1905 Philadelphia Athletics season

1905  Philadelphia Athletics
American League Champions
League	American League
Ballpark	Columbia Park
City	Philadelphia
Owners	Benjamin Shibe Tom Shibe John Shibe Connie Mack Sam Jones Frank Hough
Managers	Connie Mack
←  1904 1906  →

The 1905 Philadelphia Athletics season was a season in American baseball. The team finished first in the American League with a record of 92 wins and 56 losses, winning their second pennant. They went on to face the New York Giants in the 1905 World Series, losing 4 games to 1.

The pitching staff featured three future Hall of Famers: Rube Waddell, Eddie Plank, and Chief Bender. Waddell easily won the pitching triple crown in 1905, with 27 wins, 287 strikeouts, and a 1.48 earned run average.

Preseason

1905 Philadelphia City Series

The Athletics played eight games against the Philadelphia Phillies for the local championship in the pre-season city series. The Athletics and Phillies tied in the series, 4 games to 4. ^[1]

Two games scheduled for April 5, 1905 at the Phillies' Philadelphia Ball Park, and for April 6, 1905 at the Athletics' Columbia Park were called off on account of wet grounds. ^{[2] [3]}

AL Philadelphia Athletics (4) vs. NL Philadelphia Phillies (4)

Game	Date	Score	Location	Time	Attendance
1	April 1, 1905	Philadelphia Phillies – 0, Philadelphia Athletics – 4	Columbia Park	1:40	14,830 [4]
2	April 3, 1905	Philadelphia Athletics – 3, Philadelphia Phillies – 2	Philadelphia Ball Park	1:45	4,642 [5]
3	April 4, 1905	Philadelphia Phillies – 4, Philadelphia Athletics – 3	Columbia Park	1:40	2,451 [6]
4	April 7, 1905	Philadelphia Phillies – 1, Philadelphia Athletics – 6	Columbia Park	1:30	1,905 [7]
5	April 8, 1905	Philadelphia Athletics – 1, Philadelphia Phillies – 3	Philadelphia Ball Park	1:35	4,372 [8]
6	April 10, 1905	Philadelphia Athletics – 5, Philadelphia Phillies – 1	Philadelphia Ball Park	1:40	2,896 [9]
7	April 11, 1905	Philadelphia Phillies – 8, Philadelphia Athletics – 5	Columbia Park	1:45	1,874 [10]
8	April 12, 1905	Philadelphia Athletics – 0, Philadelphia Phillies – 5	Philadelphia Ball Park	1:40	1,975 [11]

The A's all-time record against the Phillies was 14–14 through 1905.

Regular season

The Athletics at the Polo Grounds before a World Series game.

The A's offense scored the most runs in the league. Slugger Harry Davis led all players in home runs, runs scored, and runs batted in.

Season standings

v t e American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Philadelphia Athletics	92	56	0.622	—	51–22	41–34
Chicago White Sox	92	60	0.605	2	50–29	42–31
Detroit Tigers	79	74	0.516	15½	45–30	34–44
Boston Americans	78	74	0.513	16	44–32	34–42
Cleveland Naps	76	78	0.494	19	41–36	35–42
New York Highlanders	71	78	0.477	21½	40–35	31–43
Washington Senators	64	87	0.424	29½	33–42	31–45
St. Louis Browns	54	99	0.353	40½	34–42	20–57

Record vs. opponents

1905 American League record v t e Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NYH	PHA	SLB	WSH
Boston	—	6–16–1	14–8	10–12	13–8	7–15	15–7	13–8
Chicago	16–6–1	—	13–9	11–11–1	15–7–1	9–12–1	14–7–1	14–8–1
Cleveland	8–14	9–13	—	12–10	12–10	7–15	14–8–1	14–8
Detroit	12–10	11–11–1	10–12	—	13–8	9–13	13–9	11–11
New York	8–13	7–15–1	10–12	8–13	—	8–11–1	15–7	15–7–1
Philadelphia	15–7	12–9–1	15–7	13–9	11–8–1	—	15–7–1	11–9–1
St. Louis	7–15	7–14–1	8–14–1	9–13	7–15	7–15–1	—	9–13
Washington	8–13	8–14–1	8–14	11–11	7–15–1	9–11–1	13–9	—

Birth of the Elephant mascot

After New York Giants' manager John McGraw told reporters that Philadelphia manufacturer Ben Shibe, who owned the controlling interest in the Athletics, had a "white elephant on his hands", manager Connie Mack defiantly adopted the white elephant as the team mascot, and presented McGraw with a stuffed toy elephant at the start of the 1905 World Series. McGraw and Mack had known each other for years, and McGraw accepted it graciously.

