BASEBALL MONTHLY
August 1897
World Series Repeat Set
Picking off where they left off in 1896 the Chicago Colts and the Cleveland Blues will battle for the championship of baseball once again. Few can say going into the year that they are suprzied at the two pennant winning sides, but maybe the way especially one of them got there came as a big suprize.
The Boston Americans lead the Western League for most of the season and six full games going into the final month of the season. Boston however lost 11 of 13 games inlcuding a three game sweep at the hands of the Spiders to see their lead evaporate. Cleveland however won 15 of 18 games and turned on their pennant run at the perfect time of year. In the final series of the season however the Americans did sweep the Philadelphia A's on the road while the Spiders took only two out of three from the White Sox and both teams ended the 1897 season with identical 82-50 records.
In only the second one game playoff in history, the two teams faced off at Huntington Avenue Grounds for the claim of the pennant. The game wasnt even close as Charlie Reily drove in four and the Spiders completed their August comeback with an 11-5 clinching win, their fourth pennant in as many years.
The Colts closed things out will less of a commotion, the Colts lead the National League for most of the season except for a small bump in June when they actually lost the lead to the upstart Pitsburgh Pirates. Chicago in fact spent most of the last month of the season celebrating star Cap Anson who is in his final season, even if we have heard him say so before.
"This is definately my last year." says the 45 year old Anson, "I already have plans to see the world and get away from the game for a while."
The World Series itself should be a great one with the Chicago team vowing revenge. Still both teams go into the series with major stars on the injured list and not elgible to play. For Chicago their leader on the infield Hughie Jennings has a badly strained oblique and wont play unless the series goes six or seven games. The Spiders will be missing center fielder Jake Stenzel who has a badly sprained ankle and wont be back at all for the Fall Classic. Steve Brodie will also miss the opening game in Chicago with a leg injury.
Charlie Geggus is set to face Joe Corbett in the opener on August 27th.
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League Notes
Dusty Miller of the Pittsburgh Pirates was the only hitter to bat over .400 for the season and he did it with ease finishing with a .420 average. Miller had the 5th highest average in league history.
Willie Keeler now has the highest career batting average in the game's history with an incredible .378 mark over his seven year career.
Bob Black of the Boston Beaneaters has become the only player in league history with over 3000 strikeouts.
A recent call by former players and league media members to consider Ross Barnes and Cy Bentley more seriously for the Hall of Fame. The two players were among the first major stars of the league but didnt compile the same numbers are others becausse for numerous years the season's were much shorter then the current format. Barnes is a .342 career hitter while Bentley won 326 games.