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MACGYVER MOVES BACK TO PROVIDENCE
LEGENDARY 2B RETURNS TO ST. JOHN’S AFTER FOUR YEARS WITH MUTUAL

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (December 9, 1868) – After falling short of lifting the Tucker Wheaton Cup for the fifth time thanks to a stunning loss at home on the final day of the competition, St. John’s executives vowed to make some tweaks to the squad. Their first move was a surprise, letting 2x All-Star P William Tighe go to Mutual in the New York League.

Tighe had put together a fantastic 89-36 record over his four seasons in Providence, but his cumulative ERA for 1867-68 hovered around 4.00, up from 2.54 in 1866, and his pitching let through all nine runs to the visitors in that fateful game in August which saw Orange lift the cup on St. Johns’ home field. St. John’s has replaced him with 4.5* independent ball P Lou Sturgeon, and it is believed that they will pair him with veteran Charles Snodgrass next season.

As it has turned out, Tighe moving to Mutual might as well have been an elongated trade of players, as on Wednesday the club announced that it has brought back Anderson MacGyver after he had spent the past four seasons with Mutual as a lone superstar on a floundering team.

MacGyver was a 3x All-Star, 3x champion, 3x Team of the Year member, and 1x Batsman of the Year winner with St. John’s before departing after the 1864 season. Although he won another BotY and appeared in three more All-Star Games as a member of Mutual, MacGyver remains best-known for his work in St. John’s and on Wednesday the New York City native decided to leave his personal hometown to move back to his base ball hometown.

Although the season does not start for another five months, St. John’s bringing MacGyver back means they already have top-five batsmen at five different positions: Tarmo Kuopio at 1B, MacGyver at 2B, and the nationally-famous trio of Konrad Jensen, William Johnson, & Nelson Townsend in the outfield.

It looks as if St. John’s wants to win the cup by scoring even more runs than they did last year – the second consecutive season in which they broke the NBBO record for runs per game. One simply has to pity the rest of their New England competition, which must now look like a small rut in the road on the way back to the cup finals for St. John’s.