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1906 Portland Beavers season

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1906 Portland Beavers
1906 Portland Beavers
1906 Portland Beavers
LeaguePacific Coast League
BallparkVaughn Street Park
CityPortland, Oregon
Record114–58 (.663)
League place1st
OwnersWilliam Wallace McCredie
ManagersWalt McCredie

The 1906 Portland Beavers season was the fourth season in the history of the Portland Beavers baseball team. The 1906 team won the Pacific Coast League (PCL) pennant with a 114–58 record (.663 winning percentage).[1] The team played its home games at Vaughn Street Park. The 1906 season was the first in which the team played under the name "Beavers", having been previously known as the "Browns" and "Giants".[2]

The 1906 Beavers were selected in 2003 by a panel of minor league experts as the sixth best team in the PCL's 100-year history.[3] The team was also ranked No. 31 by Minor League Baseball in its ranking of the 100 greatest minor league teams in baseball history.[1]

The Beavers were in Oakland, California, when the 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck the coast of Northern California. The season was interrupted for five weeks after the earthquake.[1]

Cartoon of Judge McCredie with his players

The team was owned by Judge William Wallace McCredie, who later represented the State of Washington in the U.S. House of Representatives. McCredie also served as the club's president while his son, Hugh, was the business manager and his wife, Alice, managed the ticket office. His nephew Walt McCredie played in the National League, batting .324 in 1903, but joined the Portland club as player-manager in 1904 after his uncle became the owner.[1] Walt McCredie was both the manager and one of the starting outfielders in 1906, leading the team to the pennant while also compiling a .306 batting average.[4]

The star of the team was outfielder Mike Mitchell. Mitchell was credited by Bill James as having one of the best outfield arms of the Deadball Era. In 1906, he won the PCL batting championship with a .339 batting average and also led the league in home runs and slugging percentage.[5]

Enon Califf, Ben Henderson, and "Vinegar Bill" Essick led the pitching staff. Califf, an Oregon native, compiled a 34–14 record with 40 complete games and a 2.17 earned run average (ERA) in 53 games (46 as a starter). Henderson went 29–10 with 38 complete games and a 1.60 ERA in 41 games. Essick led the PCL with a .760 winning percentage (19 wins, 6 losses).[1][4]

1906 PCL standings

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Team W L Pct. GB
Portland Beavers 114 58 .663 --
Seattle Indians 97 83 .539 21.0
San Francisco Seals 92 81 .532 22.5
Los Angeles Angels 93 91 .505 27.0
Oakland Oaks 79 106 .427 41.5
Fresno Raisin Eaters 64 120 .348 56.0

[1]

Statistics

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Batting

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; SLG = Slugging percentage

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR SLG
OF Mike Mitchell 164 611 207 .339 7 .466
OF Jim McHale 172 687 191 .278 2 .371
OF Walt McCredie 157 564 172 .305 1 .372
SS Bill Sweeney 169 601 166 .276 0 .359
3B Jud Smith 143 545 151 .277 0 .343
1B Pete Lister 159 546 127 .233 0 .284
2B Charley Moore[6] 117 407 105 .258 0
C Larry McLean 88 287 102 .355 0 .456
C/2B Pat Donahue 116 389 86 .221 1 .280

[4][1]

Pitching

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

Player G IP W L PCT ERA SO
Enon Califf 46 402.2 34 14 .708 2.17 173
Ben Henderson 38 353.2 29 10 .744 1.60 215
Ned Garvin[7] 45 351.1 20 19 .513 242
"Vinegar Bill" Essick 26 235.1 19 6 .760 1.68 167
Frank Gum 25 213.2 16 7 .696 2.06 146

[4][1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Bill Weiss; Marshall Wright. "Top 100 Teams: 31. 1906 Portland Beavers". Minor League Baseball. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
  2. ^ "Back, way back: A look at the Portland Beavers". The Daily News (Longview, WA). May 1, 2001. p. B2 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "PCL top 10". Los Angeles Times. March 30, 2003. p. D9 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c d "1906 Portland Beavers Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
  5. ^ Mike Lackey; Don Geiszler; Mark Dugo. "Mike Mitchell". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved February 17, 2020.
  6. ^ Moore spent part of season with Los Angeles. Split statistics are unavailable such that some portion of his 1906 batting statistics pertain to his time in Los Angeles.
  7. ^ Garvin was released in early July and then joined the Seattle club. Split statistics are unavailable such that the much of his 1906 pitching statistics pertain to his time in Seattle.

Further reading

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