1912 Pittsburgh Pirates season

1912 Pittsburgh Pirates
LeagueNational League
BallparkForbes Field
CityPittsburgh, Pennsylvania[1]
OwnersBarney Dreyfuss
ManagersFred Clarke
← 1911 Seasons 1913 →

The 1912 Pittsburgh Pirates season was a season in American baseball, the 31st in franchise history. The team finished second in the National League with a record of 93–58, 10 games behind the New York Giants.

During the season, Chief Wilson set a major league record by hitting 36 triples in a single season.[2] After 118 games, Chief Wilson already had 33 triples and was on pace to get 43 triples.[3]

In their 23–4 win against the Cincinnati Reds on April 27, the Pirates recorded a .628 batting average, the highest by any team in a single game from 1901 onwards.[4]

Regular season

Season standings

National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Giants 103 48 .682 — 49‍–‍25 54‍–‍23
Pittsburgh Pirates 93 58 .616 10 44‍–‍31 49‍–‍27
Chicago Cubs 91 59 .607 11½ 46‍–‍30 45‍–‍29
Cincinnati Reds 75 78 .490 29 45‍–‍32 30‍–‍46
Philadelphia Phillies 73 79 .480 30½ 34‍–‍41 39‍–‍38
St. Louis Cardinals 63 90 .412 41 37‍–‍40 26‍–‍50
Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers 58 95 .379 46 33‍–‍43 25‍–‍52
Boston Braves 52 101 .340 52 31‍–‍47 21‍–‍54

Record vs. opponents

1912 National League record

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


Opening Day lineup

Notable transactions

Roster

1912 Pittsburgh Pirates
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 George Gibson 95 300 72 .240 2 35
1B Dots Miller 148 567 156 .275 4 86
2B Alex McCarthy 111 401 111 .277 1 41
3B Bobby Byrne 130 528 152 .288 3 35
SS Honus Wagner 145 558 181 .324 7 102
OF Mike Donlin 77 244 77 .316 2 35
OF Chief Wilson 152 583 175 .300 11 95
OF Max Carey 150 587 177 .302 5 68

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
Art Butler 43 154 42 .273 1 14
Billy Kelly 48 132 42 .318 1 12
Mike Simon 42 113 34 .301 0 10
Ed Mensor 39 99 26 .263 0 1
Tommy Leach 28 97 29 .299 0 18
Ham Hyatt 46 97 28 .289 0 21
Bill McKechnie 24 73 18 .247 0 4
Jim Viox 33 70 13 .186 1 6
Solly Hofman 17 53 15 .283 0 3
Stump Edington 15 53 16 .302 0 14
Stan Gray 6 20 5 .250 0 2
Ovid Nicholson 6 11 5 .455 0 1
Ona Dodd 5 9 0 .000 0 1
Wally Rehg 8 9 0 .000 0 0
Rivington Bisland 1 1 0 .000 0 0
Earl Blackburn 1 0 0 ---- 0 0
Ralph Capron 1 0 0 ---- 0 0
Mickey Keliher 2 0 0 ---- 0 0

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
Claude Hendrix 39 288.2 24 9 2.59 176
Howie Camnitz 41 276.2 22 12 2.83 121
Marty O'Toole 37 275.1 15 17 2.71 150
Babe Adams 28 170.1 11 8 2.91 63

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
Hank Robinson 33 175.0 12 7 2.26 79
King Cole 12 49.0 2 2 6.43 11
Ed Warner 11 45.0 1 1 3.60 13
Jack Ferry 11 39.0 2 0 3.00 10
Wilbur Cooper 6 38.0 3 0 1.66 30

Relief 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
Lefty Leifield 6 23.2 1 2 4.18 8
Sherry Smith 3 4.0 0 0 6.75 3
Harry Gardner 1 0.1 0 0 0.00 0

