Part 10
THE WORLD'S CHAMPIONSHIP.
THE FULL RECORD OF THE SERIES.
It has now become an established rule of the National League and the American a.s.sociation, to close each season with a supplementary championship series of games between the teams of the two leading clubs winning the respective championships of the two organizations each year, to decide as to which of the two champion clubs is ent.i.tled to the honor of being the champion club of the United States, and consequently the world's champions in base ball. This supplementary series of games has grown in importance each year since the inaugural trial games of 1884, when a short series of games of this character took place on the Polo Grounds in October, 1884, between the League championship team of the Providence Club and the American championship team of the Metropolitan Club. It was a short series of best two games of the three played, the result being an easy victory for the League team, as the appended record shows:
THE SERIES OF 1884.
Oct. 23, Providence vs. Metropolitan, at the Polo Grounds 6--0 Oct. 24, Providence vs. Metropolitan, at the Polo Grounds 3--1 Oct. 25, Providence vs. Metropolitan, at the Polo Grounds 12--2 Total 21--3
THE SERIES OF 1885.
In 1885 the St. Louis Club first won the honors in the American pennant race, and the Chicago team in that of the League, and in October of that year the rival teams contested for the United States championship in a series of best four out of seven games. Though the series was a far more important one than that of 1884, still the rules governing the special games were not what they should have been, and consequently the result was not satisfactory, as a dispute, followed by a forfeited game, led to a draw contest and an equal division of the gate receipts.
In this series $1,000 was the prize competed for, and as neither team won the series, each club received $500 of the prize money, each winning three games after the first game had been drawn. The record of these games is appended:
Oct. 14, St, Louis vs. Chicago, at Chicago (8 innings) 5-5 Oct. 15, Chicago vs. St. Louis, at St. Louis (6 innings) forfeited 5-4 Oct. 16, St. Louis vs. Chicago, at St. Louis 7-4 Oct. 17, St. Louis vs. Chicago, at St.Louis 3-2 Oct. 22, Chicago vs. St. Louis, at Pittsburg (7 innings) 9-2 Oct 23, Chicago vs. St. Louis, at Cincinnati 9-2 Oct. 24, St. Louis vs. Chicago, at Cincinnati 13-4
Total victories for Chicago, 3: for St. Louis, 3, with one game drawn Total runs scored by Chicago, 43: by St. Louis, 41.
THE SERIES OF 1886.
In 1886 the Chicago and St. Louis club teams again won the championship honors of their respective a.s.sociations, and they again entered the lists for the "world's championship," this series being best out of six games, three being played at Chicago, and three at St. Louis; the winner of the series taking ail the gate receipts. The result was the success of the St.
Louis team, the scores being as follows:
Oct. 18, Chicago vs. St. Louis, at Chicago 6-0 Oct. 19, St. Louis vs. Chicago, at Chicago (8 innings) 12-0 Oct. 20, Chicago vs. St. Louis, at Chicago (8 innings) 11-4 Oct. 21, St. Louis vs. Chicago, at St. Louis (7 innings) 8-5 Oct. 22, St. Louis vs. Chicago, at St. Louis (6 innings) 10-3 Oct. 23, St. Louis vs. Chicago, at St. Louis (10 innings) 4-3
Total runs for St. Louis, 38; for Chicago, 29.
THE SERIES OF 1887.
In 1887 the world's championship series had become an established supplementary series of contests, and in this year these contests excited more interest than had previously been manifested in regard to them, the demands made upon the two contesting teams--the Detroit champions of the League and the St. Louis champions of the American a.s.sociation--for a game of the series from the large cities of the East and West being such as to lead the two clubs to extend the series to one of best out of fifteen games. These were played at St. Louis, Detroit, Chicago, and Pittsburg in the W st, and at New York, Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore in the East. The series began in St. Louis, and the eighth victory of the Detroits was won at Baltimore, St. Louis winning the last game of the series at St. Louis. The record of the fifteen games, showing the pitchers in each contest, is as follows:
Date.
Contesting
Cities.
Pitchers.
Innings.
Score.
Clubs.
-------+-------------+------------+--------------+--------+------ Oct. 10
St. Louis v.
St. Louis
Carruthers,
9
6-1
Detroit
Getzein
" 11
Detroit v.
