A Ball Player's Career Part 10

Mr. Donohue was not the only man who went broke on the result, however.

There was not a man on the delegation that accompanied the Giants that did not lose, and lose heavily on the games, which went a long ways toward ill.u.s.trating the glorious uncertainties of base-ball.

The season of 1886 saw another change in the National League circuit, Buffalo and Providence dropping out of the fight. The vacant places were taken by Kansas City and Was.h.i.+ngton. The Detroit Club, thanks to a deal engineered by Fred Stearns, was greatly strengthened by securing the quartette of players from the Buffalo Club known as the "Big Four,"

these being White, Rowe, Richardson and Brouthers, which made them a most formidable candidate for champions.h.i.+p honors, and which, indeed, they might have won had it not been for the Philadelphia Club, of which Harry Wright was the manager.

Commenting on the League season for that year Spalding's Official Guide for 1887 says: "The past season of 1886 proved to be a very profitable one to a majority of the eight League clubs, those of Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Detroit all finding it a successful season financially, while Chicago profited by bearing off the honors of the League champions.h.i.+p for the sixth time during the eleven years'

existence of the National League.

"The clubs of St. Louis, Kansas City and Was.h.i.+ngton, however, failed to realize expectations, all three being on the wrong side of the column in profit and loss, As. .h.i.therto, good and bad management of the club teams had a great deal to do with the results of the season's campaign, financially and otherwise.

"A feature of the season's champions.h.i.+p contest was the telling work done by the Philadelphia Club. This club closed their first season in the League as the tail end of the eight clubs which entered the list that year, the eight including Cleveland, Providence and Buffalo. In 1884 Philadelphia closed the season as sixth. In 1885 they finished third and in October of 1886 they held third place, but finally had to close a close fourth, after giving Detroit and Chicago a terrible shaking up. In fact, the champions.h.i.+p games in Philadelphia, the latter part of September and first week in October, were among the most noteworthy of the season, for from the 22d of September to the close of the season in October the club in games with Chicago, Detroit, St.

Louis, Kansas City and Was.h.i.+ngton won 13, lost 3 and had two draws.

"The struggle for the pennant after the May contest lay entirely between the Chicago, Detroit, New York and Philadelphia Clubs, the other four having no show from the very outset.

"A notable incident of the campaign was the fact that in the closing month it lay entirely in the hands of the Philadelphia Club to decide whether' the pennant was to go to Detroit or Chicago.

"When Chicago left Philadelphia for Boston the last of September all Detroit was in a fever of excitement at the prospect of their club's success. The only question of interest was, 'Would they go through Philadelphia safely?' It was only when Harry Wright's pony League team captured the Detroits twice out of four games, one being drawn, that Chicago felt relief from anxiety as to the ultimate outcome of the pennant race. It was a gallant struggle by Philadelphia, and it made the close of the campaign season one of the most exciting on record.

"The League schedule had been raised that season from sixteen to eighteen games, nine to be played on the grounds of each club, and of these only twenty-four remained unplayed at the close of the season, fifteen of which were drawn with the score a tie."

This was one of the hardest seasons that I had ever gone through, and when it was over I felt that we were lucky, indeed, to have captured the pennant for the third successive time.

The champion team of that year showed but little change in make-up from that of the preceding year, Clarkson, McCormick and John Flynn being the pitchers; Kelly, Flint and Moolie, catchers; Anson, first base; Pfeffer, second base; Burns, third base; Williamson, shortstop; Dalrymple, left field; Ryan and Gore, center field; and Sunday, right field.

It was a close race that season between, Mike Kelly and myself for the batting honors of the League, and Michael beat me out by a narrow margin at the finish, his percentage being .388 as against .371, while Brouthers came third on the list with .370.

That was the last season that the champions.h.i.+p pennant was flown in Chicago up to the present writing, and looking back at it now it seems to me an awful long time ago.

CHAPTER XVI. BALL-PLAYERS EACH AND EVERY ONE.

