[Nick Soulis]

This Month In Baseball
September 1879
Edition 9.7



White Making Everyone See Red
Cincinnati Leans On Pitching As Pennant Looms

As the powerful steam engines roll through Ohio and come to Cincinnati no one can deny that this season feels different. It local Reds are as of the moment holding a four game lead on the mighty White Stockings and could finally earn the blessed pennant of the National League.

Some think it is the Reds bats that are making the difference and elevating this club but at close examination, it is the arms of this club that has manager John Riker dreaming big. The Reds have allowed the fewest runs in the league and have a league best 2.17 ERA. Three arms are feeding off of eachother in the rotation and no opposing can get a break. However at the head of the class is the arm of Will White, who at 24 years old is really building his own legend.



White came into the league 3 years ago and no one thought he would really last or had the ability to start. There was nothign extra special about him and the Reds were just going to use him as needed. Last season however he was asked to step in and start and his impact was noticable as he won 19 games in 32 starts with a 1.46 ERA. Surely a fluke said all the papers and experts of the game.

This season the critics are no where to be found. White has already won 23 games and hs ERA sits at 1.57 as he is on pace to throw over 300 innings. No pitcher has put together two seasons of the such thus far that anyone can remember. He has allowed less then 100 runs in his career combined. The record of Bobby Mathews for wins in a season may be out of reach, but White doesn't mind as he is singularly focused on winning a pennant.

Of course the job isn't finished yet and Chicago still will have a say of what happens in October. But baseball seasons are often about teams of destiny and the storybook seems to read that the Reds are the heroes of this climactic season. There is nothing like October baseball. There is nothing at all like Cincinnati October baseball.

Can A No Hitter Really Happen?
No Pitcher Has Been Able To Write History



Here we stand in the 9th season of Major League baseball and no one can deny that the pitching in this league has evolved completely since the inaugural season. Speed, curves, and technique have all come to be a reality for league hitters and at times it would seem that the arms are well ahead of the bats in the great scheme of things.

All that being said, no pitcher has been able to go an entire game without allowing at least one hit. Pitchers have come close including two this season in Joe Blong and Al Pratt but no one has been able to pull off the trick. Even local newspapers are enticing arms by offering grand prizes for the first pitcher who is able to do so.

"I don't think it is something that we should expect" says Chicago manager Charlie Pabor, "a baseball game is long and a pitcher is bound to make at least one mistake".

Others are a little more hopeful, "I think I could get there if I have a little luck and am feeling strong on a particular day" says John Ward of St. Louis.

So can it be done, well of course since many have been close we would have to say yes, but up to now the baseball gods have been consistent in preventing it from happening. Or maybe we are just putting on a curse just talking about it.

Not that anyone in baseball is superstitious right?