1915 Federal League

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The 1915 season of the Federal League was the second and final season of the league.

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Season summary[edit]

The 1915 Federal League season featured a close five-team race for the pennant, with the Kansas City Packers and Newark Peppers dropping back only in the last two weeks. Going in to the final day of the season, the Chicago Whales led the Pittsburgh Rebels and St. Louis Terriers by a half-game each. A doubleheader split between Chicago and Pittsburgh gave the Whales the championship. St. Louis, which found itself mathematically eliminated the day before, won its final game to finish zero games and one percentage point behind the Whales, while third-place Pittsburgh finished .004 and one-half game behind.

1914 batting champion Benny Kauff again led the league in hitting (.342) and stolen bases (55). The Buffalo Blues' Hal Chase took advantage of his team's bandbox ballpark, Federal League Park, to hit a league-high 17 home runs, and the Whales' George McConnell paced all pitchers with 25 wins.

Standings[edit]

Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion
Rank Team G W L T PCT GB RS (RS/G) RA (RA/G) AVG OBP SLG ERA FPCT
1 Chicago Whales 155 86 66 3 .566 -.- 640 (4.13) 538 (3.47) .257 .316 .352 2.64 .963
2 St. Louis Terriers 159 87 67 5 .565 0.0 634 (3.99) 527 (3.31) .261 .336 .345 2.73 .968
3 Pittsburgh Rebels 156 86 67 3 .562 0.5 592 (3.79) 524 (3.36) .262 .322 .341 2.79 .971
4 Kansas City Packers 153 81 72 0 .529 5.5 547 (3.58) 551 (3.60) .244 .297 .329 2.82 .962
5 Newark Peppers 155 80 72 3 .526 6.0 585 (3.77) 562 (3.63) .252 .311 .334 2.60 .963
6 Buffalo Blues 153 74 78 1 .487 12.0 574 (3.75) 634 (4.14) .249 .306 .338 3.38 .964
7 Brooklyn Tip-Tops 153 70 82 1 .461 16.0 647 (4.23) 673 (4.40) .268 .331 .360 3.37 .955
8 Baltimore Terrapins 154 47 107 0 .305 40.0 550 (3.57) 760 (4.94) .244 .308 .325 3.96 .957
League 619 611 611 8 .500 4769 (3.85) 4769 (3.85) .255 .328 .340 3.03 .963

League leaders[edit]

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting[edit]

Statistic Leader Team Number
Games Played Babe Borton St. Louis Terriers 159
At Bats Jack Tobin St. Louis Terriers 625
Runs Scored Babe Borton St. Louis Terriers 97
Hits Jack Tobin St. Louis Terriers 184
Doubles Steve Evans Brooklyn Tip-Tops/Baltimore Terrapins 34
Triples Les Mann Chicago Whales 19
Home Runs Hal Chase Buffalo Blues 17
Total Bases Ed Konetchy Pittsburgh Rebels 278
Runs Batted In Dutch Zwilling Chicago Whales 94
Stolen Bases Benny Kauff Brooklyn Tip-Tops 55
Walks Babe Borton St. Louis Terriers 92
Hit by Pitch Steve Evans Brooklyn Tip-Tops/Baltimore Terrapins 14
Strikeouts Jack McCandless Baltimore Terrapins 99
Sacrifice Hits Bobby Vaughn St. Louis Terriers 42
Batting Average Benny Kauff Brooklyn Tip-Tops .342
On-Base Percentage Benny Kauff Brooklyn Tip-Tops .446
Slugging Percentage Benny Kauff Brooklyn Tip-Tops .509
On-Base plus Slugging Benny Kauff Brooklyn Tip-Tops .955
On-Base plus Slugging Plus Benny Kauff Brooklyn Tip-Tops 182

Pitching[edit]

Statistic Leader Team Number
Wins George McConnell Chicago Whales 25
Losses Jack Quinn Baltimore Terrapins 22
Win-Loss Percentage George McConnell Chicago Whales .714
Appearances Dave Davenport St. Louis Terriers 55
Games Started Dave Davenport St. Louis Terriers 46
Complete Games Dave Davenport St. Louis Terriers 30
Shutouts Dave Davenport St. Louis Terriers 10
Games Finished Cy Barger
Hugh Bedient
Pittsburgh Rebels
Buffalo Blues
19
Saves Hugh Bedient Buffalo Blues 10
Innings Pitched Dave Davenport St. Louis Terriers 392.2
Batters Faced Dave Davenport St. Louis Terriers 1527
Hits Allowed Doc Crandall St. Louis Terriers 307
Home Runs Allowed George Suggs Baltimore Terrapins 12
Base-on-Balls Allowed Al Schulz Buffalo Blues 149
Hit Batsmen Harry Moran Newark Peppers 18
Strikeouts Dave Davenport St. Louis Terriers 229
Wild Pitches Chief Johnson Kansas City Packers 13
Balks Frank Allen
Bunny Hearn
Ed Lafitte
Ed Reulbach
Al Schulz
Pittsburgh Rebels
Pittsburgh Rebels
Brooklyn Tip-Tops/Buffalo Blues
Newark Peppers
Buffalo Blues
2
Runs Allowed Tom Seaton Brooklyn Tip-Tops/Newark Peppers 152
Earned Runs Allowed Tom Seaton Brooklyn Tip-Tops/Newark Peppers 115
Earned Run Average Earl Moseley Newark Peppers 1.91
Walks plus Hits
per Inning Pitched
Eddie Plank St. Louis Terriers 0.991

Notable events[edit]

Umpires[edit]

* Denotes a fill-in umpire

Further Reading[edit]

  • Stew Thornley: "Regular Season Showdowns", Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Vol. 47, Nr. 1 (spring 2018), pp. 85-90.
  • Steve West and Bill Nowlin, eds.: Whales, Terriers, and Terrapins: The Federal League 1914-15, SABR, Phoenix, AZ, 2020. ISBN 978-1-970159-21-9