TOURNAMENT REVIEW: 1877 INTERNATIONAL SERIES
With all the leagues decided, attention turned to the fourth International Series, with Scotland’s hopes of winning the title for the first time raised by the form of Govan pitcher Gordon Mossman, who would be their chosen starter. England had Westminster’s Daniel Armstrong returned to fitness and selected him for their roster, but did not choose him as the starter due to lack of match practice. The choice was Sheffield’s Alexander Barter, not a regular starter himself but the man who had led England to success in the series two years ago.
England hosted the first game in London, where the Scots’ hopes that Mossman would make the difference for them seemed to be in tatters after just one inning. Having got the first out, he gave up back-to-back hits before Clapham’s Edmund Hodgson drove in both baserunners to give England a 2-0 lead. He was followed by Mark Laidler of Belle Vue, who made it four successive hits and brought Hodgson home to extend the lead to 3-0. After Scotland had missed a scoring chance in the third, England struck again as Thomas Sadler of Sanderson’s Weir got himself on base, before Hodgson again produced the vital hit with two out to bring Sadler home. England now led 4-0, but in the fifth Mossman sparked a Scottish fightback with the bat as he led off with a hit. Malcolm McAllister of Leith added another hit and after an errant pitch from Alexander Barter, a ground ball for the first out allowed Mossman to come home. Frank Sinclair of Tail o’ the Bank then added another hit to bring in McAllister and Scotland had cut the deficit to 4-2. With one out in the sixth, Old Aberdeen’s Allan Gilbert found a three-base hit to give Scotland another scoring chance, and Sinclair again was the man to drive in the run. Now struggling for hits against Mossman and with their lead reduced to a single run, England brought in substitute pitcher Nicholas Ford of Angel to complete the seventh. After England wasted a rare scoring chance in their half of the seventh, Ford eased through the last two innings, allowing only one hit. Scotland’s fightback fell just short, and if they were to win the series for the first time it would have to be by winning both the second and third games.
Game two in Glasgow began perfectly for Scotland, with Allan Gilbert’s one-out hit in the first followed by another from Frank Sinclair, which should have been comfortably fielded by centre fielder Fred Glover of Rock Valley, but his throwing error allowed Gilbert to come all the way around from first base and score. Sinclair was left stranded at third however, and in the third inning, England responded. With one out, Belle Vue’s Alfred Lynch got himself on with a two base hit and pitcher Alexander Barter added another hit to move Lynch to third. With two out, Thomas Sadler brought him in to level the score at 1-1. With pitchers dominating, there were no more hits until the sixth inning when England left a runner at second base, and then in the seventh Scotland created a scoring chance. Govan’s John Dunne opened the inning with a two-base hit and England then chose to allow White Cart’s Josiah Lever to take first base and pitch to Fraser Cash of Haymarket. His sacrifice moved the runners over to second and third, before another Govan man, Charles Robertson found the hit to bring Dunne home to score. Scotland led 2-1 and Mossman was in no mood to surrender the lead. Opposing pitcher Barter did find another hit in the eighth but England could do nothing with it, and Mossman eased through the ninth to complete the 2-1 win and level the series at one win each.
As reigning champions, England had the honour of calling the coin toss for home advantage in the deciding game and called correctly, so the deciding game would be played in London. England left runners at second base in both the second and third innings, while Scotland stranded a man at third base in their half of the third. In the fourth, Gilbert and Sinclair both recorded hits to start the inning for Scotland give them a real chance of taking the lead. John Dunne and Josiah Lever then both hit the ball deep into the outfield, allowing Gilbert to advance a base each time and come home to score with two out. With Mossman pitching well, England had to wait until the sixth for their next baserunner but with two men on base and two out, Mark Laidler was unable to produce the hit which could have tied the game. England left runners at second in both the seventh and eighth innings but could not score, and Scotland found themselves just one inning away from winning the series for the first time. In the ninth, Gilbert and Sinclair again started the inning with successive hits and Scotland had a chance to give themselves a little more room for error. John Dunne made it three successive hits and Gilbert came home to make the score 2-0, before pitcher Barter rallied to retire the next three batters. England needed two in the ninth to save their undefeated record in the series, and made a strong start with a two-base hit from Mark Laidler. Two ground balls allowed Laidler to come home and put England on the scoreboard, but England had just one more out and nobody on base. Frank Ford of Chesterfield came in as a substitute hitter, but on the first pitch he faced hit a fly ball to right field, which was caught to end the game. For the first time Scotland were the winners of the International Series, with Mossman unsurprisingly named as the Best Pitcher. Best Player was given to Frank Sinclair, who recorded six hits in just eleven attempts across the three games.
