Mordecai Brown by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Mordecai Brown

Page 81

1909 Chicago Cubs Season

It was the last year of the Indian head and first year of the Lincoln penny, and 35 year old Honus Wagner of the Pirates was still near his peak. He led the league in batting average at .339, on base percentage, RBI’s, and three other major categories. His $10,000 salary was topped by .287 batting, 58 RBI, Pirate Outfielder-Manager Fred Clarke who made $12,000. From the hill, 27 year old curve baller, Howie Camnitz had the best year of his fine 11 major league year career, at 25 Wins and 6 Losses, with a 1.62 ERA. The Pirates ran away from the competition finishing 6½ games ahead of the Cubs at 110-42, .724.

The Cubs won 104 games but finished second in the National League. This is still the highest winning percentage - .680, by any team in Major League Baseball history by a team that failed to finish first. But, they didn’t help out their own cause by losing the season series to the Pirates 13-9. The Giants were a competitive third.

The legendary infield of Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, Frank Chance, and Harry Steinfeldt was still intact, but it was the pitching staff that excelled. The Cubs pitchers had a collective earned run average of 1.75, a microscopic figure even for the Deadball