The 1904

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

season was a season in American baseball. The team finished third in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

with a record of 88–65, 18 games behind the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

Regular season

The Cincinnati Reds had made steady improvements over the past two seasons, and were looking to improve even more in 1904, as they were hoping to contend for the

pennant. The Reds won only 52 games in

1901 Events January * January 1 – The Crown colony, British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and Western Australia Federation of Australia, federate as the Australia, ...

, however, they improved to 70 in 1902, and 74 in 1903.

Joe Kelley Joseph James Kelley (December 9, 1871 – August 14, 1943) was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) who starred in the outfield of the Baltimore Orioles teams of the 1890s. Making up the nucleus of the Orioles along with Joh ...

returned for his third season as player-manager of the team, as he took over

first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

on a permanent basis after

Jake Beckley Jacob Peter Beckley (August 4, 1867 – June 25, 1918), nicknamed "Eagle Eye", was an American professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, Pittsburgh Burghers, Pittsburgh Pirates, New Y ...

joined the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

. Thirty-one-year-old rookie

Fred Odwell Frederick William Odwell (September 25, 1872 – August 19, 1948) was a professional baseball player. He was an outfielder over parts of four seasons with the Cincinnati Reds. In 1905, he led the National League in home runs. He was born in and la ...

joined the team after spending the 1903 season with the

Louisville Colonels The Louisville Colonels were a Major League Baseball team that also played in the American Association (AA) throughout that league's ten-year existence from 1882 until 1891. They were known as the Louisville Eclipse from 1882 to 1884, and as ...

of the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

, while another rookie

Miller Huggins Miller James Huggins (March 27, 1878 – September 25, 1929) was an American professional baseball player and manager. Huggins played second base for the Cincinnati Reds (1904–1909) and St. Louis Cardinals (1910–1916). He managed the ...

, took over the starting job at second base.

Cy Seymour James Bentley "Cy" Seymour (December 9, 1872 – September 20, 1919) was an American professional baseball center fielder and pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to for the New York Giants (1896–; –), Baltimore Orioles ( ...

led Cincinnati with a .313

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

, while hitting a club high five

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s, and drove in 58 runners.

Tommy Corcoran Thomas William Corcoran (January 4, 1869 – June 25, 1960) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop from to for the Pittsburgh Burghers (1890), Philadelphia Athletics (1891), Brooklyn G ...

hit only .230, but he managed to hit two home runs and have a club best 74 RBI. Rookie

led the Reds with 96 runs, while he hit .296 with two homers and 30 RBI. On the mound, Jack Harper had a breakout season, as he won a team high 23 games, while posting a 2.30 ERA in 35 starts.

Noodles Hahn Frank George "Noodles" Hahn (April 29, 1879 – February 6, 1960) was a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Cincinnati Reds and New York Highlanders between 1899 and 1906. The left-hander posted a 130–94 win–loss re ...

had poor run support, as he only had a 16–18 record, however, Hahn had a 2.06 ERA in 35 games, 34 of them starts. Win Kellum and Tom Walker each won 15 games each, with ERA's of 2.60 and 2.24 respectively.

Season summary

Cincinnati began the season with a mediocre 8–7 record after fifteen games, however, the Reds won their next eight games to move into second place, just half a game behind the first place

. Cincinnati continue to play good baseball, winning seven of their next ten to improve to 23–11, and take a 1.5 game lead over the Giants and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

for first place in the

. The Reds, Giants and Cubs continued their battle for first place going into the month of June, but then the Giants got red hot, and Cincinnati, nor Chicago, could keep up with New York. The Reds had a 13–16 slump to drop their record to 36–27, falling into third place, 11.5 games behind the Giants. As the season went on, the Cubs, Reds and

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

battled for second place, but all three teams were well behind New York. On August 7, the Reds, Giants and Pirates were in a three team deal, which included Cincinnati sending

Mike Donlin Michael Joseph Donlin (May 30, 1878 – September 24, 1933) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder and actor. As a professional baseball player, his MLB career spanned from 1899 to 1914 in which he played mainly in the National L ...

to New York, while the Reds acquired

Jimmy Sebring James Dennison Sebring (March 22, 1882–December 22, 1909), was a professional baseball player who played outfield from 1902 to 1909. He attended college at Bucknell University. He played in the 1903 World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates and ...

from Pittsburgh. The team continued playing good baseball for the remainder of the season, finishing with a record of 88–65, good for third place in the National League, 18 games behind the Giants. The Reds 88 wins was their highest since they won 92 games in the 1898 season.

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''

References

1904 Cincinnati Reds season at Baseball Reference
{{Cincinnati Reds Cincinnati Reds seasons Cincinnati Reds season