History of Major League Base Ball (revised)

[ayaghmour2]

The game always inflates Collins because there are very few relief pitchers. The only relievers the game generates are guys who are "weakened" due to innings (less then 40 I think). Since most of these new relievers are the U players, he gets really high ratings as a reliever because his statistics are so much better then them (they usually have more runs then innings or just a single inning). And since stamina doesn't really matter because anyone listed as a starter is going to pitch the whole game (due to stamina modifiers) he generally becomes an elite starter because a lot of times AI teams (especially with expansion) don't have anyone on the team who rates as a better starter then him.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

May 22, 1877
Chicago White Stockings (5-1) at St. Louis Brown Stockings (1-4)

With Louisville and Chicago tied at the top spot, every game is an opportunity for one of them to take over the lead and carries the risk that the other club could pull away. On this Tuesday, Louisville hosts Boston while Chicago travels to St. Louis as part of their first road trip of the season.

Chicago lineup

John Glenn, lf (.238)
George Hall, rf (.300)
Dick Higham, c (.296)
Levi Meyerle, 3b (.429)
Jim Foran, 1b (.348)
Davy Force, 2b (.346)
Paul Hines, cf (.385)
John Peters, ss (.231)
Asa Brainard, p (4-0, 3.00)

St. Louis lineup

Dave Eggler, cf (.375)
John Hatfield, 2b (.524)
Lip Pike, rf (.150)
Dickie Flowers, ss (.304)
Henry Burroughs, 3b (.238)
Ned Cuthbert, lf (.348)
Charlie Hautz, 1b (.190)
Tom Foley, c (.286)
Pud Galvin, p (0-3, 6.48)

Chicago struck first in the second inning, as they had consecutive two-out singles by John Peters, Asa Brainard and Jim Tipper (who had to replace the injured John Glenn in the first inning) to take a 3-0 lead. A triple by Henry Burroughs in the bottom of the inning made it 3-1. In the third Lip Pike singled home Dave Eggler to cut Chicago's lead to 3-2.

St. Louis tied things up in the bottom of the fifth, as Dave Eggler reached base on a fielder's choice, then stole both second and third base and scored on a John Hatfield single. They weren't done in the inning, scoring two more times on a Henry Burroughs triple to take a 5-3 lead. Hatfield knocked home a couple more runs in the next inning, and from there Pud Galvin was able to lock down the White Stockings and St. Louis came up with the comeback win.

St. Louis 8, Chicago 4

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

May 26, 1877
Chicago White Stockings (6-2) at Cincinnati Reds (3-4)

On this final Saturday in May, Chicago is a half-game in back of league-leading Louisville, who are idle today. Thus they will move into a tie for first place in the National League with a victory today. Cincinnati has started a bit slowly but they are still in third place going into the game and will move to .500 with a home win.

Chicago got off to an early lead in the game but Cincinnati was able to battle back and got a 9-5 victory to move them to 4-4:

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Sunday, May 27, 1877
Standings and Leaders

Louisville Grays 6-1
Chicago White Stockings 6-3
Cincinnati Reds 4-4
Boston Red Stockings 3-5
Hartford Dark Blues 2-5
St. Louis Brown Stockings 2-5

The western clubs are looking quite competitive this season, while Boston is off to a slow start this season just as they were in 1876. That slow start probably cost them the pennant last season, and things aren't looking great for them at the moment especially considering that George Wright will still be out for a while.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Jim Devlin, Louisville - .485
John Hatfield, St. Louis - .483
Steve King, Hartford - .433
Cal McVey, Boston - .417
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .405
Charley Jones, Cincinnati - .394
Clipper Flynn, Hartford - .391

Runs Scored

Dave Eggler, St. Louis - 11
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 11
Scott Hastings, Louisville - 10
Ed Pinkham, Boston - 10
Ross Barnes, Boston - 9
Jim Devlin, Louisville - 9
5 players tied with 8 each

Runs Batted In

Ross Barnes, Boston - 9
Jim Foran, Chicago - 9
John Hatfield, St. Louis - 9
Ezra Sutton, Louisville - 9
George Bechtel, Louisville - 8
Cal McVey, Boston - 8
2 players tied with 7 each

Stolen Bases

Ross Barnes, Boston - 6
Andy Leonard, Hartford - 6
Cap Anson, Cincinnati - 5
John McMulllin, Cincinnati - 5
Cal McVey, Boston - 5
Dave Eggler, St. Louis - 4
George Hall, Chicago - 4