St. Louis
Conway, Foutz
9
5-3
St. Louis
" 12
" " "
Detroit
Getzein,
13
2-1
Carruthers
" 13
" " "
Pittsburg
Baldwin, King
9
8-0 " 14
St. Louis v.
Brooklyn
Carruthers,
9
5-2
Detroit
Conway
" 15
Detroit v.
New York
Getzein, Foutz
9
9-0
St. Louis
" 17
" " "
Philadelphia
Baldwin,
9
3-1
Carruthers
" 18
" " "
Boston
Baldwin,
9
9-2
Carruthers
" 19
" " "
Philadelphia
Conway, King
9
4-2 " 21
St. Louis v.
Washington
Carruthers,
9
11-4 [1]
Detroit
Getzein
" 21
Detroit v.
Baltimore
Baldwin, Foutz
9
13-3 [2]
St. Louis
" 22
" " "
Baltimore
Baldwin, Foutz
9
13-3 " 24
" " "
Detroit
Baldwin,
9
6-3
Carruthers
" 25
" " "
Chicago
Getzein, King
9
4-3 " 26
St. Louis v.
St. Louis
Carruthers,
6
9-2
Detroit
Baldwin
---------------------------------------------------------------- [Footnote 1: A.M.]
[Footnote 2: P.M.]
THE SERIES OF 1888.
The contest for the world's championship in 1888 was the most exciting and important of any yet played; and the public attention given to the series throughout the entire base ball world, was such as to show that it would be a paying policy on the part of the League and the a.s.sociation to establish a supplementary championship season, to begin on the first of October each year, the series of games to be played including not only that for the world's championship, but also to include contests between the other clubs of each organization so as to settle the question as to which were the eight leading professional teams of the country.
Prior to 1888 but three clubs had partic.i.p.ated in the regular series, and these were: St. Louis on the one hand, and Chicago (twice) and Detroit on the other. In 1888, however, a new League candidate entered the field against the St. Louis champions, and that was the New York club team, it being the first time the two clubs had ever encountered each other. The series arranged between the two clubs was one of ten games, the first six victories to decide the contest. They were commenced at the Polo Grounds on October 16, and the opening contest gave promise of a very interesting series of games, and when the St. Louis team "Chicagoed" their League adversaries the next day the interest in the matches doubled. But the close of the first week's games left New York in the van with a credit of four victories out of the five games played. The contest of the 19th took place in Brooklyn, but the other four were played at the Polo Grounds, the largest attendance of the whole series being that of Sat.u.r.day, Oct. 20, when the receipts exceeded $5,000. At the four games played at the Polo Grounds the aggregate of receipts was $15,405, while the aggregate of receipts at the four games at St. Louis, was but $5,612, less than that at the Sat.u.r.day game at the Polo Grounds the previous week. The game at Brooklyn was marred by the bad weather, while that at Philadelphia was dampened by the lead the New York team had previously attained. The series virtually ended at St. Louis on October 25, when New York won their sixth victory and the championship. After that Ward left the New York team to join the Australian tourists, and the interest in the games ended, the receipts falling off from $2,365 on October 25 to $411 on October 26. The last game of the series was a mere ordinary exhibition game, t.i.tcomb pitching in four innings and Hatfield in four. The player's game on the 28th was even less attractive, the St. Louis team winning easily by 6 to 0, Keefe, Welch and George taking turns in the box for New York. The record of the series in full is as follows:
Date.
Contesting
Cities.
Pitchers.
In's.
Scr.
Rec
Clubs.
-------+-------------+----------+------------+-----+------+ Oct 16
N. York v.
New York
Keefe
St. Louis
King
9
2-1
$2,876 " 17
St. Louis v.
" "
Chamberlain
N. York
Welch
9
3-0
3,375 " 18
N. York v.
" "
Keefe
St. Louis
King
9
4-2
3,530 " 19
" " "
Brooklyn
Crane
Chamberlain
9
6-3
1,502 " 20
" " "
New York
Keefe
King
8
6-4
5,624 " 22
" " "
Phild'l'a
Welch
Chamberlain
8
12-5
1,781 " 24
St. Louis v.
St. Louis
King
N. York
Crane
8
7-5
2,624 " 25
N. York v.
" "
King
St. Louis
Chamberlain
9
11-3
2,365 " 26
St. Louis v.
