# 1912 New York Giants season

The 1912 New York Giants season was the franchise's 30th season. It involved the Giants winning the National League pennant. They were beaten by the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. Fred Snodgrass took most of the blame, as he dropped a fly ball in the deciding contest.
Led by manager John McGraw, the Giants dominated the NL, opening the season 54–11 and building a 16 1/2-game lead by July 3. On the offensive side, they easily led the league in runs scored. Larry Doyle finished fourth in the batting race and was voted league MVP. Chief Meyers had one of the greatest offensive seasons ever for a catcher and was second in batting.
They had arguably the best pitching staff, too. Jeff Tesreau, Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson, and Red Ames finished 1–2–5 in league ERA. Rube Marquard's 18-game winning streak was the top story in baseball.
Taken together with the 1911 and 1913 pennant winners, this team is considered one of the greatest of all-time. It also makes up a good portion of the 1966 book The Glory of Their Times, as Marquard, Meyers, and Snodgrass were three of the players interviewed.

## 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 | — |

### 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 | Chief Meyers | 126 | 371 | 133 | .358 | 6 | 54 |
| 1B | Fred Merkle | 129 | 479 | 148 | .309 | 11 | 84 |
| 2B | Larry Doyle | 143 | 558 | 184 | .330 | 10 | 90 |
| 3B | Buck Herzog | 140 | 482 | 127 | .263 | 2 | 47 |
| SS | Art Fletcher | 129 | 419 | 118 | .282 | 1 | 57 |
| OF | Fred Snodgrass | 146 | 535 | 144 | .269 | 3 | 69 |
| OF | Red Murray | 143 | 549 | 152 | .277 | 3 | 92 |
| OF | Beals Becker | 125 | 402 | 106 | .264 | 6 | 58 |

#### 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 |
| Josh Devore | 106 | 327 | 90 | .275 | 2 | 37 |
| Tillie Shafer | 78 | 163 | 47 | .288 | 0 | 24 |
| Art Wilson | 65 | 121 | 35 | .289 | 3 | 20 |
| George Burns | 29 | 51 | 15 | .294 | 0 | 5 |
| Heinie Groh | 27 | 48 | 13 | .271 | 0 | 3 |
| Moose McCormick | 42 | 39 | 13 | .333 | 0 | 7 |
| Grover Hartley | 25 | 34 | 8 | .235 | 0 | 7 |
| Dave Robertson | 3 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 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 |
| Christy Mathewson | 43 | 310.0 | 23 | 12 | 2.12 | 134 |
| Rube Marquard | 43 | 294.2 | 26 | 11 | 2.57 | 175 |
| Jeff Tesreau | 36 | 243.0 | 17 | 7 | 1.96 | 119 |
| Red Ames | 33 | 179.0 | 11 | 5 | 2.46 | 83 |
| Ted Goulait | 1 | 7.0 | 0 | 0 | 6.43 | 6 |

#### 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 |
| Doc Crandall | 37 | 162.0 | 13 | 7 | 3.61 | 60 |
| Hooks Wiltse | 28 | 134.0 | 9 | 6 | 3.16 | 58 |
| Al Demaree | 2 | 16.0 | 1 | 0 | 1.69 | 11 |
| LaRue Kirby | 3 | 11.0 | 1 | 0 | 5.73 | 2 |
| Lore Bader | 2 | 10.0 | 2 | 0 | 0.90 | 3 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Louis Drucke | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13.50 | 0 |
| Ernie Shore | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 27.00 | 1 |

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

Rube Marquard
* NL leader in wins (26)
* #3 in NL in strikeouts (175)
Christy Mathewson
* #2 in NL in ERA (2.12)
* #2 in NL in complete games (27)
* #4 in NL in wins (23)
Chief Meyers
* NL leader in on-base percentage (.441)
* #2 in NL in batting average (.358)
* #4 in NL in slugging percentage (.477)
Red Murray
* #4 in NL in stolen bases (38)
Fred Snodgrass
* #3 in NL in stolen bases (43)
Jeff Tesreau
* NL leader in ERA (1.96)

## 1912 World Series

AL Boston Red Sox (4) vs. NL New York Giants (3)
| Game | Score | Date | Location | Attendance |
| 1 | Boston Red Sox – 4, New York Giants – 3, | October 8 | Polo Grounds | 35,730 |
| 2 | New York Giants – 6, Boston Red Sox – 6 | October 9 | Fenway Park | 30,148 |
| 3 | New York Giants – 2, Boston Red Sox – 1 | October 10 | Fenway Park | 34,624 |
| 4 | Boston Red Sox – 3, New York Giants – 1 | October 11 | Polo Grounds | 36,502 |
| 5 | New York Giants – 1, Boston Red Sox – 2 | October 12 | Fenway Park | 34,683 |
| 6 | Boston Red Sox – 2, New York Giants – 5 | October 14 | Polo Grounds | 30,622 |
| 7 | New York Giants – 11, Boston Red Sox – 4 | October 15 | Fenway Park | 32,694 |
| 8 | New York Giants – 2, Boston Red Sox – 3 | October 16 | Fenway Park | 17,034 |