At the annual meeting of the League held in Providence R. I., December
6th, 1882, the Worcester and Troy Clubs resigned their membership,
neither of them being cities of sufficient size to support a team as
expensive as one good enough to have a chance for championship honors in
such company must of necessity be, and New York and Philadelphia were
elected to fill the vacancies. At the same time A. G. Mills was elected
to fill the vacancy in the League Presidency caused by the death of Mr.
Hulbert.
The League Circuit in 1883 again consisted of eight cities, while the
number of games necessary to constitute a series had been increased from
twelve to fourteen. The only change in the personnel of the Chicagos was
the substitution of Fred Pfeffer for Joe Quest at second base. The fight
between Chicago and Boston, Providence and Cleveland was veritably a
battle of the giants, and as a result excitement throughout the country
ran high and big crowds everywhere were the rule.
The Boston team, with M. Hines and Hackett as catchers, Buffington and
Whitney, pitchers; Morrill, first base; Burdock, second base; Sutton,
third base; Wise, shortstop; Horning, left field; Smith, center field;
Radford, right field; and Brown, substitute, proved to be a trifle the
strongest, they carrying off the pennant with a total of 63 games won
and 35 lost, while Chicago came next on the list with 59 games won and
39 lost. Providence, which stood third, won 58 games and lost 40, while
Cleveland, which came fourth, had 55 games won and 42 games lost to its
credit.
Buffalo, New York, Detroit and Philadelphia followed in the order named.
Brouthers of the Buffalo team again stood first on the list of batsmen
with a percentage of .371, while your humble servant had fallen down to
the twelfth place on the list, my percentage being .307.
The event of the season, or of the year perhaps, I should say, was the
adoption of a document then known as the tripartite agreement, now known
as the National Agreement, which was formulated by A. G. Mills, John B.
Day and A. H. Soden, representing the League; O. P. Caylor, William
Barnier and Lewis Simmons, representing the American Association, and
Elias Mather of the Grand Rapids, Michigan, Club, acting for the
Northwestern League.
This document, among other things, provided that no contract should be
made for the services of any player for a longer period than seven
months, beginning April 1st and terminating October 31st, and that no
contract for their services should be made prior to October 20th of the
year on which such services terminated.
It also provided that on the 10th day of October of each year the
Secretary of each Association should transmit to the Secretary of each
other Association a reserve list of players, not exceeding fourteen in
number, then under contract with each of its several club members, and
of such players reserved on any prior annual reserve list, who had
refused to contract with said club's members, and of all other eligible
players, and such players, together with all other thereafter to be
regularly contracted with by such club members, are and shall be
eligible to contract with any other club members of either association
party hereto.
The object of this was to prevent what was then at that time a growing
evil, the stealing of players by one club from another, and that it was
successful in that respect there can be no denying.
The reserve clause was not popular with many of the players, however,
and it was this that later on led to the Brotherhood revolt and a
general shaking up in base-ball circles.
Such had been the boom in base-ball in 1883, and so promising did the
outlook seem from a monetary standpoint for a similar boom in 1884 that
Henry V. Lucas, of St. Louis, evidently believing that there was
millions in it, organized and took hold of the short-lived Union
Association, the failure of which wrecked him in both purse and spirit.
This Association was organized at Pittsburg in September, 1883, and was
launched with a great flourish of trumpets, the cities agreed upon for
the circuit being Washington, St. Louis, Altoona, Pa., Boston,
Baltimore, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Chicago.
Of the fifty League players, who, it had been given out, would break
their contracts and join them, not a baker's dozen showed up when the
time came. Only five of the original clubs played out their schedules,
these being the St. Louis, Cincinnati, Boston, Baltimore and Nationals
of Washington, they finishing in the order named, Boston and Baltimore
being tied for the third place.
The Union Association season opened on April 17th. Within six weeks of
that time the Altoona Club gave up the fight, being succeeded by Kansas
City. The Keystone Club of Philadelphia lasted until August, and was
then succeeded by the Wilmington, Del., Club, which had been persuaded
to desert the Eastern League by Mr. Lucas. In September they, too,
passed it up and Milwaukee took the vacant place, they lasting but a
short time.
The Chicago Union Association Club, a weak sister at the best, played
along to almost empty benches until August, when it gave up the fight
and transferred its team to Pittsburg, but that city refused to support
it and it finally gave up the ghost about the middle of September.
