1903 AL

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1903 in baseball
1903 American League
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<< 1902 1904 >>

The 1903 season of the American League was the third season of the league.

1 Season summary
2 Standings
3 League leaders
- 3.1 Batting
- 3.2 Pitching
4 Postseason
5 Notable events

[edit] Season summary

The 1903 campaign was a breakthrough season for the American League and was characterized by several major changes. The first, and by far most important, was a peace agreement with the National League, which agreement legitimized the American League, placing it on an even standing with the older league. It compelled teams in both leagues to honor the contracts (including the reserve clause) of players in the other league and also led to the formation of a three man National Commission, consisting of the two league presidents and one owner, to rule on inter-league disputes. The commission forced the American League to adopt the foul strike rule. The peace agreement also paved the way for the first (albeit unofficial) modern World Series between the league champions. To cap a triumphant season, American League champion Boston Pilgrims topped the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Series, demonstrating that the league had achieved parity with or even superiority over the National League.

[edit] Standings

Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS (RS/G)	RA (RA/G)	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	FPCT
1	Boston Pilgrims	141	91	47	3	.645	-.-	708 (5.02)	504 (3.57)	0.272	0.308	0.392	2.57	0.959
2	Philadelphia Athletics	137	75	60	2	.547	14.5	597 (4.36)	519 (3.79)	0.264	0.304	0.363	2.98	0.960
3	Cleveland Naps	140	77	63	0	.550	15.0	639 (4.56)	579 (4.14)	0.265	0.303	0.373	2.73	0.946
4	New York Highlanders	136	72	62	2	.529	17.0	579 (4.26)	573 (4.21)	0.249	0.300	0.330	3.08	0.953
5	Detroit Tigers	137	65	71	1	.474	25.0	567 (4.14)	539 (3.93)	0.268	0.312	0.351	2.75	0.950
6	St. Louis Browns	139	65	74	0	.468	26.5	500 (3.60)	525 (3.78)	0.244	0.286	0.317	2.77	0.953
7	Chicago White Sox	138	60	77	1	.435	30.5	516 (3.74)	613 (4.44)	0.247	0.296	0.314	3.02	0.949
8	Washington Senators	140	43	94	3	.307	47.5	437 (3.12)	691 (4.94)	0.231	0.272	0.311	3.82	0.953

[edit] League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

[edit] Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Hobe Ferris Buck Freeman Candy LaChance	Boston Pilgrims Boston Pilgrims Boston Pilgrims	141
At Bats	Patsy Dougherty	Boston Pilgrims	590
Runs Scored	Patsy Dougherty	Boston Pilgrims	107
Hits	Patsy Dougherty	Boston Pilgrims	195
Doubles	Socks Seybold	Philadelphia Athletics	45
Triples	Sam Crawford	Detroit Tigers	25
Home Runs	Buck Freeman	Boston Pilgrims	13
Total Bases	Buck Freeman	Boston Pilgrims	281
Runs Batted In	Buck Freeman	Boston Pilgrims	104
Stolen Bases	Harry Bay	Cleveland Naps	45
Walks	Jimmy Barrett	Detroit Tigers	74
Hit by Pitch	Kid Elberfeld	Detroit Tigers/New York Highlanders	15
Sacrifice Hits	Billy Lush	Detroit Tigers	34
Batting Average	Nap Lajoie	Cleveland Naps	0.344
On-Base Percentage	Jimmy Barrett	Detroit Tigers	0.407
Slugging Percentage	Nap Lajoie	Cleveland Naps	0.518
On-Base plus Slugging	Nap Lajoie	Cleveland Naps	0.897
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Nap Lajoie	Cleveland Naps	169

[edit] Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Cy Young	Boston Pilgrims	28
Losses	Patsy Flaherty	Chicago White Sox	25
Win-Loss Percentage	Cy Young	Boston Pilgrims	0.757
Appearances	Eddie Plank	Philadelphia Athletics	43
Games Started	Eddie Plank	Philadelphia Athletics	40
Complete Games	Bill Donovan Rube Waddell Cy Young	Detroit Tigers Philadelphia Athletics Boston Pilgrims	34
Shutouts	Cy Young	Boston Pilgrims	7
Games Finished	Harry Howell	New York Highlanders	10
Saves	Bill Dineen George Mullin Al Orth Jack Powell Cy Young	Boston Pilgrims Detroit Tigers Washington Senators St. Louis Browns Boston Pilgrims	2
Innings Pitched	Cy Young	Boston Pilgrims	341.2
Batters Faced	Eddie Plank	Philadelphia Athletics	1378
Hits Allowed	Patsy Flaherty	Chicago White Sox	338
Home Runs Allowed	Case Patten Jack Powell	Washington Senators St. Louis Browns	11
Base-on-Balls Allowed	George Mullin	Detroit Tigers	106
Hit Batsmen	Chief Bender	Philadelphia Athletics	25
Strikeouts	Rube Waddell	Philadelphia Athletics	302
Wild Pitches	Rube Waddell	Philadelphia Athletics	9
Balks	Chief Bender	Philadelphia Athletics	2
Runs Allowed	Al Orth	Washington Senators	174
Earned Runs Allowed	Al Orth	Washington Senators	135
Earned Run Average	Earl Moore	Cleveland Naps	1.74
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Addie Joss	Cleveland Naps	0.948