{"id":6109,"date":"2010-07-01T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2010-07-01T07:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/?p=6109"},"modified":"2010-07-01T00:50:47","modified_gmt":"2010-07-01T07:50:47","slug":"all-decade-single-season-wins-above-replacement-team-n-l-1900-1909","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/01\/all-decade-single-season-wins-above-replacement-team-n-l-1900-1909\/","title":{"rendered":"All-Decade Single-Season Wins Above Replacement Team: N.L. 1900-1909"},"content":{"rendered":"

When my friend Dan Hirsch turned me on to his fantastic new web site, The Baseball Gauge<\/a>, not only did I immediately bookmark it and add it to my blogroll, but it’s been open on my browser for about a week now.\u00c2\u00a0 I just can’t seem to get enough!\u00c2\u00a0 Dan’s site is all about Win Shares<\/a>, Wins Above Replacement<\/a>, and Win Shares Above Bench<\/a> and has an incredible search engine that allows for all kinds of lists, lineups, etc. such as the one I’m about to write about.<\/p>\n

Below is a list of the best seasons posted by National Leaguers at each position during the period from 1900-1909 based on Wins Above Replacement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
National League
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n		Potential Batting Order<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
C<\/td>\nRoger Bresnahan<\/td>\nNYN<\/td>\n1908<\/td>\n6.2<\/td>\n1B<\/td>\nFrank Chance<\/td>\n.319\/.419\/.430, 57 SB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1B<\/td>\nFrank Chance<\/td>\nCHN<\/td>\n1906<\/td>\n8.1<\/td>\n3B<\/td>\nArt Devlin<\/td>\n.299\/.396\/.390, 54 SB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2B<\/td>\nJohnny Evers<\/td>\nCHN<\/td>\n1908<\/td>\n7.0<\/td>\nSS<\/td>\nHonus Wagner<\/td>\n.354\/.415\/.542, 308 TB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3B<\/td>\nArt Devlin<\/td>\nNYN<\/td>\n1906<\/td>\n8.7<\/td>\nCF<\/td>\nCy Seymour<\/td>\n.377\/.429\/.559, 325 TB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
SS<\/td>\nHonus Wagner<\/td>\nPIT<\/td>\n1908<\/td>\n16.0<\/td>\nRF<\/td>\nElmer Flick<\/td>\n.333\/.399\/.500, 270 TB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
LF<\/td>\nSherry Magee<\/td>\nPHN<\/td>\n1907<\/td>\n10.6<\/td>\nLF<\/td>\nSherry Magee<\/td>\n.328\/.396\/.455, 85 RBI<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
CF<\/td>\nCy Seymour<\/td>\nCIN<\/td>\n1905<\/td>\n11.3<\/td>\n2B<\/td>\nJohnny Evers<\/td>\n.300\/.402\/.375, 36 SB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
RF<\/td>\nElmer Flick<\/td>\nPHN<\/td>\n1901<\/td>\n8.5<\/td>\nC<\/td>\nRoger Bresnahan<\/td>\n.283\/.401\/.359, 83 BB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
SP<\/td>\nChristy Mathewson<\/td>\nNYN<\/td>\n1908<\/td>\n14.5<\/td>\nP<\/td>\nChristy Mathewson<\/td>\n.155\/.221\/.202<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
SW<\/td>\nHooks Wiltse<\/td>\nNYN<\/td>\n1905<\/td>\n4.6<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
RP<\/td>\nCecil Ferguson<\/td>\nNYN<\/td>\n1906<\/td>\n1.1<\/td>\n<\/td>\nExpected R\/G<\/strong><\/td>\n5.811<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\"Roger<\/a>Catcher: Roger Bresnahan<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201d”The Duke of Tralee” became the first catcher elected to the Hall of Fame when he was inducted in 1945 and it’s appropriate for him to be on this team since he was Christy Mathewson’s favorite batterymate.\u00c2\u00a0 In terms of OPS+, Bresnahan certainly had better seasons than the one he enjoyed in 1908 (he batted .350\/.443\/.493 in 1903) but in WAR, 1908 and 1906 are his two best seasons.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, they’re the two best in the N.L. during the decade.\u00c2\u00a0 In 1908 Bresnahan established new career highs in games, plate appearances, at-bats, walks and sacrifice hits.\u00c2\u00a0 Despite this, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals a year later and was still above average but spent the remainder of his 17-year career as a part-timer and never reached the level of play he established with the Giants.<\/p>\n

