1904 Cincinnati Reds
LeagueNational League
BallparkPalace of the Fans
CityCincinnati, Ohio
OwnersGarry Herrmann
ManagersJoe Kelley
← 1903 Seasons 1905 →

The 1904 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The team finished third in the National League with a record of 88–65, 18 games behind the New York Giants.

Regular season

The Cincinnati Reds had made steady improvements over the past two seasons, and were looking to improve even more in 1904, as they were hoping to contend for the National League pennant. The Reds won only 52 games in 1901, however, they improved to 70 in 1902, and 74 in 1903.

Joe Kelley returned for his third season as player-manager of the team, as he took over first base on a permanent basis after Jake Beckley joined the St. Louis Cardinals. Thirty-one-year-old rookie Fred Odwell joined the team after spending the 1903 season with the Louisville Colonels of the American Association, while another rookie Miller Huggins, took over the starting job at second base.

Cy Seymour led Cincinnati with a .313 batting average, while hitting a club high five home runs, and drove in 58 runners. Tommy Corcoran hit only .230, but he managed to hit two home runs and have a club best 74 RBI. Rookie Miller Huggins led the Reds with 96 runs, while he hit .296 with two homers and 30 RBI.

On the mound, Jack Harper had a breakout season, as he won a team high 23 games, while posting a 2.30 ERA in 35 starts. Noodles Hahn had poor run support, as he only had a 16–18 record, however, Hahn had a 2.06 ERA in 35 games, 34 of them starts. Win Kellum and Tom Walker each won 15 games each, with ERA's of 2.60 and 2.24 respectively.

Season summary

Cincinnati began the season with a mediocre 8–7 record after fifteen games, however, the Reds won their next eight games to move into second place, just half a game behind the first place New York Giants. Cincinnati continues to play good baseball, winning seven of their next ten to improve to 23–11, and take a 1.5 game lead over the Giants and Chicago Cubs for first place in the National League.

The Reds, Giants and Cubs continued their battle for first place going into the month of June, but then the Giants got red hot, and Cincinnati, nor Chicago, could keep up with New York. The Reds had a 13–16 slump to drop their record to 36–27, falling into third place, 11.5 games behind the Giants. As the season went on, the Cubs, Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates battled for second place, but all three teams were well behind New York.

On August 7, the Reds, Giants and Pirates were in a three team deal, which included Cincinnati sending Mike Donlin to New York, while the Reds acquired Jimmy Sebring from Pittsburgh. The team continued playing good baseball for the remainder of the season, finishing with a record of 88–65, good for third place in the National League, 18 games behind the Giants. The Reds 88 wins was their highest since they won 92 games in the 1898 season.

Season standings

National League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Giants 106 47 0.693 — 56–26 50–21
Chicago Cubs 93 60 0.608 13 49–27 44–33
Cincinnati Reds 88 65 0.575 18 49–27 39–38
Pittsburgh Pirates 87 66 0.569 19 48–30 39–36
St. Louis Cardinals 75 79 0.487 31½ 39–36 36–43
Brooklyn Superbas 56 97 0.366 50 31–44 25–53
Boston Beaneaters 55 98 0.359 51 34–45 21–53
Philadelphia Phillies 52 100 0.342 53½ 28–43 24–57

Record vs. opponents

1904 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS BRO CHC CIN NYG PHI PIT STL
Boston — 9–13 9–13 7–15 2–20 11–10–1 8–14 9–13–1
Brooklyn 13–9 — 5–17 8–14 3–19 13–9 7–14–1 7–15
Chicago 13–9 17–5 — 13–8–1 11–11–2 15–7 9–13 15–7
Cincinnati 15–7 14–8 8–13–1 — 10–12–1 16–6 11–11–2 14–8
New York 20–2 19–3 11–11–2 12–10–1 — 17–4–2 12–10 15–7
Philadelphia 10–11–1 9–13 7–15 6–16 4–17–2 — 9–13 7–15
Pittsburgh 14–8 14–7–1 13–9 11–11–2 10–12 13–9 — 12–10
St. Louis 13–9–1 15–7 7–15 8–14 7–15 15–7 10–12 —


Roster

1904 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

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 Admiral Schlei 97 291 69 .237 0 32
1B Joe Kelley 123 449 126 .281 0 63
2B Miller Huggins 140 491 129 .263 2 30
SS Tommy Corcoran 150 578 133 .230 2 74
3B Harry Steinfeldt 99 349 85 .244 1 52
OF Cy Seymour 131 531 166 .313 5 58
OF Fred Odwell 129 468 133 .284 1 58
OF Cozy Dolan 129 465 132 .284 6 51

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
Sam Woodruff 87 306 58 .190 0 20
Heinie Peitz 84 272 66 .243 1 30
Mike Donlin 60 236 84 .356 1 38
Jimmy Sebring 56 222 50 .225 0 24
Gabby Street 11 33 4 .121 0 0
Peaches O'Neill 8 15 4 .267 0 1

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
Noodles Hahn 35 297.2 16 18 2.06 98
Jack Harper 34 293.2 23 9 2.30 125
Win Kellum 31 224.2 15 10 2.60 70
Tom Walker 24 217.0 15 8 2.24 64
Bob Ewing 26 212.0 11 13 2.46 99
Jack Sutthoff 12 90.0 5 6 2.30 27

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
Claude Elliott 9 57.2 3 1 2.97 19

References

Categories