Chapter 10

| | | | | | | | K || | | | | C | | L | | a || | | S | | i | B | o | C | n || | B | t | A | n | a | u | l | s || | r | . | t | c | l | i | e | a || | o | | h | i | t | s | v | s || | o | L | l | n | i | v | e | || | k | o | e | n | m | i | l | C || | l | u | t | a | o | l | a | i || | y | I | i | t | r | l | n | t || | n | s | c | i | e | e | d | y ||Series Clubs | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . ||Totals. -----------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----++-------- |W.|L.|W.|L.|W.|L.|W.|L.|W.|L.|W.|L.|W.|L.|W.|L.||W.|L. -----------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--++--+----- Brooklyn |--|--|10|10|12| 8|14| 6|12| 8|13| 8|16| 4|11| 9|| 6| 0 St. Louis |10|10|--|--|10| 7|10| 8|15| 5|16| 4|16| 4|16| 4|| 4| 0 Athletic | 8|12| 7|10|--|--|10|10|15| 5|15| 5|13| 7|11| 3|| 4| 1 Cincinnati | 6|14| 8|10|10|10|--|--|14| 6|17| 3|10| 7|15| 4|| 3| 1 Baltimore | 8|12| 5|15| 5|15| 6|14|--|--|11| 9|10| 9|11| 9|| 2| 4 Louisville | 8|13| 4|16| 5|15| 3|17| 9|11|--|--| 8| 9|11| 6|| 1| 5 Cleveland | 4|16| 4|16| 7|13| 7|10| 9|10| 9| 8|--|--| 9| 9|| 0| 3 Kansas City| 9|11| 4|16| 3|14| 4|15| 9|11| 6|11| 9| 9|--|--|| 0| 6

The St. Louis, Brooklyn, Athletic and Cincinnati Clubs, each had one series tied; while the Baltimore Club had four unfinished series; the St. Louis and Cincinnati Clubs two each, and the Athletic, Baltimore, Louisville and Kansas City Clubs one each, The Brooklyn Club playing their full quota of scheduled games.

THE YEARLY RECORD.

The appended table gives the number of games won by all the clubs which have competed for the American Association championship from 1882 to 1888 inclusive:

Clubs |1882|1883|1884|1885|1886|1887|1888|Yrs.||Total | | | | | | | | ||Vict'r's ------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----++--------- St. Louis | 37| 65| 67| 79| 92| 94| 92| 7|| 526 Cincinnati | 55| 62| 68| 63| 64| 80| 80| 7|| 472 Athletic | 41| 66| 61| 55| 60| 64| 81| 7|| 428 Baltimore | 19| 28| 63| 41| 48| 76| 57| 7|| 332 Louisville | 42| 52| 68| 53| 66| 76| 48| 7|| 405 Metropolitan| --| 54| 75| 44| 53| 43| --| 6|| 269 Pittsburg | 39| 30| 30| 56| 78| --| --| 5|| 233 Brooklyn | --| --| 40| 53| 76| 59| 88| 5|| 316 Columbus | --| 32| 69| --| --| --| --| 2|| 104 Cleveland | --| --| --| --| --| 38| 50| 2|| 88 Indianapolis| --| --| 29| --| --| --| --| 1|| 29 Washington | --| --| 12| --| --| --| --| 1|| 12 Virginia | --| --| 12| --| --| --| --| 1|| 12 Kansas City | --| --| --| --| --| --| 43| 1|| 43 Toledo | --| --| 46| --| --| --| --| 1|| 46 +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+---------- Total | 233| 389| 640| 444| 537| 530| 539|

A COMPARATIVE RECORD.

The following table gives the comparative figures of the League and the Association in their Championship contests in 1888:

Clubs |Vic.|Def |Pct. ||Clubs |Vic.|Def.|Pct. -------------+----+----+------++-----------+----+----+------ New York | 84 | 47 | .641 ||St. Louis | 92 | 43 | .681 Chicago | 77 | 58 | .570 ||Brooklyn | 88 | 52 | .629 Philadelphia | 69 | 61 | .531 ||Athletic | 82 | 52 | .612 Boston | 70 | 64 | .522 ||Cincinnati | 80 | 54 | .597 Detroit | 68 | 63 | .519 ||Baltimore | 57 | 81 | .413 Pittsburg | 66 | 68 | .493 ||Cleveland | 50 | 82 | .379 Indianapolis | 50 | 85 | .370 ||Louisville | 48 | 87 | .356 Washington | 48 | 86 | .358 ||Kansas City| 43 | 89 | .328

NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN RECORDS.

