[chucksabr]

Momentous Retirements

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

The old left fielder Charles Stanford has retired. He started his career as a twenty five year old with Northwich Victoria in the old Baseball Alliance in 1889 before moving on to Burslem Port Vale upon the creation of the Second Division in 1892. He quickly became one of the best batsmen in the game, and was one of the first .400 batsmen, batting .401 in a full season with the Valiants in 1898. He led the Division in 1895 with a .370 hits average as well. He was also one of the better sluggers of his time, finding many years, and finished with himself regularly among the leaders in home runs, and finished his career with 67 in total.

Looking back it is believed Stanford would have won Batsman of the Year in at least three years, 1894, 1895 and 1898, his best year. Through no fault of his the Valiants were voted out of the League for the 1896 and 1897 seasons, but as you have read, he returned with a vengeance in 1898. Stanford played for seventeen season, spread evenly with six in the First Division, six in the Second, and six in high quality non-League ball. He was an effective player all the way to the end.