Black Sox Blog

The White Sox had the best pitching staff in the American League in 1917, and the staff’s ace was Eddie Cicotte.  His 1917 numbers were pretty much off the chart.  He led the American League in wins (28), ERA (1.53), WHIP (0.912), innings (346 2/3) and only Walter Johnson had more strikeouts then Cicotte’s 150.  They didn’t give the award away back then, but Ed Cicotte was given the ex post facto Cy Young award in the ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia. 

There’s no doubt Cicotte was a workhorse in 1917.  His previous high in innings pitched was only 269 1/3 and never before had he won 20 games.  His 150 strikeouts was also a career high and he finished 29 of his 35 starts.  No other White Sox threw more then 250 innings and no other won more then 17 games.

Here’s a look at Cicotte’s numbers in 1917: 

Wins 28
Losses 12
Games 49
Games Started 35
Complete Games 29
Innings Pitched 346
Hits 246
Runs 76
Earned Runs 59
Walks 70
Strikeouts 150
ERA 1.53
Runs Saved Above Average 38
Shutouts 7
H/9 6.40
BR/9 8.30
SO/9 3.90
BB/9 1.82
SO/BB 2.14
Neutral Wins 29
Neutral Losses 11

Fielder Jones began his career in the National League and played for the Brooklyn Bridegrooms (later called the Superbas).  In the winter of 1900, he signed with the White Sox and joined the upstart American League.  He was the White Sox best hitter in the league’s inaugural season and he helped the White Sox win their first pennant that year.  Two years later, the White Sox had dropped deep into second division of the American League and in 1904, Jones was tapped as the White Sox manager.

Player/managers were a lot more common back then and the team gradually improved under Jones.  They finished in third place in 1904, which was the year Jones took over for Nixey Callahan.  In 1905, the White Sox finished in second place and then in 1906, Fielder Jones led the team to their first World Series title.

By 1906, Jones hitting ability was beginning to regress although he kept up with the rest of the league.  He finished the season with a .230 batting average, and ironically that was also the team’s batting average as well.  But he finished second in the league in walks and ended up with a slightly above average OPS+ of 106.

The other thing Fielder Jones was good at, and he instilled this into his team, was bunting.  He led the league in sac. hits in 1904 with 36 and in 1906, he was sixth in the league (behind two teamates) with 30.  This team couldn’t hit, so it had to make its baserunners count and the team led the American League with 226 sac. hits.

Fielder Jones was also an excellent centerfielder.  1906 was the second of four consecutive seasons that Fielder Jones would finish with at least 25 Fielding Runs Above Average.  In 1906, he had 23 outfield assists and only four errors.

If you want to read more about Fielder Jones, I highly recommend you check out his biography at SABR’s Baseball Biography Project website.

Here are Jones’ numbers in 1906

Games 144
AB 496
Runs 77
Hits 114
Doubles 22
Triples 4
Homeruns 2
RBIs 34
Walks 83
Strikeouts ??
Stolen Bases 26
Caught Stealing ??
BA .230
OBA .346
SLG% .302
OPS .648
RC 70
RCAA 12
RCAP 3
RC/G 4.42
ISO .073

These days, a .694 OPS is rather pedestrian.  It’s pretty bad and it would put a player well beyond the top 50 in either league.    On the 2005 World Champion White Sox team, a rather weak offensive team in it’s own right, a .694 OPS would have put a player in dead last in OPS amongst the team’s starters.  It would have fallen just below Scott Podsedniks’ .700, an OPS+ of 86.

On the 1906 White Sox, a .694 OPS led the team.  Now you’re beginning to get a feel for why this team was labeled the hitless wonders.  By 1906, Hall of Famer George Davis was near the end of a solid career and in a lot of ways, he was the offense for the White Sox in 1906.  He led the team in doubles, RBI’s, batting average, and slugging percentage, but only finished in the top ten in the American League in one of those categories (he was seventh in doubles).

Keep in mind though, Davis played shortstop, a position in that day and age where a slick fielder was just as valuable as a solid hitter.  George Davis combined both of those attributes.  He finished his career with 66 fielding runs above average (adjusted for the season) although this number is skewed because of two horrible seasons late in his career.  Throw in a career equivalent average of .289 over a 20 year career and you have a Hall of Fame shortstop.  In Bill James’ Historical Baseball Abstract, Davis is listed as the fourteenth best shortstop of all time and only one of those, Honus Wagner (who tops the list for now) played in the same era as Davis.  So for the the first couple of decades after the leagues unified, Davis was the second best shortstop of all time.

He also had a solid postseason.  He hit .308 in three games and drove in six runs.  In games five and the clincher in game six, he had nearly identical games.  He had two hits, two runs and three RBIs.

Here are George Davis’ numbers in 1906:

Games 133
AB 484
Runs 63
Hits 134
Doubles 26
Triples 6
Homeruns 0
RBIs  80
Walks 41
Strikeouts ??
Stolen Bases 27
Caught Stealing ??
BA .277 
OBA .338
SLG% .355
OPS .694
RC 72
RCAA 21
RCAP 22
RC/G 5.17
ISO .079

Ed Walsh made his debut on May 7, 1904 and over the next two seasons got modest time on the mound.  In 1904, he threw in 110 2/3 innings and while he had an ERA of 2.60, that was less then the adjusted league average (ERA+ of 95).  The next year, in 1905, he did a little better in more innings.  He threw 136 2/3 innings with an even better ERA of 2.17 (113 ERA+) and he also got his strikeout  rate up (71 vs.57).

