The Big Bang: A Larger Baseball Universe Starting From Nothing in 1857

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DURAND PERFECT AGAINST 1ST-PLACE ST. JOHN’S
MASS. BAY LF HAS FIVE HITS AS BASEMENT DWELLERS SURPRISE COLONIAL LEADERS

BOSTON (July 3, 1877) - Colonial Conference leaders St. John’s was expected to open Week Ten of A.P.B.L. play with a victory in Boston against last-place Massachusetts Bay. However, that didn’t happen:

St. John’s got on the board first on a run-scoring Ground Out during the opening inning, but after that the lowly hosts took control with a pair of runs in B2, two more in B3, and a four-run rally in the bottom of the fourth – the big moment a two-run Single by LF Harold Durand – that guaranteed the victory.

For Durand, his run-scoring base hit in the fourth was part of an outstanding afternoon:

• B2: Leadoff single to LCF off H. Burns (R)
• B3: Single to CF off H. Burns (R)
• B4: 2-run Single past 2B off H. Burns (R)
• B6: Single past 2B off H. Burns
• B8: Double past 1B off T. Smith
• TOTAL: 5/5 (2B, 6 TB), 3 R, 2 RBI, 75 GMSC

Through 55 games of his second A.P.B.L. season, Durand is batting .326 (.812 OPS) with sixteen Extra-base Hits (10 2B, 5 3B, 1 HR), 24 Runs Batted In, and 0.9 Batsman WAR. Aside from RBI, Durand is on pace to have better season than he had in his debut year of 1876.

St. John’s still sits atop the Colonial Conference in spite of the loss, with a 34-21 record that is 2.5 games better than Flour City. However, Flour City has won its last eleven games and could soon overtake St. John’s if current form continues. Mass. Bay remains in last place at 22-33, a dozen games behind St. John’s.

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OVERBROOK PUTS PENN TO THE SWORD IN PHILLY
LOCHHEAD & MAXWELL STAR AS HOSTS TAKE SPECTACULAR VICTORY

PHILADELPHIA (July 6, 1877) - Penn B.C. & Overbrook were just a game apart in the West Philadelphia standings going into their game on Friday afternoon, but it sure didn’t look that way on the field of play:

Visiting Penn actually scored the first runs of the game thanks to a run-scoring Single by 1B Charlie Smith in T2 that was followed by an error, but Overbrook scored sixteen times before Penn could make it back onto the scoreboard, and the rout was on as the hosts won by 21.

Overbrook was helped plenty by Penn’s absurd TWENTY-THREE ERRORS in the field (LG AVG: 7.8 E/G), but they had two bonafide star performances from their lineup during the game.

The first big afternoon came from C Walter Lochhead…

• OVER #6 Walter Lochhead (C): 4/6 (4 1B), 3 R, 5 RBI

…but he was easily outshone by Overbrook’s middle-of-the-lineup 2B, Oscar Maxwell:

• B2: Leadoff Single past 2B off F. Buchanan (SB, R)
• B3: Reached via Error by 1B C. Smith (R)
• B4: Single past 3B off F. Buchanan (R)
• B4: 1-run Single past SS off A. McCray
• B5: 2-run Single to CF off A. McCray (R)
• B6: 1-run Sac Fly to CF off W. Satterfield
• B8: 2-RUN HOME RUN TO RF off W. Satterfield
• TOTAL: 5/6 (HR, 8 TB), 5 R, 6 RBI, SB, 118 GMSC (season high)

Maxwell’s day with the bat was easily the best of the P.C.B.L. season when going by Game Score, and it’s not at all difficult to see why given that he was the first player this season with five Hits and a Home Run in the same game, and that’s before adding in his five Runs and six RBI.

The result left both Overbrook & Penn 21-22, part of a three-way tie for fourth place in West Philadelphia eleven games behind leaders Philadelphia Baseball & Cricket Club.

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THREE MUTUAL PLAYERS CLUB FIVE HITS IN LOSS
WOLF, TERRIEN, & McCARTY GIVE THEIR ALL, BUT HARLEM STILL COMES OUT ON TOP

NEW YORK CITY (July 8, 1877) - Harlem & Mutual ended their N.B.B.O. Week Nine series on Sunday afternoon, and the game at the Union Armory Grounds was an exciting affair that the visitors won by three:

Harlem broke out to a big early lead, with three separate rallies over the opening innings granting them a 14-4 lead by the end of the third. Mutual gradually chipped away at the lead, but three more Harlem runs during the fifth proved to be too much to overcome as the visitors eventually won 17-14.

That’s not to say Mutual didn’t do everything it could to come back against Harlem on Sunday. In particular, the three men in the middle of the Mutual lineup finished the game with five Hits each:

• MUT #3 Robert Wolf (RF): 5/6 (2 2B, 7 TB), 5 R, 1 RBI, SB
• MUT #4 Ellis Terrien (3B): 5/6 (2B, 3B, 8 TB), 5 R, 3 RBI
• MUT #5 Lynn McCarty (2B): 5/6 (2 2B, 2 3B, 11 TB), 1 R, 5 RBI
• MUT #3-5 TOTAL: 15/18 (.833), 5 2B, 3 3B, 11 R, 9 RBI, 1 SB

All totaled, the trio gathered fifteen of Mutual’s 23 Hits, scored eleven of their fourteen Runs, and was responsible for nine of the team’s thirteen Runs Batted In.

It was the first time in N.B.B.O. history that three players from the same team had 5+ Hits in a loss, and for Mutual such an achievement will surely be a source of embarrassment when considering that Harlem’s record entering the game was 15-29.

