BASEBALL MONTHLY
May 1888
Hotaling Injury Stalls Career Year
Pete Hotaling has been thrilling fans in Chicago since he came up as a young rookie in the 1878 season. The outfielder has always been plauged by inconsistent play however on some days looking like a superstar and on others like an amatuer.
In fact last season Pete heard some of the loudest critisism of his career as the 31 year old outfielder batted only .279 within a lineup that many considered among the best to ever play. Hotaling took the feedback to heart by all accounts worked extra hard this offseason to get his batting eye in order and his game on track, competition after all on a team like Chicago is always a reality.
His determination paid off. Monkey Pete put together two of his best months and played some of the best ball of his career. Hotaling was batting .364 going into May 29 and had driven in 26 runs including scoring 41 of his own, 5th in the league. Still as luck would have it Pete pulled up lame going for a flyball in left field and would have to be removed from the lineup. It is a calf strain and the player will be out for 2 to 3 weeks.
"It comes at the worst time for me" said Pete who had a visible limp "but i will work hard to get back soon, hopefully Pops (Anson) will have a place in the lineup saved for me."
The White Stockings as a team had a rough finish to the month of May. The team went 2-11 in its last 13 games and finished 5 games behind the leading St. Louis Browns. The pitching staff is still way too inconsistent for the teams fortunes, a crucial month of June awaits.
In other news the Chicago front office extended the contract of popular catcher King Kelly. Kelly signed on the dotted line for another three years, Kelly remains the most popular player in the city.
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League NotesBid McPhee becomes the second player this season to hammer three home runs in one game. The second baseman has 13 home runs for the Quakers, before this season this task had never been acomplished.
Jake Beckley of the Boston Beaneaters set a major league record by coming to the plate 10 times in one game. Beckley went 5-10 in an extra inning 12-9 loss to St. Louis.
Denny Lyons the great third baseman for the Philadelphia Quakers will be on the shelf for some time. Lyons broke his arm in a collision and could miss the entire season. Lyons holds the record for most runs in a season with 149.