In the National League, the New York Giants started off slow, trailing the front running Phillies by 3 games at the beginning of May, then played winning ball the rest of the way. The Giants took the lead for good by the end of May and clinched their second NL title with 10 games to go. The Giants' attack was led by Larry Doyle (.323-4-78) and Roger Bresnahan (.294-3-71). The mound staff was led by 20-game winners Christy Mathewson (23-12, 1.74 ERA) and the NL's Outstanding Pitcher, Hooks Wiltse (23-10, 1.68 ERA). The defending Pittsburgh Pirates finished in second place, 6 games behind the Bucs, thanks to the hitting of the senior circuit's Outstanding Hitter, Honus Wagner (.320-5-72) and the arms of 20-game winners Jack Pfiester (23-13, 1.76 ERA), Kaiser Wilhelm (21-18, 2.48 ERA) and Howie Camnitz (20-13, 2.11 ERA). The Chicago Cubs finished the season a distant third, 11 games behind New York, led by the bat of the NL's Newcomer of the Year, Vin Campbell (.337-5-80) and the arm of Fred Beebe (24-14, 2.18 ERA), who led the majors with 24 wins.
The American League pennant chase boiled down to three teams, the Philadelphia Athletics, Detroit Tigers and St.Louis Browns. Their race was so close that the AL pennant wasn't decided until there were two games remaining in the schedule. Thanks to the pitching of Eddie Plank (22-12, 1.77 ERA), Chief Bender (19-8, 1.62) and Rube Waddell (19-13, 2.12 ERA), the Athletics to win their third title in four years. Frank Baker (.280-0-74) and Eddie Collins (.275-0-66) led the Mackmen's attack with Danny Murphy chipping in with 88 RBIs to help the cause. The leaders of the pitching staff once again were Long Tom Hughes (22-12, 2.41 ERA) and Cy Young (20-16, 2.17 ERA). The Detroit Tigers had a 0.5 game lead over the Browns and a 1-game lead over the Athletics but finished in a tie for second place, 1 game behind the Mackmen. The team was led at the plate by Nap Lajoie (.296-1-81), Sam Crawford (.302-15-99) and the AL's Outstanding Hitter, Ty Cobb (.357-4-78). The mound staff was led by the AL's Outstanding Pitcher, Bugs Raymond (23-11, 1.36 ERA) and 22-game winner Ed Summers (22-16, 2.86 ERA). The St.Louis Browns ended the season in the tie for second place, thanks to the hitting of Mike Mitchell (.270-3-70). The pitching staff was led by 20-game winners Barney Pelty (23-13, 1.93 ERA),Bill Bailey (21-13, 3.44 ERA) and Jack Powell (20-16, 2.31 ERA.
In the World Series, the Athletics and Giants split the two games in New York then headed to Philadelphia. The teams then split the first two game before Rube Waddell out dueled Christy Mathewson to give Philadelphia a 3-2 lead in games as they headed back to the Big Apple. In game six, Harry Davis broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the 10th with a 2-run homer then Biff Schlitzer held on to allow the Giants to score one run as the Athletics won, 4-3, to win their first world's championship.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Philadelphia 88 66 .571 -- New York 98 56 .636 --
Detroit 87 67 .565 1 Pittsburgh 92 62 .597 6
St.Louis 87 67 .565 1 Chicago 87 67 .565 11
Cleveland 79 75 .513 9 St.Louis 85 69 .552 13
Chicago 76 78 .494 12 Philadelphia 83 71 .539 15
New York 74 80 .481 14 Cincinnati 66 88 .429 32
Boston 70 84 .455 18 Brooklyn 65 89 .422 33
Washington 55 99 .357 33 Boston 40 114 .260 58
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
T.Cobb, DET .357 M.Donlin, CIN .349
S.Crawford, DET .302 V.Campbell, CHI .337
N.Lajoie, DET .296 L.Doyle, NY .323
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
S.Crawford, DET 15 R.Murray, STL 9
T.Jordan, CHI 9 V.Campbell, CHI 5
J.Thoney, CLE 5 M.Donlin, CIN 5
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
S.Crawford, DET 99 B.Abstein, PHI 82
D.Murphy, PHI 88 R.Murray, STL 82
N.Lajoie, DET 81 V.Campbell, CHI 80
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
S.shannon, STL 48 R.Murray, STL 46
R.Hartzell, STL 42 H.Wagner, PIT 38
D.Altizer, WAS 41 D.Jones, CHI 35
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
C.Smith, CLE 1.33 M.Brown, STL 1.54
B.Raymond, DET 1.36 B.Campbell, STL 1.59
C.Bender, PHI 1.62 B.Adams, STL 1.59
Wins W Wins W
B.Pelty, STL 23 F.Beebe, CHI 24
B.Raymond, DET 23 C.Mathewson, NY 23
E.Plank, PHI 22 J.Pfiester, PIT 23
Saves SV Saves SV
H.Ables, STL 19 K.Brady, PHI 12
E.Moore, CLE 15 M.Manuel, CIN 11
H.Krause, PHI 12 C.Griffith, CHI 10
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
R.Waddell, PHI 224 O.Overall, CIN 243
H.Berger, CLE 201 N.Rucker, BRO 189
T.Hughes, BOS 197 C.Mathewson, NY 187
Postseason
Code:
1908 World Series
Game #1
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 8 1
New York (N) 0 0 0 4 0 1 0 0 x - 5 8 0
WP - C.Mathewson (1-0)
LP - R.Waddell (0-1)
HR - NY: G.Davis (1)
Game #2
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 - 5 3 3
New York (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 - 2 5 3
WP - E.Plank (1-0)
LP - H.Wiltse (0-1)
HR - PHI: E.Collins (1)
Game #3
New York (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 3 1
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 7 3
WP - H.Krause (1-0)
LP - C.Mathewson (1-1)
HR - none
Game #4
New York (N) 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 - 5 8 0
Philadelphia (A) 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 - 4 17 1
WP - H.Wiltse (1-1)
LP - H.Krause (1-1)
SV - R.Ames (1)
HR - none
Game #5
New York (N) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 6 2
Philadelphia (A) 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 x - 2 6 2
WP - R.Waddell (1-1)
LP - C.Mathewson (1-2)
SV - B.Schlitzer (1)
HR - none
Game #6
Philadelphia (A) 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 - 4 9 0
New York (N) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 - 3 13 3
WP - B.Schlitzer (1-0)
LP - R.Marquard (0-1)
HR - PHI: H.Davis (1)