1904 in baseball explained
See also: 1904 Major League Baseball season.
Champions
Boston Americans
New York Giants
World Series: New York (NL) declined challenge by Boston (AL)
Statistical leaders
Major league baseball final standings
National League final standings
Events
January
- January 4 – The New York Highlanders of the American League announce plans to play on Sundays at Ridgewood Park in Queens, NY, but the National League Brooklyn Superbas object the proposal. By the time Sunday's games are legal only in the cities of Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago and Cincinnati.[1]
February
- February 29 – Pepper Martin is born in Temple, Oklahoma. Amazingly, with more than 19,000 different Major League Baseball players in the sport's history, between 1836 and 2018, only 11 have been born on a Leap Day.[2] [3] Dubbed as the Wild Horse of the Osage because of his daring and aggressive baserunning abilities,[4] Martin played as a third baseman and an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals in a span of 13 seasons between 1928 and 1944, earning two World Series titles, four All-Star Game selections and four National League stolen bases titles. But Martin is probably best known for his heroics in the 1931 World Series, when he led the Cardinals in average (.500), hits (12), doubles (4), runs (5), RBI (5), stolen bases (5) and added one home run in the seven-game triumph over the highly favored Philadelphia Athletics, making also a running catch to cut a ninth-inning rally by the Athletics in the decisive Game 7.[4]
March
May
- May 5 – Cy Young pitches a perfect game, as the Boston Americans defeat the Philadelphia Athletics, 3–0, at Huntington Avenue Grounds. This is considered the List of Major League Baseball perfect games#Modern era first perfect game in the modern era.
- May 11 – Following his perfect game against the Philadelphia Athletics six days before, Cy Young of the Boston Americans pitched another six hitless innings against the Detroit Tigers, until Sam Crawford stroked a single to end the string. Before his perfection start, Young had already pitched eighth consecutive innings without allowing a base hit. On April 25, he pitched two innings at Philadelphia, then he hurled six innings in relief against the Washington Senators. As a result, the record books credited Young with 23 consecutive hitless innings based on these four games, which is considered a record in Major League Baseball history. No one has ever equaled that mark.[7]
- May 21 – Boston Americans shortstop Bill O'Neill made history when he committed six errors in a 13-inning, 5–3 loss to the St. Louis Browns at Huntington Avenue Grounds, to set a 20th-century single-game record.[8]
- May 27 – New York Giants first baseman Dan McGann set a Major League Baseball record with five stolen bases in a single-game, a feat not matched until Davey Lopes did it for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1974, and not surpassed until Atlanta Braves' Otis Nixon stole six bases in 1991.[9]
June
July
- July 16 – New York Highlanders right-handed starter Jack Chesbro steals home plate in the bottom of the 10th inning, scoring a walk-off run while winning his own game against the Detroit Tigers, 9–8, at Hilltop Park. Chesbro, who entered the game in relief duties, led off the inning with a single, moved to third base on a pair of outs, then achieved this rare feat. Chesbro, a notorious spitballer, set a Major League pitching record with 41 wins in 1904.[10]
August
September
October
Postseason
- The World Series was cancelled due to a business rivalry between the two leagues. During spring training, New York Giants owner John T. Brush said that there will never be a series between two clubs based in the same city, in response to a preseason offer from New York Highlanders co-owner Frank J. Farrell.[16] Nevertheless, the Boston Americans pennant victory over the Highlanders had historical significance in several ways. Although Boston had won instead, Brush and team's manager John McGraw refused to face the Americans in what would've been the second World Series.[17] Brush announced "There is nothing in the constitution or playing rules of the National League which requires its victorious club to submit its championship honors to a contest with a victorious club in a minor league," according to his biography at SABR.[18] The resulting backlash by the press caused Brush to take a stance and lead the committee to formalize the rules governing the future World Series.[18] This would be the last time for 90 years that a World Series was not played, when it was canceled on September 14 of 1994 due to an MLB Players Association strike. It would also be the last time for 100 years that the Boston AL team, who would later formally become the Boston Red Sox in 1908, would beat the New York AL team in a pennant-deciding game until the 2004 American League Championship Series.
December
Births
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Deaths
January–March
- January 1 – George Radbourn, 47, pitcher who played briefly for the 1883 Detroit Wolverines.
- January 31 – Dan Mahoney, 39, catcher and first baseman for the 1892 Cincinnati Reds and 1894 Washington Senators.
- March 22 – Art McCoy, 39, second baseman who played in two games with the 1889 Washington Nationals.
- March 25 – Harry Arundel, 49, pitcher who played with the Brooklyn Atlantics (1875), Pittsburgh Alleghenys (1892) and Providence Grays (1884).
