1901 Pittsburg Pirates season

1901 Pittsburg Pirates
1901 National League Champions
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1887)
Location
Exposition Park (since 1891)
Allegheny, Pennsylvania (since 1882)
Other information
Owner(s)	Barney Dreyfuss
Manager(s)	Fred Clarke
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The 1901 Pittsburg 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 won 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
Pittsburg 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

Record vs. opponents

1901 National League Records Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	BR	CHI	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	10–10	13–6	11–8–1	14–6–1	7–13	5–15	9–11
Brooklyn	10–10	—	13–7	14–6–1	11–6	11–9	11–8	9–11
Chicago	6–13	7–13	—	10–10	11–9–1	3–17	6–14	10–10
Cincinnati	8–11–1	6–14–1	10–10	—	8–12	4–16	7–13	9–11–1
New York	6–14–1	6–11	9–11–1	12–8	—	8–12	4–16–1	7–13–1
Philadelphia	13–7	9–11	17–3	16–4	12–8	—	7–13	9–11
Pittsburg	15–5	8–11	14–6	13–7	16–4–1	13–7	—	11–9
St. Louis	11–9	11–9	10–10	11–9–1	13–7–1	11–9	9–11	—

Opening Day lineup

• Chief Zimmer – C
• Kitty Bransfield – 1B
• Claude Ritchey – 2B
• Tommy Leach – 3B
• Bones Ely – SS
• Fred Clarke – LF
• Ginger Beaumont – CF
• Lefty Davis – RF

Awards and honors

Ginger Beaumont

• #3 in NL in runs scored (120)

Deacon Phillippe

• #2 in NL in ERA (2.22)
• #3 in NL in wins (22)

Jesse Tannehill

• NL leader in ERA (2.18)

Honus Wagner

• NL leader in RBI (126)
• NL leader in stolen bases (49)
• #4 in NL in batting average (.353)
• #4 in NL in on-base percentage (.417)

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	Chief Zimmer	69	236	52	.220	0	21
1B	Kitty Bransfield	139	566	167	.295	0	91
3B	Tommy Leach	98	374	114	.305	2	44
OF	Fred Clarke	129	527	171	.324	6	60
OF	Ginger 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
Honus Wagner	140	549	194	.353	6	126
Jack O'Connor	61	202	39	.193	0	22
George Yeager	26	91	24	.264	0	10
Ed Poole	26	78	16	.205	1	4
Jimmy Burke	14	51	10	.196	0	4
Mike 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
Deacon Phillippe	37	296	22	12	2.22	103
Jack Chesbro	36	287.2	21	10	2.38	129
Jesse Tannehill	35	252.1	18	10	2.18	118
Sam Leever	21	176	14	5	2.86	82
Ed Poole	12	80	5	4	3.60	26
Ed Doheny	11	76.2	6	2	2.00	28
George Merritt	3	24	3	0	4.88	5
Rube 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
Snake Wiltse	7	44.1	1	4	4.26	10

Transactions

• June 27, 1901: Snake Wiltse was released by the Pirates.

External links

• 1901 Pittsburgh Pirates team page at Baseball Reference
• 1901 Pittsburgh Pirates Page at Baseball Almanac