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OVERBROOK & INDEPENDENCE CONTEST A BAFFLER
WEST PHILADELPHIA TEAMS COMBINE FOR 48 RUNS AS STRANGE FIELDING RULES THE DAY

PHILADELPHIA (May 28, 1875) - Overbrook & Independence are two teams that finished last year around .500 – not great, but not terrible. With that in mind, the game they played this afternoon was downright bizarre:

While there are plenty of fielding mistakes in a normal game of baseball – the average P.C.B.L. team commits eight Errors per game (this is in line with the 8.1 E/G per team in the real life National Association of 1871-74, although E/G went down to 6.8 in 1875) – what unfolded in Mount Moriah Park made those in attendance feel as if the players’ hands had been possessed by evil spirits.

Overbrook’s seventeen Errors were a team record, and Independence’s seemingly impossible TWENTY-SIX ERRORS amounted to a new all-leagues record for fieldwork futility during the course of a single afternoon’s work. The biggest culprit: Independence SS George Selby, who made roughly two mistakes per game at the position last year but managed to commit NINE ERRORS during today’s contest, a full one per inning.

That’s not to say the game was left wanting for fine batsmanship. There were a number of quality performances:

• OVER #3 George Bierlein (2B): 4/7 (2B, 5 TB), 5 R, 2 RBI
• OVER #4 Gareth Webber (1B): 5/7 (2B, 6 RBI), 5 R, 5 RBI
• OVER #5 William Cardigan (CF): 2/7 (GRAND SLAM, 5 TB), 3 R, 7 RBI, 1 BB
• IND #2 Jerald Coleman (LF): 3/7 (2B, 4 TB), 3 R, 2 RBI
• IND #3 Jonathan Turriff (2B): 4/6 (all 1B), 5 R, 2 RBI
• IND #4 Roark Ellison (RF): 3/7 (all 1B), 4 R, 2 RBI
• IND #6 Glenn Payne (3B): 5/7 (2B, 6 TB), 4 R, 4 RBI

It was Webber who took Player of the Game honors even though William Cardigan’s Grand Slam - one of the rarest events in the sport - in the top of the 4th was the game’s biggest hit.

There was even an incredible comeback in this one. After an early flood of scoring saw Independence ahead 15-4 after the 3rd, Overbrook won the next two innings 4-3 each to make it a 21-12 game. After Independence scored twice in the 6th to bring their lead back to eleven all hope looked lost for the visitors, but after a scoreless 7th Overbrook scored a dozen times during the top of the 8th in what was one of the strangest innings in baseball history.

During the top of the 8th Overbrook plated those twelve runs on only four hits. Out in the field, Independence committed ELEVEN ERRORS in just half an inning, another all-leagues record, to fill in the hitting gaps and allow Overbrook batsmen who otherwise would have been retired to keep moving on the basepaths. It was truly some high strangeness at Mt. Moriah.

By the time it was all done Overbrook had erased the deficit and taken a 24-23 lead. They would then add an insurance run in the top of the 9th to go ahead 25-23 and cement in place an unforgettable and bizarre victory.

Will this end up being remembered as the best-played game of 1875? Certainly not, but it will likely go down as the most memorable one.