Bresnahan is ranked as the 16th best catcher in baseball history by Bill James.\u00c2\u00a0 “Bresnahan was a throwback to the Irish nineties,” wrote James about the Hall of Fame catcher.\u00c2\u00a0 “Almost every paragraph written about him seemed to include the adjective ‘fiery.’\u00c2\u00a0 He was one of those guys that if you…got on his bad side you’d think he was the Breath of Hell.”<\/p>\n

Backup: Johnny Kling<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dThe long time Cubs backstop had the third, fourth and fifth best marks among N.L. catchers from 1900-1909, including 1908 when he posted a WAR of 4.6.\u00c2\u00a0 He was slightly better behind the plate than Bresnahan, fielding at a .971 clip, allowing .109 passed balls per game and throwing would-be base thieves out 48% of the time (Bresnahan: .971\/.132\/44%), but he was only average with the bat, recording a 100 OPS+ in 13 seasons.\u00c2\u00a0 Grantland Rice called him the “smartest catcher in baseball,” and John McGraw once insisted that “nobody could throw better than Kling.”<\/p>\n

\"Frank<\/a>First Base: Frank Chance<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dLike Bresnahan, Chance also played 17 years in the majors, also had trouble staying in the everyday lineup, and also bounced around from position to position before settling in.\u00c2\u00a0 He began as a catcher and suffered broken fingers from his days behind<\/em> the plate, and impaired hearing and excruciating headaches from several beanings he suffered at<\/em> the plate.\u00c2\u00a0 Christy Mathewson once wrote that Chance would always take the put-out even if it meant “accepting a pair of spikes in a vital part of his anatomy.”<\/p>\n

Because of this, he never amassed 500 at-bats in a season and was through as a regular by the age of 31.\u00c2\u00a0 But when healthy he was one of the best first basemen of his era.\u00c2\u00a0 He owns the top four WAR marks among N.L. first sackers during the decade, with 1906 being his best season at 8.1.\u00c2\u00a0 He paced the senior circuit in runs with 103 and stolen bases with 57, and set new career highs in runs, hits, total bases and sacrifices.\u00c2\u00a0 “Husk” was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1946.<\/p>\n

Backup: Ed Konetchy<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dKonetchy remains one of the more underrated players in baseball, mostly because he didn’t do any one thing especially<\/em> well at the plate, but he did several things well enough to have a pretty good 15-year career, and he’s considered to be the best defensive first baseman of his era (James rates him as an A- in Win Shares<\/em>).\u00c2\u00a0 He never drove in or scored 100 runs in any of his 15 seasons, led his league in only three categories\u00e2\u20ac\u201dgames twice, and doubles and total bases once each\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfinished with just under 1,000 RBIs and just under 1,000 runs, and didn’t reach any significant milestones.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, he ranks 15th in career triples with 182 and has a career OPS+ of 122.<\/p>\n

\"Johnny<\/a>Second Base: Johnny Evers<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dAnother member of the Chicago Cubs infield and one-third of the legendary Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance double play triumvirate, Johnny Evers edged Giants second sacker “Laughing Larry” Doyle for keystone honors.\u00c2\u00a0 Although “The Crab” posted better numbers in each offensive category at different times in his 18-year career, 1908 was his best in terms of WAR (7.0), Win Shares (28.8), Win Shares Above Bench (19.2) and OPS+ (144).\u00c2\u00a0 Thank God Joe Tinker didn’t make this team.\u00c2\u00a0 Evers and Tinker couldn’t stand each other and went years without speaking, and Chance once said of Evers, “I wish I had been an outfielder so I wouldn’t have to listen to him.”\u00c2\u00a0 One reporter called him a “keen little umpire-fighting bundle of nerves,” and Hugh Fullerton once wrote that Evers was made up of “a lot of woven wire muscles, and the quickest brain in baseball.”\u00c2\u00a0 They didn’t call him “the Crab” for nothing.<\/p>\n

Backup: Larry Doyle<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dThe antithesis of Evers, Doyle was once described by sportswriter John Foster as being “one of the happiest and best natured players who graced the national game with his sunshine and goodwill to men.”\u00c2\u00a0 He was also a gamer, “a hustling, aggressive, McGraw style of player, full of nerve, grit and true courage,” wrote Hugh Fullerton in 1912.\u00c2\u00a0 Apparently by 1919, Doyle had run out of goodwill; he punched out a fan in Cincinnati prior to that season’s opener.\u00c2\u00a0 Regardless, he was a very good player who won a batting title in 1915, and led the senior circuit in hits twice, and doubles and triples once each.\u00c2\u00a0 That 1915 season was his best in terms of WAR, WS, WSAB, and he posted his best OPS+ in 1911, but he’s the backup on this team thanks to his 1909 campaign.<\/p>\n

