In 1933 The Chicago Tribune underwrote the first All-Star game, created by Arch Ward, the paper’s sports editor, to coincide with the Century of Progress World’s Fair—more than 30 years earlier The Tribune published one of the earliest sportswriter selected “all-star teams.”
Near the end of the 1902 season, The Tribune polled sportswriters from American League cities to pick “An all American League Nine.” (No similar poll was done for the National League)
The writers polled:
Jacob Charles Morse—The Boston Herald
Joseph M. Cummings—The Baltimore News
John Arnold Heydler—The Washington Post
Frank Leonardo Hough—The Philadelphia Inquirer
Joseph Samuel Jackson—The Detroit Free Press
Henry P. Edwards—The Cleveland Plain Dealer
Alfred Henry Spink—The St. Louis World
Irving E. (Sy) Sanborn—The Chicago Tribune
The only unanimous choice was Cleveland Bronchos second baseman Napoleon Lajoie—Lajoie appeared in just 86 games, but hit .379.
Napoleon Lajoie –the only unanimous choice
The most disagreement was behind the plate; four different catchers received votes: Billy Sullivan of the Chicago White Sox and Lou Criger of the Boston Americans received three votes each; Freeman Ossee Schrecongost who played 18 games with Cleveland and 79 with the Philadelphia Athletics, and William “Boileryard” Clarke of the Washington Senators each received one vote.
Cy Young of Boston led pitchers with five votes, with Philadelphia’s Rube Waddell being the choice of the other three.
Four first basemen were also chosen, but Harry Davis of the Philadelphia Athletics was the consensus choice with five votes. Cleveland’s Charlie “Piano Legs” Hickman, Washington’s George “Scoops” Carey, and “Honest John” Anderson of the St. Louis Browns all received one vote.
Cleveland’s Bill Bradley edged Boston’s Jimmy Collins four to three, with Philadelphia’s Lafayette “Lave” Cross getting the remaining vote.
Bobby Wallace of St. Louis was the shortstop consensus with six votes, Boston’s Freddy Parent and Chicago’s George Davis received one vote each.
Bobby Wallace, the choice at shortstop
Washington’s Ed Delehanty got four votes in left field, Philadelphia’s Tully “Topsy” Hartsell two; one vote each went to Boston rookie Patsy Dougherty and Philadelphia’s Dave Fultz (who played center field)
With or without his vote as a left fielder, Fultz was the consensus in center field. He received four votes at that position; Chicago’s Fielder Jones got two votes, Jimmy Barrett, the only Detroit Tiger to make the list received a single vote (from Joseph Samuel Jackson of Detroit) and Harry “Deerfoot” Bay of Cleveland received one vote.
Jimmy Barrett, the only Tiger
Right field included a couple more out of position players, Charlie Hickman picked up one vote despite being primarily a first baseman and playing just 27 games in the outfield in 1902. Delehanty, almost exclusively a left fielder in 1902, received one vote in right. Elmer Flick of Cleveland was the consensus with four votes. Danny Green of Chicago received two votes.
The Results
The 1902 effort was not repeated by the paper.
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