Historic Photos: 1875 Boston Red Stockings and Philadelphia Athletics

Taken at Boston's South End Grounds, this photo shows the top two teams of the National Association in their last year of existence: Boston finished 15 games ahead of the Athletics with a 71-8 record.  The league operated from 1871 to 1876, with the Red Stockings winning the pennant every year except 1871.

The National Association was the first professional baseball league, but its status as a major league is highly questionable - it represented the highest level of competition at the time, but the beginning of Major League Baseball as we know it today is generally considered to be 1876, when the NA folded and was replaced by the National League.  Both Boston and Philadelphia joined the NL for the 1876 season; the Red Stockings later became the Beaneaters and, eventually, the Braves, and are the same franchise that many years later would move to Atlanta by way of Milwaukee.  The Athletics, on the other hand, were expelled from the National League partway through the 1876 season, and are not associated with the modern-day Athletics team, which began play as Philadelphia's American League franchise in 1901.

Player identifications, courtesy of Boston Public Library:

Standing, left to right: George Hall. Athletics, George Bechtel, Athletics, William Craven, Athletics, Adrian "Baby" Anson, Athletics, Ezra Sutton, Athletics, John E. Clapp, Athletics, Jim White, Red Stockings, Al Spalding, Red Stockings, George Wright, Red Stockings, Cal McVey, Red Stockings, Harry Wright, Red Stockings. Seated: Weston Fisler, Athletics, David Force, Athletics, David Eggler, Athletics, Dick McBride, Athletics, Andy Leonard, Red Stockings, Jim O'Rourke, Red Stockings, Ross Barnes, Red Stockings, Harry C. Schafer, Red Stockings.

Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library.

Historic Photos: 1900 Boston Beaneaters

The Boston Beaneaters were a dominant team in the National League throughout the 19th century, and from 1892 to 1898 they finished in first place four times in seven years, in what was at the time a 12-team league. The 1900 team, seen in this photo, didn't quite live up to their potential, finishing in fourth place with a 66-72 record, despite having a Hall of Fame manager and five Hall of Fame players on the roster.

In many ways, this photo represents the end of an era - the last year of the 19th century also marked the last year that the National League existed unopposed.  In 1901, the American League would declare major league status, and Boston's AL franchise would take away many of the Beaneaters' star players.  Hall of Fame third baseman Jimmy Collins (bottom row, far right); outfielders Buck Freeman (middle row, second from left) and Chick Stahl (top row, middle); and pitchers Nig Cuppy (middle row, far left), Ted Lewis (middle row, far right), and Bill Dinneen (middle row, third from right) all left to join the future Red Sox.

In addition to those who left to join the American League, other notable players in this picture include Hall of Famers Hugh Duffy (top row, second from right), Billy Hamilton (bottom row, second from left), Kid Nichols (bottom row, third from left), and Vic Willis (middle row, second from right), along with Hall of Fame manager Frank Selee (bottom row, center).  Backup catcher Jack Clements (bottom row, far right) played his last of 17 major league seasons in 1900; to this day he remains the only left-handed catcher to play any significant amount of time in the majors.

The complete player identification, courtesy of Boston Public Library:

Top, left to right: Bobby Lowe, second baseman, Shad Barry, Chick Stahl, outfielder, Hugh Duffy, outfielder, Boileryard Clarke. Middle row: Nig Cuppy, Buck Freeman, outfielder, Billy Sullivan, Bill Dineen, pitcher, Vic Willis, Ted Lewis, pitcher. Bottom row: Jack Clements, Billy Hamilton, outfielder, Kid Nichols, pitcher, Frank Selee, Manager, Herman Long, shortstop, Fred Tenney, first baseman, Jimmie Collins, third baseman.

Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library.