\"Art<\/a>Third Base: Art Devlin<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dIn the closest battle for a position on this club, Art Devlin narrowly edged Cincinnati’s Hans Lobert, 8.7 to 8.5 for the starting berth.\u00c2\u00a0 Though Matt Williams and Freddy Lindstrom are considered the two best third basemen in New York\/San Francisco Giants history, Rob Neyer insists that Devlin has gotten lost in the shuffle\u00e2\u20ac\u201d”[he was] a speedy hitter with an outstanding glove.”\u00c2\u00a0 Frank Graham called Devlin “the greatest third baseman ever to wear a Giant uniform.”\u00c2\u00a0 Devlin, another Deadball Era player who liked to settle scores with his fists, played only 10 seasons in the majors and in terms of WAR, WS (35.4), WSAB (23.5) and OPS+ (143) 1906 was definitely his best.\u00c2\u00a0 He established career highs in several offensive categories, including hits, doubles, triples, homers, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, OPS and hit by pitch.<\/p>\n

Backup: Hans Lobert<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dMostly known for his speed, Lobert was a good player during his 14 seasons in the bigs, finishing with a career OPS+ of 109.\u00c2\u00a0 But he was never better than in 1908 when he posted a WAR of 8.5, earned 31.9 Win Shares and had 18.5 Win Shares Above Bench.\u00c2\u00a0 In no other season was his WAR higher than 3.9 and his second best WSAB was 8.3 in 1913.\u00c2\u00a0 Lobert stole 316 bases during his career and averaged 39 per 162 games.\u00c2\u00a0 He also once held the record for circling the bases the fastest at 13.8 seconds, and raced a horse around the bags, barely losing and only because the horse bumped him between second and third.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 “I still think I would have won if I hadn’t been practically bowled over at shortstop,” Lobert insisted years later.<\/p>\n

\"Honus<\/a>Shortstop: Honus Wagner<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dThis just in, Honus Wagner was really, really good.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only does he own the top WAR among National League shortstops from 1900-1909, but he owns all of them.\u00c2\u00a0 He also owns the top mark among right fielders.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s right, the Hall of Fame shortstop recorded a career-high 1.007 OPS in 1900 while playing 118 games in right field for a WAR of 10.2.\u00c2\u00a0 But because I can’t have one player manning two positions, right field went to runner-up Elmer Flick instead.\u00c2\u00a0 And, during the decade, Wagner owns the top four marks among all position players regardless of league or position.\u00c2\u00a0 Only Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie, both at 12.3, were able to break Wagner’s dominance in the category.\u00c2\u00a0 Did I mention he was really, really good?<\/p>\n

Backup: You’re kidding, right?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Left Field: Sherry Magee<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dIn keeping with the theme of players who had difficulty keeping their tempers in check, I introduce you to one Sherwood “Sherry” Magee, who once assaulted an umpire while arguing a called third strike and drew a five-week suspension from then N.L. president Thomas Lynch.\u00c2\u00a0 Magee was an excellent player, who racked up 80.7 WAR in 16 seasons, which ranks 71st all time and is only slightly behind Hall of Famers Arky Vaughn, Rod Carew and Carl Yastrzemski.\u00c2\u00a0 He led the loop in RBIs four times, and slugging and total bases twice, and finished with a career OPS+ of 136.\u00c2\u00a0 He was also named the starting left fielder on Rob Neyer’s All-Time Phillies team and Bill James has him ranked 21st among all left fielders in his New Historical Abstract<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Backup: Jesse Burkett<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dAnother hard fighter nicknamed “The Crab,” Burkett had thin skin and had a hard time taking a joke, which often led to altercations with the fans, with whom Burkett would often socialize during games.\u00c2\u00a0 He was once tossed from both games of a doubleheader and cost his Cleveland Spiders the first game, which was forfeited to Louisville when he refused to leave the field.\u00c2\u00a0 He had a great career during which he batted .338, including .408 over 265 games from 1895-1896, and finished with 2,850 hits, only 150 shy of 3,000 over his 16-year stint in the majors.\u00c2\u00a0 James lists Burkett as the 14th best left fielder of all time and his WAR of 9.7 for the 1901 Cardinals is second in the N.L. only to Magee.<\/p>\n

