1902 Cleveland Bronchos season

The 1902 Cleveland Bronchos season was a season in American baseball. The team, known during this season as the "Bronchos" (or "Broncos"), finished in fifth place in the American League with a record of 69–67, 14 games behind the Philadelphia Athletics.

1902 Cleveland Bronchos
League	American League
Ballpark	League Park
City	Cleveland, Ohio
Owners	Charles Somers
Managers	Bill Armour

Regular season

The Cleveland team in 1902

In 1902, the National League's Philadelphia Phillies obtained an injunction, effective only in Pennsylvania, barring Nap Lajoie from playing baseball for any team other than the Phillies. The American League responded by transferring Lajoie's contract to the Cleveland Indians, then known unofficially as the Bronchos and subsequently renamed the "Naps" in Lajoie's honor for several seasons.

Season standings

American League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Philadelphia Athletics	83	53	.610	—	56‍–‍17	27‍–‍36
St. Louis Browns	78	58	.574	5	49‍–‍21	29‍–‍37
Boston Americans	77	60	.562	6½	43‍–‍27	34‍–‍33
Chicago White Stockings	74	60	.552	8	48‍–‍20	26‍–‍40
Cleveland Bronchos	69	67	.507	14	40‍–‍25	29‍–‍42
Washington Senators	61	75	.449	22	40‍–‍28	21‍–‍47
Detroit Tigers	52	83	.385	30½	34‍–‍33	18‍–‍50
Baltimore Orioles	50	88	.362	34	32‍–‍31	18‍–‍57

Record vs. opponents

1902 American League record Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BLA	BOS	CWS	CLE	DET	PHA	SLB	WSH
Baltimore	—	4–16	8–11–1	9–11	10–10	6–13	2–18–1	11–9–1
Boston	16–4	—	12–8	6–14	11–7–1	9–11	15–5	8–11
Chicago	11–8–1	8–12	—	12–7	12–7–1	10–10	9–9–1	12–7–1
Cleveland	11–9	14–6	7–12	—	8–10	8–12	9–10–1	12–8
Detroit	10–10	7–11–1	7–12–1	10–8	—	4–16	5–15	9–11
Philadelphia	13–6	11–9	10–10	12–8	16–4	—	9–10–1	12–6
St. Louis	18–2–1	5–15	9–9–1	10–9–1	15–5	10–9–1	—	11–9
Washington	9–11–1	11–8	7–12–1	8–12	11–9	6–12	9–11	—

Notable transactions

• May 31, 1902: Nap Lajoie was signed as a free agent by the Cleveland club.

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	Harry Bemis	93	317	99	.312	1	29
1B	Charlie Hickman	102	426	161	.378	8	94
2B	Nap Lajoie	86	348	132	.379	7	64
SS	John Gochnaur	127	459	85	.185	0	37
3B	Bill Bradley	137	550	187	.340	11	77
OF	Elmer Flick	110	424	126	.297	2	61
OF	Jack McCarthy	95	359	102	.284	0	41
OF	Harry Bay	108	455	132	.290	0	23

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
Ollie Pickering	69	293	75	.256	3	26
Bob Wood	81	258	76	.295	0	40
Frank Bonner	34	132	37	.280	0	14
Jack Thoney	28	103	30	.286	0	11
Charlie Hemphill	25	94	25	.266	0	11
Ossee Schrecongost	18	74	25	.338	0	9
Zaza Harvey	12	46	16	.348	0	5
Hal O'Hagan	3	13	5	.385	0	1
Peaches Graham	2	6	2	.333	0	1
George Starnagle	1	3	0	.000	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
Earl Moore	36	293.0	17	18	2.95	84
Addie Joss	32	269.1	17	13	2.77	106
Bill Bernhard	27	217.0	17	5	2.20	57
Gene Wright	21	148.0	7	10	3.95	52
Oscar Streit	8	51.2	0	7	5.23	10
Gus Dorner	4	36.0	3	1	1.25	5
Luther Taylor	4	34.0	1	3	1.59	8
Charlie Smith	3	20.0	2	1	4.05	5
Dike Varney	3	14.2	1	1	6.14	7
Lou Polchow	1	8.0	0	1	5.63	2
Ed Walker	1	8.0	0	1	3.38	1
Charlie Hickman	1	8.0	0	1	7.88	1
George Leitner	1	8.0	0	0	4.50	0

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
Otto Hess	7	43.2	2	4	5.98	13
Jack Lundbom	8	34.0	1	1	6.62	7

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
Cal Vasbinder	2	0	0	0	9.00	2
Ginger Clark	1	1	0	0	6.00	1

References

• 1902 Cleveland Bronchos season at Baseball Reference
• Snyder, John (2008). Indians Journal: Year by Year & Day by Day with the Cleveland Indians since 1901. Cincinnati, Ohio: Clerisy Press. ISBN 978-1-57860-308-4.
• Schneider, Russell (2005). The Cleveland Indians Encyclopedia (3 ed.). Champaign, Illinois: Sports Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-58261-840-1.

now known as “Guardians”