1912 New York Highlanders season

The 1912 New York Highlanders season was the team's tenth. It was the final season for the "Highlanders", before officially adopting the already more common "Yankees". It was also their final season playing their home games at Hilltop Park. The team finished with a total of 50 wins and 102 losses, coming in 8th, last place in the American League. The club was managed by Harry Wolverton. The New York franchise would not finish in last place again until 1966 [New York Yankees season|1966]. To date, this remains the second and last 100-loss season in Yankees history, the other being a few years prior in 1908. After previously appearing on the team's caps, jackets, and even the sleeves of the uniform, this was the first season that the famous "NY" logo would appear on the front of the jerseys.

Regular season

Logo and uniforms

For 1912, the curving "NY" migrated from the sleeve to its now-familiar spot on the left breast of the jersey. This was also the year that pinstripes were introduced.

Team nickname

By this season, the alternate nickname "Yankees" was in very common usage by the media. The New York Times for Opening Day 1912 reported that "The Yankees presented a natty appearance in their new uniforms of white with black pinstripes." The pinstripes were a one-year experiment, but they would return for good on the home uniforms in 1915.
The final game of the season, and the final game for the "Highlanders" at the Hilltop, was played on October 5, 1912. The team moved to the Polo Grounds the following year. Hilltop Park was closed after the 1912 season and was demolished in 1914. It is now occupied by the New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Notable transactions

July 21, 1912: Del Paddock was purchased by the Highlanders from the Dubuque Hustlers.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C		110	351	94	.268	0	30
1B		131	522	143	.274	4	58
2B	Hack Simmons	110	401	96	.239	0	41
SS	Jack Martin	71	231	52	.225	0	17
3B	Del Paddock	46	156	45	.288	1	14
OF	Roy Hartzell	125	416	113	.272	1	38
OF	Bert Daniels	135	496	136	.274	2	41
OF	Guy Zinn	106	401	105	.262	6	55

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Dutch Sterrett	66	230	61	.265	1	32
Birdie Cree	50	190	63	.332	0	22
Earle Gardner	43	160	45	.281	0	26
Tommy McMillan	41	149	34	.228	0	12
Jack Lelivelt	36	149	54	.362	2	23
	42	129	31	.240	0	10
Gabby Street	29	88	16	.182	0	6
Ezra Midkiff	21	86	21	.244	0	9
Pat Maloney	25	79	17	.215	0	4
Cozy Dolan	18	60	12	.200	0	11
	34	50	15	.300	0	4
Bob Williams	20	44	6	.136	0	3
Curt Coleman	12	37	9	.243	0	4
Harry Wolter	12	32	11	.344	0	1
John Dowd	10	31	6	.194	0	0
Klondike Smith	7	27	5	.185	0	0
Bill Otis	4	17	1	.059	0	2
Jack Little	3	12	3	.250	0	0
Benny Kauff	5	11	3	.273	0	2
Gus Fisher	4	10	1	.100	0	0
George Batten	1	3	0	.000	0	0
	2	2	1	.500	0	1
	1	0	0	----	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	36	291.2	13	21	3.55	112
	30	183.1	8	16	4.47	95
	23	176.2	8	12	2.75	91
	17	90.1	2	8	5.88	47
	6	35.2	0	3	5.80	21

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Jack Warhop	39	258.0	10	19	2.86	110
Jack Quinn	18	102.2	5	7	5.79	47
Hippo Vaughn	15	63.0	2	8	5.14	46
	10	54.0	1	4	6.50	22
	7	32.2	0	2	6.06	15
Al Schulz	3	16.1	1	1	2.20	8
	5	15.2	0	1	6.89	14

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	4	0	0	0	5.40	9