Spalding's Baseball Guide and Official League Book for 1895

Chapter 3

Chapter 33,652 wordsPublic domain

An interesting statistical chapter of the GUIDE of 1895 includes the comparative tables of the three leaders in the pennant race of 1894, viz., those of the Baltimore, New York and Boston clubs, the struggle between these three clubs being a decidedly attractive feature of the past season's championship campaign. The season opened on April 19th, and the close of the first day's play saw the Boston and New York clubs tied for first place, with Baltimore tied with four other clubs for second place, only eight of the twelve clubs playing on that day. By the end of the first month's campaign, on April 30th, Boston had dropped to third position; Baltimore to fifth place and New York down to ninth in the race. On May 31st, the close of the second month's campaign, Baltimore led Boston, being then in third position, and Boston in fourth, New York having pulled up to sixth place. On June 2d Baltimore jumped to first place, with Boston fifth and New York seventh. By June 9th the Bostons had got up to second place, but New York was still in the second division, Baltimore, of course, still leading in the race on that date. At the end of the third month of the season's campaign, on June 30th, Baltimore held the lead, with the percentage of victories of .712, with Boston second, having .667 in percentage figures, while New York had got back into the first division again with the figures of .564. On July 5th the "Giants" had worked up to third place, preceded by Baltimore and Boston, each with the percentage figures respectively of .679, .672 and .593, it being a close fight at this time between Baltimore and Boston, while New York was close behind. From July 5th to the finish these three clubs occupied the three leading positions in the race, the others being virtually "not in it," as far as winning the pennant was concerned. This fact alone made the pennant race of 1894 a very one-sided one, as nearly three months of the season's games remained to be played. At the end of the July campaign the record showed Boston in the van, with the percentage figures of .659, to Baltimore's .618 and New York's .613, Boston having taken the lead from Baltimore on July 24th, It was just about this time that Boston stock on the racing market was above par, it being fully expected at this time that the best the Baltimores would be likely to accomplish would be to retain second place, while New Yorkers were sanguine at this period of the contest that the "Giants" would soon lead Baltimore. The Boston champions retained first position up to July 30th, while New York tried in vain to push Baltimore out of second place. By, the close of the August campaign the Baltimores, by a brilliant rally, had replaced Boston in the lead, the record on August 31st showing Baltimore in the van with the percentage figures of .657, followed by Boston with .645, and New York close to the champions with .639. Now came a grand fight for second place on the part of New York, the Bostons, from this time to the finish failing to make the accustomed final rally which their friends had anticipated. On September 6th New York ousted Boston out of second place, at which date Baltimore led with the percentage figures of .676, followed by New York with .652, Boston's figures being .646; the rest of the clubs in the first division at that time being in the five hundreds only in percentage figures. Boston got down to .632 on September 19th, New York being then credited with .667 and Baltimore "way up" with .692. It was now Baltimore's race and New York was regarded as a fixture for second position, there being a difference in percentage points between Baltimore and Boston of no less, than 62 points on September 22d; New York then being behind Baltimore 39 points and ahead of Boston 24 points; in fact, a week before the finish, on September 30th, the positions of the three leaders were fixtures, the only interest left remaining being the struggle between Philadelphia, Brooklyn and Cleveland for fourth place. As before remarked, the chief interest in the September campaign was the expectation on the part of the majority of the patrons of the game that the Bostons would rally towards the finish and that the Baltimores would fall off during the last week or two; instead, however, it was the Boston champions who failed to play up to their old mark, while it was the Baltimores who did the rallying, and in fine style, too, under the leadership of the champion manager of the campaign of 1894.

#The New Champions of 1894.#

The Baltimore Club's Career.

We have the pleasure of greeting a new champion club in the League arena in the GUIDE of 1895, viz., the Baltimore club, and it is therefore a point of interest to give a brief resume of its career from the time it entered the defunct American Association in 1882 to the date of its being taken into the reconstructed National League in 1892. The Baltimore club's career in the late American Association was one thing; that of its progress since the club was taken into the National League is altogether quite a different matter. From 1882, the year of the organizing of the old American Association, up to the period of its secession from the National Agreement ranks in 1891, the Baltimore club occupied the position of being the occupant of the "last ditch" in the Association's pennant races for no less than four years, viz., in 1882, 1883, 1885 and 1886. In 1884, when twelve clubs were in the Association race of that year, the highest the Baltimore club reached was sixth position. In 1888, 1889 and 1890, the club got no higher than fifth place in the three races of those years; while the nearest it could get to first place during the decade of the eighties was in 1887, when it ended in third place, being led by St. Louis and Cincinnati. During all that period William Barnie was the club's manager. In 1892 he was superseded by Manager Hanlon; and from that date to the close of the past season, the club began to get out of its previous "slough of despond," induced by its repeated failures to win a pennant race.

