Highlighted Year: Willie Sudhoff, 1903

Pitcher, St. Louis Browns

Age: 29 (Sept. 17)

2^nd season with Browns

Bats – Right, Throws – Right

Height: 5’7”    Weight: 165 

Prior to 1903:

A St. Louis native, Sudhoff played youth and semipro baseball before joining a team in the short-lived Central League in 1897. Returning to St. Louis he continued to pitch for semipro clubs before joining the NL’s St. Louis Cardinals (then called the Browns) later in 1897, He produced a 2-7 record for the lowly club with a 4.47 ERA. Small in stature, he had an unimpressive fastball and got by with a repertoire of curves and changeups. In 1898 his tally was 11-27 with a 4.34 ERA, 35 complete games, and 65 strikeouts along with 102 walks and 27 hit batters over 315 innings for the cellar-dwelling team. In 1899 he was transferred to the Cleveland Spiders, a dreadful club under the same ownership as St. Louis. He got off to a 3-8 start with a horrendous 6.98 ERA before returning to the Cardinals, where he showed improvement and finished with a combined record of 15-18 and a 5.00 ERA with 24 complete games, 39 strikeouts, 87 walks and 22 hit batters over 264.2 innings. Much improved in 1900, Sudhoff was rarely used by the Cardinals but brought his ERA down to 2.76 to go with a 6-8 tally and dramatically decreased his walks and hit batters. In 1901, his record improved to 17-11 but with a higher ERA of 3.52. He also produced 25 complete games and 78 strikeouts over 276.1 innings pitched. In 1902 Sudhoff joined several other Cardinals in jumping to the American League’s Browns, newly relocated from Milwaukee. The team was good and Sudhoff went 12-12 with a 2.86 ERA and 42 strikeouts over 220 innings.  

1903 Season Summary

Appeared in 41 games

P – 38, PH – 2, CF – 1

[Bracketed numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]

Pitching

Games – 38 [7, tied with Jack Powell]

Games Started – 35 [6, tied with Cy Young]

Complete Games – 30 [11, tied with Al Orth]

Wins – 21 [3, tied with Rube Waddell, Jack Chesbro & Bill Dinneen]

Losses – 15 [12, tied with five others]

PCT - .583 [9, tied with Jack Chesbro]

Saves – 0

Shutouts – 5 [4, tied with Tom Hughes]

Innings Pitched – 293.2 [11, tied with Patsy Flaherty]

Hits – 262 [14]

Runs – 100

Earned Runs – 74 [20, tied with Frank Kitson]

Home Runs – 4 [17, tied with five others]

Bases on Balls – 56 [19]

Strikeouts – 104 [16]

ERA – 2.27 [8]

Hit Batters – 9 [9, tied with five others]

Balks – 0

Wild Pitches – 5 [14, tied with eight others]

Midseason Snapshot: 10-8, ERA – 2.33, SO – 53 in 139.1 IP

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Most strikeouts, game – 6 (in 9 IP) at Washington 6/4, (in 9 IP) vs. Detroit 8/2

10+ strikeout games – 0

Fewest hits allowed, game (min. 7 IP) – 4 (in 9 IP) vs. Washington 5/11, (in 9 IP) at Washington 6/4, (in 9 IP) at Detroit 7/30

Batting

PA – 118, AB – 110, R – 12, H – 20, 2B – 1, 3B – 2, HR – 0, RBI – 6, BB – 3, SO – 21, SB – 1, CS – N/A, AVG - .182, GDP – N/A, HBP – 0, SH – 3, SF – N/A

Fielding

Chances – 124

Put Outs – 15

Assists – 104

Errors – 5

DP – 0

Pct. - .960

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The Browns went 65-74 to finish sixth in the AL, 26.5 games behind the pennant-winning Boston Americans. The pitching staff led the league in fewest walks issued (237). Failing to build on their success of the previous season, the inconsistent Browns were just below .500 at 26-27 by the end of June, after a season-high 8-game winning streak to enter the month that was followed by a 7-game losing streak. By August they were well off the pace, continuing to be an up-and down team that alternated between sixth and seventh until reaching sixth place to stay on August 7.

Aftermath of 1903:

Sudhoff followed up with a disappointing season in 1904 and compiled an 8-15 record and 3.76 ERA with 20 complete games and 63 strikeouts over 222.1 innings. Bothered by a sore arm in 1905, he produced a 10-20 tally and 2.99 ERA with 23 complete games and 70 strikeouts over 244 innings. In the offseason he was traded to the Washington Senators. In nine 1906 appearances with the Senators, Sudhoff was 0-2 with a 9.15 ERA when his contract was sold to the Kansas City Blues of the American Association. Never playing for the Blues, he instead pitched for semipro teams in the St. Louis area for the remainder of the year. With the Senators keeping him on their reserve list, he was unable to join another team in organized baseball and continued to play for outlaw semipro teams during 1908 as his career came to an end. For his major league career, Sudhoff compiled a 102-135 record with a 3.60 ERA, 199 complete games, 10 shutouts, 603 walks, 125 hit batters, and 516 strikeouts over 2075.1 innings. With the Browns he went 51-62 with a 2.92 ERA, 93 complete games, 7 shutouts, 255 walks, 44 hit batters, and 279 strikeouts over 980 innings. Following his baseball career, he worked for the St. Louis water department until being committed to a sanitarium for the violently insane and he died at the age of 42 in 1917. A pitcher who was often with mediocre clubs experienced his most noteworthy success with the Browns in 1902 and ’03, Sudhoff came to a sad end.

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Highlighted Years feature players who led a major league in one of the following categories: batting average, home runs (with a minimum of 10), runs batted in, or stolen bases (with a minimum of 20); or pitchers who led a major league in wins, strikeouts, earned run average, or saves (with a minimum of 10). Also included are participants in annual All-Star Games between the National and American Leagues since 1933. This category will also include Misc. players who don’t otherwise qualify but received MVP votes or were contributors to teams that reached the postseason.