The result kept the two teams in their current places, with Mutual at sixth place in New York City (19-26, 15 GB) and Harlem in seventh (16-29, 18 GB). Hilltop of Yonkers is in last place (14-31, 20 GB).

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BURNS PENS 2ND SHUTOUT OF 1877 AT NIAGARA
ALL-STAR PITCHER CONFOUNDS HOSTS AS ST. JOHN’S WINS BY A DOZEN

BUFFALO, N.Y. (July 12, 1877) - St. John’s lost both of their first two games of the series at Niagara by a lone run: 11-10 on Tuesday and 7-6 on Wednesday in eleven innings. They made sure there was no chance of such an outcome on Thursday:

St. John’s broke out to a big early lead thanks to half a dozen runs over the first two innings. The scoring came from a number of sources: a Double by CF Rudolph Decker, a Single by 2B Cletus Cannon, a Single by RF Nelson Townsend, a Single by Konrad Jensen, a double by LF Joseph Evans, and another Single by Decker.

That early barrage proved to be far more than what St. John’s needed for the win, as #1 P Howard Burns was in total control in Buffalo:

• STJ P Howard Burns: CG SHO (19-8, 3.67), 8 HA, 0 BB, 3 K

The St. John’s defense helped Burns a lot, committing just one Error, turning one Double Play, and throwing out the only Niagara player who tried to steal a base.

St. John’s had three players with multiple Hits at Niagara, and they were led by Cannon:

• STJ #5 Cletus Cannon (2B/SS): 3/5 (2B, 4 TB), 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 SB

The Shutout brought Burns’ record to 19-8, with a 3.67 Earned Run Average, 72 Strikeouts, and 4.9 Pitching WAR over 255.0 innings so far in 1877. Cannon’s fine afternoon raised his Average to .292 (.714 OPS), with 22 Extra-Base Hits (14 2B, 8 3B) and 57 Runs Batted In through 63 games.

St. John’s exited the series at Niagara with a 40-23 record, best in the A.P.B.L. by two games. They are 7.5 games clear atop the Colonial Conference standings, and 9.5 games ahead of fourth-place Niagara.

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SIZEMORE SLAMS SIX HITS IN WIN AT PT. RICHMOND
STAR OUTFIELDER ALSO HAS SIX RBI AS SPARTAN STAYS FIVE GAMES BEHIND EAST LEADERS

PHILADELPHIA (July 6, 1877) - Penn B.C. & Overbrook were just a game apart in the West Philadelphia standings going into their game on Friday afternoon, but it sure didn’t look that way on the field of play:

The game was even 1-1 after two innings, but Spartan scored six times in the third and never looked back, growing their lead to 16-1 before Pt. Richmond put a pair of consolation runs across the plate during the bottom of the ninth.

Spartan’s Catcher had himself an excellent afternoon…

• SPA #5 Richard Gantner (C): 3/5 (3B, 5 TB), 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB

…but star RF Joseph Sizemore was spectacular against Pt. Richmond:

• T1: 1-run Single past 2B off B. Casagrande
• T3: 3-run Double to CF off B. Casagrande (R)
• T4: Single to LCF off B. Casagrande
• T6: 1-run Double to LCF off B. Casagrande (R)
• T7: 1-run Single to RF off W. Paul (R)
• T8: Single to CF off W. Paul
• TOTAL: 6/6 (2 2B, 8 TB), 3 R, 6 RBI, 111 GMSC

It was Sizemore’s Double with the bases full in the top of the third that effectively sealed the result for Spartan, although they were happy to pile on the runs from there.

Sizemore’s afternoon was the first six-hit game in the P.C.B.L. this season, and his 111 Game Score was the second-highest in the league in 1877, a performance bested only by Overbrook 2B Oscar Maxwell eight days ago (5/6, HR, 5 R, 6 RBI, SB, 118 GMSC) against Penn.

The result left both victorious Spartan and defeated Pt. Richmond 26-23 and two parts of a three-way tie for third place in East Philadelphia, with the duo and Minerva five games behind leaders Frankford Arsenal.

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TWO FIVE-HIT GAMES IN THE APBL ON WEDNESDAY
ALEXANDER & SCHUMACHER EXCEL; KC HAS QUARTET OF FOUR-HIT PERFORMERS VS ORANGE

NORTHEAST U.S.A. (July 18, 1877) - There were the usual six games across the American Professional Baseball League on Wednesday, with two of those games featuring outstanding performances by individual batsmen and a third featuring a fantastic team attack.

First, we go to New York City where Gotham and Knickerbocker continued the oldest rivalry in baseball at the Elysian Fields. Knickerbocker took an 11-6 win against a visiting Gotham team that has fallen apart, and the man who was clearly the game’s most outstanding player was Knick 1B Cormack Alexander:

• B1: 1-run Double to RF off J. Dressman (R)
• B3: Single past SS off J. Dressman (R)
• B5: Double to LF off J. Dressman
• B7: Double to LCF off J. Dressman (R)
• B8: Double to RCF off J. Smith (R)
• TOTAL: 5/5 (4 2B, 9 TB), 4 R, 1 RBI, 75 GMSC

Alexander has driven in roughly a run per game this season (68 G, 67 RBI), but here it was his four Doubles that gave those below him in the batting order ample opportunity to generate runs while his lone RBI came in the opening inning, when he his Double saw Knick Louis Dyke cross the plate.

