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BERG BECOMES 1ST .400 HITTER IN THREE YEARS
QUAKER ST. 1B GOES 2/4 ON FINAL DAY TO KEEP AVERAGE BARELY ABOVE MILESTONE MARKER

PHILADELPHIA (Aug. 16, 1875) - Quaker State was held scoreless on the final day of the N.B.B.O. season in a 9-0 home loss to Port Jersey, thanks to the efforts of the man all but guaranteed to win Northeastern League Pitcher of the Year: George Burroughs.

However, Burroughs allowed ten Hits during the Shutout victory and two of those went to Quaker St. 1B Gerhardt Berg (both 1B). Berg entered the game batting .401 after a 4/7 performance on Saturday, and his 2/4 on Sunday left him with the following as a final batting line for 1875:

• .402 AVG, .949 OPS, 93 R, 138 H, 20 2B, 7 3B, 1 HR, 66 RBI, 19 BB, 5 SB, 5.1 WPA, 3.9 WAR

Berg ends the season as the only player in the N.B.B.O. or P.C.B.L. to bat .400 or better. He is also the first player to do so in three years, when three players pulled off the feat in the N.B.B.O...

• #1: Elijah Hill (Green Mtn.): .433
• #2: Chester Alexander (N.Y.A.C.): .427
• #3: Troy Oberst (Metro): .409

...and one man crossed the .400 barrier in the A.P.B.L.:

• #1: Konrad Jensen (St. John’s): .402

Becoming the first N.B.B.O. player in three years to hit .400 should almost certainly make Berg the winner of Northeastern League Batsman of the Year. However, a stiff challenge may come from one of his own teammates, Ned Morganti, who hit .376, equaled Berg’s .949 OPS, tied the N.B.B.O. record for Triples in a season with 20, had the second-most RBI in a season in N.B.B.O. history with 92, and had a slightly higher WAR than Berg at 4.1.

That Berg hit over .400 while winning the N.B.B.O. Batting Title by roughly twenty points means his season will be remembered for some time. That Quaker St. could boast of having the two best batsmen in the N.E.L. and yet finish runners-up in the Coastal Championship this year is more of a tribute to Trenton United, who won each of their last eleven games and all by multiple runs, than anything else. It was still quite the season for the men from Philadelphia.