The team that brought the pennant back to Chicago in the years 1885 and 1886 was, in my estimation, not only the strongest team that I ever had under my management but, taken all in all, one of the strongest teams that has ever been gotten together in the history of the League, the position of left field, which was still being played by Dalrymple being its only weak spot. The fact, however, that "Dal" was a terrific batter made up for a great many of his shortcomings in tile field, which would scarcely have been overlooked so easily had it not been for his ability as a wielder of the ash. In its pitching department it was second in strength to none of its compet.i.tors and behind the bat were Flint and Kelly, both of whom were widely and favorably known. The outfield was, to say the least, equal to that of any of the other League clubs, and the infield admittedly the strongest in the country. This was the infield that became famous as "Chicago's stone wall," that name being given to it for the reasons that the only way that a ball could be gotten through it was to bat it so high that it was out of reach. The members of that famous infield were Williamson, Pfeffer, Burns and myself, and so long had we played together and so steadily had we practiced that there was scarcely a play made that we were not in readiness to meet. We had a system of signals that was almost perfect, and the moment that a ball was. .h.i.t and we had noted its direction we knew just what to look for. We were up to all the tricks of the game, and better than all else we had the greatest confidence in each other.

I had s.h.i.+fted the positions of Williamson and Burns and the former was now playing shortstop and the latter third base. At third base Burns was as good as the best of them, he excelling at the blocking game, which he carried on in a style that was particularly his own and which was calculated to make a base-runner considerable trouble. At short Williamson was right in his element and in spite of his size he could cover as much ground in that position as any man that I have ever seen.

While his throwing was of the rifle-shot order, it was yet easy to catch, as it seemed to come light to your hands, and this was also true of the b.a.l.l.s thrown by Pfeffer and Burns, both of whom were very accurate in that line. Of the merits of Williamson and Burns as ball players I have already spoken in another chapter.

Fred Pfeffer, who came from Louisville, Ky., was a ball-player from the ground up, and as good a second baseman as there was in the profession, the only thing that I ever found to criticize in his play being a tendency to pose for the benefit of the occupants of the grand stand. He was a brilliant player, however, and as good a man in this position according to my estimate as any that ever held down the second bag. He was a high-salaried player and one that earned every cent that he received, being a hard worker and always to be relied upon. He was a neat dresser, and while not a teetotaler, never drank any more than he knew how to take care of. As a thrower, fielder and base runner he was in the first cla.s.s, while as a batsman he was only fair. Later on he became tangled up in the Brotherhood business, in which he lost considerable of the money that he had laid by for a rainy day. It was some time after the Brotherhood revolt, in which Fred had been one of the prime movers, and a brief history of which is recorded elsewhere, that he was taken back into the fold. He was anxious to play again in Chicago, and I gave him the chance. His health was, however, bad at that time and he was unable to do himself justice and to play the ball that when a well man he was capable of. I hung on to him as long as I could, but when the papers began to howl long and loud about his shortcomings I was finally forced to release him. It was his, health that put him out of the business and nothing else, and had it not been for that drawback he might still be playing ball. At the present writing he is engaged in the poolroom and bookmaking line at Chicago and making a living, to say the least of it.

John Clarkson was a really great pitcher, in fact, the best that Chicago ever had, and that is saying a great deal, as Chicago has had some of the very best in the profession since the game first became popular within its suburbs. He was the possessor of a remarkable drop curve and fast overhand lifting speed, while his change of pace was most deceiving. He was peculiar in some things, however, and in order to get his best work you had to keep spurring him along, otherwise he was apt to let up, this being especially the case when the club was ahead and he saw what he thought was a chance to save himself. As a fielder he was very fair, and as, a batsman above the average, so far as strength went, though not always to be depended upon as certain to land upon the ball.

His home was down at Ocean Spray, near Boston, but he came to us from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was released to the Bostons in the spring of 1888 for the sum of $10,000, and played with that team for several years. He is now in the cigar business in Michigan and is, I ant glad to learn, successful. Pitchers of Clarkson's sort are few and far between, as club managers of these latter days can testify.