Alexander is currently having the best season out of his six in the A.P.B.L. Through 68 games, he’s batting .367 (.884 OPS) with 20 Extra-base Hits (15 2B, 4 3B, 1 HR), 67 Runs Batted In, and 3.5 Batsman WAR. The win kept Knickerbocker & Excelsior tied – AGAIN – atop the Metropolitan at 42-26, with the two teams being tied for 13/18 days in July. Gotham is 22-46, and on pace for its worst season ever.

Next it’s off to Boston, where Niagara & Massachusetts Bay contested the game of the day at Oceanside Park.
The game was a thriller, with plenty of scoring early and Mass. Bay exiting the fourth inning ahead 11-8. Niagara provided consistent offense late – three runs in the 6th, two in the 7th, & two more in the 8th – to take a 15-13 lead, but a six-run rally by Mass. Bay in the bottom of the eighth gave them a 19-15 victory.

Mass. Bay had four players – RF Kevin Duke, 2B Arthur Fisher, C Lane Garvin, & 3B Albert Stoffers – collect 3+ Hits, and while Niagara LF Charles Barrett was 4/6 it was SS William Schumacher who outdid everyone on the field with five Hits:

• T1: 2-run Double to LCF off D. Hobbelink (R)
• T3: Infield Single to SS off D. Hobbelnk (SB, R)
• T4: Sac Bunt to P (2 out)
• T6: 1-run Single to CF off H. Cundiff (R)
• T7: 2-run Single past 1B off H. Cundiff
• T9: Leadoff Single past 3B off J. Desautels
• TOTAL: 5/5 (2B, 6 TB), 3 R, 5 RBI, SB, SAC BUNT, 96 GMSC

Schumacher’s 96 Game Score in a losing effort tied the season high, which is shared by Excelsior C Edgar Pridgen’s performance at Kings Co. six days ago (4/5, 4 R, 5 RBI, 1 BB). The 31-year-old has a .271 Average (.637 OPS) and forty Runs Batted In through 68 games of his fourth season as Niagara’s everyday Shortstop.

The result left Niagara 35-33, third place in the Colonial Conference and nine games behind leaders St. John’s, while it pulled Mass. Bay up into a tie for last place (28-40, 16 GB) with Boston rivals Shamrock.

The final notable event took place in Brooklyn, where Kings County juiced Orange by the score of 21-5 at Washington Park. The hosts were behind 4-2 at the middle of the third inning, but three runs in B3 and six more in B4 gave them an 11-4 lead and sent them on their way to an easy home victory.

Kings Co. used 23 Hits to score their 21 Runs, and as part of that outburst four of their batsmen had four Hits each:

• KC #1 Herman Stanley (2B): 4/6 (2B, 5 TB), 5 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB
• KC #3 Garfield Koonce (1B): 4/6 (all 1B), 3 R, 4 RBI
• KC #4 Fred Bartholomew (LF): 4/5 (2B, 5 TB), 4 R, 4 RBI, 1 BB, SB, 89 GMSC
• KC #5 Carl Nevers (C): 4/6 (2B, 5 TB), 3 R, 3 RBI

The afternoon left both Koonce (.350, .861 OPS, 55 RBI) & Bartholomew (.367, .911 OPS, 61 RBI) batting .350+ while Nevers hit .300 (.656 OPS, 45 RBI) after the halfway point of the A.P.B.L. season for the first time. Stanley’s 4/6 raised his Average to .341 (.810 OPS, 52 RBI), and since he’s been overshadowed by fellow Philadelphian import Joseph Evans he’s quietly put together a fine debut season in the A.P.B.L.

One other matter of note from the game: Kings Co. 3B Alfred Williams pulled off a rare feat in that he had three successful Sacrifices against Orange, with a pair of Sacrifice Bunts and one Sacrifice Fly.

Wednesday offered up plenty of action in the A.P.B.L., with the batsmen taking starring roles on the afternoon and the fans being on the receiving end of plenty of excitement.[B]

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1877 NATIONAL BASE BALL ORGANIZATION ALL-STAR GAME
GAME PLAYED AT HOME OF DEFENDING CHAMPS MINUTEMAN; SUSQUEHANNA TOPS NOM’S AGAIN

ALBANY, N.Y. (July 23, 1877) – With three weeks left to play in the season, it’s time for the annual N.B.B.O. All-Star Game! Rules were the same as always:

• Places 1-6 in each team’s roster will go to the best pitchers in each league.
• The remaining 24 roster spots will consist of three players for every other position.

The game was given a new home this year. Since it was the New York League’s turn to host the proceedings the Executive Committee felt it only natural that Minuteman, who won their first Tucker-Wheaton Cup last year and has a venue that seats over six thousand, should be the host for the 1877 edition.

The N.Y.L. rosters were evenly stocked, with a few teams sending three players and only one – Atlantic – sending four. For the second year in a row, Susquehanna, which is scoring eleven times per game, brought an N.E.L. and game-high five players to Upstate New York, a number that would have been six had .413-hitting Walter Braden not gone down with a hip injury at the end of June. Surprise Coastal leaders Newark sent four, including certain N.E.L. Pitcher of the Year John Ratican.

There were eighteen first-time nominees in this year’s All-Star Game, with nine from each league and a total well below last year’s 27 first-timers. Similarly, there were only two Greenhorns – one from each league – at the All-Star Game, well below the nine who went to last year’s game in Philadelphia.

