1916 Cincinnati Reds season

The 1916 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The team finished tied for seventh and last place in the National League with the St. Louis Cardinals. Both teams finished with a record of 60–93, 33½ games behind the Brooklyn Robins

1916 Cincinnati Reds
LeagueNational League
BallparkRedland Field
CityCincinnati, Ohio
OwnersGarry Herrmann
ManagersBuck Herzog, Ivey Wingo, Christy Mathewson
← 1915 Seasons 1917 →

Off-season

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In December, the Reds purchased shortstop Larry Kopf from the Philadelphia Phillies. In 1915, Kopf's first season getting regular playing time at the major league level, batted .225 with one home run and 33 RBI in 118 games. Later in the month, Cincinnati purchased the contracts of Federal League players Earl Moseley from the Newark Peppers, and second baseman Baldy Louden from the Buffalo Blues. Moseley had a 15–15 record and a league-best 1.91 ERA with the Pepper in 1915, while Louden batted .281 with four home runs and 48 RBI, and stole 30 bases with the Blues.

In early 1916, the Reds purchased first baseman Hal Chase from the Buffalo Blues of the Federal League. Chase led the league with 17 home runs in 1915, and batted .289 and also had 89 RBI in 145 games. Chase had a lot of previous experience in the American League, playing for the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox from 1905 until 1914. Cincinnati then purchased the contract of shortstop Bob Fisher from the Chicago Cubs. Fisher batted .287 with five home runs and 53 RBI in 147 games, and led the National League with 42 sacrifice bunts.

On February 10, the club announced more purchased contracts from the Federal League, as Cincinnati acquired pitchers Jim Bluejacket from the Brooklyn Tip-Tops and Al Schulz from the Buffalo Blues, and first baseman Emil Huhn from the Newark Peppers. Bluejacket had a record of 10–11 with a 3.15 ERA in 24 games with the Tip-Tops, while Schulz was 21–14 with a 3.08 ERA in 42 games with the Blues, striking out 168 batters, throwing 25 complete games, and he led the league with 149 walks. Huhn batted .227 with a home run and 41 RBI in 127 games with the Pepper.

Regular season

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Early in the season, the Reds purchased the contract of pitcher Elmer Knetzer from the Boston Braves. Knetzer was acquired by Cincinnati on April 30, after he struggled in his first two games with Boston, going 0–2 with a 7.20 ERA. He would split his games with the Reds as a starting pitcher and reliever.

On July 20, with a record of 34–49 and in last place in the league, the Reds traded player-manager Buck Herzog and outfielder Red Killefer to the New York Giants for starting pitcher Christy Mathewson, third baseman Bill McKechnie and outfielder Edd Roush. Mathewson, who had struggled with the Giants in 1916, had a 3–4 record with a 2.33 ERA in 12 games. He would announce his retirement and become the Reds manager, however, Mathewson would appear in one game with Cincinnati as a starting pitcher. This would be Mathewson's first time as a manager. McKechnie had a .246 batting average with no home runs and 17 RBI at the time of the trade, while Roush was batting .188 with no home runs and five RBI in 39 games.

Season summary

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After a solid 5–2 start in their first seven games, in which the Reds were in first place, the club struggled badly and by the middle of May, they were under .500 and falling out of the pennant race. On July 20, with a record of 34–49, the club was involved in a deal that centered on player manager Buck Herzog being traded to the New York Giants for Christy Mathewson. Mathewson announced his retirement from playing, and following a double header in which catcher Ivey Wingo was the interim manager, Mathewson took over.

The Reds continued to struggle under Mathewson, remaining in last place, until a three-game winning streak at the end of the season moved the team into seventh place tie with the St. Louis Cardinals. Cincinnati finished the season 60–93, which included a 25–43 record under Mathewson, and were 33.5 games behind the first place Brooklyn Robins. This marked the seventh consecutive season that the team finished under .500.

