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1859 NEW YORK LEAGUE REVIEW

NEW YORK LEAGUE SEASON SUMMARY

The 1859 New York League season was not as surprising as the previous one, but there were still plenty of compelling storylines. The New York City Championship was a battle to the end. The Upstate Championship was, as usual, very close. Kings County tried to push an improved roster over the hump and into the Tucker-Wheaton Cup series. James Robertson won his first Batting Title after hitting over .380 for the third season in a row. Of course, that was not all.

The Brooklyn Championship failed to offer as much excitement as it did last year, as Kings County led nearly wire to wire. They were tied for first place with Atlantic at 14-7 to start June, had the lead by the middle of the month, and from there slowly gained momentum until finishing 47-23 and winning Brooklyn by eight games over Atlantic & Eckford of Greenpoint.

The New York City Championship was quite the opposite. Orange was atop the standings for nearly the entire season, but they had to withstand a two-front assault over the last ten games from Knickerbocker (9-1) & Mutual (7-3) and win on the final day to secure the N.Y.C. pennant by a single game over Knickerbocker and three over Mutual.

The Upstate Championship was a close one once again, with 7/8 teams finishing within ten games of first place Minuteman. Eagle, Flour City, & Minuteman were in a three-way tie at 13-8 at the end of May, but by mid-June Minuteman had taken a two-game lead and they were able to keep the Upstate pack at arm’s length for the rest of the season, finishing first by three games over Utica and four over Syracuse.

Orange looked like solid favorites in the New York League Semi-Final against Minuteman, and they played the part excellently after an early slip-up.

• GAME ONE saw Orange take a 7-5 lead going into the final two innings, but star pitcher Rainer van Hout allowed a run in the eighth and three more in the ninth to turn the lead into a 9-7 loss. Minuteman Pinch Hitter Andrew Wallace was the hero of the day, singling in the winning runs.

• GAME TWO was a dominant Orange home victory – a 13-5 win in which they had Minuteman 17-9 and had ten runs by the end of the fifth inning. Superstar Edward Huntley was 3/5 with four RBI and three steals.

• GAME THREE in Albany was more of the same. Orange scored three times in the top of the third – all they needed but they piled on the runs in a 9-2 win. Huntley had three more hits (3/4), scored three runs, and stole two more bases.

• GAME FOUR was the coup-de-grace. The contest started slowly, tied 2-2 after five innings. However, Orange scored four times in the sixth & three times in the seventh, and that was it. Orange’s 9-3 win meant they outscored Minuteman 31-10 over the final three games of the series, and Huntley was the obvious M.V.P. after hitting 11/19.

That meant the New York League Championship Series was New York City vs Brooklyn for the second year in a row, and this year the series went the distance.

• GAME ONE needed ten innings to decide a winner. With two out in the top of the tenth, Paul LeFebvre singled in Doc Matheson to give Orange both the lead and the win by the score of 6-5. Van der Hout pitched all ten innings to earn the win, and the Orange defense did not commit a single error.

• GAME TWO was tight early, but all Kings County late. Tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the sixth, K.C. scored three times to take the lead. Four more runs in the seventh and two in the eight made for a 9-1 win to even the series. Clifford Holmes was good for 163 pitches in the Complete Game win.

• GAME THREE at the Upper Manhattan Base Ball Grounds was a close contest, tied 1-1 after three innings with Orange up 4-3 after sixth. The two teams traded a pair of runs over the seventh and eighth to make the score 6-5 in favor of Orange, and that held for the final result. Orange’s defense, which committed only one error, was the difference in the game.

• GAME FOUR saw Kings County take charge starting in the middle innings. Deciding a 2-1 lead going into the fifth innings wasn’t enough, K.C. scored three times to make it 5-1. After an Orange run in the bottom half K.C. scored three more times in the seventh to go up 8-2, and they coasted to an 8-5 win to force a deciding Game Five at home.

• In GAME FIVE, Orange crushed Kings County once it finally looked like they had a chance. The visitors jumped out to a 5-2 lead after two innings, but over the next five K.C. chipped away and were eventually able to take a 6-5 lead in the seventh inning. Orange then came to bat in the top of the eighth and scored half a dozen times, and they added one more in the ninth to win 12-6 and advance to the Tucker-Wheaton Cup series. Ed Huntley once again took on a starring role, going 4/6 with four RBI.

Orange’s opponent in the T.W.C. was Coastal champions Shamrock. Just as in the N.Y.L. Semi-Final, Orange slipped up late to lose Game One but followed up with three straight wins – the last one in ten innings this time – to become the first team other than St. John’s to lift the Tucker-Wheaton Cup.

