1912 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1912 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1912 in baseball.

The 1912 major league baseball season began on April 11, 1912. The regular season ended on October 6, with the New York Giants and Boston Red Sox as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the ninth modern World Series on October 8 and ended with Game 8 on October 16. The Red Sox defeated the Giants, four games to three (with one tie), capturing their second championship in franchise history, since their previous in 1903. Going into the season, the defending World Series champions were the Philadelphia Athletics from the 1911 season.

1912 MLB season
League	American League (AL) National League (NL)
Sport	Baseball
Duration	Regular season: April 11 – October 6, 1912 World Series: October 8–16, 1912
Number of games	154
Number of teams	16 (8 per league)
Regular season
Season MVP	AL: Tris Speaker (BRS) NL: Larry Doyle (NYG)
AL champions	Boston Red Sox
AL runners-up	Washington Senators
NL champions	New York Giants
NL runners-up	Pittsburgh Pirates
World Series
Champions	Boston Red Sox
Runners-up	New York Giants

Red Sox

White Sox

Naps

Tigers

Athletics

Browns

Highlanders

Senators

Locations of teams for the 1912 American League season
American League

Braves

Trolley
Dodgers

Cubs

Reds

Giants

Phillies

Pirates

Cardinals

Locations of teams for the 1912 National League season
National League

This was the second of four seasons that the Chalmers Award, a precursor to the Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award (introduced in 1931), was given to a player in each league.

During the season, Harper's Weekly conducted a detailed accounting of the expenses of major league clubs, reaching a figure of approximately $175,000 to $200,000.^[1]

The Boston Rustlers renamed as the Boston Braves.

Schedule

See also: Major League Baseball schedule

The 1912 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, April 11, featured all sixteen teams, only the second time every team has started their season on the same day (first being two years prior with the 1910 season). The final day of the regular season was on October 6. The World Series took place between October 8 and October 16.

Rule change

The 1912 season saw the following rule change:

• The Class AA ("Double-A") level was created as the new highest level of minor-league baseball, with the elevation of the American Association, International League, and Pacific Coast League, from Class A ("Single-A").^[2]

Teams

League	Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Manager[3]
American League	Boston Red Sox	Boston, Massachusetts	Fenway Park	35,000	Jake Stahl
	Chicago White Sox	Chicago, Illinois	White Sox Park	28,000	Jimmy Callahan
	Cleveland Naps	Cleveland, Ohio	League Park	21,414	Harry Davis
					Joe Birmingham
	Detroit Tigers	Detroit, Michigan	Navin Field	23,000	Hughie Jennings
	New York Highlanders	New York, New York	Hilltop Park	16,000	Harry Wolverton
	Philadelphia Athletics	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Shibe Park	23,000	Connie Mack
	St. Louis Browns	St. Louis, Missouri	Sportsman's Park	18,000	Bobby Wallace
					George Stovall
	Washington Senators	Washington, D.C.	Griffith Stadium	27,000	Clark Griffith
National League	Boston Braves	Boston, Massachusetts	South End Grounds	11,000	Johnny Kling
	Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers	New York, New York	Washington Park	16,000	Bill Dahlen
	Chicago Cubs	Chicago, Illinois	West Side Park	16,000	Frank Chance
	Cincinnati Reds	Cincinnati, Ohio	Redland Field	20,696	Hank O'Day
	New York Giants	New York, New York	Brush Stadium	34,000	John McGraw
	Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	National League Park	18,000	Red Dooin
	Pittsburgh Pirates	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Forbes Field	23,000	Fred Clarke
	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis, Missouri	Robison Field	21,000	Roger Bresnahan

Standings

American League

• v
• t
• e

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Boston Red Sox	105	47	.691	—	57‍–‍20	48‍–‍27
Washington Senators	91	61	.599	14	45‍–‍32	46‍–‍29
Philadelphia Athletics	90	62	.592	15	45‍–‍31	45‍–‍31
Chicago White Sox	78	76	.506	28	34‍–‍43	44‍–‍33
Cleveland Naps	75	78	.490	30½	41‍–‍35	34‍–‍43
Detroit Tigers	69	84	.451	36½	37‍–‍39	32‍–‍45
St. Louis Browns	53	101	.344	53	27‍–‍50	26‍–‍51
New York Highlanders	50	102	.329	55	31‍–‍44	19‍–‍58

