[firstbigweekend]

Cleveland Blues Update — Aug./Sept./Oct. 1901
By Chauncey St. John, Associated Press

CLEVELAND — Mercifully, the 1901 season finally ended for the Cleveland Blues on Oct. 1.

Cleveland finished 73-89, a great improvement after going 19-36 in the first two months of the season, but still 28 games behind first-place Baltimore. The Blues finished ahead of both the Detroit Tigers and the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League.

"After May I didn't think we'd finish within 15 games of .500, so I'm pretty pleased with our play over the final four months," general manager Levi Chronister said, "especially finishing out of the basement. I hope our relatively strong finish can carry over to next season and beyond."

Blues highlights in the final two months included a two-hit shutout of Baltimore by Vernon Duffield (Aug. 5) and a four-hit blanking of Detroit by Jerry Nops (Aug. 30).

Offensively, catcher Roger Bresnahan was named player of the week Aug. 2 after hitting .563 with two home runs and eighth RBI in the previous week. Brian Tally was promoted from Buffalo on Aug. 9 to backup Bresnahan and hit .378 in 45 at-bats after his call-up. Paddy Livingston was demoted to Single-A Kinston with Tally's promotion, and middle reliever Roger Mortenson was called up fill the position opened by the trade of SS Russ Hall on June 1.

Though there wasn't much success as a team, some Cleveland players put up good individual numbers.

• Right fielder Sam Crawford tied for third in the American League with 14 home runs (tied with Nap Lajoie), set a league record with 636 at-bats, tied for fifth with 282 total bases and finished ninth in slugging (.443).
• First baseman Harry Davis set an AL-record with 39 doubles. Bresnahan tied for second in the league with 38 two-baggers, and Bill Bradley tied for fifth with 36.
• Davis also tied for eighth in extra-base hits (54).
• Bresnahan won the Platinum Glove at catcher.
• Closer Steven Fava set an American League-record with eight saves. Middle reliever Harry McNeal tied Jake Volz of Boston for second with three.
• Starting pitcher Earl Moore was second in K/9 IP (3.17), sixth in strikeouts (105), seventh in quality starts (24) and ninth in runners/9 IP (12.32).
• Starting pitcher Vernon Duffield was first in K/9 IP (3.74) and seventh in strikeouts (102).
• John Dunn was 10th in ERA (3.60)

Cleveland had its share of problems on the mound as well, though:

• Duffield gave up a league-high 30 home runs (10 more than Washington's Bill Carrick).
• Starting pitcher Jerry Nops tied for the fourth-most losses (23) and was third in most runs allowed.
• Duffield, Moore and Nops were sixth, seventh and eighth in most walks allowed.

Things were far brighter in Cleveland's minor league system, as all three affiliates won their leagues:

• The Buffalo Bisons went 83-55, topping Boston's affiliate by two games.
• The Akron Aeros had the second-best record in the entire minor-league system, going 90-48 and beating Washington's affiliate by 13 games.
• The Kinston Indians went 83-55, defeating Baltimore's affiliate by three games.
• Cleveland finished with the top minor-league system, including two Top 10 players (third baseman Donald Azar was fourth and Tally was 10th) and three other top-25 players.

In the minors: Starting pitcher Jesse Johnson was promoted from Akron to Buffalo on Aug. 23.

Around the league: Philadelphia Phillies hurler Red Donahue threw the league's first no-hitter Sept. 21, striking out four against Cincinnati.

Also, previously unmentioned was Cy Young's 300th career win. He finished the season with a league-high 33 victories and now has 319 for his career.

Also previously unmentioned was the trade of starting pitchers — wunderkind Christy Mathewson went from New York to Pittsburgh for Jesse Tannehill in late July.

August batters of the month: Boston Americans' Jimmy Collins (.408, 4 HR, 26 RBI) and Chicago Orphans' Topsy Hartsel (.489, .551 OBP, 18 RBI)

August pitchers of the month: Baltimore's Joe McGinnity (7-1, 1.75) and Pittsburgh's Rube Wadell (6-0, 1.84)

September batters of the month: Baltimore's James Pirtle (.404, 2 HR, 24 RBI) and Brooklyn's Jimmy Sheckard (.388, .753 SLG, 24 RBI)

September pitchers of the month: Milwaukee's Pete Dowling (6-0, 3.50) and Pittsburgh's Bill Donovan (3-3, 0.85, three complete-game shutouts).

Philadelphia, which won the National League with a 104-58 record, defeated Baltimore in the World Series. The Phillies won the first three games before the Orioles stormed back to tie the series at 3-all, but Philadelphia won the title with a 9-3 victory.

1901 Most Outstanding Batter
AL — Philadelphia's Nap Lajoie (.378, 14 HR, 113 RBI, .954 OPS)
NL — Philadelphia's Ed Delahanty (.377, 13 HR, 98 RBI, .994 OPS)

1901 Most Outstanding Pitcher
AL — Baltimore's Joe McGinnity (32-12, 2.38 ERA, 94 K, 77 BB)
NL — Pittsburgh's Rube Waddell (28-12, 2.72 ERA, 248 K, 108 BB)

1901 Most Outstanding Rookie
AL — Philadelphia's Eddie Plank (23-21, 3.49, 113 K, 114 BB)
NL — Chicago's Topsy Hartsel* (.362, 10 HR, 104 RBI, .924 OPS)

* OOTP6 considers Hartsel a rookie, though he had more than 200 previous major-league at-bats. I would consider Cincinatti's Gary Eckenrode (as far as I can tell a player created when I filled the minor leagues) as the real MOR. Eckenrode hit .277 and led the NL in both home runs (15) and RBI (114).