1923 Cincinnati Reds season

1923 Cincinnati Reds
League	National League
Ballpark	Redland Field
City	Cincinnati, Ohio
Owners	Garry Herrmann
Managers	Pat Moran
Seasons

The 1923 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The team finished second in the National League with a record of 91–63, 4½ games behind the New York Giants.

Off-season

Following a successful 1922 season, in which the Reds finished in second place in the National League with an 86-68 record, seven games behind the pennant winning New York Giants, the Reds had a very quiet off-season.

The team did not make any major transactions, as Cincinnati would return in the 1923 season with the same lineup, hoping to contend for the National League pennant.

Regular season

Cincinnati had a very disappointing start to the season, as by Memorial Day after a 5-4 extra innings loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, the team had a 14-20 record, sitting in sixth place in the National League, 12.5 games behind the first place New York Giants.

The Reds did turn their season around, posting a record of 18-3 in their next 21 games, bringing them to an overall record of 32-23, and into second place, four games behind the New York Giants. Cincinnati would continue to stay red hot, eventually cutting the Giants lead down to two games, as following an 11-4 win over the Brooklyn Robins on July 20, the Reds had a 52-31 record.

In early August, the Reds were swept in a five-game series against the Giants, dropping to third place, eight games behind New York, as their record dropped to 61-43. The club did rebound, and by the beginning of September, Cincinnati once again cut the Giants lead down to a slim three games.

The club though could not catch the Giants, and finished the 1923 season with a very solid 91-63 record, finishing in second place for the second consecutive season, four and a half games behind New York. Their 91 wins was the highest total for the Reds since winning 96 games in 1919, and the club set a team record for highest attendance in a season, drawing 575,063 fans.

Outfielder Edd Roush had another superb season for Cincinnati, batting .351 with six home runs and 88 RBI in 138 games. His 41 doubles led the National League in that category. Outfielder Pat Duncan hit .327 with seven home runs and 83 RBI in 147 games, while catcher Bubbles Hargrave hit .333 with 10 home runs and 78 RBI in 118 games.

Pitcher Dolf Luque emerged as the staff ace, as he finished the year leading the National League with 27 wins, a 1.93 ERA and six shutouts. Luque also pitched 322 innings, striking out 151 batters in 41 games. Eppa Rixey had another very solid season, going 20-15 with a 2.80 ERA in 42 games, pitching 309 innings. Pete Donohue was the Reds third 20-game winner, as he finished the season 21-15 with a 3.38 ERA in 42 games.

Season standings

National League

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
New York Giants	95	58	.621	—	47‍–‍30	48‍–‍28
Cincinnati Reds	91	63	.591	4½	46‍–‍32	45‍–‍31
Pittsburgh Pirates	87	67	.565	8½	47‍–‍30	40‍–‍37
Chicago Cubs	83	71	.539	12½	46‍–‍31	37‍–‍40
St. Louis Cardinals	79	74	.516	16	42‍–‍35	37‍–‍39
Brooklyn Robins	76	78	.494	19½	37‍–‍40	39‍–‍38
Boston Braves	54	100	.351	41½	22‍–‍55	32‍–‍45
Philadelphia Phillies	50	104	.325	45½	20‍–‍55	30‍–‍49

Record vs. opponents

1923 National League record Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Team	BOS	BR	CHC	CIN	NYG	PHI	PIT	STL
Boston	—	8–14	6–16	7–15	6–16	13–9	5–17	9–13–1
Brooklyn	14–8	—	10–12	8–14	11–11	12–10–1	11–11	10–12
Chicago	16–6	12–10	—	9–13	10–12	13–9	11–11	12–10
Cincinnati	15–7	14–8	13–9	—	12–10	19–3	8–14	10–12
New York	16–6	11–11	12–10	10–12	—	19–3	13–9	14–7
Philadelphia	9–13	10–12–1	9–13	3–19	3–19	—	9–13	7–15
Pittsburgh	17–5	11–11	11–11	14–8	9–13	13–9	—	12–10
St. Louis	13–9–1	12–10	10–12	12–10	7–14	15–7	10–12	—

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	Bubbles Hargrave	118	378	126	.333	10	78
1B	Jake Daubert	125	500	146	.292	2	54
2B	Sam Bohne	139	539	136	.252	3	47
SS	Ike Caveney	138	488	135	.277	4	63
3B	Babe Pinelli	117	423	117	.277	0	51
OF	George Burns	154	614	168	.274	3	45
OF	Pat Duncan	147	566	185	.327	7	83
OF	Edd Roush	138	527	185	.351	6	88

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
Lew Fonseca	65	237	66	.278	3	28
Ivey Wingo	61	171	45	.263	1	24
Rube Bressler	54	119	33	.277	0	18
George Harper	61	125	32	.256	3	16
Wally Kimmick	29	80	18	.225	0	6
Gus Sandberg	7	17	3	.176	0	1
Eddie Pick	9	8	3	.375	0	2
Les Mann	8	1	0	.000	0	0
Ed Hock	2	0	0	----	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
Dolf Luque	41	322.0	27	8	1.93	151
Eppa Rixey	42	309.0	20	15	2.80	97
Pete Donohue	42	274.1	21	15	3.38	84
Rube Benton	33	219.0	14	10	3.66	59

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
Cactus Keck	35	87.0	3	6	3.72	16
Bill Harris	22	69.2	3	2	5.17	18
Johnny Couch	19	69.1	2	7	5.97	14

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
Herb McQuaid	12	1	0	0	2.36	9
George Abrams	3	0	0	0	9.64	1
Karl Schnell	1	0	0	0	36.00	0
Haddie Gill	1	0	0	0	0.00	1

References

• 1923 Cincinnati Reds season at Baseball Reference