Chief Wilson's 36 triples

Triple Game Date Inning Location Opposing Pitcher Team
1 2 April 13, 1912 2nd Robison Field Bill Steele St. Louis Cardinals
2 6 April 18, 1912 9th Forbes Field Slim Sallee St. Louis Cardinals
3 9 April 23, 1912 6th West Side Park II Mordecai Brown Chicago Cubs
4 11 April 27, 1912 1st Forbes Field Art Fromme Cincinnati Reds
5 11 April 27, 1912 8th Forbes Field Hanson Horsey Cincinnati Reds
6 15 May 3, 1912 3rd Forbes Field Larry Cheney Chicago Cubs
7 16 May 4, 1912 4th Forbes Field Ed Reulbach Chicago Cubs
8 25 May 21, 1912 7th Forbes Field Bill McTigue Boston Braves
9 29 May 25, 1912 4th Forbes Field Jimmy Lavender Chicago Cubs
10 29 May 25, 1912 6th Forbes Field Jimmy Lavender Chicago Cubs
11 33 May 30, 1912 3rd Forbes Field Slim Sallee St. Louis Cardinals
12 48 June 17, 1912 8th Polo Grounds III Rube Marquard New York Giants
13 49 June 18, 1912 9th Polo Grounds III Doc Crandall New York Giants
14 50 June 19, 1912 4th Forbes Field Joe Willis St. Louis Cardinals
15 51 June 20, 1912 2nd Redland Field Bobby Keefe Cincinnati Reds
16 51 June 20, 1912 10th Redland Field Harry Gaspar Cincinnati Reds
17 52 June 20, 1912 6th Redland Field Art Fromme Cincinnati Reds
18 64 July 2, 1912 8th Forbes Field Larry Cheney Chicago Cubs
19 65 July 4, 1912 4th Forbes Field Ben Taylor Cincinnati Reds
20 70 July 8, 1912 8th Forbes Field Toots Schultz Philadelphia Phillies
21 77 July 16, 1912 4th Forbes Field Earl Yingling Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers
22 78 July 17, 1912 9th Forbes Field Christy Mathewson New York Giants
23 79 July 19, 1912 3rd Forbes Field Rube Marquard New York Giants
24 82 July 22, 1912 3rd Forbes Field Buster Brown Boston Braves
25 84 July 25, 1912 1st Forbes Field Eddie Stack Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers
26 85 July 26, 1912 1st National League Park Earl Moore Philadelphia Phillies
27 99 August 10, 1912 6th Washington Park II Cliff Curtis Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers
28 106 August 16, 1912 7th Forbes Field Grover Cleveland Alexander Philadelphia Phillies
29 114 August 23, 1912 9th Forbes Field Jeff Tesreau New York Giants
30 116 August 26, 1912 6th Forbes Field Otto Hess Boston Braves
31 117 August 26, 1912 6th Forbes Field Ed Donnelly Boston Braves
32 117 August 26, 1912 8th Forbes Field Ed Donnelly Boston Braves
33 118 August 27, 1912 4th Forbes Field Walt Dickson Boston Braves
34 129 September 7, 1912 6th Robison Field Pol Perritt St. Louis Cardinals
35 148 September 29, 1912 8th West Side Park II Ed Reulbach Chicago Cubs
36 152 October 6, 1912 9th Redland Field Frank Gregory Cincinnati Reds

[2]

References

  1. ^ From 1882–1906, the team played in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which became annexed by Pittsburgh as the North Side in 1907.
  2. ^ a b "Chief Wilson MLB Record 36 Triples in 1912 | Baseball Almanac".
  3. ^ Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, p.57, Kerry Banks, 2010, Greystone Books, Vancouver, BC, ISBN 978-1-55365-507-7
  4. ^ "Team Batting Game Finder: In the Regular Season, since 1901, requiring Batting Average >= .590, sorted by greatest Batting Average". Stathead Baseball. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
  5. ^ Everitt Booe page at Baseball-Reference