There were plenty of good candidates for Batsman of the Year, but ultimately discussion centered on two players: John Francis, the #1 batsman for the best team in the league (Kings Co.) and N.Y.L. Batting Champion James Robertson of Syracuse. Robertson had the batting title, but Francis finished in the top five in half a dozen offensive categories in addition to being sixth in average, so Francis was named B.o.t.Y.

The discussion for Most Valuable Player was a simple one. Orange’s Edward Huntley was the best-hitting middle infielder in the New York League, and on top of that he played defense at a Golden Glove level at shortstop. He then had an incredible postseason in which he hit nearly .500. Huntley was the nearly unanimous choice for M.V.P.

There were three solid candidates for Newcomer of the Year: outfielders Declan Gillespie of Eagle, Anthony Littleton of Niagara, and Doc Matheson of Orange. Littleton hit .367 with 27 extra-base hits, 36 RBI, and 22 steals. That was close to how the other two batted over the course of the season, but what put Littleton over top was his thirty-game hit streak that lasted from the first day of June until July 12th.

Not surprisingly Kings County, who had the best record in the N.Y.L. (47-23) and scored 58 more runs (584) than any other team, led the Team of the Year nominations with three: pitcher Clifford Holmes, third baseman Jerald Peterson, and center fielder John Francis. Syracuse was the other multi-nomination team with two.

Season number three of New York League baseball is in the proverbial books, and the Tucker-Wheaton Cup was back where the fans from the place from which baseball started its spread thought it belonged.

NEW YORK LEAGUE STANDINGS





NEW YORK LEAGUE PLAYOFFS

SEMI-FINALS: #2 Orange B.B.C. defeats #3 Minuteman B.B.C. 3-1

• GAME 1: MIN 9-7 ORA – P.o.t.G: C. Keener (SS, MIN) – 3/5, 2 R, 2 RBI, SB
• GAME 2: MIN 5-13 ORA – P.o.t.G.: E. Huntley (SS, ORA) – 3/5, R, 4 RBI, 3 SB
• GAME 3: ORA 9-2 MIN – P.o.t.G.: E. Huntley (SS, ORA) – 3/4, 2B, 3 R, RBI, BB, 2 SB
• GAME 4: ORA 9-3 MIN – P.o.t.G.: S. Morris (2B, ORA) – 2/4, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI
• M.V.P.: Edward Huntley (SS, ORA) – 11/19 (.579), 3 2B, 1 3B, 7 R, 8 RBI, 1 BB, 6 SB
• NOTABLE: Orange outscored Minuteman 31-10 over final three games

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP: #2 Orange B.B.C. defeats #1 Kings County 3-2

• GAME 1: ORA 6-5 K.C. (10 inn.) – P.o.t.G.: P-O. Bakken (SS, K.C.) – 3/5, 2B, 3B, 2 R, RBI
• GAME 2: ORA 1-9 K.C. – P.o.t.G.: C. Holmes (P, K.C.) – CG, 10 H, 1 R/ER, 2 K, 162 PIT
• GAME 3: K.C. 5-6 ORA – P.o.t.G.: E. Huntley (SS, ORA) – 2/4, 2 2B, R, RBI
• GAME 4: K.C. 8-5 ORA – P.o.t.G.: J. Peterson (3B, K.C.) – 2/5, R, RBI, SB
• GAME 5: ORA 12-6 K.C. – P.o.t.G: E. Huntley (SS, ORA) – 4/6, 2B, 2 R, 4 RBI,
• M.V.P.: William Lantz (OF, ORA) – 10/24 (.417), 2 2B, 5 R, 2 RBI
• NOTABLE: Orange scored seven runs over 8th & 9th innings to win Game 5

TUCKER-WHEATON CUP: Orange B.B.C. defeats Shamrock B.C. (N.E.L.) 3-1

• Edward Huntley named M.V.P., second time winning series M.V.P. in 1859 postseason

NEW YORK LEAGUE AWARD WINNERS

BATSMAN OF THE YEAR: John Francis – 34 y/o CF, Kings County Base Ball Club

• .371/.391/.505, .895 OPS, 77 R, 22 2B, 122 H, 11 3B, 0 HR, 65 RBI, 22 SB, 166 TB, 3.7 WPA, 2.9 WAR
• Led N.Y.L. in 3B, XBH, & TB; 2nd in H, RBI, & OPS; 6th in AVG
• James Robertson (SYR: .394, 125 H, 21 XBH, 45 RBI) 2nd, Chester Ellis (ATL: .359, .921 OPS, 49 RBI, 37 SB) 3rd

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Edward Huntley – 23 y/o SS, Orange Base Ball Club

