1915 Detroit Tigers season

1915 Detroit Tigers
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Frank Navin
Manager(s) Hughie Jennings
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Ty Cobb, 1914

The 1915 Detroit Tigers won a then club-record 100 games and narrowly lost the American League pennant to the Boston Red Sox, who won 101 games. Though four other Tigers teams have won 100 games (1934, 1961, 1968, and 1984), only the 1934 Tigers had a better winning percentage. The 1915 Detroit Tigers team is remembered for its all-star outfield of Ty Cobb, Sam Crawford, and Bobby Veach—who finished #1, #2, and #3 in the American League in both runs batted in and total bases. Baseball historian Bill James ranks the Tigers' 1915 outfield as the best in major league history.

Offseason

Regular season

The 1915 Tigers' winning percentage of .649 ranks as the 2nd best in team history, as follows:

Best Seasons in Detroit Tigers History
Rank Year Wins Losses Win %   Finish
1 1934 101 53 .656 Lost 1934 World Series to Cardinals
2 1915 100 54 .649 2nd in AL behind Red Sox
3 1909 98 54 .645 Lost 1909 World Series to Pirates
4 1984 104 58 .642 Won 1984 World Series over Padres
5 1968 103 59 .636 Won 1968 World Series over Cardinals

The Players

Catcher: Oscar Stanage

Catcher Oscar Stanage was a weak hitter but one of the best defensive catchers of the deadball era. In thirteen seasons with the Tigers, Stanage caught 1,074 games – second only to Bill Freehan in team history. Known for his strong throwing arm, Stanage threw out more baserunners than any other catcher in the 1910s. Stanage still holds the American League record for most assists by a catcher, with 212 in 1911, and his career average of 1.29 assists per game is the fifth best in major league history. Stanage was not as skilled with the glove; his 41 errors in 1911 was the most by a catcher for the 20th Century.

Infield: Burns, Young, Bush and Vitt

First baseman "Tioga George" Burns played for the Tigers from 1914 to 1917. In 1915, Burns hit only .243 with 18 doubles. Burns went on to become a star after leaving the Tigers. In 1926, he was named the American League’s MVP with a .358 batting average and an all-time MLB record 64 doubles.

Second baseman Ralph Young played for the Tigers from 1915 to 1921. In 1915, Young had a .243 batting average, but a much more respectable .339 on-base percentage. At 5'5", Young was one of the shortest players ever to play in a Tigers uniform. His small stature, and correspondingly small strike zone, assisted him in both collecting walks and avoiding strikeouts. In nine seasons, Young collected 495 bases on balls and struck out only 254 times (in 3,643 at bats). Young led all American League second basemen with 32 errors in 1915.

Shortstop Donie Bush was Detroit’s starting shortstop for thirteen seasons from 1909 to 1921. In 1914, Bush had 425 putouts (still the major league record for shortstops) and 969 chances (still the American League record). He led the American League in assists by a shortstop in 1915 with 504. In 1915, he also collected 118 walks. During the decade from 1910 to 1919, no one had more bases on balls than Bush. Bush also ranked among the league leaders in stolen bases nine times, including 1915 when he stole 35 bases. With his ability to get on base, and having Cobb and Crawford batting behind him, Bush was also among the league leaders in runs scored ten times, including his 1915 total of 99 runs.

Third baseman Ossie Vitt played seven seasons with the Tigers and was a poor hitter but a good fielder. In 1915, he hit .250 with 48 RBIs. He led all American League third basemen in 1915 and 1916 in putouts, assists and fielding percentage. His 208 assists in 1916 has not been exceeded by a Detroit third baseman since that time. While not a good hitter for average, Vitt was a good contact hitter and one of the best bunters of the era. He led the American League with 42 sacrifice hits in 1915, and his career total of 259 sacrifice hits (in a relatively short career) ranks 32nd best in major league history. Vitt was also one of the toughest players to strike out in MLB history. For his career, he struck out an average of once every 26.6 at bats, 35th best in MLB history.

Outfield: Veach, Cobb, and Crawford

The Tigers’ 1915 outfield, with Bobby Veach in left, Ty Cobb in center, and Sam Crawford in right, has been ranked by baseball historian Bill James as the greatest outfield of all time.[1] Though the league batting average in 1915 was .248, Cobb hit .369 with 99 RBIs and 144 runs scored, Crawford hit .313 and drove in 112 runs, and Veach hit .299 with 112 RBIs. The three Detroit outfielders ranked #1, #2, and #3 in total bases and RBIs.

Cobb also set a major league record with 96 stolen bases in 1915, a record which would not be broken for nearly 50 years until Maury Wills stole 104 bases in 1962.

Pitching: Coveleski, Dauss, Dubuc and Boland

Hooks Dauss

Pitcher Hooks Dauss played his entire fifteen-year career with the Tigers and is the team's all-time wins leader. In 1915, Dauss won 24 games (2nd most in the American League) and lost 13, while ending up with a 2.50 ERA in 309⅔ innings. Dauss was also an excellent fielding pitcher. His career range factor of 2.28 is 65 points higher than the average pitcher of his era. He had 1128 assists in his career, including an American League leading 137 in 1915. His career fielding percentage of .968 was also 20 points higher than the average pitcher of his era.

Pitcher Harry Coveleski joined the Tigers in 1914. He was a 20-game winner in his first three seasons in Detroit (1914–1916). In 1915, he had a record of 22–13 with an ERA of 2.45, and followed in 1916 with a 1.97 ERA. In four of his five seasons with the Tigers, Coveleski's ERA was under three, and his 2.34 ERA with the Tigers is still the franchise's all-time career record.

