The first thing that impresses the stranger in London is the immensity
of the city, and the great crowds that continually throng the streets
night and day, for London never sleeps.
The first day after our arrival I noted numerous changes that had taken
place in various quarters since my visit of fifteen years before, during
which time the city seemed to have grown and spread out in every
direction. The hotel where we were quartered was in close proximity to
the Strand, one of London's greatest and busiest thoroughfares, and here
the crowds were at all times of the most enormous proportions, the
absence of street car and the presence of hundreds of hansom cabs and
big double-decked tramways running in every direction being especially
noticeable. The weather at the time of our visit was cold, foggy and
disagreeable, and as a result our sight-seeing experiences were somewhat
curtailed and not as pleasant as they might have been.
The date of our first appearance on English soil was March 12th, and
prior to the game on that occasion we were given a reception and
luncheon in the Club House of the Surrey County Cricket Club at
Kensington Oval, which is the personal property of the Prince of Wales,
and one of the most popular of the many cricket grounds the are to be
found within the vicinity of the world's greatest metropolis. The
committee appointed to receive the players on this occasion embraced
among others the Duke of Beaufort, Earl of Landsborough, Earl of
Coventry, Earl of Sheffield, Earl of Chesborough, Lord Oxenbridge, Lord
Littleton, Lord Hawke, Sir Reginald Hanson, Bart., Sir W. T. Webster,
Attorney General, the Lord Mayor, American Consul General, American
Charge d'Affaires, and Dr. W. D. Grace, the world-famous cricket player,
with whom I had become well acquainted during the trip of 1874. It had
rained that morning and when we left the hotel in drags for the grounds
the streets of London were enveloped in a fog so thick that one could
almost cut it with a knife, while the prospects of a ball game seemed to
the most of us exceedingly dubious. Arriving at the Club House we were
presented to the different members of the reception committee, who, in
spite of the high-sounding titles that they bore, were a most affable
lot of men, and to many of the most prominent club members, all of whom
gave us a warm welcome and made us feel thoroughly at home. Lord
Oxenbridge, a fine specimen of the English nobility, acted as chairman
of the assemblage, and after luncheon proposed the toasts of "The Queen"
and "The President of the United States," both of which were drank with
enthusiasm. Lord Lewisham then proposed "The American Ball Teams," to
which Mr. Spalding responded, this being followed by the health of the
chairman, proposed by the Hon. Henry White, United States Charge
d'Affaires, after which we made our way through the crowds that thronged
the reception rooms and corridors to the dressing rooms, where we donned
our uniforms and put ourselves in readiness to play ball. When we
marched out on the grounds we were somewhat surprised at the size of the
crowd that greeted us, some 8,000 people having assembled to witness the
game, and this in spite of the fact that it was still foggy and the
grounds soft, black and sticky. To play good ball under such
circumstances was all but impossible, and yet I have taken part in lots
of championship games at home that were worse played than this one.
Healy and Baldwin did the twirling, and both pitched good ball, while
the fielding of both teams was nothing short of remarkable when the fact
is taken into consideration that a ball fifty feet in the air could not
be seen at all. Just at the end of the first half of the third inning we
noticed something of a commotion in the vicinity of the Club House and
when, in a few moments afterwards, the well-known face of the Prince of
Wales appeared at the window, we assembled at the home plate and gave
three hearty cheers for His Highness, this action on our parts bringing
out a storm, of applause from the stand. At the close of the fifth
inning we accompanied Manager Lynch to the Club House at the Prince's
request, where we were introduced to the future King of England by
President Spalding, he shaking hands with each of us in a most cordial
manner, calling many of us by name and chatting with us in a most
off-hand and friendly way. As we left he bowed to each of us pleasantly
and then took a seat by the window to witness the balance of the game,
which resulted at the end of nine innings in a score of 7 to 4 in
Chicago's favor. The London papers the next morning devoted a great
deal of space to the game, but the majority of the Englishmen who had
witnessed it said that they thought cricket its superior, and among
them the Prince of Wales, which was hardly to be wondered at, and which
confirmed me in the opinion that I had formed on my first visit, viz.,
that base-ball would never become a popular English sport, an opinion
that since then has proved to be correct.
Accompanied by the United States Charge d'Affaires the next morning we
drove to the Parliament Buildings, where we were admitted and shown
through by the Secretary to the Chairman of the House of Commons, an
honor rarely accorded to visitors and one that we greatly appreciated.
