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1905 Major League Baseball season

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1905 MLB season
LeagueAmerican League (AL)
National League (NL)
SportBaseball
DurationRegular season:
  • April 14 – October 8, 1905
World Series:
  • October 9–14, 1905
Games154
Teams16 (8 per league)
Pennant winners
AL championsPhiladelphia Athletics
  AL runners-upChicago White Sox
NL championsNew York Giants
  NL runners-upPittsburgh Pirates
World Series
Venue
ChampionsNew York Giants
  Runners-upPhiladelphia Athletics
MLB seasons
Locations of teams for the 1904–1907 American League seasons
American League

The 1905 major league baseball season began on April 14, 1905. The regular season ended October 8, with the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Athletics as regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the second modern World Series on October 9 and ended with Game 5 on October 14. The Giants defeated the Athletics, four games to one, capturing their first modern[a] championship in franchise history.

Stung by criticism from fans and writers for his team's refusal to play in the previous season's World Series, Giants owner John T. Brush drafted rules during the offseason to formally establish the World Series as a compulsory event. Both leagues then adopted the agreement in mid-February 1905.[1]

Schedule

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The 1905 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 1904 season. This format would last until 1919.

Opening Day took place on April 16 with all but the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Naps playing. The final day of the regular season was on October 8. The World Series took place between October 9 and October 14.

Teams

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League Team City Ballpark Capacity Manager[2]
American League Boston Americans Boston, Massachusetts Huntington Avenue Grounds 11,500 Jimmy Collins
Chicago White Sox Chicago, Illinois South Side Park 14,000 Fielder Jones
Cleveland Naps Cleveland, Ohio League Park (Cleveland) 9,000 Bill Bradley
Nap Lajoie
Detroit Tigers Detroit, Michigan Bennett Park 8,500 Bill Armour
New York Highlanders New York, New York Hilltop Park 16,000 Clark Griffith
Philadelphia Athletics Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Columbia Park 13,600 Connie Mack
St. Louis Browns St. Louis, Missouri Sportsman's Park 8,000 Jimmy McAleer
Washington Senators Washington, D.C. National Park 9,000 Jake Stahl
National League Boston Beaneaters Boston, Massachusetts South End Grounds 6,600 Fred Tenney
Brooklyn Superbas New York, New York Washington Park 12,000 Ned Hanlon
Chicago Cubs Chicago, Illinois West Side Park 14,200 Frank Selee
Frank Chance
Cincinnati Reds Cincinnati, Ohio Palace of the Fans 12,000 Joe Kelley
New York Giants New York, New York Polo Grounds 16,000 John McGraw
Philadelphia Phillies Philadelphia, Pennsylvania National League Park 18,000 Hugh Duffy
Pittsburgh Pirates Allegheny, Pennsylvania[A] Exposition Park 16,000 Fred Clarke
St. Louis Cardinals St. Louis, Missouri League Park (St. Louis) 15,200 Kid Nichols
Jimmy Burke
Stanley Robison

Sunday games

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Blue laws restricted Sunday activities in several localities, causing the Detroit Tigers, in a rescheduled game, to play at a ballpark in a different locality.

Team City Ballpark Capacity Games played
Detroit Tigers[3] Columbus, Ohio Neil Park 6,000 2
  1. ^

Standings

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American League

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American League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Philadelphia Athletics 9256 .622 5122 4134
Chicago White Sox 9260 .605 2 5029 4231
Detroit Tigers 7974 .516 15½ 4530 3444
Boston Americans 7874 .513 16 4432 3442
Cleveland Naps 7678 .494 19 4136 3542
New York Highlanders 7178 .477 21½ 4035 3143
Washington Senators 6487 .424 29½ 3342 3145
St. Louis Browns 5499 .353 40½ 3442 2057

National League

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National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
New York Giants 10548 .686 5421 5127
Pittsburgh Pirates 9657 .627 9 4928 4729
Chicago Cubs 9261 .601 13 5425 3836
Philadelphia Phillies 8369 .546 21½ 3936 4433
Cincinnati Reds 7974 .516 26 5028 2946
St. Louis Cardinals 5896 .377 47½ 3245 2651
Boston Beaneaters 51103 .331 54½ 2946 2257
Brooklyn Superbas 48104 .316 56½ 2947 1957

Tie games

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19 tie games (11 in AL, 8 in NL), which are not factored into winning percentage or games behind (and were often replayed again), occurred throughout the season.

