1906 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1906 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1906 in baseball.

The 1906 major league baseball season began on April 12, 1906. The regular season ended on October 7, with the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox as regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the third modern World Series on October 9 and ended with Game 6 on October 14. The White Sox defeated the Cubs, four games to two, capturing their first championship in franchise history. Going into the season, the defending World Series champions were the New York Giants from the 1905 season.

1906 MLB season
League	American League (AL) National League (NL)
Sport	Baseball
Duration	Regular season: April 14 – October 7, 1906 (AL) April 12 – October 7, 1906 (NL) World Series: October 9–14, 1906
Number of games	154
Number of teams	16 (8 per league)
Pennant Winners
AL champions	Chicago White Sox
AL runners-up	New York Highlanders
NL champions	Chicago Cubs
NL runners-up	New York Giants
World Series
Champions	Chicago White Sox
Runners-up	Chicago Cubs

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

Schedule

See also: Major League Baseball schedule

The 1906 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.

National League Opening Day took place on April 12 with all teams playing, while American League Opening Day did not take place until April 14 with four teams playing. The final day of the regular season was on October 7. The World Series took place between October 9 and October 14.

Teams

League	Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Manager[1]
American League	Boston Americans	Boston, Massachusetts	Huntington Avenue Grounds	11,500	Jimmy Collins
					Chick Stahl
	Chicago White Sox	Chicago, Illinois	South Side Park	14,000	Fielder Jones
	Cleveland Naps	Cleveland, Ohio	League Park (Cleveland)	9,000	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	Patsy Donovan
	Chicago Cubs	Chicago, Illinois	West Side Park	14,200	Frank Chance
	Cincinnati Reds	Cincinnati, Ohio	Palace of the Fans	12,000	Ned Hanlon
	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	John McCloskey

Standings

American League

• v
• t
• e

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago White Sox	93	58	.616	—	54‍–‍23	39‍–‍35
New York Highlanders	90	61	.596	3	53‍–‍23	37‍–‍38
Cleveland Naps	89	64	.582	5	47‍–‍30	42‍–‍34
Philadelphia Athletics	78	67	.538	12	48‍–‍23	30‍–‍44
St. Louis Browns	76	73	.510	16	40‍–‍34	36‍–‍39
Detroit Tigers	71	78	.477	21	42‍–‍34	29‍–‍44
Washington Senators	55	95	.367	37½	33‍–‍41	22‍–‍54
Boston Americans	49	105	.318	45½	22‍–‍54	27‍–‍51

National League

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Chicago Cubs	116	36	.763	—	56‍–‍21	60‍–‍15
New York Giants	96	56	.632	20	51‍–‍24	45‍–‍32
Pittsburgh Pirates	93	60	.608	23½	49‍–‍27	44‍–‍33
Philadelphia Phillies	71	82	.464	45½	37‍–‍40	34‍–‍42
Brooklyn Superbas	66	86	.434	50	31‍–‍44	35‍–‍42
Cincinnati Reds	64	87	.424	51½	36‍–‍40	28‍–‍47
St. Louis Cardinals	52	98	.347	63	28‍–‍48	24‍–‍50
Boston Beaneaters	49	102	.325	66½	28‍–‍47	21‍–‍55

Postseason

The postseason began on October 9 and ended on October 14 with the Chicago White Sox defeating the Chicago Cubs in the 1906 World Series in six games.

Bracket

	World Series
	AL	Chicago White Sox	4
	NL	Chicago Cubs	2

Managerial changes

Off-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Brooklyn Superbas	Ned Hanlon	Patsy Donovan
Cincinnati Reds	Joe Kelley	Ned Hanlon
St. Louis Cardinals	Stanley Robison	John McCloskey

In-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Boston Americans	Jimmy Collins	Chick Stahl

League leaders

Any team shown in small text indicates a previous team a player was on during the season.

American League

Hitting leaders^[2]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	George Stone (SLB)	.358
OPS	George Stone (SLB)	.918
HR	Harry Davis (PHA)	12
RBI	Harry Davis (PHA)	96
R	Elmer Flick (CLE)	98
H	Nap Lajoie (CLE)	214
SB	John Anderson (WSH) Elmer Flick (CLE)	39

Pitching leaders^[3]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Al Orth (NYH)	27
L	Joe Harris (BSA) Cy Young (BSA)	21
ERA	Doc White (CWS)	1.52
K	Rube Waddell (PHA)	196
IP	Al Orth (NYH)	338.2
SV	Charles Bender (PHA) Otto Hess (CLE)	3
WHIP	Doc White (CWS)	0.903

National League

Hitting leaders^[4]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Honus Wagner (PIT)	.339
OPS	Honus Wagner (PIT)	.875
HR	Tim Jordan (BKN)	12
RBI	Joe Nealon (PIT) Harry Steinfeldt (CHC)	83
R	Frank Chance (CHC) Honus Wagner (PIT)	103
H	Harry Steinfeldt (CHC)	176
SB	Frank Chance (CHC)	57

Pitching leaders^[5]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Joe McGinnity (NYG)	27
L	Gus Dorner (BSB/CIN)	26
ERA	Mordecai Brown (CHC)	1.04
K	Fred Beebe (STL/CHC)	171
IP	Irv Young (BSB)	358.1
SV	Cecil Ferguson (NYG)	7
WHIP	Mordecai Brown (CHC)	0.934

Milestones

The Chicago Cubs won a record 116 games while losing only 36. Their .763 winning percentage remains the highest in the modern (two-league) era.^[6] They were led offensively by third baseman Harry Steinfeldt whose 176 hits, .327 batting average and 83 RBIs were all a team-best; Steinfeldt also had 29 stolen bases. The Cubs' pitching staff consisted of Ed Reulbach, Carl Lundgren, Mordecai Brown and left-hander Jack Pfiester.

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
Chicago Cubs[7]	116	26.1%	654,300	28.3%	8,282
Chicago White Sox[8]	93	1.1%	585,202	−14.9%	7,408
Philadelphia Athletics[9]	78	−15.2%	489,129	−11.8%	6,700
New York Highlanders[10]	90	26.8%	434,700	40.6%	5,720
Boston Americans[11]	49	−37.2%	410,209	−12.5%	5,327
New York Giants[12]	96	−8.6%	402,850	−27.1%	5,371
Pittsburgh Pirates[13]	93	−3.1%	394,877	7.0%	5,128
St. Louis Browns[14]	76	40.7%	389,157	14.8%	5,120
Cincinnati Reds[15]	64	−19.0%	330,056	5.1%	4,231
Cleveland Naps[16]	89	17.1%	325,733	3.0%	4,123
Philadelphia Phillies[17]	71	−14.5%	294,680	−7.3%	3,827
St. Louis Cardinals[18]	52	−10.3%	283,770	−3.1%	3,685
Brooklyn Superbas[19]	66	37.5%	277,400	21.7%	3,650
Detroit Tigers[20]	71	−10.1%	174,043	−10.0%	2,231
Boston Beaneaters[21]	49	−3.9%	143,280	−4.5%	1,885
Washington Senators[22]	55	−14.1%	129,903	−48.5%	1,732

Events

• July 4 – Mordecai Brown of the Chicago Cubs defeats Lefty Leifield of the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1–0, in which both pitchers allowed only one hit. Leifield recorded the only hit for Pittsburgh. This was the first double one-hitter in MLB history in the modern era (since 1901), and one of four double one-hitters ever pitched.^[23]
• September 26 – After being held scoreless for 48 consecutive innings, the Philadelphia Athletics finally score on a two-run double by Harry Davis, but still lose to the Cleveland Naps, 5–3.^[24]