1908 New York Highlanders
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkHilltop Park
CityNew York, New York
OwnersWilliam Devery and Frank Farrell
ManagersClark Griffith, Kid Elberfeld
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1909 →

The 1908 New York Highlanders season finished with the team in eighth place in the American League with a record of 51–103. Their home games were played at Hilltop Park.

The Highlanders finished in last place, 17 games out of seventh. It was the second-worst season in club history.[1] Starting first baseman Hal Chase left the team in September under allegations that he was throwing games. After Clark Griffith's departure, the Highlanders lost 70 of their last 98 games under new manager Kid Elberfeld.[2]

Regular season

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On June 30, Cy Young of the Boston Red Sox threw a no-hitter against the Highlanders. In the game, Young had 3 hits and 4 RBI's.[3] By now the alternate and equally unofficial nickname "Yankees" was being used frequently to refer to the Highlanders. The New York Times article about Young's no-hitter at "the American League Park" (Hilltop Park's formal name), referred to the club exclusively as "Yankees" throughout the article. Other newspapers continued to use the two nicknames interchangeably.

On September 4, 5 and 7, 1908, Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators shut out the Highlanders in three consecutive games.

Season standings

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American League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Detroit Tigers 90 63 .588 — 44‍–‍33 46‍–‍30
Cleveland Naps 90 64 .584 ½ 51‍–‍26 39‍–‍38
Chicago White Sox 88 64 .579 1½ 51‍–‍25 37‍–‍39
St. Louis Browns 83 69 .546 6½ 46‍–‍31 37‍–‍38
Boston Red Sox 75 79 .487 15½ 37‍–‍40 38‍–‍39
Philadelphia Athletics 68 85 .444 22 46‍–‍30 22‍–‍55
Washington Senators 67 85 .441 22½ 43‍–‍32 24‍–‍53
New York Highlanders 51 103 .331 39½ 30‍–‍47 21‍–‍56

Record vs. opponents

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1908 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 10–12 11–11 12–10 10–12 15–7 11–11
Chicago 16–6–1 — 8–14–1 9–13 16–6 13–9 11–10 15–6–2
Cleveland 12–10 14–8–1 — 13–9 16–6 16–6–1 11–11–1 8–14
Detroit 11–11 13–9 9–13 — 15–7 14–8–1 12–10 16–5
New York 10–12 6–16 6–16 7–15 — 8–14–1 5–17 9–13
Philadelphia 12–10 9–13 6–16–1 8–14–1 14–8–1 — 8–13–1 11–11
St. Louis 7–15 10–11 11–11–1 10–12 17–5 13–8–1 — 15–7–1
Washington 11–11 6–15–2 14–8 5–16 13–9 11–11 7–15–1 —

Roster

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1908 New York Highlanders
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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 Red Kleinow 96 279 47 .168 1 13
1B Hal Chase 106 405 104 .257 1 36
2B Harry Niles 95 361 90 .249 4 24
SS Neal Ball 132 446 110 .247 0 38
3B Wid Conroy 141 531 126 .237 1 39
OF Willie Keeler 91 323 85 .263 1 14
OF Jake Stahl 75 274 70 .255 2 42
OF Charlie Hemphill 142 505 150 .297 0 44

Other batters

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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
George Moriarty 101 348 82 .236 0 27
Walter Blair 76 211 40 .190 1 13
Irish McIlveen 44 169 36 .213 0 8
Frank LaPorte 39 145 38 .262 1 15
Frank Delahanty 37 125 32 .256 0 10
Jimmy O'Rourke 34 108 25 .231 0 3
Ed Sweeney 32 82 12 .146 0 2
Birdie Cree 21 78 21 .269 0 4
Earle Gardner 20 75 16 .213 0 4
Kid Elberfeld 19 56 11 .196 0 5
Mike Donovan 5 19 5 .263 0 2

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Jack Chesbro 45 288.2 14 20 2.93 124
Joe Lake 38 269.1 9 22 3.17 118
Rube Manning 41 245.0 13 16 2.94 113
Bill Hogg 24 152.1 4 16 3.01 72
Al Orth 21 139.1 2 13 3.42 22
Pete Wilson 6 39.0 3 3 3.46 28
Jack Warhop 5 36.1 1 2 4.46 11
Fred Glade 5 32.0 0 4 4.22 11
Andy O'Connor 1 8.0 0 1 10.13 5

Other pitchers

[edit]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Doc Newton 23 88.1 4 5 2.95 49
Slow Joe Doyle 12 48.0 1 1 2.63 20

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Harry Billiard 6 0 0 0 2.65 70
Hippo Vaughn 2 0 0 0 3.86 2
Hal Chase 1 0 0 0 0.00 0

Notes

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  1. ^ Crazy '08: How a cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads and Magnates created the Greatest Year in Baseball History, p. 151, by Cait Murphy, Smithsonian Books, a Division of Harper Collins, 2007, ISBN 978-0-06-088937-1
  2. ^ Crazy '08: How a cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads and Magnates created the Greatest Year in Baseball History, p. 159, by Cait Murphy, Smithsonian Books, a Division of Harper Collins, 2007, ISBN 978-0-06-088937-1
  3. ^ Crazy '08: How a cast of Cranks, Rogues, Boneheads and Magnates created the Greatest Year in Baseball History, p. 98, by Cait Murphy, Smithsonian Books, a Division of Harper Collins, 2007, ISBN 978-0-06-088937-1

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