American League

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  • Boston Americans, 1
  • Chicago White Sox, 6
  • Cleveland Naps, 1
  • Detroit Tigers, 1
  • New York Highlanders, 3
  • Philadelphia Athletics, 4
  • St. Louis Browns, 3
  • Washington Senators, 3

National League

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  • Boston Beaneaters, 2
  • Brooklyn Superbas, 3
  • Chicago Cubs, 2
  • Cincinnati Reds, 2
  • New York Giants, 2
  • Philadelphia Phillies, 3
  • Pittsburgh Pirates, 2

Postseason

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The postseason began on October 9 and ended on October 14 with the New York Giants defeating the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1905 World Series in five games.

Bracket

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World Series
   
AL Philadelphia Athletics 1
NL New York Giants 4

Managerial changes

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Off-season

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Team Former Manager New Manager
Cleveland Naps Bill Armour Bill Bradley
Detroit Tigers Bobby Lowe Bill Armour
Washington Senators Patsy Donovan Jake Stahl
Boston Beaneaters Al Buckenberger Fred Tenney

In-season

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Team Former Manager New Manager
Cleveland Naps Bill Bradley Nap Lajoie
Chicago Cubs Frank Selee Frank Chance
St. Louis Cardinals Kid Nichols Jimmy Burke
Jimmy Burke Stanley Robison

League leaders

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American League

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Hitting leaders[4]
Stat Player Total
AVG Elmer Flick (CLE) .308
OPS Elmer Flick (CLE) .845
HR Harry Davis (PHA) 8
RBI Harry Davis (PHA) 83
R Harry Davis (PHA) 93
H George Stone (SLB) 187
SB Danny Hoffman (PHA) 46
Pitching leaders[5]
Stat Player Total
W Rube Waddell1 (PHA) 27
L Fred Glade (SLB) 25
ERA Rube Waddell1 (PHA) 1.48
K Rube Waddell1 (PHA) 287
IP George Mullin (DET) 347.2
SV Jim Buchanan (SLB) 2
WHIP Cy Young (BOS) 0.867

1 American League Triple Crown pitching winner

National League

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Hitting leaders[6]
Stat Player Total
AVG Cy Seymour (CIN) .377
OPS Cy Seymour (CIN) .988
HR Fred Odwell (CIN) 9
RBI Cy Seymour (CIN) 121
R Mike Donlin (NYG) 124
H Cy Seymour (CIN) 219
SB Art Devlin (NYG)
Billy Maloney (CHC)
59
Pitching leaders[7]
Stat Player Total
W Christy Mathewson1 (NYG) 31
L Vic Willis2 (BSN) 29
ERA Christy Mathewson1 (NYG) 1.28
K Christy Mathewson1 (NYG) 206
IP Irv Young (BSN) 378.0
SV Claude Elliott (NYG) 6
WHIP Christy Mathewson (NYG) 0.933