Jim McCormick, who was Clarkson's alternate in the box, was also one of the best men in his line that ever sent a ball whizzing across the plate. He was a great big fellow with a florid complexion and blue eyes, and was utterly devoid of fear, nothing that came in his direction being too hot for him to handle. He was a remarkable fielder and a good batsman for a pitcher, men who play that position being poor wielders of the ash, as a rule, for the reason, as I have always thought, that they paid more attention to the art of deceiving the batsman that are opposed to them than they do to developing their own batting powers. The most of McCormick's. .h.i.ts landed in the right field, owing to the fact that he swung late at the ball. He came to Chicago from Cleveland, Ohio, but prior to that had pitched in Columbus, Ohio. He was going back when he joined us, but for all that he pitched a lot of good ball and won many a good game, thanks both to himself and also to the good support that he received. After he left us he drifted down to Paterson, N. J., which seems to be a sort of Mecca for broken-down ball players, and became identified with the racing business, owning and training for a time quite a string of his own and horses that won for him quite a considerable sum, of money. He is now running a saloon in that New Jersey town, and is fairly well-to-do.

John Flynn, who was the third pitcher in the string, came to Chicago from Boston and was another good man in the twirling line. He had a wonderful drop ball, good command of the sphere and great speed. He was also a good batter for a pitcher, and a fast fielder. His arm gave out while he was with us, however, and besides that he got into fast company and, attempting to keep up the clip with his so-called friends, found the pace much too rapid for him and fell by the wayside. John was a good fellow, and with good habits, and had his arm held out, he might have made his mark in the profession, but the good habits he lacked and the arm was not strong enough to bear the strain, so he dropped out of the business, and what has become of him I know not, though I think he is in Boston.

Moolie, who had been signed to relieve Kelly and Flint behind the bat and to handle the delivery of Flynn, was never much of a factor in the game, he not being strong enough to stand the strain. He was let out early for that reason and never developed into a player of any note. He is somewhere in New England at the present time, but just where and what engaged at I am unable to state.

James T. Ryan was at that time and is now a good ball player. His home was in Clinton, Ma.s.s., and he came to us from the Holy Cross College, in which team he had been playing. He was a mere boy when he first signed with Chicago but promised well, and though for a time he did not come up to the expectations that I had formed regarding him, I kept him on the team. His greatest fault was that he would not run out on a base hit, but on the contrary would walk to his base. This I would not stand, and so I fined him repeatedly, but these fines did little good, especially after the advent of James C. Hart, who refused to endorse them and supported Ryan in his insubordination, in regard to which I shall have more to say later. Ryan was a good hitter, not an overly fast base runner, and a good judge of a fly ball. He was also an accurate left-handed thrower. He could never cover as much ground as people thought, and though he ranked with Lange as a batsman, he was not in the same cla.s.s with that player either as a base runner or a fielder, the Californian in the two latter respects being able to race all around him. Ryan at the present writing is still a member of the Chicago team, and, though by no means as good a player as he was some years ago, is quite likely to remain there as long as Mr. Hart continues at the head of affairs.

William A. Sunday, or "Billy," as we all called him in those days, was born in Ames, Iowa, and was as good a boy as ever lived, being conscientious in a marked degree, hardworking, good-natured and obliging. At the time that I first ran across him he was driving an undertaker's wagon in Marshalltown, though it was not because of his skill in handling the ribbons that he attracted my attention. There was a fireman's tournament going on at the time of my visit, in which Sunday was taking part, and it was the speed that he showed on that occasion that opened my eyes to his possibilities in the base-ball playing line.

