When this hits the 1900s...
 

I wonder what'll happen as this enters the 1900s--there's a league for every radio network when radio (and then television) is created: CBS, NBC, and NBC Blue (the predecessor to ABC, which formed in 1943)...

I also wonder where Babe Ruth, Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, etc. will wind up...

Anyway, keep it up...

That's not even counting Mutual radio (which toyed with the idea of a TV network briefly) and DuMont television!

I suspect that baseball in this universe will look very different in the 20th century than it does in 1887...

Centennial Cup playoffs: Boston beans Baltimore, Brooklyn
 

CENTENNIAL CUP

Boston 6, Baltimore 3 (BOS: Galliker HR, 4 RBI)
Baltimore 5, Boston 1 (BAL: Lew Brown 3 hits, 2B, RBI)
Boston 5, Baltimore 1 (BOS: Jim Devlin 6-hitter)

Brooklyn 7, Newark 3 (BKN: Bob Caruthers 3 hits, 2 RBI)
Newark 12, Brooklyn 5 (NWK: Fred Pfeffer 3 hits, 2 RBI)
Brooklyn 5, Newark 4 (BKN: Fred Carroll go-ahead RBI triple in 8th)


Boston 9, Brooklyn 8 (BOS: Joe Kelly 3 hits, 3B, 2 RBI)
Boston 14, Brooklyn 1 (BOS: 8-run 8th)
Brooklyn 10, Boston 9 (BKN: Caruthers 4 hits, 5 RBI)
Boston 6, Brooklyn 5 (BOS: Andy Summers pinch-hit walk-off single in 9th)

Attachment 1060637

Cup Finals: Hoosier still your daddy, Colts and Cowboys head to the wire
 

The first Cup Final series in the great state of Indiana was a split for the Indianapolis Hoosiers. The opener went back and forth, until Indy's Thomas Tinney settled matters with a bases-clearing triple in a 9-6 Hoosiers win. But Rochester bit back in Game 2, when every starting batter hit safely in a 10-4 victory.

The Cup Final headed to upstate New York for the next three contests, but it was Indianapolis who made it to the cusp of the title with two straight wins. Hurler John Ward was brilliant in Game 3 with a three-hit shoutout as the Hoosiers won, 5-0, and then the Hoosiers scored four times in the top of the first and held on for an 8-7 victory in Game 4. But the Red Wings stayed alive by winning the fifth game, a wild contest that featured 17 runs, 29 hits and nine errors. Trailing 7-4 in the eighth and 8-7 in the ninth, Rochester came back to tie twice, then sent the series back to Indiana on John Kiley's walk-off single in the thirteenth.

It was a chilly, overcast day in Indianapolis for the sixth game, but the home team turned up the heat with ten runs in the first four innings off Red Wings starter Charlie Parsons. John Ward had two hits, two runs, two RBI...and also held Rochester to eight hits and two earned runs in the Hoosiers Cup-clinching 11-5 win.

Attachment 1060655

In the battle for the Union Cup, the Chicago Colts almost stole the opener from the Kansas City Cowboys. Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the ninth, Chicago's John Grady socked a two-run homer, then watched as two of his teammates got on with two out. Up stepped Cap Anson, the 35-year-old star who was shockingly cashiered by Rockford Forest City this June, after 17 years of service with the club. After signing with the Colts, Anson picked up where he left off, batting .405 in 38 games...but he grounded out, and KC took Game 1. But Anson was ready in the second game, as he homered and drove in three in a 8-3 Colts victory.

The Cup headed to the wildest place in all of pro ball: the Cowboy Bowl, a circular stadium on the outskirts of Kansas City. It had all the hallmarks of a wild west show, with Chicago leading 7-4 after scoring twice in the top of the ninth. But the Cowboys blasted back with two runs of their own, cutting the lead to 7-6 with Frank McCarton on third and nobody out. But Charlie Robinson popped up, and opposing pitcher Dave Foutz lined into a double play to give the Colts the victory and a 2-1 series lead.

