1901 Cleveland Blues season

March 2026 November 2013 Cleveland Blues 1901 American League League Park Cleveland, Ohio 54 82 y 7th Charles Somers Jimmy McAleer 1902 Cleveland Bronchos season The 1901 Cleveland Blues season was a season in American baseball. It was the franchise's first in the majors, being one of the original franchises of the American League. Called the "Blues" or "Bluebirds", the team finished seventh out of eight teams. Before the 1901 season 1899: Major League Baseball leaves Cleveland thumb|Ban Johnson, founder of the American League The Cleveland Spiders were dissolved after winning only 20 games and losing 134 in the 1899 season along with the Louisville Colonels, Baltimore Orioles, and the Washington Senators, leaving the National League with eight teams to begin the 1900 season. As a result, 1900 marked the first year since 1886 during which the city of Cleveland did not have a team affiliated with Major League Baseball. 1900: A new franchise Ban Johnson, president of the Western League, changed the league's name to the American League in 1900, bringing aboard a new team in Cleveland, then known as the Cleveland Lake Shores, along with new Baltimore and Washington franchises, which would be created with or without the approval of the National League.Schneider, 11 During this time, Cleveland had a minor league baseball team, known as the Bluebirds or Blues due to their all-blue uniforms, which finished their season with a 63–73 record and finished sixth. 1901: Major league once more The American League became a major league before the 1901 season. As the American League made the jump to major league status, many players jumped ship, including Cy Young and Nap Lajoie, which led the National League to call them an "outlaw league" in November 1900. As the 1901 season came underway in April, and as the war between the two leagues erupted, the Cleveland franchise, now known as the Blues, began its first official season as a Major League Baseball team. Regular season Season summary April left|thumb|Bill Hallman, a second baseman, played five games at shortstop for the Blues in 1901 The Cleveland Blues played their first game of the season against the Chicago White Stockings on April 24, 1901. This was the first games in the history of the American League; three other games scheduled that day were rained out.Snyder, 28 The starting lineup consisted of: Ollie Pickering (RF), Jack McCarthy (LF), Frank Genins (CF), Candy LaChance (1B), Bill Bradley (3B), Erve Beck (2B), Bill Hallman (SS), Bob Wood (C), and Bill Hoffer (P). Hoffer allowed seven runs in the first two innings and the Blues failed to recover, as they lost the game 8–2, earning the first loss in American League history.Chicago, 8; Cleveland, 2 https://www.nytimes.com/1901/04/25/archives/chicago-8-cleveland-2.html 10 April 25, 1901 The New York Times In the second game of the season, Beck hit the first home run in American League history off pitcher John Skopec, but the Blues lost again, 7–3. May thumb|Blues' starting third baseman Bill Bradley On May 9, 1901, Earl Moore threw the first no-hitter in the history of the franchise and the American League.Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures 2008 144 David Nemec Scott Flatow Signet Books 2008 978-0-451-22363-0 https://archive.org/details/greatbaseballfea00davi/page/144 The Blues lost to Chicago by a score of 4–2 despite allowing no hits. On May 23, Cleveland scored nine runs with the bases empty and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat Washington 14–13. Season standings Cleveland Blues Record vs. opponents CLE Roster 1901 Cleveland Blues Roster Pitchers Bock Baker Jack Bracken Dick Braggins Bill Cristall Pete Dowling Bill Hart Bill Hoffer Harry McNeal Earl Moore Ed Scott Gus Weyhing Catchers Joe Connor Paddy Livingston Bob Wood George Yeager Infielders Erve Beck Bill Bradley Truck Eagan Russ Hall Bill Hallman Candy LaChance Jim McGuire