The New York League Club and the Brooklyn American Association Club closed the first six years of their existence in 1888. The New York Club joined the League in 1883, and won the championship in 1888. The principal statistics of the club's work on the diamond field during that period is shown in the appended table:

Years |Won. |Lost.|Drawn.|Played.|Batting |Fielding | | | | |Average.|Average ------+-----+-----+------+-------+--------+-------- 1883 | 46 | 50 | 2 | 98 | .256 | .825 1884 | 62 | 50 | 4 | 116 | .257 | .816 1885 | 85 | 27 | 0 | 112 | .269 | .866 1886 | 75 | 44 | 5 | 124 | .269 | .853 1887 | 68 | 55 | 6 | 129 | .331 | .886 1888 | 84 | 47 | 7 | 138 | .240 | .918 +-----+-----+------+-------+--------+------ Totals| 420 | 273 | 24 | 717 | .270 | .860

During these six seasons the New Yorks played 398 games with the Chicagos, Detroits, Bostons and Philadelphias, winning 223 and losing 175. Of these four clubs the New Yorks found the Chicagos to be their strongest opponents, and the Bostons their weakest. One hundred games were played with each of the two clubs, the New Yorks winning sixty-one from Boston, and only forty-one from Chicago.

The Brooklyn Club began its career in 1883 by winning the championship of the Interstate Association of that year, and in 1884 the club entered the American Association.

The following is the record of the Brooklyn Club's field work in the first six years of its history:

Years. |Victories.|Defeats.|Games |Drawn.|Pr. Ct. of | | |Played.| |Champ. Victs. ---------+----------+--------+-------+------+------------ 1883 | 65 | 33 | 101 | 3 | .643 1884 | 57 | 75 | 136 | 4 | .384 1885 | 83 | 67 | 142 | 2 | .473 1886 | 91 | 63 | 160 | 6 | .557 1887 | 78 | 80 | 156 | 4 | .448 1888 | 88 | 52 | 160 | 3 | .629 Totals +----------+--------+-------+------+--------- six years| 462 | 370 | 875 | 22

Each club won championship honors in but one season out of six, the Brooklyns beginning by winning a pennant, and the New Yorkers ending with championship honors.

THE PHILADELPHIA CITY CHAMPIONSHIP.

The Philadelphia League Club and the American Association Athletic Club played a spring and fall exhibition game series for the professional championship of Philadelphia, the result of which was a victory for the American teams, as will be seen by the appended record:

ATHLETIC VICTORIES.

ATHLETIC VS. PHILADELPHIA. ------------------------------------- DATE. PITCHERS. Score. ------------------------------------- April 9 Seward, Gleason 4-2 April 11 Seward, Sanders 15-4 April 12 Weyhing Casey 7-1 April 14 Seward, Gleason 3-1 April 16 Weyhing, Tyng 13-7 October 18 Seward, Sanders 8-5 -------------------------------------

PHILADELPHIA VICTORIES.

PHILADELPHIA VS. ATHLETIC. ---------------------------------------- DATE. PITCHERS. Score. --------------------------------------- April 13 Gleason, Mattimore 8-2 April 17 Buffinton, Blair 7-1 October 19 Casey, Weyhing 8-0 October 20 Buffinton, Smith 12-0

THE EXHIBITION GAME CAMPAIGN.

The experience of the season of 1888 in the playing of exhibition games during the spring and fall between League and American Clubs, shows that while the spring series prove attractive, owing to the desire of the patrons of the game to see how the club teams of the two organizations compare with each other in relative strength, preparatory to the opening of the championship campaign in each arena; those played in the fall, after the two championships have been decided, have ceased to draw paying patronage. This decrease of interest in the fall exhibition games, too, has been largely due to the introduction of the World's Championship series, which now monopolize public interest after the regular championship season has ended. It has been proposed to substitute a series of regular championship matches, on the basis of the series of the world's championship contests for the old time fall exhibition games, the plan in question including not only games between the championship teams of the League and the Association, but also between all the eight clubs of each organization, so as to show which are the eight leading club teams of the League, and the American Association. Had this plan been carried out in 1888, we should not only have had the interesting series between the two champion teams of New York and St. Louis, but also those between Chicago and Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Athletic, Boston and Cincinnati, Detroit and Baltimore, Pittsburg and Cleveland, Indianapolis and Louisville, and Washington and Kansas City. It is to be hoped that a grand test series of games of this character will mark the closing professional campaign of 1889, for such a series would substitute very interesting championship matches for October in the place of the unmeaning and useless exhibition games of the past fall campaigns.