Yet again, Victory SS Henry Nabors was the only player in the double digits in A.S.G. appearances – N.B.B.O. or A.P.B.L. – present, making his eleventh appearance. The oldest player at the game was the ageless Carl Bancroft, who at age 42 was making his seventh total All-Star Game cameo. The player everyone wanted to see: Star B.B.C.’s Julius Tierney, who entered the game batting .421, nearly thirty points better than any player not currently injured.

Rosters for the 1877 NBBO All-Star Game were as follows, with starters marked in red:

So, how did this year's All-Star Game turn out?

For the third year in a row the Northeastern League reigned supreme thanks to their work during the early innings.

The N.E.L. scored twice off Charles Rhodes in the first thanks to Singles by Ned Morganti & Thomas Fetterman. After a N.Y.L. run in the second they would add two more runs in the fourth via Error & Ground Out to go ahead 4-1, and that would be enough for the win thanks to excellent team pitching & defense.

The All-Star Game Most Valuable Player was Cantabrigians LF, and former A.P.B.L. regular, William McCrory:

• NEL SUB William McCrory (LF): 2/2, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 SB

McCrory entered during the top of the fifth, and was excellent during his time in the All-Star Game to help the N.E.L. secure their third straight victory.

The only other player in the game with two Hits was starting N.Y.L. 2B Chester Alexander:

• NYL #4 Chester Alexander (2B): 2/3, 1 R, 0 RBI

Alexander, who is having a fantastic season, stayed in the game until the eighth inning, when he was replaced by William Snyder as the N.Y.L. tried to mount a comeback.

Weather was perfect – 75 degrees and sunny with winds of about ten miles per hour – and a crowd of 6,234 got to experience Albany’s first time hosting the N.B.B.O. All-Star Game. For the locals, their attention will now turn back to Minuteman as they try to make up a four-game deficit in the Upstate New York Championship over the season’s final three weeks.

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LAYMAN SLAMS FIVE HITS IN CG WIN OVER HARLEM
VETERAN PITCHER DOES IT ALL DURING DOUBLE-DIGIT HOME WIN BY METROPOLITAN

NEW YORK CITY (July 25, 1877) - Even .500 Metropolitan opened their home series against Harlem on Wednesday on the edge of elimination from playoff contention. They proceeded to keep their season alive with an eleven-run victory:

The key to Metro’s big win was a ten-run rally in the bottom of the second inning, during which a pair of three-run Hits, a Home Run by 2B William Hurt and a Double by C Mark Lehmann, did much of the damage.

Still, that wasn’t what the 2,300 in attendance left the game talking about. Instead, what had people most amazed was the performance of veteran P and 1872 N.Y.L. Most Valuable Player George Layman, who had some issues with the ball but more than made up for it with the bat:

• MET P George Layman: CG (17-13, 2.96), 15 HA, 5 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
• MET #9 George Layman (P): 5/5 (all 1B), 1 R, 3 RBI

Layman was fortunate in that visiting Harlem managed to turn fifteen base hits into only five Runs, but he needed no such luck when he was at the plate as three of Layman’s five base hits were of the Line Drive variety.

Layman is better than the average P with the bat, but going into the game was on a pace to finish 1877 with career lows in Batting Average (.226), OPS (.479), and RBI (8; would be 10 over 70 G). Layman’s 5/5 performance left him a bit closer to his career norms (.299 AVG, .635 OPS), although his run production remains roughly half of what it typically has been during the 40-50 games he pitches in over the course of a season.

The victory kept Metropolitan in the playoff chase, but with one more loss or one more N.Y.A.C. win all Metro playoff hopes come to an end. Harlem has long since stopped entertaining any playoff dreams, and their record is 21-35 (22 GB) with nearly three weeks left to play.

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BUBBA MACK WINS PITCHER’S DUEL IN CAMBRIDGE
CANTABRIGIANS ALL-STAR COMES OUT ON TOP OF GAME FEATURING ONE RUN

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (July 28, 1877) - For the Cantabrigians to have any hopes of catching Portland for the New England pennant, they’re going to have win some difficult games over the final three weeks of play. On Saturday at St. Peter’s Field in Cambridge, they did just that against visiting Quinnipiac:

In the end, this game had the rarest scoreline of all the single-digit finals the N.B.B.O. sees: a 1-0 final that went the way of the home team.

The game featured outstanding pitching and arguably even better defense, with the teams totaling just nine Hits (QUI: 5, CAN: 4) and just three Errors (QUI: 2, CAN: 1, N.E.L. AVG: 6.9 E/G). The only Run of the contest occurred during the bottom of the sixth, when a Wild Pitch by Quinnipiac’s Tom Hauser allowed opposing P Bubba Mack to score. After that it was all zeroes on the scoreboard, and the Cantabrigians earned a tense & hard-fought victory.

Here was how the two pitchers of record, Hauser & Mack, fared in Cambridge:

• QUI P Tom Hauser: L (12-11, 2.81), 8.0 IP, 4 HA, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
• CAN P Bubba Mack: CG SHO W (21-7, 3.04), 5 HA, 0 BB, 4 K

There were more than 2,550 in attendance, and what the fans saw was perhaps the most tense game of the season for their side, but they were thrilled that the Cantabrigians came out on top.

The victory kept the Cantabrigians six games behind New England Leaders Portland with eleven left to play, and they are the only two teams with a chance to grab the New England pennant. Quinnipiac currently sits seventh in New England (23-36, 22 GB), but with good baseball over the final 2+ weeks they could finish fourth.

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1877 AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE ALL-STAR GAME
NIAGARA PLAYS HOST FOR FIRST TIME; KNICK & ST. JOHN’S LEAD NOM’S WITH SIX EACH;

BUFFALO, N.Y. (July 30, 1877) – There are fifteen games left to play in the season, and that means it’s time for the annual American Professional Baseball League All-Star Game!

