Philadelphia Athletics - The Turn of the Century (1901-1909)

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Titles:

Top Athletics Players of the Turn of the Century

1902 AL Champs (No World Series)

1905 AL Champs (Lost World Series to Giants)

Pitchers:

Eddie Plank (56.88) - 119

BallPark:

Rube Waddell (46.53) - 85

Columbia Park (1901-1909)

Chief Bender (21.41) - 62

Shibe Park (1909)

Jimmy Dygert (8.52) - 29

Weldon Henley (4.09) - 16

Team Name:

Andy Coakley (4.26) - 15

Athletics

Rube Vickers (4.87) - 13

Jack Coombs (8.18) - 12

Owner

Chick Fraser (2.78) - 12

Ben Shibe

Harry Krause (5.95) - 11

Cy Morgan (5.65) - 10

General Manager:

Connie Mack

Catchers:

Ossie Schreckengost (10.2) - 44

Manager

Doc Powers (3.16) - 27

Connie Mack

First Basemen:

No Hitters:

Harry Davis (33.85) - 101

Weldon Henley (1905)

Second Basemen:

Hall of Famers:

Eddie Collins (11.1) - 25

Chief Bender

Nap Lajoie (8.39) - 15

Eddie Collins

Elmer Flick

ShortStop:

Nap Lajoie

Monte Cross (8.27) - 27

Connie Mack

Simon Nicholls (3.12) - 10

Eddie Plank

Rube Waddell

Third Base:

Jimmy Collins

Lave Cross (16.61) - 32

Home Run Baker (6.04) - 11

Notable Events:

Jimmy Collins (2.25) - 7

1901 - The A's are formed. The owners are Connie Mack, local

Outfield:

Sporting Goods producers the Shibe family, and a couple of local

Socks Seybold (24.69) - 72

sports writers. Mack had been manager of the Milwaukee Brewers of

Topsey Hartsell (24.27) - 60

the minor league American Association the previous four years.

Danny Murphy (25.36) - 60

As such, he was familiar with several excellent minor league

Dave Fultz (2.82) - 21

players who for one reason or another had fallen thru the cracks

Rube Oldring (2.53) - 19

with all of the turmoil and player movement that was going on.

Ollie Pickering (1.97) - 17

The Shibe's have controlling financial interest in the club at this point.

Shoeless Joe Jackson (0) - 0

1901 - Twenty five year old righty Eddie Plank had been knocking

Notable Events:

around in the minors, Mack signed him and he went on to a

Hall of Fame career

1902 - The A's win the pennant. There is no World Series yet

1901 - Twenty five year old lefty Rube Waddell, who had played

1903 - Future Hall of Famer, nineteen year old Chief Bender is a rookie

for Mack in 1900 in Milwaukee was pitching in the NL in 1901.

and wins 17 games. He was signed as a free agent by the A's

Mack coveted him and Waddell wanted to come to Philly.

It happened in 1902 and Rube went on to a Hall of Fame career.

1905 - The A's win their second pennant. However, they lose their first

World Series to the Giants and the hated John McGraw

1901 - Hard hitting twenty seven year old first baseman Harry

It's the last title of the decade for Philadelphia, altho' they do finish second

Davis had been playing for minor league Providence. Mack

a couple of times.

grabbed him.and he became a star for the A's in the Oughts

1906 - Nineteen year old future Hall of Fame Second Baseman Eddie

1901 - Good hitting thirty year old outfielder Socks Seybold failed

Collins is signed by Mack and makes his first big league appearance.

in an earlier trial with Cincinnati and was in the minors. Mack

He comes up for good the following season

picked him up and he became a mainstay for the A's until age 38.

1906 -Twenty Two year outfielder Rube Oldring joins the club. He was

1901 - Mack signs three stars from the Phillies. They were Hall of Fame

spirited from the New York Highlanders in the Rule V draft. Rube will be

second baseman Nap Lajoie and pitchers Chick Fraser and

a starting outfielder for the A's for the next decade.

Bill Bernhard. After the season, Philiies owner John Rogers gets

the Pennsylvania supreme court to issue an injunction banning

1906 - Twenty Three year old righthander Jack Coombs joins the A's.

the three from playing for anybody but the Phillies. The ruling

He was signed by Philly as a free agent the previous year. It takes a little

stands only for the state of Pennsylvania however. To get around

while, but Jack turns into one of the top pitchers in baseball for a couple

the ruling, Lajoie and Bernhard are sent to Cleveland where they

of seasons in the next decade.

can play everywhere except in Pennsylvania for the Bronchos team.

Fraser goes back to play with the Phillies.

1908 - Third Baseman Home Run Baker, 22, joins the club. He will go on to

have a Hall of Fame career, much of it with the A's. He was acquired

1901 - Thirty five year old third baseman Lave Cross jumps from

in a trade with minor league club Reading.

the Brooklyn Superbas

1908 - Nineteen year old outfielder Amos Strunk joins Philly. He was

1902 - After more raids of the NL, with Connie Mack leading the way,

signed by Mack earlier in the previous season. Amos goes on to have a

the American and National Leagues merge in 1902 - agreeing to

successful seventeen year career, mostly with the A's

honor each other's contracts and to conduct a World Series

between the two leagues.

1908 - Nineteen year old outfielder Shoeless Joe Jackson is purchased

from Greenville and comes up to the A's. He's dealt to Cleveland in 1910

In the AL-NL feud, John McGraw calls the A's White Elephants and

for outfielder Bris Lord in a horrendous trade. Mack, unwilling to admit a

the A's adopt the White Elephant as their logo.

mistake, later says he knew Jackson would be great but traded him

because he felt that Joe, a courntry boy, would never fit in in Philly

1902 - Cleveland releases twenty seven year old catcher Ossie

Schreckengost over to the A's. He is the A's starting catcher

1909 - Shibe Park opens on April 12. It was the first concrete and steel

along with Doc Powers thru the end of the decade.

ballpark. This would set the standard for a spate of new parks in that

era. As baseball had become more popular, old wooden ballparks were

1902 - Twenty Eight year old outfielder Topsy Hartsell jumps from the

unsafe for the larger crowds. The economy was in the midst of an upturn

Chicago NL club to the A's. He is a starting outfielder for the A's for the

which also led to more fans and a greater ability to invest in a stadium.

next decade.

1909 - First Baseman Stuffy McInnis, 19, joins the A's. He was signed

1902 - Second Baseman Danny Murphy is picked up as a free agent.

by Mack a year earlier. He would go on to have a successful 19 year

The twenty five year old had been released a year earlier by the Giants.

big league career, the first half of which was spent with the A's

He goes on to be a fixture in the A's lineup for over a decade both as a

second baseman and as an outfielder

1909 - Twenty One year old shortstop Jack Barry joins the club. He was

signed by Mack the previous season. Jack goes on to be one of the top

1902 - Shortstop Monte Cross, 32, jumps from the Phillies.

shortstops in the game thru the next decade