# 1909 Boston Doves season

The 1909 Boston Doves season was the 39th season of the franchise.
The 1909 Doves set an MLB record that still stands for most games behind the first place winner in any season since 1900. They finished 65+1⁄2 games behind the NL Champs and eventual World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates.

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 110 | 42 | .724 | — | 56‍–‍21 | 54‍–‍21 |
| Chicago Cubs | 104 | 49 | .680 | 6½ | 47‍–‍29 | 57‍–‍20 |
| New York Giants | 92 | 61 | .601 | 18½ | 44‍–‍33 | 48‍–‍28 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 77 | 76 | .503 | 33½ | 39‍–‍38 | 38‍–‍38 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 74 | 79 | .484 | 36½ | 40‍–‍37 | 34‍–‍42 |
| Brooklyn Superbas | 55 | 98 | .359 | 55½ | 34‍–‍45 | 21‍–‍53 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 54 | 98 | .355 | 56 | 26‍–‍48 | 28‍–‍50 |
| Boston Doves | 45 | 108 | .294 | 65½ | 27‍–‍47 | 18‍–‍61 |

### Record vs. opponents

1909 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHC | CIN | NYG | PHI | PIT | STL |
| Boston | — | 11–11 | 1–21 | 5–17 | 8–14–2 | 10–12 | 1–20 | 9–13 |
| Brooklyn | 11–11 | — | 5–16 | 5–17–1 | 7–15 | 11–11 | 4–18 | 12–10–1 |
| Chicago | 21–1 | 16–5 | — | 16–6 | 11–11–1 | 16–6 | 9–13 | 15–7–1 |
| Cincinnati | 17–5 | 17–5–1 | 6–16 | — | 9–13–1 | 9–12–1 | 7–15–1 | 12–10 |
| New York | 14–8–2 | 15–7 | 11–11–1 | 13–9–1 | — | 12–10 | 11–11–1 | 16–5 |
| Philadelphia | 12–10 | 11–11 | 6–16 | 12–9–1 | 10–12 | — | 7–15 | 16–6 |
| Pittsburgh | 20–1 | 18–4 | 13–9 | 15–7–1 | 11–11–1 | 15–7 | — | 18–3 |
| St. Louis | 13–9 | 10–12–1 | 7–15–1 | 10–12 | 5–16 | 6–16 | 3–18 | — |

### Notable transactions

* July 16, 1909: Charlie Starr and Johnny Bates were traded by the Doves to the Philadelphia Phillies for Buster Brown, Lew Richie and Dave Shean.

### 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 | Peaches Graham | 92 | 267 | 64 | .240 | 0 | 17 |
| 1B | Fred Stem | 73 | 245 | 51 | .208 | 0 | 11 |
| 2B | Dave Shean | 75 | 267 | 66 | .247 | 1 | 29 |
| SS | Jack Coffey | 73 | 257 | 48 | .187 | 0 | 20 |
| 3B | Bill Sweeney | 138 | 493 | 120 | .243 | 1 | 36 |
| OF | Roy Thomas | 82 | 281 | 74 | .263 | 0 | 11 |
| OF | Ginger Beaumont | 123 | 407 | 107 | .263 | 0 | 60 |
| OF | Beals Becker | 152 | 562 | 138 | .246 | 6 | 24 |

#### 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 |
| Fred Beck | 96 | 334 | 66 | .198 | 2 | 27 |
| Johnny Bates | 63 | 236 | 68 | .288 | 1 | 23 |
| Charlie Starr | 61 | 216 | 48 | .222 | 0 | 6 |
| Chick Autry | 65 | 199 | 39 | .196 | 0 | 13 |
| Bill Dahlen | 69 | 197 | 46 | .234 | 2 | 16 |
| Gus Getz | 40 | 148 | 33 | .223 | 0 | 9 |
| Harry Smith | 43 | 113 | 19 | .168 | 0 | 4 |
| Frank Bowerman | 33 | 99 | 21 | .212 | 0 | 4 |
| Claude Ritchey | 30 | 87 | 15 | .172 | 0 | 3 |
| Bill Rariden | 13 | 42 | 6 | .143 | 0 | 1 |
| Al Shaw | 18 | 41 | 4 | .098 | 0 | 0 |
| Herbie Moran | 8 | 31 | 7 | .226 | 0 | 0 |
| Hosea Siner | 10 | 23 | 3 | .130 | 0 | 1 |
| Bill Cooney | 5 | 10 | 3 | .300 | 0 | 0 |
| Ernie Diehl | 1 | 4 | 2 | .500 | 0 | 0 |
| Bill Dam | 1 | 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 |
| Al Mattern | 47 | 316.1 | 15 | 21 | 2.85 | 108 |
| Cecil Ferguson | 36 | 226.2 | 5 | 23 | 3.73 | 87 |
| Kirby White | 23 | 148.1 | 6 | 13 | 3.22 | 53 |
| Buster Brown | 18 | 123.1 | 4 | 8 | 3.14 | 32 |
| Cliff Curtis | 10 | 83.0 | 4 | 5 | 1.41 | 22 |
| Tom McCarthy | 8 | 46.1 | 0 | 5 | 3.50 | 11 |

#### 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 |
| Lew Richie | 22 | 131.2 | 7 | 7 | 2.32 | 42 |
| Tom Tuckey | 17 | 90.2 | 0 | 9 | 4.27 | 16 |
| Vive Lindaman | 15 | 66.0 | 1 | 6 | 4.64 | 13 |
| Forrest More | 10 | 48.2 | 1 | 5 | 4.44 | 10 |
| Bill Chappelle | 5 | 29.0 | 1 | 1 | 1.86 | 8 |
| Gus Dorner | 5 | 24.2 | 1 | 2 | 2.55 | 7 |
| Chick Evans | 4 | 21.2 | 0 | 3 | 4.57 | 11 |

#### 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 |
| Bill Cooney | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.42 | 3 |
| Jake Boultes | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.75 | 1 |