The 1912

Cleveland Naps The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive ...

season was a season in American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

. The Naps had two of the best hitters in the majors in

Shoeless Joe Jackson Joseph Jefferson Jackson (July 16, 1887 – December 5, 1951), nicknamed "Shoeless Joe", was an American outfielder who played Major League Baseball (MLB) in the early 1900s. Although his .356 career batting average is the fourth highest ...

and

Nap Lajoie Napoléon "Nap" Lajoie (; September 5, 1874 – February 7, 1959), also known as Larry Lajoie and nicknamed "The Frenchman", was an American professional baseball second baseman and player-manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for t ...

. Despite this, they ended up back in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, 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 Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

against

Ty Cobb Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the las ...

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

. Navin Field, later known as Tiger Stadium, opened the same day as

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Base ...

. It was supposed to have opened on April 18 (like Fenway Park) but it rained in both cities on that day. Naps batter

scored the first run ever at Navin Field, though the Tigers would win the game 6–5.The Final Season, p.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

Record vs. opponents

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''

Other batters

''Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''

Pitching

Starting pitchers

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

Other pitchers

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

Relief pitchers

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

Awards and honors

League top five finishers

Vean Gregg * #4 in AL in strikeouts (184)

* 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 George Runnells "Krum" Kahler (September 6, 1889 – February 7, 1924) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball from Athens, Ohio. He played for the Cleveland Naps from 1910 to 1914. The spelling of Kahler's last name has varied in different newsp ...

* AL leader in walks allowed (121) * #2 in AL in losses (19) * #3 in AL in earned runs allowed (101)

* #4 in AL in batting average (.368)

References

External links

1912 Cleveland Naps season at Baseball Reference
Cleveland Guardians seasons Cleveland Naps season

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