1900 Cy Young Award

1900 National League - Joe McGinnity, Brooklyn Superbas

28-8, 2.94 ERA, 93 K

This was the last season with just one major league; the American League declared themselves to be a major league the following year in competition with the National League.  In the meantime though, future Hall of Famer Joe McGinnity put up an impressive season, leading Brooklyn to the NL pennant.  Along the way, he led the league in wins by a huge margin (28 to 20), winning percentage (.778), and innings pitched (343).  Trying to decide who was the best pitcher was an interesting challenge though, among other things because McGinnity only finished 7th in ERA.  However, none of the six pitchers pitched more than 279 innings, and many of them finished poorly in other areas, such as ERA leader Rube Waddell's 8-13 win-loss record in only 208.2 innings pitched.  So, it wasn't a clear-cut decision as to who had earned the 1900 award, and although I don't generally like to rely too heavily on wins and losses, I think that McGinnity winning nearly 50% more games than anyone else suggested that he was the dominant pitcher of the season.

1899 Cy Young Award

1899 National League - Vic Willis, Boston Beaneaters

27-8, 2.50 ERA, 120 K

This wasn't too hard to decide; although there were other pitchers who pitched nearly as well as Willis in 1899, he stands out as the best.  Cy Young in particular had an impressive season, but he seemed to fall right behind Willis in just about every major statistic.  Willis led the league in ERA and ERA+ (167, to Young's 2nd place 154), shutouts (5), hits per 9 innings (7.275), and WAR (8.9).  He also finished third in wins, third in WHIP (with Young finishing first), third in winning percentage (.771), and tied for fourth in strikeouts.  In addition, he pitched a no-hitter on August 7 against the Washington Senators, the last no-hitter of the 19th century.  Willis played alongside fellow Hall of Famer and 3-time retroactive Cy Young Award winner Kid Nichols, but Nichols was only somewhat effective, with a 21-19 record, and the Beaneaters finished 8 games behind Brooklyn in the pennant race.

1898 Cy Young Award

1898 National League - Clark Griffith, Chicago Orphans

24-10, 1.88 ERA, 190 K

Kid Nichols, who was the best NL pitcher in each of the two previous seasons as well as in 1891, pitched possibly the best season of his career in 1898, but he was outdone by another Hall of Famer, Clark Griffith.  Griffith led the league in ERA and ERA+ (190) by a substantial margin, and finished third in WHIP (1.133) and second in WAR (9.2).  It could certainly be argued that Nichols was the better pitcher in 1898, but, as has been the case before, I gave preference to Griffith's substantially lower ERA over Nichols's smaller lead in other categories, such as WHIP and WAR.  Probably the biggest thing in Nichols's favor was his substantially larger win total (31, which led the league, to 24 for Griffith), but Nichols also had a much better offense to back him up and improve his win totals.  It was close, but in the end I think that Griffith happened to be the better pitcher that year.

1897 Cy Young Award

1897 National League - Kid Nichols, Boston Beaneaters

31-11, 2.64 ERA, 127 K

The future Hall of Fame pitcher Kid Nichols had already won two retroactive Cy Young Awards and was in strong contention for a third, but 1897 was probably his finest season so far.  Both he and Amos Rusie put up great numbers in 1897, but Nichols was somewhat better.  He led the league in wins and finished second in ERA to Rusie, although when adjusted for ERA+ he actually comes out on top, 170 to 163.  He also led the league in innings pitched (368), WHIP(1.168), WAR (10.0), and, for what it's worth, his 3 saves were enough to lead the league as well.  For Nichols, it was his 6th 30+ win season in the past 7 years, and he would go on to win another 31 games in 1898.  He reached his 300th career win at the age of 30, the youngest pitcher ever to do so, and he retired in 1906 with 361 wins, good for 7th all-time.

1896 Cy Young Award

1896 National League - Kid Nichols, Boston Beaneaters

30-14, 2.83 ERA, 102 K

Nichols was previously ranked as the NL's best pitcher in 1891, and was one of the top 3 in 1893, and in 1896 was once again the league's best pitcher, although it was a pretty close call.  It's always easy to recognize the best pitcher when they win the Triple Crown, or lead the league in a significant category by an enormous margin, but when there's no single pitcher that is at the top of most of the major statistics, it becomes harder to balance one pitcher's accomplishments over another pitcher's. However, Nichols put up the best overall numbers, leading the league in wins, finishing second in ERA (and first among pitchers with over 150 innings pitched) had an impressive 160 ERA+ (first among pitchers over 150 innings pitched, and 13 points higher than the next pitcher), and finished 4th in WHIP and 5th in WAR.  An argument certainly could be made that Cy Young, Nig Cuppy, or Frank Dwyer was the best in the league, but it was Nichols's ERA in particular that stood out above everything else, being nearly a third of a run lower than any of the competition.

