The topic of at this time’s e-newsletter is the 1911 Philadelphia Athletics, who’re No. 34 within the Finest 50, my listing of the best ballclubs in historical past. The rankings come from my new e book, Baseball’s Finest (and Worst) Groups.
Right here’s a fast boilerplate rationalization that I’m appending to each story on this sequence:
I compiled the Finest 50 by analyzing 2,544 major-league groups from 1903 to 2024. These golf equipment have been ranked by their workforce scores (TS), that are plotted on a 100-point scale. (A given membership’s all-time percentile is the share of the opposite 2,543 groups that it outperformed.)
See my e book for a proof of my TS calculations. The e book additionally affords separate breakdowns of one of the best and worst golf equipment for each decade and franchise, complete profiles of the Finest 50 (together with position-by-position lineups and way more info than you’ll discover on this e-newsletter), and related summaries of the ten worst groups of all time.
Now on to at this time’s profile.
Workforce: 1911 Philadelphia Athletics
Workforce rating: 86.306 factors
All-time rank: 34 of two,544
All-time percentile: 98.70%
Season document: 101-50 (.669)
Season place: First place in American League
Remaining standing: World champion
Suspense had been missing in 1910, when the Philadelphia Athletics seized management of the American League race by early July. The next season was significantly completely different. The A’s misplaced 15 of their first 28 video games in 1911. They had been mired in fifth place on Might 19, lagging 12 video games behind the first-place Detroit Tigers. One other pennant appeared unlikely.
That’s when the Athletics switched on the afterburners. They went 34-7 over the subsequent six and a half weeks, briefly popping into first place on July 4 earlier than spiraling into one other droop. The A’s didn’t claw again to first place till August 4, after they lastly held on for good. They cruised to a 13.5-game margin.
Philadelphia’s pitching employees had set the tempo in 1910, nevertheless it was the hitters’ flip in 1911. The A’s led the AL in each important offensive class, together with runs per sport (5.66) and batting common (.296). House Run Baker lastly lived as much as his nickname, topping the league with 11 blasts. No one else within the AL hit greater than eight.
Get the whole lowdown on the 50 best (and 10 weakest) golf equipment of all time
It appeared that the Athletics had met their match in 1911’s World Collection. The New York Giants edged them 2-1 in Sport One, then carried a 1-1 tie into the late innings of Sport Two.
House Run Baker intervened at that time, putting a two-run homer to knot the sequence at one win apiece. New York ace Christy Mathewson was simply two outs away from a shutout the subsequent afternoon, however Baker smashed one other homer to tie Sport Three at 1-1. A pair of unearned runs introduced the A’s a 3-2 victory within the eleventh inning. They wrapped up the sequence with a 13-2 thrashing of the Giants in Sport Six.
A brand new installment will arrive in your electronic mail every Tuesday and Friday morning
Harry Davis had lengthy been the Athletics’ mainstay at first base, a reliable .300 hitter in his prime. However his common had slipped to .248 in 1910, and his thirty eighth birthday would arrive in July 1911. Supervisor Connie Mack determined to make a change.
Mack turned to 20-year-old Stuffy McInnis, whose 5-9 stature hardly match the prototype for a primary baseman. However McInnis may hit (.321 that yr), and he was a wondrous fielder. The Sporting Information quickly pronounced him “some of the sensational and invaluable first basemen the sport has ever produced.”
McInnis was the ultimate part of Philadelphia’s well-known $100,000 Infield. The mixed salaries of Eddie Collins, Jack Barry, House Run Baker, and McInnis didn’t come near that magic quantity, the equal of $3.4 million in 2024. The nickname merely conveyed their super worth to their membership.
Pitchers Jack Coombs, Eddie Plank, and Charles Bender had been of equal significance. Coombs led the American League in wins (28), whereas Plank (2.10) and Bender (2.16) completed among the many AL’s 5 leaders in earned run common.
The 36-year-old Plank was the outdated man of the employees. His largest quirk was his refusal to concentrate to baserunners. “There are solely so many pitches on this outdated arm,” he stated, “and I don’t imagine in losing them throwing to first base.” Bender, a member of the Ojibwe tribe, was inevitably known as “Chief” by the period’s sportswriters. The Giants additionally carried a Native American on their roster, inspiring a Sporting Information prediction: “The purple males can not however be vital components within the World’s Collection.”
