1916 Major League Baseball season

This article is about the 1916 Major League Baseball season only. For information on all of baseball, see 1916 in baseball.

The 1916 major league baseball season began on April 12, 1916. The regular season ended on October 5, with the Brooklyn Robins 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 13th World Series on October 7 and ended with Game 5 on October 12. The Red Sox defeated the Robins, four games to one, capturing their fourth championship in franchise history, and the third team to win back-to-back World Series.

1916 MLB season
League	American League (AL) National League (NL)
Sport	Baseball
Duration	Regular season: April 14 – October 4, 1916 (AL) April 14 – October 5, 1916 (NL) World Series: October 7–12, 1916
Number of games	154
Number of teams	16 (8 per league)
Pennant winners
AL champions	Boston Red Sox
AL runners-up	Chicago White Sox
NL champions	Brooklyn Robins
NL runners-up	Philadelphia Phillies
World Series
Champions	Boston Red Sox
Runners-up	Brooklyn Robins

Red Sox

White Sox  

Indians

Tigers

Athletics

Browns

Yankees

Senators

Locations of teams for the 1915–1922 American League seasons
American League

Braves

Robins

Cubs

Reds

Giants

Phillies

Pirates

Cardinals

Locations of teams for the 1916–1919 National League seasons
National League

Interference by the National and American Leagues in their operations caused the two-season Federal League to fold prior to the 1916 season.

Schedule

See also: Major League Baseball schedule

The 1916 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 14, featured all sixteen teams, continuing the trend which started with the 1912 season. The American League would see its final day of the regular season on October 4, while the National League would see its final day of the regular season was on October 5. The World Series took place between October 7 and October 12.

Rule change

The National League ruled that a player's bat was considered part of him until a ball in play is fielded.^[1]

Teams

League	Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Manager[2]
American League	Boston Red Sox	Boston, Massachusetts	Fenway Park	35,000	Bill Carrigan
	Chicago White Sox	Chicago, Illinois	Comiskey Park	28,000	Pants Rowland
	Cleveland Indians	Cleveland, Ohio	League Park	21,414	Lee Fohl
	Detroit Tigers	Detroit, Michigan	Navin Field	23,000	Hughie Jennings
	New York Yankees	New York, New York	Brush Stadium	34,000	Bill Donovan
	Philadelphia Athletics	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Shibe Park	23,000	Connie Mack
	St. Louis Browns	St. Louis, Missouri	Sportsman's Park	18,000	Fielder Jones
	Washington Senators	Washington, D.C.	Griffith Stadium	27,000	Clark Griffith
National League	Boston Braves	Boston, Massachusetts	Braves Field	40,000	George Stallings
	Brooklyn Robins	New York, New York	Ebbets Field	30,000	Wilbert Robinson
	Chicago Cubs	Chicago, Illinois	Weeghman Park	15,000	Joe Tinker
	Cincinnati Reds	Cincinnati, Ohio	Redland Field	20,696	Buck Herzog
					Ivey Wingo
					Christy Mathewson
	New York Giants	New York, New York	Brush Stadium	34,000	John McGraw
	Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	National League Park	18,000	Pat Moran
	Pittsburgh Pirates	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Forbes Field	25,000	Jimmy Callahan
	St. Louis Cardinals	St. Louis, Missouri	Robison Field	21,000	Miller Huggins

Standings

American League

• v
• t
• e

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Boston Red Sox	91	63	.591	—	49‍–‍28	42‍–‍35
Chicago White Sox	89	65	.578	2	49‍–‍28	40‍–‍37
Detroit Tigers	87	67	.565	4	49‍–‍28	38‍–‍39
New York Yankees	80	74	.519	11	46‍–‍31	34‍–‍43
St. Louis Browns	79	75	.513	12	45‍–‍32	34‍–‍43
Cleveland Indians	77	77	.500	14	44‍–‍33	33‍–‍44
Washington Senators	76	77	.497	14½	49‍–‍28	27‍–‍49
Philadelphia Athletics	36	117	.235	54½	23‍–‍53	13‍–‍64

National League

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Brooklyn Robins	94	60	.610	—	50‍–‍27	44‍–‍33
Philadelphia Phillies	91	62	.595	2½	50‍–‍29	41‍–‍33
Boston Braves	89	63	.586	4	41‍–‍31	48‍–‍32
New York Giants	86	66	.566	7	47‍–‍30	39‍–‍36
Chicago Cubs	67	86	.438	26½	37‍–‍41	30‍–‍45
Pittsburgh Pirates	65	89	.422	29	37‍–‍40	28‍–‍49
St. Louis Cardinals	60	93	.392	33½	36‍–‍40	24‍–‍53
Cincinnati Reds	60	93	.392	33½	32‍–‍44	28‍–‍49

Postseason

The postseason began on October 7 and ended on October 12 with the Boston Red Sox defeating the Brooklyn Robins in the 1916 World Series in five games.