From the great hall where Charles the First and Warren Hastings were
tried and which had been badly wrecked by the explosion of a dynamite
bomb two years before, we passed into the Crypt and Committee rooms, and
thence through the magnificent corridors decorated with paintings, each
of which cost thousands of pounds. The House of Lords was next visited,
the Woolsack and Queen's Seat, and the seats of the various members
being pointed out to us by the Secretary. From the House of Lords we
passed into the House of Commons, where Sir William Harcourt was
speaking upon "The Treatment of Political Prisoners in Ireland," and
where several famous personages were pointed out to us, though much to
our regret we missed seeing Mr. Gladstone, who was expected to enter
every moment, but who did not appear up to the time of our leaving for
Westminster Abbey, where we had just time to glance about us before
driving to Lord's Cricket Grounds, where we were to play that afternoon,
and where we were greeted by a crowd of 7,000 people. These grounds,
which are particularly fine, we found that afternoon in excellent
condition and as a result we played a great game and one that evidently
pleased the spectators, the batting being heavy, the fielding sharp and
quick and the base running fast and brilliant. Errors at the' last
moment by Baldwin and myself gave the All-Americas this game, they
winning by a single run, the score standing 7 to 6.
That evening, at the invitation of Henry Irving, now Sir Henry, and Miss
Ellen Terry, we occupied boxes at the Lyceum Theater, being invited back
of the scenes between the acts to enjoy a glass of wine and to receive
the well wishes of our host and hostess, who still stand at the head of
their profession.
The day following, which was March 14th, we played upon the Crystal
Palace Grounds, which are located at Sydenham, one of the most popular
residence districts of the great city and within plain sight of the
magnificent Palace of Crystal, that is one of the many famous places of
interest with which London abounds. Here another large and enthusiastic
crowd of 6,000 people greeted us, and there was more cheering and
excitement than we had yet heard since our arrival in England. It was
another pretty and close game, in which the All-Americas carried off the
honors by a score of 5 to 2, the batting, fielding and base running of
both teams being again above the average.
At seven o'clock the next morning we left London for Bristol, the home
of the famous cricketers, Dr. W. G. and Mr. E. M. Grace, whose exploits
in the batting line have made them celebrated in the annals of the
English National Game. Our journey to Bristol was a delightful one and
when we arrived there at noon we were met by a committee composed of the
Duke of Beaufort, Dr. Grace and the officials of the Gloucester County
Cricket Club, and driven to the Grand Hotel, where introductions were in
order. The Duke of Beaufort was certainly:
"A fine old English gentleman,"
and one who, in spite of his sixty years, was greatly interested in
athletic sports. After a good dinner, over which His Grace presided and,
after the usual toasts had been proposed and drank, we were driven to
the Gloucester Cricket Grounds, which had but just been completed, at a
cost of some twelve thousand pounds, and which were as pretty and
well-equipped as any grounds in England. The day was a beautiful one and
the grounds in splendid condition, but for all that the game lacked the
snap and go that had characterized the games in London, the Chicagos
winning by a score of 10 to 3. After the game the Chicago team took the
field and Ryan and Crane pitched while the Grace brothers and other
cricketers tried their hand at batting, but were unable to do anything
with the swift delivery of the Americans, and it was not until they had
slowed down that they managed to land on the ball, Dr. Grace making the
only safe hit of the day.
That night found us back in London, where the next afternoon we played
our farewell game in the great metropolis on the grounds of the Essex
County Club at Layton, before a crowd that numbered 8,000 people, Crane
and Earle and Baldwin and Daly being the batteries. This game was full
of herd hitting and, though the score, 12 to 6 in favor of Chicago,
would not have pleased an American crowd, it tickled the English people
immensely, the London press of the next morning declaring it to be the
best game that we had yet played in England. A throwing contest had been
arranged to take place after the game between Crane and Conner, an
Australian cricketer, but the latter backed out at the last moment and
Crane merely gave an exhibition, throwing a cricket ball Ito yards and a
base ball 120 yards and 5 inches. That evening we were banqueted by
stockholders of the Niagara Panorama Company, and among the guests was
the Duke of Beaufort, who "dropped in," as he put it, "to spend the
evening with this fine lot of fellows from America."
When we left London the next morning it was in a special train provided
by the London and Northwestern Railway Company, consisting of nine cars,
two of which were dining saloons, two smoking and reception cars, and
the balance sleepers, each of the latter being made to accommodate from
six to eight persons comfortably. The exterior of the train was
exceedingly handsome, the body-color being white enamel with trimmings
of gold and seal brown and the Royal Arms in gold and scarlet on the
carriage doors, while upon each side of the coaches was the inscription
in brown letters, "The American Base-Ball Clubs." The interior of the
train was equally as handsome, and even royalty itself could not been
better provided. Some 500 people were on hand to see us off and we
pulled out of London with the cheers of our friends ringing in our ears.
