Red Ames

Leon Kessling "Red" Ames (August 2, 1882, Warren, OH - October 8, 1936, Warren) was a professional baseball player for the New York Giants, Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, and Philadelphia Phillies.

Ames was a third or fourth starter for the New York Giants during their early period of dominance under John McGraw. He made his debut on September 14, 1903, pitching an abbreviated five-inning no-hitter against the Cardinals. He did not join the rotation full time until 1905, when his 22 wins and 2.74 ERA helped the Giants win the pennant. This was by far his best season, for although the Giants were perennial contenders during this time, injury and wildness kept him from becoming a star. He pitched in three World Series total with the Giants (1905, 1911, 1912) but because he was only a third or fourth starter in a era when top pitchers pitched more games than they do today, he appeared almost entirely in relief, making only one start in 1911, which he lost. He was traded to the Reds in 1913, and never approached his earlier success with the Giants for the rest of his career. Ames's greatest distinction is being one of the wildest pitchers in history. He is tied with Walter Johnson for the most wild pitches with 156 (though he pitched less than half the innings that Johnson did) and his 30 wild pitches in 1905 is a single season record. After leaving the majors he pitched in the minors for three more years and managed briefly in the minors in 1923.

YEAR TEAM        AGE   W   L   PCT    G  GS  CG  SV  GF   IP      H    R   ER   BB   SO    ERA RSAA
1903 Giants       20   2   0 1.000    2   2   2   0   0   14      5    2    2    8   14   1.29    3 
1904 Giants       21   4   6  .400   16  13  11   3   3  115     94   44   29   38   93   2.27    6 
1905 Giants       22  22   8  .733   34  31  21   0   3  263    220  113   80  105  198   2.74    5 
1906 Giants       23  12  10  .545   31  25  15   1   5  203    166   79   60   93  156   2.66   -2 
1907 Giants       24  10  12  .455   39  26  17   1   8  233    184   93   56  108  146   2.16   12 
1908 Giants       25   7   4  .636   18  15   5   1   2  114     96   33   23   27   81   1.82    8 
1909 Giants       26  15  10  .600   34  26  20   1   6  244    217  109   73   81  156   2.69   -2 
1910 Giants       27  12  11  .522   33  23  13   0   5  190    161   78   47   63   94   2.23   13 
1911 Giants       28  11  10  .524   34  23  13   2   5  205    170   80   61   54  118   2.68   16 
1912 Giants       29  11   5  .688   33  22   9   2   8  179    194   82   49   35   83   2.46   19 
1913 Giants       30   2   1  .667    8   5   2   1   2   42     35   11   10    8   30   2.14    5 
     Reds         30  11  13  .458   31  24  12   2   5  187    185   82   60   70   80   2.89    9 
     TOTALS           13  14  .481   39  29  14   3   7  229    220   93   70   78  110   2.75   14 
1914 Reds         31  15  23  .395   47  36  18   6  10  297    274  125   87   94  128   2.64   11 
1915 Reds         32   2   4  .333   17   7   4   1   5   68     82   39   34   24   26   4.50  -13 
     Cardinals    32   9   3  .750   15  14   8   1   1  113     93   35   31   32   48   2.47    4 
     TOTALS           11   7  .611   32  21  12   2   6  181    175   74   65   56   74   3.23   -9 
1916 Cardinals    33  11  16  .407   45  25  10   8  17  228    225  100   67   57   98   2.64   -1 
1917 Cardinals    34  15  10  .600   43  19  10   3  17  209    189   75   63   57   62   2.71    2 
1918 Cardinals    35   9  14  .391   27  25  17   1   2  207    192   75   53   52   68   2.30    7 
1919 Cardinals    36   3   5  .375   23   7   1   1  10   70     88   44   38   25   19   4.89  -16 
     Phillies     36   0   2  .000    3   2   1   1   1   16     26   12   11    3    4   6.19   -5 
     TOTALS            3   7  .300   26   9   2   2  11   86    114   56   49   28   23   5.13  -21 
     TOTALS          183 167  .523  533 370 209  36 115 3197   2896 1311  934 1034 1702   2.63   81 
     LG AVERAGE      176 176  .500          233  16     3197   2964 1368 1008  995 1285   2.84    0 