Here is the club's record while in the American Association, from 1882 to 1890, inclusive, showing the positions occupied in the several pennant races of that period:

NUMBER OF CLUBS YEAR. POSITION. IN THE RACE. ------------------------------------------------------ 1882 Sixth (last ditch) Six. 1883 Eighth " Eight. 1884 Sixth. Twelve. 1885 Eighth (last ditch) Eight. 1886 Eighth " Eight. 1887 Third. Eight. 1888 Fifth. Eight. 1889 Fifth. Eight. 1890 Fifth. Eight. ------------------------------------------------------

In 1891 the Cincinnati club was ahead of the Baltimores when the former was transferred to Milwaukee, after which the "Reds" broke badly, and the Baltimores were thus enabled to get into third place. The wretched management of the Association during the year was costly in demoralization to every club in the race. Up to the date of the Cincinnati transfer, that club stood with a percentage of .619, to Baltimore's .526. During the season of 1892 the Baltimore club occupied an experimental position in the race of that year, Manager Hanlon not joining the club in 1892 until too late to get a good team together. They began the campaign of 1893 low down in the race record, but they finally pulled up among the six leaders, beating out Brooklyn in the race by 10 games to 2, as well as St. Louis, Louisville and Cleveland; but they were so badly beaten by Boston-2 games to 10-and by Pittsburgh--1 game to 11-that they finished in eighth place only. That season's experience enabled Manager Hanlon to prepare for 1894 with a better chance of success than he had had since he took the club in hand, and the effect of the improved management was made apparent before the May campaign of 1894 had ended, his team closing that month one among the three leaders. From that position the club was not afterwards removed, the team first heading the Bostons and finally taking the lead in the race, the New Yorks coming in second, ahead of the previous three-time champion club of Boston.

THE BALTIMORE CLUB'S RECORD.

Under the heading of "The Three Leaders in the Race," will be found the record of the monthly campaigns of the Baltimores and the progress made by Hanlon's team from the start to the finish in the race of 1894. We now give the detailed record of the season's campaign of the Baltimores in full.

Here is the record of the club's victories, defeats, games played and drawn, and the percentage of victories made against each individual club, as well as the grand percentage against all of the eleven opposed to the Baltimores:

It will be seen that the "Orioles," under Hanlon, did the pennant winning business up in style in 1894. Of the six Eastern clubs in the race, they tied the New York "Giants," had the best of the unfinished series with the "Phillies," took the Brooklyns into camp without difficulty, had almost a walkover with the Washingtons, and found the Boston champions the only club that got the best of them in the five series played against their Eastern adversaries, their percentage of victories against the Bostons being only .333, while their figures against the Washingtons were as high as .917. Against their six Western opponents, the Baltimores almost wiped out the St. Louis, Cincinnati and Louisville teams, each of these clubs winning but two games out of the twelve played with the "Orioles," while the best each of the Cleveland and Chicago teams could do was to win three of the twelve, the Pittsburgh "Pirates" being the only Western team to trouble them, their series with that club being unfinished, with a credit of but four victories to Pittsburgh's six. Only one game was drawn, and that with the "Phillies."

The additional details of the record follows:

EASTERN CLUBS. WESTERN CLUBS. P h i W P C L l a C i S i o N a B s l t t n u e d r h e t C . c i BALTIMORE w B e o i v s h i s o l o n e b i L n v vs. Y s p k g l u c o n i o t h l t a r a u a l r o i y o n g g i t l k n a n n d h o s i e Grand Totals Total Total --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Series won 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 1 1 1 5 7 Series lost 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Series tied 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Series unfinished 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 "Chicago" victories 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 "Chicago" defeats 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 Won by 1 run 1 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 1 3 2 2 9 11 Lost by 1 run 1 1 1 0 0 3 0 1 1 1 1 0 4 7 Single figure victories 2 1 2 4 3 12 6 1 2 7 5 7 28 40 Single figure defeats 5 3 2 1 0 11 1 3 1 0 1 1 7 18 Double figure victories 4 3 4 4 8 23 3 5 8 3 5 2 26 49 Double figure defeats 1 5 2 3 1 12 2 1 2 2 1 1 9 21 Home victories 5 1 4 5 5 20 6 4 7 8 6 6 37 57 Home defeats 1 4 2 2 1 10 1 1 0 1 0 0 3 13 Victories abroad 1 2 3 3 6 15 3 2 2 2 4 4 17 32 Defeats abroad 5 4 2 2 0 13 2 3 3 1 2 2 13 26 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

It will be seen that the Baltimores "shut out" but one Eastern team and not a single Western opponent, while they themselves were "Chicagoed" once by each, viz., by New York and Louisville, the tail ender's "shut out" being annoying. Only two of their contests with the Eastern teams were won by a single run, but they won three games against the Eastern teams by one run. They lost seven games by a single run, three of them in the East and four against Western adversaries. No less than forty of their games were won by single figure scores, viz., 12 against Eastern teams and 28 against Western opponents. They lost a total of but 18 single figure games. Their double figure victories were no less than 49, against but 21 double figure defeats. They won 57 home victories against 32 abroad, the defeats being 18 at home to 26 abroad. Take it all in all, the Baltimores did splendid work in the box, the field and at the bat, the only drawback to their creditable season's campaign being too much kicking and rowdy ball playing, in the latter of which McGraw was the principal offender.

