1870 MID-SEASON
The balloon went up on the inaugural season of the Base Ball Alliance, with Viscount Tadpoole, whom the sporting fancy are referring to as the "tsar of all the base balls," tossing out the ceremonial first pitch before the premiere tilt between the Salford Bees and the Westminster Peers at the latter's home pitch, Vincent Square Park. The Bees soon swarmed over the hapless Peerage, sweeping the three-game series on their way to an eight-game winning streak to open the League season. The Salfords were led by their star hurler Lyndon Spokes, who went 13-3 in the first half, and infielder Clancy Stogdon, who paced the League with 40 RBI. But the Bees were bitten by the injury bug, as starting infielders George Pixley and John Davies were sidelined before the midyear break. Replacing Salford at the top of the ladder were Bradford, which had a League-low .268 team batting average but who also boasted the circuit's best pitching staff, helmed by starter James "Kiki" Black. A sore knee hobbled Black in May, but Kinnard Nock proved an able substitute, and the Badgers went on a four-game win streak on the eve of the break that put them solidly in first place. Birmingham, languishing with an 8-11 record at the beginning of June, went on an 11-3 run and found itself in thick of things in July. The otherwise anemic offense was propped up by first baseman Lewis "Rube" Miller's .331 average.
In the Association, Leeds held an early lead by virtue of a 9-3 record in May and the second-best hitting attack in the circuit. Right fielder led the team with a .323 mark at the break. The Ironsides, however, fell by the wayside in June, to be passed by Bristol, who fashioned an eight-game winning skein to start the month. The Dockers featured the sharp pitching of John Padbury and the timely hitting of Austrian import Helmut Waldheim at shortstop. As Bristol was climbing the ladder, though, the Islington Owls were right behind. Despite a six-game losing streak to start the season, the Owls persevered, and, in June, started a fifteen-game string of victories that was only stopped by Belfast on the last game before the midsummer hiatus. Starter Oscar Quarton was the star hurler for the Owls, winning thirteen of those games to boost his win total to nineteen, tops in the majors, while first baseman Ross Boase led all Islington hitters with a .369 average. Lambeth could claim the best team batting in the Association, with right fielder Hugh Burton leading the charge, but the Lambs also had the second-worst pitching in the DA, which doomed them to a fourth place tie with Glasgow. The Gaelics featured the Association's best pitching staff, captained by Canadian right hander Eric Gueguen, but it was not enough to overcome a rash of injuries that bedevilled the starting lineup.
In an inspired move, newspaperman Archibald Warde of the London Tuppenny Illustrated Graphic, saw that the schedule contained a three-day gap in the middle of July and proposed to fill it with an exhibition game between a select squad of premier base ballists from each league. This "all-star" game, held at Birmingham's Exhibition Park before a capacity crowd of 2,550, saw the visiting Dominions score eleven runs in the first three innings, and then hang on for a 12-8 triumph over the home team Empires. Islington outfielder Cameron MacIntyre and Manchester second baseman James Granger each had three hits for the winning side, with MacIntyre picking up the game's most valuable award by virtue of his two RBI. Westminster right fielder Henry Pond went three-for-three in a losing effort.