NYYFans.com Forum - The New York Highlanders 1904

The continuing history of our beloved Yankees ... When last we read, the Highlanders had just completed their very first season in New York...

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1904

After a successful inaugural season in NY going a respectable 72-62 under Clark Griffith, the NY Highlanders looked to build on that success and challenge the Boston Pilgrims for the number one spot in the American League during the infancy of the dead-ball era. Hilltop Park was their home field. The ballpark was originally known as American League Park, but was renamed Hilltop Park soon after because the ballpark sat on high ground. the ballpark was not in good condition when it opened. There was a swamp in right field that had yet to be filled with rock, the outfield had no grass, the grandstand had not been completed, and players had to dress at their hotel rooms because the clubhouse was not completed. When Hilltop Park was finally completed, a single tier wooden covered grandstand extended from the third base dugout to home plate, and around to the first base dugout. Uncovered grandstands extended to both foul poles.

Clark Griffith (Manager, 1903 – 1908) was a native of the prairie and a professional trapper at age ten, emulating his father, a commercial hunter. When the Griffiths relocated to Bloomington, IL, young Clark discovered organized baseball. He signed his first pro contract in 1888 with Milwaukee of the Western League, and jumped to the American Association, pitching for both St. Louis and Boston in 1891 before the league collapsed.

In 1893 Griffith assembled a 30-18 record for the Oakland Oaks (Pacific Coast League). When the Oaks' owners, in mid-season, did not come up with back pay owed the players, Griffith organized his teammates to strike. Needing employment, several of them, including Griffith, found work as itinerant vaudevillians in San Francisco's Barbary Coast district. When the owners found enough money, the players were paid and the season was completed.

Griffith was signed by Cap Anson for his NL Chicago Colts (later Cubs) in 1893. Griffiths eight years in Chicago were the high point of his playing career. The Old Fox earned his nickname by utilizing a six-pitch arsenal, including the screwball (which he claimed to have invented), a silencing quick-pitch delivery, and the ruse of hiding the ball in the plane of his body before delivering. Griffith scuffed, scratched, cut, and spit upon nearly every pitch without hesitation, yet when the call came to make these tactics illegal in 1920, Griffith led that bandwagon. Young Clark claimed it was bad luck to pitch a shutout, and avoided doing so until 1897

Griffith served as vice president of the League Protective Players' Association, and in 1900, he led the members in baseball's first universal strike. The players wanted the minimum salary raised to $3,000 and their uniforms paid for by the owners. Honorable demands aside, The Old Fox had the ulterior motive of helping old friend Ban Johnson establish his rival American League. He contrived to get every player to pledge not to sign a new contract without LPPA approval. This tactic crippled NL owners. Griffith persuaded 39 NL stars to jump to the AL; for his efforts, he was rewarded with the player/managership of the new Chicago franchise in 1901 and 1902, before moving on to the same duties with the newborn New York Highlanders from 1903 to 1908. Griffiths major strategic contribution to the game was the development of the relief pitcher. While in New York, he yielded to the pressures from his Tammany Hall owners and pitched his two premier starters, Jack Chesbro and Jack Powell, a staggering 845 combined innings in 1904. In 1905 both were markedly less effective, and completed many fewer games. The Old Fox finished many games for them personally, making a career-high 18 relief appearances that season. Along with John McGraw, Griffith revolutionized baseball with his reliance on the bullpen. He subsequently developed the first great relievers, Allen Russell and Fred Marberry. He turned relief into a weapon against McGraw's Giants in the 1924 World Series.

The Highlanders pitching staff was led by "Happy Jack" Chesbro, the 21 game winner of 1903 and was set with 3 solid starters. Chesbro, Jack Powell, and Al Orth would combine for 66 wins with Tom Hughes and "The Old Fox" Clark Griffith (That’s right! the manager!!) adding another 14...

Chesbro's career began slowly, with a minor league career plagued by the misfortune of being with shaky franchises that folded in mid-season. Finally he joined the Atlantic League, organized by Ed Barrow, and worked his way to the majors. He joined Pittsburgh mid-season of 1899.

Chesbro's fame as a pitcher began when he pitched the Pirates to their first pennants in 1901 and 1902. In 1902 he picked up the spitball, at a time when its peculiar properties were first being discovered by a number of pitchers. He strung together enough starring seasons to offset his relatively short career. He had only 12 seasons in the major leagues, 9 as a regular starter. Still, with his extraordinary 1904 season, he gained election to the Hall of Fame in 1948.

Chesbro would make 51 starts in 1904, finishing 48 of them! He couldn't have picked a better time to have a great year as Griffith was wearing down, and Orth was sick for part of the season...

