Chapter 2

The month of June saw more changes in the positions of all of the eight clubs except Chicago and Philadelphia, the former having tenaciously held on to first place since the last week in April; while Philadelphia steadily remained a good fifth. Boston, however, fell off badly in the running, the second week in June seeing, them down to fourth place; while by June 9 Detroit had got into second place, and was running Chicago a close race. During the last of May New York had got down to fourth position; but in the first week of June they had rallied and resumed third place; but the next week saw them fall back again, while Boston rallied back to third position. By the end of June the eight clubs occupied the following relative positions in the race Chicago held the lead, with Detroit second, Boston third, New York fourth, Philadelphia fifth, Pittsburg sixth, with Indianapolis and Washington as the two tail enders.

July proved to be the most important month of the season's race, as it was in this month that the New York team as effectually rallied under the personal influence of Mr. John B. Day, who from that time out took personal cognizance of the doings of the "Giants." The first week in July saw the New York team drive Boston out of third place, while Pittsburg, for the time being, was forced to occupy seventh position, Indianapolis leading them for a week in July. During the last week in July, Chicago -- which club had held the lead consecutively from May 5 to July 23--took a bad tumble, and fell back to third position, while New York and Detroit stood tied for a few days for first place, until Chicago rallied, and then the Detroits were driven back; the end of July leaving New York in the van, with Detroit second, Chicago third, Boston and Philadelphia close together in fourth and fifth positions, while Pittsburg, Indianapolis, and Washington occupied the rear positions. It was now that the race began to be intensely interesting. The steady play of the New York team gave a new feature to the contest, and it now began to be a nip and tuck fight between the "Giants" and the Chicagos for first place, with Detroit close to them as a good third. August saw the steadiest running of the season in the race, but few changes being made in the relative positions of the contestants, the last week of the month seeing New York in the van, Chicago second, Detroit third, Boston fourth, Philadelphia fifth, and Pittsburg, Washington and Indianapolis in the rear.

The promise for an exciting close of the campaign loomed up very bright in September, and during that month, while New York and Chicago still retained their leading positions, Boston temporarily rallied, and got into third place for a week; but Detroit pushed them back, while Philadelphia began to rally for a closing dash for one of the three leading positions. At the close of September the record left New York in the van, with the assurance of a successful termination of the campaign for the "Giants," while the struggle for second place between Chicago, Boston, Detroit and Philadelphia greatly added to the excitement of the closing month of the campaign. Chicago held on to second place, and Philadelphia, which club on September 29 stood in fifth place rallied brilliantly in October, and drove Boston to fourth place and Detroit to fifth, Boston having occupied fifth place on the 6th of October, Pittsburg, Indianapolis and Washington finally bringing up the rear.

A feature of the campaign was the fact that at no time after May was it doubtful in regard to the position of Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and Washington as the three tail-enders of the race. But for this the campaign would have been the most brilliant on record. As it was, however, the contest for the three leading positions by the other five clubs made it exceedingly interesting throughout, New York's final success giving a new impetus to the succeeding campaign of 1889.

THE STATISTICS OF THE CAMPAIGN.

During the League championship season of 1888 an aggregate of 552 games were played, of which 530 were victories and defeats; and 22 were drawn games, and two were won by forfeit. Of the 552 games played and won, no less than 432 were won by single figure scores, and but 98 by double figures. A noteworthy feature of the campaign was, that while the New York Club won the championship by 84 victories to Chicago's 77, with but 47 defeats to Chicago's 58, they failed to score as many runs in the aggregate as the Chicago Club did by 659 to 725, the Chicago's majority of runs being 66. The New York Club's score of runs, in fact, was exceeded by Detroit, Boston, and even Indianapolis, the latter's aggregate of runs being 666.

