BASEBALL MONTHLY
July 1889
Life On The Farm IS Good
Never in the history of the game of baseball has a player rejected the opportunity to play pro ball and earn a living after being drafted in the first round. This past month however the first round draft pick of the Cincinnati Reds has yet to report to his team and is heading down this path.
Cy Young, the fifth pick in the amatuer draft is not living the dream of a big leager with his new team. In fact Young remains on his farm in Iowa and has been silent to numerous letters and requests by his team to try and get him to put on a uniform. Word is that Red's officials have become frustrated with Young and are even considering giving up on him completely.
The Reds in fact sent a team representative to the farm in town of Gilmore to meet with Young but came back with more questions then answers. Young reportedly isnt convinced on the notion of playing baseball and is said to "like the life he has as a farmer and cant just get up and leave all of his responsibilities." The Reds of course are trying to up their price upon signing the 22 year old but it appears that he may have changed his mind about the sport.
The Reds in the mean time are leading the National League and have a real chance to win their first pennant since 1883. The Reds hold a only a 1.5 game lead over Brooklyn.
Chicago for their part carried their winning streak all the way to eleven games in a row. Still they had an up and down month overall going 16-11 for the month and falling to 6.5 games out of first place.
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The Chicago White Sox along with Pittsburgh havent won anything in their short histories. The "other" Chicago team made two trades this month. The Sox traded for catcher Sy Sutcliffe from Brooklyn and gave away Al Myers. Sutcliffe was a suprize pick up as he has had quite a good year thus far for Brooklyn (.306, 1 , 35).
Tim Keefe is again doing all he can to bring a pennant to Brooklyn. Keefe pithed the 17 shutout of his career and won his 20th game this month making it the 9th time he has won 20 or more in his 11 year career.
Spud Johnson of the St. Louis Browns who has come out of no where to become one of the better hitters in the game will be out for a month. Johnson fractured his ribs and will miss four weeks. The injury may slow Johnson's dream of qualifying for a batting title as he had an average going of .397.
The Cleveland Spiders have shown their manager the door. Only weeks after the New York Giants fired their man the Spiders had enough of Jacob Johnson and sent him packing. The Spiders are 41-66 this season 21.5 games out of first. Some say influencial Al Spalding had alot to do with this departure.