But the wild KC crowd would not be disappointed, as the Cowboys took a 5-4 win in Game 4 behind McCarton's three RBI, then Foutz, wearer of the goat horns in the third game, lashed a two-run double as Kansas City won, 5-2. Back to Chicago!

In the sixth game, it looked like baseball's most westerly outpost would grab their second Union Cup, as they took a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth. After Ed Andrews flew out, up came Anson, who hit a deep fly to center that...just...kept...going...until it landed in Lake Michigan! Tie game!

After Bobby Lowe flew out, Patrick Larkins drew a walk and stole second. On a hit-and-run, Tom Lee blooped a single to center, and Larkins came all the way around to win the game, 6-5, for the Colts, and force a game seven!

Attachment 1060656

John Roache, then the Mayor of Chicago, would later refer to Game 7 of the 1887 Union Cup Final as "the greatest game of ball ever played in our fair city". It started out with two quick Cowboys runs in the first off Colts starter Sam Kimber, but the Chicago offense came alive with a trio of markers in the bottom of the inning, followed by six more runs in the next five frames to take a 9-3 lead. But KC wasn't done, as five straight singles and an error in the seventh led to five Cowboys runs, making it 9-8. Trailing 10-8 in the ninth, Charley Jones hit a towering blast to make it 10-9, then Lou Bierbauer doubled and went to third on a groundout. Up came Jumbo Davis, who worked a 3-1 count then sent a Jack Quinn fastball deep to right-center. Tom Lee, winner of 23 games on the mound in '87 but manning center field that day, went back, back, back to the wall...and gloved it, winning the Colts their first Cup!

Attachment 1060657

1887 Centennial Cup Finals: 'Nuff said!
 

For the sixth year in a row, the Cincinnati Red Stockings won the National Association pennant, and thus got a bye to the Centennial Cup Finals. And their opponent, for the second straight autumn, was the Tri Mountain Club of Boston. Sellout crowds at the Palace of the Fans in Cincinnati saw the Reds win the first two games by one run apiece.

Game 1 was a pitcher's duel between Bob Black of Cincinnati against Tri Mountain's Jim Devlin. Dennis Casey had two of the Reds' six hits, including an RBI single in the second -- which was all they needed in a 1-0 win. Casey also figured in Game 2, blasting a two-run homer, but the game was all even at four after nine innings. In the tenth, Jim O'Rourke led off with a triple, then Arlie Latham singled him home for a 5-4 victory and a 2-0 series lead.

Tri Mountain needed to win in Boston, and they did. In the third game, Thomas Gorman drove in four runs, including two on a double in the seventh that snapped a 7-7 tie, and Boston held on to a 10-7 win. In Game 4, Henry Galliker -- the 39-year-old veteran whose career began with the amateur Oriental club in New York way back in 1869 -- was the star, with an RBI double in the sixth and a reaching on an error by Cincy 2B William Johnson in the tenth to give Boston a 6-5 win. Series tied!

At the fifth game at Fens Way Park, "Nef Ced" McGreevey and the Royal Rooters were in full evidence as the largest crowd ever to see a ballgame in Massachusetts -- a ballpark-busting 28,359 -- saw not one but two ageless wonders at work. First, there was Galliker, who in the last of the eighth and Boston trailing, 3-2, smashed a home run to tie things up. Then up stepped the 44-year-old Sam Woolverton, who lined one into the gap in right-center for a triple. Woolverton, whose career began way back in '66, came home on Curtis Chapman's single, giving Tri Mountain a 4-3 win and a 3-2 Cup lead.

At the celebration at the Third Base bar, McGreevey made what he later called the most painful decision of his life: he served the ballplayers...sarsaparilla. Also, there was no music, dancing, or women in the bar that night. The players howled, but McGreevey merely yelled, "Until that Cup is up on the shelf, you're all going to be choir boys! Nuff said...!"