Below will be found a complete summary of the statistics of the League campaign of 1888:

| | | P | | | | I | | | | h | | | | n | | | | i | | | | d | W | | | l | | | P | i | a | N | | a | | | i | a | s | e | C | d | | D | t | n | h | w | h | e | B | e | t | a | i | | i | l | o | t | s | p | n | Y | c | p | s | r | b | o | g | o | a | h | t | o | u | l | t | r | g | i | o | i | r | i | o | k | o | a | n | t | g | s | n | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . ------------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+-- Victories | 84| 77| 69| 70| 68| 66| 50| 48 Defeats | 47| 58| 61| 64| 63| 68| 85| 86 Drawn Games | 7| 1| 1| 3| 3| 4| 1| 2 Total Games Played | 138| 135| 131| 137| 134| 138| 136| 136 Won by Forfeit | 1| 0| 1| 0| 0| 0| 0| 0 Lost by Forfeit | 0| 1| 0| 0| 0| 1| 0| 0 Per Cent. of Victories |.641|.570|.532|.522|.519|.493|.370|.358 Series Won | 5| 4| 2| 2| 3| 2| 1| 0 Series Lost | 1| 1| 2| 2| 1| 1| 6| 5 Series Tied | 0| 1| 0| 0| 2| 1| 0| 0 Series Unfinished | 6| 4| 6| 4| 5| 3| 3| 5 Chicago Victories | 19| 13| 16| 7| 10| 13| 6| 6 Chicago Defeats | 3| 9| 7| 13| 5| 19| 11| 23 Home Victories | 44| 43| 37| 34| 41| 38| 31| 26 Home Defeats | 23| 26| 31| 29| 26| 30| 35| 38 Victories Abroad | 40| 34| 32| 36| 27| 28| 19| 22 Defeats Abroad | 24| 32| 30| 31| 37| 70| 50| 48 Extra Innings Victories | 2| 1| 8| 6| 3| 6| 3| 0 Extra Innings Defeats | 2| 1| 3| 8| 6| 0| 5| 4 Single Figure Victories | 70| 55| 62| 58| 50| 57| 37| 44 Single Figure Defeats | 44| 45| 55| 49| 51| 58| 67| 65 Double Figure Victories | 12| 22| 6| 12| 18| 9| 13| 4 Double Figure Defeats | 4| 12| 6| 15| 12| 10| 18| 21 Batting Average |.240|.247|.229|.240|.243|.223|.233|.207 Fielding Average |.918|.906|.919|.904|.916|.914|.904|.899 Highest Score in Games | 19| 21| 17| 20| 18| 14| 15| 22 Worst Defeat |4-11|0-14|1-14|0-13|2-12|1-16|0-13|0-14 Won by One Run | 21| 18| 28| 16| 10| 10| 13| 12 Lost by One Run | 12| 7| 16| 21| 19| 16| 28| 17 Total Runs Scored | 659| 725| 536| 669| 716| 531| 666| 482

The following is the record of the single figure victories scored in the League championship arena in 1888:

SINGLE FIGURE| | | P | | | | I | || VICTORIES. | | | h | | | | n | || | | | i | | | | d | W || | | | l | | | P | i | a || V | N | | a | | | i | a | s || i | e | C | d | | D | t | n | h || c | w | h | e | B | e | t | a | i || t | | I | l | o | t | s | p | n || o | Y | c | p | s | r | b | o | g || r | o | a | h | t | o | u | l | t || i | r | g | i | o | i | r | i | o || e | k | o | a | n | t | g | s | n || s | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . || . -------------+---+---+---+----+---+---+---+---++--- New York | --| 12| 10|8[1]| 5| 11| 13| 11|| 70 Philadelphia | 4| --| 9| 5 | 8| 7| 9| 10|| 60 Boston | 8| 9| --| 9 | 5| 6| 12| 9|| 58 Pittsburg | 7| 6| 7| -- | 8| 8| 8| 13|| 57

[**Proofreaders note: The data for the last two teams was not included**]

[Footnote 1: One victory scored by New York was from a forfeited game charged against the Pittsburg team as 9 to 0.]