The run to Birmingham occupied but three hours, and arriving there we
were escorted to the Colonnade Hotel by a delegation from the
Warwickshire County Cricket Club, where the usual reception was accorded
us. Then, after going to the Queen's Hotel for luncheon, we were driven
to the handsomely located and prettily equipped grounds of the club,
where, in spite of the threatening weather, 3,000 people had assembled.
This game was one that would have delighted an American crowd, game
being called at the end of the tenth inning on account of darkness with
the score a tie, each team having four runs to its credit, Baldwin and
Healy both pitching in fine style. That evening we were the guests of
honor at the Prince of Wales Theater, returning after the play was over
to our sleeping apartments on the train.
At nine o'clock the next morning we left for Sheffield, the great
cutlery manufacturing town of England, our route leading through the
beautiful hills of Yorkshire. Here we were the guests of the Yorkshire
County Cricket Club, and after luncheon at the Royal Victoria were
driven to the Bramhall Lane grounds, one of the oldest and most famous
of England's many athletic parks, where we were greeted by a crowd that
was even larger than' the one before which we had played at Birmingham.
It was raining hard when we began play but we kept on for four innings,
after which the rain came down so fast and the ground became so muddy
that we were compelled to quit. We waited about for an hour in hopes
that the rain might cease, but as it did not we finally went back to our
quarters. At the invitation of Miss Kate Vaughan we spent the evening at
the Royal Theater, where, as usual, we attracted fully as much attention
as the play.
Snow was falling in great feathery flakes when we left Sheffield the
next morning and, started for Bradford, and though we discovered an
improvement in the weather when we reached our destination we found the
grounds of the Bradford Foot-ball and Cricket Club in a condition that
was utterly unfit for base-ball playing purposes. To make matters worse
it began to rain while we were getting into our uniforms and a chilly
wind swept across the enclosure. Four thousand people braved the
inclement weather to see us play, however, and the members' stand
presented a funny appearance crowded with ladies in waterproofs and
mackintoshes, while the rows of black umbrellas that surrounded the
field made it look like a forest of toadstools. It looked like sheer
folly to attempt to play under such circumstances, but at the entreaties
of the Cricket Club's Secretary, who said that a game of three innings
would satisfy the crowd, we started in and we gave a good exhibition,
too, but the state of our uniforms after it was over can be better
imagined than described.
We arrived at Glasgow the next morning in time for breakfast, having
been whirled across the borders of Scotland in the night, and when we
awoke we found the train surrounded by a crowd of curious sightseers.
After luncheon we started for the West of Scotland Cricket Club grounds,
wearing overcoats over our uniforms, the air being decidedly chilly. It
was fairly good playing weather after we once got warmed up, and the
3,000 spectators saw a good game, lasting seven innings, and also saw
the All-Americas win by a score of 8 to 4. Mr. and Mrs. Osmond Tearle
were that night playing "King Lear" at the Grand Theater, and
entertained us very handsomely. On this trip thus far we had had but
little opportunity for sight-seeing save the passing glimpses of scenery
that we could obtain from the flying train and in the carriage rides to
and from the grounds upon which we played.
The next morning found us in Manchester, we having left Glasgow at
midnight, and at Manchester, the day being a pleasant one, we had some
little opportunity of looking about. What we saw of the town impressed
us most favorably, the streets being wide and clean, and the buildings
being of a good character. The Old Trafford grounds on which we played
that afternoon were beautifully situated and, in point of natural
surroundings and equipments, held their own with the best in England.
Through the gates 3,500 people passed, and they were treated to a
rattling exhibition of "base-ball as she is played," the score being
twice tied, and finally won by the All-Americas by a score of 7 to 6,
Tener and Healy doing the twirling. That evening we were banqueted at
the rooms of the Anglo-French Club by Mr. Raymond Eddy, who was then
acting as the European representative of the Chicago house of John V,
Farwell & Co., he being assisted in entertaining us by Major Hale,
United States Consul at Manchester. This proved to be a most pleasant
occasion, and the kindness shown us by both Mr. Eddy and Major Hale
still remains a pleasant memory.
At seven o'clock the next morning we were at Liverpool, where I met many
of the friends that I had made on my previous visit, and where we were
to play our last game on English soil. We were driven to the Colice
Athletic Grounds that afternoon in a coach with seats for twenty-eight
persons, and arriving at the grounds we found a big crowd already inside
and a perfect jam at the gates, the big carriage entrance finally giving
way and letting in some five hundred or more people before the rush
could be stopped by the police. As the paid admissions after the game
showed an attendance of 6,500, it is fair to assume that there were at
least 7,000 people on the grounds. Five innings of base-ball were played
and the score was a tie, each team scoring but three, only one hit being
made off Baldwin and four off Crane.
