The Grand Rail Baseball League

[Dock130]

22 May 1876



Capitol League Baseball Team Recap:
San Francisco: Another winning run; a 5-3 mark with 3 wins against Athena and a split from the A’s. The Eagles maintained an 8 game lead at 32-16. Jon Hardy, SS, was playing excellent ball. At just 26, he was too young to play while there were clubs in the east but he was around baseball from a young age. To date, Hardy has collected 72 hits for a .367 BA. He has posted 13 JRs, 34 RBIs, and scored 53 runs.
Sacramento: Climbed above .500 after sweeping the Red Stockings and splitting with SF. They were now 24-24 and held the playoff spot over Athena.
Athena: The Senators lost 3 to the Eagles but won 3 over the Red Stockings to continue with .500 ball. They were only 1 game behind the A’s for the playoff spot at 23-25.
San Jose: Lost seven straight but finished the two-week stint with a win of Athena. They lost a lot of ground and were now 7 games behind a playoff spot. In a trade of major proportions involving both active leagues, the Red Stockings traded 36-year-old CF Bill Collins and 23-year-old C William Cooper to the Vancouver Admirals in exchange for C Jack Bergeron. This was the first trade between the two leagues who were already competing for headlines.

Pacific Coast League Team Recap:
Portland: The Explorers continued to hover around .500 ball by going 7-6 to take their record to 32-16 overall; the same as the Eagles from the league to the south. Their league lead shrunk, albeit slightly, to 5 games.
Vancouver: Fared a bit better than Portland at 8-5, 27-21 overall. Their biggest news was the trade that involved the San Jose Red Stockings. They had great depth at C and traded to create experience in the outfield and acquire a young, developing C.
Seattle: Played 7-6 to better their record to 25-23 but dropped a game to the Admirals.
Salem: Played 6-7 and dropped a game to Seattle posting a total record of 23-25.
Tacoma: They continued their up-and-down season and climbed out of the gutter for the first time this year. They went 8-5 to increase their record to 19-29 and climbed 1 game ahead of the new bottom marker.
Olympia: Dropped into last place after going 3-10 in the previous two weeks. They gave the spot away to Tacoma and drifted further behind a playoff spot. It was still early in the season as the league sped past the one-third mark.

[Dock130]

3 Jul 1876



Capitol League Baseball Team Recap:
San Francisco: Is holding steady with a 9-game lead.
Athena: Climbed into the playoff spot and above .500. They were now comfortably 5 games ahead of the A’s.
Sacramento: After getting above .500, the drifted away in June and were now 8 games below .500 but held on to third.
San Jose: Not much news worthy baseball being played by the Red Stockings.

Pacific Coast League Team Recap:
Portland: With 1 month to play, the PCL had turned into a 3-team race with 3 teams sporting the exact same record of 47-39 at the top of league. The Explorers continued to remain in the battle. Trades between the two leagues continued to happen as they picked up a star player, LF Ernest Rich, from Sacramento. Rich immediately earned honors in the PCL by picking up the Rookie of the Month for July.
Salem: Continued to battle for the Pennant and the playoffs. After 5 years with Seattle, the Steamboats acquired SS Geoff Williams in the offseason and he won the monthly league award with a .280 BA in 27 games with 10 HRs, 23 RBIs, and 25 runs scored.
Seattle: The Generals round out the 3-way tie. If this continued through the last month, it would be a complete reversal of the standings from the previous two years. Seattle held the momentum into the last month as they were at the top of the power rankings.
Vancouver: The Admirals were only 2 games behind and still in the conversation for either first or second. They were the only team with multiple playoff appearances left in the hunt.
They could make a run if their Ace, David Bird, continued to gain honors. In June, he chalked up 59 Ks in 53.1 innings and compiled a 1.18 ERA.
Tacoma: They were still trying to fight their way back but were 8 games adrift. You can’t count them out though, as any team with 3 cups and 1 Pennant in the last 5 years should be respected.
Olympia: They were not eliminated yet, but it would be impossible for them to recover. The team only hoped not to finish in last.

[Dock130]

1 Aug 1876



Pacific Coast League Team Recap:
Seattle: On 28 Jul, the Generals won their first Pennant! They will go into the Championship Cup and face the Salem Steamboats. Seattle went 21-7 in July to seal the league.
Salem: Did not clinch the playoff spot until the last game of the season. There was every indication that they would not make the playoffs as they faded in July with a 12-16 record; but they did just enough and now they have their first chance at the cup.
Vancouver: They played well in July but not well enough. They passed Portland but were unable to make their fifth playoff in 6 years by 1 game.
Portland: Fizzled the same as Salem in July with a 12-16 record. They were tied with the Steamboats on 3 July but lost more in the last few weeks of the season. They would have to wait another season to make the playoffs.
Tacoma: They hung on to finish fifth, their lowest ranking in 6 seasons.
Olympia: They managed a .500 record in July but could not climb out of the basement. This was also their lowest ranking in 6 season.
Capitol League Baseball Recap:
There were no real changes in the CLB. SF and Athena continued to hold onto the top two spots. The league was just over two-thirds of the way through the first season.