The following is the record of the double figure victories scored by the eight League clubs in the championship arena in 1888:

DOUBLE FIGURE| | | | I | | | P | || VICTORIES. | | | | n | | | h | || | | | | d | | | i | W || | | | | i | | P | l | a || V | | | N | a | | i | a | s || i | C | D | e | n | | t | d | h || c | h | e | w | a | B | t | e | i || t | i | t | | p | o | s | l | n || o | c | r | Y | o | s | b | p | g || r | a | o | o | l | t | u | h | t || i | g | i | r | i | o | r | i | o || e | o | t | k | s | n | g | a | n || s | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . || . -------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---++---- Chicago | --| 3| 0| 4| 4| 3| 1| 7|| 22 Detroit | 1| --| 2| 5| 2| 4| 2| 2|| 18 New York | 3| 0| --| 3| 2| 1| 2| 2|| 13 Indianapolis | 1| 2| 0| --| 5| 1| 0| 4|| 13 Boston | 2| 4| 0| 2| --| 1| 0| 3|| 12 Pittsburg | 3| 2| 0| 1| 1| --| 0| 2|| 9 Philadelphia | 1| 0| 1| 3| 1| 0| --| 1|| 7 Washington | 1| 1| 1| 0| 0| 0| 1| --|| 4 -------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---++---- Defeats | 12| 12| 4| 18| 15| 10| 6| 21|| 89

The following table presents the figures of the _series_ of games won and lost in the League championship arena in 1888. The letters "W" and "L" indicate games won and lost:

| | | P | | | | I | || | | | | h | | | | n | ||S|S | | | i | | | | d | W ||S|e|e | | | l | | | P | i | a ||e|r|r | N | | a | | | i | a | s ||r|i|i | e | C | d | | D | t | n | h ||i|e|e | w | h | e | B | e | t | a | i ||e|s|s | | i | l | o | t | s | p | n ||s| | | Y | c | p | s | r | b | o | g || |L|T | o | a | h | t | o | u | l | t ||W|o|i | r | g | i | o | i | r | i | o ||o|s|e | k | o | a | n | t | g | s | n ||n|t|d | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . ||.|.|. ------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----++-+-+- | W| L| W| L| W| L| W| L| W| L| W| L| W| L| W| L|| | | New York |--|--| 8|11|11| 7|10| 7|14| 5|12| 8|14| 5|15| 4||5|1|0 Chicago |11| 8|--|--|10|10| 9|11| 8|10|12| 7|14| 6|13| 6||4|1|1 Detroit | 7|11|10|10|--|--|10|10|11| 7| 8|10|11| 8|11| 7||3|1|2 Pittsburg | 7|10| 1| 9|10|10|--|--| 6|11| 8|10|14| 6|10| 9||2|1|1 Philadelphia| 5|14|10| 8| 7|11|14| 6|--|--|10| 9|13| 4|10| 9||2|2|0 Boston | 8|12| 7|13|10| 8|10| 8| 9|10|--|--|11| 9|15| 5||2|2|0 Indianapolis| 5|14| 6|14| 8|11| 6|14| 4|13| 9|11|--|--|12| 9||1|6|0 Washington | 4|15| 6|13| 7|11| 9|10| 9|10| 5|15| 8|12|--|--||0|5|0

THE "CHICAGO" GAMES OF 1888.

