1909 Boston Red Sox season

1909 Boston Red Sox
LeagueAmerican League
BallparkHuntington Avenue Grounds
CityBoston, Massachusetts
Record88–63 (.583)
League place3rd
OwnersJohn I. Taylor
ManagersFred Lake
StatsESPN.com
Baseball Reference
← 1908 Seasons 1910 →
Opening Day pitcher Frank Arellanes

The 1909 Boston Red Sox season was the ninth season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished third in the American League (AL) with a record of 88 wins and 63 losses, 9+1⁄2 games behind the Detroit Tigers. The team played its home games at Huntington Avenue Grounds.

Offseason

Regular season

  • April 12: The regular season opens with an 8–1 loss to the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.
  • April 16: Harry Hooper makes his major league debut.
  • April 21: In the home opener, Boston defeats Philadelphia, 6–2.
  • May 31: The team's longest losing streak of the season, six games, ends with a road win over Philadelphia.
  • August 19: The team's longest winning streak of the season, 11 games, ends with a loss to the New York Highlanders at Hilltop Park in New York City.
  • October 5: The regular season ends with home doubleheader against New York; Boston loses the first game, 6–5, then wins the second game, 6–1.

The team's longest game of the season was 12 innings, which occurred three times.

Statistical leaders

The offense was led by Tris Speaker, who hit seven home runs and had 77 RBIs while recording a .309 batting average. The pitching staff was led by Frank Arellanes with 16 wins, Eddie Cicotte with a 1.94 ERA, and Smoky Joe Wood with 88 strikeouts.

Season standings

American League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Detroit Tigers 98 54 .645 — 57‍–‍19 41‍–‍35
Philadelphia Athletics 95 58 .621 3½ 49‍–‍27 46‍–‍31
Boston Red Sox 88 63 .583 9½ 47‍–‍28 41‍–‍35
Chicago White Sox 78 74 .513 20 42‍–‍34 36‍–‍40
New York Highlanders 74 77 .490 23½ 41‍–‍35 33‍–‍42
Cleveland Naps 71 82 .464 27½ 39‍–‍37 32‍–‍45
St. Louis Browns 61 89 .407 36 40‍–‍37 21‍–‍52
Washington Senators 42 110 .276 56 27‍–‍48 15‍–‍62

The team had one game end in a tie; August 25 at Chicago White Sox. Tie games are not counted in league standings, but player statistics during tie games are counted.

Record vs. opponents

1909 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYH PHA SLB WSH
Boston — 13–9–1 14–8 9–13 13–9 10–11 13–7 16–6
Chicago 9–13–1 — 8–13–1 6–15–2 14–8–1 12–10 10–12–1 19–3–1
Cleveland 8–14 13–8–1 — 8–14–1 8–14 9–13 14–8 11–11
Detroit 13–9 15–6–2 14–8–1 — 14–8 8–14 18–3–1 16–6–2
New York 9–13 8–14–1 14–8 8–14 — 8–14 13–8–1 14–6
Philadelphia 11–10 10–12 13–9 14–8 14–8 — 14–8 19–3
St. Louis 7–13 12–10–1 8–14 3–18–1 8–13–1 8–14 — 15–7–1
Washington 6–16 3–19–1 11–11 6–16–2 6–14 3–19 7–15–1 —

Opening Day lineup

Amby McConnell 2B
Harry Lord 3B
Jake Stahl 1B
Doc Gessler RF
Tris Speaker CF
Heinie Wagner SS
Jack Thoney LF
Bill Carrigan C
Frank Arellanes P

Source:

Roster

1909 Boston Red Sox
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 Bill Carrigan 94 280 83 .296 1 36
1B Jake Stahl 127 435 128 .294 6 60
2B Amby McConnell 121 453 108 .238 0 36
SS Heinie Wagner 124 430 110 .256 1 49
3B Harry Lord 136 534 168 .315 0 31
OF Tris Speaker 143 544 168 .309 7 77
OF Harry Niles 145 546 134 .245 1 38
OF Doc Gessler 111 396 115 .290 0 46

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
Harry Hooper 81 255 72 .282 0 12
Pat Donahue 65 177 42 .237 2 25
Charlie French 51 167 42 .251 0 13
Harry Wolter 54 121 29 .240 2 10
Tubby Spencer 28 74 12 .162 0 9
Jack Thoney 13 40 5 .125 0 3
Larry Gardner 19 37 11 .297 0 5
Bunny Madden 10 17 4 .235 0 1
Paul Howard 6 15 3 .200 0 2
Babe Danzig 6 13 2 .154 0 0
Steve Yerkes 5 7 2 .286 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
Frank Arellanes 45 230+2⁄3 16 12 2.18 82
Eddie Cicotte 27 162+1⁄3 14 5 1.94 82
Smoky Joe Wood 24 160+2⁄3 11 7 2.18 88
Charlie Chech 17 106+2⁄3 7 5 2.95 40
Ray Collins 12 73+2⁄3 4 3 2.81 31
Cy Morgan 12 64+2⁄3 2 6 2.37 30
Charlie Smith 3 25 3 0 2.16 11
Fred Anderson 1 8 0 0 1.13 5
Jack Chesbro 1 6 0 1 4.50 3

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
Elmer Steele 16 75+2⁄3 4 4 2.85 32
Biff Schlitzer 13 69+2⁄3 4 4 3.49 23
Ed Karger 12 68 5 2 3.18 17
Charley Hall 11 59+2⁄3 6 4 2.56 27
Jack Ryan 13 59+1⁄3 3 3 3.34 24
Harry Wolter 11 59 4 9 3.51 21
Larry Pape 11 57+1⁄3 2 0 2.04 18
Fred Burchell 10 52 3 3 2.94 12
William Matthews 5 16+2⁄3 0 0 3.24 6

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
Chet Nourse 3 0 0 0 7.20 3

References

  1. ^ "Cy Young". Retrosheet. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
  2. ^ "Red Sox at Hot Springs". Arkansas Gazette. Little Rock, Arkansas. February 28, 1909. p. 9. Retrieved November 5, 2018 – via newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "The 1909 Boston Red Sox Regular Season Game Log". Retrosheet. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  4. ^ "Harry Hooper". Retrosheet. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  5. ^ "Chicago White Sox 4, Boston Red Sox 4". Retrosheet. August 25, 1909. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  6. ^ Hershberger, Richard (December 28, 2015). "Tie Games in Baseball". ordinary-times.com. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
  7. ^ "Philadelphia Athletics 8, Boston Red Sox 1". Retrosheet. April 12, 1909. Retrieved November 12, 2018.