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RATICAN RATTLES MASS. BAY IN JERSEY SHUTOUT
NEWARK #1 TWO-HITS M.B., IS OFF TO MUCH BETTER START IN SECOND APBL SEASON

NEWARK, N.J. (May 23, 1879) - Newark and Massachusetts Bay opened their three-game series at Ironbound Park in New Jersey on Friday, and it was a walk in the baseball park for the hosts as Mass. Bay’s bats went limp:

Newark had the victory in the bag by the end of the second inning. They stepped to the plate in B1 and scored four times on a Ground Out, a Single by LF Jacob Kaulback, a Single by 2B Leander Artis, and another Single by SS Jonathan Richards. They added another run via Fielder’s Choice in B2, and it turned out that a 5-0 lead was easily large enough to secure the win as Newark #1 John Ratican was in excellent form:

• NEW P John Ratican: CG SHO (4-5, 3.16), 2 HA, 0 BB, 3 K, 86 GMSC

Ratican was one of the many Newark N.B.B.O. holdovers who had significant trouble adjusting to the A.P.B.L. last season. One year after his historic 1877 N.B.B.O. campaign for Newark (29-9, 1.84 ERA, 133 K, 10.3 WAR), he set an A.P.B.L. record with 34 Losses (14-34), had a career-worst Earned Run Average of 4.51, allowed 496 Hits over 341 innings of work (13.1 HA/9), and finished the season with a staggering WHIP of 1.56.

So far in 1879, Ratican has looked much better. While his record is only 4-5, through 74 innings Ratican has an ERA of 3.16, is allowing 9.2 Hits per nine innings, has a WHIP of 1.14, and is on pace for a Pitching WAR of around 8.0. This is the John Ratican that Newark and neutral A.P.B.L. anticipated seeing last season.

The win made Newark a 7-9 (6th in Colonial) team through just over two and a half weeks of play, while Mass. Bay is 9-7 (3rd in Colonial).