So, the Tri Mountain club found themselves in exactly the same spot they were in a year ago: leading the Cup Final three games to two, but needing a win in the Palace of the Fans: unfriendly territory to say the least. But from the first pitch, the Red Stockings seemed off: they would commit five errors in the contest, including two on dropped balls by the usually sure-handed Dan Brouthers at first. Again, it was the old men who led the way: Galliker led off the game with a home run, and Woolverton hit a two-run double in the third inning. Even 40-year-old George Sanderson got in on the fun, with a double of his own that would make the score 6-0, Boston. (He got his start with Tri Mountain in 1870.) Brouthers tried to make up for his earlier miscues with a two-run blast in the sixth, but it was too little, too late, as Boston claimed their first Cup with a 7-3 triumph.

Attachment 1060689

The day after Tri Mountain's return to Boston, Nef Ced McGreevey was incensed by a front-page article in the Globe: BASEBALL CUP TO RESIDE AT KELLY'S BAR. "We want the Cup at Kelly's, because that other barkeep was so mean to us," claimed an "unidentified player". Nuf Ced stormed over to the team offices, threatening to "tear them all limb from limb", only to see the whole team waiting for him, laughing their heads off. Team captain Woolverton promptly thrust the Cup in McGreevey's hands. "Of course it's going to your place," he roared, "where else?"

If you go to Boston, you'll find the Third Base bar has long been replaced by a museum of baseball paraphernalia. And there, on a high shelf, you can see the first-ever Centennial Cup won by the Tri Mountain Baseball Club of Boston.

Enough said.

Parisian Bob and Red-Black win trophies
 

"Parisian' Bob Caruthers has already been called "The New Creighton" after being awarded the MVP trophy now named for the legendary star. And what a season Caruthers had, not only with the bat, but by winning twenty games on the mound!

Attachment 1060695

Meanwhile, Bill Black of the Reds won 26 games and the Pitcher of the Year:

Attachment 1060696

In the AA, Ed Crane of American Cup champion Indianapolis won the MVP -- he and the rest of the Hoosiers will be plying their trade in the NA in '88 -- while Buffalo's Alex Voss won pitching honours. Finally, Bill Boyd of Kansas City was voted MVP of the Union, while Toronto's Mark Baldwin was awarded Pitcher of the Year.

One note...
 

IRL, John A. Roache was the mayor of Chicago in 1887, not Monroe Heath (he was the mayor from 1876-1879)...

Good set of updates, though...

Oops, wrong decade!
 

Thanks, fixed.

So what do you all think of this timeline? Has anybody downloaded and used the 1871 quickstart and XLS files of the 1857-70 players?

Moving up, moving down in 1888
 

From NA to AA: Middletown, Jersey City and Washington Olympics.

From AA to NA: Indianapolis, Providence and Rochester.

From AA to UA: Paterson, Scranton and Richmond.

From UA to AA: Chicago Colts, St. Paul, New York Giants.

1888: Tri Mountains, Olympians on summit; Rebels head north
 

Who says baseball is a young man's game? The Tri Mountains fought off the Elizabeth Resolutes by a single game to take their first National pennant in a dozen years, thanks to 45-year-old Sam Woolverton and 41-year-old George Sanderson finishing second and third in batting. Meanwhile, the Red Stockings finished third and the Kekionga club of Fort Wayne made their first Cup appearance. Finally, the White Stockings 67 wins was a club record, but they needed a 68th win, over Athletic, to grab the final playoff slot -- and the first in their history.

Attachment 1061197

In the American, the Washington Olympics ensured their return ticket to the NA by taking the AA pennant, edging out St. Paul and the Windy City's other team, the Chicago Colts:

Attachment 1061198

Finally, the South rose again as the Richmond Rebels defeated the Union -- on the baseball field, at least -- while Altoona and the St. Louis Maroons also earned their space in the AA in '89:

Attachment 1061199

Cup playoffs: Holy Toledo! Mountains Maul Maroons
 

AMERICAN CUP

Toledo 5, St. Paul 4 (TOL: Steve Dignan, 2 hits, RBI)
St. Paul 6, Toledo 3 (STP: Tom Sexton, double, triple, 2 RBI)
Toledo 3, St. Paul 0 (TOL: Bill George 3-hit shutout)

Albany 2, Chicago 1 (ALB: Levi Hickman 2-hitter)
Albany 6, Chicago 1 (ALB: Tom Sullivan 7-hitter, RBI)


