1905 Philadelphia Athletics
American League Champions
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkColumbia Park
CityPhiladelphia
OwnersBenjamin Shibe
Tom Shibe
John Shibe
Connie Mack
Sam Jones
Frank Hough
ManagersConnie Mack
← 1904
1906 →

The 1905 Philadelphia Athletics season was a season in American baseball. The team finished first in the American League with a record of 92 wins and 56 losses, winning their second pennant. They went on to face the New York Giants in the 1905 World Series, losing 4 games to 1.

The pitching staff featured three future Hall of Famers: Rube Waddell, Eddie Plank, and Chief Bender. Waddell easily won the pitching triple crown in 1905, with 27 wins, 287 strikeouts, and a 1.48 earned run average.

Preseason

1905 Philadelphia City Series

The Athletics played eight games against the Philadelphia Phillies for the local championship in the pre-season city series. The Athletics and Phillies tied in the series, 4 games to 4.[1]

Two games scheduled for April 5, 1905 at the Phillies' Philadelphia Ball Park, and for April 6, 1905 at the Athletics' Columbia Park were called off on account of wet grounds.[2][3]

AL Philadelphia Athletics (4) vs. NL Philadelphia Phillies (4)

Game Date Score Location Time Attendance 
1 April 1, 1905 Philadelphia Phillies – 0, Philadelphia Athletics – 4 Columbia Park 1:40 14,830[4] 
2 April 3, 1905 Philadelphia Athletics – 3, Philadelphia Phillies – 2 Philadelphia Ball Park 1:45 4,642[5] 
3 April 4, 1905 Philadelphia Phillies – 4, Philadelphia Athletics – 3 Columbia Park 1:40 2,451[6] 
4 April 7, 1905 Philadelphia Phillies – 1, Philadelphia Athletics – 6 Columbia Park 1:30 1,905[7] 
5 April 8, 1905 Philadelphia Athletics – 1, Philadelphia Phillies – 3 Philadelphia Ball Park 1:35 4,372[8] 
6 April 10, 1905 Philadelphia Athletics – 5, Philadelphia Phillies – 1 Philadelphia Ball Park 1:40 2,896[9] 
7 April 11, 1905 Philadelphia Phillies – 8, Philadelphia Athletics – 5 Columbia Park 1:45 1,874[10] 
8 April 12, 1905 Philadelphia Athletics – 0, Philadelphia Phillies – 5 Philadelphia Ball Park 1:40 1,975[11]

The A's all-time record against the Phillies was 14–14 through 1905.

Regular season

The Athletics at the Polo Grounds before a World Series game.

The A's offense scored the most runs in the league. Slugger Harry Davis led all players in home runs, runs scored, and runs batted in.

Season standings

American League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Philadelphia Athletics 92 56 0.622 — 51–22 41–34
Chicago White Sox 92 60 0.605 2 50–29 42–31
Detroit Tigers 79 74 0.516 15½ 45–30 34–44
Boston Americans 78 74 0.513 16 44–32 34–42
Cleveland Naps 76 78 0.494 19 41–36 35–42
New York Highlanders 71 78 0.477 21½ 40–35 31–43
Washington Senators 64 87 0.424 29½ 33–42 31–45
St. Louis Browns 54 99 0.353 40½ 34–42 20–57

Record vs. opponents

1905 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYH PHA SLB WSH
Boston — 6–16–1 14–8 10–12 13–8 7–15 15–7 13–8
Chicago 16–6–1 — 13–9 11–11–1 15–7–1 9–12–1 14–7–1 14–8–1
Cleveland 8–14 9–13 — 12–10 12–10 7–15 14–8–1 14–8
Detroit 12–10 11–11–1 10–12 — 13–8 9–13 13–9 11–11
New York 8–13 7–15–1 10–12 8–13 — 8–11–1 15–7 15–7–1
Philadelphia 15–7 12–9–1 15–7 13–9 11–8–1 — 15–7–1 11–9–1
St. Louis 7–15 7–14–1 8–14–1 9–13 7–15 7–15–1 — 9–13
Washington 8–13 8–14–1 8–14 11–11 7–15–1 9–11–1 13–9 —