Won-Loss Record

Dan Collins, Louisville, 4-0
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 4-2
Frank Pearce, Louisville, 2-0
Al Pratt, Cincinnati, 2-0
George Zettlein, Chicago, 2-1
Cy Bentley, Boston, 2-2
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati, 2-3

Earned Run Average

Al Spalding, Boston - 0.00
Dan Collins, Louisville - 1.50
George Bradley, St. Louis - 2.18
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 2.30
George Zettlein, Chicago - 2.57
Jim Britt, Hartford - 2.65
Bobby Mathews, Boston - 2.66

Strikeouts

Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 23
Dan Collins, Louisville - 12
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 11
Cy Bentley, Boston - 9
Pud Galvin, St. Louis - 8
George Zettlein, Chicago - 8
Bobby Mitchell, Cincinnati - 6

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

If you know 19th century baseball, you know that Cap Anson was the player who connected the earliest professional leagues from 1871 all the way to the 1890s. He was unique in that way - most of the top players of the 1870s were finished by the time they were age 30. However, there was one other player whose career followed a similar path as Anson's - a very good player for many years, rather than a great player who played for a short time. That player is Ezra Sutton. He played in the first official major league game of all time, and was still starting for Boston in the late 1880s when many of the players who were around in the 20th century were active.

As Sutton's SABR bio puts it,

Ezra Sutton matured at the perfect time to join baseball as it morphed from a merely amateur endeavor played by people during the recreational hours to a sport that paid its players, allowing them to pursue their passion as a vocation. Sutton played for teams in the old National Association of Base Ball Players, the National Association and the National League. In fact, he suited up in the first games in both National Association and National League history. The National League itself was formed partly as a result of William Hulbert’s tampering with Sutton and others during the 1875 season.

Sutton was good enough at an early age to be considered one of the best third basemen in the country by the time he was 20 - just before the NA began. As Nemec puts it,

Raised in Palmyra, New York, Sutton played with amateur clubs in nearby Rochester before joining the Forest Citys of Cleveland in 1870. He remained with Cleveland until it left the NA in 1872 and then spent the next four seasons with the Philadelphia Athletics before they also went defunct. In 1877, Sutton arrived in Boston and immediately played on two successive NL pennant winners. Under manager Harry Wright, the Hub teams in the 1870s and early 1880s were built on defense, and the versatile newcomer was a perfect fit.

Sutton ended up staying in Boston for 12 years and playing in nearly 1,000 games for the team. He was one of the best hitters on the club - a .289 hitter in a relatively low-offense era - and also manned third base in a way that would make him remembered for decades afterward.

Here's what Nemec has to say about Sutton's reputation as a defender:

Ezra Sutton is seldom included in discussions of the most underrated players in the game's history, but he probably belongs near the head of the list. Capable of playing every position, he eventually became mainly a third baseman and at one time had the most powerful arm of his day. He injured it in 1876 but over time recovered most of its former strength. Sutton was also perhaps the first infielder to set himself after fielding a ground ball and take a second to relax before throwing it to first, whereas other infielders would grab the ball and hurriedly let it fly. Particularly exemplary on foul flies in addition to the calm way he handled "daisy cutters," by the time he was in his mid-twenties he was already viewed as the model upon which novice infielders were encouraged to pattern themselves.

At the end of his long career with Boston, Sutton retired to upstate New York, where he grew up. Sadly, he did not have a happy retirement. The sad story, from his SABR bio:

After Sutton was released by Boston in 1888, the family moved permanently to a farm in Palmyra, New York, that they had previously purchased. In 1886 Sutton went into the family business, purchasing a stake in a Palmyra gristmill, a facility that grinds grain into flour, with his brothers. The business failed four years later. After that, he worked an ice route for several years and may have owned a piece of the company. Sporting Life wrote that he was doing well in the business in 1897.

At some point during the 1890s, Sutton began to suffer locomotion troubles. Some references cite a flare-up of the problem in 1890, but that is perhaps unlikely as he was still playing ball six years later. He was suffering from the onset of locomotor ataxia, the inability to control body movements. The symptoms started first in his feet; by the end of the decade, his mobility was severely curtailed. A couple of years later, he was paralyzed in both legs. Incapacitated, he relied on his family for support and daily care.

On November 26, 1905, four days before Thanksgiving, Susie Sutton’s dress caught fire at the dinner table when a lamp exploded. She suffered severe burns as her paralyzed husband could do nothing but watch. She died in the hospital six weeks later.

