Several things came together in 1902 for a certain city that had seen its ups & downs over the years. The city was Boston and it had lost two clubs before the current incarnation who had joined FABL from the Peerless League after the 1892 season. This third incarnation had been playing under the "Brahmins" nickname but owner Steve Cunningham decided it was time for a change and to pay homage to the original Boston club, renamed his team the Minutemen.
Cunningham was a pretty shrewd guy and did a couple other things over the time he owned the club that came to fruition in 1902. First, back in 1897 he had signed a catcher named George Theobald to both catch for and manage his club. Theobald had been a middling player and was turning 34 the year Cunningham signed him. But he blossomed in Boston, hitting .321 in 1897 and .331 in 1898 before hanging up his glove for good. Theobald was tall and lean and had earned the nickname "Toothpick" both for his physique and his habit of chewing on toothpicks in the dugout. Theobald's greatest skill as a manager was his calm demeanor, but his greatest value was as an evaluator of talent.
George Theobald
While Theobald put his evaluation skills to work building the roster, Cunningham turned his eye to building the country's best ballpark for his club. Cunningham Field opened in 1902 and was - for its time - a true baseball palace. Constructed of concrete and steel, Cunningham Field was the first of its kind and imitators would soon follow as the age of the wooden ballpark was coming to an end. While the new ballpark was being built, Theobald had gone out and signed pitchers Woody Trease and Bill McDaniel and LF Jim Underwood and traded for 2B Jacob Waters. Trease immediately became the team's ace pitcher and one of the best in the game with McDaniel a solid number two; Underwood its best hitter and Waters a veteran leader. The final piece came in March of 1902 when Theobald pulled the trigger on his biggest coup: he got disgruntled shortstop Charlie Coller from Montreal for a three-player package of backups. Coller fit in immediately, led the Federal Association in hits (183) and average (.333) and helped lead the Minutemen to their first pennant.
Trease went 25-13 with a 2.43 ERA and Underwood 27-14, 2.30 while Underwood hit .319-8-78 and while Waters only hit .265 he was still the team's leader and any offensive slack was picked up by CF Nelson Morris (.313-3-71), C Walter Tuttle (.302-1-71) and 1B Allen Perkins (.294-2-68). Boston led the Feds in runs scored (651) and was second in runs allowed (482), winning the pennant by 4.5 games over a rejuvenated Chicago Chiefs squad (78-59) with Washington (77-59) third and New York fourth at 76-60. Where's Pittsburgh, you ask? They fell all the way to fifth, their run at the top finished with a 66-70 season due largely to the offense collapsing (they were 7th in runs scored). Ike Bell was again tremendous, going 27-16 with a 1.94 ERA but that wasn't enough.
New York's Joe Broege won the ERA title (1.61) and wins title (29) while his team mate George Gapp was second in ERA (1.66). Bell tied for second in wins with Boston's McDaniels, but led the league in strikeouts with 235. Detroit's George Reid finished second to Coller in batting (.332) with Pittsburgh's Les Rowe third (.329). 2B Joe Casey moved to New York and topped the league in homers with 10 - the only player in all of FABL to hit double-figures as pitching began to dominate. Washington's Dave Campsey's 91 RBIs were enough to lead the league with Casey (83) and Underwood (78) taking the second and third spots. Campsey also led the league in steals (54).
The Continenal Association had a different winner as well with the New York Stars reaching the top of the heap with an 82-55 campaign for their first Continental pennant. The Cougars played the bridesmaid role again and the defending champ Clevelanders fell to third at 76-64. Toronto was fourth despite having the league's batting champion (Thomas Watkins, .407) and ERA champion (Allan Allen, 1.82). Baltimore was fifth and just nine games out of first as the top five in the Continental were all over .500 - largely due to the poor play of Montreal (44-92) which fell to last and was dealing with financial issues.
New York's pennant-win was powered by the circuit's best offense led by a pair of outstanding players in LF Bill Craigen who hit .398 with 8 homers and 104 RBIs - tops in the league, except for the average which was 2nd - and SS John Waggoner who was now a bona fide star (.320-4-73). The pitching was 2nd and had one great pitcher in lefty Bill Temple (30-11, 1.87, 271 strikeouts - the wins and strikeouts were tops in either league) and a pair of good hurlers behind him in Morris Harris (20-13, 3.17) and Alvin Hensley (19-19, 2.54).
Game one of the Series was a pitching fan's dream: Bill Temple vs Woody Trease. Temple got the better of Trease in a 4-3 win for New York in Boston. Game two saw Boston explode for 14 runs on Alvin Hensley and Jack Taylor while McDaniel shut down the Stars' bats to the tune of a 14-1 Minuteman victory. The series shifted to New York and the Stars took game three by a 9-3 margin. Game four was a rematch of game one and this time it was Trease who came out the better in a 2-0 shutout win over Temple and the Stars. Gave five continued the seesaw theme as New York won 4-3 to take a 3-2 series edge back to Boston's Cunningham Field.
Though the overfill crowd at Cunningham Field gave the Minutemen all the support they could, the Stars captured the championship with an 8-2 victory behind Morris Harris, who became the only pitcher in the series to win two games (he also went 5-for-7 at the plate). Bill Craigen hit .417 for the Stars, topping Charlie Coller who hit .364 for the Minutemen. The Stars' win evened up the all-time championship tally at five apiece for the Feds and Continentals and was the first for the Stars franchise (Boston had actually won the 2nd World Championship back in 1894 when they were still the Brahmins).
Federal Association
Code:
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Boston Minutemen 83 55 .601 - 651 482
Chicago Chiefs 78 59 .569 4½ 510 457
Washington Eagles 77 59 .566 5 583 526
New York Gothams 76 60 .559 6 600 497
Pittsburgh Miners 66 70 .485 16 506 571
Philadelphia Keystones 58 77 .430 23½ 529 598
Detroit Dynamos 56 78 .418 25 519 579
St. Louis Pioneers 50 86 .368 32 482 670
Continental Association
Code:
Team W L WPct GB R RA
New York Stars 82 55 .599 - 640 518
Chicago Cougars 76 61 .555 6 558 493
Cleveland Foresters 76 64 .543 7½ 573 552
Toronto Wolves 72 62 .537 8½ 580 535
Baltimore Clippers 73 64 .533 9 522 518
Philadelphia Sailors 64 75 .460 19 490 537
Brooklyn Kings 62 76 .449 20½ 551 544
Montreal Saints 44 92 .324 37½ 517 734