1911 Cleveland Naps season

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.

1911 Cleveland Naps
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
OwnersCharles Somers
ManagersDeacon McGuire, George Stovall
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The Naps played their home games at League Park II.

Regular season

Addie Joss

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

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+2⁄3 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
American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Philadelphia Athletics 10150 0.669 — 54–20 47–30
Detroit Tigers 8965 0.578 13½ 51–25 38–40
Cleveland Naps 8073 0.523 22 46–30 34–43
Boston Red Sox 7875 0.510 24 39–37 39–38
Chicago White Sox 7774 0.510 24 40–37 37–37
New York Highlanders 7676 0.500 25½ 36–40 40–36
Washington Senators 6490 0.416 38½ 39–38 25–52
St. Louis Browns 45107 0.296 56½ 25–53 20–54

Record vs. opponents
1911 American League record

Sources:
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYH PHA SLB WSH
Boston —11–1111–1110–1212–109–1312–913–9
Chicago 11–11—6–15–28–1413–99–11–117–513–9
Cleveland 11–1115–6–2—6–1614–8–15–1715–714–8
Detroit 12–1014–816–6—7–1512–1014–814–8
New York 10–129–138–14–115–7—6–1516–512–10
Philadelphia 13–911–9–117–510–1215–6—20–215–7
St. Louis 9–125–177–158–145–162–20—9–13
Washington 9–139–138–148–1410–127–1513–9—

Roster
1911 Cleveland Naps
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Managers

Player stats

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
CGus Fisher7020353.261012
1BGeorge Stovall126458124.271079
2BNeal Ball116412122.296345
3BTerry Turner117417105.252028
SSIvy Olson140545142.261150
OFJoe Jackson147571233.408783
OFJack Graney146527142.269145
OFJoe Birmingham125447136.304251

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
Nap Lajoie90315115.365260
Ted Easterly9928793.324137
Syd Smith5815446.299121
Hank Butcher3813332.241111
Grover Land3510715.140010
Art Griggs276817.25017
Bill Lindsay196616.24205
Cotton Knaupp13394.10300
Steve O'Neill9274.14801
Jack Mills13175.29401
Dave Callahan6164.25000
Tim Hendryx472.28600
Herman Bronkie261.16700
Bert Adams251.20000
Ben Demott240.00000

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
Vean Gregg34244.22371.80125
Gene Krapp35222.01393.41132
Willie Mitchell30177.17143.7678
Cy Falkenberg15106.2853.2946
Bill James851.2244.8821
Cy Young746.1343.8820
Earl Yingling422.1104.336
Ben Demott13.20112.272

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
Fred Blanding29176.07113.6880
George Kahler30154.1983.2797
Hi West1364.2343.7617
Spec Harkness1253.1224.2225
Jim Baskette421.1123.388
Josh Swindell417.1012.086
Pat Paige216.0104.506
Bugs Reisigl213.0016.236

Awards and honors

League top ten finishers

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
  1. "Baseball Loses Great Star by Death of Joss". Chicago Examiner. April 15, 1911. p. 17. Retrieved May 19, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "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. 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.
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