1897 Cincinnati Reds season

The 1897 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The team finished in fourth place in the National League with a record of 76–56, 17 games behind the Boston Beaneaters.

1897 Cincinnati Reds
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)John T. Brush[1]
Manager(s)Buck Ewing
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Offseason

The Cincinnati Reds were coming off a fairly successful season in 1896. They had been in first place late in the year, but the team struggled badly over the last part of the season. to finish in third place in the National League with a 77–50 record. This marked the second consecutive season that the Reds collapsed at the end of the year.

Player-manager Buck Ewing returned to the club, but would retire from playing and focus on just being the manager. The Reds made a deal in the off-season, as Cincinnati traded away Germany Smith, Chauncey Fisher and $1,000 to the Brooklyn Bridegrooms for Tommy Corcoran. Corcoran was coming off a season in which he hit .289 with three home runs and 73 RBI with the Bridegrooms in 1896. The team also purchased pitcher Ted Breitenstein from the St. Louis Browns for $10,000. Breitenstein was 18–26 with the Browns with a 4.48 ERA in 43 starts in 1896. His best season had been in 1894 when he was 27–23 with a 4.79 ERA, while leading the National League with 50 starts, 46 complete games and 447.1 innings pitched. Breitenstein also led the NL with a 3.18 ERA in 1893 while in St. Louis.

Regular season

Season summary

The Reds started the season off hot, winning their first six games, and would remain hot, as they were 19–7 in their first twenty-six games, only half a game behind the first place Baltimore Orioles. At that time, the New York Giants released Jake Beckley, and the Reds immediately signed him to take over first base. Despite their new addition, Cincinnati fell into a slump, winning only eight of eighteen games to fall into third place, 6.5 games behind the first place Orioles. The Reds then snapped out of their losing ways, as they won twelve of their next thirteen games to move back into second. However, they still remained 4.5 games out of first with a 39–18 record. Cincinnati remained in the pennant race until late August, when they went on a ten-game losing streak to fall into fourth place, eleven games out of first. They remained in fourth place for the rest of the season, finishing with a 76–56 record, 17 games behind the Boston Beaneaters.

Notable performances

Beckley, who the Reds acquired during the season, led the team offensively, batting .345 with seven home runs and 76 RBI, all team highs. Dusty Miller had another solid year, batting .316 with four homers and 70 RBI, while Tommy Corcoran batted .288 with three home runs and 57 RBI in his first year as a Red.

On the mound, Ted Breitenstein led the way, leading the team with a 23–12 record with a 3.62 ERA in 40 games, completing 32 of them. Billy Rhines was solid also, posting a record of 21–15 with a 4.08 ERA, while Frank Dwyer was 18–13 with an ERA of 3.78.

Season standings
National League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Boston Beaneaters 9339 0.705 — 54–12 39–27
Baltimore Orioles 9040 0.692 2 51–15 39–25
New York Giants 8348 0.634 9½ 51–19 32–29
Cincinnati Reds 7656 0.576 17 49–18 27–38
Cleveland Spiders 6962 0.527 23½ 49–16 20–46
Washington Senators 6171 0.462 32 40–26 21–45
Brooklyn Bridegrooms 6171 0.462 32 38–29 23–42
Pittsburgh Pirates 6071 0.458 32½ 38–27 22–44
Chicago Colts 5973 0.447 34 36–30 23–43
Philadelphia Phillies 5577 0.417 38 32–34 23–43
Louisville Colonels 5278 0.400 40 34–31 18–47
St. Louis Browns 29102 0.221 63½ 18–41 11–61

Record vs. opponents
1897 National League Records

Sources:
Team BAL BOS BR CHI CIN CLE LOU NYG PHI PIT STL WSH
Baltimore —6–69–3–29–3–36–67–410–15–710–2–19–310–29–3
Boston 6–6—9–38–4–19–37–59–38–410–2–110–210–27–5–1
Brooklyn 3–9–23–9—6–67–57–55–73–9–26–67–57–57–5
Chicago 3–9–34–8–16–6—5–74–86–6–15–7–15–76–68–47–5
Cincinnati 6–63–95–77–5—7–59–37–5–18–45–7–111–18–4
Cleveland 4–75–75–78–45–7—5–73–99–36–611–1–18–4
Louisville 1–103–97–56–6–13–97–5—6–6–13–94–8–28–3–14–8–1
New York 7–54–89–3–27–5–15–7–19–36–6–1—7–58–3–112–09–3–1
Philadelphia 2–10–12–10–16–67–54–83–99–35–7—5–78–44–8
Pittsburgh 3–92–105–76–67–5–16–68–4–23–8–17–5—8–45–7
St. Louis 2–102–105–74–81–111–11–13–8–10–124–84–8—3–9
Washington 3–95–7–15–75–74–84–88–4–13–9–18–47–59–3—

Roster
1897 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Player stats

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
CHeinie Peitz7726678.293144
1BJake Beckley97365126.345776
2BBid McPhee8128285.301139
SSClaude Ritchey10133795.282041
3BCharlie Irwin134505146.289074
OFEddie Burke95387103.266141
OFDusty Miller119440139.316470
OFDummy Hoy128497145.292242

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
Tommy Corcoran109445128.288357
Farmer Vaughn5419958.291030
Bug Holliday6119561.313220
Pop Schriver6117854.303130
Buck Ewing110.00000

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
Ted Breitenstein40320.123123.6298
Billy Rhines41288.221154.0865
Frank Dwyer37247.118133.7841
Bill Dammann1695644.7421

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
Red Ehret34184.18104.7843
Stub Brown213014.152
Heinie Peitz28017.880

References
  1. "Reds owners". The Cincinnati Enquirer. November 3, 2005. p. 20. Retrieved September 14, 2020 – via newspapers.com.
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