Albany 1, Toledo 0 (ALB: Levi Hickman 5-hit shutout)
Albany 2, Toledo 1 (ALB: Tom Sullivan 4-hitter)
Toledo 4, Albany 1 (TOL: 3 runs in 11th; Ed Williamson HR)
Toledo 8, Albany 1 (TOL: Count Campau 3 hits, double, 2 RBI)
Toledo 4, Albany 1 (TOL: Jim Brown 4-hitter, 0 ER)

Attachment 1061543

UNION CUP

Philadelphia 2, Altoona 1 (PHI: Charlie Reipschlager RBI single in 9th, bases-loaded walk in 10th)
Altoona 3, Philadelphia 2 (ALT: Charlie Barber 2 hits, RBI)
Altoona 8, Philadelphia 1 (ALT: Eddie Bradbeer 2 hits, double, 3 RBI)

Milwaukee 4, St. Louis 1 (MIL: Hardy Richardson 2 hits, RBI)
St. Louis 5, Milwaukee 0 (SLM: Ed Stratton 9-hit shutout)
St. Louis 1, Milwaukee 0 (SLM: Frank Folkrod bases-loaded walk in 9th; Denny Driscoll 2-hit shoutout)


Altoona 3, St. Louis 2 (ALT: Paul Hines, Ed Bradbeer each 1 RBI with no hits)
St. Louis 4, Altoona 3 (SLM: Doggie Miller walk-off single in 13th)
St. Louis 2, Altoona 1 (Longest game in Cup history; SLM: John Ryan 16 IP 6 H 1 R; John Mansell go-ahead single in 16th)
Altoona 5, St. Louis 2 (ALT: Nick Scott 2 hits, 3 RBI)
Altoona 5, St. Louis 3 (ALT: Charlie Ferguson 7-hitter, 2 RBI double)

Attachment 1061544

Centennial Cup Playoffs: White, not Red
 

CENTENNIAL CUP

Chicago 10, Elizabeth 6 (CHI: 6-run 7th; Tom Denison 4 hits, triple, 4 RBI)
Chicago 6, Elizabeth 5 (CHI: Chub Sullivan 3 hits, 2 RBI, go-ahead single in 12th)

Fort Wayne 5, Cincinnati 4 (FTW: Arthur Smith 5 hits, 4 RBI, walk-off single in 12th)
Cincinnati 6, Fort Wayne 5 (CIN: Bill Atwater 15 IP 10 H 2 ER; William Prescott walk-off single in 15th)
Fort Wayne 3, Cincinnati 2 (FTW: Ed Seward 4-hitter)


Fort Wayne 8, Chicago 0 (FTW: Count Gedney 5-hitter)
Chicago 3, Fort Wayne 0 (CHI: Tommy Bond 4-hitter)
Fort Wayne 6, Chicago 1 (FTW: Dick Johnston 3-run HR; Ed Seward 6-hitter)
Chicago 5, Fort Wayne 3 (CHI: Tommy Bond 7-hitter, 1 ER, 2 hits, RBI)
Chicago 4, Fort Wayne 2 (CHI: Mike Powers 2-run HR)

Attachment 1061567

1888 Cup Finals: Olympics on top, Rebels invade
 

The Olympic club of Washington won the National Association pennant in 1877, but was a mid-table club for much of the next decade before finishing fourth in 1886, making their third Centennial Cup playoff appearance. Then it all collapsed in '87 as Olympic finished dead last, being relegated to the American Association. In 1888, tho, Washington bounced back by winning the AA pennant, earning a ticket back to the NA, and qualifying for the American Cup Finals.

In the first game against the Toledo Blue Sox (making their first Cup Final bid), Olympic slipped by, 2-1, as George Knight allowed only one unearned run on five hits. Knight also had a hand in the go-ahead run in the 8th, when he hit a ground ball to 2B Tom Carey -- who booted it, allowing Heinie Kappel to score the go-ahead run. Toledo tied up the series at Olympic Park the next day, 3-1, as catcher Bill Morgan drove in a pair of runs.

