| 1909 MLB season | |
| League: | American League (AL) National League (NL) |
| Sport: | Baseball |
| Duration: | Regular season:World Series: |
| No Of Games: | 154 |
| No Of Teams: | 16 (8 per league) |
| Playoffs: | Pennant Winners |
| Conf1: | NL |
| Conf1 Champ: | Pittsburgh Pirates |
| Conf1 Runner-Up: | Chicago Cubs |
| Conf2: | AL |
| Conf2 Champ: | Detroit Tigers |
| Conf2 Runner-Up: | Philadelphia Athletics |
| Finals: | World Series |
| Finals Link: | 1909 World Series |
| Seasonslist: | List of Major League Baseball seasons |
| Seasonslistnames: | MLB |
| Prevseason Link: | 1908 Major League Baseball season |
| Prevseason Year: | 1908 |
| Nextseason Link: | 1910 Major League Baseball season |
| Nextseason Year: | 1910 |
The 1909 major league baseball season began on April 12, 1909. The regular season ended on October 7, with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Tigers as regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the sixth modern World Series on October 8 and ended with Game 7 on October 16. The Pirates defeated the Tigers, four games to three.
In the National League, the Chicago Cubs had a record of 104–49 but finished games behind the Pirates, setting a record for the most wins in an MLB regular season without reaching the postseason, which has only been equaled once, by the 1942 Brooklyn Dodgers, who had a record of 104–50.[1]
See also: Major League Baseball schedule. The 1909 schedule consisted of 154 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 22 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place for the season. This format would last until .
Opening Day took place on April 14 with all but the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals playing. The American League would see its final day of the regular season on October 3, while the National League would see its final day of the regular season was on October 7. The World Series took place between October 8 and October 16.
The 1909 season saw the creation of a rule that a pitcher must face a minimum of one batter, due to a time-wasting trick to enable a team's intended pitcher to warmup for longer. This had previously occurred when one pitcher initially threw warmup pitches on the mound, before being taken out of the game (before facing a batter) to make way for a relief pitcher who now had extra warmup time.[2]
An asterisk (*) denotes the departure from a ballpark mid-season.
| Team | Former Manager | New Manager | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Doves | Harry Smith | Frank Bowerman | |
| Nap Lajoie |
| Stat | Player | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ty Cobb1 (DET) | .377 | ||
| Ty Cobb1 (DET) | 9 | ||
| Ty Cobb1 (DET) | 107 | ||
| Donie Bush (DET) Ty Cobb (DET) | 115 | ||
| Ty Cobb (DET) | 216 | ||
| Ty Cobb (DET) | 76 |
| Stat | Player | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| George Mullin (DET) | 29 | ||
| Bob Groom (WSH) | 26 | ||
| Harry Krause (PHA) | 1.39 | ||
| Frank Smith (CWS) | 177 | ||
| Frank Smith (CWS) | 365.0 | ||
| Frank Arellanes (BRS) | 6 |
| Stat | Player | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Honus Wagner (PIT) | .339 | ||
| Red Murray (NYG) | 7 | ||
| Honus Wagner (PIT) | 100 | ||
| Tommy Leach (PIT) | 126 | ||
| Larry Doyle (NYG) | 172 | ||
| Bob Bescher (CIN) | 54 |
| Stat | Player | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mordecai Brown (CHC) | 27 | ||
| Cecil Ferguson (BSD) | 23 | ||
| Christy Mathewson (NYG) | 1.14 | ||
| Orval Overall (CHC) | 205 | ||
| Mordecai Brown (CHC) | 342.2 | ||
| Mordecai Brown (CHC) | 7 |
| Team name | Wins | Home attendance | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Giants[3] | 92 | -6.1% | 783,700 | -13.9% | 10,178 | |
| Philadelphia Athletics[4] | 95 | 39.7% | 674,915 | 48.3% | 8,880 | |
| Boston Red Sox[5] | 88 | 17.3% | 668,965 | 41.4% | 8,920 | |
| Chicago Cubs[6] | 104 | 5.1% | 633,480 | -4.8% | 8,227 | |
| Pittsburgh Pirates[7] | 110 | 12.2% | 534,950 | 39.9% | 6,772 | |
| New York Highlanders[8] | 74 | 45.1% | 501,000 | 64.0% | 6,506 | |
| Detroit Tigers[9] | 98 | 8.9% | 490,490 | 12.4% | 6,288 | |
| Chicago White Sox[10] | 78 | -11.4% | 478,400 | -24.8% | 5,906 | |
| Cincinnati Reds[11] | 77 | 5.5% | 424,643 | 6.4% | 5,308 | |
| St. Louis Browns[12] | 61 | -26.5% | 366,274 | -40.8% | 4,636 | |
| Cleveland Naps[13] | 71 | -21.1% | 354,627 | -16.0% | 4,606 | |
| Brooklyn Superbas[14] | 55 | 3.8% | 321,300 | 16.6% | 4,067 | |
| Philadelphia Phillies[15] | 74 | -10.8% | 303,177 | -27.9% | 3,937 | |
| St. Louis Cardinals[16] | 54 | 10.2% | 299,982 | 46.2% | 3,947 | |
| Washington Senators[17] | 42 | -37.3% | 205,199 | -22.3% | 2,665 | |
| Boston Doves[18] | 45 | -28.6% | 195,188 | -23.1% | 2,568 |