Spalding's Baseball Guide And Official League Book For 1889 Part 2

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 a.s.surance 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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 champions.h.i.+p 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 champions.h.i.+p 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 champions.h.i.+p 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 champions.h.i.+p 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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 champions.h.i.+p 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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 champions.h.i.+p 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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 champions.h.i.+p 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 Burd.i.c.k 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. Was.h.i.+ngton O'Day 14 9-7 Aug. 15 Boston Boston Radbourne v. Detroit Beatin 12 4-3 April 21 Boston Was.h.i.+ngton Clarkson v. Was.h.i.+ngton O'Day 11 1-0 June 19 Boston Was.h.i.+ngton Sowders v. New York Keefe 11 8-7 April 30 Boston New York Clarkson v. New York Welch 10 4-3 April 28 Boston Was.h.i.+ngton Sowders v. Was.h.i.+ngton Daily 10 4-3 July 30 Indianapolis Detroit Burd.i.c.k 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 Was.h.i.+ngt'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 t.i.tcomb 10 2-2

The following is the record of the victories scored by the eight League Clubs on home grounds in the champions.h.i.+p 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 3 2 5 2 3 4 3 -- 22 ------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---++--- Games Lost 23 26 31 29 26 30 35 38 238

[Ill.u.s.tration: JOHN B. DAY, NEW YORK]

[Ill.u.s.tration: F. K. STEARNS DETROIT]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A. G SPALDING, CHICAGO.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: F. DE H ROBINSON, CLEVELAND]

LEAGUE CLUB PRESIDENTS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: W. A. NIMICK, PITTSBURG.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: J. T. BRUSH, INDIANAPOLIS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: WALTER F. HEWETT, WAs.h.i.+NGTON.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A. J. REACH, PHILADELPHIA.]

LEAGUE CLUB PRESIDENTS.

THE LESSONS OF THE LEAGUE CAMPAIGN OF 1888.

Among the noteworthy results of the League champions.h.i.+p campaign of 1888 meriting special comment as affording lessons to be profited by in the future, may be named, first, the success of the Eastern Club of New York, in winning the pennant from the West; secondly, that of the Chicago Club in attaining second place in the race in the face of drawbacks which, under any other management, would have sufficed to have left the Club among the tail-enders; and thirdly, the remarkable failure of the Boston Club to attain even one of the three leading positions in the race, after that club had incurred such a heavy expense in strengthening its team with "star" players. The success of the New York Club in winning the champions.h.i.+p, introducing, as it did, a new possessor of the League pennant and its accompanying honors, may justly be regarded as an advantage to the general interests of the National League, inasmuch as it is anything but desirable that one club should, season after season, carry off the honors, as the old Boston Club did in the early history of the professional champions.h.i.+p contest; or as the Chicago Club has done in monopolizing the champions.h.i.+p of the National League during the past thirteen years of its history. Such monopoly of the honors of each season's campaign, by one or two of the leading clubs of each year, materially lessens the public interest taken in the annual compet.i.tion.

Besides which, it interferes, to a costly extent, with the financial prosperity of a majority of the competing clubs. Now that a club, new to champions.h.i.+p honors, has replaced one of the monopolists, the other previously unsuccessful clubs will begin to entertain hopes of being able to "get in at the death," as the fox hunters say, in future pennant races, if not this ensuing year, and thereby a new interest will be imparted to coming campaigns.

A feature of the past campaign of 1888 worthy of remark, too, is the fact of the surprisingly good work on the field accomplished by the so-called "weakened Chicago team." While this work was unquestionably due in a great measure to able management, the a.s.sisting element of "temperance in the ranks" had much to do with it. It is equally unquestionable that the very reverse had a great deal to do with the lamentable failure of the Boston team to follow up the success with which that club's team opened the campaign. The contrast, these two clubs presented in this special respect calls for the most earnest consideration of the vital question of insisting upon temperate habits in all the club teams during the period of the champions.h.i.+p season each year. The evil of drunkenness among the professional teams is one which has grown upon the fraternity until it has become too costly an abuse to be longer tolerated. Drunken professionals should be driven from service just as the crooks of a dozen years ago were, never to be allowed to return. Drunken players are not only a costly drawback to success individually, but they permeate the whole baseball fraternity with a demoralizing influence. The fact is, professional baseball playing has arrived at that point of excellence, and reached so advanced a position in regard to its financial possibilities, that it will no longer pay, in any solitary respect, to allow players of drinking habits in first-cla.s.s teams. The demands of the game, as it is now played, are such as to require a player to have all his wits about him to play ball up to the standard it has now reached. He needs the steadiest of nerves, the clearest eyesight, the most unclouded judgment, and the healthiest physique to play the game as it is required to be done by the exacting public patrons of the present day. Another thing, the capitalists who have ventured thousands of dollars in baseball stock companies, can no longer allow their money to be risked in teams which are weakened by the presence of men of drinking habits. Mr. Spalding's plucky and most successful experiment has conclusively shown that a baseball team run on temperance principles can successfully compete with teams stronger in other respects, but which are weakened by the toleration of drinking habits in their ranks. Here is a lesson taught by the campaign of 1888 which points a moral, if it does not adorn a tale.

