MONTHLY ROUND-UP: OCTOBER 1869
The Royal Artillery Barracks have matched the Old Westminsters as two-time winners of the Metropolitan League after a remarkable end to the season gave them the crown in circumstances it seemed that they did not even understand themselves. The Old Westminsters, who had been one inning away from the title themselves in their final scheduled game, took a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning of the first tiebreaking game against Greenwich, only to give up two in the sixth and fall behind. They were not able to respond, and their hopes of a third championship ended in disappointment.
That left Greenwich and the Artillery, the two teams who entered the league just last season, to decide whether the Artillery would have a second title or whether the teams would have one each to show for their two seasons of play. Again the game was close and hard fought, with Greenwich this time taking a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning. They maintained that advantage through to the ninth inning, where pitcher James Hicks recorded the first two outs to leave his team needing just one more to be champions for the first time. The Artillery’s Anthony Miller was able to reach first base with a hit to keep the game alive however, before a three-base hit from Abel Sharp tied the game. The Artillery saw their chance to win the championship there and then, and catcher Walter Halding found their third successive hit to allow Sharp to score the winning run.
Both the Old Westminsters and Greenwich were so close to taking the championship, but incredibly the Artillery completed a successful defence having at one stage been four games off the pace. Elsewhere, Kensington’s improvement from last place a year ago left them just one game behind the top three from the thirty scheduled games, as they ended with victory over the City of London Club to take fourth place. Angel Islington were a game further back, while Clapham’s promising season ended with the disappointment of a losing record. The Regent’s Park won two of their last three to end with eleven wins, several more than had seemed likely earlier in the year, while the City of London Club lost their last three and record the worst season seen to date with just eight victories. All that now remains is the league’s annual meeting where this year’s awards will be given out.