Bernie Boland

Pitcher Jean Dubuc was a pitching phenom at Notre Dame before entering professional baseball. In 1915, he went 17–12 for the Tigers with a 3.21 ERA. He is most remembered for his role in the 1918 Chicago Black Sox scandal. Pitcher Rube Benton testified that he had seen a telegram addressed to Dubuc, from Sleepy Bill Burns advising Dubuc: "Bet on the Cincinnati team today." After being linked to the scandal, Dubuc went to Canada and continued to play minor league ball. Dubuc is also credited with having signed Hank Greenberg while serving as a major league scout for the Tigers.

Bernie Boland was an early relief specialist who made his major league debut in 1915. Boland was 13–7 with a 3.11 ERA in his rookie season and came within one batter of throwing a perfect game. On August 16, 1915, Boland retired the first 26 Cleveland Indians batters he faced, only to give up a hit to Ben Paschal. Ironically, Paschal's hit off Boland was his only hit of the 1915 season. Boland and the Tigers went on to win the game 3–1. In 1926, Boland returned to the news for comments he made concerning a game-fixing scandal involving Ty Cobb. Boland, then a paving contractor in Detroit, was the Tigers pitcher in a 1919 game against Cleveland that Cobb had reportedly agreed to fix. Boland told the Detroit News in 1926 that he figured "about one in every 300 games is crooked," and he was glad that "some of them are getting justice at last."

Season standings

American League W L Pct. GB Home Road
Boston Red Sox 101 50 0.669 — 55–20 46–30
Detroit Tigers 100 54 0.649 2½ 51–26 49–28
Chicago White Sox 93 61 0.604 9½ 54–24 39–37
Washington Senators 85 68 0.556 17 50–29 35–39
New York Yankees 69 83 0.454 32½ 37–43 32–40
St. Louis Browns 63 91 0.409 39½ 35–38 28–53
Cleveland Indians 57 95 0.375 44½ 27–50 30–45
Philadelphia Athletics 43 109 0.283 58½ 19–53 24–56

Record vs. opponents

1915 American League Records

Sources:

Team BOS CWS CLE DET NYY PHI STL WSH
Boston — 12–10 16–4 14–8 10–12 17–5–1 17–5–2 15–6–1
Chicago 10–12 — 16–6 7–15 15–7 19–3 18–4 8–14–1
Cleveland 4–16 6–16 — 5–17 9–13–1 15–7–1 12–10 6–16
Detroit 8–14 15–7 17–5 — 17–5 17–5 13–9–2 13–9
New York 12–10 7–15 13–9–1 5–17 — 11–9 12–10–1 9–13
Philadelphia 5–17–1 3–19 7–15–1 5–17 9–11 — 6–16 8–14
St. Louis 5–17–2 4–18 10–12 9–13–2 10–12–1 16–6 — 9–13
Washington 6–15–1 14–8–1 16–6 9–13 13–9 14–8 13–9 —

Roster

1915 Detroit Tigers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Season highlights

Sam Crawford

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 Stanage, OscarOscar Stanage 100 300 67 .223 1 31
1B Burns, GeorgeGeorge Burns 105 392 99 .253 5 50
2B Young, RalphRalph Young 123 378 92 .243 0 31
3B Vitt, OssieOssie Vitt 152 560 140 .250 1 48
SS Bush, DonieDonie Bush 155 561 128 .228 1 44
OF Crawford, SamSam Crawford 156 612 183 .299 4 112
OF Cobb, TyTy Cobb 156 563 208 .369 3 99
OF Veach, BobbyBobby Veach 152 569 178 .313 3 112

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
Kavanagh, MartyMarty Kavanagh 113 332 98 .295 4 49
Baker, DelDel Baker 68 134 33 .246 0 15
McKee, RedRed McKee 55 106 29 .274 1 17
Jacobson, Baby DollBaby Doll Jacobson 37 65 14 .215 0 4
Moriarty, GeorgeGeorge Moriarty 31 38 8 .211 0 0
Fuller, FrankFrank Fuller 14 32 5 .156 0 2
Peters, JohnJohn Peters 1 3 0 .000 0 0

Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included

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
Coveleski, HarryHarry Coveleski 50 312.2 22 13 2.45 150
Dauss, HooksHooks Dauss 46 309.2 24 13 2.50 132
Dubuc, JeanJean Dubuc 39 258 17 12 3.21 74
James, BillBill James 11 67 7 3 2.42 24

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
Boland, BernieBernie Boland 45 202.2 13 7 3.11 72
Steen, BillBill Steen 20 79.1 5 1 2.72 28
Cavet, PugPug Cavet 17 71 4 2 4.06 26
Lowdermilk, GroverGrover Lowdermilk 7 28 4 1 4.18 18
Reynolds, RossRoss Reynolds 4 11.1 0 1 6.35 2

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
Oldham, RedRed Oldham 17 3 0 4 2.81 17
Boehler, GeorgeGeorge Boehler 8 1 1 0 1.80 7
Ledbetter, RazorRazor Ledbetter 1 0 0 0 0.00 0

Awards and honors

League leaders

Players Ranking Among Top 100 of All Time At Position

The following members of the 1915 Detroit Tigers are among the Top 100 players of all time at their position, as ranked in The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract in 2001:

Notes

  1. ↑ Bill James, "The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract" (2001), pp. 673–674

References

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