BASEBALL MONTHLY
August 1896
Satisfaction As Colts Win NL Pennant
After 8 years of frustration the Chicago Colts ended their drought and brought home the National League pennant. The Colts wrestled the pennant away from the five time champion Boston Beaneaters and led for most of the season ending the campaign with an 8 game lead.
Many though that Chicago would never have what it took to overcome Boston as the Beaneaters not only won the pennant every season, but dominated Chicago and the rest of the league along the way. Still Al Spalding and the Chicago management has to be given credit as they built and molded a team that could not only batter the baseball but pitch better then anyone else. Chicago ended with the best record in the league at 88-44, and also earned the most wins in their proud franchise history.
Chicago had the highest average in the league (.317) and scored the most runs (825). The team ERA was tops in the league (2.95) as were least runs allowed 570. The team had numerous big stars but on the mound the resurgance of Charlie Geggus was enourmous as the right hander went 27-10 and lead the league in strike outs with 245. Along with Geggus of course was Al Orth who went 28-11 and threw for over 369 innings on the year.
The bats had their usual stars of Sam Thompson and Hughie Jennings but the emergence of Fred Clark at the top of the order was key. Clark led the team in average with a .388 clip and had 209 hits along with 118 runs. The Colts had no easy outs up and down their lineup and should be strong for years to come, even with the pending retirement of great Cap Anson.
No one is resting on their laurels however as the World Series awaits. The Cleveland Spiders overtook the Washington Senators easily to win the Western League for the third straight seasson. The Spiders are the only original franchise city that still hasnt won a World Series, they will be the underdog again.
The Spiders are led by star pitcher Charlie Fergusen who has come back just in time from an elbow injury to lead the staff. Roger Conner and Mike Tiernan are super at the plate for a team that had the best average in the Western League (.303).
Charlie Fergusen
Still Chicago can reslish their pennant winning season as some of the fans chanted, "The King is dead. Boston is dead".
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| Catchers | | # | B | Player | Pos | G | AB | H | HR | RBI | R | BB | K | .AVG | OBP | SLG | | 96 | R | Billy Earle | C | 105 | 424 | 133 | 4 | 76 | 71 | 31 | 50 | .314 | .362 | .401 | | 1 | L | Tim Donahue | C | 60 | 177 | 52 | 1 | 38 | 29 | 20 | 9 | .294 | .369 | .395 | | 28 | S | Tub Welch | C | 16 | 63 | 20 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 5 | .317 | .348 | .397 |
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Final Standings
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League Notes New York has a new darling as Honus Wagner finally made his big league debut in the big city. Wagner took a while to sign but lived up to the hype batting .345 with 3 home runs and 10 RBI in 14 games.
Jesse Burkett was the only batter this season to get over the magical .400 mark. The "Crab" batted .405 for the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, Burkett played most of the year in Boston.