The series moved to Maumee Park, on the Maumee River in Toledo. The Blue Sox jumped to a 2-1 lead after five innings, on RBI singles by Charlie Householder and Jim Brown. But Olympics scored five runs in the sixth, aided by three walks, two errors and a 2 RBI single by...George Knight, who also held Toledo to four hits on the mound in a 9-2 win. In Game 4, Toledo took a 6-4 lead after six, until a tiring Eddie Hogan was knocked out of the box by three Olympic runs in the seventh and ninth innings.

The Blue Sox needed a win at home in Game 5 to force the series back to DC, and it looked like they would finally get it after taking a 3-2 lead on Householder's RBI single in the seventh. But, alas for Toledo, their pitching failed them again the late innings, as John Reilly's two-run single in the eighth put Washington in front, en route to a 6-4 victory, bringing the first-ever Cup to the nation's capital.

Attachment 1061650

Some 110 miles away way from Washington, the capital of the old Confederacy claimed the Union Association pennant, and met the Mountain City club of Altoona, Pennsylvania for the Cup. Rebels Park was filled for the first two games, and the home team took each game, scoring four times in the first inning in a 6-3 win, and thirty-game winner William Selden holding Altoona to four hits in a 4-2 victory in Game 2. [Editor's note: Selden was Black and in real life for played several years in pre-NeL play. How does a Black man play for a baseball team in the very capital of the old Confederacy less than a generation after the Civil War? In a world much better than ours, presumably.]

Back in Altoona, Mountain City evened the series at two-all with a pair of wins in Games 3 and 4. Jim Handiboe got the win for Mountain City, in more ways than one, by holding Richmond to three runs on the mound and hitting a sacrifice fly in the ninth to provide a 4-3 win. In the fourth game, Nick Scott had two hits, including a go-ahead RBI single to give Altoona a 4-2 victory.

It looked like Altoona would hold serve in the fifth game, leading 3-1 after eight innings, but the Rebels tied the game on 40-year-old Deacon White's two-run blast in the top of the ninth. In the tenth, the Rebels scored twice more on four straight singles, giving Richmond a 4-2 win and a 3-2 Cup Final lead.

Back in Virginia, Mountain City seemed determined to force a Game 7, piling up a 6-2 lead after 7 1/2 innings, but the Rebels tied the game with four runs in the eighth, keyed by Ben Sanders' two-run double. Finally, in the twelfth, Steve Toole singled, went to second on a wild pitch, stole third -- and brought the Union Cup to Richmond on Hugh Nicol's bloop single. Hurrah, Rebels!

Attachment 1061651

1888 Centennial Cup Finals: Darn those Stockings
 

Formed as an amateur team in 1868, turning professional the following year and becoming one the founding members of the National Association in 1871, the history of the Chicago Baseball Club -- best known for what they wore on their feet -- had not exactly been wrapped in glory. First, in that initial league season, they lost their ballpark and equipment to the Great Chicago Fire -- only donations from around the Windy City allowed the White Stockings to return in 1872. But Chicago was little more than cannon fodder to the great teams of Cincinnati and Cleveland, a mid-table club at best, until the last day of the 1888 campaign, when they finished in a tie for fifth place with Athletic. To determine who would get the last Cup slot, the Chicagos went into Philadelphia and knocked off the Athletics, 6-1, as Tommy Bond twirled a three-hitter. Thus began the most unlikely run in Cup history, as the White Stox knocked off Elizabeth and Fort Wayne to qualify for their first Cup Final.

The opening game of the fourteenth annual Centennial Cup Finals were held on a sunny day in Boston, with Nuf Ced McGreevy and his Royal Rooters in their usual seats. The Tri Mountains' Jim Devlin pitched well, allowing only two runs on five hits -- but Chicago's Tommy Bond, who won the playoff game in Philly and three more in the Cup playoffs, shutout the Bostons on only three safeties in a 2-0 contest. The next day, the Whites jumped to a 3-1 lead, but 40-year-old Henry Galliker slapped a bases-clearing triple in the fifth, and Tri Mountains held on to win, 6-3, evening up the series.

