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1909 Major League Baseball season
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| title | 1909 MLB season |
| league | American League (AL) |
| National League (NL) | |
| sport | Baseball |
| duration | Regular season:{{Bulleted list |
| no_of_games | 154 |
| no_of_teams | 16 (8 per league) |
| playoffs | Pennant winners |
| conf1 | NL |
| conf1_champ | [Pittsburgh Pirates](1909-pittsburgh-pirates-season) |
| conf1_runner-up | [Chicago Cubs](1909-chicago-cubs-season) |
| conf2 | AL |
| conf2_champ | [Detroit Tigers](1909-detroit-tigers-season) |
| conf2_runner-up | [Philadelphia Athletics](1909-philadelphia-athletics-season) |
| finals | World Series |
| finals_link | 1909 World Series |
| finals_champ | [Pittsburgh Pirates](1909-pittsburgh-pirates-season) |
| finals_runner-up | [Detroit Tigers](1909-detroit-tigers-season) |
| seasonslist | List of Major League Baseball seasons |
| seasonslistnames | MLB |
| prevseason_link | 1908 Major League Baseball season |
| prevseason_year | 1908 |
| nextseason_link | 1910 Major League Baseball season |
| nextseason_year | 1910 |
National League (NL) | April 12 – October 3, 1909 (AL) | April 12 – October 7, 1909 (NL)}}World Series:{{Bulleted list | October 8–16, 1909}} | conf1_runner-up = Chicago Cubs | conf2_runner-up = Philadelphia Athletics | finals_runner-up = Detroit Tigers The 1909 major league baseball season began on April 12, 1909. The regular season ended on October 7, with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Tigers as regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the sixth modern World Series on October 8 and ended with Game 7 on October 16. The Pirates defeated the Tigers, four games to three, capturing their first championship in franchise history. Going into the season, the defending World Series champions were the Chicago Cubs from the season.
In the National League, the Chicago Cubs had a record of 104–49 but finished games behind the Pirates, setting a record for the most wins in an MLB regular season without reaching the postseason, which has only been equaled once, by the 1942 Brooklyn Dodgers, who had a record of 104–50.
Schedule
The 1909 schedule consisted of 154 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 22 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place for the season. This format would last until .
Opening Day took place on April 14 with all but the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals playing. The American League would see its final day of the regular season on October 3, while the National League would see its final day of the regular season was on October 7. The World Series took place between October 8 and October 16.
Rule changes
The 1909 season saw the following rule changes:
- A pitcher must face a minimum of one batter, due to a time-wasting trick to enable a team's intended pitcher to warmup for longer. This had previously occurred when one pitcher initially threw warmup pitches on the mound, before being taken out of the game (before facing a batter) to make way for a relief pitcher who now had extra warmup time.
- The American League implemented the following rules:
- 40 minutes before each game for practice was allotted, with the first 30 minutes dedicated to the visiting team, while the last 10 minutes were for the home team.
- Base runners were no longer allowed to advance more than two bases when a ball was thrown into the stands. Previously, there was no limit to how far a runner could go.
- No passes to games were to be issued to members of the visiting team.
- All teams must now maintain a large bulletin board giving the batting order accurately and indicating all changes as they are made.
Teams
An asterisk () denotes the departure from a ballpark mid-season.*
| League | Team | City | Stadium | Capacity | Manager | American League}};" | Boston Red Sox | Chicago White Sox | Cleveland Naps | Detroit Tigers | New York Highlanders | Philadelphia Athletics | St. Louis Browns | Washington Senators | National League}};" | Boston Doves | Brooklyn Superbas | Chicago Cubs | Cincinnati Reds | New York Giants | Philadelphia Phillies | Pittsburgh Pirates | St. Louis Cardinals | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston, Massachusetts | Huntington Avenue Grounds | 11,500 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chicago, Illinois | South Side Park | 15,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cleveland, Ohio | League Park (Cleveland) | 9,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Detroit, Michigan | Bennett Park | 8,500 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| New York, New York | Hilltop Park | 16,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Shibe Park | 23,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| St. Louis, Missouri | Sportsman's Park | 18,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Washington, D.C. | National Park | 9,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Boston, Massachusetts | South End Grounds | 9,800 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| New York, New York | Washington Park | 14,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chicago, Illinois | West Side Park | 16,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cincinnati, Ohio | Palace of the Fans | 12,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| New York, New York | Polo Grounds | 16,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | National League Park | 18,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Exposition Park* | 16,000* | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Forbes Field | 23,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| St. Louis, Missouri | League Park (St. Louis) | 21,000 |
Standings
American League
National League
Tie games
23 tie games (13 in AL, 10 in NL), which are not factored into winning percentage or games behind (and were often replayed again) occurred throughout the season.
American League
- Boston Red Sox, 1
- Chicago White Sox, 7
- Cleveland Naps, 2
- Detroit Tigers, 6
- New York Highlanders, 2
- St. Louis Browns, 4
- Washington Senators, 4
National League
- Boston Doves, 2
- Brooklyn Superbas, 2
- Chicago Cubs, 2
- Cincinnati Reds, 4
- New York Giants, 5
- Philadelphia Phillies, 1
- Pittsburgh Pirates, 2
- St. Louis Cardinals, 2
Postseason
The postseason began on October 8 and ended on October 16 with the Pittsburgh Pirates defeating the Detroit Tigers in the 1909 World Series in seven games.
