1912 Cleveland Naps season

1912 Cleveland Naps
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
League Park II (since 1901)
Cleveland, Ohio (since 1901)
Other information
Owner(s)	Charles Somers
Manager(s)	Harry Davis, Joe Birmingham
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The 1912 Cleveland Naps season was a season in American baseball. The Naps had two of the best hitters in the majors in Shoeless Joe Jackson and Nap Lajoie. Despite this, they ended up back in the second division, finishing in fifth place with a record of 75-78.

Regular season

• April 20, 1912: The Naps played in the first ever game at Navin Field in Detroit against Ty Cobb's Detroit Tigers. Navin Field, later known as Tiger Stadium, opened the same day as Fenway Park.^[1] It was supposed to have opened on April 18 (like Fenway Park) but it rained in both cities on that day.^[2] Naps batter Shoeless Joe Jackson crossed for the first run ever scored at Navin Field, though the Tigers would win the game 6–5.^[3] Although Jackson would go on to hit a team leading .395 for the season including 3 home runs and 90 RBI's, he finished second in batting average to Ty Cobb who hit .409 for the year.

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Boston Red Sox	105	47	0.691	—	57–20	48–27
Washington Senators	91	61	0.599	14	45–32	46–29
Philadelphia Athletics	90	62	0.592	15	45–31	45–31
Chicago White Sox	78	76	0.506	28	34–43	44–33
Cleveland Naps	75	78	0.490	30½	41–35	34–43
Detroit Tigers	69	84	0.451	36½	37–39	32–45
St. Louis Browns	53	101	0.344	53	27–50	26–51
New York Highlanders	50	102	0.329	55	31–44	19–58

Record vs. opponents

1912 American League Records Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NY	PHI	STL	WSH
Boston	—	16–6–1	11–11–1	15–6	19–2	15–7	17–5	12–10
Chicago	6–16–1	—	11–11	14–8–1	13–9	12–10	13–9–2	9–13
Cleveland	11–11–1	11–11	—	13–9	13–8–1	8–14	15–7	4–18
Detroit	6–15	8–14–1	9–13	—	16–6	9–13	13–9	8–14
New York	2–19	9–13	8–13–1	6–16	—	5–17	13–9	7–15
Philadelphia	7–15	10–12	14–8	13–9	17–5	—	16–6	13–7–1
St. Louis	5–17	9–13–2	7–15	9–13	9–13	6–16	—	8–14–1
Washington	10–12	13–9	18–4	14–8	15–7	7–13–1	14–8–1	—

Roster

1912 Cleveland Naps
Roster
Pitchers Jim Baskette Fred Blanding Bert Brenner Lefty George Vean Gregg Bill James Lefty James George Kahler Gene Krapp Harry Krause Willie Mitchell Jim Neher Bill Steen Mysterious Walker Roy Walker Ernie Wolf		Catchers Bert Adams Fred Carisch Ted Easterly Paddy Livingston Lou Nagelsen Steve O'Neill Infielders Howard Baker Neal Ball Herman Bronkie Ray Chapman Harry Davis Art Griggs Eddie Hohnhorst Doc Johnston Jack Kibble Nap Lajoie Ken Nash Ivy Olson Roger Peckinpaugh Terry Turner		Outfielders Joe Birmingham Hank Butcher Hack Eibel Jack Graney Harvey Grubb Art Hauger Tim Hendryx Bill Hunter Joe Jackson Moxie Meixell Buddy Ryan		Manager Harry Davis Joe Birmingham

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	O'Neill, SteveSteve O'Neill	69	215	49	.228	0	14
1B	Griggs, ArtArt Griggs	89	273	83	.304	0	39
2B	Lajoie, NapNap Lajoie	117	448	165	.368	0	90
3B	Turner, TerryTerry Turner	103	370	114	.308	0	33
SS	Peckinpaugh, RogerRoger Peckinpaugh	70	236	50	.212	1	22
OF	Ryan, BuddyBuddy Ryan	93	328	89	.271	1	31
OF	Birmingham, JoeJoe Birmingham	107	369	94	.255	1	45
OF	Jackson, JoeJoe Jackson	154	572	226	.395	3	90

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
Chapman, RayRay Chapman	31	109	34	.312	0	19
Hunter, BillBill Hunter	22	55	9	.164	0	2
Baker, HowardHoward Baker	11	30	5	.167	0	2
Hauger, ArtArt Hauger	15	18	1	.056	0	0
Kibble, JackJack Kibble	5	8	0	.000	0	0
Davis, HarryHarry Davis	2	5	0	.000	0	0
Grubb, HarveyHarvey Grubb	1	1	0	.000	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
Gregg, VeanVean Gregg	37	271.2	20	13	2.59	184
Blanding, FredFred Blanding	39	262	18	14	2.92	75
Kahler, GeorgeGeorge Kahler	41	246.1	12	19	3.69	104
Krapp, GeneGene Krapp	9	58.2	2	5	4.60	22
Krause, HarryHarry Krause	2	4.2	0	1	11.57	1

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
Mitchell, WillieWillie Mitchell	29	163.2	5	8	2.80	94
Baskette, JimJim Baskette	29	116	8	4	3.18	51
George, LeftyLefty George	11	44.1	0	5	4.87	18
Brenner, BertBert Brenner	2	13	1	0	2.77	3
James, LeftyLefty James	3	6	0	1	7.50	2

Relief pitchers

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

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
James, BillBill James	3	0	0	0	4.61	5
Walker, RoyRoy Walker	1	0	0	0	0.00	1
Neher, JimJim Neher	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Awards and honors

League top five finishers

Vean Gregg

• #4 in AL in strikeouts (184)

Shoeless Joe Jackson

• MLB leader in hits (226)
• #2 in AL in batting average (.395)
• #2 in AL in on-base percentage (.458)
• #2 in AL in slugging percentage (.579)
• #3 in AL in runs scored (121)

George Kahler

• AL leader in walks allowed (121)
• #2 in AL in losses (19)
• #3 in AL in earned runs allowed (101)

Nap Lajoie

• #4 in AL in batting average (.368)

References

1. The Final Season, p.5, Tom Stanton, Thomas Dunne Books, An imprint of St. Martin’s Press, New York, NY, 2001, ISBN 0-312-29156-6
2. The Final Season, p.40
3. The Final Season, p.5

External links

• 1912 Cleveland Naps season at Baseball Reference