Hey, I got nothing. I'm examining how complicated the schedules of the past made a manager's life.
Seriously.
Here, for example, are the final six weeks of the 1907 Chicago Cubs season. We begin on Boston - the Cubs played the Beaneaters (or whatever they were calling themselves that season - the Doves? the Doves) on Thursday and Friday. They then got the weekend off, and resumed playing Boston on Monday...
Playing 39 games in 42 days isn't that big a deal, even if you're travelling by train everywhere. But mix in 10 off days and 9 double-headers, and wackiness ensues. It would be fun to take a modern manager and ask him to cope with this sort of thing...
The Cubs went 25-14 in these 39 games to close out their season. That was cruise control for these guys - they had a 15 game lead on the rest of the league when this stretch began, and they ended up 17 games ahead of the Pirates. After finishing the season with back-to-back double-headers on the final weekend, they got Monday off and opened the World Series against Detroit on the Tuesday. The first game was called after 12 innings with the score tied - the Cubs then blew away the Tigers in four straight games.
Anyway, schedules went on this general fashion for more or less the next 40 or 50 years. Under these circumstances, how do you set up a starting rotation, and just turn your guys over? You can't. You can't even try. Frank Chance used six of the seven pitchers on his roster as starters during those final six weeks. The seventh man, Jack Fraser, made 13 starts during the season, but after losing all four of his starts in August he seems to have been banished from the manager's sight. He made what would prove to be the final appearance of his career out of the bullpen in early September. One suspects an injury was involved.
Most remarkably, Chance also gave a start to a 20 year old reserve outfielder named Kid Durbin, who had in fact pitched in relief a few times earlier in the season. This was, of course, the only game Durbin started on the mound in his extremely brief major league career. He went the distance, but lost 4-2.
Orval Overall (23-7, 1.68) - 8 starts, Days of Rest: 4, 2, 2, 8, 5, 6, 9
Carl Lundgren (18-7, 1.17) - 8 starts, Days of Rest: 7, 2, 5, 2, 6, 6, 6, 6
Jack Pfiester (14-9, 1.15) - 8 starts, Days of Rest: 5, 2, 3, 3, 7, 6, 7, 4
Ed Reulbach (17-4, 1.69) - 7 starts, Days of Rest: 23, 2, 2, 3, 1, 16, 5
Miner Brown (20-6, 1.39) - 5 starts, Days of Rest: 8, 12, 14, 8, 2
Chick Fraser (8-5, 2.28) - 3 starts, Days of Rest: 7, 19, 11
Kid Durbin (1)
We don't have box scores (yet!) for 1907 - we do know that the pitchers generally finished what they started - Overall completed 26 of his 30 starts, Lundgren 21 of 25. The Cubs starters completed 114 games - in the other 41 games, Chance used a total of 45 relief pitchers.
Seriously.
Here, for example, are the final six weeks of the 1907 Chicago Cubs season. We begin on Boston - the Cubs played the Beaneaters (or whatever they were calling themselves that season - the Doves? the Doves) on Thursday and Friday. They then got the weekend off, and resumed playing Boston on Monday...
Date Opponent Cubs starter
Mon AUG 26 - at BOS (DH) Brown / Pfiester
Tue Aug 27 - at BRO Lundgren
Wed Aug 28 - at BRO Overall
Thu Aug 29 - at BRO Pfiester
Fri Aug 30 - at PIT (DH) Fraser / Lundgren
Sat Aug 31 - at CIN Overall
Sun Sep 1 - vs STL Reulbach
Mon Sep 2 - at STL (DH) Fraser / Pfeister
Tue Sep 3 - at STL Overall
Wed Sep 4 - at STL Reulbach
Thu Sep 5 - at PIT Lundgren
Fri Sep 6 - at PIT Pfiester
Sat Sep 7 - at PIT Reulbach
Sun Sep 8 - vs PIT (DH) Brown / Lundgren
Mon Sep 9 -
Tue Sep 10 -
Wed Sep 11 - vs STL Reulbach
Thu Sep 12 - vs CIN Overall
Fri Sep 13 - vs CIN Reulbach
Sat Sep 14 - vs CIN Pfiester
Sun Sep 15 - vs CIN Lundgren
Mon Sep 16 -
Tue Sep 17 -
Wed Sep 18 - at CIN Overall
Thu Sep 19 - at CIN Fraser
Fri Sep 20 -
Sat Sep 21 - vs BOS Pfiester
Sun Sep 22 - vs BOS (DH) Lundgren / Durbin
Mon Sep 23 - vs PHI Brown
Tue Sep 24 -
Wed Sep 25 - vs PHI (DH) Overall / Fraser
Thu Sep 26 -
Fri Sep 27 -
Sat Sep 28 -
Sun Sep 29 - vs BRO (DH) Pfiester / Lundgren
Mon Sep 30 - vs NY Reulbach
Tue Oct 1 - vs NY Fraser
Wed Oct 2 - vs NY Brown
Thu Oct 3 -
Fri Oct 4 - at STL Pfiester
Sat Oct 5 - at STL (DH) Overall / Brown
Sun Oct 6 - at STL (DH) Reulbach / Lundgren
Playing 39 games in 42 days isn't that big a deal, even if you're travelling by train everywhere. But mix in 10 off days and 9 double-headers, and wackiness ensues. It would be fun to take a modern manager and ask him to cope with this sort of thing...
The Cubs went 25-14 in these 39 games to close out their season. That was cruise control for these guys - they had a 15 game lead on the rest of the league when this stretch began, and they ended up 17 games ahead of the Pirates. After finishing the season with back-to-back double-headers on the final weekend, they got Monday off and opened the World Series against Detroit on the Tuesday. The first game was called after 12 innings with the score tied - the Cubs then blew away the Tigers in four straight games.
Anyway, schedules went on this general fashion for more or less the next 40 or 50 years. Under these circumstances, how do you set up a starting rotation, and just turn your guys over? You can't. You can't even try. Frank Chance used six of the seven pitchers on his roster as starters during those final six weeks. The seventh man, Jack Fraser, made 13 starts during the season, but after losing all four of his starts in August he seems to have been banished from the manager's sight. He made what would prove to be the final appearance of his career out of the bullpen in early September. One suspects an injury was involved.
Most remarkably, Chance also gave a start to a 20 year old reserve outfielder named Kid Durbin, who had in fact pitched in relief a few times earlier in the season. This was, of course, the only game Durbin started on the mound in his extremely brief major league career. He went the distance, but lost 4-2.
Orval Overall (23-7, 1.68) - 8 starts, Days of Rest: 4, 2, 2, 8, 5, 6, 9
Carl Lundgren (18-7, 1.17) - 8 starts, Days of Rest: 7, 2, 5, 2, 6, 6, 6, 6
Jack Pfiester (14-9, 1.15) - 8 starts, Days of Rest: 5, 2, 3, 3, 7, 6, 7, 4
Ed Reulbach (17-4, 1.69) - 7 starts, Days of Rest: 23, 2, 2, 3, 1, 16, 5
Miner Brown (20-6, 1.39) - 5 starts, Days of Rest: 8, 12, 14, 8, 2
Chick Fraser (8-5, 2.28) - 3 starts, Days of Rest: 7, 19, 11
Kid Durbin (1)
We don't have box scores (yet!) for 1907 - we do know that the pitchers generally finished what they started - Overall completed 26 of his 30 starts, Lundgren 21 of 25. The Cubs starters completed 114 games - in the other 41 games, Chance used a total of 45 relief pitchers.
