# 1912 Cleveland Naps season

The 1912 Cleveland Naps season was a season in American baseball. The Naps had two of the best hitters in the majors in Shoeless Joe Jackson and Nap Lajoie. Despite this, they ended up back in the second division, finishing in fifth place with a record of 75–78.

## Regular season

* April 20, 1912: The Naps played in the first ever game at Navin Field in Detroit against Ty Cobb's Detroit Tigers. Navin Field, later known as Tiger Stadium, opened the same day as Fenway Park. It was supposed to have opened on April 18 (like Fenway Park) but it rained in both cities on that day. Naps batter Shoeless Joe Jackson scored the first run ever at Navin Field, though the Tigers would win the game 6–5. Although Jackson would go on to hit a team leading .395 for the season including 3 home runs and 90 RBI's, he finished second in batting average to Ty Cobb who hit .409 for the year.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Boston Red Sox | 105 | 47 | .691 | — | 57‍–‍20 | 48‍–‍27 |
| Washington Senators | 91 | 61 | .599 | 14 | 45‍–‍32 | 46‍–‍29 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 90 | 62 | .592 | 15 | 45‍–‍31 | 45‍–‍31 |
| Chicago White Sox | 78 | 76 | .506 | 28 | 34‍–‍43 | 44‍–‍33 |
| Cleveland Naps | 75 | 78 | .490 | 30½ | 41‍–‍35 | 34‍–‍43 |
| Detroit Tigers | 69 | 84 | .451 | 36½ | 37‍–‍39 | 32‍–‍45 |
| St. Louis Browns | 53 | 101 | .344 | 53 | 27‍–‍50 | 26‍–‍51 |
| New York Highlanders | 50 | 102 | .329 | 55 | 31‍–‍44 | 19‍–‍58 |

### Record vs. opponents

1912 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | NYH | PHA | SLB | WSH |
| Boston | — | 16–6–1 | 11–11–1 | 15–6 | 19–2 | 15–7 | 17–5 | 12–10 |
| Chicago | 6–16–1 | — | 11–11 | 14–8–1 | 13–9 | 12–10 | 13–9–2 | 9–13 |
| Cleveland | 11–11–1 | 11–11 | — | 13–9 | 13–8–1 | 8–14 | 15–7 | 4–18 |
| Detroit | 6–15 | 8–14–1 | 9–13 | — | 16–6 | 9–13 | 13–9 | 8–14 |
| New York | 2–19 | 9–13 | 8–13–1 | 6–16 | — | 5–17 | 13–9 | 7–15 |
| Philadelphia | 7–15 | 10–12 | 14–8 | 13–9 | 17–5 | — | 16–6 | 13–7–1 |
| St. Louis | 5–17 | 9–13–2 | 7–15 | 9–13 | 9–13 | 6–16 | — | 8–14–1 |
| Washington | 10–12 | 13–9 | 18–4 | 14–8 | 15–7 | 7–13–1 | 14–8–1 | — |

### 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 | Steve O'Neill | 69 | 215 | 49 | .228 | 0 | 14 |
| 1B | Art Griggs | 89 | 273 | 83 | .304 | 0 | 39 |
| 2B | Nap Lajoie | 117 | 448 | 165 | .368 | 0 | 90 |
| 3B | Terry Turner | 103 | 370 | 114 | .308 | 0 | 33 |
| SS | Roger Peckinpaugh | 70 | 236 | 50 | .212 | 1 | 22 |
| OF | Buddy Ryan | 93 | 328 | 89 | .271 | 1 | 31 |
| OF | Joe Birmingham | 107 | 369 | 94 | .255 | 1 | 45 |
| OF | Joe Jackson | 154 | 572 | 226 | .395 | 3 | 90 |

#### 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 |
| Ivy Olson | 125 | 467 | 118 | .253 | 0 | 33 |
| Jack Graney | 78 | 264 | 64 | .242 | 0 | 20 |
| Ted Easterly | 65 | 186 | 55 | .296 | 2 | 21 |
| Doc Johnston | 43 | 164 | 46 | .280 | 1 | 11 |
| Neal Ball | 40 | 132 | 30 | .227 | 0 | 14 |
| Ray Chapman | 31 | 109 | 34 | .312 | 0 | 19 |
| Hank Butcher | 26 | 82 | 16 | .195 | 1 | 10 |
| Tim Hendryx | 23 | 70 | 17 | .243 | 1 | 14 |
| Fred Carisch | 24 | 69 | 19 | .275 | 0 | 5 |
| Bill Hunter | 21 | 55 | 9 | .164 | 0 | 2 |
| Bert Adams | 20 | 54 | 11 | .204 | 0 | 6 |
| Eddie Hohnhorst | 15 | 54 | 11 | .204 | 0 | 2 |
| Paddy Livingston | 20 | 47 | 11 | .234 | 0 | 3 |
| Howard Baker | 11 | 30 | 5 | .167 | 0 | 2 |
| Ken Nash | 11 | 23 | 4 | .174 | 0 | 0 |
| Art Hauger | 15 | 18 | 1 | .056 | 0 | 0 |
| Herman Bronkie | 6 | 16 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Jack Kibble | 5 | 8 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Harry Davis | 2 | 5 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Lou Nagelsen | 2 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Hack Eibel | 1 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Moxie Meixell | 3 | 2 | 1 | .500 | 0 | 0 |
| Harvey Grubb | 1 | 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 |
| Vean Gregg | 37 | 271.2 | 20 | 13 | 2.59 | 184 |
| Fred Blanding | 39 | 262.0 | 18 | 14 | 2.92 | 75 |
| George Kahler | 41 | 246.1 | 12 | 19 | 3.69 | 104 |
| Gene Krapp | 9 | 58.2 | 2 | 5 | 4.60 | 22 |
| Harry Krause | 2 | 4.2 | 0 | 1 | 11.57 | 1 |

#### 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 |
| Willie Mitchell | 29 | 163.2 | 5 | 8 | 2.80 | 94 |
| Bill Steen | 26 | 143.1 | 9 | 8 | 3.77 | 61 |
| Jim Baskette | 29 | 116.0 | 8 | 4 | 3.18 | 51 |
| Lefty George | 11 | 44.1 | 0 | 5 | 4.87 | 18 |
| Bert Brenner | 2 | 13.0 | 1 | 0 | 2.77 | 3 |
| Lefty James | 3 | 6.0 | 0 | 1 | 7.50 | 2 |

#### 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 James | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.61 | 5 |
| Ernie Wolf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6.35 | 1 |
| Roy Walker | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 |
| Jim Neher | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
| Mysterious Walker | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |

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

Vean Gregg
* #4 in AL in strikeouts (184)
Shoeless Joe Jackson
* MLB leader in hits (226)
* #2 in AL in batting average (.395)
* #2 in AL in on-base percentage (.458)
* #2 in AL in slugging percentage (.579)
* #3 in AL in runs scored (121)
George Kahler
* AL leader in walks allowed (121)
* #2 in AL in losses (19)
* #3 in AL in earned runs allowed (101)
Nap Lajoie
* #4 in AL in batting average (.368)