\"Cy<\/a>Center Field: Cy Seymour<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dAmong regulars, only Wagner had a higher single-season WAR during the decade than did Cy Seymour in 1905.\u00c2\u00a0 Roy Thomas and Ginger Beaumont were the top two N.L. center fielders in terms of WAR during the decade but they played all 10 seasons and Seymour didn’t (he was a pitcher and right fielder before moving to center), and “Turkey Mike” Donlin had a better seasonal average than Seymour.\u00c2\u00a0 But this is about single-season performances.<\/p>\n

Seymour was a very good hitter and finished his 16-year career with a .303 average and an OPS+ of 119, but 1905 sticks out like a sore thumb when compared to the rest of his career.\u00c2\u00a0 He won the batting title at .377 and led the league in hits, doubles, triples, RBIs, slugging, OPS, OPS+ and total bases.\u00c2\u00a0 Never in his 15 other seasons did he lead the league in any category, and never did he come close to matching the numbers he posted in ’05.\u00c2\u00a0 Regardless, that campaign was easily good enough for him to be the starting center fielder on this team.<\/p>\n

Backup: Mike Donlin<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dOn a roster full of gentlemen who liked to settle arguments with their fists, Donlin may be King.\u00c2\u00a0 In 1902 Donlin brutally beat a woman he was rumored to be involved with and her escort on a Baltimore street, knocking her unconscious and giving him two black eyes.\u00c2\u00a0 He claimed he was so drunk that he didn’t know what he was doing.\u00c2\u00a0 He was fined $250 and sentenced to six months in jail.\u00c2\u00a0 He was suspended a handful of times by the Reds in 1904, mostly because of his excessive drinking.\u00c2\u00a0 He pulled a gun on a train steward in 1905, and was involved in several fights with players and spectators in 1908.<\/p>\n

But what he wasn’t hitting with his fists he was hitting with his bat; he finished his 12-year career with a .333 average and slugged .468, behind only Honus Wagner in the latter among National Leaguers during the 15 seasons from 1899-1914.\u00c2\u00a0 After joining the Giants in 1904, Donlin gave John McGraw his best and led the league in runs scored in 1905 with 124, and racked up a career-best 37.6 Win Shares.<\/p>\n

\"Elmer<\/a>Right Field: Elmer Flick<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dFlick spent only four of his 13 seasons in the National League, but they were four great seasons and it’s his 1901 campaign that earns him a spot on this team.\u00c2\u00a0 From 1898-1901 Flick batted .338 for the Phillies and posted an OPS+ of 156, and he paced the league in RBIs in 1900 with 110.\u00c2\u00a0 Interestingly, he had better years in terms of Win Shares and WSAB, but his 8.5 WAR in ’01 was a career best.\u00c2\u00a0 After jumping to the Philadelphia Athletics in 1902, Flick landed with the Cleveland Indians (nee Bronchos and eventually Naps) when an injunction filed by the Phillies against previous jumpers Nap Lajoie, Bill Bernhard and Chick Fraser forced Ban Johnson to act quickly and have their contracts transferred from Philadelphia to Cleveland.\u00c2\u00a0 Fraser returned to the senior circuit but Flick, Lajoie and Bernhard remained in the American League.<\/p>\n

Flick wasn’t as good in the A.L. as he was in the N.L., batting .299 with a 144 OPS+ in nine seasons, but he won a batting title in 1905 and led the junior circuit in triples three times, steals twice, and games, plate appearances, at-bats, runs, average, slugging, OPS and OPS+ once each.\u00c2\u00a0 Were it not for a debilitating stomach ailment that hampered his career from 1908-1910 and eventually ended it, Flick might have had an even more distinguished career.<\/p>\n

Backup: Mike Donlin<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dSee above.<\/p>\n

\"Christy<\/a>Starting Pitcher: Christy Mathewson<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201d”Mathewson was golden, tall, and handsome, kind and educated, our beau ideal, the first all-American boy to emerge from the field of play,” wrote Frank Deford in The Old Ball Game<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 For a time, Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson were 1A and 1B when debating the greatest pitcher of all time.\u00c2\u00a0 Johnson is still considered arguably the best ever while Christy has fallen behind the likes of Lefty Grove, Pete Alexander, Cy Young, Warren Spahn, and Tom Seaver, and maybe even Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux.<\/p>\n

