1911 New York Giants season

1911 New York Giants
National League Champions
LeagueNational League
BallparkPolo Grounds (since 1889)
Hilltop Park (since 1911)
Polo Grounds
CityNew York City
OwnersJohn T. Brush
ManagersJohn McGraw
← 1910 Seasons 1912 →

The 1911 New York Giants season was the franchise's 29th season. The Giants won their first of three consecutive National League pennants. They were defeated by the Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series. The team set and still holds the Major League Baseball single-season record for stolen bases during the modern era (since 1901), with 347.[1]

Led by manager John McGraw, the Giants won the National League pennant by 7+1⁄2 games. On the offensive side, they finished second in runs scored. On the defensive side, they allowed the fewest. Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson led the league in earned run average, and Rube Marquard had the most strikeouts. The Giants hit 103 triples, the most in franchise history.[2]

Taken together with the 1912 and 1913 pennant winners, this team is considered one of the greatest of all-time.[3]

Regular season

Team photo

Season standings

National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Giants 99 54 .647 — 49‍–‍25 50‍–‍29
Chicago Cubs 92 62 .597 7½ 49‍–‍32 43‍–‍30
Pittsburgh Pirates 85 69 .552 14½ 48‍–‍29 37‍–‍40
Philadelphia Phillies 79 73 .520 19½ 42‍–‍34 37‍–‍39
St. Louis Cardinals 75 74 .503 22 36‍–‍38 39‍–‍36
Cincinnati Reds 70 83 .458 29 38‍–‍42 32‍–‍41
Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers 64 86 .427 33½ 31‍–‍42 33‍–‍44
Boston Rustlers 44 107 .291 54 19‍–‍54 25‍–‍53

Record vs. opponents

1911 National League record

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


Roster

1911 New York Giants
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Charlie "Victory" Faust

One of the Giants' drawing cards came in the form of unknown pitcher Charlie Faust, whose story was retold by Fred Snodgrass in The Glory of Their Times. Faust was considered something of a "good-luck charm" by manager McGraw, and was used sparingly. In 1911, Faust appeared in just two games for the team, which was the entirety of his major league playing career. As a pitcher, he pitched two innings, giving up one run. As a batter, he tallied one hit by pitch, two stolen bases, and one run scored, in zero at bats.

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 Chief Meyers 133 391 133 .332 1 61
1B Fred Merkle 149 541 153 .283 12 84
2B Larry Doyle 143 526 163 .310 13 77
3B Art Devlin 95 260 71 .273 0 25
SS Al Bridwell 76 263 71 .270 0 31
OF Josh Devore 149 565 158 .280 3 50
OF Fred Snodgrass 151 534 157 .294 1 77
OF Red Murray 140 488 142 .291 3 78

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 Fletcher 112 326 104 .319 1 37
Buck Herzog 69 247 66 .267 1 26
Beals Becker 88 172 45 .262 1 20
Art Wilson 66 109 33 .303 1 17
Grover Hartley 11 18 4 .222 0 1
George Burns 6 17 1 .059 0 0
Mike Donlin 12 12 4 .333 1 1
Gene Paulette 10 12 2 .167 0 1
Hank Gowdy 4 4 1 .250 0 0
Admiral Schlei 1 1 0 .000 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
Christy Mathewson 45 307.0 26 13 1.99 141
Rube Marquard 45 277.2 24 7 2.50 237
Red Ames 34 205.0 11 10 2.68 118
Hooks Wiltse 30 187.1 12 9 3.27 92
Bert Maxwell 4 31.0 1 2 2.90 8

Other pitchers

Bugs Raymond in 1911. He went 6–4 for the Giants before alcoholism led to his release. A year later, he was dead.

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Doc Crandall 41 198.2 15 5 2.63 94
Bugs Raymond 17 81.2 6 4 3.31 89
Louis Drucke 15 75.2 4 4 4.04 42

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Charlie Faust 2 0 0 0 4.50 0

1911 World Series

Main article: 1911 World Series
Manager John McGraw and pitcher Christy Mathewson.

Game 1

October 14, 1911, at the Polo Grounds in New York City

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Philadelphia 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 6 2
New York 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 x 2 5 0
W: Christy Mathewson (1–0)  L: Chief Bender (0–1)

Game 2

October 16, 1911, at Shibe Park in Philadelphia

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 3
Philadelphia 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 x 3 4 0
W: Eddie Plank (1–0)  L: Rube Marquard (0–1)
HR: PHI – Home Run Baker (1)

Game 3

October 17, 1911, at the Polo Grounds in New York City

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Philadelphia 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 3 9 1
New York 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 5
W: Jack Coombs (1–0)  L: Christy Mathewson (1–1)
HR: PHI – Home Run Baker (2)

Game 4

October 24, 1911, at Shibe Park in Philadelphia

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 7 3
Philadelphia 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 x 4 11 1
W: Chief Bender (1–1)  L: Christy Mathewson (1–2)

Game 5

October 25, 1911, at the Polo Grounds in New York City

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Philadelphia 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 7 1
New York 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 1 4 9 2
W: Doc Crandall (1–0)  L: Eddie Plank (1–1)
HR: PHI – Rube Oldring (1)

Game 6

October 26, 1911, at Shibe Park in Philadelphia

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
New York 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 4 3
Philadelphia 0 0 1 4 0 1 7 0 x 13 13 5
W: Chief Bender (2–1)  L: Red Ames (0–1)

References

  1. ^ "Since 1901, the New York Giants have the most stolen bases by a team in a season, with 347 steals in 1911". statmuse.com. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  2. ^ "Team Batting Season Finder: For Single Seasons, from 1871 to 2020, Playing for SFG, 3B>=90, Standard statistics, Sorted by greatest Triples". Stathead. Retrieved August 5, 2020.
  3. ^ Neyer, Rob and Eddie Epstein. Baseball Dynasties.
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