- March 28 – George Seward, 53 [?], outfielder who played in part of three seasons for the St. Louis Brown Stockings (1875, 1882) and New York Mutuals (1876).
- March 31 – Nathan Menderson, 83, executive with the Cincinnati Red Stockings of the American Association
April–June
- April 11 – Shorty Fuller, 36, shortstop for the Washington Nationals, St. Louis Brown Stockings and New York Giants from 1888 to 1896, who scored more than 100 runs in the 1890 and 1891 seasons.
- April 18 – Charlie Ziegler, 29, infielder for the 1889 Cleveland Spiders and 1900 Philadelphia Phillies.
- April 20 – John Galvin, 61, second baseman for the 1872 Brooklyn Atlantics.
- April 20 – Gus McGinnis, 33, pitcher and outfielder who played with the Chicago Colts and Philadelphia Phillies in 1he 1893 season.
- April 27 – Bobby Cargo, 33, shortstop for the 1892 Pittsburgh Pirates.
- May 4 – Frank Quinlan, 35, catcher and outfielder who appeared in two games for the 1891 Boston Reds.
- May 25 – John Hayes, 49, outfielder who hit .143 in five games for the 1876 New York Mutuals.
- June 3 – Bill Pfann, 41 [?], pitcher for the 1884 Cincinnati Reds.
- June 6 – Chippy McGarr, 41, third baseman who hit .269 in 827 games for several teams over the course of 10 seasons from 1884 to 1896.
- June 19 – Marshall Quinton, 52, catcher who played from 1884 to 1885 for the Richmond Virginians and Philadelphia Athletics teams of the American Association.
July–September
October–December
- October 16 – Mike Slattery, 37, center fielder who hit .251 in five seasons and was a member of the New York Giants World Champion teams of 1888 and 1889.
- October 25 – Cornelius Van Cott, 66, owner of the New York Giants from January 1893 to January 1895.
- October 28 – Sam Field, 56, catcher who hit .146 for three different teams between 1875 and 1876.
- November 2 – Henry Austin, 60, outfielder and a .243 batter in 23 games for the 1873 Elizabeth Resolutes.
- November 4 – Charlie Reilley, 47 [?], catcher who hit .210 from 1879 through 1884 for the Troy Trojans, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Wolverines, Worcester Ruby Legs and Boston Reds.
- November 4 – Jim Shanley, 50, outfielder who played two games for the 1876 New York Mutuals.
- November 7 – Fred Carroll, 40, catcher and outfielder from 1884 to 1891, who hit a career .284 average in 754 games with the Columbus Buckeyes and for the Pittsburgh teams Alleghenys/Pirates and Burghers.
- November 20 – Dell Darling, 42, catcher and a career .240 hitter for three teams of three different leagues from 1887 to 1891.
- December 13 – Bob Murphy, 37, pitcher who posted a 4–9 record for the New York Giants and Brooklyn Gladiators during the 1890 season.
- December 18 – John Clapp, 53, catcher and manager for several teams from 1872 through 1883, who hit a career .283 average in 588 games, including three .300 seasons.
Notes and References
- News: Dreyfus Doesn't Favor Sunday Baseball. Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. January 10, 1904. 23.
- http://www.baseball-almanac.com/history/today.php?d=02-29 Major League Baseball History on February 29
- https://www.mlb.com/cut4/leap-day-mlb-history/c-165620370 Four important MLB moments that happened on Leap Day
- https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/81aa707b Pepper Martin
- https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/myerbu01.shtml Buddy Myer
- [Bill James|James, Bill]
- News: Clarifying Some of the Records* . . https://web.archive.org/web/20111007093439/http://research.sabr.org/journals/clarifying-some-of-the-records . October 7, 2011 . dead .
- https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/b6cd442a John O'Neill
- https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/8a6f31e5 Dan McGann
- https://www.si.com/more-sports/2009/06/29/stealing-home-0 The 10 most significant steals of home in baseball history
- http://www.baseball-almanac.com/yearly/yr1904a.shtml 1904 MLB season
- News: Baseball Man Is Hurt - John McGraw's Ankle Dislocated by Rush of Enthusiastic Fans. Topeka Daily Capital. September 6, 1904. 2.
- https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/1904-schedule.shtml 1904 MLB season schedule
- https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/chesbja01.shtml Jack Chesbro statistics
- https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1904/VBOS01904.htm The 1904 Boston Americans Regular Season Game Log
- https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/9c6a7eb4 Frank Farrell
- https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/fef5035f John McGraw
- https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/a46ef165 John T. Brush
