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FOUNDERS’ CUP VIII: TWO GRAND OLD CLUBS

MANHATTAN & PROVIDENCE (Aug. 27 to Sep. 3, 1878) – Last year’s Founders’ Cup saw Jim Creighton and Excelsior try to earn their first title by beating baseball’s greatest winners: St. John’s B.C. The result was a five-game victory by St. John’s, their seventh top-tier title in 21 seasons of organized baseball.

With one week left in the 1878 season, the defending champions had a hill to climb if they wanted to have the chance to defend their title. St. John’s was third in the Colonial Conference, two games behind both Niagara & Shamrock, with Shamrock looking like slight favorites to take the pennant based on the remaining schedule and St. Johns’ two-game deficit.

Incredibly, St. John’s went to Boston and swept Shamrock and then traveled to Philadelphia and swept Quaker St., winning all six games by multiple runs and clinching the Colonial Conference title on the final day of the season after their 7-4 victory at Quaker St. meant Niagara’s 11-7 home win over Kings Co. didn’t matter. As with so many things St. John’s has done over the years, it was the stuff of legend.

Knickerbocker didn’t have such a difficult path to the Founders’ Cup. They had kept Kings Co. roughly at arm’s length for much of the second half of the season, but an extremely demanding nine-game stretch against Kings Co., Shamrock, & St. John’s coming out of the All-Star break would determine if they could keep it that way. Knick went 6-3, stretched their lead from three to five games, and clinched the Metropolitan pennant after winning their second game at Quaker St. to start the final week. Surprisingly, even though this was the seventh time Knick had been in the Metro’s top three it was the first time they would be playing for the A.P.B.L. championship.

As with St. John’s vs Excelsior, this was a fantastic matchup on paper. St. John’s, known for its marauding offense since the foundation of the N.B.B.O. and sporting the A.P.B.L.’s top attack in nearly every major category, would be taking on a Knickerbocker outfit that allowed almost seventy fewer runs than any other team and whose fielders had the surest hands of any team. Once again, it was a pure offense vs defense matchup.

For the second year in a row, it was the Metropolitan Conference champions that neutral fans would be rooting for. Knickerbocker had two stars in their mid/late 30s yet to win a title at the highest level: 1B Cormack Alexander & LF Clive Strachan. On top of that, their status as one of the sport’s two oldest clubs granted them an extra level of respect from non-attached observers.

And for the second year in a row, St. John’s didn’t care. For them, this was postseason trip NUMBER EIGHTEEN in 22 years of top-flight baseball, and they were playing for championship number eight. Only two things mattered to them: first, winning the cup, and second, being able to parade it around Providence in front of their fans.

FOUNDERS’ CUP FORMAT & NOTES

SEEDING

• #1: Knickerbocker (59-31; 7.1 R/G, 5.8 RA/G, +122 RD)
• #2: St. John’s (54-36; 8.9 R/G, 6.5 RA/G, +215 RD)

FORMAT

• HH-AAA-HH Schedule
• One day off after Game Two & Game Five
• #1 seed (Knickerbocker; 32-13 at home) has Home Field Advantage

ST. JOHN'S KEY PLAYERS

• Konrad Jensen (1B): .385, .926 OPS, 111 R, 158 H, 36 XBH, 2 HR, 98 RBI, 29 BB, 78 SB, 5.8 WPA, 4.6 WAR
• Nelson Townsend (RF): .363, .896 OPS, 136 R, 145 H, 32 XBH, 1 HR, 50 RBI, 46 BB, 72 SB, *8.2 WPA*, 4.4 WAR
• Joseph Evans (LF): .346, .822 OPS, 107 R, 146 H, 26 2B, 8 3B, 88 RBI, 18 BB, 26 SB, 4.0 WPA, 3.7 WAR
• Rudolph Decker (CF): .299, .720 OPS, 92 R, 118 H, 28 XBH, 1 HR, 95 RBI, 19 BB, 56 SB, 3.0 WPA, 2.8 WAR
• Howard Burns (P): 27-15, 2.50 ERA, 128 K, 366.2 IP, 29 CG, 1 SV, 4.4 K/BB, 1.17 WHIP, 6.8 WAR, 7.4 rWAR

KNICKERBOCKER KEY PLAYERS

• Anthony Mascherino (2B): .310, .738 OPS, 85 R, 119 H, 26 XBH, 1 HR, 67 RBI, 43 SB, +22.8 ZR, 4.1 WPA, 5.0 WAR
• Clive Strachan (LF): .326, .793 OPS, 83 R, 127 H, 15 2B, 12 3B, 3 HR, 60 RBI, 50 SB, 3.6 WPA, 3.1 WAR
• Cormack Alexander (1B): .296, .743 OPS, 81 R, 115 H, 31 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 62 RBI, 29 BB, 3.6 WPA, 2.8 WAR
• Bertram Landreth (P): 31-11, 2.41 ERA, 134 K, 374.0 IP, 32 CG, 1 SHO, 6.7 K/BB, 1.16 WHIP, 7.0 WAR, 8.7 rWAR
• Robert Goodman (P): 26-18, 3.23 ERA, 106 K, 3570.0 IP, 29 CG, 1 SHO, 4.4 K/BB, 1.24 WHIP, 6.3 WAR, 4.8 rWAR

Knickerbocker had the league’s best record at 59-31, but St. John’s had by far the league’s best Run Differential at +215 (Knick 2nd). However, Knick would have three things going for them:

1. Home Field Advantage with a 32-13 home record (#2 in A.P.B.L.)
2. A 15-6 record in one-run games (#1 in A.P.B.L.)
3. A 3-0 record in extra-inning games (#1 in A.P.B.L.)

Conversely, St. John’s was under. 500 away from home (20-25), under .500 in one-run games (9-13), and under .500 in Extra Innings (2-5), with the latter two far more likely to become a factor in postseason play.

Could St. John’s pound their opponents into submission and lift the cup again without having to worry about close games? Or would Knickerbocker’s outstanding defense and work in high-pressure situations earn them their first A.P.B.L. title?