# 1901 Cleveland Blues season

The 1901 Cleveland Blues season was a season in American baseball. It was the franchise's first in the majors, being one of the original franchises of the American League. Called the "Blues" or "Bluebirds", the team finished seventh out of eight teams.

## Before the 1901 season
### 1899: Major League Baseball leaves Cleveland

The Cleveland Spiders were dissolved after winning only 20 games and losing 134 in the 1899 season along with the Louisville Colonels, Baltimore Orioles, and the Washington Senators, leaving the National League with eight teams to begin the 1900 season. As a result, 1900 marked the first year since 1886 during which the city of Cleveland did not have a team affiliated with Major League Baseball.

### 1900: A new franchise

Ban Johnson, president of the Western League, changed the league's name to the American League in 1900, bringing aboard a new team in Cleveland, then known as the Cleveland Lake Shores, along with new Baltimore and Washington franchises, which would be created with or without the approval of the National League. During this time, Cleveland had a minor league baseball team, known as the Bluebirds or Blues due to their all-blue uniforms, which finished their season with a 63–73 record and finished sixth.

### 1901: Major league once more

The American League became a major league before the 1901 season. As the American League made the jump to major league status, many players jumped ship, including Cy Young and Nap Lajoie, which led the National League to call them an "outlaw league" in November 1900. As the 1901 season came underway in April, and as the war between the two leagues erupted, the Cleveland franchise, now known as the Blues, began its first official season as a Major League Baseball team.

## Regular season
### Season summary
#### April

The Cleveland Blues played their first game of the season against the Chicago White Stockings on April 24, 1901. This was the first games in the history of the American League; three other games scheduled that day were rained out. The starting lineup consisted of: Ollie Pickering (RF), Jack McCarthy (LF), Frank Genins (CF), Candy LaChance (1B), Bill Bradley (3B), Erve Beck (2B), Bill Hallman (SS), Bob Wood (C), and Bill Hoffer (P). Hoffer allowed seven runs in the first two innings and the Blues failed to recover, as they lost the game 8–2, earning the first loss in American League history. In the second game of the season, Beck hit the first home run in American League history off pitcher John Skopec, but the Blues lost again, 7–3.

#### May

On May 9, 1901, Earl Moore threw the first no-hitter in the history of the franchise and the American League. The Blues lost to Chicago by a score of 4–2 despite allowing no hits.
On May 23, Cleveland scored nine runs with the bases empty and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat Washington 14–13.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Chicago White Stockings | 83 | 53 | .610 | — | 49‍–‍21 | 34‍–‍32 |
| Boston Americans | 79 | 57 | .581 | 4 | 49‍–‍20 | 30‍–‍37 |
| Detroit Tigers | 74 | 61 | .548 | 8½ | 42‍–‍27 | 32‍–‍34 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 74 | 62 | .544 | 9 | 42‍–‍24 | 32‍–‍38 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 68 | 65 | .511 | 13½ | 40‍–‍25 | 28‍–‍40 |
| Washington Senators | 61 | 72 | .459 | 20½ | 31‍–‍35 | 30‍–‍37 |
| Cleveland Blues | 54 | 82 | .397 | 29 | 28‍–‍39 | 26‍–‍43 |
| Milwaukee Brewers | 48 | 89 | .350 | 35½ | 32‍–‍37 | 16‍–‍52 |

### Record vs. opponents

1901 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BLA | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | MLA | PHA | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 9–9 | 4–14–1 | 11–9 | 9–10 | 12–7–1 | 12–8 | 11–8 |
| Boston | 9–9 | — | 12–8 | 12–6 | 9–11–1 | 15–5 | 10–10 | 12–8–1 |
| Chicago | 14–4–1 | 8–12 | — | 13–7 | 10–10 | 16–4 | 12–8 | 10–8 |
| Cleveland | 9–11 | 6–12 | 7–13 | — | 6–14 | 11–9 | 6–14 | 9–9–2 |
| Detroit | 10–9 | 11–9–1 | 10–10 | 14–6 | — | 13–7 | 7–9 | 9–11 |
| Milwaukee | 7–12–1 | 5–15 | 4–16 | 9–11 | 7–13 | — | 6–14 | 10–8–1 |
| Philadelphia | 8–12 | 10–10 | 8–12 | 14–6 | 9–7 | 14–6 | — | 11–9–1 |
| Washington | 8–11 | 8–12–1 | 8–10 | 9–9–2 | 11–9 | 8–10–1 | 9–11–1 | — |