He was, in my opinion, the fastest man afterwards on his feet in the profession, and one who could run the bases like a scared deer. The first thirteen times that he went to the bat after he began playing with the Chicagos he was struck out, but I was confident that he would yet make a ball player and hung onto him, cheering him up as best I could whenever he became discouraged. As a baserunner his judgment was at times faulty and he was altogether too daring, taking extreme chances because of the tremendous turn of speed that he possessed. He was a good fielder and a strong and accurate thrower, his weak point lying in his batting. The ball that he threw was a hard one to catch, however, it landing in the hands like a chunk of lead. Since "Bill" retired from the diamond he has become noted as an evangelist, and I am told by those who should know that he is a brilliant speaker and a great success in that line. May luck be with him wherever lie may go!

I have said that Sunday threw a remarkably hard ball to catch, and this was true, but I have noted the same peculiarity in regard to other players that I have met. How to explain the reason for this is a difficult matter. He was not as swift a thrower as either Williamson, Burns or Pfeffer, all of whom sent the ball across the field with the speed of a bullet and with the accuracy of first-cla.s.s marksmen. In spite of the extreme speed with which they came into the hand, however, they seemed to sort of lift themselves as they came and so landed lightly, while Sunday's b.a.l.l.s, on the contrary, seemed to gain in weight as they sailed through the air and were heavy and soggy when they struck the hands. This is a strange but true fact, and one that, perhaps some scientists can explain. I confess that I cannot, nor have I ever been able to find anybody that could do so to my satisfaction.

Of the members of this old team the most famous in the history of Chicago as a base-ball city, three are dead, Flint, Williamson and Kelly, while the others are scattered far and wide, Ryan being the only one of them that is still playing. Over the graves of three of them the gra.s.s has now been growing for many a year, and yet I can see them as plainly now as in the golden days of the summers long ago, when, greeted by the cheers of an admiring mult.i.tude, we all played ball together. If it were possible for the dead to come back to us, how I should like once more to marshall the members of that champions.h.i.+p team of 1884, '85 and '86 together and march with them once more across the field while the cheers of the crowd rang in our ears. But that I can never do. The past is dead, and there is no such thing as resurrecting it, however much we may wish to do so.

I cannot close this chapter without mentioning little Willie Hahn, our mascot in those days, and, a mascot of whom we were exceedingly proud.

Not more than four or five years ago his parents lived in a three-story house not far front the old Congress street grounds. The first time that I ever saw him he came on the grounds arrayed in a miniature Chicago uniform, and so cunning was he that we at once adopted him as our "mascot," giving him the freedom of the grounds, and he was always on hand when the club was at home, being quite a feature, and one that pleased the lady patrons of the game immensely. I had lost sight of him for years, but one day a fine, manly-looking fellow walked into my billiard-room and introduced himself as the mascot of those other days.

I was glad to see him and also glad to learn that he has a good position and is getting on in the world.

CHAPTER XVII. WHILE FORTUNE FROWNS AND SMILES.

Should I omit to mention herein the two series of games that the Chicagos played with the St. Louis Browns, champions of the American a.s.sociation, in 1885 and 1886, somebody would probably rise to remark that I was in hopes that the public had forgotten all about them. Such is not the case, however. The games in both cases were played after the regular season was over and after the players had in reality pa.s.sed out of my control, and for that reason were not as amenable to the regular discipline as when the games for the League champions.h.i.+p were going on.

The St. Louis Browns was a strong organization, a very strong one, and when we met them in a series of games for what was styled at the time the world's champions.h.i.+p, in the fall of 1885, they would have been able, in my estimation, to have given any and all of the League clubs a race for the money.

In the series of games, one of which was played at Chicago, three in St.

Louis, one at Pittsburg, and two at Cincinnati, we broke even, each winning three games, the odd one being a tie, and as a result the sum of $1,000, which had been placed in the office of the "Mirror of American Sports," of which T. Z. Cowles, of Chicago, was the editor, to be given to the winning team, was equally divided between the two teams.