Unable to care for himself, Sutton was admitted to Homeopathic Hospital, a long-term-care facility, in Rochester on April 3, 1906. A couple of months later, he wrote former teammate Tim Murnane, now a sportswriter for the Boston Globe, appealing for help: “I am at the Homeopathic Hospital in Rochester. I came here April 3 suffering from locomotor ataxia. I cannot go out. My sickness was brought on by overwork. The doctor says I used up all my money trying to get cured. My wife was burned to death last January through the explosion of a lamp.” Sadly, he signed the letter “E.B. Sutton, a ball player in distress.”

Murnane published parts of the letter on June 11. Sutton’s old friends and teammates immediately started to take up a collection. His former manager in Boston, John Morrill, personally took up the cause, collecting funds and overseeing Sutton’s care. In September or October Morrill had Sutton relocated to a state facility in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, near Boston, so he could oversee Sutton’s care and allow him to be closer to his friends and former teammates. The relocation actually took Sutton away from his only family, a daughter and two older brothers living near Rochester.

Morrill continued to spearhead the fundraising effort and see to Sutton’s comfort. Sensing the end was near and not wanting to die in a state institution, Sutton had himself moved to a private hospital in Braintree, Massachusetts, in June 1907. He died there on June 20 at the age of 57. Sutton was buried in the Palmyra Village Cemetery.

In my universe, Sutton was one of the top players on the Cleveland Forest Citys in 1871-72, and he was one of the best men on the New York Mutuals from 1873-76 - including winning the NA's Silver Slugger Award as the top third baseman of 1875. (He would have had more awards, but being in the same position as Levi Meyerle presents problems.) He joined Louisville for 1877 and has immediately become a first-rate player there as well. He's batted .324 in the young season - very close to his current career average of .320.

For this in-game week, I've changed my avatar to Ezra Sutton - one of the best and most underrated infielders of the 19th century.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

We're a month into the NWL's 1877 season, so it's time to check in on our affiliated minor leagues.

Minneapolis Millers 12-1 (Boston's affiliate)
Fort Wayne Railroaders 12-3 (Cincinnati)
St. Paul Saints 11-5 (unaffiliated)
Grand Rapids Woodworkers 8-7 (Hartford)
Peoria Distillers 8-8 (Chicago)
Evansville Hoosiers 4-9 (Louisville)
Quincy Ravens 3-12 (St. Louis)
Terre Haute Hottentots 0-13 (unaffiliated)

The NWL league leaders:

Batting Average

Jim Keenan, Minneapolis - .458
Pete Donnelly, Minneapolis - .412
Bill Hague, Evansville - .400
Fraley Rogers, Minneapolis - .396
George Bird, Minneapolis - .340
Henry Luff, Fort Wayne - .339
Lou Say, Grand Rapids - .327

Runs Scored

Fred Cone, Minneapolis - 20
Jim Keenan, Minneapolis - 12
Fraley Rogers, Minneapolis - 12
Dave Pierson, Fort Wayne - 11
Tom Barlow, Peoria - 10
George Bird, Minneapolis - 10
4 players tied with 9 each

Runs Batted In

Jim Keenan, Minneapolis - 17
George Bird, Minneapolis - 13
Fraley Rogers, Minneapolis - 12
Frank Sellman, Grand Rapids - 11
Pete Donnelly, Minneapolis - 10
Jack Gleason, Minneapolis - 10
3 players tied with 9 each

Stolen Bases

Fred Cone, Minneapolis - 9
Tom Barlow, Peoria - 8
Pony Sager, Minneapolis - 8
Herman Dehlman, Grand Rapids - 7
Will Foley, Fort Wayne - 7
Herm Doscher, Grand Rapids - 6
3 played tied with 5 each

Won-Loss Record

John Cassidy, Fort Wayne, 4-0
NFN Edwards, Fort Wayne, 4-0
Phonney Martin, Minneapolis, 4-0
Tommy Bond, St. Paul, 4-1
Dick McBride, Grand Rapids, 4-1
Will White, Minneapolis, 4-1
2 players tied with 3-0

Earned Run Average

NFN Edwards, Fort Wayne - 0.50
John Cassidy, Fort Wayne - 0.60
Mike Golden, Minneapolis - 0.67
Foghorn Bradley, Minneapolis - 0.69
Dale Williams, Fort Wayne - 1.26
Terry Larkin, St. Paul - 1.54
Cherokee Fisher, Peoria - 1.70

Strikeouts

Fred Goldsmith, Evansville - 65
Tommy Bond, St. Paul - 56
Dick McBride, Grand Rapids - 55
Laurie Reis, Peoria - 54
Cherokee Fisher, Peoria - 51
Len Lovett, Peoria - 46
NFN Edwards, Fort Wayne - 41

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

June 2, 1877
Chicago White Stockings (8-3) at Louisville Grays (8-2)

Chicago traveled to Louisville for the first time this week and came into the opening game trailing the Grays by 1 1/2 games. Chicago took the first game on Thursday by an 8-5 score, and that meant this Saturday game would determine who would leave the matchup in first place in the National League.

