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KNICK V QUAKER ST. ENDS IN 14-INNING PITCHER’S DUEL
KNICK #1 GOODMAN & Q.S. #2 GIFFORD GO THE DISTANCE EVEN THOUGH FIVE EXTRA FRAMES NEEDED

MANHATTAN, N.Y. (July 22, 1880) - Knickerbocker & Quaker State played the final contest of their three-game set at the Elysian Fields on Thursday, and while Knick got the sweep they wanted it took a bunch of extra baseball to earn it:

Quaker St. opened the scoring in T3, when P Walter Gifford crossed Home Plate on a Ground Out by CF Ned Morganti. Knick took the lead in T4 (1-2) on a Sacrifice Fly from 3B Albert Stoffers and a Single by CF Louis Dyke. The visitors then evened the score in T5 (2-2) when an Error allowed RF Charles Aplin to cross the plate.

After the above Runs came through…nothing. Both teams’ pitching & fielding was in fine form, and the Quaker St. tally in T5 was the last Run scored during the regulation nine innings. Then, the tenth went by scoreless…and the eleventh…and the twelfth…and the thirteenth.

Having entered rarely seen territory in baseball, Quaker St. took their bats for the top of the fourteenth inning and went down in 1-2-3 order via two Strikeouts and a Ground Out. Knick came up for their turn at bat, and after 1B Gerald Burns led off the inning with a Single he was moved to 2nd with a Sacrifice Bunt by substitute Hiram Britton and then stole Third Base. With Burns ninety feet from home, Dyke hit a ball into the Left-Center Field gap that drove in Burns and gave Knick a hard-earned and hard-fought 3-2 home win.

The big story from this game was the pitching, as the only men to deliver the ball were the two who started the game:

• QS P Walter Gifford: L (1-6), 13.1 IP, 8 HA, 3 R/1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K – 83 GMSC (P: 18th)
• KNI P Robert Goodman: CG W (19-15), 14.0 IP, 7 HA, 2 R/0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K – 100 GMSC (P: 1st)

In victory, Gifford became the first Pitcher in A.P.B.L. history to reach a triple-digit Game Score solely through his efforts with the ball. Teammate William Avery achieved a combined total of 127 in a win at Kings Co. on July 9th last year, but that was the game in which he became the first P ever to hit for the Cycle, and most of his Game Score was earned via bat.

Goodman entered the game on a run of terrible luck, having lost nine of his last twelve decisions in spite of a 2.23 ERA. The marathon victory improved his record to 19-15 on the season, with a 2.13 ERA, 131 Strikeouts, and 5.6 WAR over 308 innings with the ball for Knick.

The win kept Knick in a tie atop the Metropolitan Conference standings with bitter rivals Gotham at 40-29, as Gotham completed a sweep at Kings Co. with a 9-8 victory. Meanwhile, the loss kept Quaker St. in last place in the Metro with the A.P.B.L.’s worst record: 28-42.