Rosters for the A.P.B.L. Midsummer Classic aren’t the same as those in its NBBO counterpart:

• Twenty players per conference
• Roster places 1-4 go to pitchers – two for each rotation place
• Roster places 5-20 go to batsmen – two for each position
• All six teams from each conference must be represented (see note below)

The game was hosted by the Colonial Conference this year, and it was decided that last year’s surprise conference champions, Niagara B.B.C., should host the festivities, making this the first time the All-Star Game was played in Upstate New York.

The rosters for this year’s All-Star game were led by the conference leaders, with St. John’s & Knickerbocker both sending six players to Buffalo for the game. Excelsior, currently one game behind Knickerbocker in the Metropolitan Conference, sent five players. The A.P.B.L.’s two other forty-win teams, Alleghany & Kings County, both sent four.

The elder statemen of the All-Star Game were, once again, the trio of Jim Creighton, Konrad Jensen & Anthony Mascherino. Creighton was going to his sixteenth total All-Star Game, Jensen his seventeenth, and Mascherino his eighteenth. There were nine first-time All-Stars and four Greenhorns, although Carl Nevers had made an All-Star Game while he was in the N.B.B.O.

The Metropolitan had more talent on paper but the Colonial won last year’s game with a similar disadvantage, so it was far from guaranteed that the Metropolitan megastars would waltz away with an easy win.

These were the All-Star Game rosters, with total All-Star appearances between the N.B.B.O. & A.P.B.L. noted:

Here are the number of nominees who represented each team:

• ALLEGHANY: 4 (Ellerby, Golden, Haney, & Meier)
• AMERICAN: 2 (Burke & Prince)
• EXCELSIOR: 5 (Creighton, Hill, Myers, Oberst, & Seabold)
• FLOUR CITY: 2 (Goodman & Skaggs)
• GOTHAM: 1 (Quarles)
• KINGS CO.: 4 (Banfield, Bartholomew, Koonce, & Nevers)
• KNICK: 6 (Alexander, Goodman, Harris, Jost, Mascherino, & Strachan)
• MASS. BAY: 3 (Berg, Fisher, & Garvin)
• NIAGARA: 3 (Barrow, Roper, & Schumacher)
• ORANGE: 2 (Schreiber & Whitehead)
• SHAMROCK: 2 (Jessup & Simon)
• ST. JOHN’S: 6 (Burns, Decker, Evans, Jensen, Smith, & Todd)

As for the game itself, this was how it turned out:

The Colonial Conference won the All-Star Game again, thanks to a rally in the bottom of the eighth.

The Metropolitan started out well, taking the lead in T1 on a Single by Troy Oberst before scoring four times in T3 on four separate run-scoring base hits to take a 5-0 lead. The Colonial cut the lead to 5-2 in B3 thanks to a two-run Double by Joseph Evans, and they shortened the Metro lead to 5-4 in B5 on run-scoring hits by Konrad Jensen & Eamonn Todd.

5-4 was how the score stood until the bottom of the eighth, when the Colonial turned the potential result on its head. After a leadoff Single by Arthur Fisher, the next two batters were retired with P Thomas Smith due to bat. Smith then singled in Fisher to even the score (5-5), Gerhardt Berg singled Smith over to third, and Reginald Roper’s Double brought Smith & Berg around to give the Colonial a 7-5 lead.

In the top of the ninth Hugh Harris hit a Double that drove in Henry Jost and made it a 7-6 game, but with Harris on second the next two batters had no luck, and the Colonial Conference was the All-Star Game champion for the second straight year.

The All-Star Game M.V.P. was the man who produced the game-winning hit: Niagara’s Reginald Roper.

• CC SUB Reginald Roper (RF): 2/3 (2B, 3 TB), 1 R, 2 RBI, GW HIT

He was one of four players with multiple Hits in the game, the others being Fred Bartholomew (2/3, 2B, 2 R, RBI), Konrad Jensen (2/3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 SB), and Henry Jost (2/3, 2B, 1 R).

The pitchers of record were Thomas Smith with the Win and Nicholas Banfield with the Loss. Every player took part to varying degrees, with four starters staying in until the eighth inning.

A crowd of 8,113 watched the proceedings at the Greater New York Sporting Grounds in Buffalo, a sellout crowd that was able to enjoy a great game in pleasant summer weather (65 F, 12 mph winds).

The Metropolitan Conference may have the marquee talent, but right now the Colonial Conference has the bragging rights.

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AMERICAN BASEBALL JULY RECAP

NORTHEAST U.S.A. (Aug. 1, 1877) – July has come to an end, and as always that means there just a couple of weeks left in the regular phase of the baseball season. Here are how the competitions stand going into the final stretch:

A.P.B.L. STANDINGS

COLONIAL – St. John’s was just okay during July, but they have a solid grip on first place going into the final two and a half weeks of the season because only Niagara was better. Alleghany had chances to close the gap with St. John’s, but their middling offense fell short in four one-run losses. Inconsistent Niagara went from 7-17 in June to 17-7 in July thanks to great pitching & defense. Flour City fizzled with a 7-16 month, and they’re back down in fourth as a result. Mass. Bay & Shamrock are tied for the bottom spot in the standings – Mass. Bay thanks to a good offense but poor fielding and Shamrock thanks to good pitching & defense but an 11th-ranked offense. Not a great time for Boston baseball.

