# 1912 Pittsburgh Pirates season

The 1912 Pittsburgh Pirates season was a season in American baseball, the 31st in franchise history. The team finished second in the National League with a record of 93–58, 10 games behind the New York Giants.
During the season, Chief Wilson set a major league record by hitting 36 triples in a single season. After 118 games, Chief Wilson already had 33 triples and was on pace to get 43 triples.
In their 23–4 win against the Cincinnati Reds on April 27, the Pirates recorded a .628 batting average, the highest by any team in a single game from 1901 onwards.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Giants | 103 | 48 | .682 | — | 49‍–‍25 | 54‍–‍23 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 93 | 58 | .616 | 10 | 44‍–‍31 | 49‍–‍27 |
| Chicago Cubs | 91 | 59 | .607 | 11½ | 46‍–‍30 | 45‍–‍29 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 75 | 78 | .490 | 29 | 45‍–‍32 | 30‍–‍46 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 73 | 79 | .480 | 30½ | 34‍–‍41 | 39‍–‍38 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 63 | 90 | .412 | 41 | 37‍–‍40 | 26‍–‍50 |
| Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers | 58 | 95 | .379 | 46 | 33‍–‍43 | 25‍–‍52 |
| Boston Braves | 52 | 101 | .340 | 52 | 31‍–‍47 | 21‍–‍54 |

### Record vs. opponents

1912 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 9–13 | 5–17 | 11–11 | 3–18–1 | 10–12 | 4–18–1 | 10–12 |
| Brooklyn | 13–9 | — | 5–17 | 6–16 | 6–16 | 9–13 | 8–14 | 11–10 |
| Chicago | 17–5 | 17–5 | — | 11–10–1 | 13–9–1 | 10–10 | 8–13 | 15–7 |
| Cincinnati | 11–11 | 16–6 | 10–11–1 | — | 6–16–1 | 8–14 | 11–11 | 13–9 |
| New York | 18–3–1 | 16–6 | 9–13–1 | 16–6–1 | — | 17–5 | 12–8 | 15–7 |
| Philadelphia | 12–10 | 13–9 | 10–10 | 14–8 | 5–17 | — | 8–14 | 11–11 |
| Pittsburgh | 18–4–1 | 14–8 | 13–8 | 11–11 | 8–12 | 14–8 | — | 15–7 |
| St. Louis | 12–10 | 10–11 | 7–15 | 9–13 | 7–15 | 11–11 | 7–15 | — |

### Notable transactions

* September 16, 1912: Everitt Booe was drafted by the Pirates from the Fort Wayne Railroaders in the 1912 rule 5 draft.

### Roster
## 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 | George Gibson | 95 | 300 | 72 | .240 | 2 | 35 |
| 1B | Dots Miller | 148 | 567 | 156 | .275 | 4 | 86 |
| 2B | Alex McCarthy | 111 | 401 | 111 | .277 | 1 | 41 |
| 3B | Bobby Byrne | 130 | 528 | 152 | .288 | 3 | 35 |
| SS | Honus Wagner | 145 | 558 | 181 | .324 | 7 | 102 |
| OF | Mike Donlin | 77 | 244 | 77 | .316 | 2 | 35 |
| OF | Chief Wilson | 152 | 583 | 175 | .300 | 11 | 95 |
| OF | Max Carey | 150 | 587 | 177 | .302 | 5 | 68 |

#### 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 |
| Art Butler | 43 | 154 | 42 | .273 | 1 | 14 |
| Billy Kelly | 48 | 132 | 42 | .318 | 1 | 12 |
| Mike Simon | 42 | 113 | 34 | .301 | 0 | 10 |
| Ed Mensor | 39 | 99 | 26 | .263 | 0 | 1 |
| Tommy Leach | 28 | 97 | 29 | .299 | 0 | 18 |
| Ham Hyatt | 46 | 97 | 28 | .289 | 0 | 21 |
| Bill McKechnie | 24 | 73 | 18 | .247 | 0 | 4 |
| Jim Viox | 33 | 70 | 13 | .186 | 1 | 6 |
| Solly Hofman | 17 | 53 | 15 | .283 | 0 | 3 |
| Stump Edington | 15 | 53 | 16 | .302 | 0 | 14 |
| Stan Gray | 6 | 20 | 5 | .250 | 0 | 2 |
| Ovid Nicholson | 6 | 11 | 5 | .455 | 0 | 1 |
| Ona Dodd | 5 | 9 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 1 |
| Wally Rehg | 8 | 9 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Rivington Bisland | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Earl Blackburn | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 | 0 |
| Ralph Capron | 1 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 | 0 |
| Mickey Keliher | 2 | 0 | 0 | ---- | 0 | 0 |

### 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 |
| Claude Hendrix | 39 | 288.2 | 24 | 9 | 2.59 | 176 |
| Howie Camnitz | 41 | 276.2 | 22 | 12 | 2.83 | 121 |
| Marty O'Toole | 37 | 275.1 | 15 | 17 | 2.71 | 150 |
| Babe Adams | 28 | 170.1 | 11 | 8 | 2.91 | 63 |