Frank Scheibeck Danny Shay Outfielders Ed Cermak Frank Cross Tom Donovan Shorty Gallagher Frank Genins Zaza Harvey Malachi Hogan Jimmy McAleer Jack McCarthy Jack O'Brien Ollie Pickering Manager Jimmy McAleer Player stats Key Statistic† Indicates sole team leader in this category among batters (player must qualify by MLB rules to lead a category) Statistic§ Indicates sole team leader in this category among pitchers (player must qualify by MLB rules to lead a category) * Indicates that two or more players tied for the lead in the category Batting Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases Pos Player G AB R H 2B 3B Avg. HR RBI SB C Bob Wood Bob Wood (baseball) 98 346 45 101 23 3 .292 1 49 6 1B Candy LaChance 133 548† 81 166 22 9 .303 1 75 11 2B Erve Beck 135 539 78 156 26 8 .289 6† 79† 7 3B Bill Bradley Bill Bradley (baseball) 133 516 95 151 28† 13† .293 1 55 15 SS Frank Scheibeck 93 329 33 70 11 3 .213 0 38 3 LF Jack McCarthy Jack McCarthy (baseball) 86 343 60 110 14 7 .321 0 32 9 CF Ollie Pickering 137† 547 102† 169† 25 6 .309† 0 40 36† RF Jack O'Brien Jack O'Brien (outfielder) 92 375 54 106 14 5 .286 0 39 13 Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases Player G AB R H 2B 3B Avg. HR RBI SB Zaza Harvey 45 170 21 60 5 5 .353 1 24 15 George Yeager 39 139 13 31 5 0 .223 0 14 2 Joe Connor Joe Connor (baseball) 37 121 13 17 3 1 .140 0 6 2 Frank Genins 26 101 15 23 5 0 .228 0 9 3 Danny Shay 19 75 4 17 2 2 .227 0 10 0 Tom Donovan baseball 18 71 9 18 3 1 .254 0 5 1 Jim McGuire Jim McGuire (shortstop) 18 69 4 16 2 0 .232 0 3 0 Bill Hallman Bill Hallman (second baseman) 5 19 2 4 0 0 .211 0 3 0 Truck Eagan 5 18 2 3 0 1 .167 0 2 0 Jimmy McAleer 3 7 0 1 0 0 .143 0 0 0 Frank Cross Frank Cross (baseball) 1 5 0 3 0 0 .600 0 0 0 Ed Cermak 1 4 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Shorty Gallagher 2 4 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Russ Hall 1 4 2 2 0 0 .500 0 0 0 Malachi Hogan 1 4 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Paddy Livingston 1 2 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included Pitching Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks SO = Strikeouts Player G GS IP W L ERA R ER BB K Pete Dowling 33§ 30* 256.1§ 11 22 3.86 160§ 110§ 104 99* Earl Moore 31 30* 251.1 16§ 14 2.90 129 81 107§ 99* Bill Hart Bill Hart (pitcher) 20 19 157.2 7 11 3.77 109 66 57 48 Ed Scott Ed Scott (baseball player) 17 16 124.2 6 6 4.40 82 61 38 23 Jack Bracken baseball 12 12 100.0 4 8 6.21 94 69 31 18 Harry McNeal 12 10 85.1 5 5 4.43 68 42 30 15 Bill Cristall 6 6 48.1 1 5 4.84 42 26 30 12 Dick Braggins 4 3 32.0 1 2 4.78 28 17 15 1 Bock Baker 1 1 8.0 0 1 5.63 13 5 6 0 Other pitchers Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks SO = Strikeouts Player G GS IP W L SV ERA R ER BB K Bill Hoffer 16 10 99.0 3 8 3§ 4.55 78 50 35 19 Gus Weyhing 2 1 11.1 0 0 0 7.94 11 10 5 0 Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; IP = Innings pitched; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L SV ERA R ER BB K Tom Donovan baseball 1 7.0 0 0 0 5.14 11 4 3 0 Bill Bradley Bill Bradley (baseball) 1 1.0 0 0 0 0.00 3 0 0 0 Jimmy McAleer 1 0.1 0 0 0 0.00 3 0 3 0 Awards and honors League top five finishers Ollie Pickering #5 in AL in stolen bases (36) #5 in AL in singles (138) Notes References 1901 Cleveland Blues season at Baseball Reference Johnson Lloyd Wolff Miles The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball 2nd Durham, North Carolina Baseball America 1997 978-0-9637189-8-3 Indians Journal: Year by Year & Day by Day with the Cleveland Indians since 1901 Snyder John 2008 Clerisy Press Cincinnati 978-1-57860-308-4 The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia Schneider Russell 2005 Sports Publishing, LLC Champaign, Illinois 978-1-58261-840-1 3 Category:Cleveland Guardians seasons Cleveland Bluebirds season Cleveland Blues Category:1900s in Cleveland Category:Major League Baseball inaugural teams seasons