A durable hurler, Orth won 202 games without ever throwing a curve. Instead, The Curveless Wonder changed speeds masterfully on his fastball. For the 1899 Phillies, he led the National League with a 2.49 ERA. His control was among the best; he walked 19 in 145 innings that season, and with the 1902 Senators allowed just 40 walks in 324 innings. He fell to 10-22 in 1903, and in 1904 was traded to the New York Highlanders. There he picked up the spitball from Jack Chesbro, and in 1906 he led the AL with 27 wins, 36 complete games, and 339 innings pitched. In 1907 he lost a league-high 21 games. A fine hitter, he ranks seventh all-time among pitchers with 389 career hits. He sometimes played in the field and was used 78 times as a pinch hitter.

The Highlanders had a veteran slugger at first base in John Ganzel who led the team, along with outfielder Patsy Dougherty, in HR's that season with 6. Willie Keeler led the team in batting with a .343 avg.

Rounding out the rest of the starting lineup was Deacon McGuire behind the plate. Deacon was in his 19th professional season and would catch 101 games. McGuire appeared in more major league seasons than any catcher in baseball history - 26. He caught 1,611 games, most coming during the 19th century...

Jimmy Williams, the 2nd sacker was in his 6th year of pro ball. He had the second highest number of errors for the team in 1904 with 40. Though the SS, Kid Elberfeld lead this dubious category with 48, it would be a throwing error by Williams that would prove costly against the Pilgrims on the last day of the season.

Wid Conroy was the 3rd sacker. He picked up the nickname "Widow" for his solicitous concern for younger boys on his Sandlot team and was known as "Wid" all his long life in organized baseball. Wid was the first-string shortstop of the NL champion 1902 Pirates, but became a third baseman when he returned to the AL with the Highlanders in 1903. He led AL third basemen twice in total chances...

Kid Elberfeld, known as “The Tobacco Kid" was a 5'5 “tough” who played a fiery brand of baseball, challenging base runners to slash him out of their way, living up to the title "The Tabasco Kid". His legs were badly scarred, and he grimly poured raw whiskey into spike wounds to cauterize them. Kid was the Highlanders' everyday shortstop from mid-1903 through 1907. After a short, unsuccessful stint as New York's manager for part of 1908, he went back to playing full time the following year. He remained in baseball for decades, battling umpires and foes as a hotheaded minor league manager.

Leading the Outfielders was Wee Willie Keeler. A two-time batting champion as the Baltimore Orioles' right fielder, Keeler advised simply, "Keep your eye on the ball and hit 'em where they ain't." Although the native Brooklynite jumped to the New York Highlanders in 1903, becoming one of few to play for three New York teams, he is best remembered for his years in Baltimore. His contemporaries recognized him as one of the game's great bat handlers, a precise bunter, and place hitter as well as a master of the "Baltimore chop" off the hardened dirt in front of home plate. He choked his short bat almost halfway up, and with a quick wrist snap would punch the ball over the infielders' heads. He was extremely fast down the line and worked the hit-and-run expertly with teammate John McGraw.

Rounding out the outfield was "Honest John" Anderson in his 11th year of pro ball and Patsy Dougherty, fresh from the Pilgrims. The brawling Irishman was the first player to hit two home runs in a World Series with a pair for the Red Sox in 1903. After Dougherty engaged in a fistfight with Highlanders Manager Clark Griffith, New York placed him on waivers...

The Highlanders were engaged in a season-long five-way fight for the pennant. It was clear that Chesbro was having a “career” season, as by early August, he had a streak of 30 complete games going though it was finally stopped by the White Sox on August 10th. October 7th saw “Happy Jack” notch his 41st win against the Pilgrims. By doing so, he became the first pitcher to lead both leagues in winning percentage.

Though Chesbro won 41 games in 1904, he's mainly remembered for the one he didn't win...The race had come down to a five game series between New York and Boston that would end the season and declare the pennant winner in the American League. The Highlanders won on Oct. 7th and took a half game lead over Boston. The Pilgrims swept a doubleheader the following day and went ahead by a game and a half. That left a double header, which the Highlanders needed to sweep in order to win the pennant. Chesbro pitched the first game against Bill Dineen, who won 23 games for Boston that year. The game remained scoreless through the first four innings when the Highlanders struck first and took a 2 run lead. However a throwing error by NY second Sacker Jimmy Williams allowed the Pilgrims to tie it up. It remained 2-2 until the infamous ninth inning...

Boston's Lou Griger led off with a single, went to second on a sac, and advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Chesbro then looked in to Kleinow behind the plate for the sign, wound up and released...and the spitball sailed over Kleinow’s head, allowing Criger to score the winning run. It was ruled a wild pitch, but Kleinow took criticism for failing to catch it. The Highlanders won the second game but came up short as the Pilgrims won the pennant.

