1901 Philadelphia Athletics season

1901 Philadelphia Athletics
Major league affiliations
American League (Since 1901)
Location
Columbia Park (Since 1901) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Since 1901)
1901 Information
Owner(s)	Benjamin Shibe, Tom Shibe, John Shibe, Connie Mack, Sam Jones, Frank Hough
Manager(s)	Connie Mack
Next season

The 1901 Philadelphia Athletics season involved the A's finishing 4th in the American League with a record of 74 wins and 62 losses. The franchise that would become the modern Athletics originated in 1901 as a new franchise in the American League.

Before the 1901 season

The Western League had been renamed the American League in 1900 by league president Bancroft (Ban) Johnson, and declared itself the second major league in 1901.

In 1901, Johnson created new franchises in the east and eliminated some franchises in the west. Philadelphia seems to have been a new franchise created to compete with the National League’s Philadelphia Phillies. Former catcher Connie Mack was recruited to manage the club. Mack in turn persuaded Phillies minority owner Ben Shibe as well as others to invest in the team, which would be called the Philadelphia Athletics. He himself bought a 25 percent interest.

Regular season

In 1901, Nap Lajoie jumped from the Phillies to the crosstown Philadelphia Athletics, owned by Connie Mack. Lajoie's batting average that year was .426, still a league record. The same year Lajoie became the second major leaguer to be intentionally walked with the bases loaded after Abner Dalrymple in 1881.

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago White Stockings	83	53	0.610	—	49–21	34–32
Boston Americans	79	57	0.581	4	49–20	30–37
Detroit Tigers	74	61	0.548	8½	42–27	32–34
Philadelphia Athletics	74	62	0.544	9	42–24	32–38
Baltimore Orioles	68	65	0.511	13½	40–25	28–40
Washington Senators	61	72	0.459	20½	31–35	30–37
Cleveland Bluebirds	54	82	0.397	29	28–39	26–43
Milwaukee Brewers	48	89	0.350	35½	32–37	16–52

Notable transactions

• June 1901: Tom Leahy was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.
• July 1901: Tom Leahy was acquired from the Athletics by the Providence Grays.
• July 20, 1901: Snake Wiltse was signed as a free agent by the Athletics.

Player stats

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	Powers, DocDoc Powers	116	431	108	.251	1	47
1B	Davis, HarryHarry Davis	117	496	152	.306	8	76
2B	Lajoie, NapNap Lajoie	131	544	232	.426	14	125
3B	Cross, LaveLave Cross	100	424	139	.328	2	73
SS	Dolan, JoeJoe Dolan	98	338	73	.216	1	38
OF	Seybold, SocksSocks Seybold	114	449	150	.334	8	90
OF	Fultz, DaveDave Fultz	132	561	164	.292	0	52

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
Hayden, JackJack Hayden	51	211	56	.265	0	17
Ely, BonesBones Ely	45	171	37	.216	0	16
Steelman, FarmerFarmer Steelman	27	88	23	.261	0	7
Smith, HarryHarry Smith	11	34	11	.324	0	3
Murphy, MorganMorgan Murphy	9	28	6	.214	0	6
Leahy, TomTom Leahy	5	15	5	.333	0	1
Carr, CharlieCharlie Carr	2	8	1	.125	0	0
Lauder, BillyBilly Lauder	2	8	1	.125	0	0
McKinney, BobBob McKinney	2	2	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
Fraser, ChickChick Fraser	40	331	22	16	3.81	110
Plank, EddieEddie Plank	33	260.2	17	13	3.31	90
Bernhard, BillBill Bernhard	31	257	17	10	4.52	58
Wiltse, SnakeSnake Wiltse	19	166	13	5	3.58	40
Piatt, WileyWiley Piatt	18	140	5	12	4.63	45
Baker, BockBock Baker	1	6	0	1	10.50	1
McPherson, JohnJohn McPherson	1	4	0	1	11.25	0
Loos, PetePete Loos	1	1	0	1	27.00	0

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
Milligan, BillyBilly Milligan	6	33	0	3	4.36	5

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned Run Average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Leitner, DummyDummy Leitner	1	0	0	0	0.00	1

References

• 1901 Philadelphia Athletics team page at Baseball Reference
• 1901 Philadelphia Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com