1901 in baseball

Champions

Major League Baseball

* American League: Chicago White Stockings
* National League: Pittsburgh Pirates

Other champions

* Minor leagues
** California League: San Francisco Waspsbr>
** Connecticut State League: Bristol Woodchoppersbr>

** International League, Eastern League: Rochester Bronchos or Hustlers
** Inter-Mountain League: Ogden
** Interstate League or Western Association: champion unknown
** New England League: Portland (ME)
** New York State League: champion unknown
** Pacific Northwest League: Portland Webfoots (OR)
** Southern Association: Nashville Vols

Statistical leaders

¹Modern (post-1900) single season batting average record

Notable seasons

* Nap Lajoie of the Philadelphia Athletics hits .426, an AL batting average record that still stands today. This record is also the modern or post-1900 batting average record and is often cited as the highest batting average of all time. However, the all-time batting average leader is Hugh Duffy, who hit .440 in 1894.
* Cy Young of the Boston Americans leads the AL in ERA at 1.62 and wins 33 games, 41.8% of the Pilgrims' total.

Major league baseball final standings

American League final standings

Note: The Baltimore Orioles of 1901 became the New York Highlanders in 1903. The Milwaukee Brewers of 1901 became the St. Louis Browns in 1902. The Washington Senators of 1901 became the Minnesota Twins in 1961.

National League final standings

Events

January

* January 4 – The Baltimore Orioles club incorporates. John McGraw is manager and part-owner.
*January 27 - Hugh Duffy Jumps from the Boston Beaneaters to the Milwaukee Brewers.
* January 28 – The American League formally organizes. The eight original clubs were the Chicago White Stockings, Milwaukee Brewers, Indianapolis Hoosiers, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Blues (reconstituted as the Washington Senators (1901–1960), Cleveland Lake Shores, Buffalo Bisons, and Minneapolis Millers. The Hoosiers, Bisons, and Millers are contracted; the Boston Americans, Baltimore Orioles, and Philadelphia Athletics are admitted. Teams are limited to 14 players and will play 140 games per season.

February

* February 8 – Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Nap Lajoie, along with pitchers Chick Fraser and Bill Bernhard, jump to the new American League Philadelphia club, the Athletics.
*February 27 – The National League Rules Committee decrees that all foul balls are to count as strike balls, except after two strikes. To cut the cost of lost foul balls, the committee urges that batters who foul off good strikes are to be disciplined. The American League will not adopt this rule until the 1903 season. Other new rules: catchers must play within 10 feet of the batter; a ball will be called if the pitcher does not throw to a ready and waiting batter within 20 seconds, and players using indecent or improper language will be banished by the umpire. A ball will be called when a batter is hit by a pitch, but, in a mail vote, the owners will rescind this in April, and a HBP will earn a batter first base.

March

* March 2 – Jimmy Collins, Hugh Duffy, and Billy Sullivan jump the NL for the new AL. Collins will manage the Boston Americans, Duffy will manage the Milwaukee Brewers, and Sullivan will catch for the Chicago White Stockings.
* March 11 - John McGraw, manager of the Baltimore Orioles of the American League, attempts to sign infielder Charlie Grant, a black man, and attempt to pass him off as a Cherokee Indian named Tokohoma. However, Chicago White Sox president Charles Comiskey recognizes Grant and McGraw's attempt to integrate major league baseball falls apart.
* March 19 - Pitcher Cy Young jumps from the NL's St. Louis Cardinals to the AL's Boston Americans.
* March 28 – Philadelphia Phillies owner John Rogers files an injunction to stop Nap Lajoie, Bill Bernhard and Chick Fraser from playing for the Phillies' AL rival, the Philadelphia Athletics.