The game ended up being completely dominated by Levi Meyerle, Chicago's star third baseman. He went 6 for 6 in the game, with a double, a triple, two runs scored and two driven in as the White Stockings jumped out to a huge lead, nearly lost it, then held on for the victory.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Sunday, June 3, 1877
Standings and Leaders

Chicago White Stockings 9-3
Louisville Grays 8-3
Cincinnati Reds 6-5
Hartford Dark Blues 3-5
Boston Red Stockings 3-6
St. Louis Brown Stockings 2-9

Boston is suddenly looking really mediocre - what's wrong with this club that was supposed to contend for the pennant? Meanwhile, Chicago and Louisville are in a pitched battle, and Chicago's two wins in Louisville this week has given them a brief upper hand.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Jim Devlin, Louisville - .481
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .448
Cal McVey, Boston - .425
Charley Jones, Cincinnati - .400
Clipper Flynn, Hartford - .393
Scott Hastings, Louisville - .388
Jim Foran, Chicago - .385

Runs Scored

Jim Devlin, Louisville - 16
Scott Hastings, Louisville - 16
Mike McGeary, Cincinnati - 14
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 14
Chick Fulmer, Louisville - 13
George Bechtel, Louisville - 12
Dave Eggler, St. Louis - 12

Runs Batted In

Jim Foran, Chicago - 12
Chick Fulmer, Louisville - 12
Ezra Sutton, Louisville - 12
George Bechtel, Louisville - 11
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 11
Cal McVey, Boston - 10
4 players tied with 9 each

Stolen Bases

Ross Barnes, Boston - 8
Andy Leonard, Hartford - 7
George Hall, Chicago - 6
John McMullin, Cincinnati - 6
Cap Anson, Cincinnati - 5
Mike McGeary, Cincinnati - 5
Cal McVey, Boston - 5

Won-Loss Record

Dan Collins, Louisville, 5-1
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 5-2
George Zettlein, Chicago, 4-1
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati, 3-4
Frank Pearce, Louisville, 2-0
Al Pratt, Cincinnati, 2-0
Cy Bentley, Boston, 2-2

Earned Run Average

Dan Collins, Louisville - 1.55
Bobby Mitchell, Cincinnati - 2.06
George Bradley, St. Louis - 2.23
George Knight, Louisville - 2.63
Al Spalding, Boston - 2.65
Jim Britt, Hartford - 2.65
Bobby Mathews, Boston - 2.66

Strikeouts

Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 29
Dan Collins, Louisville - 20
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 13
George Zettlein, Chicago - 11
George Knight, Louisville - 10
Cy Bentley, Boston - 9
Pud Galvin, St. Louis - 9
Bobby Mitchell, Cincinnati - 6

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Scott Hastings is off to a great start, and he was also a really pivotal figure in the early days of the National Association. So what's the story with this guy?

Well, first of all, the National Association had a rule about signing players from other teams. If a player was signed they had to sit out for 60 days after the signing before being eligible to appear in a competitive game. Hastings was playing for a team in Louisiana in the spring of 1871, then signed with Rockford and immediately became their player-manager. In response, the team was forced to forfeit four games at the time.

There's no SABR bio of Hastings and Nemec's entry on him is relatively short, so here is most of it:

A Civil War veteran, Scott Hastings was just 16 when he enlisted in the Union Army in April 1864 as a private from Illinois. Even though he mustered out after less than five months of service, he was eligible later in life to reside in a soldiers' home if he fell on hard times, and he died of stomach cancer in one such abode in Los Angeles at age 60.

Rockford's first four wins of the season in 1871 were declared forfeit losses when it was decreed that Hastings, the team captain and a member of the club in 1869-70, had appeared in the Rockford lineup before he was eligible as per the signing rules at that time (although most sources have since restored the wins, lifting Rockford's record from 4-21 to 8-17). When the Rockfords disbanded, Hastings joined Cleveland as team captain in 1872 but was replaced by Deacon White at the end of May after the Forest Citys concluded a disastrous Eastern trip and was never asked to captain a team again. He finished the year with Baltimore and then signed with Baltimore again for 1873, the lone time in his seven-year major league career that he played with the same club for more than one season.

