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NEWARK STUNS AMERICAN IN A DOUBLE-DIGIT SHUTOUT
RATICAN FINALLY SHOWS WHY HE WAS NBBO’S BEST AS AMERICAN LOSES AGAIN TO APBL’S WORST

PHILADELPHIA, PENN. (Aug. 10, 1878) - With the A.P.B.L.’s worst team, Newark, visiting American as the A.P.B.L. resumed after its All-Star break, it was presumed that American would win all three games. However, Newark shocked their hosts with a 13-9 win in the opener, and on Friday they pulled off an absolute stunner and battered the 4x champions:

American never had a chance. Newark scored four times in T1 on a Passed Ball, a run-scoring Single by 3B William Ioffe, and a two-run Single by C Charles Singer. American went down scoreless in B1, and it was a sign of things to come.

After two scoreless innings, Newark plated runs in five of their last six trips to the plate – 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, & 9th – to take an incredible 12-0 lead. American couldn’t even muster up a consolation run in B9, and Newark had exited with the league’s most unlikely Shutout victory of the season.

For Newark #1 John Ratican, it was finally a showcase of the talent that earned him N.E.L. Pitcher of the Year honors and the belief that he was the N.B.B.O.’s best Pitcher last year:

• NEW P John Ratican: CG SHO (13-29, 4.36), 7 HA, 1 BB, 4 K; 2/4 (both 1B), 2 R

Not only was Ratican excellent with the ball, but he was also 2/4 with the bat against fine American #1 Jimmy Everhart, and he came around to score after both base hits.

There were high hopes that Ratican could drag Newark to a decent record in their inaugural A.P.B.L. season after his historic 1877 in the N.B.B.O. (29-9, *1.84 ERA*, 133 K, 1.02 WHIP, 10.1 WAR, 11.4 rWAR), but 1878 simply hasn’t gone according to plan for the talented #1. While Ratican has showed fine command of the ball (295.1 IP, 28 BB, 98 K), he’s allowed loads of base hits (12.9 HA/9, 1.52 WHIP) and has suffered an ERA well over 4.00 as a result. Perhaps his Sophomore season will go to expectation now that he has a full season of facing A.P.B.L. batsmen behind him.

In spite of the back-to-back wins Newark is just 24-53 (.312), the worst record in the A.P.B.L. by five games. Meanwhile, the highly unlikely losses have left American eight games behind Metropolitan leaders Knickerbocker with just thirteen left to play. These last two losses may have effectively ended their season.