1912 New York Highlanders season

The 1912 New York Highlanders season was their tenth in New York and their twelfth overall. It was the final season for the "Highlanders", before evolving exclusively into the "Yankees". It was also their final season playing their home games at Hilltop Park. The team finished with a total of 50 wins and 102 losses, coming in 8th, last place in the American League. The club was managed by Harry Wolverton. The New York franchise would not finish in last place again until the 1966 season. To date, this remains the only 100-loss season in Yankees history.

1912 New York Highlanders
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Location
Hilltop Park (since 1903) New York City, New York (since 1903)
Other information
Owner(s)	William Devery and Frank Farrell
Manager(s)	Harry Wolverton
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Regular season

Logo and uniforms

For 1912, the curving "NY" migrated from the sleeve to its now-familiar spot on the left breast of the jersey (on some versions of the uniform, though not the one shown here). This was also the year the pin stripes were introduced.

Team nickname

By this season, the alternate nickname "Yankees" was in very common usage by the media. The New York Times for Opening Day 1912 reported that "The Yankees presented a natty appearance in their new uniforms of white with black pin stripes." The pin stripes were a one-year experiment, but they would return for good on the home uniforms in 1915.

The final game of the season, and the final game for the "Highlanders" at the Hilltop, was played on October 5, 1912. The team moved to the Polo Grounds the following year. Hilltop Park was closed after the 1912 season and was demolished in 1914. It is now occupied by the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

Season standings

American League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Boston Red Sox	105	47	0.691	—	57–20	48–27
Washington Senators	91	61	0.599	14	45–32	46–29
Philadelphia Athletics	90	62	0.592	15	45–31	45–31
Chicago White Sox	78	76	0.506	28	34–43	44–33
Cleveland Naps	75	78	0.490	30½	41–35	34–43
Detroit Tigers	69	84	0.451	36½	37–39	32–45
St. Louis Browns	53	101	0.344	53	27–50	26–51
New York Highlanders	50	102	0.329	55	31–44	19–58

Record vs. opponents

1912 American League Records Sources:
Team	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	NY	PHI	STL	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	—

Notable transactions

• July 21, 1912: Del Paddock was purchased by the Highlanders from the Dubuque Hustlers.[1]

Roster

1912 New York Highlanders
Roster
Pitchers Ray Caldwell George Davis Ray Fisher Russ Ford Chet Hoff Ray Keating George McConnell Jack Quinn Al Schulz George Shears Tommy Thompson Hippo Vaughn Jack Warhop		Catchers Gus Fisher Gabby Street Ed Sweeney Homer Thompson Bob Williams Infielders George Batten Hal Chase Curt Coleman Cozy Dolan John Dowd Earle Gardner Roy Hartzell Jack Martin Tommy McMillan Ezra Midkiff Del Paddock Hack Simmons Bill Stumpf Harry Wolverton		Outfielders Birdie Cree Bert Daniels Benny Kauff Jack Lelivelt Jack Little Pat Maloney Bill Otis Klondike Smith Dutch Sterrett Harry Wolter Guy Zinn Other batters Johnny Priest		Manager Harry Wolverton

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	Ed Sweeney	110	351	94	.268	0	30
1B	Hal Chase	131	522	143	.274	4	58

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
Del Paddock	46	156	45	.288	1	14
Bill Stumpf	42	129	31	.240	0	10
Harry Wolverton	34	50	15	.300	0	4
Johnny Priest	2	2	1	.500	0	1
Homer Thompson	1	0	0	----	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Russ Ford	36	291.2	13	21	3.55	112
Ray Caldwell	30	183.1	8	16	4.47	95
George McConnell	23	176.2	8	12	2.75	91
Ray Fisher	17	90.1	2	8	5.88	47
Ray Keating	6	35.2	0	3	5.80	21

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
George Davis	10	54	1	4	6.50	22
Tommy Thompson	7	32.2	0	2	6.06	15
Chet Hoff	5	15.2	0	1	6.89	14

Relief pitchers

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
George Shears	4	0	0	0	5.40	9

References

1. Del Paddock page at Baseball Reference

External links

• 1912 New York Highlanders team page at www.baseball-almanac.com
• 1912 New York Highlanders at Baseball Reference