Primarily a catcher early in his NA years, Hastings was installed in center field when he joined Louisville in 1876 for the NL's maiden season. That fall the Chicago Tribune, which had covered Hastings firsthand in 1875, explained why the Grays did not ask him to return: he played for himself rather than the team. In all likelihood other teams had previously experienced this side of Hastings, perhaps explaining why he changed nines annually. When no other NL clubs made him an offer, Hastings began 1877 with the International Association Maple Leaf club of Guelph. He joined Cincinnati on July 3 after the Reds had disbanded and then reorganized and caught Candy Cummings in a 6-3 loss to Louisville in Cincinnati's initial game back in the NL's good graces. Toward the end of his stay in the Queen City, the August 22 Boston Globe noted, "Hastings, when playing close behind the bat, wore the wire mask invented by Thayer of the Harvards, he being the only League catcher who has adopted it."

After leaving baseball Hastings purportedly worked for a time in Chicago as a clerk with A.T. Stewart and Company. In November 1888 The Sporting News reprinted a letter from a college student who said that in 1887 he had been playing in Santa Cruz and on his team at first base was Hastings, who by then was fat, had a big black mustache, and worked in a local electric company. He was later a box maker in Santa Cruz until failing health forced him to enter the local soldiers' home.

In my universe he's been a bit more consistent as a player and a contributor. He didn't play well with Rockford in 1871, but got the chance to replace the aging Harry Wright in center field for Boston in 1872 and won the pennant with them. He lost his job to Frank McCarton in 1873, but was still a Boston reserve on that pennant-winning team. He then moved to Hartford for two years and played well, winning the Gold Glove at catcher in 1875. Since then he's played for Louisville and played well, hitting .320 in 1876 and .388 so far for 1877. His lifetime average is .304 and he is currently 19th overall in career hits.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

June 5, 1877
Cincinnati Reds (6-5) at Chicago White Stockings (9-3)

The White Stockings took the lead in the National League after going 2 for 2 against Louisville, but they have another stiff test - the Reds are looking relatively competitive. Meanwhile, Louisville is traveling to St. Louis to take on the last-place Brown Stockings.

The game ended up being a wild one. Chicago fought back from a three-run, ninth-inning deficit to win the game and overcame a record-setting performance by Charley Jones of Cincinnati, who had an unprecedented three triples in the game.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

June 7, 1877
Louisville Grays (9-3) at St. Louis Brown Stockings (2-10)

Louisville and Chicago both won their games on Tuesday the 5th, and they both had the same matchups on the 7th. Louisville trailed by a half-game but they had the easier matchup and could pull into first with a win and a little help.

The Grays jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead, then St. Louis rallied and it was close for pretty much the entire game until Louisville added on four runs in the ninth inning to get the relatively easy win.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Sunday, June 10, 1877
Standings and Leaders

Chicago White Stockings 11-3
Louisville Grays 10-3
Cincinnati Reds 7-7
Boston Red Stockings 5-6
Hartford Dark Blues 3-7
St. Louis Brown Stockings 2-12

Things seem to settling into three tiers - Chicago and Louisville battling for the pennant, Cincinnati and Boston around .500 and solidly mediocre, and Hartford and St. Louis at the bottom of the standings.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Jim Devlin, Louisville - .475
Cal McVey, Boston - .449
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .406
Jim Foran, Chicago - .403
Scott Hastings, Louisville - .386
Charley Jones, Cincinnati - .367
Clipper Flynn, Hartford - .364

Runs Scored

Scott Hastings, Louisville - 18
Jim Devlin, Louisville - 17
Ross Barnes, Boston - 16
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 16
Mike McGeary, Cincinnati - 15
Tom York, Louisville - 15
3 players tied with 14 each

Runs Batted In

Chick Fulmer, Louisville - 15
Jim Foran, Chicago - 13
Cal McVey, Boston - 13
Ezra Sutton, Louisville - 13
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 12
George Bechtel, Louisville - 11
Jim Devlin, Louisville - 11

Stolen Bases

Ross Barnes, Boston - 11
Cap Anson, Cincinnati - 7
Andy Leonard, Hartford - 7
John McMullin, Cincinnati - 7
George Hall, Chicago - 6
3 players tied with 5 each

