For the third straight year, the Pirates won the pennant. But this year, the stakes were raised even higher; after the regular season ended, the Pirates faced the Boston Pilgrims in the first ever World Series. As representatives of the Senior Circuit, the Pirates were heavily favoured to win. It didn't happen; Boston won the final four games of the championship and won the Series, embarrassing both the Pirates and the National League, which still considered itself to be superior to its upstart rivals.
        As usual, the Pirates were powered by a number of outstanding players, and their leader was Honus Wagner.

         After moving him around the field for three years, the Pirates finally decided that Wagner was a shortstop. He settled in, both offensively and defensively, and remained the league's best player for another decade. Wagner ranks with Musial, Mays, Aaron and Bonds as the best player in National League history, and is one of a handful of players who can seriously challenge Babe Ruth as the best player ever.
         Jimmy Sheckard was a fine player for a long time, and this was one of his best years. He was a guy who could have gone in the Hall Of Fame if he had been a little bit better, or if he had chosen a better era in which to play (he was as good as Kiki Cuyler, and would have been well-suited to the lively ball era).
         Fred Clarke was probably the best outfielder in the league when he was in the lineup, but he missed quite a few games. I'll give the edge to his teammate, Ginger Beaumont, who also had a fine year, and helped the Pirates win the pennant. Beaumont led the league in both runs produced and total bases. After that, I'll give "Turkey" Mike Donlin a slight edge over Sheckard.
        Roger Bresnahan is in the Hall Of Fame as a catcher, though this season he mostly played the outfield. He began his career with Washington in 1897 at age 18 as a pitcher, and threw a shutout in his first start. His pitching career never got off the ground, though; he joined Baltimore in 1901, then followed John McGraw to the Giants a year later. McGraw tried him at various positions; Breshanan moved behind the plate in 1905 and had the distinction of catching Christy Mathewson's three shutouts in the World Series that year. In 1909 he joined the Cardinals as a player-manager, but didn't have much success.
        He was an interesting player; he was a fine hitter, though not nearly as good as he looks above (he was a career .279 hitter). He did an exceptional job of taking a walk and getting on base. Defensively, he is famous for introducing shin guards to the big leagues (whether or not he actually invented them is debatable; apparently a Negro Leaguer named Nig Cuppy holds that honour). The shin guards allowed Bresnahan to play almost every game behind the plate during the Giants' famous pennant race with the Cubs in 1908.
        Bresnahan played for 17 years, though he really only played regularly for one season, and just semi-regularly for a few others. I think he was a fine player, but he didn't really play often enough or well enough to warrant a place in the Hall Of Fame. It is true that no catchers from that era played very often, and Bresnahan was as good as any of them. Still, he retired with only 1252 career hits.