At the close of the season of 1886 the St. Louis team, having again won the champions.h.i.+p of the American a.s.sociation, another series of games was arranged and a provision was made that the gate money, which hitherto had been equally divided between the two clubs, should all go to the winner. The series consisted of six games, three of which were played in Chicago and three in St. Louis. The first and third of these games we won by scores of 6 to 0 and 11 to 4, but the second, fourth, fifth and sixth we lost, the scores standing 12 to 0, 8 to 5, 10 to 3 and 4 to 3 respectively, and as a result we had nothing but our labor for our pains.

We were beaten, and fairly beaten, but had some of the players taken as good care of themselves prior to these games as they were in the habit of doing when the League season was in full swim, I am inclined to believe that there might have been a different tale to tell.

There was a general shaking up all along the line before the season of 1887 opened. The Kansas City and St. Louis clubs, neither of which had been able to make any money, dropped out, their places being taken by Pittsburg and Indianapolis.

The sensation of the year was the sale of Mike Kelly to the Boston Club by the Chicago management for the sum of $10,000, the largest sum up to that time that had ever been paid for a ball player, and Mike himself benefited by the transaction, as he received a salary nearly double that which he was paid when he wore a Chicago uniform.

The Chicago team for that season consisted of Mark Baldwin, Clarkson and Van Haltren, pitchers; Daly, Flint, Darling and Hardie, catchers; Anson, Pfeffer, Burns and Tebeau, bas.e.m.e.n; M. Sullivan, Ryan, Pett.i.t, Van Haltren and Darling, fielders. Pyle, Sprague and Corcoran, pitchers, and Craig, a catcher, played in a few games, and but a few only.

The season, taken as a whole, was one of the most successful in the history of the League up to that time, both from a financial and a playing standpoint. The result of the pennant race was a great disappointment to the Boston Club management, who, having acquired the services of "the greatest player in the country," that being the way they advertised Kelly, evidently thought that all they had to do was to reach out their hands for the champions.h.i.+p emblem and take it. "One swallow does not make a summer," however, nor one ball player a whole team, as the Boston Club found out to its cost, the best that it could do being to finish in the fifth place.

The campaign of 1887 opened on April 28th, the New York and Philadelphia Clubs leading off in the East and Detroit and Indianapolis Clubs in the West. At the end of the first month's play Detroit was in the lead, with Boston a good second, New York third, Philadelphia fourth and Chicago fifth. The team under my control began a fight for one of the leading positions in June, and when the end of that month came they were a close fourth, Detroit, Boston and New York leading them, while Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Was.h.i.+ngton and Indianapolis followed in the order named.

The boys were playing good ball at this stage of the game and our chances for the pennant had a decidedly rosy look. During the month of July we climbed steadily toward the top of the ladder, and at the end of that month we were in second place, and within striking distance of Detroit, that team being still the leader, while Boston had fallen back to the third and New York to fourth place. These positions were maintained until the last week of August, when the Chicago and Detroit teams were tied in the matter of games won. At this time it was still anybody's race so far as the two leaders were concerned.

The middle of September saw a change in the condition of affairs, however, Detroit having secured a winning lead, and from that time on all of the interest centered in the contest for second place between Chicago, Philadelphia and New York. By the end of September New York was out of the fight so far as second place was concerned, the battle for which had narrowed down to Chicago and Philadelphia, which finally went to the latter after a hard struggle.

The Detroits that season won 79 games and lost 45, the Philadelphias won 75 games and lost 48, the Chicagos won 71 games and lost so, Boston, Pittsburg, Was.h.i.+ngton and Indianapolis finis.h.i.+ng in the order named.

The champions of that year also succeeded in doing what we had failed to accomplish, that is, they beat the St. Louis Browns by one game in the series for the world's champions.h.i.+p that was played after the close of the regular League season.

In the matter of the batting averages for that year I stood second on the list, with a percentage of .421, having taken part in 122 games, while Maul, of the Pittsburg team, who led the list with .450, had only taken part in sixteen games, these figures including bases on b.a.l.l.s as base hits.

The League circuit for 1888 remained the same as in 1887, and all of the clubs made money with the exception of Detroit, Was.h.i.+ngton and Indianapolis, and their losses were small.