Birth of the Elephant mascot

After New York Giants' manager John McGraw told reporters that Philadelphia manufacturer Ben Shibe, who owned the controlling interest in the Athletics, had a "white elephant on his hands", manager Connie Mack defiantly adopted the white elephant as the team mascot, and presented McGraw with a stuffed toy elephant at the start of the 1905 World Series. McGraw and Mack had known each other for years, and McGraw accepted it graciously.

Roster

1905 Philadelphia Athletics
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

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 Ossee Schreckengost 123 420 114 .271 0 45
1B Harry Davis 150 607 173 .285 8 83
2B Danny Murphy 151 537 149 .277 6 71
3B Lave Cross 147 587 156 .266 0 77
SS John Knight 88 325 66 .203 3 29
LF Topsy Hartsel 150 538 148 .275 0 28
CF Danny Hoffman 120 459 120 .261 1 35
RF Socks Seybold 133 492 135 .274 6 59

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
Monte Cross 79 252 67 .266 0 24
Bris Lord 66 238 57 .239 0 13
Doc Powers 40 121 18 .149 0 10
Harry Barton 29 60 10 .167 0 3

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
Eddie Plank 41 346.2 24 12 2.26 210
Rube Waddell 46 328.2 27 10 1.48 287
Andy Coakley 35 255.0 18 8 1.84 145
Weldon Henley 25 183.2 4 11 2.60 82
Joseph Myers 1 5.0 0 0 3.60 5

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
Chief Bender 35 229.0 18 11 2.83 142
Jimmy Dygert 6 35.1 1 4 4.33 24

1905 World Series

Main article: 1905 World Series

NL New York Giants (4) vs AL Philadelphia Athletics (1)

Game Score Date Location Attendance
1 Giants – 3, Athletics – 0 October 9 Columbia Park 17,995
2 Athletics – 3, Giants – 0 October 10 Polo Grounds 24,992
3 Giants – 9, Athletics – 0 October 12 Columbia Park 10,991
4 Athletics – 0, Giants – 1 October 13 Polo Grounds 13,598
5 Athletics – 0, Giants – 2 October 14 Polo Grounds 24,187

Awards and honors

American League top five finishers

Andy Coakley

Lave Cross

Harry Davis

Topsy Hartsel

Danny Hoffman

Eddie Plank

Rube Waddell

Notes

  1. ^ The Reach Official American League Guide. A.J. Reach. 1905. p. 127. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
  2. ^ "The Old Sport's Musings". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 6, 1905. p. 10. Owing to the sloppiness of the going, the game between the Athletics and the Phillies scheduled for yesterday was called off.
  3. ^ "Athletics and Phillies Will Try Again To-day". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 7, 1905. p. 10.
  4. ^ "Chief Bender Ties Phillies in Knots". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 2, 1905. p. 14.
  5. ^ "Athletics Win Again: Those Athletics Gets the Second by Close Shave". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 4, 1905. p. 10.
  6. ^ "Phillies Turn To and Take a Fall Out of Athletics". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 5, 1905. p. 10.
  7. ^ "Waddel's Curves Trifle Too Deep for the Phillies". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 8, 1905. p. 10.
  8. ^ "The Phillies Made Their Hits Count". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 9, 1905. p. 15.
  9. ^ "Athletics Jump Suthoff in the Eighth Inning". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 11, 1905. p. 10.
  10. ^ "The Only Ruben Has His Handed Him By The Phillies in the Fourth, 8 to 5". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 12, 1905. p. 15.
  11. ^ "Phillies Tie Up Spring Series with Athletics, Winning the Final Game". Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. April 13, 1905. p. 10.

References

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