Bracket
| RD1-seed1=AL | RD1-team1=Detroit Tigers | RD1-score1=3 | RD1-seed2=NL | RD1-team2=Pittsburgh Pirates | RD1-score2=4
Managerial changes
Off-season
| Team | Former Manager | New Manager | Boston Doves | Brooklyn Superbas | Chicago White Sox | Cincinnati Reds | New York Highlanders | St. Louis Cardinals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Kelley | Harry Smith | |||||||
| Patsy Donovan | Harry Lumley | |||||||
| Fielder Jones | Billy Sullivan | |||||||
| John Ganzel | Clark Griffith | |||||||
| Kid Elberfeld | George Stallings | |||||||
| John McCloskey | Roger Bresnahan |
In-season
| Team | Former Manager | New Manager | Boston Doves | Cleveland Naps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Smith | Frank Bowerman | |||
| Nap Lajoie | Deacon McGuire |
League leaders
American League
| Stat | Player | Total |
|---|---|---|
| AVG | Ty Cobb1 (DET) | .377 |
| OPS | Ty Cobb (DET) | .947 |
| HR | Ty Cobb1 (DET) | 9 |
| RBI | Ty Cobb1 (DET) | 107 |
| R | Donie Bush (DET) | |
| Ty Cobb (DET) | 115 | |
| H | Ty Cobb (DET) | 216 |
| SB | Ty Cobb (DET) | 76 |
1 American League Triple Crown batting winner
| Stat | Player | Total |
|---|---|---|
| W | George Mullin (DET) | 29 |
| L | Bob Groom (WSH) | 26 |
| ERA | Harry Krause (PHA) | 1.39 |
| K | Frank Smith (CWS) | 177 |
| IP | Frank Smith (CWS) | 365.0 |
| SV | Frank Arellanes (BOS) | 6 |
| WHIP | Ed Walsh (CWS) | 0.938 |
National League
| Stat | Player | Total |
|---|---|---|
| AVG | Honus Wagner (PIT) | .339 |
| OPS | Honus Wagner (PIT) | .909 |
| HR | Red Murray (NYG) | 7 |
| RBI | Honus Wagner (PIT) | 100 |
| R | Tommy Leach (PIT) | 126 |
| H | Larry Doyle (NYG) | 172 |
| SB | Bob Bescher (CIN) | 54 |
| Stat | Player | Total |
|---|---|---|
| W | Mordecai Brown (CHC) | 27 |
| L | Cecil Ferguson (BSN) | 23 |
| ERA | Christy Mathewson (NYG) | 1.14 |
| K | Orval Overall (CHC) | 205 |
| IP | Mordecai Brown (CHC) | 342.2 |
| SV | Mordecai Brown (CHC) | 7 |
| WHIP | Christy Mathewson (NYG) | 0.828 |
Home field attendance
| Team name | Wins | %± | Home attendance | %± | Per game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Giants | 92 | -6.1% | 783,700 | -13.9% | 10,178 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 95 | 39.7% | 674,915 | 48.3% | 8,880 |
| Boston Red Sox | 88 | 17.3% | 668,965 | 41.4% | 8,920 |
| Chicago Cubs | 104 | 5.1% | 633,480 | -4.8% | 8,227 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 110 | 12.2% | 534,950 | 39.9% | 6,772 |
| New York Highlanders | 74 | 45.1% | 501,000 | 64.0% | 6,506 |
| Detroit Tigers | 98 | 8.9% | 490,490 | 12.4% | 6,288 |
| Chicago White Sox | 78 | -11.4% | 478,400 | -24.8% | 5,906 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 77 | 5.5% | 424,643 | 6.4% | 5,308 |
| St. Louis Browns | 61 | -26.5% | 366,274 | -40.8% | 4,636 |
| Cleveland Naps | 71 | -21.1% | 354,627 | -16.0% | 4,606 |
| Brooklyn Superbas | 55 | 3.8% | 321,300 | 16.6% | 4,067 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 74 | -10.8% | 303,177 | -27.9% | 3,937 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 54 | 10.2% | 299,982 | 46.2% | 3,947 |
| Washington Senators | 42 | -37.3% | 205,199 | -22.3% | 2,665 |
| Boston Doves | 45 | -28.6% | 195,188 | -23.1% | 2,568 |
Venues
The 1909 season saw two teams move to three new venues.
- The Philadelphia Athletics leave Columbia Park (where they played eight seasons), and opened Shibe Park, where they would go on to play for 46 seasons through before relocating to Kansas City, Kansas as the Kansas City Athletics.
- The Pittsburgh Pirates would play their last game at the Exposition Park site on June 29, having played 21 seasons there going back to (with a gap between and ), and opened Forbes Field on June 30, where they would go on to play for 62 seasons through the middle of .
References
References
- Adler, David. (September 30, 2019). "Best MLB teams to miss the postseason".
- (2023-02-01). "A guide to rules changes in MLB (and sports) history".
- Pajot, Dennis. "1908 Winter Meetings: Major Issues in the Minors, Bribery Charges, and World Series Ticket Scandal – Society for American Baseball Research".
- "1909 Major League Managers".
- "1909 American League Batting Leaders".
- "1909 American League Pitching Leaders".
- "1909 National League Batting Leaders".
- "1909 National League Pitching Leaders".
- "San Francisco Giants Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
- "Oakland Athletics Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
- "Boston Red Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
- "Chicago Cubs Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
- "Pittsburgh Pirates Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
- "New York Yankees Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
- "Detroit Tigers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
- "Chicago White Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
- "Cincinnati Reds Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
- "Baltimore Orioles Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
- "Cleveland Guardians Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
- "Los Angeles Dodgers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
- "Philadelphia Phillies Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
- "St. Louis Cardinals Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
- "Minnesota Twins Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
- "Atlanta Braves Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". [[Baseball-Reference.com]].
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
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