THE WORLD'S CHAMPIONSHIP.

THE FULL RECORD OF THE SERIES.

It has now become an established rule of the National League and the American Association, to close each season with a supplementary championship series of games between the teams of the two leading clubs winning the respective championships of the two organizations each year, to decide as to which of the two champion clubs is entitled to the honor of being the champion club of the United States, and consequently the world's champions in base ball. This supplementary series of games has grown in importance each year since the inaugural trial games of 1884, when a short series of games of this character took place on the Polo Grounds in October, 1884, between the League championship team of the Providence Club and the American championship team of the Metropolitan Club. It was a short series of best two games of the three played, the result being an easy victory for the League team, as the appended record shows:

THE SERIES OF 1884.

Oct. 23, Providence vs. Metropolitan, at the Polo Grounds 6--0 Oct. 24, Providence vs. Metropolitan, at the Polo Grounds 3--1 Oct. 25, Providence vs. Metropolitan, at the Polo Grounds 12--2 Total 21--3

THE SERIES OF 1885.

In 1885 the St. Louis Club first won the honors in the American pennant race, and the Chicago team in that of the League, and in October of that year the rival teams contested for the United States championship in a series of best four out of seven games. Though the series was a far more important one than that of 1884, still the rules governing the special games were not what they should have been, and consequently the result was not satisfactory, as a dispute, followed by a forfeited game, led to a draw contest and an equal division of the gate receipts.

In this series $1,000 was the prize competed for, and as neither team won the series, each club received $500 of the prize money, each winning three games after the first game had been drawn. The record of these games is appended:

Oct. 14, St, Louis vs. Chicago, at Chicago (8 innings) 5-5 Oct. 15, Chicago vs. St. Louis, at St. Louis (6 innings) forfeited 5-4 Oct. 16, St. Louis vs. Chicago, at St. Louis 7-4 Oct. 17, St. Louis vs. Chicago, at St.Louis 3-2 Oct. 22, Chicago vs. St. Louis, at Pittsburg (7 innings) 9-2 Oct 23, Chicago vs. St. Louis, at Cincinnati 9-2 Oct. 24, St. Louis vs. Chicago, at Cincinnati 13-4

Total victories for Chicago, 3: for St. Louis, 3, with one game drawn Total runs scored by Chicago, 43: by St. Louis, 41.

THE SERIES OF 1886.

In 1886 the Chicago and St. Louis club teams again won the championship honors of their respective associations, and they again entered the lists for the "world's championship," this series being best out of six games, three being played at Chicago, and three at St. Louis; the winner of the series taking ail the gate receipts. The result was the success of the St. Louis team, the scores being as follows:

Oct. 18, Chicago vs. St. Louis, at Chicago 6-0 Oct. 19, St. Louis vs. Chicago, at Chicago (8 innings) 12-0 Oct. 20, Chicago vs. St. Louis, at Chicago (8 innings) 11-4 Oct. 21, St. Louis vs. Chicago, at St. Louis (7 innings) 8-5 Oct. 22, St. Louis vs. Chicago, at St. Louis (6 innings) 10-3 Oct. 23, St. Louis vs. Chicago, at St. Louis (10 innings) 4-3

Total runs for St. Louis, 38; for Chicago, 29.

THE SERIES OF 1887.

In 1887 the world's championship series had become an established supplementary series of contests, and in this year these contests excited more interest than had previously been manifested in regard to them, the demands made upon the two contesting teams--the Detroit champions of the League and the St. Louis champions of the American Association--for a game of the series from the large cities of the East and West being such as to lead the two clubs to extend the series to one of best out of fifteen games. These were played at St. Louis, Detroit, Chicago, and Pittsburg in the W st, and at New York, Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore in the East. The series began in St. Louis, and the eighth victory of the Detroits was won at Baltimore, St. Louis winning the last game of the series at St. Louis. The record of the fifteen games, showing the pitchers in each contest, is as follows:

