1904 New York Giants season

The 1904 New York Giants season was the 22nd season in franchise history. They led the National League in both runs scored and fewest runs allowed, on their way to 106 wins and the pennant.

1904 New York Giants
National League Champions
League	National League
Ballpark	Polo Grounds
City	New York City
Owners	John T. Brush
Managers	John McGraw
← 1903 Seasons 1905 →

The first modern World Series had been played the previous year, but manager John McGraw and owner John T. Brush refused to play the American League champion Boston Americans in a World Series. They would change their position the following year.

Regular season

Team photograph

The Giants had little offensive firepower in this pitching-dominated era but scored using a balanced lineup and a lot of small-ball tactics formerly employed by manager McGraw in his playing days. The lineup featured three of the top five stolen base leaders in the majors: Bill Dahlen, Sam Mertes, and Dan McGann.

They also had one of the greatest pitching duos of all-time in Joe McGinnity and Christy Mathewson, who each had arguably the greatest seasons in their Hall of Fame careers. They combined for 68 wins – a 20th-century record for two pitchers on the same team.^[1]

Season standings

• v
• t
• e

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Giants	106	47	.693	—	56‍–‍26	50‍–‍21
Chicago Cubs	93	60	.608	13	49‍–‍27	44‍–‍33
Cincinnati Reds	88	65	.575	18	49‍–‍27	39‍–‍38
Pittsburgh Pirates	87	66	.569	19	48‍–‍30	39‍–‍36
St. Louis Cardinals	75	79	.487	31½	39‍–‍36	36‍–‍43
Brooklyn Superbas	56	97	.366	50	31‍–‍44	25‍–‍53
Boston Beaneaters	55	98	.359	51	34‍–‍45	21‍–‍53
Philadelphia Phillies	52	100	.342	53½	28‍–‍43	24‍–‍57

Record vs. opponents

1904 National League record v t e Sources:
Team	BOS	BRO	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	9–13	9–13	7–15	2–20	11–10–1	8–14	9–13–1
Brooklyn	13–9	—	5–17	8–14	3–19	13–9	7–14–1	7–15
Chicago	13–9	17–5	—	13–8–1	11–11–2	15–7	9–13	15–7
Cincinnati	15–7	14–8	8–13–1	—	10–12–1	16–6	11–11–2	14–8
New York	20–2	19–3	11–11–2	12–10–1	—	17–4–2	12–10	15–7
Philadelphia	10–11–1	9–13	7–15	6–16	4–17–2	—	9–13	7–15
Pittsburgh	14–8	14–7–1	13–9	11–11–2	10–12	13–9	—	12–10
St. Louis	13–9–1	15–7	7–15	8–14	7–15	15–7	10–12	—

Notable transactions

• August 7, 1904: Doc Marshall was purchased from the Giants by the Boston Beaneaters.^[2]

Roster

1904 New York Giants
Roster
Pitchers Red Ames Claude Elliott Christy Mathewson Joe McGinnity Billy Milligan Dummy Taylor Hooks Wiltse Catchers Frank Bowerman Doc Marshall Jim O'Rourke Jack Warner		Infielders Dan Brouthers Bill Dahlen Art Devlin Jack Dunn Billy Gilbert Dan McGann John McGraw		Outfielders Roger Bresnahan George Browne Mike Donlin Moose McCormick Sam Mertes		Manager John McGraw

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	Jack Warner	86	287	57	.199	1	15
1B	Dan McGann	141	517	148	.286	6	71
2B	Billy Gilbert	146	478	121	.253	1	54
3B	Art Devlin	130	474	133	.281	1	66
SS	Bill Dahlen	145	523	140	.268	2	80
OF	Roger Bresnahan	109	402	114	.284	5	33
OF	George Browne	150	596	169	.284	4	39
OF	Sam Mertes	148	532	147	.276	4	78

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
Frank Bowerman	93	289	67	.232	2	27
Moose McCormick	59	203	54	.266	1	26
Jack Dunn	64	181	56	.309	1	19
Mike Donlin	42	132	37	.280	2	14
Doc Marshall	11	17	6	.353	0	2
John McGraw	5	12	4	.333	0	0
Dan Brouthers	2	5	0	.000	0	0
Jim O'Rourke	1	4	1	.250	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
Joe McGinnity	51	408.0	35	8	1.61	144
Christy Mathewson	48	367.2	33	12	2.03	212
Dummy Taylor	36	296.1	21	15	2.34	138
Red Ames	16	115.0	4	6	2.27	93

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
Hooks Wiltse	24	164.2	13	3	2.84	105
Billy Milligan	5	25.0	0	1	5.40	6
Claude Elliott	3	15.0	0	1	3.00	8

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
Jack Dunn	1	0	0	0	4.50	1
Frank Bowerman	1	0	0	0	9.00	0

Awards and honors

League top five finishers

George Browne

• NL leader in runs scored (99)

Bill Dahlen

• NL leader in RBI (80)
• #2 in NL in stolen bases (47)

Christy Mathewson

• NL leader in strikeouts (212)
• #2 in NL in wins (33)

Iron Man McGinnity

• NL leader in wins (35)
• NL leader in ERA (1.61)
• NL leader in shutouts (9)

Sam Mertes

• #2 in NL in RBI (78)
• #2 in NL in stolen bases (47)