In the meantime the League, which had expelled the deserting players,
was having a most exciting and prosperous season, though the majority of
clubs had signed many more players than they had any use for, the object
being to keep them away from the Union Association. For the Chicago Club
that season no less than nineteen players were signed, some of whom were
seldom called upon to play.
The regulars, that is, the men who were depended upon to do the playing,
were Corcoran, Goldsmith and Clarkson, pitchers; Flint and Kelly,
catchers; Anson, first base; Pfeffer, second base; Williamson, third
base; Burns, shortstop; Dalrymple, Gore, Kelly and Sunday in the
outfield.
In some way or other we got started off with the wrong foot first, as
the horsemen would, say, and the end of May found us in the fifth place,
Boston and Providence being the leaders, and at the end of June we had
not improved our position.
From that time on the Providence Club played great ball, the wonderful
endurance of Pitcher Radbourne being one of the features of the season,
and though we rallied in September and October, winning every game that
we played in the last-named month, the best that we could do was to beat
New York for the fourth place, each club winning 62 games and losing 50.
The championship record showed 84 games won and 28 lost for the
Providence Club, 73 games won and 38 lost for Boston, and 64 games won
and 47 lost for Buffalo, while Philadelphia, Cleveland and Detroit
brought up the rear.
In the matter of averages James O'Rourke again led the list, with a
percentage of .350 to his credit.
The position that the club occupied at the close of that season was not
satisfactory to me, as I felt that it should have been better, but there
was no use crying over spilt milk, the only thing to do being to try it
again.
At the close of the season Corcoran, whose pitching days were about
over, was released, as was also Goldsmith, whose work had not been of
the first class, and Clarkson and McCormick, the latter having played
with the Cleveland team the year before, were relied upon to puzzle the
opposing batsmen, the other members of the team being Flint, Kelly,
Anson, Pfeffer, Williamson, Burns, Dalrymple, Gore and Sunday. O. P.
Beard, C. Marr, E. E. Sutcliffe and Joe Brown were all given a trial,
but released early in the season.
The St. Louis Club, of which Mr. Lucas was the President, was taken in
in order to fill the vacancy caused by the withdrawal of Cleveland, and
this act on the part of the League so incensed President Mills that he
resigned, the three offices of President, Secretary and Treasurer being
combined in Nicholas E. Young, who is still at the head of the League
affairs, with headquarters at the National Capital.
The records of 1885 show that there were really but two clubs in the
race from start to finish, these representing the rival clubs of New
York and Chicago, and as between them it was nip and tuck almost to the
last minute.
At the end of the month of May the New York team was in the lead, they
having won 17 out of the 21 games they had played that month, while
Chicago, which stood second, had only won 14 out of the 20 games that it
played. The month of June saw a change in the program, however, Chicago
winning 21 games out of the 23 played that month, while New York only
won 15 out of the 20 that it took part in.
During the month of July it looked like anybody's race as between the
two leaders, each winning 18 games, though Chicago sustained but six
defeats as against seven for the representatives of the Eastern
metropolis. In the succeeding month New York had a shade the better of
it, they winning 18 out of 21 games played, while Chicago won only 15
out of 19. In September it was again our turn, however, and we won 17
games out of 20, New York having to be content with 13 out of 19.
The last of September and the first of October saw the pennant
"cinched," so far as we were concerned. The New Yorks finished the
season with four games at Chicago and three of these they needed in
order to win the championship. They had already won nine out of the
twelve games that they had played with us during the season, and looked
upon the result here as a foregone conclusion. They reckoned without
their host, however, on this occasion, as we won three straight games
from them, the scores being 7 to 4, 2 to 1, and 8 to 3 respectively.
Our totals for the season showed 87 games won and 25 lost, as against 85
games won and 27 lost for the Giants. Philadelphia came third with 56
games won and 54 lost, while Providence occupied the fourth place with
53 games won and 57 lost. Boston, Detroit, Buffalo and St. Louis
finished as named.
There were a good many funny stories told about those closing games
between New York and Chicago. The admirers of the Giants came on to
witness the games in force, and so certain were they that their pets
would win that they wagered their money on the result in the most
reckless fashion.
Even the newspaper men who accompanied them on the trip caught the
contagion. P. J. Donohue, of the New York "World," since deceased, was
one of the most reckless of these. He could see nothing in the race but
New York, and no sooner had he struck the town than he began to hunt for
someone who would take the Chicago end of the deal.
