1905 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1905 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1905 in baseball.

The 1905 major league baseball season began on April 14, 1905. The regular season ended October 8, with the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Athletics as regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the second modern World Series on October 9 and ended with Game 5 on October 14. The Giants defeated the Athletics, four games to one, capturing their first modern^[a] championship in franchise history.

1905 MLB season
League	American League (AL) National League (NL)
Sport	Baseball
Duration	Regular season: April 14 – October 8, 1905 World Series: October 9–14, 1905
Number of games	154
Number of teams	16 (8 per league)
Pennant winners
AL champions	Philadelphia Athletics
AL runners-up	Chicago White Sox
NL champions	New York Giants
NL runners-up	Pittsburgh Pirates
World Series
Champions	New York Giants
Runners-up	Philadelphia Athletics

Americans

White Sox

Naps

Tigers

Athletics

Browns

Highlanders

Senators

Locations of teams for the 1904–1907 American League seasons
American League

Beaneaters

Superbas

Cubs

Reds

Giants

Phillies

Pirates

Cardinals

Locations of teams for the 1903–1906 National League seasons
National League

Stung by criticism from fans and writers for his team's refusal to play in the previous season's World Series, Giants owner John T. Brush drafted rules during the offseason to formally establish the World Series as a compulsory event. Both leagues then adopted the agreement in mid-February 1905.^[1]

Schedule

See also: Major League Baseball schedule

The 1905 schedule consisted of 154 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 22 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place for the 1904 season. This format would last until 1919.

Opening Day took place on April 16 with all but the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Naps playing. The final day of the regular season was on October 8. The World Series took place between October 9 and October 14.

Teams

League	Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Manager[2]
American League	Boston Americans	Boston, Massachusetts	Huntington Avenue Grounds	11,500	Jimmy Collins
	Chicago White Sox	Chicago, Illinois	South Side Park	14,000	Fielder Jones
	Cleveland Naps	Cleveland, Ohio	League Park (Cleveland)	9,000	Bill Bradley
					Nap Lajoie
	Detroit Tigers	Detroit, Michigan	Bennett Park	8,500	Bill Armour
	New York Highlanders	New York, New York	Hilltop Park	16,000	Clark Griffith
	Philadelphia Athletics	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Columbia Park	13,600	Connie Mack
	St. Louis Browns	St. Louis, Missouri	Sportsman's Park	8,000	Jimmy McAleer
	Washington Senators	Washington, D.C.	National Park	9,000	Jake Stahl
National League	Boston Beaneaters	Boston, Massachusetts	South End Grounds	6,600	Fred Tenney
	Brooklyn Superbas	New York, New York	Washington Park	12,000	Ned Hanlon
	Chicago Cubs	Chicago, Illinois	West Side Park	14,200	Frank Selee
					Frank Chance
	Cincinnati Reds	Cincinnati, Ohio	Palace of the Fans	12,000	Joe Kelley
	New York Giants	New York, New York	Polo Grounds	16,000	John McGraw
	Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	National League Park	18,000	Hugh Duffy
	Pittsburgh Pirates	Allegheny, Pennsylvania	Exposition Park	16,000	Fred Clarke
	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis, Missouri	League Park (St. Louis)	15,200	Kid Nichols
					Jimmy Burke
					Stanley Robison

Standings

American League

• v
• t
• e

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Philadelphia Athletics	92	56	.622	—	51‍–‍22	41‍–‍34
Chicago White Sox	92	60	.605	2	50‍–‍29	42‍–‍31
Detroit Tigers	79	74	.516	15½	45‍–‍30	34‍–‍44
Boston Americans	78	74	.513	16	44‍–‍32	34‍–‍42
Cleveland Naps	76	78	.494	19	41‍–‍36	35‍–‍42
New York Highlanders	71	78	.477	21½	40‍–‍35	31‍–‍43
Washington Senators	64	87	.424	29½	33‍–‍42	31‍–‍45
St. Louis Browns	54	99	.353	40½	34‍–‍42	20‍–‍57

National League

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Giants	105	48	.686	—	54‍–‍21	51‍–‍27
Pittsburgh Pirates	96	57	.627	9	49‍–‍28	47‍–‍29
Chicago Cubs	92	61	.601	13	54‍–‍25	38‍–‍36
Philadelphia Phillies	83	69	.546	21½	39‍–‍36	44‍–‍33
Cincinnati Reds	79	74	.516	26	50‍–‍28	29‍–‍46
St. Louis Cardinals	58	96	.377	47½	32‍–‍45	26‍–‍51
Boston Beaneaters	51	103	.331	54½	29‍–‍46	22‍–‍57
Brooklyn Superbas	48	104	.316	56½	29‍–‍47	19‍–‍57

Postseason

The postseason began on October 9 and ended on October 14 with the New York Giants defeating the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1905 World Series in five games.

