Highlighted Year: Fred “Topsy” Hartsel, 1902

Outfielder, Philadelphia Athletics

Age: 28 (June 26)

1^st season with Athletics

Bats – Left, Throws – Left

Height: 5’5”    Weight: 155 

Prior to 1902:

An Ohio native, Tully Frederick Hartsel played football and baseball in school but turned down a chance to play football collegiately to instead play semipro baseball. Short and stocky, he was originally a middle infielder, but he was shifted to the outfield, due to his being left-handed, when he joined the Burlington Colts of the Class B Western Association in 1897. He appeared in 20 games and batted .282. He started the 1898 season with the Montgomery Senators of the Southern League but moved to Salem of the Ohio State League after the Southern League folded. That circuit also went out of business and Hartsel moved on again to Grand Rapids of the Inter-State League. There he hit .332 with 20 doubles, 11 triples, 107 runs scored, and 34 stolen bases in 101 games. He finished the year with the Louisville Colonels of the National League where he hit .324 with a .422 on-base percentage. He started the 1899 season with Louisville but was sold to Indianapolis of the Western League in June where he received the ironic and enduring nickname “Topsy” because of his fair-skinned, white-haired appearance, since the character Topsy in the novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was black and a sportswriter remarked that Hartsel was “as light as Topsy is black”, which was considered very amusing at the time. The nickname stuck but Hartsel typically went by Fred in his everyday life. Hartsel remained with Indianapolis in 1900, on the eve of the Western League going major as the American League. He batted .301 with 86 runs scored, 11 doubles, 13 triples, 5 home runs, and 31 stolen bases. A dispute broke out between the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Orphans (now Cubs) over which one had purchased Hartsel’s contract from Indianapolis. Hartsel played 19 games with the Reds and hit .328, but the Orphans succeeded in obtaining him for 1901, where he proceeded to have a breakout season as a major league player as he batted .335 with 25 doubles, 16 triples, 7 home runs, 54 RBIs, 41 stolen bases, and a .414 OBP. Hartsel jumped to the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League in 1902. Installed in the leadoff spot, he excelled thanks to his speed and excellent batting eye.

1902 Season Summary

Appeared in 137 games

LF – 137

[Bracketed numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]

Batting

Plate Appearances – 643 [1]

At Bats – 545 [7]

Runs – 109 [1, tied with Dave Fultz]

Hits – 154 [17, tied with Jimmy Barrett]

Doubles – 20

Triples – 12 [6, tied with Bill Bradley, Socks Seybold & Elmer Flick]

Home Runs – 5 [17, tied with Jesse Burkett]

RBI – 58

Bases on Balls – 87 [1]

Int. BB – N/A

Strikeouts – 26

Stolen Bases – 47 [1]

Caught Stealing – N/A

Average - .283

OBP - .383 [13]

Slugging Pct. - .391

Total Bases – 213 [14, tied with Charlie Hemphill]

GDP – N/A

Hit by Pitches – 2

Sac Hits – 3

Sac Flies – N/A

League-leading plate appearances were +7 ahead of runner-up Jesse Burkett

League-leading bases on balls drawn were +11 ahead of runner-up Sammy Strang

League-leading stolen bases were +1 ahead of runner-up Sam Mertes

Midseason snapshot: 2B – 9, 3B – 3, HR- 3, RBI- 23, SB - 12, AVG - .239., OBP - .348

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Most hits, game – 3 on fourteen occasions

Longest hitting streak – 16 games

Most HR, game – 1 on five occasions

HR at home – 3

HR on road – 2

Multi-HR games – 0

Most RBIs, game – 4 vs. Cleveland 7/21

Pinch-hitting – No appearances

Fielding

Chances – 268

Put Outs – 238

Assists – 18

Errors – 12

DP – 2

Pct. – .955

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The Athletics went 83-53 to win the AL pennant by 5 games over the St. Louis Browns while leading the league in runs scored (775), hits (1392), and fewest batting strikeouts (288). The A’s, initially hindered by the ongoing litigation with the NL’s Phillies over players who jumped to the AL club, entered July with only a 27-26 record, but within striking range of first place. The arrival of star LHP Rube Waddell and second baseman Danny Murphy in July fueled a surge that had them in first place to stay on August 15. A 20-5 stretch in September nailed down the first pennant in the young franchise’s history.

Aftermath of 1902:

Limited to 98 games in 1903 due to injuries, Hartsel remained productive, hitting .311 with 19 doubles, 14 triples, 5 home runs, 26 RBIs, 13 stolen bases, a .391 OBP, and a .477 slugging percentage. Fully recovered in 1904, Hartsel’s average dropped to .253 although his OBP was a healthy .347 thanks to his drawing 75 walks. The A’s returned to the top of the AL in 1905 and the diminutive Hartsel led the league in walks drawn (121) and OBP (.409) while hitting .275 with 22 doubles, 8 triples, and 37 stolen bases. In the World Series loss to the New York Giants in five games, he accounted for four hits against dominant New York pitching. Still adept at drawing walks, he continued to lead the AL in 1906, ‘07 and ’08, with 88, 106, and 93 respectively. While he hit only .255 in 1906, his OBP was a healthy .363. Correspondingly in 1907, Hartsel batted .280 with a league-leading .405 OBP. In 1908 his batting average was .243 but with a .371 OBP. As he reached his mid-30s in 1909 he was no longer able to play as regularly but he remained useful with a .381 OBP in 83 games. As a part-time player who helped with coaching and preparing scouting reports, he remained a significant part of the pennant-winning A’s teams in 1910 and 1911. His major league playing career ended following the latter season as he was purchased by the Toledo Mud Hens of the American Association where he finished his career. For his major league career, Hartsel batted .276 with 1336 hits that included 182 doubles, 92 triples, and 31 home runs. He scored 826 runs and compiled 341 RBIs, 247 stolen bases, a .384 OBP, and a .370 slugging percentage while drawing 837 walks, a category in which he led the AL four times. With the Athletics he batted .266 with 1087 hits, 686 runs scored, 154 doubles, 74 triples, 21 home runs, 266 RBIs, 196 stolen bases, 733 walks drawn, and a .379 OBP. He appeared in six World Series games and hit .227 with five hits and four stolen bases. Hartsel later became active in promoting amateur baseball in Toledo and died at age 70 in 1944. 

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Highlighted Years feature players who led a major league in the following categories: batting average, home runs (with a minimum of 10), runs batted in, or stolen bases (with a minimum of 20), pitching wins, strikeouts, earned run average, or saves (with a minimum of 10), or have been participants in the annual All-Star Games between the National and American Leagues since 1933. This category will also include Misc. players who received award votes, were contributors to teams that reached the postseason, or had notable seasons in non-award years.