Have the Reds ever had pitching?
I started this project last September and posted it towards the end of last season at Redleg Nation,, as the Reds prepare to face the Cardinals in the seasons second weekend the Reds team ERA hovered around 5.00, a common ground that the team has treaded the past few seasons. When doing some research the other day I came across an article from The Sporting News on the 1979 Reds, a team that won the divison on the back of their pitching more than their slightly above average offense. The article was a gentle reminder of the unfinished project, so instead of running out the second part alone I’ll be posting the whole enchilada over the next few weeks, among other things I hope… one thing’s for sure as hard core hockey fan as well as baseball junkie the next month is going to be a test on everyone involved in my life, so if I seem absent at times please don’t forget to check in again. I will be back.
When I started off in my quest to find if the Reds have ever had pitching I knew I had to first define the eras in which the Reds played so I could get handle on what indeed was pitching and what indeed was the norm for the day and age.
To start I began by knocking off the wild days before the 1900 season, years in which rules changed, teams and leagues vanish and are never heard from again muddy the data and deserve their own bucket to swim in. It’s a different animal before the foul strike rule and the emergence of the American League. Therefore I won’t be including it in this attempt to corral the wild and somewhat solitary history of quality Reds pitching. To set the scene it was so long ago that Central Parkway was still a canal.
To organize it I like to use the home field as the barometer for the teams overall quality on the pitching side. I’ll start off by breaking it up by changes to the patch of land between Findlay and York.
1902-1911 - The Palace of the Fans
Opened: April 17, 1902 (previous parks on site since 1884)
Last Game: October 6, 1911 (Redland built on site in 1912)
The Palace (or League Park as it was officially known as) was the best NL Hitters Park from 1902-1909, boasting a total of 145 HR’s, 134 of them were inside the park and the remainder were bouncers into the outfield seats… which in those days were a home run. However the patrons were required to return the ball to the field of play. Since the original League Park Grandstand was now in the far RF corner the wall in right extended 450 feet down the line, left field was a mere 342 feet, which was still a hefty number in those days.
Here are the Park Factors for that era plus the team ERA.
1902 2.67 122 1903 3.07 116 1904 2.34 133 1905 3.01 111 1906 2.69 137 1907 2.41 91 1908 2.37 106 1909 2.52 92 1910 3.09 106 1911 3.26 80
Here are the year by year ERA numbers vs the league.
1900-1911 STRIKEOUTS/9 IP vs. the league average WALKS/9 IP vs. the league average BASERUNNERS/9 IP vs. the league average YEAR DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE W L SO/9 IP BB/9 IP BR/9 IP 1904 0.39 2.34 2.73 88 65 -.28 0.37 0.65 1903 0.19 3.07 3.26 74 65 0.07 0.14 0.03 1911 0.13 3.26 3.39 70 83 -.37 0.46 0.10 1902 0.10 2.67 2.78 70 70 -.40 -.18 -.23 1909 0.07 2.52 2.59 77 76 -.52 -.35 -.28 1907 0.05 2.41 2.46 66 87 -.30 -.11 -.42 1905 -.02 3.01 2.99 79 74 -.05 -.22 -.93 1908 -.03 2.37 2.35 73 81 -.55 -.10 -.33 1906 -.06 2.69 2.63 64 87 -.05 -.24 -.38 1910 -.06 3.09 3.03 75 79 -.43 -.17 -.52
ERA Vs League Total DIFF PLAYER LEAGUE W L SO/9 IP BB/9 IP BR/9 IP Reds 0.08 2.74 2.82 736 767 3.30 2.89 11.79
What we have here is a ten year run in a hitters park with 6 years of above normal pitching, 3 years of plus .500 play and only one true winning year. In 1904 the Reds had a couple of players that they fleeced from the Orioles before they left for New York and it was with their help that Reds offense really flourished.
By the end of the 1904 season the Reds were second in runs scored to the Giants, unfortunately for them they were also behind the Cubs as well in the final standings, finishing 18 games out in third place, 5 games behind the second place Cubs. The next year the offense was once again potent with the emergence of Cy Seymour as one of the most potent bats in the National League, but alas the top two starters from 1905 Hahn and Harper fell on bad times and neither was able to give much to the game after the 1904 season and by 1907 both were out of the game. The 1905 season proved to be another sleeper in a long line of sleepers in Reds history, however this one was highlighted as a sleeper even more with a 20 year old pitcher named Rip Vowinkel throwing 45 innings in the only year he ever pitched major league baseball.
The following years were equal in their disappointment, the Reds offense was bad and the pitching equally vanilla, the plus ERA in the Palace’s last season was equaled by an anemic offense and the park was closed with a lackluster 70-83 record, leaving the Reds with a sub .500 record for the life of the Palace of the Fans.
Next Week - The Big Outfield and the Home Run Drought 1912-1926