Chapter 4

The Boston club, in 1894, after being League pennant winners three years in succession, was obliged to fall back to third place in the past year's pennant race, after a hard fight for first place in the race from April to September, that club standing in first place on April 26th and also on the 29th of August, they varying their position but little during that period. Hitherto, in the races of 1891, '92 and '93, the Bostons were noted for their rallying powers, not only in the latter part of a game, but especially in the closing month of each season. It will be remembered, that in 1892, though they had to succumb to Cleveland in the last part of the divided campaign of that year, they rallied handsomely and easily won the championship in the world's series of that year. This year, however, they went back on their record badly, in failing to attend to the rallying business in the last month of the campaign, the result being that they not only lost the pennant, but had to submit to being forced into third place in the race. The question as to "why this was thusly" is not easy to answer. It may be said, for one thing, that the loss of the valuable services of the veteran Bennett, was one drawback to their success, and the failure of a majority of their pitchers, another; their only really successful "battery" team being Nichols and Ganzel. Then, too, they lost ground in playing, as well as in popularity, by the kicking and noisy coaching profanities of a minority of their team; that kind of "hustling" in a team having become played out as a winning factor in the game in 1894. It must not be forgotten, however, that the Boston club, in 1894, encountered stronger teams in New York and Baltimore than ever before; moreover, they were troubled considerably by the strong opposition of the St. Louis club's team, the only club to score three straight victories from them during the season. That the club had the material to do better than they did, goes without saying; it was a failure in its running that did the business, chiefly.

Here is the record of the victories, defeats, games played, and percentage of victories against each club for the past season of 1894:

EASTERN CLUBS. WESTERN CLUBS. P h i W P C L B l a C i S i o a N a B s l t t n u l e d r h e t C . c i BOSTON t w e o i v s h i s i l o n e b i L n v vs. m Y p k g l u c o n i o o h l t a r a u a l r r i y o n g g i t l e k a n n d h o s i e Totals Totals --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Victories 8 6 6 6 9 35 9 8 7 6 8 10 48 Defeats 4 6 6 6 3 25 3 4 5 6 4 2 24 Games Played 12 12 12 12 12 60 12 12 12 12 12 12 72 Per cent. of Victories .667 .500 .500 .500 .250 .583 .250 .667 .583 .500 .667 .833 .667 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Bostons, in 1894, took the Baltimore and Washington teams into camp without difficulty, but the best they could do against New York, Philadelphia and Brooklyn, was to tie each series. Against the Western clubs, it will be seen, the only club that troubled them was the St. Louis Browns. Four series tied out of the eleven they played was an unusual record for the ex-champions. In victories, they did better against the West than against the East, by 48 victories to 35; in defeats, however, the result was more even, viz., 25 to 24.

The following is the club's record of series won, lost, tied and unfinished, together with the "Chicago" victories and defeats, and the single and double figure victories and defeats scored by the club in 1894:

EASTERN CLUBS. WESTERN CLUBS. P h i W P C L B l a C i S i o a N a B s l t t n u l e d r h e t C . c i BOSTON t w e o i v s h i s i l o n e b i L n v vs. m Y p k g l u c o n i o o h l t a r a u a l r r i y o n g g i t l e k a n n d h o s i e Grand Totals Totals Totals --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Series won 1 0 0 0 1 2 1 1 1 0 1 1 5 7 Series lost 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Series tied 0 1 1 1 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 Series unfinished 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 "Chicago" victories 0 2 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 "Chicago" defeats 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Single figure victories 4 4 4 3 0 15 2 7 2 0 3 5 19 34 Single figure defeats 1 4 1 3 2 11 1 1 1 5 2 1 11 22 Double figure victories 4 2 2 3 9 20 7 1 5 6 5 5 29 49 Double figure defeats 3 2 5 3 1 14 2 3 4 1 2 1 13 27 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The club won but seven of the eleven series played in 1894, though they did not lose a series, no less than four being tied. In "Chicago" games they won but 3, but did not lose a single game by a "shut out." By way of comparison, we give below the records of the same three clubs in 1893, when the three leaders in the race were Boston. Pittsburgh and Cleveland, and the three leaders of the Eastern teams were Boston, Philadelphia and New York, the Baltimores that year being eighth only. Singularly enough, all three clubs did better against their Eastern confreres in 1893 than against the Western clubs.

Here are the three club records of 1893

RECORDS OF 1893.