Bracket

	World Series
	AL	Philadelphia Athletics	1
	NL	New York Giants	4

Managerial changes

Off-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Cleveland Naps	Bill Armour	Bill Bradley
Detroit Tigers	Bobby Lowe	Bill Armour
Washington Senators	Patsy Donovan	Jake Stahl
Boston Beaneaters	Al Buckenberger	Fred Tenney

In-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Cleveland Naps	Bill Bradley	Nap Lajoie
Chicago Cubs	Frank Selee	Frank Chance
St. Louis Cardinals	Kid Nichols	Jimmy Burke
	Jimmy Burke	Stanley Robison

League leaders

American League

Hitting leaders^[3]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Elmer Flick (CLE)	.308
OPS	Elmer Flick (CLE)	.845
HR	Harry Davis (PHA)	8
RBI	Harry Davis (PHA)	83
R	Harry Davis (PHA)	93
H	George Stone (SLB)	187
SB	Danny Hoffman (PHA)	46

Pitching leaders^[4]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Rube Waddell1 (PHA)	27
L	Fred Glade (SLB)	25
ERA	Rube Waddell1 (PHA)	1.48
K	Rube Waddell1 (PHA)	287
IP	George Mullin (DET)	347.2
SV	Jim Buchanan (SLB)	2
WHIP	Cy Young (BSA)	0.867

¹ American League Triple Crown pitching winner

National League

Hitting leaders^[5]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Cy Seymour (CIN)	.377
OPS	Cy Seymour (CIN)	.988
HR	Fred Odwell (CIN)	9
RBI	Cy Seymour (CIN)	121
R	Mike Donlin (NYG)	124
H	Cy Seymour (CIN)	219
SB	Art Devlin (NYG) Billy Maloney (CHC)	59

Pitching leaders^[6]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Christy Mathewson1 (NYG)	31
L	Vic Willis2 (BSB)	29
ERA	Christy Mathewson1 (NYG)	1.28
K	Christy Mathewson1 (NYG)	206
IP	Irv Young (BSB)	378.0
SV	Claude Elliott (NYG)	6
WHIP	Christy Mathewson (NYG)	0.933

¹ National League Triple Crown pitching winner
² Modern (1901–present) single-season losses record

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
Chicago White Sox[7]	92	3.4%	687,419	23.4%	8,383
Philadelphia Athletics[8]	92	13.6%	554,576	8.3%	7,494
New York Giants[9]	105	−0.9%	552,700	−9.4%	7,272
Chicago Cubs[10]	92	−1.1%	509,900	16.1%	6,295
Boston Americans[11]	78	−17.9%	468,828	−24.8%	6,089
Pittsburgh Pirates[12]	96	10.3%	369,124	8.4%	4,732
St. Louis Browns[13]	54	−16.9%	339,112	6.6%	4,293
Philadelphia Phillies[14]	83	59.6%	317,932	125.9%	4,183
Cleveland Naps[15]	76	−11.6%	316,306	19.5%	4,108
Cincinnati Reds[16]	79	−10.2%	313,927	−19.9%	3,974
New York Highlanders[17]	71	−22.8%	309,100	−29.6%	4,121
St. Louis Cardinals[18]	58	−22.7%	292,800	−24.3%	3,803
Washington Senators[19]	64	68.4%	252,027	91.3%	3,273
Brooklyn Superbas[20]	48	−14.3%	227,924	6.2%	2,960
Detroit Tigers[21]	79	27.4%	193,384	8.8%	2,545
Boston Beaneaters[22]	51	−7.3%	150,003	6.6%	1,974

Events

For the first time in Major League history, two teams with over 100 losses played each other, when the Brooklyn Superbas (100 losses) and Boston Beaneaters (100 losses) met in their final series of the season.^[23]

• April 26 – Jack McCarthy of the Chicago Cubs is the first fielder to throw out three base runners at home plate, achieving the feat against the Pittsburgh Pirates.^[24]

Notes

1. the Giants previously won two pre-modern World Series in 1888 and 1889.