1903 New York Highlanders season

1903 New York Highlanders
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Hilltop Park (since 1903)
New York City (since 1903)
Other information
Owner(s)	William Devery and Frank Farrell
Manager(s)	Clark Griffith
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The New York Highlanders' 1903 season finished with the team in 4th place in the American League with a record of 72–62. The team was managed by Clark Griffith and played its home games at Hilltop Park (formally "American League Park"). The season began with the Baltimore Orioles relocating to New York. The club was at first officially the "Greater New York" baseball club, in deference to the established New York Giants.

New Name

The media dubbed the team as "Highlanders", due in part to playing at one of the highest points on Manhattan ("The Hilltop"), which was somewhat higher in altitude than the bulk of Manhattan and was considerably "uphill" from the Polo Grounds, the Giants' established home, which sat in the bottomland in Coogan's Hollow, a few blocks east and south of the Hilltop.

"Highlanders" was also originally short for "Gordon's Highlanders", a play on the name of the team President during 1903–1906, Joseph Gordon, along with the noted British military unit called The Gordon Highlanders. The club was also derisively called "Invaders" in 1903, presumably by writers favorable to the Giants.

The New York press was creative with analogous nicknames for teams. In addition to "Highlanders", the team would soon acquire the alternate nickname "Yankees". That word is a synonym for "American" in general, and short for American Leaguers or "Americans" in this case. Given the media's penchant for citing popular culture, that nickname was also possibly influenced by the then-current and hugely popular America-centric George M. Cohan Broadway play, "Little Johnny Jones", and its centerpiece song, "Yankee Doodle Dandy". New York writers had similarly coined both the established nickname Brooklyn "[Trolley] Dodgers" and the nickname "Superbas" that the denizens of Flatbush carried for a while. As with the Highlanders, the latter was based on something unrelated, namely a circus act called "Hanlon's Superbas"; the Dodgers were managed by Ned Hanlon at that time.

Offseason

• Prior to 1903 season: Jack O'Connor jumped to the Highlanders from the Pittsburgh Pirates.^[1]

Regular season

The 1903 New York Highlanders

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Boston Americans	91	47	0.659	—	49–20	42–27
Philadelphia Athletics	75	60	0.556	14½	44–21	31–39
Cleveland Naps	77	63	0.550	15	49–25	28–38
New York Highlanders	72	62	0.537	17	41–26	31–36
Detroit Tigers	65	71	0.478	25	37–28	28–43
St. Louis Browns	65	74	0.468	26½	38–32	27–42
Chicago White Stockings	60	77	0.438	30½	41–28	19–49
Washington Senators	43	94	0.314	47½	29–40	14–54

Record vs. opponents

1903 American League Records Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NY	PHI	STL	WSH
Boston	—	14–6	12–8	10–9–1	13–7	13–6	14–6	15–5–2
Chicago	6–14	—	10–10	10–9	7–11–1	6–14	9–11	12–8
Cleveland	8–12	10–10	—	9–11	14–6	9–11	11–9	16–4
Detroit	9–10–1	9–10	11–9	—	10–9	11–9	6–14	9–10
New York	7–13	11–7–1	6–14	9–10	—	10–8–1	15–5	14–5
Philadelphia	6–13	14–6	11–9	9–11	8–10–1	—	11–8	16–3–1
St. Louis	6–14	11–9	9–11	14–6	5–15	8–11	—	12–8
Washington	5–15–2	8–12	4–16	10–9	5–14	3–16–1	8–12	—

Roster

1903 New York Highlanders
Roster
Pitchers Doc Adkins Elmer Bliss Jack Chesbro John Deering Clark Griffith Harry Howell Ambrose Puttmann Eddie Quick Jesse Tannehill Snake Wiltse Barney Wolfe		Catchers Monte Beville Pat McCauley Jack O'Connor Jack Zalusky Infielders Wid Conroy Ernie Courtney Kid Elberfeld John Ganzel Paddy Greene Fred Holmes Tim Jordan Herman Long Jimmy Williams		Outfielders Lefty Davis Dave Fultz Herm McFarland Willie Keeler		Manager Clark Griffith

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	Beville, MonteMonte Beville	82	258	50	.194	0	29
1B	Ganzel, JohnJohn Ganzel	129	476	132	.277	3	71
2B	Williams, JimmyJimmy Williams	132	502	134	.267	3	82
3B	Conroy, WidWid Conroy	126	503	137	.272	1	45
SS	Elberfeld, KidKid Elberfeld	90	349	100	.287	0	45
OF	Keeler, WillieWillie Keeler	132	512	160	.313	0	32
OF	McFarland, HermHerm McFarland	103	362	88	.243	5	45
OF	Davis, LeftyLefty Davis	104	372	88	.237	0	25

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
Fultz, DaveDave Fultz	79	295	66	.224	0	25
O'Connor, JackJack O'Connor	64	212	43	.203	0	12
Long, HermanHerman Long	22	80	15	.188	0	8
Courtney, ErnieErnie Courtney	25	79	21	.266	1	8
McCauley, PatPat McCauley	6	19	1	.053	0	1
Zalusky, JackJack Zalusky	7	16	5	.313	0	1
Greene, PaddyPaddy Greene	4	13	4	.308	0	0
Jordan, TimTim Jordan	2	8	1	.125	0	0
Holmes, FredFred Holmes	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
Chesbro, JackJack Chesbro	40	324.2	21	15	2.77	147
Tannehill, JesseJesse Tannehill	32	239.2	15	15	3.27	106
Griffith, ClarkClark Griffith	25	213	14	11	2.70	69
Wolfe, BarneyBarney Wolfe	20	148.1	6	9	2.97	48
Deering, JohnJohn Deering	9	60	4	3	3.75	14
Wiltse, SnakeSnake Wiltse	4	25	0	3	5.40	6
Quick, EddieEddie Quick	1	2	0	0	9.00	0

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
Howell, HarryHarry Howell	25	155.2	9	6	3.53	62
Puttmann, AmbroseAmbrose Puttmann	3	19	2	0	0.95	8
Adkins, DocDoc Adkins	2	7	0	0	7.71	0

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
Bliss, ElmerElmer Bliss	1	1	0	0	0.00	3

Notes

1. Jack O'Connor page at Baseball Reference

References

• 1903 New York Highlanders team page at Baseball Reference
• 1903 New York Highlanders team page at www.baseball-almanac.com