1909 Chicago Cubs
LeagueNational League
BallparkWest Side Park
CityChicago
OwnersCharles Murphy
ManagersFrank Chance
← 1908 Seasons 1910 →

The 1909 Chicago Cubs season was the 38th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 34th in the National League and the 17th at West Side Park. The Cubs won 104 games but finished second in the National League, 6½ games behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Cubs had won the pennant the previous three years and would win it again in 1910. Of their 104 victories, 97 were wins for a Cubs starting pitcher; this was the most wins in a season by the starting staff of any major league team from 1908 to the present day.[1] The 104 wins was the most by any team in Major League Baseball history by a team that failed to finish first—a record that would be unbroken for more than a century. The record was equaled by the 1942 Brooklyn Dodgers and eventually broken by the 2021 Dodgers, who won 106 games but finished a game behind the San Francisco Giants in the NL West.[2]

The legendary infield of Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, Frank Chance, and Harry Steinfeldt was still intact, but it was the pitching staff that excelled. The Cubs pitchers had a collective earned run average of 1.75, a microscopic figure even for the dead-ball era. Three Finger Brown was one of the top two pitchers in the league (with Christy Mathewson) again, going 27–9 with a 1.31 ERA.

Offseason

Regular season

Season standings

National League 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Pittsburgh Pirates 110 42 0.724 — 56–21 54–21
Chicago Cubs 104 49 0.680 6½ 47–29 57–20
New York Giants 92 61 0.601 18½ 44–33 48–28
Cincinnati Reds 77 76 0.503 33½ 39–38 38–38
Philadelphia Phillies 74 79 0.484 36½ 40–37 34–42
Brooklyn Superbas 55 98 0.359 55½ 34–45 21–53
St. Louis Cardinals 54 98 0.355 56 26–48 28–50
Boston Doves 45 108 0.294 65½ 27–47 18–61

Record vs. opponents

1909 National League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS BR CHC CIN NYG PHI PIT STL
Boston — 11–11 1–21 5–17 8–14–2 10–12 1–20 9–13
Brooklyn 11–11 — 5–16 5–17–1 7–15 11–11 4–18 12–10–1
Chicago 21–1 16–5 — 16–6 11–11–1 16–6 9–13 15–7–1
Cincinnati 17–5 17–5–1 6–16 — 9–13–1 9–12–1 7–15–1 12–10
New York 14–8–2 15–7 11–11–1 13–9–1 — 12–10 11–11–1 16–5
Philadelphia 12–10 11–11 6–16 12–9–1 10–12 — 7–15 16–6
Pittsburgh 20–1 18–4 13–9 15–7–1 11–11–1 15–7 — 18–3
St. Louis 13–9 10–12–1 7–15–1 10–12 5–16 6–16 3–18 —


Roster

1909 Chicago Cubs
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 Jimmy Archer 80 261 60 .230 1 30
1B Frank Chance 93 324 88 .272 0 46
2B Johnny Evers 127 463 122 .263 1 24
SS Joe Tinker 143 516 132 .256 4 57
3B Harry Steinfeldt 151 528 133 .252 2 59
OF Jimmy Sheckard 148 525 134 .255 1 43
OF Solly Hofman 153 527 150 .285 2 58
OF Frank Schulte 140 538 142 .264 4 60

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
Pat Moran 77 246 54 .220 1 23
Del Howard 69 203 40 .197 1 24
Heinie Zimmerman 65 183 50 .273 0 21
Joe Stanley 22 52 7 .135 0 2
John Kane 20 45 4 .089 0 5
George Browne 12 39 8 .205 0 1
Fred Luderus 11 37 11 .297 1 9
Tom Needham 13 28 4 .143 0 0
Bill Davidson 2 7 1 .143 0 0

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
Mordecai Brown 50 342.2 27 9 1.31 172
Orval Overall 38 285.0 20 11 1.42 205
Ed Reulbach 35 262.2 19 10 1.78 105
Jack Pfiester 29 196.2 17 6 2.43 73
Rube Kroh 17 120.1 9 4 1.65 51
Ray Brown 1 9.0 1 0 2.00 2
King Cole 1 9.0 1 0 0.00 1
Andy Coakley 1 2.0 0 1 18.00 1

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
Rip Hagerman 13 79.0 4 4 1.82 32
Irv Higginbotham 19 78.0 5 2 2.19 32
Rudy Schwenck 3 14.0 1 1 3.86 3
Carl Lundgren 2 4.1 0 1 4.15 0

Relief pitchers

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

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Pat Ragan 2 0 0 0 2.45 2
Chick Fraser 1 0 0 0 0.00 1

Awards and honors

League top five finishers

Mordecai Brown

Orval Overall

Notes

  1. ^ "Pitching Game Finder: From 1908 to 2018, Pitcher Won, as Starter, sorted by greatest Performances matching selected criteria by a Team". Baseball Reference. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  2. ^ "Trea Turner wins NL batting title, Dodgers beat Brewers 10-3". Associated Press. October 3, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021 – via ESPN.
  3. ^ Doc Marshall page at Baseball Reference

References


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