The record of the "Chicago" games--or games in which the defeated team did not score a single run--in the League championship series of 1888 is appended:

| | P | | | | | I | || | | h | | | | | n | || | | i | | | | | d | W || | | l | | P | | | i | a || V | N | a | | i | | | a | s || i | e | d | C | t | D | | n | h || c | w | e | h | t | e | B | a | i || t | | l | i | s | t | o | p | n || o | Y | p | c | b | r | s | o | g || r | o | h | a | u | o | t | l | t || i | r | i | g | r | i | o | i | o || e | k | a | o | g | t | n | s | n || s | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . || . ------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---++--- New York | --| 1| 2| 4| 2| 1| 3| 6|| 19 Philadelphia| 0| --| 3| 6| 1| 4| 0| 2|| 16 Chicago | 1| 1| --| 3| 1| 2| 1| 4|| 13 Pittsburg | 1| 2| 1| --| 0| 2| 4| 3|| 13 Detroit | 0| 1| 2| 1| --| 2| 1| 3|| 10 Boston | 1| 0| 0| 3| 0| --| 1| 2|| 7 Indianapolis| 0| 0| 1| 0| 1| 1| --| 3|| 6 Washington | 0| 2| 0| 2| 0| 1| 1| --|| 6 ------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---++--- Defeats | 3| 7| 9| 19| 5| 13| 11| 23|| 90

EXTRA INNINGS GAMES.

The record of the victories and defeats scored by the eight League Clubs in extra innings games in the championship series of 1888 was as follows:

Date. |Contesting |Cities. |Pitchers. |In's.|Scr. |Clubs. | | | | --------+----------------+------------+----------+-----+ Sept. 1|Philadelphia |Philadelphia|Sanders | | | v. Wash'n | |Widner | 12 | 2-0 July 30 |Philadelphia |Boston |Buffinton | | | v. Boston | |Sanders | 11 | 4-3 July 31|Philadelphia |Boston |Sanders | | | v. " | |Clarkson | 11 | 6-5 Sept. 22|Philadelphia |Indianapolis|Sanders | | | v. In'polis | |Healy | 11 | 6-5 May 26|Philadelphia |Boston |Buffinton | | | v. Boston | |Madden | 10 | 1-0 Aug. 11|Philadelphia |Philadelphia|Casey | | | v. Detroit | |Getzein | 10 | 1-0 Aug. 13|Philadelphia |Philadelphia|Buffinton | | | v. In'polis | |Burdick | 10 | 2-1 Aug. 9|Philadelphia |Philadelphia|Casey | | | v. Detroit | |Getzein | 10 | 6-5 April 20|Pittsburg |Pittsburg |Morris | | | v. Detroit | |Getzein | 12 | 5-2 Aug. 1|Pittsburg |Chicago |Galvin | | | v. Chicago | |Baldwin | 12 | 6-4 Sept. 21|Pittsburg |Pittsburg |Morris | | | v. Boston | |Radbourne | 10 | 2-1 Sept. 3|Pittsburg |Indianapolis|Morris | | | v. Indianap's | |Healy | 10 | 5-4 Sept. 4|Pittsburg |Indianapolis|Galvin | | | v. Indianap's | |Boyle | 10 | 5-4 May 10|Pittsburg |Pittsburg |Morris | | | v. Boston | |Clarkson | 10 | 11-10 June 28 |Boston |Boston |Sowders | | | v. Washington | |O'Day | 14 | 9-7 Aug. 15|Boston |Boston |Radbourne | | | v. Detroit | |Beatin | 12 | 4-3 April 21|Boston |Washington |Clarkson | | | v. Washington | |O'Day | 11 | 1-0 June 19|Boston |Washington |Sowders | | | v. New York | |Keefe | 11 | 8-7 April 30|Boston |New York |Clarkson | | |v. New York | |Welch | 10 | 4-3 April 28|Boston |Washington |Sowders | | | v. Washington | |Daily | 10 | 4-3 July 30|Indianapolis |Detroit |Burdick | | | v. Detroit | |Getzein | 11 | 6-5 July 31|Indianapolis |Detroit |Healy | | | v. Detroit | |Conway | 11 | 7-5 July 6|Indianapolis |Indianapolis|Boyle | | |v. Ph'd'phia | |Casey | 11 | 9-8 June 8|Detroit |Boston |Getzein | | | v. Boston | |Clarkson | 16 | 11-5 May 12|Detroit |Detroit |Conway | | |v. Philadelphia | |Gleason | 12 | 3-1 July 2|Detroit |Indianapolis|Conway | | |v. Indianapolis | |Healy | 12 | 4-3 July 24|New York |New York |Welch | | | v. Boston | |Madden | 13 | 6-3 July 28|New York |New York |Keefe | | | v. Philadelphia| |Sanders | 10 | 4-2 June 6|Chicago |Boston |Van Halt'n| | | v. Boston | |Radb'rn e| 10 | 3-2