" "
King
N. York
George
10
14-11
411 " 27
" " "
" "
Chamberlain,
t.i.tcomb
9
18-7
212 Hatfeld,
-------+-------------+----------+------------+-----+------+------------ Total
$24,362 Total Runs--New York, 64; St. Louis, 60.
Pitchers' Victories--Keefe, 4; Welch, 1; King, 2; Chamberlain, 2; Crane, 1.
Pitchers' Defeats--Keefe, 0; Welch, 1; Crane, 1; t.i.tcomb, 1; King, 3; Chamberlain, 3.
THE STATISTICS OF THE GAMES.
THE BATTING FIGURES.
The batting figures of those of the New York team who played in five games and over, are as follows:
PLAYERS.
Games.
A.B.
R.
B.H.
S.B.
Per ct.
B.H.
-----------+------+----+---+----+----+------ Ward
8
28
4
11
6
.393 Ewing
7
26
5
9
5
.346 Tiernan
10
38
8
13
5
.342 O'Rourke
10
36
4
12
3
.333 Whitney
10
37
7
11
3
.297 Connor
7
24
7
6
4
.250 Slattery
10
39
6
8
5
.205 Richardson
9
36
6
6
2
.167 ------------------------------------------
Of those who played in less than five games, the batting figures were as follows:
PLAYERS.
Games.
A.B.
R.
B.H.
S.B.
Per cent.
B.H.
---------+------+----+---+----+----+----- t.i.tcomb
1
4
1
1
O
.500 Gore
3
11
5
5
2
.454 Brown
2
8
1
3
0
.375 George
2
9
2
3
0
.333 Welch
2
7
2
2
0
.286 Hatfield
2
8
2
2
1
.250 Crane
2
7
2
2
0
.143 Murphy
3
10
1
1
0
.100 Keefe
4
11
2
2
0
.090 ------------------------------------------
Of those of the St. Louis team who took part in five games and over, the batting figures were as follows:
PLAYERS.
Games.
A.B.
R.
B.H.
S.B.
Per cent.
B.H.
------------+------+----+----+----+----+------- Milligan
8
25
5
10
0
.400 Comiskey
10
38
6
10
4
.263 Robinson
10
38
7
10
2
.263 O'Neil
10
38
9
10
0
.263 McCarthy
10
41
10
10
4
.244 Latham
10
41
10
9
10
.219 White
10
35
4
5
1
.143 Lyons
5
18
0
2
0
.111 King
5
16
1
1
0
.063 Chamberlain
5
13
3
0
1
.000 ---------------------------------------------
Of those who played in less than five games, the batting figures were as follows:
PLAYERS.
Games.
A.B.
R.
B.H.
S.B.
Per ct.
B.H.
--------+------+----+---+----+----+------- Boyle
4
16
4
6
3
.375 Herr
3
11
2
0
1
.000 Devlin
1
3
0
0
0
.000
THE PITCHERS' FIGURES
The pitchers' figures showing their work in the box, are as follows:
NEW YORK.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- PLAYERS.
Games.
At
Runs.
Earned
Hits.
Totals.
Wild
Struck
Bases
Bat.
Runs.
Pitches.
Out.
on
b.a.l.l.s.
---------+------+-----+-----+------+-----+-------+--------+-------+------- Keefe
4
123
10
2
18
19
0
32
9 Welch
2
56
8
2
10
14
1
3
6 Crane
2
62
10
3
14
17
3
12
6 +------+-----+-----+------+-----+-------+--------+-------+---- Total
8
241
28
7
42
50
4
47
21 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
ST. LOUIS.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- PLAYERS.
Games.
At
Runs.
Earned
Hits.
Totals.
Wild
Struck
Bases
Bat.
Runs.
Pitches.
Out.
on
b.a.l.l.s.
-----------+------+-----+-----+------+-----+-------+--------+-------+----- -- King
5
137
25
8
34
43
2
11
9 Chamberlain
4
210
43
22
64
94
7
14
20 +------+-----+-----+------+-----+-------+--------+-------+----- --- Total
10
347
68
30
98
137
9
25
29 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---
In the fielding figures of pitchers the a.s.sistances on strikes were mixed up with the fielding a.s.sistances which rendered them useless.
The record of the batting and fielding of the two club teams as a whole, is as follows:
