TOURNAMENT REVIEW: 1875 INTERNATIONAL SERIES
The final act of the 1875 season was the second International Series between England and Scotland, and there was no shortage of excitement to conclude another year of baseball. Alexander Barter of Sheffield was the surprise choice to start as pitcher for England, while Airdrie’s Bruce Fraser was the man chosen for Scotland at the end of a very impressive debut season in the Glasgow and District League. It was Fraser who struggled early in the first game in London however, as with one out in the first inning he allowed a hit to Edmonton’s Harry Pardoe. Then having got the second out, Angel’s Noah Sanders produced a home run to give England an early 2-0 lead. Barter on the other hand pitched superbly, not allowing Scotland a single baserunner until he hit Partick’s Oliver Milne with a pitch when there was one out in the sixth inning.
After Fraser had sacrificed himself to move Milne to second, Walter Challinor of Tollcross produced another hit which put Scotland on the board and reduced their deficit to 2-1. In the seventh, two hits to start the inning gave Scotland a chance to draw level and even after England recorded two outs on the next play, there was still time for Kirkcaldy’s James Harris to tie the game with a hit of his own. Unfortunately for Scotland, all their hard work in levelling the score was undone immediately as Percival Bennett of Bexley Heath opened England’s half of the inning with a hit and with one out, Edmonton’s Frank Page drove him in to restore England’s lead. Scotland advanced a runner to second base in the eighth, but Barter shut down their hopes of another comeback. England completed a 3-2 victory to take the first game of the series, meaning that Scotland had to win in Glasgow to force a deciding game.
Pitcher Fraser needed to be at his best in the second game, and he certainly was. England recorded no hits and had only two baserunners in the first seven innings, and were not able to advance either of them beyond first base. So impressive was Fraser than he was even instrumental in Scotland taking the lead in the fourth inning, coming to bat with two out and two runners on base and finding the hit which drove in Kirkcaldy’s James Harris. In the sixth, poor fielding from England and a reckless pitch from Alexander Barter allowed Scotland to put three runners on base and with one out, Walter Challinor’s hit brought two home to extend the lead to 3-0.
With Fraser in such form that was likely to be enough to win the game already, but Scotland added another on a hit from Harris in the seventh. In the eighth, England finally avoided the ignominy of having no hits in the game through Percival Bennett, but the visitors’ sloppy play returned as he was promptly caught straying too far from the base. Another hit from Timothy Berry of Greenwich would be all England could get on the day, and Scotland added two more in their half of the eighth following another fielding error, when John Cunningham of Tollcross found a hit with two men on and two out. England relief pitcher Isaiah Harper of Sherwood Rise finally ended the inning, and all that was left was for Fraser to ease through the ninth and tie the series at one game all. England finished with more errors than hits and would have to play much better in the third game, which was also to take place in Glasgow after England called the coin toss incorrectly.
England missed an early chance to take the lead in the decisive game when they left two runners on base in the first inning, and it was Scotland who struck first in the third when The Grange’s Eric Speechley led off with a hit and advanced to second after another fielding error from England. With two out, Tollcross man Walter Challinor continued his fine series with a hit to bring Speechley home. With Fraser pitching so well, Scotland may have hoped that the single run would be enough but in the sixth everything changed. Hits from Dennis Dunning of Clapham and Angel’s Noah Sanders put Fraser in trouble and then when Speechley made an error in the field, both came in to score and England were in the lead at 2-1.
It was left to Challinor again to inspire a Scottish fightback, as he started their half of the sixth with a two-base hit and then saw his teammate John Cunningham deliver another hit with two outs on the board to tie the score again at 2-2. There was no scoring in the next two innings, so the series came down to the ninth inning of the third game where with one out, Edmonton’s Frank Page found a hit to give England a scoring chance. With Page standing at second base, his club teammate Harry Pardoe delivered a potentially decisive blow as he drove in Page, putting England ahead again at 3-2. In their own half of the ninth, Scotland found a single hit with one out but relief pitcher Nicholas Ford of Angel completed the job for England. Matching 3-2 victories in the first and third games gave England the series, despite their poor performance in the second game which meant that across the series, they were outhit and outscored by Scotland. Of little consolation to the Scots were the awards for Best Pitcher, which went to Fraser for his superb shutout in the second game, and Best Player which was given to Walter Challinor.
