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Chadwick Sports Newsletter
November 1880
Base Ball Year in Review
Despite a bit of a scare in midsummer as Chicago beat them in a crucial early July game, Boston ended up cruising to yet another National League pennant:
Boston 57-27
Chicago 51-33
Providence 45-39
Buffalo 43-39
Troy 43-40
Cleveland 42-42
Cincinnati 27-53
Worcester 24-59
With yet another dominant performance, Boston was causing interest in the league to collapse. George Knight (31-12), Cal McVey (.310) and Ezra Sutton (.333) were the stars of the season, but the entire club was far beyond the best of the league. Harry Wright’s Cincinnati club folded at season’s end, and they would be replaced in 1881 by a club from Detroit, and the league seemed like it might not last much longer.
However, rumors began surfacing during the offseason that Chicago’s William Hulbert, Harry Wright and some western magnates were discussing a secret plan to rescue professional baseball. At any rate, something clearly needed to be done – Boston had won three of five titles in the Association days, then all five National League pennants.
Through ten years of professional baseball, here are the all time career leaders:
Batting – Cal McVey, .321
Hits – Cal McVey, 913
Home Runs – Lip Pike, 31
Wins – George Knight, 155
Strikeouts – George Knight, 1,069
Nearly all of the players on the leaderboards are or were members of the Boston club, of course.
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