The Cup Final headed to Lakeside Park in Chicago, and the White Stockings showed they could win little and win big. In Game 3, it was Bond again, holding Boston to four hits in a 4-2 Chicago win, then in Game 4, Chicago pushed the Tri Mountains to the brink in a wild contest in which Chicago leaped to an 8-0 lead, lost it, then went back ahead on rookie David Cain's RBI single in the eighth. All told, there were 18 runs, 27 hits and nine errors in the 10-8 Whites win.

Now the Tri Mountains were up against it, but Nuf Ced McGreevy -- who had been hired by the Boston Globe as a "special correspondent" -- claimed to be unconcerned. "Just wait til (Charlie) Hodnett pitches tomorrow! He'll make mincemeat outa those Chicago boys!" Hodnett promptly made Nuf Ced into a prophet as his shut out the Chicagos, 6-0, and sent the Cup Final back to Beantown.

The sixth game, on a gloomy day in Massachusetts, again matched Bond and Devlin, and Boston drew first blood, as Curtis Chapman drove home a pair in the second inning. But the White Stockings came back, scoring single runs in the third and fourth, then took the lead on Mike Powers' two-RBI double in the seventh. An outfield miscue by Cain allowed Boston to cut the lead 4-3 in the bottom of the frame. Hodnett singled in the eighth to provide the potential tying run, but Bond retired the last six Bostons in a row to give the White Stockings the win and the Cup. Stunned, the overflow crowd merely filed out of the ballpark -- a weeping Nuf Ced McGreevy had to be carried out by the Royal Rooters.

Attachment 1061862

But the real excitement happened that night at the Third Base bar, when the Chicago players stopped by for what they thought would be a banquet in their honour, followed by presentation of the Centennial Cup; this had been the tradition since the Cup was first forged back in '75. When they arrived, however, they found the bar was closed and empty. Angered, the players forced their way in, and found that the Cup was not in its usual place, high above the bar. Incensed, the White Stockings began smashing glasses and overturning tables -- until the local constabulary stopped by and arrested the lot.

The players were eventually let go with a warning, with the very unhappy White Stockings ownership promising the pay for to damages. Meanwhile, speculation was rife all winter long: WHERE IS THE CUP? screamed a headline in the Globe. McGreevey first claimed innocence, saying the Cup had been stolen by "ruffians", then admitted it had been stashed in a "secret location". The National Association threatened to have Nuf Ced arrested if he didn't come clean, but the barkeep had too many friends in Boston (including Mayor O'Brien himself, a huge baseball fan) for that to happen. Finally, Nuf Ced was allowed to keep the original Cup, which returned to its place of honour at Third Base, and a new trophy was built and sent to Chicago. Since 1888, a new Cup has been created every year and given to the winning club.

Woolverton goes out on top; Bond is the word
 

Sam Woolverton had been playing baseball pretty much as long as baseball had existed; finally, the 45-year-old legend, in his final season, has been awarded the Creighton MVP award:

Attachment 1061869

Meanwhile, Tommy Bond proved that everybody loves a comeback story. After a solid career with the New York Mutuals from 1874-80, Bond came up lame and took a few years off. Returning with Chicago, he had five straight 20-win seasons from 1884-88 and claimed the Pitcher of the Year trophy in '88:

Attachment 1061870

Adrian "Cap" Anson was the superstar who had been shockingly released by the Rockford club last year, despite his .373 average ("Cap is 35, too old to play ball," grumbled one sportswriter). Anson promptly signed with the Chicago Colts and lead them to promotion from the UA to the AA in '88, then won another pennant with them this season, earning the club another promotion, this time to the NA. With a whopping 201 OPS+, Anson clinched the AA MVP Award. meanwhile, Toledo's Bill George took Pitcher of the Year honours.

In the Union, Wilmington's Frank Grant was elected MVP, making him the first Negro to claim such an award. Grant is popular with his teammates, especially this season, with a league-leading 8.8 WAR. A lit bit further north, the Phillie's Gus Krock took the pitching trophy.