Bracket

	World Series
	AL	Boston Red Sox	4
	NL	Brooklyn Robins	1

Managerial changes

Off-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Baltimore Terrapins	Otto Knabe	Team folded
Brooklyn Tip-Tops	John Ganzel	Team folded
Buffalo Blues	Harry Lord	Team folded
Chicago Cubs	Roger Bresnahan	Joe Tinker
Chicago Whales	Joe Tinker	Team folded
Kansas City Packers	George Stovall	Team folded
Newark Peppers	Bill McKechnie	Team folded
Pittsburgh Pirates	Fred Clarke	Jimmy Callahan
Pittsburgh Rebels	Rebel Oakes	Team folded
St. Louis Browns	Branch Rickey	Fielder Jones
St. Louis Terriers	Fielder Jones	Team folded

In-season

Team	Former Manager	New Manager
Cincinnati Reds	Buck Herzog	Ivey Wingo
	Ivey Wingo	Christy Mathewson

League leaders

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

American League

Hitting leaders^[3]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Tris Speaker (CLE)	.386
OPS	Tris Speaker (CLE)	.972
HR	Wally Pipp (NYY)	12
RBI	Del Pratt (SLB)	103
R	Ty Cobb (DET)	113
H	Tris Speaker (CLE)	211
SB	Ty Cobb (DET)	68

Pitching leaders^[4]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Walter Johnson (WSH)	25
L	Bullet Joe Bush (PHA)	24
ERA	Babe Ruth (BRS)	1.75
K	Walter Johnson (WSH)	228
IP	Walter Johnson (WSH)	369.2
SV	Bob Shawkey (NYY)	8
WHIP	Reb Russell (CWS)	0.942

National League

Hitting leaders^[5]

Stat	Player	Total
AVG	Hal Chase (CIN)	.339
OPS	Cy Williams (CHC)	.831
HR	Dave Robertson (NYG) Cy Williams (CHC)	12
RBI	Heinie Zimmerman (NYG/CHC)	128
R	George Burns (NYG)	105
H	Hal Chase (CIN)	184
SB	Max Carey (PIT)	63

¹ National League Triple Crown pitching winner

Pitching leaders^[6]

Stat	Player	Total
W	Grover Alexander1 (PHP)	33
L	Lee Meadows (SLC)	23
ERA	Grover Alexander1 (PHP)	1.55
K	Grover Alexander1 (PHP)	167
IP	Grover Alexander (PHP)	389.0
SV	Red Ames (SLC)	8
WHIP	Grover Alexander (PHP)	0.959

Home field attendance

Team name	Wins	%±	Home attendance	%±	Per game
Chicago White Sox[7]	89	−4.3%	679,923	26.0%	8,830
Detroit Tigers[8]	87	−13.0%	616,772	29.5%	8,010
New York Giants[9]	86	24.6%	552,056	40.9%	7,078
Philadelphia Phillies[10]	91	1.1%	515,365	14.6%	6,524
Boston Red Sox[11]	91	−9.9%	496,397	−8.1%	6,364
Cleveland Indians[12]	77	35.1%	492,106	208.9%	6,309
New York Yankees[13]	80	15.9%	469,211	83.3%	5,939
Chicago Cubs[14]	67	−8.2%	453,685	109.0%	5,743
Brooklyn Robins[15]	94	17.5%	447,747	50.4%	5,740
St. Louis Browns[16]	79	25.4%	335,740	123.3%	4,250
Boston Braves[17]	89	7.2%	313,495	−16.7%	4,019
Pittsburgh Pirates[18]	65	−11.0%	289,132	28.1%	3,707
Cincinnati Reds[19]	60	−15.5%	255,846	16.9%	3,366
St. Louis Cardinals[20]	60	−16.7%	224,308	−11.2%	2,951
Philadelphia Athletics[21]	36	−16.3%	184,471	26.2%	2,427
Washington Senators[22]	76	−10.6%	177,265	5.9%	2,188

Notable events

• July 28 – In the course of an 8–6 defeat to the St Louis Browns, Philadelphia Athletics second baseman Nap Lajoie plays his lone game in center field.^[23]