1911 Cleveland Naps season

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1911 Cleveland Naps
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkLeague Park II
CityCleveland, Ohio
OwnersCharles Somers
ManagersDeacon McGuire, George Stovall
← 1910
1912 →

The 1911 Cleveland Naps season was a season in American major league baseball. It involved the Cleveland Naps attempting to win the American League pennant and finishing in third place (22 games back). They had a record of 80 wins and 73 losses.

The Naps played their home games at League Park II.

Regular season[edit]

Addie Joss[edit]

Addie Joss, the ace starting pitcher for the Naps, experienced fainting spells while training for the 1911 season. He died of tubercular meningitis on April 14, at his home in Toledo, Ohio, leaving behind his wife and two young children.[1] Joss's funeral took place on April 17 in Toledo, when the Naps were scheduled to play the Detroit Tigers.[2] The players declared their intention to strike if the game that day was not postponed.[3] Though American League president Ban Johnson initially did not agree, he cancelled the game.[4] Several Tigers players attended the funeral as well.[5]

Charles Sommers, the owner of the Naps, began to plan the Addie Joss Benefit Game,[6] which was held at League Park in Cleveland on July 24, a mutual off day for all teams in the American League.[7] An all-star team played against Cleveland, defeating the Naps by a score of 5–3.[2] In total, nine players from the game were later inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame: Cy Young and Nap Lajoie for Cleveland, Walter Johnson, Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins, Tris Speaker, Sam Crawford, Home Run Baker, and Bobby Wallace for the all-stars.[8] The game raised $12,914 for Joss's widow ($405,592 in current dollar terms);[9] the sum was more than double Joss's annual salary.[8]

Season highlights[edit]

In his rookie season, Shoeless Joe Jackson hit .408, which ranked second in the American League. He also finished in the league top 10 in home runs, RBI, runs scored, and stolen bases. Jackson was fourth in the Chalmers MVP Award voting.

Vean Gregg led the starting pitchers of the team in several categories: he had a total of 23 wins and seven losses; he pitched 244+23 innings, yet maintained a league-leading 1.80 ERA, while striking out 125 batters.

Young, 44 years old at the time, played part of his final season with the 1911 Cleveland Naps team.

Season standings[edit]

American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Philadelphia Athletics 101 50 0.669 54–20 47–30
Detroit Tigers 89 65 0.578 13½ 51–25 38–40
Cleveland Naps 80 73 0.523 22 46–30 34–43
Boston Red Sox 78 75 0.510 24 39–37 39–38
Chicago White Sox 77 74 0.510 24 40–37 37–37
New York Highlanders 76 76 0.500 25½ 36–40 40–36
Washington Senators 64 90 0.416 38½ 39–38 25–52
St. Louis Browns 45 107 0.296 56½ 25–53 20–54

Record vs. opponents[edit]


Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYH PHA SLB WSH
Boston 11–11 11–11 10–12 12–10 9–13 12–9 13–9
Chicago 11–11 6–15–2 8–14 13–9 9–11–1 17–5 13–9
Cleveland 11–11 15–6–2 6–16 14–8–1 5–17 15–7 14–8
Detroit 12–10 14–8 16–6 7–15 12–10 14–8 14–8
New York 10–12 9–13 8–14–1 15–7 6–15 16–5 12–10
Philadelphia 13–9 11–9–1 17–5 10–12 15–6 20–2 15–7
St. Louis 9–12 5–17 7–15 8–14 5–16 2–20 9–13
Washington 9–13 9–13 8–14 8–14 10–12 7–15 13–9

Roster[edit]

1911 Cleveland Naps
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Managers

Player stats[edit]

Batting[edit]

Starters by position[edit]

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 Gus Fisher 70 203 53 .261 0 12
1B George Stovall 126 458 124 .271 0 79
2B Neal Ball 116 412 122 .296 3 45
3B Terry Turner 117 417 105 .252 0 28
SS Ivy Olson 140 545 142 .261 1 50
OF Joe Jackson 147 571 233 .408 7 83
OF Jack Graney 146 527 142 .269 1 45
OF Joe Birmingham 125 447 136 .304 2 51

