1903 New York Highlanders season

Baseball team season March 2026 November 2013 New York Highlanders 1903 New York Highlanders logo 1903.png American League Hilltop Park New York City 72 62 y 4th William Devery and Frank Farrell Clark Griffith thumb|250px|The team The New York Highlanders' 1903 season was the team's first. The team was founded as a replacement in the American League for the defunct Baltimore Orioles, was managed by Clark Griffith and played its home games at Hilltop Park (formally "American League Park"). The club was at first officially the "Greater New York" baseball club, in deference to the established New York Giants, which were based in the Polo Grounds. This was the first season for the franchise that would be later known as the now-storied New York Yankees. They finished in 4th place in the AL with a record of 72–62. Team name The media dubbed the team as "Highlanders", due in part to playing at one of the highest points on Manhattan ("The Hilltop"), which was somewhat higher in altitude than the bulk of Manhattan and was considerably "uphill" from the Polo Grounds, the Giants' established home, which sat in the bottomland in Coogan's Hollow, a few blocks east and south of the Hilltop. "Highlanders" was also originally short for "Gordon's Highlanders", a play on the name of the team President during 1903–1906, Joseph Gordon, along with the noted British military unit called The Gordon Highlanders. The club was also derisively called "Invaders" in 1903, presumably by writers favorable to the Giants. The New York press was creative with analogous nicknames for teams. In addition to "Highlanders", the team would soon acquire the alternate nickname "Yankees", the name that would soon become official and more famous among baseball fans in the coming decades. That word is a synonym for "American" in general, and short for American Leaguers or "Americans" in this case. Given the media's penchant for citing popular culture, that nickname was also possibly influenced by the then-current and hugely popular America-centric George M. Cohan Broadway play, "Little Johnny Jones", and its centerpiece song, "Yankee Doodle Dandy". New York writers had similarly coined both the established nickname Brooklyn "[Trolley] Dodgers" and the nickname "Superbas" that the denizens of Flatbush carried for a while. As with the Highlanders, the latter was based on something unrelated, namely a circus act called "Hanlon's Superbas"; the Dodgers were managed by Ned Hanlon at that time. Offseason Prior to 1903 season: Jack O'Connor jumped to the Highlanders from the Pittsburgh Pirates.Jack O'Connor page at Baseball Reference Regular season Season standings New York Highlanders Record vs. opponents NYH Roster thumb|The 1903 New York Highlanders 1903 New York Highlanders Roster Pitchers Doc Adkins Elmer Bliss Jack Chesbro John Deering Clark Griffith Harry Howell Ambrose Puttmann Eddie Quick Jesse Tannehill Snake Wiltse Barney Wolfe Catchers Monte Beville Pat McCauley Jack O'Connor Jack Zalusky Infielders Wid Conroy Ernie Courtney Kid Elberfeld John Ganzel Paddy Greene Fred Holmes Tim Jordan Herman Long Jimmy Williams Outfielders Lefty Davis Dave Fultz Herm McFarland Willie Keeler Manager Clark Griffith 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 Monte Beville 82 258 50 .194 0 29 1B John Ganzel 129 476 132 .277 3 71 2B Jimmy Williams Jimmy Williams (second baseman) 132 502 134 .267 3 82 3B Wid Conroy 126 503 137 .272 1 45 SS Kid Elberfeld 90 349 100 .287 0 45 OF Willie Keeler 132 512 160 .313 0 32 OF Herm McFarland 103 362 88 .243 5 45 OF Lefty Davis 104 372 88 .237 0 25 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 Dave Fultz 79 295 66 .224 0 25 Jack O'Connor Jack O'Connor (catcher) 64 212 43 .203 0 12 Herman Long Herman Long (baseball) 22 80 15 .188 0 8 Ernie Courtney 25 79 21 .266 1 8 Pat McCauley 6 19 1 .053 0 1 Jack Zalusky 7 16 5 .313 0 1 Paddy Greene 4 13 4 .308 0 0 Tim Jordan Tim Jordan (baseball) 2 8 1 .125 0 0 Fred Holmes 1 0 0 ---- 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 Jack Chesbro 40 324.2 21 15 2.77 147 Jesse Tannehill 32 239.2 15 15 3.27 106 Clark Griffith 25 213.0 14 11 2.70 69 Barney Wolfe 20 148.1 6 9 2.97 48 John Deering John Deering (baseball) 9 60.0 4 3 3.75 14 Snake Wiltse 4 25.0 0 3 5.40 6 Eddie Quick 1 2.0 0 0 9.00 0 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 Harry Howell Harry Howell (baseball) 25 155.2 9 6 3.53 62 Ambrose Puttmann 3 19.0 2 0 0.95 8 Doc Adkins 2 7.0 0 0 7.71 0 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 Elmer Bliss 1 1 0 0 0.00 3 Notes References 1903 New York Highlanders team page at Baseball Reference 1903 New York Highlanders team page at www.baseball-almanac.com Category:New York Yankees seasons New York Highlanders New York Highlanders Category:1900s in Manhattan Category:Washington Heights, Manhattan Category:Major League Baseball inaugural teams seasons