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Momentous Retirements

Two of the old lions of British Baseball have announced their retirements from the game.

Vivian Sharp has retired. Left fielder Sharp incurred the nickname “Mad Dash” for his daring advance on a short wild pitch to secure the Baseball Association Cup for the Rams of Derby County versus Burnley Clarets at London’s Kennington Oval in 1887, the year before he entered with the Rams into the Baseball League for its inaugural season. He played nine more seasons with the Rams before his trade to Blackpool of the Second Division for the 1897 campaign, and then to Blackburn for 1903. He ended his career with Nottingham Forest in 1904 and 1905.

Sharp’s primary talent was finding any possible way to get on base— there has not been another like him in that regard. No one from his era could draw bases on balls like Sharp, amassing 1,400 across his 18 years, and he could get base hits as well, 1,200 to be precise. During his career he got on base in over 50 per cent of plate trips, and to-day’s stars like Frederick Wigley and Horatio McLaren are heirs to that peculiar legacy. Sharp also batted .323, stole 486 bases, and managed to hit eleven home runs as well. His best season was 1893, when in ninety games with the Rams he batted .381, stole 56 bases and got on base 55 per cent of the time. Were there a Batsman of the Year award at the time he surely would have earned it.

But it is for his “Mad Dash” that Sharp will always be remembered and revered.