Though the upstart NY'rs finished the season with a 92-59 record they gave notice to the rest of the American league that The Highlanders were a team to be reckoned with...

1905

Unfortunately, the Highlanders suffered many personnel changes and finished up the 1905 season with a 71-78 record finishing sixth in an eight team field...

1906

The 1906 Season saw the New York Highlanders return to serious pennant contention in the American League. Hal Chase, in his second season with the Highlanders would lead the team in hitting with a .323 BA, 193 hits and 76 RBI’s.

Although he was considered by many observers to be the best-fielding first baseman ever, he led his league's first basemen in errors seven times. Only in 1911, as a playing manager, in any did he lead positive fielding categories (putouts and assists, but also errors once again). He holds the AL career first baseman's mark for errors with 285. On September 21, 1906, he tied the ML record for putouts by a first baseman in a nine-inning game with 22; two other times he had 21again.

Chase jumped the Highlanders after the 1907 season, demanding a $4,000 salary. Management gave in to him, but he jumped anyway, playing for San Jose (California League) under an assumed name. He was suspended, and then reinstated. When he returned to New York, his teammates presented the redhead with a silver loving cup. In 1910 manager George Stallings accused Chase of throwing games. Chase beat the charge and then used his popularity to take over the managerial post himself at the end of the season. In his first full year at the helm, the team dropped from second place (88-63) to sixth (76-76). He was dealt to the White Sox in June 1913 after his lackadaisical play became blatant.

Despite being among the most unsavory characters in the history of the game, he was an oddly charismatic star who repeatedly threw games for the quick money he could make betting against his own team, and he was eventually banned for life after being implicated in the Black Sox scandal when the 1919 World Series Between the White Sox and Reds was thrown.

At third base, the Highlanders employed Frank LaPorte (Conway moved to the outfield for the season) who was a quiet player who split most of his seasons among several positions.

Chesbro and Orth combined once again as a solid one-two punch for the Highlanders with Chesbro winning 23 and Orth 27. Rounding out the staff for The Highlanders was “Buffalo Bill” Hogg and “Doc” Newton. Hogg was the number-three or number-four starter for his entire stay in the majors, though he was wild with above-average ERAs. He had two winning records, 14-13 in 1906 and 10-8 in 1907. Doc Newton set the single-season NL record for errors by a pitcher (since 1900) with 17 for Cincinnati and Brooklyn in 1901. He had his best season in 1902 for Brooklyn, when he went 15-14 with a 2.42 ERA. New York manager Clark Griffith claimed that Newton's failure to stay in condition cost the Highlanders the 1906 pennant; Newton was suspended mid-season for dissipation.

During the 1906 season, the Chicago White Sox became known as the “hitless wonders” for obvious reasons. They hit just .230 as a team. However in early August they went on a 19-game win streak and needed only 10 days to go from fourth to first, edging out the Highlanders by 3 games during the last week of the season. So despite another great season with a 90-61 record, the Highlanders would have to settle for second place once again.

Over in the National league, the Chicago Cubs were setting all kinds of records on their way to an astounding 116 win season when all around the league was heard “Tinkers to Evers to Chance”. It looked to be an all Chicago Series this year.

1907

Once again the Highlanders ended a season with optimism towards the next, only to come crashing back down once again, almost to the same exact record as 1905…They would finish a disappointing 5th place with a record of 70–78. Their pitching staff was overworked and tired this season with Orth and Chesbro combining for only 24 wins, 3 less than Orths win TOTAL the previous season. Slow Joe Doyle added another 11. Although they scored almost as many runs as the previous season, they game up well over 100 more…

1908

If the Highlanders continued their pattern of having a great season every two years, they hoped that 1908 would bring them a pennant. Well, the wheels would come off the wagon in 1908 after several personnel changes including manager Clark Griffith, who left in disgust mid-way through the season.

Jack Chesbro was worn down after pitching over 1600 innings since 1903 and would record 14 wins in 1908, the highest total on the staff. Orth was also hurting and would record only 2. Rube Manning in his second season with the Highlanders would record 13 wins. This was to be the busiest season of his short career.

Harry Niles was now the second sacker, newly acquired from Boston, would stay for only one season to be shipped back to Boston for the 1909 season.

Neal ball was now the starting SS in his second season with NY. He would go on to lead the AL shortstops with 80 errors in 1908.

As the season wore on Clark Griffith became more and more discouraged by what he saw on the field and in general management of the organization. By the mid-way mark of the 1908 season, a tremendous animosity had grown between Griffith and the New York owners and, charging the Highlander owners with refusing to spend money to build the team, he resigned... Kid Elberfeld replaced as interim manager…

New York faded fast and finished last with 103 losses…