Date. |Contesting |Cities. |Pitchers. |Innings.|Score. |Clubs. | | | | -------+-------------+------------+--------------+--------+------ Oct. 10|St. Louis v. |St. Louis |Carruthers, | 9 | 6-1 | Detroit | |Getzein | | " 11|Detroit v. |St. Louis |Conway, Foutz | 9 | 5-3 | St. Louis | | | | " 12| " " " |Detroit |Getzein, | 13 | 2-1 | | |Carruthers | | " 13| " " " |Pittsburg |Baldwin, King | 9 | 8-0 " 14|St. Louis v. |Brooklyn |Carruthers, | 9 | 5-2 | Detroit | |Conway | | " 15|Detroit v. |New York |Getzein, Foutz| 9 | 9-0 | St. Louis | | | | " 17|" " " |Philadelphia|Baldwin, | 9 | 3-1 | | |Carruthers | | " 18| " " " |Boston |Baldwin, | 9 | 9-2 | | |Carruthers | | " 19| " " " |Philadelphia|Conway, King | 9 | 4-2 " 21|St. Louis v. |Washington |Carruthers, | 9 | 11-4 [1] | Detroit | |Getzein | | " 21|Detroit v. |Baltimore |Baldwin, Foutz| 9 | 13-3 [2] | St. Louis | | | | " 22|" " " |Baltimore |Baldwin, Foutz| 9 | 13-3 " 24|" " " |Detroit |Baldwin, | 9 | 6-3 | | |Carruthers | | " 25|" " " |Chicago |Getzein, King | 9 | 4-3 " 26|St. Louis v. |St. Louis |Carruthers, | 6 | 9-2 | Detroit | |Baldwin | | ---------------------------------------------------------------- [Footnote 1: A.M.] [Footnote 2: P.M.]

THE SERIES OF 1888.

The contest for the world's championship in 1888 was the most exciting and important of any yet played; and the public attention given to the series throughout the entire base ball world, was such as to show that it would be a paying policy on the part of the League and the Association to establish a supplementary championship season, to begin on the first of October each year, the series of games to be played including not only that for the world's championship, but also to include contests between the other clubs of each organization so as to settle the question as to which were the eight leading professional teams of the country.

Prior to 1888 but three clubs had participated in the regular series, and these were: St. Louis on the one hand, and Chicago (twice) and Detroit on the other. In 1888, however, a new League candidate entered the field against the St. Louis champions, and that was the New York club team, it being the first time the two clubs had ever encountered each other. The series arranged between the two clubs was one of ten games, the first six victories to decide the contest. They were commenced at the Polo Grounds on October 16, and the opening contest gave promise of a very interesting series of games, and when the St. Louis team "Chicagoed" their League adversaries the next day the interest in the matches doubled. But the close of the first week's games left New York in the van with a credit of four victories out of the five games played. The contest of the 19th took place in Brooklyn, but the other four were played at the Polo Grounds, the largest attendance of the whole series being that of Saturday, Oct. 20, when the receipts exceeded $5,000. At the four games played at the Polo Grounds the aggregate of receipts was $15,405, while the aggregate of receipts at the four games at St. Louis, was but $5,612, less than that at the Saturday game at the Polo Grounds the previous week. The game at Brooklyn was marred by the bad weather, while that at Philadelphia was dampened by the lead the New York team had previously attained. The series virtually ended at St. Louis on October 25, when New York won their sixth victory and the championship. After that Ward left the New York team to join the Australian tourists, and the interest in the games ended, the receipts falling off from $2,365 on October 25 to $411 on October 26. The last game of the series was a mere ordinary exhibition game, Titcomb pitching in four innings and Hatfield in four. The player's game on the 28th was even less attractive, the St. Louis team winning easily by 6 to 0, Keefe, Welch and George taking turns in the box for New York. The record of the series in full is as follows:

Date. |Contesting |Cities. |Pitchers. |In's.|Scr. |Rec |Clubs. | | | | | -------+-------------+----------+------------+-----+------+ Oct 16 |N. York v. |New York |Keefe | | | | St. Louis | |King | 9 | 2-1 | $2,876 " 17 |St. Louis v. | " " |Chamberlain | | | | N. York | |Welch | 9 | 3-0 | 3,375 " 18 |N. York v. | " " |Keefe | | | | St. Louis | |King | 9 | 4-2 | 3,530 " 19 | " " " |Brooklyn |Crane | | | | | |Chamberlain | 9 | 6-3 | 1,502 " 20 | " " " |New York |Keefe | | | | | |King | 8 | 6-4 | 5,624 " 22 | " " " |Phild'l'a |Welch | | | | | |Chamberlain | 8 | 12-5 | 1,781 " 24 |St. Louis v. |St. Louis |King | | | | N. York | |Crane | 8 | 7-5 | 2,624 " 25 |N. York v. | " " |King | | | | St. Louis | |Chamberlain | 9 | 11-3 | 2,365 " 26 |St. Louis v. | " " |King | | | | N. York | |George | 10 | 14-11| 411 " 27 | " " " | " " |Chamberlain,| | | | | |Titcomb | 9 | 18-7 | 212 Hatfeld, | -------+-------------+----------+------------+-----+------+------------ Total | | | | | | $24,362 Total Runs--New York, 64; St. Louis, 60.