METROPOLITAN – Finally some separation at the top, but it's only one game as Knickerbocker was just a bit better than Excelsior in July. Knick looks like a title winner, ending the month with six regulars batting .300 or better while Robert Goodman is 24-9. Both Creighton & Seabold have hit twenty Wins for Excelsior, while they have both Hill & Oberst batting above .350. The two teams play each other on the final weekend, and that could very well be when the pennant is won. Kings Co. continued its relatively fine season with a 12-10 July, while American continued its slide from 4x champion with the same monthly mark. Gotham & Orange are afterthoughts, and everything that could go wrong for Orange this year has.

A.P.B.L. MONTHLY AWARDS

BATSMAN OF THE MONTH
James Burke (LF, StJ) – .469, 1.142 OPS, 31 R, 46 H, 6 2B, 5 3B, 29 RBI, 6 BB, 26 SB, 2.7 WPA, 1.9 WAR

PITCHER OF THE MONTH
Robert Goodman (StJ) – 9-2, 2.79 ERA, 11 K, 84.0 IP, 7 CG, 1 SHO, 1.6 K/BB, 1.12 WHIP, 1.0 WAR, 1.9 rWAR

GREENHORN OF THE MONTH
Herman Stanley (LF, StJ) – .439, 1.029 OPS, 35 R, 47 H, 8 2B, 4 3B, 24 RBI, 1 BB, 2 SB, 1.9 WPA, 1.3 WAR

American has had a relative struggle this year, but Burke most definitely hasn’t. One of Burke’s best single months in the A.P.B.L. ended with his fifth monthly award, and as of right now he looks very likely to beat out Joseph Evans for what would be Batsman of the Year award number four over the last five years. Troy Oberst (.433) & Herman Stanley (.439) both hit over .430 and Fred Bartholomew (1.017) had an OPS over 1.000, but Burke was superior to all three.

Goodman had two more Wins than any other Pitcher during July and he did so with an ERA under 3.00, so he was the clear P.o.t.M. Nicholas Banfield was 6-2 with a 2.22 ERA, but with three fewer Wins he wasn’t going to get the award. With his current totals of 24 Wins and a 2.97 ERA, Goodman is the slight favorite for Pitcher of the Year.

Stanley broke Joseph Evans’ grip on G.o.t.M. with a July that showed exactly why he was the other P.C.B.L. player transferred in over the winter. He was flawless with the bat and good in the field, and Stanley’s work saw him finish the month with a .347 Batting Average. Evans was very good in July (.369, .926 OPS, 23 RBI), but Stanley was spectacular.

A.P.B.L. STATISTICAL LEADERS

Average: .403 by James Burke (CF, American)
OPS: .944 by James Burke
Home Runs: 3 by Robert Golden (CF, Alleghany) & Charles Whitehead (2B, Orange)
Runs Batted In: 83 by Eamonn Todd (3B, St. John’s)
Runs: 107 by Konrad Jensen (1B, St. John’s)
Stolen Bases: 87 by Konrad Jensen
Batsman WPA: 5.9 by Fred Bartholomew (LF, Kings Co.)
Batsman WAR: 5.2 by James Burke

Wins: 24 by Robert Goodman (Knick)
ERA (150+ IP): 2.17 by William Haney (Alleghany)
Strikeouts: 132 by Elmer Seabold (Excelsior)
Complete Games: 26 by Elmer Seabold
WHIP (150+ IP): 1.12 by Robert Goodman
Pitcher WAR: 5.9 by Howard Burns (St. John’s)
Pitcher rWAR: 5.9 by Nicholas Banfield (Kings Co.)

N.B.B.O. REGIONAL LEADERS

BROOKLYN: Atlantic at 41-19 (Eckford 2 GB; Bedford 9 GB; Cont’l 10 GB)
NEW YORK CITY: New York Athletic Club at 46-14 (clinched pennant)
UPSTATE N.Y.: Utica at 28-11 (Minuteman 2 GB; Syracuse 4 GB; Victory 8 GB)
COASTAL: Newark at 45-15 (Pt. Jersey 8 GB; Quaker St. 10 GB)
INLAND: Susquehanna at 45-15 (Pioneer 8 GB)
NEW ENGLAND: Portland at 45-15 (Cantabrigians 5 GB; S.o.t.O. 10 GB)

BROOKLYN – The Brooklyn lead traded hands from Atlantic to Eckford during June, and it went back the other way during July thanks to an Atlantic offense that ranks #8/48 in Runs and #4 in Batting Average. Over the final two weeks the schedule advantage goes to Eckford, as they start August with a home series against last-place Marathon (21-39).

NEW YORK CITY – N.Y.A.C. had a blistering-hot 17-4 July, and as a result they ran away from the rest of the pack and clinched the pennant, a very rare thing to see in N.Y.C. before the final week. Their offense is only #13/48 in Runs and #18 in Batting Average, but their pitching, led by Charles Rhodes & George Cerven, has unquestionably been the best in the competition.

UPSTATE N.Y. – Utica’s 14-7 July saw them open up more space at the top of the Upstate standings, and with an upcoming series against last-place Columbia (18-42) they look very likely to take the pennant. Syracuse finishes the season against Columbia, but they have to make up five games in ten against a team playing .700 baseball. Defending champions Minuteman need a miracle.

COASTAL – Newark is playing their best baseball of the season at the perfect time, and after a 16-5 July it looks like the Coastal Championship will be theirs for the first time. Their lead was just three games a week and a half ago, but Pt. Jersey was 4-6 ten over their last while Quaker St. has lost six in a row, including all five games of their series at Newark to end July.