A game of "rounders" between a team from the Rounders' Association of
Liverpool and an American eleven with Baldwin and Earl as the battery,
and with Tener, Wood, Fogarty, Brown, Hanlon, Pfeffer, Manning, Sullivan
and myself in the field was played. The bases in this game instead of
being bags are iron stakes about three feet high, the ball the size of a
tennis ball, and the batting is done with one hand and with a bat that
resembles a butter-paddle in shape and size. A base-runner has to be
retired by being struck with the ball, and not touched with it, and the
batter must run the first time he strikes at the ball, whether he hits
it or not. Of course the Rounders' Association team beat us, the score
being 16 to 14, but when they came to play us two innings at our game
afterwards the score stood at 18 to o in our favor, the crowd standing
in a drenching rain to witness the fun.
At nine o'clock that night we took the train for Fleetwood, on the
shores of the Irish Channel, and at eleven we were on board of the
little steamer "Princess of Wales" and bound for Ireland. Unlike our
experience in the English Channel, this trip proved to be most
delightful and we arrived in Belfast in the pink of condition for
anything that might turn up. It was Sunday morning and as we drove up to
the Imperial Hotel on Royal Avenue the streets were as quiet as a
country church yard. Towards evening, however, Royal Avenue began to
take on a gala appearance, conspicuous among the promenaders being the
Scotch Highland Troops, whose bright costumes lent color to the scene.
About nine o'clock it began to rain again and it was still raining when
we retired for the night. The next morning was full of sunshine and
showers, but towards noon it cleared up and after luncheon we were off
in drags for the North of Ireland Cricket Club Grounds, where we put up
another great game and one where a crowd of 3,000 people, among which
pretty Irish girls without number were to be seen, were the spectators.
At the end of the eighth inning the score stood 8 to 7 in our favor, but
in the ninth singles by Wood and Healy and a corking three-bagger to
left field by Earle sent two men across the place and gave the victory
to All-America by a score of 9 to 8. A banquet at the Club House that
evening, over which the Mayor of Belfast presided, kept us out till a
late hour, and at an early hour the next morning we were off for Dublin
City,
"Where the boys are all so gay
And the girls are all so pretty,"
according to the words of an old song. The porter who woke us up that
morning must have been a relative of Mr. Dooley, of the Archer road, if
one might judge from the rich brogue with which he announced the hour of
"'Arf pawst foive, wud he be gittin' oop, sur? It's 'arf pawst foive."
Between Belfast and Dublin we passed through a beautiful section of the
country, catching now and then among the trees glimpses of old ivy-grown
castles and whirling by farms in a high state of cultivation. At Dublin,
where we arrived at eleven o'clock, we were met by United States Consul
McCaskill and others and driven to Morrison's Hotel. This was a day off
and many of the boys who had relatives in Ireland within reaching
distance took advantage of the fact to pay them a visit. Mrs. Anson and
I spent the day in driving about the city visiting Phoenix Park and
other places of interest, and that evening we attended the "Gaiety
Theater," where a laughable comedy called "Arabian Nights" was being
played.
The next day we played our last game in a foreign land, the weather
being all that could be desired for the purpose. Prior to the game,
however, we called at the Mansion House and were received by the Lord
Mayor of Dublin, who gave us a genuine Irish welcome.
Our drive to the Landsdown Road Grounds took us through many of the best
parts of the city, which is beautiful, and can boast of as many handsome
women as any place of its size in the world.
The game that we played that afternoon was one of the best of the entire
trip, from an American base-ball critic's point of view, though the
score was too small to suit a people educated up to the big scores that
are generally reached in cricket matches. Baldwin and Crane were both on
their mettle and the fielding being of the sharpest kind safe hits were
few and far between. Up to the ninth inning Chicago led by two runs, but
here Earle's three-bagger, Hanlon's base on balls, Burns' fumble of
Brown's hit and Carroll's double settled our chances, the All-Americas
winning by a score of 4 to 3.
This game made a total of twenty-eight that we had played since leaving
San Francisco, of which the All-Americas had won fourteen and the
Chicagos eleven, three being a tie, and had it not been for the accident
in Paris that deprived us of Williamson's services, I am pretty certain
that a majority of the games would have been placed to Chicago's credit.
In the evening we left for Cork over the Southern Railway in three
handsomely-appointed coaches decorated with American flags and bearing
the inscription "Reserved for the American Base-Ball Party." We arrived
at two o'clock the next morning, being at once driven to the Victoria
Hotel. The same day we visited Blarney Castle, driving out and back in
the jaunting cars for which Ireland is famous, and, though I kissed the
blarney stone, I found after my return home that I could not argue my
beliefs into an umpire any better than before. That night we left the
quaint city of Cork behind and, after a beautiful ride of eleven miles
by train, found ourselves standing on the docks at Queenstown, where a
tender was in waiting to convey us to the White Star steamer that
awaited us in the offing.