Revising Deadball-era Pitching Records Last fall the Almanac began to examine the records of deadball-era (1902-1919) pitchers whose records were incomplete by virtue of their playing in fewer than 15 games. Using newspapers.com to look up each box score for a particular season allowed me to gather a range of data for a pitcher whose published record was incomplete. This time-consuming process was essential to the overall objective of determining the leaders in categories such as hits per nine innings and other assorted "ratios-based" values; the goals was to create a leaderboard for the top pitchers using the new numbers. Then in December the focus of the project shifted to the original aim of the subject for this issue in order to explore how the various pitching leaders established their records, such as Davy Dunkle 's 31 wins or Heinie Berger' s 260 strikeouts. The result of this work was published just days ago and highlights the records of five pitchers: t...
Player Batting Records of the American Association Playoffs The American Association Almanac is a print volume available by subscription. It is published twice per year, in the spring and in the fall. For a full listing of each subject of focus from previous editions of the Almanac , please see the listing of back issues below. In yet another installment of the Almanac' s work on the American Association playoffs, the Fall 2024 issue brought to light batting highlights uncovered by an exhaustive treatment of playoff statistics. Beginning in 2018, the Almanac entered the data from the box score of each playoff game using spreadsheet software. The result was a complete statistical profile for each round of the playoffs for each season, including the finals and semifinals. The Almanac covered other aspects of the playoffs (please see listing of back issues presented below) and will complete its coverage with a focus on hitting in the Fall 2025 issue. The cover for Vol...
This past weekend was the 100th anniversary of the opening of the first double-decked stadium in the American Association, Swayne Field in Toledo, Ohio. Built to replace Armory Park which served as the home of the Toledo Mud Hens for seven-plus seasons since 1902, Swayne Field opened in historic fashion when it hosted the Columbus Senators on July 3, 1909. With umpires Clarence “Brick” Owens and Ed Eckman officiating, the Mud Hens were first to score, thrilling the Toledo throng of 9,350 in a game which lasted three hours, thirty-five minutes. It was a battle for the ages between two closely matched teams. In the first inning, Toledo posted three runs off Columbus starter Jacob “Lefty” Geyer . Center-fielder Homer Smoot , hitting third, scored on a two-run single by second-baseman Harry Hinchman , first-baseman Jeremiah Freeman following. Hinchman had five hits in seven at-bats on the day. The third run of the frame was scored by Charlie “Piano Legs” Hickman who crossed the plat...
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