Pitchers' Victories--Keefe, 4; Welch, 1; King, 2; Chamberlain, 2; Crane, 1.

Pitchers' Defeats--Keefe, 0; Welch, 1; Crane, 1; Titcomb, 1; King, 3; Chamberlain, 3.

THE STATISTICS OF THE GAMES.

THE BATTING FIGURES.

The batting figures of those of the New York team who played in five games and over, are as follows:

PLAYERS. |Games.|A.B.|R. |B.H.|S.B.|Per ct. | | | | | |B.H. -----------+------+----+---+----+----+------ Ward | 8 | 28 | 4 | 11 | 6 | .393 Ewing | 7 | 26 | 5 | 9 | 5 | .346 Tiernan | 10 | 38 | 8 | 13 | 5 | .342 O'Rourke | 10 | 36 | 4 | 12 | 3 | .333 Whitney | 10 | 37 | 7 | 11 | 3 | .297 Connor | 7 | 24 | 7 | 6 | 4 | .250 Slattery | 10 | 39 | 6 | 8 | 5 | .205 Richardson | 9 | 36 | 6 | 6 | 2 | .167 ------------------------------------------

Of those who played in less than five games, the batting figures were as follows:

PLAYERS. |Games.|A.B.|R. |B.H.|S.B.|Per cent. | | | | | |B.H. | | | | | | ---------+------+----+---+----+----+----- Titcomb | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | O | .500 Gore | 3 | 11 | 5 | 5 | 2 | .454 Brown | 2 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .375 George | 2 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 0 | .333 Welch | 2 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .286 Hatfield | 2 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | .250 Crane | 2 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .143 Murphy | 3 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .100 Keefe | 4 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .090 ------------------------------------------

Of those of the St. Louis team who took part in five games and over, the batting figures were as follows:

PLAYERS. |Games.|A.B.| R. |B.H.|S.B.|Per cent. | | | | | |B.H. ------------+------+----+----+----+----+------- Milligan | 8 | 25 | 5 | 10 | 0 | .400 Comiskey | 10 | 38 | 6 | 10 | 4 | .263 Robinson | 10 | 38 | 7 | 10 | 2 | .263 O'Neil | 10 | 38 | 9 | 10 | 0 | .263 McCarthy | 10 | 41 | 10 | 10 | 4 | .244 Latham | 10 | 41 | 10 | 9 | 10 | .219 White | 10 | 35 | 4 | 5 | 1 | .143 Lyons | 5 | 18 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .111 King | 5 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .063 Chamberlain | 5 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 1 | .000 ---------------------------------------------

Of those who played in less than five games, the batting figures were as follows:

PLAYERS.|Games.|A.B.|R. |B.H.|S.B.|Per ct. | | | | | |B.H. --------+------+----+---+----+----+------- Boyle | 4 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 3 | .375 Herr | 3 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .000 Devlin | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000

THE PITCHERS' FIGURES

The pitchers' figures showing their work in the box, are as follows:

NEW YORK. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLAYERS. |Games.|At |Runs.|Earned|Hits.|Totals.|Wild |Struck |Bases | |Bat. | |Runs. | | |Pitches.|Out. |on | | | | | | | | |Balls. ---------+------+-----+-----+------+-----+-------+--------+-------+------- Keefe | 4 | 123 | 10 | 2 | 18 | 19 | 0 | 32 | 9 Welch | 2 | 56 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 6 Crane | 2 | 62 | 10 | 3 | 14 | 17 | 3 | 12 | 6 +------+-----+-----+------+-----+-------+--------+-------+---- Total | 8 | 241 | 28 | 7 | 42 | 50 | 4 | 47 | 21 -----------------------------------------------------------------------