1 National League Triple Crown pitching winner
2 Modern (1901–present) single-season losses record

Milestones

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Batters

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Pitchers

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No-hitters

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Miscellaneous

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Home field attendance

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Team name Wins Home attendance Per game
Chicago White Sox[18] 92 3.4% 687,419 23.4% 8,383
Philadelphia Athletics[19] 92 13.6% 554,576 8.3% 7,494
New York Giants[20] 105 −0.9% 552,700 −9.4% 7,272
Chicago Cubs[21] 92 −1.1% 509,900 16.1% 6,295
Boston Americans[22] 78 −17.9% 468,828 −24.8% 6,089
Pittsburgh Pirates[23] 96 10.3% 369,124 8.4% 4,732
St. Louis Browns[24] 54 −16.9% 339,112 6.6% 4,293
Philadelphia Phillies[25] 83 59.6% 317,932 125.9% 4,183
Cleveland Naps[26] 76 −11.6% 316,306 19.5% 4,108
Cincinnati Reds[27] 79 −10.2% 313,927 −19.9% 3,974
New York Highlanders[28] 71 −22.8% 309,100 −29.6% 4,121
St. Louis Cardinals[29] 58 −22.7% 292,800 −24.3% 3,803
Washington Senators[30] 64 68.4% 252,027 91.3% 3,273
Brooklyn Superbas[31] 48 −14.3% 227,924 6.2% 2,960
Detroit Tigers[32] 79 27.4% 193,384 8.8% 2,545
Boston Beaneaters[33] 51 −7.3% 150,003 6.6% 1,974

Venues

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The Washington Senators' American League Park was renamed to National Park.

Due to horse races at main home ballpark, Bennett Park, the Detroit Tigers played two games at Neil Park in Columbus, Ohio, home of the Class A minor league Columbus Senators, on July 23 and 24.[34][35]

See also

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Notes

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  1. the Giants previously won two pre-modern World Series in 1888 and 1889.

References

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  1. Bevis, Charlie (2003). "The Evolution of World Series Scheduling" (PDF). The Baseball Research Journal. 31: 21–28. Retrieved October 22, 2018 via Society for American Baseball Research.
  2. "1905 Major League Managers". Baseball Reference. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  3. "1905 Season – 1-Year Park Factors – Seamheads.com Ballparks Database". www.seamheads.com. Retrieved January 28, 2026.
  4. "1905 American League Batting Leaders". Baseball Reference. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  5. "1905 American League Pitching Leaders". Baseball Reference. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  6. "1905 National League Batting Leaders". Baseball Reference. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  7. "1905 National League Pitching Leaders". Baseball Reference. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  8. "Bill Dahlen Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More — Bill Dahlen: Standard Batting (1891-1905)". Baseball Reference. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  9. "Bill Dahlen 1905 Batting Game Logs — Bill Dahlen: Batting Stats Career Game 949-1063". Baseball Reference. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  10. "Philadelphia Phillies vs New York Giants Box Score: September 1, 1905". Baseball Reference. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  11. "M'Graw Put Matty In To Beat The Cubs". The Evening World. July 13, 1905.
  12. "Howell Beat "Rube"". The St. Louis Republic. July 23, 1905.
  13. "Notes of the Game". The St. Louis Republic. September 7, 1905.
  14. "Chicago White Sox vs Boston Americans Box Score: September 27, 1905". Baseball Reference. Retrieved January 20, 2026.
  15. Pellowski, Michael J (2007). The Little Giant Book of Baseball Facts. United States: Sterling Publishing Co. pp. 352. ISBN 9781402742736.
  16. "MLB Scores: Scoreboard, Results and Highlights — October 5". MLB.com. Retrieved January 20, 2026.
  17. "Elias Says..." ESPN.com. Archived from the original on July 28, 2013. Retrieved October 9, 2012.
  18. "Chicago White Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  19. "Oakland Athletics Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  20. "San Francisco Giants Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  21. "Chicago Cubs Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  22. "Boston Red Sox Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  23. "Pittsburgh Pirates Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  24. "Baltimore Orioles Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  25. "Philadelphia Phillies Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  26. "Cleveland Guardians Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  27. "Cincinnati Reds Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  28. "New York Yankees Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  29. "St. Louis Cardinals Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  30. "Minnesota Twins Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  31. "Los Angeles Dodgers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  32. "Detroit Tigers Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  33. "Atlanta Braves Attendance, Stadiums and Park Factors". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 28, 2024.
  34. "Boston Americans vs Detroit Tigers Box Score: July 23, 1905". Baseball Reference. Retrieved January 20, 2026.
  35. "Boston Americans vs Detroit Tigers Box Score: July 24, 1905". Baseball Reference. Retrieved January 20, 2026.
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