National League

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Giants	103	48	.682	—	49‍–‍25	54‍–‍23
Pittsburgh Pirates	93	58	.616	10	44‍–‍31	49‍–‍27
Chicago Cubs	91	59	.607	11½	46‍–‍30	45‍–‍29
Cincinnati Reds	75	78	.490	29	45‍–‍32	30‍–‍46
Philadelphia Phillies	73	79	.480	30½	34‍–‍41	39‍–‍38
St. Louis Cardinals	63	90	.412	41	37‍–‍40	26‍–‍50
Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers	58	95	.379	46	33‍–‍43	25‍–‍52
Boston Braves	52	101	.340	52	31‍–‍47	21‍–‍54

Postseason

The postseason began on October 8 and ended on October 16 with the Boston Red Sox defeating the New York Giants in the 1912 World Series in seven games.

Bracket

	World Series
	AL	Boston Red Sox	4
	NL	New York Giants	3

Managerial changes

Off-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Boston Braves	Fred Tenney	Johnny Kling
Boston Red Sox	Patsy Donovan	Jake Stahl
Chicago White Sox	Hugh Duffy	Jimmy Callahan
Cincinnati Reds	Clark Griffith	Hank O'Day
Cleveland Naps	George Stovall	Harry Davis
New York Highlanders	Hal Chase	Harry Wolverton
Washington Senators	Jimmy McAleer	Clark Griffith

In-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Cleveland Naps	Harry Davis	Joe Birmingham
St. Louis Browns	Bobby Wallace	George Stovall

League leaders

American League

Hitting leaders^[4]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Ty Cobb (DET)	.409
OPS	Ty Cobb (DET)	1.040
HR	Home Run Baker (PHA) Tris Speaker (BRS)	10
RBI	Home Run Baker (PHA)	130
R	Eddie Collins (PHA)	137
H	Ty Cobb (DET) Joe Jackson (CLE)	226
SB	Clyde Milan (WSH)	88

Pitching leaders^[5]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Smoky Joe Wood (BRS)	34
L	Russ Ford (NYH)	21
ERA	Walter Johnson (WSH)	1.39
K	Walter Johnson (WSH)	303
IP	Ed Walsh (CWS)	393.0
SV	Ed Walsh (CWS)	10
WHIP	Walter Johnson (WSH)	0.908

National League

Hitting leaders^[6]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Heinie Zimmerman1 (CHC)	.372
OPS	Heinie Zimmerman (CHC)	.989
HR	Heinie Zimmerman1 (CHC)	14
RBI	Heinie Zimmerman1 (CHC)	104
R	Bob Bescher (CIN)	120
H	Heinie Zimmerman (CHC)	207
SB	Bob Bescher (CIN)	67

¹ National League Triple Crown batting winner

Pitching leaders^[7]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Larry Cheney (CHC) Rube Marquard (NYG)	26
L	Lefty Tyler (BSB)	22
ERA	Jeff Tesreau (NYG)	1.96
K	Grover Alexander (PHP)	195
IP	Grover Alexander (PHP)	310.1
SV	Slim Sallee (SLC)	6
WHIP	Hank Robinson (PIT)	1.006

Awards and honors

• Chalmers Award: Larry Doyle (NYG, National); Tris Speaker (BRS, American)

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
New York Giants[8]	103	4.0%	638,000	−5.5%	8,395
Chicago White Sox[9]	78	1.3%	602,241	3.3%	7,721
Boston Red Sox[10]	105	34.6%	597,096	18.5%	7,655
Philadelphia Athletics[11]	90	−10.9%	517,653	−14.5%	6,723
Chicago Cubs[12]	91	−1.1%	514,000	−10.8%	6,590
Detroit Tigers[13]	69	−22.5%	402,870	−16.9%	5,301
Pittsburgh Pirates[14]	93	9.4%	384,000	−11.1%	5,120
Washington Senators[15]	91	42.2%	350,663	43.2%	4,496
Cincinnati Reds[16]	75	7.1%	344,000	14.7%	4,468
Cleveland Naps[17]	75	−6.3%	336,844	−17.1%	4,375
Philadelphia Phillies[18]	73	−7.6%	250,000	−39.9%	3,333
Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers[19]	58	−9.4%	243,000	−9.7%	3,197
New York Highlanders[20]	50	−34.2%	242,194	−19.9%	3,187
St. Louis Cardinals[21]	63	−16.0%	241,759	−46.0%	3,140
St. Louis Browns[22]	53	17.8%	214,070	2.9%	2,710
Boston Braves[23]	52	18.2%	121,000	4.3%	1,532