewing spent $100,000 to build a new facility - a new Recreation Park with team offices. The shape of the lot at 14th and Valencia in the Mission District, however, necessitated a 235-foot right-field line with a 50-foot wall.

Los Angeles sailed to the 1907 pennant under the new resources of mining magnate, owner Henry Berry and the field leadership of player-manager Cap Dillon.

Two no-hitters were thrown during the season: Bob Groom of Portland on June 6th versus Los Angeles, and Eli Cates of Oakland, for the second consecutive season, on June 25th against Portland.

Final standings

	W	L	Pct.	GB	Manager	Affiliation
Los Angeles Angels	115	74	.608	--	Pop Dillon
San Francisco Seals	104	99	.512	18	Kid Mohler
Oakland Commuters	97	101	.490	22.5	George Van Haltren
Portland Beavers	72	114	.388	41.5	Walt McCredie

League Leaders

Batting

• Batting Average Truck Eagan, Oakland, .335
• Runs Scored Walter Carlisle, Los Angeles, 113
• Hits Truck Eagan, Oakland, 237
• Doubles Truck Eagan/Gavvy Cravath, Oakland/Los Angeles, 45
• Triples Walt McCredie, Portland, 12
• Home Runs Walter Carlisle, Los Angeles, 14

Pitching

• Wins Dolly Gray, Los Angeles, 32
• Strikeouts Eli Cates, Oakland, 226
• Earned Run Average Dolly Gray, Los Angeles, 1.71

Related Sites

• BR page