About nine o'clock the night before the playing of the first game he
appeared in the "Inter Ocean" office and announced that he was looking
for somebody who thought Chicago could win, as he wished to wager $100
on the result. He was accommodated by the sporting editor of that paper.
The next night after the Giants had lost P. J. again appeared on the
scene and announced his readiness to double up on the result of the
second game. He was accommodated again, and again. New York was the
loser.
Still a third time did P. J. appear with an offer to double up the whole
thing on the result of the next game. This looked like a bad bet for the
local man, but local pride induced him to make the wager. For the third
time the Giants went down before the White Stockings, and that night P.
J. was missing, but a day or two afterwards he turned up quite
crestfallen, and had a draft on New York cashed in order that he might
get back home again.
Mr. Donohue was not the only man who went broke on the result, however.
There was not a man on the delegation that accompanied the Giants that
did not lose, and lose heavily on the games, which went a long ways
toward illustrating the glorious uncertainties of base-ball.
The season of 1886 saw another change in the National League circuit,
Buffalo and Providence dropping out of the fight. The vacant places were
taken by Kansas City and Washington. The Detroit Club, thanks to a deal
engineered by Fred Stearns, was greatly strengthened by securing the
quartette of players from the Buffalo Club known as the "Big Four,"
these being White, Rowe, Richardson and Brouthers, which made them a
most formidable candidate for championship honors, and which, indeed,
they might have won had it not been for the Philadelphia Club, of which
Harry Wright was the manager.
Commenting on the League season for that year Spalding's Official Guide
for 1887 says: "The past season of 1886 proved to be a very profitable
one to a majority of the eight League clubs, those of Chicago, New York,
Philadelphia, Boston and Detroit all finding it a successful season
financially, while Chicago profited by bearing off the honors of the
League championship for the sixth time during the eleven years'
existence of the National League.
"The clubs of St. Louis, Kansas City and Washington, however, failed to
realize expectations, all three being on the wrong side of the column in
profit and loss, As hitherto, good and bad management of the club teams
had a great deal to do with the results of the season's campaign,
financially and otherwise.
"A feature of the season's championship contest was the telling work
done by the Philadelphia Club. This club closed their first season in
the League as the tail end of the eight clubs which entered the list
that year, the eight including Cleveland, Providence and Buffalo. In
1884 Philadelphia closed the season as sixth. In 1885 they finished
third and in October of 1886 they held third place, but finally had to
close a close fourth, after giving Detroit and Chicago a terrible
shaking up. In fact, the championship games in Philadelphia, the latter
part of September and first week in October, were among the most
noteworthy of the season, for from the 22d of September to the close of
the season in October the club in games with Chicago, Detroit, St.
Louis, Kansas City and Washington won 13, lost 3 and had two draws.
"The struggle for the pennant after the May contest lay entirely between
the Chicago, Detroit, New York and Philadelphia Clubs, the other four
having no show from the very outset.
"A notable incident of the campaign was the fact that in the closing
month it lay entirely in the hands of the Philadelphia Club to decide
whether' the pennant was to go to Detroit or Chicago.
"When Chicago left Philadelphia for Boston the last of September all
Detroit was in a fever of excitement at the prospect of their club's
success. The only question of interest was, 'Would they go through
Philadelphia safely?' It was only when Harry Wright's pony League team
captured the Detroits twice out of four games, one being drawn, that
Chicago felt relief from anxiety as to the ultimate outcome of the
pennant race. It was a gallant struggle by Philadelphia, and it made the
close of the campaign season one of the most exciting on record.
"The League schedule had been raised that season from sixteen to eighteen
games, nine to be played on the grounds of each club, and of these only
twenty-four remained unplayed at the close of the season, fifteen of
which were drawn with the score a tie."
This was one of the hardest seasons that I had ever gone through, and
when it was over I felt that we were lucky, indeed, to have captured the
pennant for the third successive time.
The champion team of that year showed but little change in make-up from
that of the preceding year, Clarkson, McCormick and John Flynn being the
pitchers; Kelly, Flint and Moolie, catchers; Anson, first base; Pfeffer,
second base; Burns, third base; Williamson, shortstop; Dalrymple, left
field; Ryan and Gore, center field; and Sunday, right field.
It was a close race that season between, Mike Kelly and myself for the
batting honors of the League, and Michael beat me out by a narrow margin
at the finish, his percentage being .388 as against .371, while
Brouthers came third on the list with .370.
That was the last season that the championship pennant was flown in
Chicago up to the present writing, and looking back at it now it seems
to me an awful long time ago.