BASEBALL MONTHLY
April 1888
Beaneaters Back; Swartwood Slams Three
After all of the offseason talk about how the Boston Beaneaters were dead and the crosstown rival Americans had taken over, the Beaneaters are back into contention for the affections of the city of Boston.
Indeed the Amercicans are the defending World Champions but through an aggresive effort, the Beaneaters are back tugging at the hearstrings of some of their old fans. The Beaneaters have opened the new season 14-9 and are only 1 game out of first place after the opening month. New star Ed Delahanty has had a great impression on his new team and has started his first full season in Boston batting .330 with 16 stolen bases. Big Ed is just the type of player to get an organization excited again.
Ross Barnes the ultimate man of Boston who has been a star in baseball for as long as anyone can remember and has been a member of this Boston team since it started has been a big influence. Barnes made a number of offseason appearances and has been vocal in trying to get a fanbase back to the South End Grounds. Barnes is batting .295 so far this year at the ripe age of 37.
Attendance numbers for the Beaneaters has increased to an average of 2146 fans a game, up from 701 last season.
Ed Swartwood, a 29 year old right fielder for the Baltimore Orioles, acomplished a fist for the game of baseball. On April 22nd Swartwood hit three home runs in a single game against the Boston Americans becoming the first player ever to do so. Swartwood has seven homeruns thus far on the young season and has his eye on the 23 home run single season reacord currently held by Jerry Denny.
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Kelly Out With Bad Ankle; Whites In Race
King Kelly suffered a bad ankle injury early in the season while running the bases. The Whites popular catcher wont be back until mid May as the injury is quite serious and walking without a cane the past week has been impossible.
The Whites are 14-10 on the new season and still havent had all the success they would like to have from their pitching arms. Geore Derby has yet to throw a pitch in the new year as the team remains cautious with his fragile arm. The team ERA of 3.06 is only good enough for 6th in the national league. An embarassing 23-7 loss to the Reds on April 21st at home spotlighted what can and will go wrong with the team.
Cap Anson continues to produce at all levels. The Chicago legend won the player of the month award around baseball in April and is batting .361 with 24 RBI.
Still no one is Chicago expects less then a pennant this season as always on the West side of town.
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League NotesThe Cincinnati Red Stockings have signed their star for an additional five years. Jack Glasscock is a .291 career hitter and has driven in 455 runs in his career. At 30 years old the second baseman hopes to finish his career in the Queen City.
Roger Connor will miss 3 weeks with an oblique strain. The Cleveland Blues are trying to stay in the pennant race and have even depended on such arms as that of Al Spalding who was even called on to make a spot start and looks fully recovered from his injury.
Dan Brouthers is simple being himself and leads the league in most offensive catagories batting .432 to start the 1888 season.