EASTERN CLUBS. WESTERN CLUBS. P h i W P C L B l a C i S i o a N a B s l t t n u l e d r h e t C . c i BOSTON t w e o i v s h i s i l o n e b i L n v vs. m Y p k g l u c o n i o o h l t a r a u a l r r i y o n g g i t l e k a n n d h o s i e Totals Total --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Victories 10 8 8 8 7 41 7 4 8 10 6 10 45 Defeats 2 4 4 4 5 19 5 6 3 2 6 2 24 Games played 12 12 12 12 12 60 12 10 11 12 12 12 72 Per cent. of Victories .853 .667 .667 .667 .583 .680 .583 .400 .727 .833 .500 .833 .652 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 Total --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Victories 8 4 7 6 7 32 6 4 5 8 6 7 36 Defeats 4 8 5 6 5 28 6 8 7 4 6 5 36 Games played 12 12 12 12 12 60 12 12 12 12 12 12 72 Per cent. of Victories .667 .333 .583 .500 .583 .533 .500 .333 .417 .667 .500 .417 .500 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 Totals Total --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Victories 4 2 5 10 7 28 8 1 5 9 4 5 32 Defeats 8 10 7 2 5 32 4 11 7 3 8 5 38 Games played 12 12 12 12 12 60 12 12 12 12 12 10 70 Per cent. of Victories .383 .167 .417 .833 .583 .467 .667 .083 .417 .750 .333 .560 .475 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

To show what the new rivals--the New York and Baltimore clubs--did in the two past seasons combined, we give the figures of the double records of 1893 and 1894:

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 Total --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Victories 14 10 12 13 17 66 15 12 16 13 15 19 90 Defeats 10 14 12 11 7 51 9 12 8 11 9 5 54 Games played 24 24 24 24 24 120 24 24 24 24 24 24 144 Per cent. of Victories .383 .417 .500 .542 .708 .550 .625 .500 .667 .542 .625 .792 .625 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 Totals Total --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Victories 10 6 11 18 18 63 17 7 14 14 18 15 85 Defeats 14 18 11 6 6 55 7 15 10 10 5 7 54 Games played 24 24 22 24 24 118 24 22 24 24 23 22 139 Per cent. of Victories .417 .250 .500 .750 .534 .708 .708 .318 .583 .583 .783 .682 .612 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

In this combined record New York leads Baltimore, the poor season's work of 1893 by the Baltimores more than offsetting the honors they won in 1894.

#The Campaigns of the Other Nine Clubs of 1894.#

THE PHILADELPHIA CLUB'S CAMPAIGN.

At the end of the first day's contests, on April 19th, four clubs were tied for first place as victors, and four others were tied next in order as losers, the third four of the twelve clubs of the League not playing until the 20th of April. At the end of the first week's play in the April campaign the "Phillies" stood fourth in the race, they being headed by Boston, Cleveland and St. Louis, respectively, and followed by Baltimore and Cincinnati, all of which six clubs were in the first division, the Pittsburgh, New York, Louisville, Washington, Brooklyn and Chicago following in order in the second division; the difference in percentage figures between the leader and tail ender being 833 points, as the Chicago team had not then won a single game out of six played, and the Brooklyns but one, while the "Phillies" had won 5 out of 7, they starting off well, Boston, Cleveland and St. Louis having won 5 out of 6 played. By the end of the April campaign the "Phillies" stood in fourth place, being led by St. Louis, Cleveland and Boston, the other first division clubs being Baltimore and Cincinnati. During the May campaign the "Phillies" fluctuated between fifth place on May 9th up to second position on May 16th, finally finishing the May campaign a poor fifth on May 31st, with Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Baltimore and Boston in advance of them, and New York close at their heels. In June the "Phillies" began to do a little better, and by June 18th, they had pulled up to second place, with Baltimore in the van and Boston close behind the "Quakers." Then once more they fell back in the race, the close of the June campaign seeing them in fifth place, and in the rear of Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn and Pittsburgh, with New York within a few points of them. During July this "up-hill and down-dale" method of racing was continued until July 23d, when they were driven into the ranks of the second division clubs, they occupying seventh place on that date, the end of the July campaign seeing the team in seventh place, with a percentage of victories of .526, Boston, Baltimore, New York, Cleveland, Brooklyn and Pittsburgh being the six first division clubs. During the August campaign the "Phillies" got back into the first division ranks, and on the 21st of that month were in fourth place, which position they retained to the end of that month's campaign. They tried in vain to get higher, but could not do so, and on the last day of the season they stood a bad fourth, the next club above them leading them by 75 points in percentage figures, and by eleven games.

