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GOTHAM SCORES CRUSHING WIN AT KNICKERBOCKER
HOSTS WIN BY 22 IN MOST LOPSIDED CONTEST EVER BETWEEN SPORT’S TWO OLDEST CLUBS

MANHATTAN (July 30, 1874) - Gotham & Knickerbocker, baseball’s two oldest clubs, have been competing against each other formally since 1857 and informally since 1845, and never has a game between the two finished with as lopsided an outcome as what the fans at the Elysian Fields saw on Thursday afternoon:

It was a reasonably close game after four innings, with Gotham up 3-0. Then came the top of the 5th, which served as the start to two dozen Gotham runs over the next four innings as they blew Knickerbocker to smithereens.

It was death by a thousand cuts for Knickerbocker in the top of the 5th. Following a leadoff Double by Babe Johnson, Gotham proceeded to score eleven runs on a series of Wild Pitches, Errors, Sacrifices, and Singles to leave the score 14-0 at the halfway mark. After Knick scored three times in the bottom of the 5th, Gotham scored five times in the 6th & 7th and three more times in the 8th just to make sure there would be no comeback by their longtime foes.

Four Gotham batsmen had three or four Hits during the game:

• GOT #3 Babe Johnson (2B): 3/7, 2B, 3B, 6 R, 2 RBI, 6 TB
• GOT #5 Jonathan Quarles (SS): 4/7, 2B, 4 R, 3 RBI, SB, 5 TB
• GOT #7 Edward Johnson (CF): 3/7, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, 6 TB
• GOT #8 Nicky Smith (3B): 3/7 (all 1B), 1 R, 3 RBI

However, all four were outdone by 1B William Theriault:

• T1: Fly Out to CF (3 out)
• T3: 1-run Single to CF off P. Daly (R)
• T5: 1-run Single to LF off P. Daly (R)
• T5: Reached via Error by SS E. Huntley (R)
• T6: 1-run Single past SS off A. Bird
• T7: 2-run Single past 2B off M. Munson (R)
• T8: 2-run Double to RF off M. Munson
• TOTAL: 5/7, 2B, 5 R, 7 RBI, 6 TB, 116 GMSC

Theriault’s afternoon represented the best performance by a batsman in the APBL this season. It raised his average to .366 (.817 OPS) with 68 Runs Batted in Through 75 games, and he is on pace to finish the season with higher marks in Average, On-Base, Slugging, OPS, RBI, & WAR than he did in 1873.

The win moved Gotham into a tie for 2nd place in the Colonial Conference with American. Both teams are three games behind leaders Orange.