Offensively, the team was led by Hal Chase, who led the Reds with a .339 batting average, four home runs, 82 RBI and 22 stolen bases in 142 games. He led the National League in batting average, and hits with 184. Outfielder Tommy Griffith had a solid year, batting .266 with two home runs and 61 RBI in 155 games, while Edd Roush, acquired in the middle of the season, had a solid .287 average with 15 RBI and 15 stolen bases in 69 games.

On the mound, Fred Toney led the club with a 14–17 record and a team best 2.28 ERA in 41 games, pitching 300 innings, striking out 146 batters and completing 21 games. Twenty year old Pete Schneider showed much potential, despite a poor 10–19 record, he had a 2.69 ERA in 44 games. Clarence Mitchell was 11–10 with a 3.24 ERA in 29 games in his first full season with the club.

Season standings

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National League
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Brooklyn Robins 94 60 .610 50‍–‍27 44‍–‍33
Philadelphia Phillies 91 62 .595 50‍–‍29 41‍–‍33
Boston Braves 89 63 .586 4 41‍–‍31 48‍–‍32
New York Giants 86 66 .566 7 47‍–‍30 39‍–‍36
Chicago Cubs 67 86 .438 26½ 37‍–‍41 30‍–‍45
Pittsburgh Pirates 65 89 .422 29 37‍–‍40 28‍–‍49
St. Louis Cardinals 60 93 .392 33½ 36‍–‍40 24‍–‍53
Cincinnati Reds 60 93 .392 33½ 32‍–‍44 28‍–‍49

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team BOS BR CHC CIN NYG PHI PIT STL
Boston 13–9 14–7–2 13–9–1 11–10–1 11–11–1 14–8–1 13–9
Brooklyn 9–13 15–7–1 15–7–1 15–7 11–11 14–8 15–7
Chicago 7–14–2 7–15–1 9–13 10–12 8–14 12–10 14–8
Cincinnati 9–13–1 7–15–1 13–9 5–16 5–17 13–9 8–14
New York 10–11–1 7–15 12–10 16–5 9–13 17–5–2 15–7
Philadelphia 11–11–1 11–11 14–8 17–5 13–9 13–9 12–9
Pittsburgh 8–14–1 8–14 10–12 9–13 5–17–2 9–13 16–6
St. Louis 9–13 7–15 8–14 14–8 7–15 9–12 6–16


Roster

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1916 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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 Ivey Wingo 119 347 85 .245 2 40
1B Hal Chase 142 542 184 .339 4 82
2B Baldy Louden 134 439 96 .219 1 32
SS Buck Herzog 79 281 75 .267 1 24
3B Heinie Groh 149 553 149 .269 2 28
OF Edd Roush 69 272 78 .287 0 15
OF Greasy Neale 138 530 139 .262 0 20
OF Tommy Griffith 155 595 158 .266 2 61

Other batters

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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
Red Killefer 70 234 57 .244 1 18
Fritz Mollwitz 65 183 41 .224 0 16
Tommy Clarke 78 177 42 .237 0 17
Bob Fisher 61 136 37 .272 0 11
Bill McKechnie 37 130 36 .277 0 10
Emil Huhn 37 94 24 .255 0 3
Frank Emmer 42 89 13 .146 0 2
Paul Smith 10 44 10 .227 0 1`
Larry Kopf 11 40 11 .275 0 5
Ken Williams 10 27 3 .111 0 1
Johnny Beall 6 21 7 .333 1 4
Bill Hobbs 6 11 2 .182 0 1
George Twombly 6 5 0 .000 0 0
Bill Rodgers 3 4 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Fred Toney 41 300.0 14 17 2.28 146
Pete Schneider 44 274.1 10 19 2.69 117
Clarence Mitchell 29 194.2 11 10 3.14 52
Christy Mathewson 1 9.0 1 0 8.00 3

Other pitchers

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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 Schulz 44 215.0 8 19 3.14 95
Elmer Knetzer 36 171.1 5 12 2.89 70
Earl Moseley 31 150.1 7 10 3.89 60
Gene Dale 17 69.2 3 4 5.17 23
Limb McKenry 6 14.2 1 1 4.30 2
Jim Bluejacket 3 7.0 0 1 7.71 1

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Twink Twining 1 0 0 0 13.50 0

References

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