Won-Loss Record

Dan Collins, Louisville, 6-1
George Zettlein, Chicago, 5-1
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 5-2
Cy Bentley, Boston, 3-2
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati, 3-4
Frank Pearce, Louisville, 2-0
Al Pratt, Cincinnati, 2-1

Earned Run Average

Dan Collins, Louisville - 1.47
Jim Britt, Hartford - 1.96
Bobby Mitchell, Cincinnati - 2.00
Al Spalding, Boston - 2.42
George Bradley, St. Louis - 2.52
George Knight, Louisville - 2.63
Bobby Mathews, Boston - 2.66

Strikeouts

Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 31
Dan Collins, Louisville - 24
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 13
Pud Galvin, St. Louis - 12
George Zettlein, Chicago - 12
3 players tied with 10 each

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Sam Weaver is leading the NL in strikeouts and at age 21 is, together with Dan Collins, helping change the strategy of pitching in my universe. In reality, he was a good pitcher but somewhat less memorable. So who was the real Sam Weaver?

Well, first of all, he was Buck Weaver, which is going to be jarring for people who think of Buck Weaver as the potentially innocent Black Sock. But Sam went by Buck 40 years earlier. There's no SABR bio of Sam/Buck, but Nemec has some information:

After debuting with a win in his hometown [Philadelphia] on one of the NA's last days as a major league, Weaver pitched for the League Alliance Philadelphia Athletics before jumping to Milwaukee after the 1877 season was under way. Accompanying the independent Wisconsin club when it joined the NL, he set about disproving the popular theory that pitching is anywhere from 60 to 90 percent of the game. In 1878 Weaver had one of the most remarkable rookie years of any pitcher in major league history, with a 1.95 ERA and an NL-low .247 OOBP, but all he showed for it was the all-time season record for the fewest baserunners per 9 innings pitched (9.21) among qualifiers with a winning percentage below .300 (.279) - and a return ticket to the minors once Milwaukee disbanded.

Weaver played in 1879 with Worcester, an independent club that year, for manager Frank Bancroft. He started out as the primary pitcher, but it didn't last throughout the season. Nemec again:

By July 1879, however, Bancroft had "gotten down" on Weaver, preferring Lee Richmond, and the original Buck began pitching for hire on a temporary basis with such unheralded independent teams as Campello, Massachusetts. The following year he returned to his hometown to hurl for the Globe team and by 1881 had joined the Eastern Championship Association Athletics. When the A's advanced to the rebel American Association in 1882, Weaver was expected to be their ace but began the season with a lame arm, causing his teammates to curse when management did not hire a quality pitcher to replace him but instead tried to get by with marginal types, like Harry Arundel, until he healed. Despite eventually winning 26 games, he was allowed to sign with Louisville the following year and then jumped to the Philadelphia UA Keystones in 1884 after another big season in 1883 with 24 wins as second fiddle to Guy Hecker.

Back to first fiddle, Weaver was creamed 14-1 by Boston on Opening Day in 1884 and was released by the Keystones even before the club disbanded on August 7. The excuse given was that his salary was too high, but the truth was that he was the least effective pitcher in the UA. In his seventeen starts with the Keystones, Weaver allowed 14.36 BR/9 IP and logged a 5.76 ERA, the poorest among UA qualifiers. Arm or shoulder trouble was almost certainly the culprit for the Philadelphian's rapid decline. Weaver tried to come back with the A's in 1886 but was hurriedly scrapped after his first two starts in Philly yielded a 14.73 ERA. By the end of the decade he was a policeman in Philadelphia, and his arm was eventually useful enough again to play shortstop on a team of Philadelphia "bobbies" that challenged police teams in surrounding cities. In 1908 Weaver retired from the force with twenty-one years of service when an operation failed to remedy a serious heart condition. He died of a heart attack at his Philadelphia home in 1914 as he sat down to breakfast. Local obits referred to him as "Buck Weaver" and extolled his terrific speed.

In my world, Weaver pitched for the Philadelphia Whites as a 19-year-old rookie in 1875 and finished with an 11-10 record. He joined Cincinnati in 1876 and finished 12-16 with a 2.71 ERA and was second to Dan Collins in strikeouts. This season he is 3-4 for Cincinnati and is leading in strikeouts and appears to have a bright future. This gives him a lifetime 26-30 record at the moment and while there are a number of big pitchers about to enter professional baseball in the next few years, Weaver still seems to have long-term career potential.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

June 11, 1877
Louisville Grays (10-3) at Chicago White Stockings (11-3)

Chicago won both of the previous games between the top two clubs this season, so a win for Chicago would mean the White Stockings would be responsible for 75% of the Grays' losses. It is increasingly looking like the outcome of this matchup will determine which club will win the 1877 pennant.

