Old Time New York Giants Pitcher: Al Demaree (1912-1914/ 1917-1918)

Albert Wentworth Demaree was a six foot right handed pitcher who was born on September 8, 1884 in Quincy, Illinois. He came up with the New York Giants in 1912 . On the 1913 NY Giants Pennant team, Demaree was certainly in the background of a Giants rotation that featured Christy Mathewson (25 wins) Rube Marquard (23 wins) & Jeff Tesreau (22 wins). As the fourth starter, (teams only featured a four man rotation in those days) he was 13-4 with a 2.31 ERA (fourth in the league) pitching 199 innings with 76 strike outs.

In the World Series Connie Macks Philadelphia A’ beat the Giants in five games, with Demaree taking the loss in Game #4, allowing two runs in four innings pitched.

He returned in 1914 to go 10-17 as the Giants fell to second place behind the Boston Braves. That year Rube Marquard fell to a 12-22 record, although Mathewson was still in top form at 24-13 & Tesreau became the ace of the staff at 26-10 with a 2.37 ERA. Demaree was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1915, joining a staff of Pete Alexander (31-10) & Erskine Mayer (21-15) who won the NL pennant.

Demaree was 14-11 with a 3.05 ERA although he did not pitch in the World Series. He returned in 1916 to win 19 games (5th in the league) 19-14 with a 2.62 ERA, putting up career highs in strike outs (130) innings (285) & complete games (25).

The next season he was sent to the Chicago Cubs then back to the New York Giants, although he wasn’t effective, falling to 9-14. In 1918 he was 8-6 on the Giants staff behind Paul Perritt (18-13/ 2.74 ERA) & Red Causey (11-6 / 2.79 ERA) as the team finished second to the Chicago Cubs, Demaree pitched his final season with the Boston Braves going 6-6 in 1919.

In his eight year career he was 80-72 in 232 games posting 514 strikeouts 337 walks & a 2.77 ERA.