April

* April 3 – Connie Mack, famed Philadelphia Athletics manager, accuses Christy Mathewson of breaking a contract he had signed with the Athletics in January. Mathewson had in fact accepted money from the Athletics before rejoining the Giants in March.
* April 18 – With a six-run first-inning, the Brooklyn Superbas beat the Philadelphia Phillies 12-7 to open the National League's 1901 season.
* April 24 – The American League begins play as a new Major League. The Chicago White Stockings defeat the Cleveland Blues 8-2 as Roy Patterson collects his first of 20 wins.
* April 25 – History is made in just the second day of play in the new American League at Bennett Park. The Milwaukee Brewers are leading the Detroit Tigers 13-4 going into the ninth inning, when the Tigers rally and score 10 runs to win, 14-13. Pop Dillon drives in the winning run with his fourth double of the game, setting a Major League Baseball record with four doubles on Opening Day, that will be matched by Jim Greengrass in 1954.
* April 26 – Christy Mathewson records his first major league victory in the New York Giants' opener, beating the Brooklyn Superbas 5-3.
* April 27 - Billy Clingman of the Washington Senators hits the first home run in franchise history off Wiley Piatt of the Philadelphia Athletics. Washington would go on to win the game 11-5.
* April 28 - The Cleveland Blues defeat the Chicago White Sox 13-1. The Blues (who would later change their name to the Indians) hit 23 singles, 22 of them off White Sox pitcher Bock Baker.

May

* May 1 - Herm McFarland of the Chicago White Sox hits the first gland slam in American League history as the White Sox rout the Detroit Tigers 19-9. The Tigers commit an AL record 12 errors, 10 in the infield.
* May 2 – This was the date of the American League's first forfeit, with the Detroit Tigers playing the Chicago White Stockings. The Tigers scored five runs in the top of the ninth to put them on top, 7-5, and the White Stockings began stalling for a rainout. However, the umpire forfeited the game to the Tigers.
* May 4 - Future politician Fred Brown makes his MLB debut. Brown, who'd later win a seat as a Democrat in New Hampshire, only plays nine games over two years in the major leagues.
* May 8:
** Amos Rusie, pitching for the Cincinnati Reds, makes his first start in more than two years. He loses, 14-3, and retires after two more appearances.
** With the New York Giants leading the Philadelphia Phillies 9-8 with two out in the ninth, John Ganzel of the Giants pulls the hidden ball trick on Harry Wolverton of the Phillies. This trick ends the game and preserves the Giants' win.
* May 9 – Earl Moore of the Cleveland Blues pitched nine hitless innings against the Chicago White Stockings before giving up two hits in the 10th inning to lose 4-2.
* May 15 - Watty Lee throws the first shutout in American League history when the Washington Senators blank the Boston Americans 4-0 in Boston. The 21 year-old southpaw, who will finish the season with a 16-16 record, will be the author of two of the eight shutouts thrown in the Junior Circuit's inaugural season.
* May 17 – The Philadelphia Athletics are beating the Washington Senators 7-6 in the bottom of the ninth when Senators player Bill Coughlin hits an apparent game-ending home run. However, under the rules of the time, Coughlin is credited with just a single, as that is all that it would have taken for the Senators to beat the Athletics.
* May 21 – Andrew Freedman, owner of the New York Giants, refuses to allow umpire Billy Nash inside the Polo Grounds, accusing him of incompetence.
* May 23 – Nap Lajoie, on his way to hitting a record .426 for the Philadelphia Athletics, is considered such a dangerous hitter by the Chicago White Stockings that he is intentionally walked with the bases loaded.
** Scoring nine runs in the bottom of the ninth at Cleveland's League Park, the Blues, later to be known as the Indians, stun the Senators, 14-13. The incredible comeback, which consists of six singles, two doubles, a walk, a hit batsman, and a passed ball, comes after two outs.
* May 27 – Third baseman Jimmy Burke of the Milwaukee Brewers sets an American League record by committing four errors in an inning. This record will be tied in 1914 by the Cleveland Naps' Ray Chapman, and in 1942 by the Chicago Cubs' Lenny Merullo.
*May 30 – In the afternoon game of a holiday doubleheader, the St. Louis Cardinals defeat the New York Giants 6-5 in 10 innings. An NL record 28,500 fans attend the game.

