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1890s IN REVIEW: BEST OF SEMI-PRO BALL

SEMI-PRO TEAM OF THE DECADE

Marathon Baseball Club (New York League)





1890: 70-42, 2nd place in NYL’s Brooklyn Championship (3 GB)
1891: 69-44, 2nd place in NYL’s Brooklyn Championship (1 GB via playoff)
1892: 70-42, 2nd place in NYL’s Brooklyn Championship (8 GB)
1893: 78-35, won New York City Finals 3-0 over Harlem
1894: 65-47, 2nd place in NYL’s Brooklyn Championship (13 GB)
1895: 74-38, won New York City Finals 3-2 over Metropolitan
1896: 81-31, lost New York City Finals 3-1 to Metropolitan
1897: 74-38, won New York City Finals 3-0 over Gotham
1898: 61-51, 3rd place in NYL’s Brooklyn Championship (2.5 GB)
1899: 72-40, won New York City Finals 3-1 over Metropolitan

1890s: 714-408 record (.636 WIN%), 4 NYC Finals wins in 5 appearances

The Marathon Base Ball Club of Brooklyn finished either first or second in the New York League’s Brooklyn Championship every season of the decade except for 1898, when they finished in third place but were only two and half games out of top spot – a particularly impressive record of sustained excellence considering they played in the toughest semi-pro league.

Aside from the alternating NYC titles in 1893, ’95, ’97, and ’99, another point in Marathon’s favor is that they employed a number of stars who either were or would go on to see feature roles as pros: Dave Wallace (3B for St. Louis), Clyde Gable (SS for Jersey City), Edward Lapley (P for Rochester), Albert Watkins (P for Excelsior), and Robert Edgerton (earlier HotY winner for Savannah) among them.

The Vermont Green Stockings in the New England Baseball Association also won four titles and had an ever so slightly higher winning percentage at .639, but that higher win percentage came thanks to a ludicrous 84-28 1899 season in which they put up a Run Differential of +265 over 112 games (2.36 R/G). What put them slightly behind the Marathon Club is that they played in a NEBA that was a little more top heavy, and unlike Marathon their title-winning teams didn’t feature stars who would be familiar names as professionals in either of the two ABA leagues or the SEAL. The only player they had in that regard was Carl Wells, the former SEAL Batsman of the Year who played for Vermont for two seasons.

The Syracuse Emeralds also took home four titles (NEL), but three of them came in consecutive seasons earlier in the decade (1892-94) and, like Vermont, their roster over the years didn’t feature the kind of notable talent that came through the Marathon organization. They also had a four-year stretch (1895-98) where their finishes in the Upstate New York division ranged from third to sixth place out of ten teams.


SEMI-PRO PLAYER OF THE DECADE

Henry Danforth – Duluth Loons (MWBA, 1890-93), Cantabrigians B.C. (1894-96)





Even though he only played lower tier ball for seven seasons in the 1890s before signing with the Minneapolis Lakers, Henry Danforth was the Semi-Professional Player of the Decade because of what he did in those seven seasons:





176-89, 2.13 ERA, 2,335.1 IP, 223 CG, 23 SHO, 534 BB (2.1 BB/9), 1,270 K (4.9 K/9), 1.12 WHIP, 83.6 WAR (8.1 per 225 IP)

4x Hurler of the Year (2x GLBC 2x NEBA)
5x Team of the Year Member (2x GLBC, 3x NEBA)
4x League leader in Wins (2x GLBC, 2x NEBA)
3x League leader in ERA (1x GLBC, 2x NEBA)
4x League leader in Pitching WAR (1x GLBC, 3x NEBA)
5x League leader in WHIP (2x GLBC, 3x NEBA)
4x League leader in Complete Games (2x GLBC, 2x NEBA)
3x League leader in Innings Pitched (1x GLBC, 2x NEBA)

6x Double-digit Pitching WAR (1890, 92-96)

Over that time, Danforth went from being an excellent young semi-pro pitcher to an utterly dominant one. During his three seasons in New England: an 80-35 record, 1.78 ERA, and 37.8 WAR. He then went on to become the man who dethroned Hans Ehle by winning MWBA Hurler of the Year in both of his first two seasons in Minneapolis, bringing his HotY for the decade to half a dozen.

If one had to give the honor to the most accomplished player who spent the entire decade in semi-professional or international baseball, then it would probably go to Emerson Gardner of the Syracuse Emeralds. He won four NEL titles and 240 games for Syracuse in the 1890s, along with a number of other notable achievements while also frequently starting at third base:

4x Adams Trophy winner (1892-94, 99)
2x Adams Trophy MVP (1894, 99)
4x NEL Hurler of the Year (1893-94, 97, 99)
4x NEL Team of the Year at P (1891-92, 94, 97)
2x NEL Golden Glove at P (1891, 98)

6x NEL leader in Pitching WAR (1890, 92-95, 97)
3x NEL leader in Strikeouts (1890, 92-93)
2x NEL leader in ERA (1894, 97)
5x NEL leader in Complete Games (1890-92, 94, 97)

1890s: 7x Double-digit WAR (1890-95, 97), total of 116.6 (104.9 as P, 11.7 as 3B)
1899: Won 300th game – career total of 305 (all for Syracuse)