INLAND – Susquehanna and their offensive machine (11.0 R/G) have a hand on the pennant after a 17-4 July. Their final two series are vs Merrimack (30-30) and at Lake Erie (26-34), so it should just be a matter of time before they clinch their sixth trip to the playoffs in ten years. Pioneer has put up a good fight, but it’s not going to be good enough.

NEW ENGLAND – Cantabrigians gained one game on Portland during July, but the gap between first & second remains five games with two weeks to play. The two play each other in Maine to start August, so that will decide whether Portland has pennant #5 or if New England is up for grabs. S.o.t.O.’s season was undone when defending B.o.t.Y. Jesse Craig tore knee ligaments on July 11th.

N.B.B.O. MONTHLY AWARDS

BATSMEN OF THE MONTH
NYL: Clarence Jones (LF, MER) – .404, .936 OPS, 30 R, 36 H, 5 2B, 1 HR, 26 RBI, 4 BB, 25 SB, 1.7 WPA, 1.5 WAR
NEL: Frank Thomas (2B, PIO) – .460, 1.077 OPS, 26 R, 46 H, 7 2B, 3 3B, 30 RBI, 8 BB, 4 SB, 1.4 WPA, 1.6 WAR

PITCHERS OF THE MONTH
NYL: Charles Rhodes (NYAC) – 10-2, 2.06 ERA, 48 K, 109.0 IP, 9 CG, 6.0 K/BB, 0.91 WHIP, 2.8 WAR, 3.1 rWAR
NEL: William Hawk (SUS) – 10-0, 2.88 ERA, 30 K, 112.2 IP, 8 CG, 7.5 K/BB, 1.30 WHIP, 2.6 WAR, 1.9 rWAR

GREENHORNS OF THE MONTH
NYL: Vernon Mickey (2B, UTI) – .418, .998 OPS, 20 R, 38 H, 7 2B, 2 3B, 13 RBI, 4 BB, 1 SB, 1.8 WPA, 1.0 WAR
NEL: Howard Boley (LF, RAC) – .406, .962 OPS, 27 R, 39 H, 6 2B, 2 3B, 32 RBI, 5 BB, 0 SB, 1.1 WPA, 0.8 WAR

N.B.B.O. STATISTICAL LEADERS

Average: .413 by Julius Tierney (LF, Star)
OPS: .961 by Julius Tierney
Home Runs: 3 by five different batsmen
Runs Batted In: 70 by Chester Alexander (2B, Syracuse) & Moriarty Murray (2B, Bedford)
Runs: 93 by William Buschmann (CF, Utica)
Stolen Bases: 65 by Clarence Jones (LF, Mercury)
Batsman WPA: 5.1 by Manuel Romeiras (CF, N.Y.A.C.)
Batsman WAR: 3.7 by Francis Smith (CF, Metro)

Wins: 28 by William Hawk (Susquehanna)
ERA (150+ IP): 1.97 by John Ratican (Newark)
Strikeouts: 128 by Earl Quinn (Maryland)
Complete Games: 26 by Howard Budd (Empire)
WHIP (150+ IP): 1.00 by Charles Rhodes (N.Y.A.C.)
Pitcher WAR: 8.9 by John Ratican
Pitcher rWAR: 9.2 by Charles King (Pt. Jersey)

P.C.B.L. LEADERS

EAST: Frankford Arsenal 36-24 (Queen Village 2 GB; Minerva & Spartan 4 GB; Keystone & Pt. Richmond 5 GB)
WEST: Philadelphia B.C.C. at 45-15 (Mercantile 9 GB)

EAST – Two weeks left to play, and six of eight teams still have viable claims to the pennant. Spartan has the easiest finish to the season, as they play last-place Sons of Ben (21-39) at home to start August before playing at Minerva. This is the tightest East Philadelphia has been to start August, so if Frankford is to remain the only pennant winners from the eastern half of the city it is going to take some hard work, and possibly good luck.

WEST – P.B.C.C. was 17-4 in July, leaving only Mercantile able to catch them. However, the two teams play each other during the final week and simply defies belief to imagine P.B.C.C. losing their final ten games and Mercantile winning their final ten to take the pennant. The league’s #1 pitching & defense will rule West Philadelphia once again.

P.C.B.L. MONTHLY AWARDS

BATSMAN OF THE MONTH
George Oman* (2B, PBCC) – .396, .915 OPS, 22 R, 40 H, 8 XBH, 1 HR, 19 RBI, 2 BB, 9 SB, 1.1 WPA, 1.1 WAR

PITCHER OF THE MONTH
Arthur Lipscomb (PBCC) – 8-0, 2.61 ERA, 10 K, 79.1 IP, 7 CG, 1 SV, 1.4 K/BB, 1.20 WHIP, 1.3 WAR, 3.0 rWAR

GREENHORN OF THE MONTH
Bud Forster (P, FRA) – 10-3, 3.72 ERA, 17 K, 104.0 IP, 7 CG, 1.5 K/BB, 1.29 WHIP, 1.4 WAR, 1.9 rWAR

*Oman won B.o.t.M. for May

P.C.B.L. STATISTICAL LEADERS

Average: .374 by Jonathan Bagwell (1B, Germantown)
OPS: .937 by William Norman (1B, Merion)
Home Runs: 2 by thirteen different batsmen
Runs Batted In: 74 by James Howard (RF, Frankford)
Runs: 88 by James Harris (LF, Frankford)
Stolen Bases: 49 by Jonathan Auriemma (2B, Minerva)
Batsman WPA: 5.6 by William Norman
Batsman WAR: 3.8 by James Harris