YEAR TEAM          HR   H/9  BR/9  SO/9  BB/9 SO/BB SHO  WP IBB HBP   BFP BK  NW  NL
1903 Giants         0  3.21  8.36  9.00  5.14  1.75   1   0   0   0    52  0   2   0 
1904 Giants         2  7.36 10.57  7.28  2.97  2.45   1   6   0   3   464  0   6   4 
1905 Giants         2  7.53 11.22  6.78  3.59  1.89   2  30   0   3  1064  0  16  14 
1906 Giants         1  7.36 11.62  6.92  4.12  1.68   1   7   0   3   840  1  11  11 
1907 Giants         4  7.11 11.67  5.64  4.17  1.35   2  20   0  10   959  0  13   9 
1908 Giants         0  7.58  9.79  6.39  2.13  3.00   0   2   0   1   441  0   7   4 
1909 Giants         3  8.00 11.14  5.75  2.99  1.93   2  13   0   4   986  0  12  13 
1910 Giants         3  7.63 10.89  4.45  2.98  1.49   3   9   0   6   747  0  14   9 
1911 Giants         0  7.46 10.01  5.18  2.37  2.19   1   8   0   4   822  0  13   8 
1912 Giants         3  9.75 11.72  4.17  1.76  2.37   2   9   0   4   744  0  10   6 
1913 Giants         0  7.50  9.43  6.43  1.71  3.75   0   3   0   1   157  0   2   1 
     Reds           7  8.90 12.51  3.85  3.37  1.14   1   9   0   5   789  0  14  10 
     TOTALS         7  8.65 11.95  4.32  3.07  1.41   1  12   0   6   946  0  16  11 
1914 Reds           7  8.30 11.33  3.88  2.85  1.36   3  12   0   6  1241  0  21  17 
1915 Reds           2 10.85 14.03  3.44  3.18  1.08   1   3   0   0   293  0   2   4 
     Cardinals      1  7.41  9.96  3.82  2.55  1.50   2   2   0   0   457  1   7   5 
     TOTALS         3  8.70 11.49  3.68  2.78  1.32   3   5   0   0   750  1   9   9 
1916 Cardinals      3  8.88 11.33  3.87  2.25  1.72   2   9   0   5   948  0  13  14 
1917 Cardinals      2  8.14 10.72  2.67  2.45  1.09   2   5   0   3   847  0  13  12 
1918 Cardinals      1  8.35 10.83  2.96  2.26  1.31   0   5   0   5   844  0  13  10 
1919 Cardinals      1 11.31 14.66  2.44  3.21  0.76   0   3   0   1   314  0   2   6 
     Phillies       0 14.63 16.31  2.25  1.69  1.33   0   1   0   0    71  0   0   2 
     TOTALS         1 11.93 14.97  2.41  2.93  0.82   0   4   0   1   385  0   2   8 
     TOTALS        42  8.15 11.24  4.79  2.91  1.65  26 156   0  64 13080  2 191 159 
     LG AVERAGE    60  8.34 11.43  3.62  2.80  1.29  34  67   0 101 13102  5 

RED AMES LEAGUE LEADERSHIP RANKINGS

1904 NL SAVES T2ND 3

1905 NL WINS 3RD 22; WINNING PERCENTAGE 3RD .733; WALKS 5TH 105; STRIKEOUTS 2ND 198; HITS/9 IP 7TH 7.53; STRIKEOUTS/9 IP 1ST 6.78; STRIKEOUTS/WALKS 8TH 1.89; WILD PITCHES 1ST 30

1906 NL WALKS 9TH 93; STRIKEOUTS 3RD 156; HITS/9 IP 8TH 7.36; STRIKEOUTS/9 IP 1ST 6.92; STRIKEOUTS/WALKS 9TH 1.68; WILD PITCHES T8TH 7; BALKS T2ND 1

1907 NL GAMES T7TH 39; SAVES T8TH 1; GAMES FINISHED T8TH 8; WALKS T3RD 108; STRIKEOUTS 3RD 146; HOMERUNS T8TH 4; HITS/9 IP 8TH 7.11; STRIKEOUTS/9 IP 1ST 5.64; WILD PITCHES 1ST 20

1909 NL RUNS 5TH 109; EARNED RUNS 10TH 73; STRIKEOUTS 5TH 156; WORST ERA 10TH 2.69; STRIKEOUTS/9 IP 3RD 5.75; STRIKEOUTS/WALKS 7TH 1.93; WILD PITCHES T2ND 13

1910 NL ERA 4TH 2.23; HITS/9 IP 5TH 7.63; BASERUNNERS/9 IP 9TH 10.89; STRIKEOUTS/9 IP 5TH 4.45; WILD PITCHES T2ND 9

1911 NL STRIKEOUTS 10TH 118; ERA 10TH 2.68; HITS/9 IP 4TH 7.46; BASERUNNERS/9 IP 2ND 10.01; STRIKEOUTS/9 IP 4TH 5.18; WALKS/9 IP 9TH 2.37; STRIKEOUTS/WALKS 6TH 2.19; WILD PITCHES T5TH 8

1912 NL WINNING PERCENTAGE 5TH .688; SAVES T10TH 2; ERA 5TH 2.46; RSAA 9TH 19; STRIKEOUTS/9 IP 10TH 4.17; WALKS/9 IP 4TH 1.76; STRIKEOUTS/WALKS 3RD 2.37; WILD PITCHES T5TH 9

1913 NL SAVES T5TH 3; STRIKEOUTS 10TH 110; STRIKEOUTS/9 IP 8TH 4.32; WILD PITCHES T2ND 12

1914 NL LOSSES 1ST 23; GAMES 3RD 47; GAMES STARTED T6TH 36; SAVES T1ST 6; INNINGS PITCHED 9TH 297; HITS 5TH 274; RUNS 5TH 125; EARNED RUNS 8TH 87; WALKS 7TH 94; STRIKEOUTS 9TH 128; RSAA T9TH 11; WILD PITCHES T3RD 12; BATTERS FACED 9TH 1241; NEUTRAL WINS T6TH 21; NEUTRAL LOSSES T5TH 17

1915 NL WINNING PERCENTAGE 6TH .611; WORST ERA 7TH 3.23; BALKS T2ND 1

1916 NL LOSSES T5TH 16; GAMES T3RD 45; SAVES 1ST 8; GAMES FINISHED T3RD 17; RUNS T5TH 100; WILD PITCHES T4TH 9; NEUTRAL LOSSES T8TH 14

1917 NL GAMES T6TH 43; SAVES T2ND 3; GAMES FINISHED 3RD 17; WILD PITCHES T9TH 5

1918 NL LOSSES T7TH 14; ERA 7TH 2.30; WILD PITCHES T5TH 5

1919 NL SAVES T7TH 2; GAMES FINISHED T8TH 11; WORST RSAA 2ND -21