1906 was a breakout year of sorts.  Walsh was second on the team and seventh in the league with a miniscule ERA of 1.88 and he was third in the league in strikeouts with 171.  He was fourth in the league in WHIP (0.981) and he led the league with 10 shutouts.  His record wasn’t all that great (17-13) considering he blanked the other team 10 times, but he got the job done and had a great World Series (two wins, seven hits and one earned run in 17 innings).

After 1906, Ed Walsh went on to have a spectacular, if somewhat short career.  In 1907 and 1908, he logged 422 2/3 and 464 innings respectively.  In 1908, he won 40 games, had 42 complete games and he did it all with a 1.42 ERA and a 0.860 WHIP.

Walsh’s workload dropped in 1909, but he had outstanding seasons in 1910 through 1912.  After that though, he was pretty much done.  He held on for five more seasons but never threw more then 100 innings in any of them.

Ed Walsh’s career ERA of 1.82 is the best of any player in modern baseball history.  Only one other player, Addie Joss, had an ERA below 2.00 (his was 1.89).  Walsh’s ERA+ of 145 is the seventh best mark of all time, just ahead of Roger Clemens who has a 143 ERA+ to date.  Walsh’s career WHIP of 1.00 is the second best mark of all time, just behind Addie Joss.

Just a quick note on Ed Walsh and Addie Joss, the two squared off near the end of the 1908 season on October 2 and the game is billed as one of the greatest pitching duals of all time.  Walsh gave up a single run on four hits and Joss pitched a perfect game.  The sole run scored on a passed ball.

Here’s a look at Ed Walsh’s numbers in 1906:

Wins 17
Losses 13
Games 41
Games Started 31
Complete Games 24
Innings Pitched 278.1
Hits 215
Runs 83
Earned Runs 58
Walks 58
Strikeouts 171
ERA 1.88
Runs Saved Above Average 15
Shutouts 10
H/9 6.95
BR/9 9.05
SO/9 5.53
BB/9 1.88
SO/BB 2.95
Neutral Wins 18
Neutral Losses 12

If there was any question that Frank Thomas was a star in the making, his first full season ibn 1991 put any of those to rest. Frank Thomas got off to a rough start (.200 batting average in his first ten games) but he then hit homeruns in back to back games and never looked back. By the end of the season, he’d rack up numbers that would garner him a third place finish for the Most Valuable Player behind the eventual winner, Cal Ripken, Jr. and slugging first basemen (and first player to hit 50 homeruns in fourteen years) Cecil Fielder.

Frank Thomas finished first in the league in walks (138), OBP (.453) and OPS (1.006). He finished ninth in hitting (.318) and fourth in slugging (.553). His 32 homeruns put him fifth in the league.

Thomas also had some monster games. He had his first multi-homerun game on July 15. On May 23, he went two for five with five RBIs and on June 14 he went four for five with two doubles, a homerun, two runs and five RBIs. His third “five RBI” game of the season came on June 24 in which he went two for four with a double a homerun and five RBIs.

Here’s a look at the numbers…

Games 158
AB 559
Runs 104
Hits 178
Doubles 31
Triples 2
Homeruns 32
Walks 138
Strikeouts 112
Stolen Bases 1
Caught Stealing 2
BA .318
OBA .453
SLG% .553
OPS 1.006
RC 142
RCAA 75
RCAP 64
RC/G 9.47
ISO .234

It didn’t take Frank Thomas long to make his mark on major league baseball. After being picked seventh overall in the 1989 draft after starring at Auburn University, Thomas made his major league debut on August 2, 1990. On that day, Thomas ended the game zero for four, but on his final at bat he hit into a fielders choice that scored Ivan Calderon. While he’d get his first RBI in that game, he’d have to wait until the next day to get his first major league hit, a two run triple to centerfield. It wasn’t until the end of August that Thomas hit his first career homerun. It was August 28 at the Metrodome.

For most of the season, Thomas was hitting well above .300 and had an OBP above .400. His OPS of .983 put him at a very impressive OPS+ of 177. He only hit seven homeruns, but as we know, those would eventually come. The oddest thing about his season was a negative. He finished with 44 walks and 54 strikeouts. While that’s a pretty impressive ratio, it wouldn’t be until 2001, over a decade later, that Frank Thomas ended a season with more strikeouts then walks.

It’s hard to nail down Thomas’ best game in 1990. He went three for five with two runs and an RBI on September 22 (his only three hit game of the season), and he drove in three runs on August 31. He had 17 multihit games and he had a thirteen game hitting streak in September.

Here’s a look at Frank Thomas’ numbers in 1990, courtesy of Lee Sinin’s Sabermetric Baseball Encyclopedia..

Games 60
AB 191
Runs 39
Hits 63
Doubles 11
Triples 3
Homeruns 7
Walks 44
Strikeouts 54
Stolen Bases 0
Caught Stealing 1
BA .330
OBA .454
SLG% .529
OPS .983
RC 48
RCAA 26
RCAP 21
RC/G 9.46
ISO .199