[Dock130]

1 Sep 1876

Pacific Coast League Championship Cup:
In a huge surprise, the Salem Steamboats swept aside the Seattle Generals in 4 games to raise the Championship Cup. Veteran starter, Jeff Stephens stole the show by winning game 1 and game 4. This is Jeff’s fourth cup after winning 3 with Tacoma and, for the second time, he took the Championship Cup MVP trophy. In game 1, Stephens pitched a 6-hit shutout while the Steamboats’ offense exploded for 12 runs. Seattle tried to turn the season around in game two and held a 3-1 lead into the eighth inning. Salem managed 2 runs to tie it and then, in the top of the 10th, a 2-run HR by Jack Wright put the game out of reach. Game 3 was another extra inning affair the Seattle should have one. In Salem now, Seattle carried a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth. This time a 3-run HR saw Salem tie the game and they almost won it there stranding runners on second and third. Salem finally pushed home the winning run on a base hit in the bottom of the 13th inning. The Steamboats put up Jeff Stephens for game 4 and he pitched another complete game, this time allowing only 1 run and 8 hits. Salem won the series clincher 7-1.

Capitol League Baseball Recap:
Still no major changes in the capitol league. With just over 4 weeks to play, it looked that San Francisco and Athena would battle for the first Capitol Cup.

[Dock130]

2 Oct 1876


Capitol League Baseball Recap:
On 23 Sep 1876, the Eagles won the Pennant! It was the first pennant awarded in the CLB and Doc Holiday was there to present the prize; he hoped it was the first of many. Athena easily clinched the playoff spot and would contest the Capitol Cup against San Francisco. Financially, the Eagles almost made $100k the first year, sustaining a sell-out at almost every home game. The way that Doc had set up the league was 5-times better than what the PCL was managing. Up next, the Capitol Cup; and the announcement of the rail expansion for 1877.

A look at the Grand National Rails at the end of 1876:

[Dock130]

1 Nov 1876

The Capitol Cup:
The heavy favorites, San Francisco began the series at home. With 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th, the Eagles held on for a 4-3 victory and a 1-0 series lead. San Francisco continued their roll into game two and stormed to a 7-2 lead after three innings. Athena battled right back in the top of the fourth with 4 runs to make the score 7-6. Athena tied the game in the 7th and the game continued all the way to the twelfth inning, when Leo Ash belted a solo home run and the Senators hung on to steal a game in SF. In Athena, the Senators won the first game by a score of 5-3 to take a 2-1 series lead. San Francisco stole a game back in game 4 and managed a 7-4 victor to tie the series again. It was now a best of 3 series. The final game in Athena was a good game. Athena was out-hit but scattered the hits and runs to hold on for a 6-4 win and returned to San Francisco with a 3-2 series lead. Everyone expected the Eagles to tie it up again to force a game 7 but the Senators had other ideas. San Francisco held a lead, 3-2, into the final inning when Athena played some small ball and scored a single run to tie the game and send it into extra innings. Athena continued the small ball into the tenth and managed 2 runs. San Francisco got two men on base in the bottom of the inning but could get no one around to home plate. The Athena Senators became the first team to raise the Capital Cup! There was a great parade in their honor given at the new Capitol. At this point, baseball was securely placed as one of the most important pieces of the Western States identity.

Grand National Railroad:
The President made the annual rail announcement on 25 Oct. The northern and central railroads continued their expansion to secure the eastern boarder of the Western States. Furthermore, in agreement with Texas, the southern railroad was to be extended toward Dallas. He formally congratulated the Senators on their fine victory. The President managed to attend every game of the Capitol Cup, adding even more excitement to the popularity of baseball.

[Dock130]

1 Dec 1876

Doc Holiday was busy this off-season. He made three significant changes to baseball in the month of November. First, he found a second team to join the league. This one would be based in Los Angeles. The southern California city was still relatively small but it was growing rapidly since the railroad appeared there in 1872. Through the new owner of Fresno, Doc had found Lip Pike, a famous player for the Brooklyn Atlantics who had dominated the east coast leagues prior to the war. Lip wanted to bring the Atlantics history and tradition to the new league so he agreed to form a team. The Los Angeles Pacifics were coined and Lip Pike would be part of the owners meeting scheduled to take place in December. Speaking of that meeting, Doc had used his new found power to make his next change. The owners of the teams in the north were set to travel to Athena for the winter meetings. Since trades and free agents were already swapping back and forth between the two leagues, Doc wanted to formalize agreements. The last, and most significant event (and one that most owners were unaware of as of it) had to do with the players and their rights. Doc, using his relationship with many of the star players of the league, convinced them to create a players association. The National Association of Professional Baseball Players (NAPBP) was formed and it gave the players a voice. Their first order of business was to align the playing schedules between the first two leagues. This was an issue that would have to be resolved through the winter meetings.

[Dock130]

1 Jan 1877

The NAPBP was quite a force during the winter meetings. It was decided that the two leagues would align their seasons and games to facilitate trade deadlines and first-year player drafts. The new structure was agreed to and the two leagues looked like this going into the next season.


Doc Holiday’s new league had a major advantage financially. The league did not have to add to their loan in order to build the two new stadiums that will open in 3 months. If the profits kept rolling in, he planned on purchasing the Pacific Coast League outright…