DRAWN GAMES. Date. |Contesting Clubs. |Cities. | Pitchers. |In's.|Scr. ------+---------------------+----------+---------------+-----+---- Apr 23|New York v. Was'ngt'n|Washingt'n|Welch O'Day| 13 | 1-1 Aug 13|Chicago v. New York |New York |Baldwin Welch| 12 | 5-5 Sept 3|Philadelphia v N York|New York |Sanders Keefe| 11 | 0-0 May 15|New York v. Pittsburg|Pittsburg |Keefe Galvin| 11 | 3-3 Aug 8|Pittsburg v. Boston |Boston |Morris Sowders| 11 | 3-3 Sep 28|Detroit v. New York |New York |Gruber Titcomb| 10 | 2-2

The following is the record of the victories scored by the eight League Clubs on home grounds in the championship arena during 1888:

| | | P | | | | I | || | | | h | | | | n | || | | | i | | | | d | W || | | | l | | | P | i | a || G | N | | a | | | i | a | s || a | e | C | d | | D | t | n | h || m | w | h | e | B | e | t | a | i || e | | i | l | o | t | s | p | n || s | Y | c | p | s | r | b | o | g || | o | a | h | t | o | u | l | t || W | r | g | i | o | i | r | i | o || o | k | o | a | n | t | g | s | n || n | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . ||.. ------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---++--- New York | --| 4| 8| 5| 6| 6| 7| 8|| 44 Chicago | 6| --| 4| 7| 5| 4| 9| 8|| 43 Philadelphia| 4| 4| --| 3| 5| 7| 9| 5|| 37 Boston | 3| 4| 1| --| 6| 6| 6| 8|| 34 Detroit | 4| 5| 8| 5| --| 7| 6| 6|| 41 Pittsburg | 3| 6| 2| 6| 7| --| 8| 6|| 38 Indianapolis| 3| 5| 3| 5| 4| 4| --| 7|| 31 Washington | 1| 4| 4| 3| 4| 5| 5| --|| 26 ------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---++--- Games Lost | 24| 32| 30| 34| 37| 39| 50| 48||294

The record of victories on opponent's grounds is as follows:

| | | P | | | | I | || | | | h | | | | n | || | | | i | | | | d | W || | | | l | | | P | i | a || G | N | | a | | | i | a | s || a | e | C | d | | D | t | n | h || m | w | h | e | B | e | t | a | i || e | | i | l | o | t | s | p | n || s | Y | c | p | s | r | b | o | g || | o | a | h | t | o | u | l | t || W | r | g | i | o | i | r | i | o || o | k | o | a | n | t | g | s | n || n | . | . | . | . | . | . | . | . ||.. ------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---++--- New York | --| 4| 6| 7| 5| 4| 7| 7|| 40 Chicago | 5| --| 4| 5| 5| 5| 5| 5|| 34 Philadelphia| 1| 6| --| 6| 2| 8| 4| 5|| 32 Boston | 5| 3| 8| --| 4| 4| 5| 7|| 36 Detroit | 3| 5| 3| 3| --| 3| 5| 5|| 27 Pittsburg | 4| 5| 4| 2| 3| --| 6| 4|| 28 Indianapolis| 2| 1| 1| 4| 4| 2| --| 5|| 19 Washington | 3| 2| 5| 2| 3| 4| 3| --|| 22 ------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---++--- Games Lost | 23| 26| 31| 29| 26| 30| 35| 38||238