1901 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1901 Pittsburgh Pirates
1901 National League Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
  • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (since 1887)
Other information
Owner(s) Barney Dreyfuss
Manager(s) Fred Clarke
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The 1901 Pittsburgh Pirates finished in first place in the National League, 7½ games ahead of the second-place Philadelphia Phillies. It was the first year that the American League operated as a major league, but there would be no World Series between the leagues until 1903.

The team was managed by Fred Clarke, who was also their starting left fielder. Clarke, in his fifth year as a manager at age 28, won his first pennant. The Pirates would go on to win the National League championship in the next two years as well.

Regular season

The Pirates were led offensively by Honus Wagner, who led the league in RBI and stolen bases. Although the "Flying Dutchman" had never played shortstop in the majors until 1901, he appeared 61 times at shortstop that year in addition to spending time at third base and the outfield.

In a league that batted .267 as a whole, the Pirates outfield was notable for its hitting. Ginger Beaumont hit .332, player-manager Fred Clarke hit .324, and Lefty Davis hit .313.

The pitching staff of the Pirates allowed the fewest runs in the league and was among the greatest ever. The four top starting pitchers – Deacon Phillippe, Jack Chesbro, Jesse Tannehill, and Sam Leever – were the four top pitchers in the National League in terms of winning percentage. All of them were in the top ten in the league in ERA. Future Hall of Famer Rube Waddell had pitched well in 1900 for the Pirates, but was sold in May 1901 to the Chicago Orphans.

Season standings

National League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Pittsburgh Pirates 90 49 0.647 — 45–24 45–25
Philadelphia Phillies 83 57 0.593 7½ 46–23 37–34
Brooklyn Superbas 79 57 0.581 9½ 43–25 36–32
St. Louis Cardinals 76 64 0.543 14½ 40–31 36–33
Boston Beaneaters 69 69 0.500 20½ 41–29 28–40
Chicago Orphans 53 86 0.381 37 30–39 23–47
New York Giants 52 85 0.380 37 30–38 22–47
Cincinnati Reds 52 87 0.374 38 27–43 25–44

Opening Day lineup

Roster

1901 Pittsburgh Pirates
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Awards and honors

Ginger Beaumont

Deacon Phillippe

Jesse Tannehill

Honus Wagner

Statistics

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Zimmer, ChiefChief Zimmer 69 236 52 .220 0 21
1B Bransfield, KittyKitty Bransfield 139 566 167 .295 0 91
3B Leach, TommyTommy Leach 98 374 114 .305 2 44
OF Clarke, FredFred Clarke 129 527 171 .324 6 60
OF Beaumont, GingerGinger Beaumont 133 558 185 .332 8 72

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Wagner, HonusHonus Wagner 140 549 194 .353 6 126
O'Connor, JackJack O'Connor 61 202 39 .193 0 22
Yeager, GeorgeGeorge Yeager 26 91 24 .264 0 10
Poole, EdEd Poole 26 78 16 .205 1 4
Burke, JimmyJimmy Burke 14 51 10 .196 0 4
Smith, MikeMike Smith 4 4 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Phillippe, DeaconDeacon Phillippe 37 296 22 12 2.22 103
Chesbro, JackJack Chesbro 36 287.2 21 10 2.38 129
Tannehill, JesseJesse Tannehill 35 252.1 18 10 2.18 118
Leever, SamSam Leever 21 176 14 5 2.86 82
Poole, EdEd Poole 12 80 5 4 3.60 26
Doheny, EdEd Doheny 11 76.2 6 2 2.00 28
Merritt, GeorgeGeorge Merritt 3 24 3 0 4.88 5
Waddell, RubeRube Waddell 2 7.2 0 2 9.39 4

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Wiltse, SnakeSnake Wiltse 7 44.1 1 4 4.26 10

Transactions

References

External links