June

* June 9–17,000 fans attend the Reds–Giants game. The Giants are up, 15-4, after six innings, when the fans begin to overflow the field. Over the next two and a half innings, 19 runs score as ground-rule doubles multiply. As the crowd enters the infield, with the Giants leading 25-13, umpire Bob Emslie forfeits the game to the Giants. The game ends with a record 31 hits and 13 doubles.
* June 20 – Honus Wagner of the Pittsburgh Pirates steals home twice in one game as the Pirates beat the Giants 7-0.
** The contract of Hughie Jennings is purchased by the Brooklyn Superbas from the Philadelphia Phillies.
* June 24 – Mike Donlin of the Baltimore Orioles goes 6-6 with 2 singles, 2 doubles and 2 triples as the Orioles defeat the Detroit Tigers 17-8.

July

* July 1 – With the Chicago Orphans playing the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, Jack Doyle, first baseman of the Orphans who was formerly of the Giants, gets into a fight with a fan. Though the police arrive, Doyle does not get in trouble, though he has to take himself out of the game in the seventh as his hand is hurting.
* July 10 – Harry Davis of the Philadelphia Athletics becomes the first player in American League history to hit for the cycle in a 13-6 victory over the Boston Americans.
* July 15 – New York Giants rookie pitcher Christy Mathewson pitches a no-hitter as the Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-0.
* July 23 – Fred Clarke of the Pittsburgh Pirates hits for the cycle in a 9-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds.
* July 24 - The playing career of Joe Quinn comes to an end after 17 years when he is released by the Washington Senators.
* July 30 – Philadelphia Athletics second-baseman Nap Lajoie hits for the cycle against the Cleveland Blues. Philadelphia defeats Cleveland, 11-5.

August

* August 5 - In the second inning of the nightcap against the Boston Americans, Jimmy Hart of the Baltimore Orioles punches umpire John Haskell in the face. The rookie first baseman who hits .311 playing in a total of only 58 games in his major league career, serves a ten-day suspension, but quits after going 4-for-4 upon his return because the team refused to pay the $25 he had been fined.
* August 10 – Dale Gear of the Washington Senators sets an American League record by giving up 41 total bases as he loses 13-0 to the Philadelphia Athletics. The Athletics pitcher Snake Wiltse has two doubles and two triples, only the third time a pitcher has collected four extra base hits in a game.

September

* September 1 - Days after his contract is sold by the Bridgeport Orators of the Connecticut State League to the Cincinnati Reds, Patsy Dougherty jumps from the NL to the AL's Boston Americans.
* September 3 – Joe McGinnity of the Baltimore Orioles collects two complete games in one day, beating the Milwaukee Brewers 10-0 and losing to them, 6-1.
* September 5 – The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, which would later become known as Minor League Baseball, was formed at a meeting of minor league executives at the Leland Hotel in Chicago. Patrick T. Powers, president of the International League, Eastern League, became the first president of the NAPBL.

* September 19 – All games are cancelled due to the recent death of President William McKinley.
* September 21 – Though the Chicago White Stockings lose to the Philadelphia Athletics 10-4, they clinch the first pennant of the American League as the Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Americans 3-1.
* September 23 - The Brooklyn Superbas establish a new franchise record for runs scored in a game when they rout the Cincinnati Reds, 25-6. Brooklyn scores 11 runs in the fifth inning.
* September 23 and 24 – Jimmy Sheckard hits grand slams in two consecutive games, as the Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds 25-6 on 23rd and 16-2 on 24th.
* September 26 – The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 4-3, thus clinching the 1901 National League pennant.
* September 28 - the Baltimore Orioles sign outfielder Slats Jordan.

October

*October 19 - Ed Delahanty, Al Orth, Happy Townsend, and Harry Wolverton all jump from the NL's Philadelphia Phillies to the AL's Washington Senators. Meanwhile, Monte Cross, Bill Duggleby and Elmer Flick all jump from the Phillies to the AL's Philadelphia Athletics.

November

*November 5 - Sportsman Park is lease by the American League. Two weeks later, the league transfers the Milwaukee Brewers to St. Louis and the team is renamed the St. Louis Browns.

December

*December 19 - Rube Waddell jumps from the Chicago Orphans of the national league to Los Angeles of the California League.

Births

January

*January 5 – Luke Sewell
*January 8 – Joe Benes
*January 11 – George McNamara
*January 13 – Fred Schulte

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