Other batters[edit]

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
Nap Lajoie 90 315 115 .365 2 60
Ted Easterly 99 287 93 .324 1 37
Syd Smith 58 154 46 .299 1 21
Hank Butcher 38 133 32 .241 1 11
Grover Land 35 107 15 .140 0 10
Art Griggs 27 68 17 .250 1 7
Bill Lindsay 19 66 16 .242 0 5
Cotton Knaupp 13 39 4 .103 0 0
Steve O'Neill 9 27 4 .148 0 1
Jack Mills 13 17 5 .294 0 1
Dave Callahan 6 16 4 .250 0 0
Tim Hendryx 4 7 2 .286 0 0
Herman Bronkie 2 6 1 .167 0 0
Bert Adams 2 5 1 .200 0 0
Ben Demott 2 4 0 .000 0 0

Pitching[edit]

Starting pitchers[edit]

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Vean Gregg 34 244.2 23 7 1.80 125
Gene Krapp 35 222.0 13 9 3.41 132
Willie Mitchell 30 177.1 7 14 3.76 78
Cy Falkenberg 15 106.2 8 5 3.29 46
Bill James 8 51.2 2 4 4.88 21
Cy Young 7 46.1 3 4 3.88 20
Earl Yingling 4 22.1 1 0 4.33 6
Ben Demott 1 3.2 0 1 12.27 2

Other pitchers[edit]

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

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Fred Blanding 29 176.0 7 11 3.68 80
George Kahler 30 154.1 9 8 3.27 97
Hi West 13 64.2 3 4 3.76 17
Spec Harkness 12 53.1 2 2 4.22 25
Jim Baskette 4 21.1 1 2 3.38 8
Josh Swindell 4 17.1 0 1 2.08 6
Pat Paige 2 16.0 1 0 4.50 6
Bugs Reisigl 2 13.0 0 1 6.23 6

Awards and honors[edit]

League top ten finishers[edit]

Vean Gregg

  • MLB leader in ERA (1.80)
  • #2 in AL in shutouts (5)
  • #4 in AL in wins (23)
  • #8 in AL in complete games (22)

Shoeless Joe Jackson

  • MLB leader in on-base percentage (.468)
  • #2 in AL in batting average (.408)
  • #2 in AL in slugging percentage (.590)
  • #2 in AL in runs scored (126)
  • #2 in AL in hits (233)
  • #2 in AL in doubles (45)
  • #3 in AL in triples (19)
  • #4 in AL in home runs (7)
  • #6 in AL in stolen bases (41)
  • #9 in AL in RBI (83)

Gene Krapp

  • #10 in AL in strikeouts (132)

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Baseball Loses Great Star by Death of Joss". Chicago Examiner. April 15, 1911. p. 17. Retrieved May 19, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b "Addie Joss Day: An All-Star Celebration". Society for American Baseball Research.
  3. ^ "Cleveland Team Threaten Strike". Lansing State Journal. April 17, 1911. p. 9. Retrieved May 19, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Cleveland Team Refuses To Play". Quad-City Times. April 17, 1911. p. 10. Retrieved May 19, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Cleveland Team Wept Unashamed". The Boston Globe. April 18, 1911. p. 5. Retrieved May 19, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "17 Apr 1911, 3". Portage Daily Democrat. April 17, 1911. Retrieved May 19, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "22 Apr 1911". Fort Scott Daily Tribune and Fort Scott Daily Monitor. April 22, 1911. p. 1. Retrieved May 19, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ a b Thorn, John (July 5, 2019). "Cleveland's First All-Star Game". Medium.
  9. ^ "6 Aug 1911". The St. Louis Star and Times. August 6, 1911. p. 24. Retrieved May 19, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.

External links[edit]