# 1908 New York Highlanders season

The 1908 New York Highlanders season finished with the team in eighth place in the American League with a record of 51–103. Their home games were played at Hilltop Park.
The Highlanders finished in last place, 17 games out of seventh. It was the second-worst season in club history. Starting first baseman Hal Chase left the team in September under allegations that he was throwing games. After Clark Griffith's departure, the Highlanders lost 70 of their last 98 games under new manager Kid Elberfeld.

## Regular season

On June 30, Cy Young of the Boston Red Sox threw a no-hitter against the Highlanders. In the game, Young had 3 hits and 4 RBI's. By now the alternate and equally unofficial nickname "Yankees" was being used frequently to refer to the Highlanders. The New York Times article about Young's no-hitter at "the American League Park" (Hilltop Park's formal name), referred to the club exclusively as "Yankees" throughout the article. Other newspapers continued to use the two nicknames interchangeably.
On September 4, 5 and 7, 1908, Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators shut out the Highlanders in three consecutive games.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Detroit Tigers | 90 | 63 | .588 | — | 44‍–‍33 | 46‍–‍30 |
| Cleveland Naps | 90 | 64 | .584 | ½ | 51‍–‍26 | 39‍–‍38 |
| Chicago White Sox | 88 | 64 | .579 | 1½ | 51‍–‍25 | 37‍–‍39 |
| St. Louis Browns | 83 | 69 | .546 | 6½ | 46‍–‍31 | 37‍–‍38 |
| Boston Red Sox | 75 | 79 | .487 | 15½ | 37‍–‍40 | 38‍–‍39 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 68 | 85 | .444 | 22 | 46‍–‍30 | 22‍–‍55 |
| Washington Senators | 67 | 85 | .441 | 22½ | 43‍–‍32 | 24‍–‍53 |
| New York Highlanders | 51 | 103 | .331 | 39½ | 30‍–‍47 | 21‍–‍56 |

### Record vs. opponents

1908 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYH | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 6–16–1 | 10–12 | 11–11 | 12–10 | 10–12 | 15–7 | 11–11 |
| Chicago | 16–6–1 | — | 8–14–1 | 9–13 | 16–6 | 13–9 | 11–10 | 15–6–2 |
| Cleveland | 12–10 | 14–8–1 | — | 13–9 | 16–6 | 16–6–1 | 11–11–1 | 8–14 |
| Detroit | 11–11 | 13–9 | 9–13 | — | 15–7 | 14–8–1 | 12–10 | 16–5 |
| New York | 10–12 | 6–16 | 6–16 | 7–15 | — | 8–14–1 | 5–17 | 9–13 |
| Philadelphia | 12–10 | 9–13 | 6–16–1 | 8–14–1 | 14–8–1 | — | 8–13–1 | 11–11 |
| St. Louis | 7–15 | 10–11 | 11–11–1 | 10–12 | 17–5 | 13–8–1 | — | 15–7–1 |
| Washington | 11–11 | 6–15–2 | 14–8 | 5–16 | 13–9 | 11–11 | 7–15–1 | — |

### 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 | Red Kleinow | 96 | 279 | 47 | .168 | 1 | 13 |
| 1B | Hal Chase | 106 | 405 | 104 | .257 | 1 | 36 |
| 2B | Harry Niles | 95 | 361 | 90 | .249 | 4 | 24 |
| SS | Neal Ball | 132 | 446 | 110 | .247 | 0 | 38 |
| 3B | Wid Conroy | 141 | 531 | 126 | .237 | 1 | 39 |
| OF | Willie Keeler | 91 | 323 | 85 | .263 | 1 | 14 |
| OF | Jake Stahl | 75 | 274 | 70 | .255 | 2 | 42 |
| OF | Charlie Hemphill | 142 | 505 | 150 | .297 | 0 | 44 |

#### 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 |
| George Moriarty | 101 | 348 | 82 | .236 | 0 | 27 |
| Walter Blair | 76 | 211 | 40 | .190 | 1 | 13 |
| Irish McIlveen | 44 | 169 | 36 | .213 | 0 | 8 |
| Frank LaPorte | 39 | 145 | 38 | .262 | 1 | 15 |
| Frank Delahanty | 37 | 125 | 32 | .256 | 0 | 10 |
| Jimmy O'Rourke | 34 | 108 | 25 | .231 | 0 | 3 |
| Ed Sweeney | 32 | 82 | 12 | .146 | 0 | 2 |
| Birdie Cree | 21 | 78 | 21 | .269 | 0 | 4 |
| Earle Gardner | 20 | 75 | 16 | .213 | 0 | 4 |
| Kid Elberfeld | 19 | 56 | 11 | .196 | 0 | 5 |
| Mike Donovan | 5 | 19 | 5 | .263 | 0 | 2 |

### 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 |
| Jack Chesbro | 45 | 288.2 | 14 | 20 | 2.93 | 124 |
| Joe Lake | 38 | 269.1 | 9 | 22 | 3.17 | 118 |
| Rube Manning | 41 | 245.0 | 13 | 16 | 2.94 | 113 |
| Bill Hogg | 24 | 152.1 | 4 | 16 | 3.01 | 72 |
| Al Orth | 21 | 139.1 | 2 | 13 | 3.42 | 22 |
| Pete Wilson | 6 | 39.0 | 3 | 3 | 3.46 | 28 |
| Jack Warhop | 5 | 36.1 | 1 | 2 | 4.46 | 11 |
| Fred Glade | 5 | 32.0 | 0 | 4 | 4.22 | 11 |
| Andy O'Connor | 1 | 8.0 | 0 | 1 | 10.13 | 5 |

#### 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 Newton | 23 | 88.1 | 4 | 5 | 2.95 | 49 |
| Slow Joe Doyle | 12 | 48.0 | 1 | 1 | 2.63 | 20 |

#### 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 |
| Harry Billiard | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.65 | 70 |
| Hippo Vaughn | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.86 | 2 |
| Hal Chase | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |

## Citations

* ↑ Murphy 2007, p. 151
* ↑ Murphy 2007, p. 159
* ↑ Murphy 2007, p. 98