The Pre-1900 Batting Stars

Little detailed information has been available on batting stars of the pre-1900 period until recent years.  Previously we had little more than the batting averages and total games.  Cap Anson was usually recognized as the best hitter because he had gone year after year hitting over .300.  Not much was known about the triple hitters and the good RBI sluggers.

In 1971, SABR conducted a survey on oldtime players who had not been elected to the Hall of Fame.  Although the period covered by the survey ran to 1951, many of the votes went to long-forgotten players of the 1880s and 1890s.  The research effort described below was conducted to establish just who were the good hitters of that period.  Essentially all figures were drawn from the Macmillan Encyclopedia, which is easily the best compiled source for the pre-1900 era.

First, several power categories were selected — runs, doubles, triples, home runs, runs batted in, slugging average, and batting average — and 12 leaders in each category were chosen.  However, these leaders were determined not by their numerical listing in the all-time totals, but rather on a “per game” basis.   By doing this, players who did well but had shortened careers, were placed on an equitable basis with those who had long careers and compiled large numerical totals.  To be eligible, players had to play 10 years and participate in more than 1000 games. Thus Pete Browning who played only 12 years and had 295 doubles finished ahead of Cap Anson, who played 22 years and belted out 528 doubles.

Lists of the 12 leaders in the seven categories were then prepared, and quality points awarded to each player listed.  The player finishing first in a category received 12 points, the player placing second 11 points, and on down the list.   The points were then totaled up and a final list compiled.

Leading all of the 19th century players is Dan Brouthers with 67 points, followed by Sam Thompson and Ed Delahanty.  Next comes Harry Stovey, Pete Browning, Roger Connor, and Mike Tiernan,  players long neglected by the Hall of Fame selection committee.  If such a study as this serves any purpose, it should be to demonstrate the need that Hall of Fame selections for the real oldtimers should be based more on detailed statistical records rather than obscure legends and personal preferences.

It was interesting to learn that the number of three-base hits was much higher in the old days and that it was a reflection of the long-ball hitter just as the home run was.  Also, almost all of the great run scorers played before 1900.  Three — Billy Hamilton, George Gore, and Harry Stovey  — averaged more than one run a game.

Hamilton had some very high season totals, including 192 in 1894, and one of the reasons he was scoring so frequently was that Sam Thompson, the best RBI man of the period, was batting behind him.

There follows the 12 leading batters in each category according to their per-game performance. In the case of slugging and batting averages, the regular percentage is given.  Complete figures on RBIs are not available for all early hitters; best estimates were made based on existing information.  Lastly, the final table shows the players who performed the best across the board on a percentage basis – the real power hitters of 19^th century baseball.

	Doubles					Triples
Player	Games	2B	#/G		Player	Games	3B	#/G
Delahanty	1835	522	0.285		Ewing	1315	178	0.135
Brouthers	1673	460	0.275		Brouthers	1673	205	0.122
Browning	1183	295	0.249		Reilly	1142	139	0.121
Hines	1481	368	0.248		Stovey	1486	175	0.117
K. Kelly	1463	360	0.246		Connor	1997	233	0.116
Thempson.	1407	360	0.243		Thompson	1407	160	0.113
Stovey	1486	347	0.234		E. Smith	1235	136	0.110
O’Rourke	1774	414	0.233		Tierman	1476	161	0.109
Anson	2276	528	0.232		T.P. Burns	1186	129	0.108
Richardson	1331	303	0.228		J. Kelley	1834	194	0.105
J. Ryan	2012	451	0.225		G. Wood	1280	132	0.102
Connor	1997	441	0.221		Beckley	2386	242	0.101
	Runs Scored					Home Runs
Player	Games	Runs	#/G		Player	Games	HR	#/G
Hamilton	1591	1690	1.062		Thompson	1407	129	0.091
Geo. Gore	1310	1327	1.013		Stovey	1486	121	0.081
Stovey	1486	1492	1.004		Tiernan	1476	109	0.074
K. Kelly	1463	1364	0.932		Connor	1997	136	0.068
McGraw	1099	1024	0.931		Brouthers	1673	106	0.063
Griffin	1511	1406	0.930		Duffy	1736	105	0.060
Brouthers	1673	1523	0.910		Denny	1237	74	0.059
Latham	1627	1478	0.908		Reilly	1142	67	0.058
Duffy	1736	1553	0.894		J. Ryan	2012	118	0.058
Thompson	1407	1256	0.892		Pfeffer	1670	95	0.057
Tiernan	1476	1314	0.890		D. Lyons	1121	62	0.055
Delahanty	1835	1599	0.880		Richardson	1331	73	0.055

RBI per Game			Slugging Average			Batting Average
Thompson	0.923		Brouthers	0.519		Delahanty	0.346
Anson	0.826*		Thompson	0.506		Hamilton	0.344
Delahanty	0.797		Delahanty	0.505		Brouthers	0.342
Brouthers	0.754*		Connor	0.485		Browning	0.341
Duffy	0.748		Browning	0.466		Keeler	0.341
T.P. Burns	0.689*		Tiernan	0.464		Burkett	0.338
Browning	0.679*		Stovey	0.461		McGraw	0.334
Ewing	0.672*		O’Neill	0.458		Thompson	0.331
Beckley	0.660		Ewing	0.455		Anson	0.329
O’Neill	0.658*		J. Kelley	0.452		O’Neill	0.326
Connor	0.655*		Duffy	0.446		Duffy	0.324
Jennings	0.653		Anson	0.446		Connor	0.317

*Estimate

 

TOTAL QUALITY POINTS FOR PRE-1900 BATTERS

Player	R	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SA	BA	Total
Dan Brouthers	6	11	11	8	9	12	10	67
Sam Thompson*	4	7	7	12	12	11	5	58
Ed Delahanty	1	12	–	–	10	10	12	45
Harry Stovey*	10	6	9	11	–	6	–	42
Pete Browning*	–	10	–	–	6	8	9	33
Roger Connor*	–	1	8	9	2	9	1	30
Mike Tiernan*	2	–	5	10	0	7	–	24
Hugh Duffy	4	–	–	7	8	2	2	23
Billy Hamilton	12	–	–	–	–	–	11	23
BuckEwing	–	–	12	–	5	4	–	21
Adrian Anson	–	4	–	–	11	1	4	20
King Kelly	9	8	–	–	–	–	–	17
John Reilly*	–	–	10	5	–	–	–	15
John McGraw	8	–	–	–	–	–	6	14
George Gore*	11		–	–	–	–	–	11
Tom P. Burns*	–	–	4	–	7	–	–	11
Tip 0’Neill*	–	–		–	3	5	3	11
Paul Hines*	–	9	–	–	–		–	9
Willie Keeler	–	–	–	–	–	–	8	8
Jesse Burkett	–	–	–	–	–	–	7	7
Mike Griffin*	7	–	–	–	–	–	–	7
Joe Kelley	–	–	3	–	–	3	–	6
James Ryan*	–	2	–	4	–	–	–	6
Elmer Smith*	–	–	6	–	–	–	–	6
Jerry Denny*	–	–	–	6	–	–	–	6
Jake Beckley	–	–	1	–	4	–	–	5
Jim O’Rourke	–	5	–	–		–	–	5
K. Richardson*	–	3	–	1	–	–	–	4
Fred Pfeffer*	–	–	–	3	–	–	–	3
Denny Lyons*	–	–	–	2	–	–	–	2
George Wood*	–	–	2	–	–	–	–	2
Hugh Jennings	–	–	–	–	1	–	–	1

*Not in Hall of Fame