1895 Cy Young Award

1895 National League - Cy Young, Cleveland Spiders

35-10, 3.26 ERA, 121 K

Although Cy Young didn't dominate the league quite like he did in 1892, he was the best pitcher in 1895.  Not only did he lead the league in wins, but he also led in WHIP (1.185), walks per 9 innings (1.826),WAR (10.6), and shutouts (4, tied with four other pitchers).  Giving out very few walks was one statistic that Young consistently excelled in, something that often gets overshadowed by his 511 career victories.  In 22 seasons, he led the league in fewest walks per 9 innings an astonishing 14 times, and although he only led the league in strikeouts twice, he led in walk to strikeout ratio 11 times, although he finished second in 1895.   He only finished fifth in ERA in 1895, but when adjusted for ERA+, he places second at 152, behind only Al Maul (who we can only presume would go by the nickname Darth if he pitched today), who pitched less than half as many innings as Young.

1894 Cy Young Award

1894 National League - Amos Rusie, New York Giants

36-13, 2.78 ERA, 195 K

When I awarded the 1893 retroactive Cy Young Award to Amos Rusie, it was a close call between two other candidates.  However, his 1894 season left little doubt that he deserved it.  He easily won the Triple Crown, led the league in shutouts, ERA+, WAR, and WHIP, but those figures alone don't show how much he led in some categories.  His strikeout totals were down from 1893, so he only had 28% more strikeouts than his nearest opponent, but he led the league in ERA by nearly a full run over the second place pitcher, 2.78 to 3.70, and had an ERA nearly half the league average of 5.32, for a 190 ERA+.  Had the Cy Young Award existed in 1894, he definitely would have been the unanimous choice.

1893 Cy Young Award

1893 National League - Amos Rusie, New York Giants

33-21, 3.23 ERA, 208 K

This was the first season that the pitcher's mound was moved 5 feet from the plate to its current position 60.5 feet away.  Overall, offensive numbers skyrocketed, and many great pitchers were unable to adjust to the new distance.  However, there were three pitchers in particular, all Hall of Famers, who stood out in 1893: Kid Nichols, the 1891 winner; Cy Young, the 1892 winner; and Amos Rusie, who I chose as the best of the three for this season.  It was a tough call, but Rusie led the league in starts, complete games, shutouts, innings pitched, and hits per 9 innings.  He also finished second in ERA, WAR, and fourth in wins.  That alone may have been enough to earn him the recognition, but on top of it, he not only led the league in strikeouts, he had nearly double the amount of anyone else, and had more than Nichols and Young combined.  It was one of five times in his nine full seasons that Rusie led the league in strikeouts, although it was also one of five times that he led the league in walks as well.  Still, despite his high walk totals, he was certainly deserving of the retroactive Cy Young Award in 1893.

1892 Cy Young Award

1892 National League - Cy Young, Cleveland Spiders

36-12, 1.93 ERA, 168 K

It seems only appropriate that the namesake of the award should win it a couple times, and Cy Young certainly deserved it in 1892, the first year since 1881 when there was only one major league, and the last year before the pitcher's mound was moved to its current location 60.5 feet from home plate.  Along with leading the league in ERA by almost half a run, Young also had a 176 ERA+, led in shutouts (with 9) and WHIP, tied for first in wins (36, a career high), and led the league with a .750 winning percentage and WAR (12.6).  It would end up being probably the second best season of Young's career, and one of only two times in his 22 seasons that he led the league in ERA.