• .362/.404/.489, .843 OPS, 77 R, 113 H, 13 2B, 4 3B, 1 HR, 41 RBI, 31 SB, +18.1 ZR (SS), 3.1 WPA, 4.4 WAR
• Hit .492 (31/63) with 8 2B, 1 3B, 18 R, 18 RBI, 7 SB, 1.173 OPS during playoffs (13 games)
• Per Olaf Bakken (K.C.: .323, +15.2 ZR, 4.1 WPA, 3.5 WAR) 2nd, Carl Keener (MIN: .357, +15.9 ZR, 3.5 WPA, 3.9 WAR) 3rd

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: Anthony Littleton – 29 y/o CF, Niagara Base Ball Club

• .367/.379/.467, .846 OPS, 84 R, 122 H, 25 2B, 4 3B, 0 HR, 36 RBI, 22 SB, 1.9 WPA, 2.4 WAR
• Had a 30-game Hitting Streak that ended on July 13th.
• Declan Gillespie (EAG: .361, 16 XBH, 32 RBI, 17 SB) 2nd, Doc Matheson (ORA: .321, 25 2B, 42 RBI, 26 SB) 3rd

GOLDEN GLOVES

P: Clydesdale Jackson (HAR) – 93 TC, 1 DP, 13 E, 2.3 RNG, +7.5 ZR, 1.019 EFF
C: Archibald McLain (N.C.) – 86 PB, 24.7 CS%, 3.09 CERA, +11.7 ZR, 1.056 EFF
1B: William Robbins (BED) – 835 TC, 15 E, +5.8 ZR, 1.113 EFF
2B: Henry Ciccone (MET) – 427 TC, 143 PO, 247 AST, 17 DP, 37 E, 6.0 RNG, +16.7 ZR, 1.124 EFF
3B: Bruce Kruk(ATL) – 215 TC, 32 PO, 157 AST, 3 DP, 26 E, 3.8 RNG, +7.1 ZR, 1.077 EFF
SS: Edward Huntley (ORA) – 376 TC, 104 PO, 232 AST, 24 DP, 5.0 RNG, +18.1 ZR, 1.175 EFF
OF: Van Patterson (EMP) – 227 TC, 2 AST, 0 DP, 29 E, 2.9 RNG, +7.2 ZR, 1.036 EFF
CF: Charlie Rumbaugh (GOT) – 330 TC, 10 AST, 2 DP, 58 E, 4.1 RNG, +8.9 ZR, 1.071 EFF
OF: John Carlton (U.o.M.) – 221 TC, 3 AST, 2 DP, 32 E, 2.9 RNG, +7.3 ZR, 1.068 EFF

TEAM OF THE YEAR

P: Clifford Holmes (K.C.) - 23-8, 3.23, 286.2 IP, 25 CG, 1 SHO, 28 BB, 39 K, 1.25 WHIP, 1.4 K/BB, 5.6 WAR/6.6 R9-WAR
C: Jackson Smith (NIA) - .352/.374/.460, 61 R, 111 H, 21 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 59 RBI, 2 SB, 2.8 WPA, 1.8 WAR
1B: John Bateman (SYR) - .343/.357/.440, 52 R, 95 H, 13 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 47 RBI, 2 SB, 2.6 WPA, 1.5 WAR
2B: Henry Ciccone (MRT) - .354/.375/.429, 58 R, 99 H, 19 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 40 RBI, 30 SB, 1.7 WPA, 3.3 WAR, G.G.
3B: Jerald Peterson (K.C.) - .339/.375/.425, 64 R, 109 H, 23 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 66 RBI, 12 SB, 2.9 WPA, 2.4 WAR
SS: Edawrd Huntley (ORA) - .362/.404/.439, 77 R, 113 H, 4 3B, 1 HR, 41 RBI, 31 SB, 3.1 WPA, 4.4 WAR, G.G./M.V.P.
OF: James Robertson (SYR) - .394/.421/.467, 65 R, 125 H, 19 2B, 2 HR, 45 RBI, 0 SB, 2.9 WPA, 2.1 WAR
CF: John Francis (K.C.) - .371/.391/.505, 77 R, 122 H, 11 3B, 0 HR, 65 RBI, 22 SB, 166 TB, 3.7 WPA, 2.9 WAR, B.o.t.Y.
OF: Chester Ellis (ATL) - .359/.409/.512, .921 OPS, 84 R, 108 H, 17 2B, 10 3B, 3 HR, 49 RBI, 37 SB, 3.4 WPA, 3.3 WAR
MGR: Joe Muller (ORA) - 45-25; Orange B.B.C. upset Kings Co. in the N.Y.L.C.S. & won their first Tucker-Wheaton Cup