As usual with the early 20th Century teams, I had a hard time finding a team photo that included a name to go with the face. Fortunately I found this team photo for the 1902 A’s. Unfortunately the resolution is very low, and some of the names are unreadable. NOTE: Thanks to Mark Fimoff for the exact player IDs.
Bottom Row: 2B-Danny Murphy, P-Rube Waddell, 3B-Lave Cross,P-Fred Mitchel, 1B-Harry Davis
Middle Row: CF-Dave Fultz, P-Snake Wiltse, MGR-Connie Mack, C-Doc Powers, C-Osee Schreckengost
Top Row: RF-Socks Seybold, P- Eddie Plank, SS-Monte Cross, P-Bert Husting, LF-Topsy Hartsell, 2B-Lou Castro
Connie Mack’s 1902 A’s won the American League pennant by 5 games over the St. Louis Browns. This was the 1st pennant for the 39 year old Connie Mack.
Despite losing their Hall of Fame 2nd baseman, Nap Lajoie, after just 1 game do to the Pa. Supreme Court decision that prohibited Lajoie, as well as Elmer Flick from playing baseball in Pa, the Mackmen reloaded with the addition of Danny Murphy at mid season, as well as the acquisition of Rube Waddell and Topsy Hartsell during the off season. Add them to the emergence of sophomore hurler Eddie Plank and the A’s had the making of a championship team.
The A’s were lead by catcher Osee Schreckengost(.324), 1st baseman Harry Davis(.307. 92 rbi), and 3rd baseman Lave Cross(.342-0-108). His .342 average was good for 5th in the AL, and his 108 rbi were good for 3rd. 100+ rbi with “0″ HRs. I wonder how many times that happened? Socks Seybold had a strong sophomore year hitting a league leading 16 HRs, while batting .316 and driving in 97. The A’s put together a .287 team average, good for 2nd, a mammoth team total of 38 HRs, good for 3rd in the league, while scoring a league leading 775 runs.
On the mound they had the always entertaining Rube Waddel,l putting together the 1st of 4 straight 20 win seasons(24-7) with a 2.07 ERA, good for 2nd in the league. Eddie Plank went 20-15, the 1st of 8-20 win seasons, while his 3.30 ERA would be the last time he would top 2.90 for a season in his career. Bert Husting added 14 wins, and the former 1899 Cleveland Spider, Highball Wilson would enjoy his best season going 7-4 with a 2.43 ERA. Their team ERA of 3.29 was good for 3rd, while they lead the league with 455 strikeouts, with Waddell and Plank combining for 317 of them.
The A’s will be decided underdogs against a powerful Pirates team.
Please take a second to participate in the 1902 DMB World Series poll.
