Scott Fennessy sent in this 1903 Al Orth card which has more than a few oddities.
In ‘03, Orth played for the Senators. It wasn’t his best year going 10-22 with a 4.34 ERA and leading the AL with 135 earned runs. He did however, bat .302 with nine doubles and 7 triples in 168 plate appearances. He even stole three bases for the last place Sens.
| Year | Tm | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1903 | WSH | 55 | 168 | 162 | 19 | 49 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 13 | .302 | .323 | .444 |
Where to start with Al Orth’s 1903 card? First of all, he was a Grade D and a P-1 but is also rated as a SS-6, OF-1 and a 1B-2. He played a few games at each of those positions that year.
Despite being a pitcher (mostly) in the deadball era, he could hit. Not only could he hit, he has a first column 2! His hit numbers: 2-0-0-0-7-7-7-8-8-8-8-9-9.
Another oddity… his error number is a 13-21 in favor of a 53-22. Orth also has six second column 11s behind four 0s despite being rated a slow base runner (certainly not rare but worth noting).
“Smilin’ Al” Orth (or as he was also known, “The Curveless Wonder”) was actually a pretty good pitcher and I am surprised I didn’t know more about him. He pitched for 15 years (1895-1909) and racked up some good numbers for Philly, Washington, and New York. He won 204 games and lost 189 with an ERA of 3.37.
With the Yankees in 1907, he led the league with 27 wins and 36 complete games. He about-faced the next year with a 14-21 despite a 2.61 ERA. A year later, he was out of baseball.
thanks Scott!