1891 Cy Young Awards

1891 American Association - George Haddock, Boston Reds

34-11, 2.49 ERA, 169 K

This was the last season for the American Association, the longest that any of the four now-defunct major leagues lasted.  Between 1892 and the emergence of the American League in 1901, the NL was again the only league at the highest level of professional baseball.  There was no pitcher in the AA in 1891 that clearly dominated over the rest; in fact, Haddock did not lead the league in any significant categories except shutouts, but he was, across the board, the best pitcher in the league.  He finished second in ERA, wins, and WAR, with a different pitcher finishing first in each category; he was the only one to finish in the top 3 in all 3 categories.  An argument could be made for teammate Charlie Buffinton, who finished the season with a slightly higher WAR (9.3 to 8.7) and finished first in WHIP, but overall Haddock put up better numbers.  The Reds, who are unrelated to either the modern Cincinnati Reds or the Boston Red Sox, played the previous year in the Players League, where they won the league pennant, and then moved to the AA where, behind the strong pitching of Haddock and Buffinton, they won the league pennant again.  When the AA was disbanded after the 1891 season, four of the teams joined with the NL, but the Reds were not among them, putting an end to the team that won two league pennants from two different leagues in their only two years of existence.

1891 National League - Kid Nichols, Boston Beaneaters

30-17, 2.39 ERA, 240 K

This was a good season for Boston teams; both the Boston Reds and the Boston Beaneaters (now the Atlanta Braves) won the pennant in their respective leagues, and the Reds' George Haddock and the Beaneaters' Kid Nichols were the best pitchers in their leagues.  Like Haddock, Nichols did not lead the league in many categories, other than saves (3), walks per 9 innings pitched (2.180), and ERA+ (154), none of which were calculated until many years later.  However, he had the second lowest ERA, fourth most wins, second lowest WHIP, third highest WAR, and second most shutouts.  Like Haddock, there were other pitchers who were higher than him in most categories, but none who were consistently as high as he was, which earned him the retroactive Cy Young Award without too much hesitation.

1890 Cy Young Awards

1890 American Association - Scott Stratton, Louisville Colonels


34-14, 2.36 ERA, 207 K

Although I wouldn't refer to his season as a "lock" for the retroactive Cy Young Award, Stratton certainly pitched very well, and I would say better than anyone else in the league in 1890.  Stratton led in ERA, WHIP, WAR, win-loss percentage, and fewest walk per 9 innings (by far).  He also finished second in both wins and shutouts.  Pitching for the team that won the pennant that year, Stratton started 49 of Louisville's 132 games, but it would be the highlight of his career by far.  He eventually retired after the 1895 season with a 9-114 record and an ERA+ of 99, barely below league average.  However, at least for the 1890 season he was better than anyone else in the league.

1890 National League - Billy Rhines, Cincinnati Reds

28-17, 1.95 ERA, 182 K

This was the year and league in which the award's namesake, Cy Young, began playing Major League Baseball.  However, he would not be much of a contender in this particular season, so the award named after him would go to Billy Rhines instead.  Just like the year before in the AA, there was no clear winner in the NL in 1890.   However, it was once again a pitcher from Cincinnati (a team which moved from the AA to NL during the offseason) who was, in my opinion, the best overall pitcher.  Although his win total ranked only 5th in the league, he was the ERA leader by far (better over a quarter of a run) and also led the NL in WHIP.  Although he didn't lead too many categories, he was consistently near the top in almost every category, and it was his substantial lead in ERA that put him over the others in my opinion. 

1890 Players League - Silver King, Chicago Pirates

30-22, 2.69 ERA, 185 K

Billy Rhines did well in the NL by posting an ERA more than a quarter run lower than anybody else in the league, but 1888 AA winner Silver King had an even bigger lead in that category in the newly-created Players League.  King's ERA of 2.69 was over a half of a run better than the next lowest, Henry Staley, who finished with a 3.23 ERA.  King also had a huge lead in ERA+, 162 to 134.  King also led in WAR, and finished second in many other categories, including wins, strikeouts, innings pitched, and WHIP.  The fact that he was near the top of almost every category, plus the fact that he had such a wide margin of victory for the ERA title, leads me to give King the retroactive Cy Young Award without much hesitation.  As I mentioned in my 1888 post, King didn't have many great seasons, and was done in the majors by age 29, but he still managed a couple seasons as the best pitcher in his league, the last of which was 1890.  The Players League didn't fare much better after the 1890 season either; the league disbanded after just one season, leaving King as technically the best pitcher in the history of the league.