Regardless, he was the National League’s best hurler of the decade in question and owns the top four WAR marks and six of the top 10.\u00c2\u00a0 During his stellar career, he had higher winning percentages, lower ERAs, more strikeouts and better ERA+s than in 1908, but he never had a more complete season.\u00c2\u00a0 He went 37-11 in ’08 with a league-leading 1.43 ERA and paced the senior circuit in wins, ERA, games, games started, complete games, shutouts, saves, innings, strikeouts, ERA+, WHIP, BB\/9 and K\/BB ratio.\u00c2\u00a0 His greatest achievement, however, may be keeping the rest of his All-Decade WAR teammates in line.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Swing Man: Hooks Wiltse<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dWiltse spent 11 seasons with the Giants before finishing his career with a brief stint in the Federal League and he was very good, going 139-90 with a career ERA of 2.47.\u00c2\u00a0 He appeared in 357 games, starting 226 of them and relieving in 131 of the rest.\u00c2\u00a0 In 1905 Wiltse made 19 starts and 13 relief appearances and went 15-6 with a 2.47 ERA.\u00c2\u00a0 His best season came in 1909 when he went 20-11 with a 2.00 ERA and a 127 ERA+ pitching mostly as a starter, and he earned a career-high 24.9 Win Shares in 1908 when he went 23-14 with a 2.24 ERA, but it’s his 1905 season spent shuffling between the rotation and the bullpen that earns him a place on this team.<\/p>\n

\"Cecil<\/a>Relief Pitcher: Cecil Ferguson<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dConsidering the number of Giants on this team, it’s amazing they didn’t win more than two pennants and one World Series during the decade.\u00c2\u00a0 Ferguson debuted with the Giants in 1906 and became the team’s closer, such that it was.\u00c2\u00a0 He appeared in 22 games, 21 in relief, led the league in games finished and saves with 7, and in his only start of the season tossed a one-hit, 2-0 shutout at the St. Louis Cardinals in October.\u00c2\u00a0 Ferguson was very good again in 1907, posting a 2.11 ERA in 15 appearances, but was traded to the Boston Braves (nee Doves) at the end of the season and finished his six-year career in Boston.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately things did not go well; he led the league in losses in 1909 after going 5-23 and was out of the majors within two years.<\/p>\n

Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n

With seven Hall of Famers, six of whom are starters, this is a pretty stout squad, and you sure as hell wouldn’t want to get into a bench-clearing brawl with them.\u00c2\u00a0 Even Flick, who was considered mild-mannered by comparison, once took on his much larger teammate Nap Lajoie and won the fight when Lajoie broke his thumb.\u00c2\u00a0 According to Baseball Musings’ Lineup Analysis tool, my preferred lineup is not the most productive in terms of runs scored, but its suggestion for the most productive lineup (5.879 runs per game) wasn’t to my liking, mostly because it had Mathewson batting sixth, with Evers, Devlin and Bresnahan hitting seventh, eighth and ninth.<\/p>\n

It’s also interesting to note that seven members of this squad either became managers or acted as player\/manager during their careers and, as a group, they were very good, posting a .530 winning percentage in 2,662 games and winning four pennants and two World Series titles.\u00c2\u00a0 But almost all of the credit goes to Frank Chance, “The Peerless Leader,” who accounted for more than half of the 1,411 victories and all of the postseason honors.\u00c2\u00a0 Remove him from the equation and the rest of the group is far from impressive, posting a winning percentage of only .427 over 1,505 games.<\/p>\n

Next up<\/strong>: All-Decade Single-Season Wins Above Replacement Team: A.L. 1901-1909<\/p>\n

Mike Lynch is the author of <\/em>Harry Frazee, Ban Johnson and the Feud That Nearly Destroyed the American League<\/a><\/em> and It Ain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t So: A Might-Have-Been History of the White Sox in 1919 and Beyond<\/em><\/a>, and the founder of Seamheads.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When my friend Dan Hirsch turned me on to his fantastic new web site, The Baseball Gauge, not only did I immediately bookmark it and add it to my blogroll, but it’s been open on my browser for about a week now.\u00c2\u00a0 I just can’t seem to get enough!\u00c2\u00a0 Dan’s site is all about Win […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-statistical-analysis"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t