1901 Cincinnati Reds season

1901 Cincinnati Reds
1901 Cincinnati Reds
League	National League
Ballpark	League Park
City	Cincinnati, Ohio
Owners	John T. Brush
Managers	Bid McPhee

Last updated June 03, 2025

The 1901 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The team finished in last place in the eight-team National League with a record of 52 wins and 87 losses, 38 games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates.^[2]

Regular season

The Cincinnati Reds continued to rebuild by adding younger players to their roster in 1901. They finished the 1900 season with a 62–77 record, finishing in seventh place in the National League.

The team dismissed manager Bob Allen after only one season, and replaced him with Reds legend Bid McPhee. McPhee had played second base for Cincinnati from 1882 to 1899. The Reds acquired a new shortstop, as George Magoon joined the club. He last played in the majors in 1899, splitting time between the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago Orphans. Dick Harley, who played in only five games with the Reds in 1900, would get a starting job in left field. Harley's last full season was in 1899 with the Cleveland Spiders, when he hit .250 with a homer and 50 RBI.

Sam Crawford was a bright spot for the team, as he batted .330 with a league high sixteen home runs, while driving in 104 runners to lead the team offensively. Jake Beckley was solid once again, hitting .307 with three home runs and 79 RBI.

On the mound, Noodles Hahn had a very solid season, going 22–19 with a 2.71 ERA. Hahn led the league with 41 complete games, 375.1 innings pitched, and striking out 239 batters. Bill Phillips, with a 14–18 record and a 4.64 ERA, was the only other Cincinnati pitcher to have ten or more victories.

Season summary

Cincinnati got the season off on a good note, as they won four of their first five games to take a very early first place lead in the National League. The Reds would continue to hold on to first place through twenty-three games in, as they had a 15–8 record, a one-game lead over the New York Giants. Even though Cincinnati went 5–6 in their next eleven games, they held on to a first place tie with the Giants before losing ten games in a row to fall to seventh place with a 20–24 record. Some of their losses were lopsided, as the Reds lost 25–13 to the Giants to begin their losing streak, and in their tenth loss, they were on the wrong side of a 21–3 pasting by the Brooklyn Superbas.

After snapping their ten-game losing streak with a victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, the Reds lost four more in a row, including losses of 8–0 and 19–1 to the Phillies. Cincinnati continued to struggle for the rest of the season, falling into the cellar, and finished the year with a 52–87 record, 38 games behind the pennant-winning Pittsburgh Pirates. This marked the first time in team history that the Reds finished the season in last place.

Season standings

v
t
e
National League
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Pittsburgh Pirates	90	49	.647	—	45‍–‍24	45‍–‍25
Philadelphia Phillies	83	57	.593	7½	46‍–‍23	37‍–‍34
Brooklyn Superbas	79	57	.581	9½	43‍–‍25	36‍–‍32
St. Louis Cardinals	76	64	.543	14½	40‍–‍31	36‍–‍33
Boston Beaneaters	69	69	.500	20½	41‍–‍29	28‍–‍40
Chicago Orphans	53	86	.381	37	30‍–‍39	23‍–‍47
New York Giants	52	85	.380	37	30‍–‍38	22‍–‍47
Cincinnati Reds	52	87	.374	38	27‍–‍43	25‍–‍44

Record vs. opponents

1901 National League record v t e Sources:
Team	BOS	BR	CHI	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	10–10	13–6	11–8–1	14–6–1	7–13	5–15	9–11
Brooklyn	10–10	—	13–7	14–6–1	11–6	11–9	11–8	9–11
Chicago	6–13	7–13	—	10–10	11–9–1	3–17	6–14	10–10
Cincinnati	8–11–1	6–14–1	10–10	—	8–12	4–16	7–13	9–11–1
New York	6–14–1	6–11	9–11–1	12–8	—	8–12	4–16–1	7–13–1
Philadelphia	13–7	9–11	17–3	16–4	12–8	—	7–13	9–11
Pittsburgh	15–5	8–11	14–6	13–7	16–4–1	13–7	—	11–9
St. Louis	11–9	11–9	10–10	11–9–1	13–7–1	11–9	9–11	—

Roster

1901 Cincinnati Reds

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

Bid McPhee

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Bill Bergen	87	308	55	.179	1	17
1B	Jake Beckley	140	580	178	.307	3	79
2B	Harry Steinfeldt	105	382	95	.249	6	47
SS	George Magoon	127	460	116	.252	1	53
3B	Charlie Irwin	67	260	62	.238	0	25
OF	Sam Crawford	131	515	170	.330	16	104
OF	John Dobbs	109	435	119	.274	2	27
OF	Dick Harley	133	535	146	.273	4	27

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Heinie Peitz	82	269	82	.305	1	24
Bill Fox	43	159	28	.176	0	7
Harry Bay	41	157	33	.210	1	3
Algie McBride	30	123	29	.236	2	18
Tommy Corcoran	31	115	24	.209	0	15
Pete O'Brien	16	54	11	.204	1	3
Jerry Hurley	9	21	1	.048	0	0
Emil Haberer	6	18	3	.167	0	1
John Heileman	5	15	2	.133	0	1
Mike Kahoe	4	13	4	.308	0	0
Charlie Krause	1	4	1	.250	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Noodles Hahn	42	375.1	22	19	2.71	239
Bill Phillips	37	281.1	14	18	4.64	109
Doc Newton	20	168.1	4	13	4.12	65
Archie Stimmel	20	153.1	4	14	4.11	55
Whitey Guese	6	44.1	1	4	6.09	11
Charlie Case	3	27.0	1	2	4.67	5
Len Swormstedt	3	26.0	2	1	1.73	13
Gus Weyhing	1	9.0	0	1	3.00	3
Doc Parker	1	8.0	0	1	15.75	0

Other pitchers