As it turned out, Asa Brainard pitched a masterpiece to allow Chicago to make it 3 for 3 on the season against Louisville. There was a cloud hanging over the win, though - Dick Higham was injured in the game and there's currently no word on how long he'll be out.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

June 14, 1877
Cincinnati Reds (8-7) at Louisville Grays (11-4)

Louisville won the second of two games against Chicago to move back within 1/2 game of the league lead. (Fortunately for Chicago, Higham only has a minor knee injury.) This meant that their next series - this one against Cincinnati - would give them a chance to catch Chicago at the top of the standings.

Charley Jones of Cincinnati had a huge game - getting two home runs to raise his career total to three, and also adding a double and five RBI. However, Louisville came up with an impressive win - after trailing 7-1 they battled all the way back to win 10-8.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

June 16, 1877
Chicago White Stockings (12-4) at Boston Red Stockings (6-6)

Going into the Saturday games on this mid-June day, Chicago and Louisville had identical 12-4 records. While Chicago visited Boston as part of its first east coast trip of the year, Louisville hosted the Cincinnati Reds.

Cal McVey, who's been on a hot streak to take him into the league lead in batting, had three hits, two runs scored and two driven in as Boston took the game from Chicago to go over .500 for the season. Louisville also lost (by a 25-9 score!) to keep things tied atop the league.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Sunday, June 17, 1877
Standings and Leaders

Chicago White Stockings 12-5
Louisville Grays 12-5
Boston Red Stockings 7-6
Cincinnati Reds 9-8
Hartford Dark Blues 3-9
St. Louis Brown Stockings 3-13

Chicago and Louisville are still deadlocked, and with Boston and Cincinnati playing better of late it looks like there could be an excellent pennant race this season.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Cal McVey, Boston - .439
Jim Devlin, Louisville - .400
Charley Jones, Cincinnati - .392
Clipper Flynn, Hartford - .390
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .390
Jim Foran, Chicago - .373
Scott Hastings, Louisville - .370

Runs Scored

Scott Hastings, Louisville - 22
Mike McGeary, Cincinnati - 21
Cap Anson, Cincinnati - 20
Jim Devlin, Louisville - 19
Tom York, Louisville - 19
Ross Barnes, Boston - 18
George Bechtel, Louisville - 17

Runs Batted In

Chick Fulmer, Louisville - 18
John McMullin, Cincinnati - 16
Ezra Sutton, Louisville - 16
Charley Jones, Cincinnati - 15
Cal McVey, Boston - 15
3 players tied with 14 each

Stolen Bases

Ross Barnes, Boston - 13
Cap Anson, Cincinnati - 9
Mike McGeary, Cincinnati - 8
Andy Leonard, Hartford - 7
John McMullin, Cincinnati - 7
George Hall, Chicago - 6
Cal McVey, Boston - 6

Won-Loss Record

Dan Collins, Louisville, 6-2
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 6-3
George Zettlein, Chicago, 5-2
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati, 4-5
Cy Bentley, Boston, 3-2
Al Spalding, Boston, 3-2
2 players tied with 2-0 each

Earned Run Average

George Knight, Louisville - 1.80
Al Spalding, Boston - 1.84
Jim Britt, Hartford - 1.96
Bobby Mitchell, Cincinnati - 2.40
Bobby Mathews, Boston - 2.66
Dan Collins, Louisville - 2.69
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 3.10

Strikeouts

Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 41
Dan Collins, Louisville - 31
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 17
Hugh Campbell, Hartford - 15
Pud Galvin, St. Louis - 14
George Zettlein, Chicago - 14
2 players tied with 12 each

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

George Hall has been one of the better players in baseball in recent years, almost certainly an even better player than he was in real life. He was also a fairly memorable character in reality. Here's the opening paragraph of his SABR bio:

Baseball fans generally remember players who are involved in some of game’s most famous events. The same can be assumed of players who are the first to accomplish a particular feat in the game. However, George Hall was both a central figure in one of major-league baseball’s earliest scandals and the first major-league player to earn the title of “home run king,” but is all but forgotten by the average baseball fan. Hall’s career ended abruptly in 1877 and he essentially vanished from the modern historical record. He was one of the better hitters of the era. His batting skill, involvement in some of early baseball’s famous events, and subsequent fall from grace make him one of the more colorful players in the 19th century.

