This Month In Baseball
April 1875
Edition 5.1
McVey Out To Prove Doubters Wrong
After Difficult Debut; Transition To Mound Seems To Work
In the most anticipated story heading into the 1875 season, the defensing champion New York Mutuals committed to the transition of their best hitter into their ace pitcher.
Cal McVey took the mound in front of a full house on opening day as the Mutuals faced off against New Haven at Union Grounds. Obviously showing some nerves, McVey was able to work around things and shut the Elms down for the first three innings. In the fourth however, the Elms scoring four runs and rattling the New York pitcher who at the end of the game would go 7.1 innings allowing five earned runs and 11 hits. He would take the loss in a 10-4 result and fans began to openly wonder if this experiment would be a short one.
Manager Joe Lemmens didn't lose faith, and in fact the velocity and stuff that McVey had shown were quite impressive. In his second effort, with the pressure behind him, the determined star began to show what he could really do. At Philadelphia at Jefferson Street Grounds McVey was excellent shutting down the Whites for nine innings in a 10-3 win allowing zero earned runs and going the full 9 innings. McVey struck out one and walked none and earned the respect of his opponents.
"I dont care what they say," said Philadelphia manager Lip Pike, "Cal can surely pitch."
In the meantime, a few forgot that McVey was actually holding a 40 game hit streak dating all the way back from last season. In his second game against the Whites, McVey was held hitless and his record streak ended up expiring at 41 games.
All eyes will continue to be on the multi talented star, as the Mutuals look to repeat as champions and have gotten off to a good 4-2 start.
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