#### 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 |
| Hank Robinson | 33 | 175.0 | 12 | 7 | 2.26 | 79 |
| King Cole | 12 | 49.0 | 2 | 2 | 6.43 | 11 |
| Ed Warner | 11 | 45.0 | 1 | 1 | 3.60 | 13 |
| Jack Ferry | 11 | 39.0 | 2 | 0 | 3.00 | 10 |
| Wilbur Cooper | 6 | 38.0 | 3 | 0 | 1.66 | 30 |

#### Relief 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 |
| Lefty Leifield | 6 | 23.2 | 1 | 2 | 4.18 | 8 |
| Sherry Smith | 3 | 4.0 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 3 |
| Harry Gardner | 1 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |

### Chief Wilson's 36 triples

| Triple | Game | Date | Inning | Location | Opposing Pitcher | Team |
| 1 | 2 | April 13, 1912 | 2nd | Robison Field | Bill Steele | St. Louis Cardinals |
| 2 | 6 | April 18, 1912 | 9th | Forbes Field | Slim Sallee | St. Louis Cardinals |
| 3 | 9 | April 23, 1912 | 6th | West Side Park II | Mordecai Brown | Chicago Cubs |
| 4 | 11 | April 27, 1912 | 1st | Forbes Field | Art Fromme | Cincinnati Reds |
| 5 | 11 | April 27, 1912 | 8th | Forbes Field | Hanson Horsey | Cincinnati Reds |
| 6 | 15 | May 3, 1912 | 3rd | Forbes Field | Larry Cheney | Chicago Cubs |
| 7 | 16 | May 4, 1912 | 4th | Forbes Field | Ed Reulbach | Chicago Cubs |
| 8 | 25 | May 21, 1912 | 7th | Forbes Field | Bill McTigue | Boston Braves |
| 9 | 29 | May 25, 1912 | 4th | Forbes Field | Jimmy Lavender | Chicago Cubs |
| 10 | 29 | May 25, 1912 | 6th | Forbes Field | Jimmy Lavender | Chicago Cubs |
| 11 | 33 | May 30, 1912 | 3rd | Forbes Field | Slim Sallee | St. Louis Cardinals |
| 12 | 48 | June 17, 1912 | 8th | Polo Grounds III | Rube Marquard | New York Giants |
| 13 | 49 | June 18, 1912 | 9th | Polo Grounds III | Doc Crandall | New York Giants |
| 14 | 50 | June 19, 1912 | 4th | Forbes Field | Joe Willis | St. Louis Cardinals |
| 15 | 51 | June 20, 1912 | 2nd | Redland Field | Bobby Keefe | Cincinnati Reds |
| 16 | 51 | June 20, 1912 | 10th | Redland Field | Harry Gaspar | Cincinnati Reds |
| 17 | 52 | June 20, 1912 | 6th | Redland Field | Art Fromme | Cincinnati Reds |
| 18 | 64 | July 2, 1912 | 8th | Forbes Field | Larry Cheney | Chicago Cubs |
| 19 | 65 | July 4, 1912 | 4th | Forbes Field | Ben Taylor | Cincinnati Reds |
| 20 | 70 | July 8, 1912 | 8th | Forbes Field | Toots Schultz | Philadelphia Phillies |
| 21 | 77 | July 16, 1912 | 4th | Forbes Field | Earl Yingling | Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers |
| 22 | 78 | July 17, 1912 | 9th | Forbes Field | Christy Mathewson | New York Giants |
| 23 | 79 | July 19, 1912 | 3rd | Forbes Field | Rube Marquard | New York Giants |
| 24 | 82 | July 22, 1912 | 3rd | Forbes Field | Buster Brown | Boston Braves |
| 25 | 84 | July 25, 1912 | 1st | Forbes Field | Eddie Stack | Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers |
| 26 | 85 | July 26, 1912 | 1st | National League Park | Earl Moore | Philadelphia Phillies |
| 27 | 99 | August 10, 1912 | 6th | Washington Park II | Cliff Curtis | Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers |
| 28 | 106 | August 16, 1912 | 7th | Forbes Field | Grover Cleveland Alexander | Philadelphia Phillies |
| 29 | 114 | August 23, 1912 | 9th | Forbes Field | Jeff Tesreau | New York Giants |
| 30 | 116 | August 26, 1912 | 6th | Forbes Field | Otto Hess | Boston Braves |
| 31 | 117 | August 26, 1912 | 6th | Forbes Field | Ed Donnelly | Boston Braves |
| 32 | 117 | August 26, 1912 | 8th | Forbes Field | Ed Donnelly | Boston Braves |
| 33 | 118 | August 27, 1912 | 4th | Forbes Field | Walt Dickson | Boston Braves |
| 34 | 129 | September 7, 1912 | 6th | Robison Field | Pol Perritt | St. Louis Cardinals |
| 35 | 148 | September 29, 1912 | 8th | West Side Park II | Ed Reulbach | Chicago Cubs |
| 36 | 152 | October 6, 1912 | 9th | Redland Field | Frank Gregory | Cincinnati Reds |