Nemec makes this interesting observation:

George Hall is one of a kind: a player who was banned from baseball but nonetheless continued to follow the game and live a productive life, seemingly without regretting that his actions had subverted any possibility of his ever again having a role in the national pastime. Trained as an engraver, he returned to that profession after being barred in 1877 and worked diligently at his trade until retiring shortly before his death in Ridgewood, New York at 74.

Hall, like several top players of the 1860s and early 1870s, was a cricket player before he was a baseball player. He was a native of England who came to the United States as a child. By 1870, he was already a top player with the Brooklyn Atlantics - the top club in the east. He played a key role in the epic Cincinnati-Brooklyn game in 1870 - he was actually the player at the plate for the game-winning play, though it seems to have been a defensive lapse rather than a big hit by Hall.

After this time with Brooklyn, when the National Association was formed, Hall signed with the Washington Olympics, where he became the teammate of some of the vanquished Cincinnati Red Stockings. He played with the relatively competitive Baltimore Canaries in 1872 and 1873 before joining Harry Wright's Boston Red Stockings and winning a pennant in 1874. He spent two years with Philadelphia, then spent his final pre-ban year in Louisville in 1877.

During this time, Hall was a good hitter and a good player, but was never really regarded as a superstar. His best season was with Philadelphia in 1876, when he batted .366 and was a skilled left fielder. His career batting average was .322, but this is slightly less impressive than it looks - eight players (Barnes, Wright, McVey, Deacon White, Anson, Pike, Jim O'Rourke and Meyerle) had better batting averages during those same years, and of course Hall was banned during what might have been his decline phase. This is in keeping with Hall's reputation at the time - a good player, probably one of the best on his team, but not a superstar like Ross Barnes, George Wright, Cap Anson or Levi Meyerle.

That was his reputation heading into the Louisville scandal. Nemec summarizes what happened pretty succinctly:

Hall's late-season performance, coupled with equally rank work from pitcher Jim Devlin, prompted talk of player crookedness in Louisville. Official inquiries were launched when the Louisville Courier-Journal put its nose to the case near the end of the season. The paper noticed how several players suddenly had begun sporting diamond rings and pins. Hall, Devlin and infielder Al Nichols were eventually banned for "selling games, conspiring to sell games and tampering with players." A fourth player, Bill Craver, although never proven to have associated with gamblers firsthand, was tossed because he also smelled malodorous to the directors of the Louisville team.

Hall's motivation for becoming embroiled in the scandal has never been satisfactorily explained. Some believe he may merely have been a fundamentally honest player who had lived for years surrounded by the temptation to rig games and finally succumbed to it when Louisville fell behind in his pay and Nichols then joined the club and began trolling for conspirators. There is evidence that the Louisville directors thought they were setting a trap for Craver, Nichols and Devlin and had no idea Hall was going to walk into it when they called him in to explain himself. Moreover, in December 1898 Jimmy Wood and Fred Pfeffer reminisced in The Sporting News about the scandal, and Wood said he was shocked that Hall had been part of it. Hall meanwhile maintained his lifelong silence.

In my universe, Hall has a lifetime .332 average - not too far off from where he was in real life. He has won the Gold Glove as the game's best right fielder three times, and has also gotten the Silver Slugger three times. In fact, perhaps he's exactly what he was in real life, since there are nine players with better career batting averages than he has. 1870s baseball was all about stars and scrubs in both universes.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

June 18, 1877
Chicago White Stockings (12-5) at Boston Red Stockings (7-6)

Chicago and Louisville remained tied for first, and Boston and Cincinnati were very much still in the hunt this early in the season. With this game, Chicago would move either a half-game ahead or a half-game behind idle Louisville.

Chicago had a four-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth, then Boston's first three batters reached base and they had the tying run at the plate with no one out. However, Chicago was able to settle things down to escape with the win and first place.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

June 19, 1877
Chicago White Stockings (13-5) at Hartford Dark Blues (3-10)

A day after their narrow win over Boston, Chicago headed to Brooklyn to take on the last-place Dark Blues. (Remember, this season they were known as "Hartford of Brooklyn.") They had an opportunity to get a game ahead of Louisville with a victory, and playing against a terrible Hartford club seemed like a perfect opportunity.

Chicago was able to handle Hartford relatively easily, as Brainard allowed only five hits in the game and the White Stockings picked up the easy victory. With the win, Chicago pulled a full game ahead in the National League.