Roster

1905 Philadelphia Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Chief Bender Andy Coakley Jimmy Dygert Weldon Henley Joseph Myers Eddie Plank Rube Waddell		Catchers Harry Barton Doc Powers Ossee Schreckengost Infielders Lave Cross Monte Cross Harry Davis John Knight Danny Murphy		Outfielders Topsy Hartsel Danny Hoffman Bris Lord Socks Seybold		Manager Connie Mack

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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	Ossee Schreckengost	123	420	114	.271	0	45
1B	Harry Davis	150	607	173	.285	8	83
2B	Danny Murphy	151	537	149	.277	6	71
3B	Lave Cross	147	587	156	.266	0	77
SS	John Knight	88	325	66	.203	3	29
LF	Topsy Hartsel	150	538	148	.275	0	28
CF	Danny Hoffman	120	459	120	.261	1	35
RF	Socks Seybold	133	492	135	.274	6	59

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
Monte Cross	79	252	67	.266	0	24
Bris Lord	66	238	57	.239	0	13
Doc Powers	40	121	18	.149	0	10
Harry Barton	29	60	10	.167	0	3

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
Eddie Plank	41	346.2	24	12	2.26	210
Rube Waddell	46	328.2	27	10	1.48	287
Andy Coakley	35	255.0	18	8	1.84	145
Weldon Henley	25	183.2	4	11	2.60	82
Joseph Myers	1	5.0	0	0	3.60	5

Other 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
Chief Bender	35	229.0	18	11	2.83	142
Jimmy Dygert	6	35.1	1	4	4.33	24

1905 World Series

Main article: 1905 World Series

NL New York Giants (4) vs AL Philadelphia Athletics (1)

Game	Score	Date	Location	Attendance
1	Giants – 3, Athletics – 0	October 9	Columbia Park	17,995
2	Athletics – 3, Giants – 0	October 10	Polo Grounds	24,992
3	Giants – 9, Athletics – 0	October 12	Columbia Park	10,991
4	Athletics – 0, Giants – 1	October 13	Polo Grounds	13,598
5	Athletics – 0, Giants – 2	October 14	Polo Grounds	24,187

Awards and honors

American League top five finishers

Andy Coakley

• #4 earned run average (1.84)

Lave Cross

• #2 runs batted in (77)

Harry Davis

• #1 runs batted in (83)
• #1 home runs (8)
• #1 runs scored (93)
• #4 slugging percentage (.422)

Topsy Hartsel

• #1 on-base percentage (.409)
• #4 runs scored (88)
• #4 stolen bases (37)

Danny Hoffman

• #1 in stolen bases (46)

Eddie Plank

• #2 wins (24)
• #2 strikeouts (210)

Rube Waddell

• #1 wins (27)
• #1 earned run average (1.48)
• #1 strikeouts (287)
• #2 shutouts (7)

Notes

1. The Reach Official American League Guide. A.J. Reach. 1905. p. 127. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
2. "The Old Sport's Musings". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 6, 1905. p. 10. Owing to the sloppiness of the going, the game between the Athletics and the Phillies scheduled for yesterday was called off.
3. "Athletics and Phillies Will Try Again To-day". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 7, 1905. p. 10.
4. "Chief Bender Ties Phillies in Knots". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 2, 1905. p. 14.
5. "Athletics Win Again: Those Athletics Gets the Second by Close Shave". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 4, 1905. p. 10.
6. "Phillies Turn To and Take a Fall Out of Athletics". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 5, 1905. p. 10.
7. "Waddel's Curves Trifle Too Deep for the Phillies". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 8, 1905. p. 10.
8. "The Phillies Made Their Hits Count". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 9, 1905. p. 15.
9. "Athletics Jump Suthoff in the Eighth Inning". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 11, 1905. p. 10.
10. "The Only Ruben Has His Handed Him By The Phillies in the Fourth, 8 to 5". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 12, 1905. p. 15.
11. "Phillies Tie Up Spring Series with Athletics, Winning the Final Game". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 13, 1905. p. 10.

References

• 1905 Philadelphia Athletics team page at Baseball Reference
• 1905 Philadelphia Athletics team page at www.baseball-almanac.com