Another special lesson of the past campaign which was practically ill.u.s.trated by the Boston Club was, that star players do not make a winning team. The fact is, the pennant cannot be won by any costly outlay in securing the services of this, that, or the other "greatest player in the country." It is well managed and harmonious teams, not picked nines led by special stars, which win in the long run. Now and then--as there are exceptions in all cases--a picked nine will attain a certain degree of success. But for steady struggles for permanent success in the professional champions.h.i.+p arena, team work of the very best, and admirably managed teams will alone achieve steady victory. The old Boston teams under Harry Wright, and the Chicago teams under Anson, are a standing proof of this fact. Let the National League magnates ponder these truths earnestly.

THE LEAGUE PITCHING OF 1888.

While there is no more reliable a record, by which to estimate a pitcher's skill in the box, than the figures showing the runs clean earned off the pitching; in the absence of such figures the best criterion is that of the record of victories and defeats pitched in, the percentage of victories to games played being the deciding point in awarding the palm of superior work in the box. In 1888 the pitchers were handicapped by the absurd rule which charged runs scored on bases on b.a.l.l.s as _earned_ runs, successive bases on b.a.l.l.s giving an earned run to the batting side, even in the absence of a single base hit. To estimate a pitcher's skill on such a basis is nonsense. As the scoring rules do not admit of the record of data showing runs clean earned off the pitching, and not off the fielding and pitching combined, we are obliged to make up a record of the percentage of victories as the only reliable figures at command on which to judge the pitching of the season. By and by the Committee of Conference will get out of the old rut in this respect, and then correct data will be available; until then we must do the best we can under the circ.u.mstances, and consequently the names of the pitchers of the League Clubs who took part in not less than ten games are appended, and these are placed in the order of the best percentage of victories.

P e r c P e l n L a t W o y a o s e g n t d e PITCHERS. CLUB. . . . .

--+-----------+------------+---+---+---+----- 1 Keefe New York 35 12 47 .745 2 Conway Detroit 31 14 15 .689 3 Buffinton Philadelphia 29 15 44 .659 4 Sanders Philadelphia 19 10 29 .655 5 Krock Chicago 25 14 39 .641 6 t.i.tcomb New York 14 8 22 .636 7 Clarkson Boston 33 20 53 .623 8 Tener Chicago 7 5 12 .583 9 Welch New York 26 19 45 .577 10 Sowders Boston 19 15 34 .559 11 Morris Pittsburg 29 24 53 .547 12 Van Haltren Chicago 13 11 24 .542 13 Staley Pittsburg 12 12 24 .500 14 Burd.i.c.k Indianapolis 10 10 20 .500 15 Galvin Pittsburg 23 25 48 .479 16 Whitney Was.h.i.+ngton 19 21 40 .475 17 Baldwin Chicago 13 15 28 .464 18 Gruber Detroit 11 13 24 .458 19 Crane New York 5 6 11 .455 20 Casey Philadelphia 14 19 33 .424 21 Beatin Detroit 5 7 12 .417 22 Getzein Detroit 18 26 44 .409 23 Boyle Indianapolis 15 22 37 .405 24 Madden Boston 7 12 19 .368 25 Widner Was.h.i.+ngton 4 7 11 .364 26 O'Day Was.h.i.+ngton 16 31 47 .340 27 Shreve Indianapolis 11 24 35 .314 28 Radbourne Boston 7 16 23 .304 29 Gleason Philadelphia 7 17 24 .292

Some remarkable pitching was done during the season of 1888, alike in the American arena, as in the League. The strategic work was up to a very high mark in the League, and in this, Keefe, Conway, Buffinton, Clarkson, Welch, Galvin, and Morris bore off the palm, while in speed alone, Crane of New York excelled.

The detailed record of victories and defeats pitched in during the champions.h.i.+p campaign of 1888 by those who pitched in at least five victories, is as follows. The names are given in the order of most victories and fewest defeats:

VICTORIES.