1906 Chicago Cubs season

1906 Chicago Cubs
1906 National League Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Charles Murphy
Manager(s) Frank Chance
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The 1906 Chicago Cubs season was the 35th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 31st in the National League and the 14th at West Side Park. The team won the National League pennant with a record of 116–36, a full 20 games ahead of the second-place New York Giants. The team's .763 winning percentage is the highest ever in modern MLB history to date. The 2001 Seattle Mariners also won 116 games, but they did that in a 162-game season, hence their winning percentage of .716 was nowhere near as high as was the 1906 Cubs' .763. In fact, the 1954 Cleveland Indians still hold the record for the highest winning percentage ever by an American League team when they went 111-43 in 1954, for a .721 winning percentage. Strangely enough, all three of these teams did not win the World Series in their record-breaking regular seasons. The 1906 Cubs lost to the Chicago White Sox in the World Series, the 1954 Indians lost to the New York Giants in the World Series, and the 2001 Mariners lost to the New York Yankees in that season's American League Championship Series.

In a major upset, the Cubs were beaten by the Chicago White Sox in the 1906 World Series.

Regular season

The 1906 Cubs won a record 116 of 154 games.

Led by new manager Frank Chance, the Cubs dominated the NL. They led the league in both runs scored and fewest runs allowed by large margins. Their record of 116 wins has never been beaten, although it was tied by the 2001 Seattle Mariners (who played a longer 162-game season).

The team included four future Hall of Famers: manager and first baseman Chance, second baseman Johnny Evers, shortstop Joe Tinker, and pitcher Mordecai Brown. Brown finished second in the NL in wins to Joe McGinnity, but his 1.04 ERA set a major league record. Although the record was broken by Dutch Leonard in 1914, Brown's mark still stands as the National League record.

The pitching staff led the majors with a team earned run average of 1.76. Six members of the pitching staff had double digit victories – Mordecai Brown (26), Jack Pfiester (20), Ed Reulbach (19), Carl Lundgren (17), Orval Overall (12), and Jack Taylor (12). In addition, Mordecai Brown set a major league record with the lowest earned run average attained with at least 250 innings pitched (1.04).[1] The offensive star was third baseman Harry Steinfeldt, who led the NL in both hits and RBI.

The team's .763 winning percentage also set a modern-era record, and was the best overall since 1885. However, it set neither a National League record nor even a franchise record, as the 19th-century White Stockings finished with better records on three occasions (1876, 1880, and 1885). The all-time major league record belongs to the 1884 St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association at .832.

On August 9, Jack Taylor threw the last of a major league record 187 consecutive complete games that he pitched[2] (not counting appearances as a relief pitcher), a streak that began in 1901 when Taylor was pitching for the Chicago Orphans. Taylor had been re-acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals on July 1, having been traded to the Cards after the 1903 season.[3]

Season standings

National League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago Cubs 116 36 0.763 — 56–21 60–15
New York Giants 96 56 0.632 20 51–24 45–32
Pittsburg Pirates 93 60 0.608 23½ 49–27 44–33
Philadelphia Phillies 71 82 0.464 45½ 37–40 34–42
Brooklyn Superbas 66 86 0.434 50 31–44 35–42
Cincinnati Reds 64 87 0.424 51½ 36–40 28–47
St. Louis Cardinals 52 98 0.347 63 28–48 24–50
Boston Beaneaters 49 102 0.325 66½ 28–47 21–55

Record vs. opponents

1906 National League Records

Sources:

Team BOS BR CHC CIN NYG PHI PIT STL
Boston — 9–13 5–17 11–10–1 6–15 6–16 3–19 9–12
Brooklyn 13–9 — 6–16 8–14 9–13 8–13 9–13 13–8–1
Chicago 17–5 16–6 — 18–4 15–7–1 19–3–1 16–5 15–6–1
Cincinnati 10–11–1 14–8 4–18 — 5–16 11–11 8–14–1 12–9–2
New York 15–6 13–9 7–15–1 16–5 — 15–7 11–11 19–3
Philadelphia 16–6 13–8 3–19–1 11–11 7–15 — 8–14 13–9
Pittsburg 19–3 13–9 5–16 14–8–1 11–11 14–8 — 17–5
St. Louis 12–9 8–13–1 6–15–1 9–12–2 3–19 9–13 5–17 —

Roster

1906 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 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 Kling, JohnnyJohnny Kling 107 343 107 .312 2 46
1B Chance, FrankFrank Chance 136 474 151 .319 3 71
2B Evers, JohnnyJohnny Evers 154 533 136 .255 1 51
SS Tinker, JoeJoe Tinker 148 523 122 .233 1 64
3B Steinfeldt, HarryHarry Steinfeldt 151 539 176 .327 3 83
OF Sheckard, JimmyJimmy Sheckard 149 549 144 .262 1 45
OF Schulte, FrankFrank Schulte 146 563 158 .281 7 60
OF Slagle, JimmyJimmy Slagle 127 498 119 .239 0 33

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

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
Brown, MordecaiMordecai Brown 36 277.1 26 6 1.04 144
Pfiester, JackJack Pfiester 31 250.2 20 8 1.51 153
Reulbach, EdEd Reulbach 33 218 19 4 1.65 94
Lundgren, CarlCarl Lundgren 27 207.2 17 6 2.21 103
Taylor, JackJack Taylor 17 147.1 12 3 1.83 34
Overall, OrvalOrval Overall 18 144 12 3 1.88 94
Wicker, BobBob Wicker 10 72.1 3 5 2.99 25
Harper, JackJack Harper 1 1 0 0 0.00 0

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
Beebe, FredFred Beebe 14 70 6 1 2.70 55

1906 World Series

Main article: 1906 World Series

AL Chicago White Sox (4) vs NL Chicago Cubs (2)

GameScoreDateLocationAttendance
1White Sox – 2, Cubs – 1October 9West Side Park12,693
2Cubs – 7, White Sox – 1October 10South Side Park12,595
3White Sox – 3, Cubs – 0October 11West Side Park13,667
4Cubs – 1, White Sox – 0October 12South Side Park18,385
5White Sox – 8, Cubs – 6October 13West Side Park23,257
6Cubs – 3, White Sox – 8October 14South Side Park19,249

Awards and honors

References

  1. 1 2 Baseball’s Top 100: The Game’s Greatest Records, p. 28, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
  2. ↑ Baseball’s Top 100: The Game’s Greatest Records, p.62, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
  3. ↑ Jack Taylor page at Baseball Reference
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