This was the Year Of The Pitcher for the deadball era. Offensive totals were very low around this time, and this year they reached their lowest point of the century. Many pitchers in both leagues had ERAs under 2.00; the Cleveland Indians as a team had an ERA of only 2.02. The Detroit Tigers won their second straight pennant, and lost their second straight World Series. They were a team built mostly on offense; the best pitchers in the league were in Cleveland and Chicago.

         Big Ed Walsh was the last pitcher of the 20th century to win 40 games in a season. His 464 innings are also a 20th century record, and he was the last pitcher to break the 400 mark. His season certainly deserves to rank among the greatest ever; no other pitcher in the league won more than 24 games. Walsh pitched for the White Sox, who at this time were still the "Hitless Wonders", one of the worst hitting teams in the league.
        Walsh is in the Hall Of Fame, and in his prime was a great pitcher. He led the AL in wins just once, but consistently led the league in innings, games, shutouts, and saves. He had a strange career; he had seven big years in a row from 1906-1912, and won almost all of his career 195 wins in that period. He won 20+ games four times, but this was the only year he would pass the 30-win plateau. He threw a spitball, worked harder than any other pitcher this century, had great control, and got plenty of strikeouts. He is worthy member of the Hall Of Fame, his career ERA was a record low 1.82.
         Addie Joss' career ERA of 1.89 ranks just behind Walsh's. Joss' 1.16 ERA this year was the lowest of his career; he also threw a perfect game during the season, defeating Walsh 1-0 while his team was battling for the pennant. Like Walsh, Joss had a short career, pitching only nine years. It would have lasted much longer, but Joss died in 1911 from a form of meningitis. If you like to look at old pictures, you have probably seen a great one taken at a benefit game played for Joss' widow. It has many of the greatest stars of the era, including Johnson, Speaker, Jackson, Collins, Baker, and Ty Cobb in the wrong uniform.
        I think that Walsh and Joss were clearly the best two pitchers in the league this year. In the third spot, I will take Cy Young, who had his last great year. Young was 41 years old, and had his last 20+ win season. Young hung on three more years, and retired with 511 wins, a record that has not even been challenged. He led the league in wins only twice, but had five 30+ win seasons and fifteen 20+ win seasons. He also holds records for games started (815), complete games (749), innings pitched (7354.2), and losses (316).
        After Young, I will take Ed Summers, who was Detroit's best pitcher. This was Summers' rookie year, and it was the best of a short five-year career. Summers' nicknames were "Chief" and "Kickapoo Ed", so I assume he was of Native descent. This was also the first full year for another pitcher, Walter Johnson, who at age 20 was already one of the nastiest pitchers in the league.