|
Just one team had yet to play its Opening Day game - Hartford. They visited New York on April 27, 1876 to begin their season. The lineups for that game:
Hartford Dark Blues (0-0)
Andy Leonard, 2b (.339 for New Haven in 1875)
Holly Hollingshead, cf (.269 for Washington in 1875)
Orator Shafer, rf (.297 in 1875)
Everett Mills, 1b (.282 in 1875)
Bill Harbridge, c (.208 in 1875)
Tom Carey, ss (.235 in 1875)
Joe Battin, 3b (.233 in 1875)
George Seward, lf (.219 in 1875)
Tricky Nichols, p (9-16 with New Haven in 1875)
New York Mutuals (1-0)
Dave Eggler, cf
John McMullin, rf
Steve King, lf
Ezra Sutton, ss
John Hatfield, 2b
Bob Ferguson, 3b
Nat Hicks, c
Z.H. Taylor, 1b
Hugh Campbell, p
The game began as a duel of pitching and defense, as neither team scored in the first three innings. In the bottom of the fourth, New York scored the game's first run, as leadoff singles by Sutton and Candy Nelson (who had to replace John Hatfield at second due to an injury) allowed the Mutuals to score a run on a ground out.
Hartford came right back in the top of the fifth, as New York committed three errors in the inning and that coupled with hits by Joe Battin, George Seward and Holly Hollingshead allowed the Dark Blues to take a 4-1 lead. The Mutuals edged closer with solo runs in the next two innings, but Hartford got extra base hits from Andy Leonard and Orator Shafer in the seventh to run the lead to 5-3. That was where things stood going into the final two innings.
Hartford were retired in order in the eighth, while Mutual got hits from Candy Nelson and Bob Ferguson but failed to get any runs. Hartford got an insurance run in the top of the ninth and everything looked good, then the defense utterly fell apart. After getting two outs in the innings and allowing one runner, it was three consecutive errors for the Dark Blues, then Bob Ferguson singled home Candy Nelson with the winning run. Because of some truly awful defensive lapses, Mutual stole Hartford's first game from them.
New York 7, Hartford 6
|