The following is the Philadelphia club's record of victories and defeats scored, with the total number of games played, and the percentage of victories against each club, and also the record of the series won, lost, tied and unfinished, together with the "Chicago" victories and defeats, and the single and double figure victories and defeats scored by the club during 1894:

THE PHILADELPHIA CLUB'S RECORD.

EASTERN CLUBS. WESTERN CLUBS. W P C L B a C i S i o a N B s l t t n u l e r h e t C . c i PHILADELPHIA t w B o i v s h i s i o o n e b i L n v vs. m Y s k g l u c o n i o o t l t a r a u a l r r o y o n g g i t l e k n n n d h o s i e Totals Total --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Victories 4 7 6 7 8 32 5 8 5 5 8 8 39 Defeats 6 5 6 5 4 26 7 4 7 7 2 3 30 Games played 10 12 12 12 12 58 12 12 12 12 10 11 69 Per cent. of Victories .400 .583 .500 .583 .667 .552 .417 .667 .417 .417 .800 .727 .585 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

EASTERN CLUBS. WESTERN CLUBS.

W P C L B a C i S i o a N B s l t t n u l e r h e t C . c i PHILADELPHIA t w B o i v s h i s i o o n e b i L n v vs. m Y s k g l u c o n i o o t l t a r a u a l r r o y o n g g i t l e k n n n d h o s i e Grand Totals Totals Totals --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Series won 0 1 0 1 1 3 0 1 0 0 1 1 3 6 Series lost 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 3 3 Series tied 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Series unfinished 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 3 "Chicago" victories 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 3 3 "Chicago" defeats 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Single figure victories 2 4 3 3 3 15 3 3 1 2 2 2 13 28 Single figure defeats 2 2 5 5 3 12 2 3 0 3 3 0 10 22 Double figure victories 2 3 3 4 5 17 2 5 4 3 6 6 26 43 Double figure defeats 4 3 1 0 1 8 5 1 7 4 2 3 22 30 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The above table shows that the Philadelphia team in their games with their Eastern opponents had but little difficulty in defeating the Washingtons, besides getting the best of both New York and Brooklyn in the race. But they lost to Baltimore and tied with Boston. With the Western teams they did not do so well, as they only won three out of the six series, they winning easily with Cincinnati by 8 to 2 in won games, while they had but little difficulty with Louisville and Pittsburgh. They lost with Cleveland, Chicago and St. Louis by 5 to 7 each in won games.

THE BROOKLYN CLUB'S CAMPAIGN.

The Brooklyn club opened the season's campaign on April 19th, and at the close of the first day's play, stood tied with Baltimore, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh for fifth place, they standing as low as eleventh position on April 23d. During the May campaign they made but little headway in the race, as, up to May 22d they had got no higher than seventh place. After that they got into the first division for a few days, but at the end of the May campaign they were tied with New York for sixth place; Pittsburgh, on May 31st, being in the van, with Cleveland and Baltimore second and third, Pittsburgh's percentage figures being .710 at this date; the "Orioles" being followed by Boston and Philadelphia. The Brooklyns began the June campaign by leading New York and taking up a position in the first division, occupying sixth place, next to Boston, then in fifth position. By June 19th they had reached fourth place, and they closed their June campaign in third position, Baltimore leading, with Boston second. During the early part of July the Brooklyns fell back to sixth place, and the "Giants" jumped into third position. On July 31st the Brooklyns stood fifth only, and they began falling lower the first week in August, and on the fourth of that month were back in the second division ranks, and after that date "the subsequent proceedings interested them no more," as far as the three leading positions were concerned. They remained in seventh place up to August 21st when they got back into the first division, and on August 31st they were in fifth place. During September there was a close fight between Cleveland and Brooklyn for that position, but finally the Brooklyns retained it at the finish by the percentage figures of .534 to .527, a lead of but seven points. The Brooklyn team made but a poor record against their Eastern team rivals in 1894, but were more successful against the Western clubs. They won but one series in the East, and that was against the tail-end Washingtons, Baltimore, New York and Philadelphia beating them out in the race, while they tied the Bostons. Against the Western clubs they won in three series; tied with two others, and had the series with Cleveland, but they only won four series out of the eleven.

The following tables show the Brooklyn club's record of victories and defeats scored, with the total number of games played and the percentage of victories against each club; also, the record of the series won, lost, tied and unfinished, together with the "Chicago" victories and defeats, and the single and double figure victories and defeats scored by the club during the season of 1894:

THE BROOKLYN CLUB'S RECORD.