1889 Cy Young Awards

1889 American Association - Jesse Duryea, Cincinnati Red Stockings

32-19, 2.56 ERA, 183

Unlike 1888, there was no clear-cut winner for the AA in 1889.  I ended up choosing Duryea because, although he did not lead the league in any significant category, he was close to the top in most categories, finishing second in ERA and ERA+, third in wins, and fourth in WHIP and WAR. I considered Bob Caruthers, the 1885 winner, but his ERA was fairly high, and his ERA+ of 112 shows that, while he was above average, Duryea, at 155, was far above average.  While there was no single pitcher who clearly dominated the AA in 1889, Duryea was the best all-around pitcher, and I feel would have deserved the Cy Young Award.  This year was certainly the high point of his career though; it was his rookie year, but he only pitched for four more seasons, and more than half of his career wins came in 1889.

1889 National League - John Clarkson, Boston Beaneaters

49-19, 2.73 ERA, 284 K

Little doubt about this one.  Clarkson, who previously won in 1885 and 1887, once again dominated the league.  He led almost every significant pitching category, and most of them weren't even close.  There have only been four seasons in which a pitcher has won 49 or more games, and Clarkson did it twice, winning 53 in 1885 and 49 in 1889.  His 49 were 21 more than the nearest competition, but that's not all he did.  He led the other two Triple Crown categories as well; his ERA was nearly a quarter run lower than anyone else, and he struck out 29 more than the second place pitcher.  He also had 25 more starts than anyone else, 22 more complete games, 200 more innings pitched, and twice as many shutouts.  He even led in sabermetrically oriented statistics, like WHIP and WAR (finishing an astonishing 6.3 wins above anyone else).  Clarkson's numbers would've looked good 5 to 10 years earlier, but as pitchers began starting fewer games each year, 45+ wins and 600+ innings pitched were rarely seen by 1889.  His new team for the 1889 season, the Boston Beaneaters, only had three pitchers all year, with Clarkson starting more than half of the team's games.  All but 19 of the remaining games were started by another future Hall of Famer, Old Hoss Radbourn, but despite the strong pitching staff and Hall of Fame outfielder King Kelly, Boston finished a game behind New York in the pennant race.

1888 Cy Young Awards

1888 American Association - Silver King, St. Louis Browns

45-20, 1.63 ERA, 258 K

Not much of a debate about this one; not only did King lead the AA in most pitching categories, but he dominated those categories.  He was the ERA leader by .38 runs, wins by 10, ERA+ by 48, WHIP by .12, and WAR by 4.  He also tied for the lead with 6 shutouts, and came in second in strikeouts, along the way leading the Browns to yet another AA pennant.  At 20 years old, it was only King's second full season in the majors, but, like many of his contemporaries, he burned out quickly, with only a few more productive seasons, and he was done in the majors before he turned 30.

1888 National League - Tim Keefe, New York Giants

35-12, 1.74 ERA, 335 K

Just like in the AA, there wasn't much question as to who was the NL's best pitcher in 1888.  After several years of consistently being a contender for the league's best pitcher, the future Hall of Famer was quite decisively the best in 1888.  Along with winning the Triple Crown, Keefe led the league in winning percentage, WHIP, WAR, and shutouts.  There were other pitchers, particularly Charlie Buffinton, who did well, but Keefe was by far the best, and in the process led the Giants to the NL pennant.

1887 Cy Young Awards

1887 American Association - Matt Kilroy, Baltimore Orioles

46-19, 3.07 ERA, 217 K

Despite striking out an all-time single season record 513 batters in 1886, his relatively high ERA and 29-34 record kept him from being awarded the retroactive Cy Young Award.  However, in his second major league season in 1887, he improved dramatically.  Although his strikeouts dropped by more than half despite pitching more innings, he led the league in wins, winning 9 more than the nearest competition, finished second in ERA and strikeouts, and led the league in starts (69), complete games (66), innings pitched (589.1), shutouts (6), and WAR (12.7).  However, like many pitchers of his day, Kilroy burned out quickly; he played only five full seasons in the majors, followed by five seasons in which he pitched a total of 37 games.