## Player stats
### Key

| Statistic$^†$ | Indicates sole team leader in this category among batters (player must qualify by MLB rules to lead a category) |
| Statistic$^§$ | Indicates sole team leader in this category among pitchers (player must qualify by MLB rules to lead a category) |
| * | Indicates that two or more players tied for the lead in the category |

### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases
| Pos | Player | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | Avg. | HR | RBI | SB |
| C | Bob Wood | 98 | 346 | 45 | 101 | 23 | 3 | .292 | 1 | 49 | 6 |
| 1B | Candy LaChance | 133 | 548$^†$ | 81 | 166 | 22 | 9 | .303 | 1 | 75 | 11 |
| 2B | Erve Beck | 135 | 539 | 78 | 156 | 26 | 8 | .289 | 6$^†$ | 79$^†$ | 7 |
| 3B | Bill Bradley | 133 | 516 | 95 | 151 | 28$^†$ | 13$^†$ | .293 | 1 | 55 | 15 |
| SS | Frank Scheibeck | 93 | 329 | 33 | 70 | 11 | 3 | .213 | 0 | 38 | 3 |
| LF | Jack McCarthy | 86 | 343 | 60 | 110 | 14 | 7 | .321 | 0 | 32 | 9 |
| CF | Ollie Pickering | 137$^†$ | 547 | 102$^†$ | 169$^†$ | 25 | 6 | .309$^†$ | 0 | 40 | 36$^†$ |
| RF | Jack O'Brien | 92 | 375 | 54 | 106 | 14 | 5 | .286 | 0 | 39 | 13 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases
| Player | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | Avg. | HR | RBI | SB |
| Zaza Harvey | 45 | 170 | 21 | 60 | 5 | 5 | .353 | 1 | 24 | 15 |
| George Yeager | 39 | 139 | 13 | 31 | 5 | 0 | .223 | 0 | 14 | 2 |
| Joe Connor | 37 | 121 | 13 | 17 | 3 | 1 | .140 | 0 | 6 | 2 |
| Frank Genins | 26 | 101 | 15 | 23 | 5 | 0 | .228 | 0 | 9 | 3 |
| Danny Shay | 19 | 75 | 4 | 17 | 2 | 2 | .227 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Tom Donovan | 18 | 71 | 9 | 18 | 3 | 1 | .254 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| Jim McGuire | 18 | 69 | 4 | 16 | 2 | 0 | .232 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Bill Hallman | 5 | 19 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | .211 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Truck Eagan | 5 | 18 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | .167 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Jimmy McAleer | 3 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .143 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Frank Cross | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .600 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ed Cermak | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Shorty Gallagher | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Russ Hall | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Malachi Hogan | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Paddy Livingston | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Note: pitchers' batting statistics not included

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | GS | IP | W | L | ERA | R | ER | BB | K |
| Pete Dowling | 33$^§$ | 30* | 256.1$^§$ | 11 | 22 | 3.86 | 160$^§$ | 110$^§$ | 104 | 99* |
| Earl Moore | 31 | 30* | 251.1 | 16$^§$ | 14 | 2.90 | 129 | 81 | 107$^§$ | 99* |
| Bill Hart | 20 | 19 | 157.2 | 7 | 11 | 3.77 | 109 | 66 | 57 | 48 |
| Ed Scott | 17 | 16 | 124.2 | 6 | 6 | 4.40 | 82 | 61 | 38 | 23 |
| Jack Bracken | 12 | 12 | 100.0 | 4 | 8 | 6.21 | 94 | 69 | 31 | 18 |
| Harry McNeal | 12 | 10 | 85.1 | 5 | 5 | 4.43 | 68 | 42 | 30 | 15 |
| Bill Cristall | 6 | 6 | 48.1 | 1 | 5 | 4.84 | 42 | 26 | 30 | 12 |
| Dick Braggins | 4 | 3 | 32.0 | 1 | 2 | 4.78 | 28 | 17 | 15 | 1 |
| Bock Baker | 1 | 1 | 8.0 | 0 | 1 | 5.63 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 0 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | GS | IP | W | L | SV | ERA | R | ER | BB | K |
| Bill Hoffer | 16 | 10 | 99.0 | 3 | 8 | 3$^§$ | 4.55 | 78 | 50 | 35 | 19 |
| Gus Weyhing | 2 | 1 | 11.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.94 | 11 | 10 | 5 | 0 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; IP = Innings pitched; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | SV | ERA | R | ER | BB | K |
| Tom Donovan | 1 | 7.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.14 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Bill Bradley | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jimmy McAleer | 1 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |

## Awards and honors
### League top five finishers

Ollie Pickering
* #5 in AL in stolen bases (36)
* #5 in AL in singles (138)