Moving up, moving down in 1889
 

Relegated from NA to AA: Providence, Rochester, Rockford

Promoted from AA to NA: Washington Olympics, St. Paul, Chicago Colts

Relegated from AA to UA: St. Louis Browns, Fall River, Syracuse

Promoted from UA to AA: Richmond, Altoona, St. Louis Maroons

Cap Anson, author of 2,017 base hits in the National Association, is returning to the top circuit with the Chicago Colts, making it two Windy City teams in the NA...meanwhile, his old Rockford club is heading down. (Anson received some criticism last fall in Wilmington, Del., where the Colts were playing an exhibition game against the Quicksteps, supposedly using bad language while discussing Negro star Frank Grant. "Absolutely untrue," said Anson. "I would never refer to an opposing player in such a way. In fact, I think Grant is a h_ll of a good player for a Negro.")

Meanwhile, Henry Lucas' St. Louis Maroons, having never won the Union Cup, will move up to the American Association in '89. "I'm sure this club will show their true potential against a better class of competition," he said. (Passing the Maroons on the way down is St. Louis' other club, the Brown Stockings, who have managed only one winning season in their fourteen years of existence.)

Question...
 

How do you determine which players go to which teams?

Good updates, BTW...

The game just assigns them. I don't control that at all.

Thanks!

1889: A wild season, top to bottom
 

In one aspect, 1889 wasn't surprising at all: the Red Stockings of Cincinnati won the pennant, their seventh in eight years. The Brooklyn Atlantics, nearly relegated in '88, bounced back to finish second. Boston and Fort Wayne returned to the Cup playoffs. One surprise was the St. Paul Saints, who languished in the third-tier Union Association just two years ago before their double-promotion, finishing a solid third in the NA in '89. But wait a minute...where were the Cup-holders from Chicago?

Down. Way down.

For much of the season, the White Stockings would only be seen as a Cup contender if you held the standings upside down. On July 4th, they were dead last, and after being swept by Cap Anson's Colts at home in Lakeside Park, there was much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, to say nothing of rioting that tore up the field and resulted in dozens of injuries and arrests.

Then the White Stockings owners let the cat out of the bag by revealing to the public of a "secret agreement" that stated that "big-city" clubs (Chicago, New York and Philadelphia) could "buy" their way out of relegation. Other owners disputed this, saying the Agreement only referred to the "top three" and "bottom three", with no special treatment for anyone else. Chicago even claimed that the "reputation of the Association would be ruined" if a Cup-holding team were allowed to be sent down.

After much discussion, the Association drafted a new rule: teams from New York, Chicago and Philadelphia could indeed stay up if they "donated" a player to the team that would be sent down in its place -- IF there was no other team from the city in question in the National Association. With the Windy City's other club, the Colts, sitting at mid-table, the White Stockings would indeed meet their fate if they finished 18th or lower -- regardless of the hardware they won the year before. Finally, the Whites won seven of their last ten and edged out Elizabeth for 17th place: they would stay up. (The Resolutes collapse from second place to 18th was a huge shock in itself; now, the four-time American Cup champs would pursue another one in 1890.)

Attachment 1062046

1889: Altoona dominates AA, three-way logjam in UA
 

In its six years in the pro ranks, the Mountain City club of Altoona, Pennsylvania -- about 30,000 souls, but growing fast -- has seen much success. They won the Union Cup in '86 and were promoted to the AA in '88, then won the American pennant in '89, setting them up for another promotion in '90. In fact, the won the flag by a whopping nineteen games over the New York Giants, who will join their cross-town rivals the Mutuals in the NA next year. And tiny Keokuk -- 14,000 people, seemingly all baseball kranks -- will make their first Cup playoff appearance. The Cup-holders from Richmond grabbed the last rung with an 11-9 win over Albany in a one-game playoff.

Attachment 1062051

The Union race was one of the closest in baseball history, as no fewer than three teams claimed the top: Detroit, Paterson and Wilmington. All three, in fact, were declared by the loop as pennant winners, but Detroit was given the first-place nod based on its record against the other two. (If that wasn't enough, three more teams pulled up even for the last two Cup playoff spots, with Kansas City and Boston edging out Pittsburgh in a series of playoff games.)

Attachment 1062052