1887 National League - John Clarkson, Chicago White Stockings

38-21, 3.08 ERA, 237 K

Two years after a spectacular 1885 season, John Clarkson was again the best pitcher in the NL, leading the league in wins and strikeouts, finishing fourth in ERA, and second in ERA+ and WHIP.  Philadelphia's Dan Casey and New York's future Hall of Famer Tim Keefe also put up impressive numbers in 1887, but overall, I felt that Clarkson was the most deserving.  In most cases, if there are several pitchers for whom an argument can be made, I am more likely to give it to the pitcher who pitched the most innings; I feel that a pitcher like Clarkson, who pitched very well in a league-leading 523 innings, was more valuable to his team than a pitcher like Casey, who it could be argued pitched somewhat better, but in almost 150 fewer innings.  The WAR statistic also agrees with this - Clarkson led the league at 12.4, more than 3 wins higher than Casey, the runner-up.

1886 Cy Young Awards

1886 American Association - Dave Foutz, St. Louis Browns

41-16, 2.11 ERA 283 K

It was hard to not pick rookie Matt Kilroy for this award, given his all-time record 513 strikeouts, but he also led the league in both losses (34) and earned runs (218), and his ERA was barely above the league average.  There were other worthy candidates for the award though, including Ed Morris, Bob Caruthers, and the curiously nicknamed Toad Ramsey, but I felt that Foutz, who led the league in wins, ERA, winning percentage, and led the Browns to their second consecutive AA pennant, was the most deserving of the award.  His ERA was particularly impressive though, being .21 points higher than the nearest competition, for a 164 ERA+, 15 points ahead of second place Ramsey.

1886 National League - Lady Baldwin, Detroit Wolverines

42-13, 2.24 ERA, 323 K

Don't let the nickname fool you; Lady Baldwin was a good pitcher, in 1886 anyway.  It was a close call between him and Charlie Ferguson, but in the end I chose Baldwin, who tied for the league lead in wins, was third in ERA (behind Ferguson), led in strikeouts, WHIP (0.967), and shutouts (7 - and the next highest in the league was 4).  Interestingly, it was Baldwin's only full season as a starter; he played for six years, and nearly half of his 118 games came in 1886.  In 1886, his Detroit Wolverines finished second in the NL with a starting rotation that included not only Lady Baldwin, but other names such as Pretzels Getzien and Phenomenal Smith.

1885 Cy Young Awards

1885 American Association - Bob Caruthers, St. Louis Browns

40-13, 2.07 ERA, 190 K

This award was a toss-up between Caruthers and Pittsburgh's Ed Morris.  Caruthers led the league in ERA and wins, with Morris finishing third and second, respectively.  Morris did, however, lead the league in strikeouts, innings pitched, lowest walks & hits per inning, and highest WAR.  I ended up choosing Caruthers for the award though, on the basis of his lower ERA (2.07 to 2.35), significantly higher winning percentage, the fact that Caruthers was right behind Morris in most of the other categories, and the fact that Caruthers led the Browns to the league pennant.

1885 National League - John Clarkson, Chicago White Stockings

53-16, 1.85 ERA, 308 K

After three years of Old Hoss Radbourn dominating the NL, another future Hall of Famer, John Clarkson, took over as the league's best pitcher.  Clarkson led the league in just about every "counting" statistic: wins, strikeouts, innings pitched, starts, complete games, shutouts, saves, etc., and did well in the "average" stats as well, finishing third in ERA and second in WHIP.  He also led in WAR (13.8) by a substantial margin.  His 53 wins are the second most of any season, behind only Radbourne's 1884 season, and it was one of only three times when a pitcher won 50 or more games in a season.  Clarkson also pitched a no-hitter on July 27, beating the Providence Grays 4-0.

