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1880 NATIONAL BASE BALL ORGANIZATION ALL-STAR GAME
PUTNAM GROUNDS HOSTS; PBCC TIES RECORD WITH SIX NOMINEES; WILL NEL WIN AGAIN?

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (July 26, 1880) – With three weeks left to play in the season, it’s time for the twentieth edition of the annual N.B.B.O. All-Star Game! Rules were the same as always:

• Places 1-6 in each team’s roster will go to the best pitchers in each league.
• The remaining 24 roster spots will consist of three players for every other position.

Hosting duties went back to the New York League this year, and with a number of the larger New York grounds having already hosted the event it was decided that a well-liked venue that had yet to experience it, Empire B.B.C.’s Putnam Grounds and its capacity of 6,514, was going to be where this year’s All-Star Game would take place.

The N.Y.L. roster went back to the realm of parity this year, with no teams matching Eckford’s All-Star haul of five from 1879. Surging Atlantic, 15-4 this month, led the league with four All-Stars, and incredibly no other team had more than two. With 19 of 24 teams represented, this was the most competitively diverse N.Y.L. roster in All-Star Game history.

For the N.E.L., the surprise was that N.B.B.O. #1 Portland didn’t lead in nominations. However, with their team’s success coming via dominant pitching and excellent fielding it meant their Pitching Duo was the focus of the All-Star accolades. Instead, Philadelphia B.C.C. and it’s #1 overall attack earned a record-tying six nominations, led, of course, by James Burke. They provided the entire starting Outfield for the N.E.L., while six other teams were represented at the other six positions.

There were 26 first-time nominees in this year’s All-Star Game (NYL: 14, NEL: 12), and while there were some first-year regulars only two Greenhorns were called this time, instead of last year’s six. The pair: Bedford 2B William Napier & Quinnipiac OF Francis Edwards. The elder stateman at this year’s All-Star Game was Burke, who some still couldn’t believe was playing in the N.B.B.O. Including his legendary A.P.B.L. success, he was playing in his fourteenth All-Star Game.

Rosters for the 1880 N.B.B.O. All-Star Game were as follows, with starters marked in red:

With the N.E.L. having dominated in recent years, how did this year’s All-Star Game turn out?

Shockingly, the Northeastern League won it for the sixth consecutive year thanks to two late scores.

The N.E.L. started brilliantly: a five-run rally in T1 that featured a two-run Home Run by Chester Dudek and a two-run Triple by Charles Washer. Dudek drove in another run with a Single in T2 to put the visitors ahead 6-0, but the N.Y.L. responded with their own five-run rally in B2, the key hit a two-run Double by Herb Verrett, to slash the deficit to one (6-5). The teams traded Runs in the third, and it was a 7-6 game after the opening innings.

The middle innings only saw notable action during the bottom of the sixth, when the N.Y.L. scored three times. First, Andrew Cohen hit an RBI Single to tie the game (7-7), then Harvey McKie hit a run-scoring Triple to put the hosts in the lead (7-8), and then a Run came through on a Passed Ball to put the N.Y.L. up by two (7-9).

Unfortunately for the N.Y.L., that Run via Passed Ball was the last they would score, and the N.E.L. machine excelled late. The visitors made it a 9-8 game via Ground Out in T7 and tied the game (9-9) in T8 on a Passed Ball. Then, in the top of the ninth Franklin Grigsby hit a run-scoring Double to give the N.E.L. a 10-9 lead and Frank Thomas followed him with an RBI Single to put them ahead 11-9. All the N.Y.L. could do in B9 was be sent down 1-2-3, and the N.E.L. had yet another All-Star Game triumph and another year of bragging rights added to their résumé.

With a pair of big Hits early, including the All-Star Game’s only Home Run, first-time All-Star Chester Dudek earned Most Valuable Player honors:

• NEL 2B Chester Dudek: 2/3 (HR), 1 R, 3 RBI, 5 TB

Dudek was one of five players in the game with multiple base hits. The others were all starters: N.E.L. LF Charles Washer (2/2, 2 R, 2 RBI), N.Y.L. 3B Isaac Kelly (2/2, 2B, 2 R), N.Y.L. SS Jules Thomas (2/2, 1 R, 1 RBI), & N.Y.L. LF Herb Verrett (2/3, 2B, 2 RBI).

The pitchers of record were Vilhelm Adriansen with the Win and George Layman with the Loss.

Attendance at the Putnam Grounds was 6,514, and weather was 72 degrees with sparse clouds and a light breeze blowing in from Center Field – a perfect afternoon for baseball’s cavalcade of stars.