#The Records of the New York and Boston Clubs of 1894.#

The New York club's team entered the campaign of 1894 decidedly handicapped. The club had excellent material at command wherewith to make up a strong team; but the manager had great difficulty at first in getting it into team work condition, he being hampered by the interference of the class of scribe managers of League cities who are very confident of their ability to run a club team better, on paper, than the actual manager can on the field. Then, too, a minority of these journalists seem to delight in getting up sensations which lead to discord in the ranks of a team; as they have their pet players on the teams, as well as those they have a special grudge against; moreover, the directors of the club were at times, in the early part of the season, not in accord with the manager in his methods of selecting players, and in appointing them to special positions. Finally the experience of April and May taught the club officials that if much more of the interference racket was continued, the result would be a permanent place in the second division, inasmuch as on May 24th, the club stood no higher than eighth place, with but little likelihood at that time of getting any higher. By June, however, an improved condition of affairs in running the team was manifested; the scribe managers were ignored, the manager was given more control of the team, and by the close of the June campaign the New York club was in the first division, and by the end of July were among the three leaders, where they remained until the end of the race.

The club was fortunate in being able to make its team unusually strong in its battery players. The very profitable and liberal investment made by Director Wheeler, in the purchase of the release of Meekin and Farrell, was a potent factor in enabling the club to reach the high position it did, both of these model players, in their respective positions, proving to be a great accession to the strength of the club's team. Another valuable acquisition to their team was that noted college player, young Murphy, he proving to be the most valuable utility man in the club, and an equal of Ward in team-work batting. By the closing month of the campaign the team had been trained up to the point of working together in more harmony, besides doing better team-work in their batting than any previous players of the club had ever before exhibited. Moreover, the team, during 1894, manifested greater rallying power at the finish in a game than ever before, they fully equaling the Bostons in this respect; in fact, this past season they excelled the champions in securing the lead in the latter part of a contest, a very important factor in winning pennants. THE NEW YORK CLUB'S RECORD.

The record of the club for 1894 giving the victories and defeats scored, with the total of games played, and the percentage of victories against each club is as follows:

EASTERN CLUBS. WESTERN CLUBS. P h i W P C L B l a C i S i o a a B s l t t n u l d r h e t C . c i NEW YORK t B e o i v s h i s i o l o n e b i L n v vs. m s p k g l u c o n i o t h l t a r a u a l r o i y o n g g i t l e n a n n d h o s i e Totals Totals --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Victories 6 6 5 7 10 34 9 8 11 7 7 12 54 Defeats 6 6 7 5 10 26 3 4 1 5 5 0 18 Games Played 12 12 12 12 12 60 12 12 12 12 12 12 72 Per cent. of Victories .500 .500 .417 .583 .833 .567 .750 .667 .917 .583 .583 1.00 .750 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The above record shows that the "Giants" defeated Brooklyn and Washington in the Eastern series of games, and tied with Boston and Baltimore, they losing to the "Phillies" only. Against the Western clubs they won every series, excelling both Baltimore and Boston in this latter respect, as the Baltimores failed to get the best of the Pittsburghs, and the Bostons were tied with the St. Louis. Then, too, the "Giants" excelled the other two leading clubs in shutting out Louisville in no less than thirteen successive games, one game being thrown out. In addition they took Anson's "Colts" into camp in eleven out of twelve games, and defeated the Washingtons in ten games out of the twelve of the series.

The record of the series of games won, lost, tied and unfinished, together with that of the "Chicago" victories and defeats, and the single and double figure games of the New York and Boston clubs is as follows:

EASTERN CLUBS. WESTERN CLUBS. P h i W P C L B l a C i S i o a a B s l t t n u l d r h e t C . c i NEW YORK t B e o i v s h i s i o l o n e b i L n v vs. m s p k g l u c o n i o t h l t a r a u a l r o i y o n g g i t l e n a n n d h o s i e Grand Totals Totals Totals --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Series won 0 0 0 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 8 Series lost 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Series tied 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Series unfinished 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 "Chicago" victories 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 4 5 "Chicago" defeats 0 2 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 Single figure victories 5 4 2 3 7 21 7 7 8 5 4 7 38 59 Single figure defeats 2 4 4 2 1 13 1 1 0 5 5 0 12 25 Double figure victories 1 2 3 4 3 13 2 1 3 2 3 5 16 29 Double figure defeats 4 2 3 3 1 13 2 3 1 0 0 0 6 19 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The foregoing table shows that the New York club won eight out of the eleven series, they losing but one--that with Philadelphia -and tieing two, one with Baltimore and one with Boston. In "Chicago" games they won five and lost four, and in single figure games they won 59 and lost but 25, while in double figure games they won 29 only and lost but 19.

THE BOSTON CLUB'S RECORD.