1884 Cy Young Awards

1884 American Association - Guy Hecker, Louisville Eclipse

52-20, 1.80 ERA, 385 K

This year was the first of four in which there were three different major leagues, so as a result I will be giving out three retroactive Cy Young Awards, the first of which will go to Guy Hecker of the Louisville Eclipse.  Hecker certainly deserved it, winning the Triple Crown by a healthy margin in each category.  His 52 wins (third most all-time) were 15 more than the pitcher who finished second, and he pitched an impressive 670.2 innings, competing 72 of his 73 starts and pitching 6 shutouts.  His league-leading 385 strikeouts are also the 7th most all-time, two better than Nolan Ryan's best season.  Hecker never came close to having another season quite like 1884, but he was known as one of the best hitting pitchers of his day, and possibly of all time.  In 1882, he was 4th in the league in home runs, and in 1886 he became the only pitcher ever to win a batting title, hitting .341 while playing first base and outfield on the days that he wasn't pitching.

1884 National League - Old Hoss Radbourn, Providence Grays

59-12, 1.38 ERA, 441 K

Guy Hecker had a great season in the American Association in 1884, but his performance was overshadowed by one of the greatest pitching seasons of all time.  Radbourn, who became Providence's only pitcher after their other pitcher, Charlie Sweeney quit halfway through the season, and Radbourn agreed to pitch the remainder of the team's games.  In the process, he set an unbreakable MLB record of 59 wins, won the Triple Crown, and led his team to the 1884 equivalent of the World Series title, against the New York Metropolitans of the American Association.  His 441 strikeouts are 5th all-time, and his 73 complete games and 678.2 innings pitched are the second most ever pitched in one season.  In the following seasons, Radbourn could never quite duplicate his impressive 1882-1884 seasons, but he continued as a capable pitcher until his retirement in 1891.  He finished with 309 career wins and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.


1884 Union Association - Bill Sweeney, Baltimore Monumentals

40-21, 2.59 ERA, 374 K

The Union Association was the first of several attempts at creating a third major league; it ended after only a year, but it featured a number of players who had played in the other two leagues.  However, because the overall talent pool was poorer than either the NL or AA, some have argued that the UA wasn't truly a major league, but MLB and many others recognize it as such, so I will be giving a retroactive Cy Young to the league's best pitcher, in my opinion.  This was, unlike the other two leagues in 1884, a fairly tough choice.  One pitcher in particular, Billy Taylor, put up an impressive win-loss record and ERA, but switched leagues halfway through the season.  Because of that, I chose Bill Sweeney, whose ERA was good but not great compared to the rest of the league (128 ERA+) but he led the league by far in wins (40, over the second place pitcher who had 28), starts (60), complete games (58), and innings pitched (538).  Curiously, this was only Sweeney's second MLB season, and after 1884 he played several more seasons in the minors, but never played in any major league again.

1883 Cy Young Awards

1883 American Association - Will White, Cincinnati Red Stockings

43-22, 2.09 ERA, 141 K

Statistically speaking, White didn't do quite as well in 1883 as he had the year before, but it was still good enough for him to earn his second consecutive retroactive American Association Cy Young Award. Hiis 43 wins, 2.09 ERA, and 6 shutouts led the league, and he finished second in starts (64), complete games (64), and innings pitched (577).  Hall of Famer Tim Keefe also pitched well that season, beating him in those three categories and leading the league in strikeouts, but overall White had the better season, especially considering White's ERA was nearly half a run better than Keefe's

1883 National League - Old Hoss Radbourn, Providence Grays

48-25, 2.05, 315

As it turns out, the best pitchers in each league in 1882 were also the best in 1883, with Radbourn leading the league by winning an astonishing 48 games (5th all-time) in 68 starts and 632.1 innings pitched.  He also finished second in ERA, strikeouts, and shutouts (4), and even managed to tie for third place in saves (a statistic that was not invented until years later) with one.  Additionally, although unrelated to his pitching performance, he played 20 games in the outfield, 2 at first base, and hit 3 home runs, drove in 48 runs, and batted .283.