Wins: 24 by Robert Benson (P.B.C.C.)
ERA (150+ IP): 2.10 by Robert Benson (P.B.C.C.)
Complete Games: 24 by Robert Benson
Strikeouts: 82 by Robert Benson
WHIP (150+ IP): 1.13 Jonathan Atkins (Merion) & Arthur Lipscomb (P.B.C.C.)
Pitcher WAR: 5.5 by Robert Benson
Pitcher rWAR: 6.7 by Arthur Lipscomb

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SotO OUTLASTS GRANITE IN A BARNBURNER
A 6-2 GAME AFTER SIX TURNS INTO A 21-17 FINAL IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

MANCHESTER, N.H. (Aug. 2, 1877) - Sons of the Ocean & Granite B.C. are playing for pride at this point, but that didn’t stop them from putting on quite the show at the Kalivas Union Grounds in New Hampshire on Thursday:

Most of this game was standard fare. Granite scored first but runs by S.o.t.O. in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, & 5th, with the big event a three-run rally in T3 featuring a two-run Single by 1B Seamus Gilchrist, meant the visitors had a 6-2 lead after six innings. Then, the REAL fun began…

S.o.t.O. scored in T7 on a Double by 2B Robert Nelson. Facing a 7-2 deficit, Granite came to bat and sent eleven runs across the plate in a half-inning that featured nine Hits, seven Errors, and a three-run Double by PH Thomas Upshaw. The score now 13-7 in favor of Granite, S.o.t.O. put up a five-run rally during T8 on a series of Singles & Sacrifices, and it was a 13-12 game. Granite responded with four more runs in B8 – two-run Singles by LF James Slaughter & RF Loy D’Amour putting Granite back ahead by five runs (17-12).

Then, S.o.t.O. came up to bat for the top of the ninth, and the game turned back around to their favor:

• GRA: John Schlitz pitching
• SotO #1 Otto Humphries (RF): Reached via Error by 2B L. LaRose
• SotO #2 Henry Behr (3B): Hit by Pitch from J. Schlitz
• SotO #3 Peter Huff (LF): Pop Fly Out to 2B (1 out)
• SotO #4 George Black (CF): Reached via Error by 3B A. Nixon
• SotO #5 Hal Brinks (C): Reached via 1-run Error by 2B L. LaRose (SotO 13-17 GRA)
• SotO #6 Seamus Gilchrist (1B): 2-run Single past 2B (SotO 15-17 GRA)
• GRA: Error by CF C. Becker (Gilchrist to 2B)
• SotO #7 Peter Jones (SS): Reached via 1-run Error by 1B G. Browne (SotO 16-17 GRA)
• SotO #8 Robert Nelson (2B): Reached via 1-run Error by SS J. Lynn (SotO 17-17 GRA)
• SotO #9 Andrew Lietz (PH): Single to SS
• SotO #1 Otto Humphries (RF): 1-run Single to RCF (SotO 18-17 GRA)
• GRA: 1-run Fielding Error by CF C. Becker (SotO 19-17 GRA)
• SotO #2 Henry Behr (3B): 1-run Single past 2B (SotO 20-16 GRA)
• GRA: P Arthur Rice substitutes in for John Schlitz
• SotO: Henry Behr caught stealing at 2B (2 out)
• SotO #3 Peter Huff (LF): 1-run Double to CF (Soto 21-17 GRA)
• SotO #4 George Black (CF): Ground Out to SS (3 out)
• TOTAL: 9 R, 5 H (4 1B, 1 2B), 7 E, 1 HBP, 1 CS, 13 BATTERS

It was a disaster for Granite. Six of the first seven S.o.t.O. batsmen to reach base in T9 made it safely thanks to an Error or Hit by Pitch, and in the end four of the nine Runs scored directly due to Granite fielding miscues. Granite sent five men to bat in B9, but now behind by six it was going to take a furious rally to win or force extra innings and they simply didn’t have one in them. Sons of the Ocean had come away with a memorable victory.

The game was defined by Errors (SotO: 15, GRA: 18, LG AVG: 6.9 E/G), but there were a number of star performers:

• SotO #1 Otto Humphries (RF): 4/7 (3B, 6 TB), 4 R, 2 RBI
• SotO #2 Henry Behr (3B): 3/5 (2B, 4 TB), 2 R, 2 RBI
• SotO #6 Seamus Gilchrist (1B): 5/6 (all 1B), 4 R, 5 RBI, SB, 99 GMSC
• GRA #1 Lucas LaRose (2B): 3/6 (3B, 5 TB), 2 R, 2 RBI
• GRA #7 Loy D’Amour (RF): 4/6 (2 2B, 6 TB), 1 R, 5 RBI

Gilchrist, filling in at 1B for the injured Jesse Craig, very nearly became the eleventh batsman to put up a 100+ Game Score in the N.B.B.O. this season. With only 45 Plate Appearances to his name in 1877, perhaps Gilchrist has earned a starting role for the final week and a half.

With eight games left to play, Sons of the Ocean is 36-26 and likely to finish third in the New England Championship, while Granite is 24-38 and could easily finish anywhere from fifth to eighth.

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THREE CRACK FIVE HITS AT MOUNT MORIAH PARK
BATSMEN STEAL THE SHOW AS BIG INDEPENDENCE RALLY TAKES DOWN OVERBROOK

PHILADELPHIA (Aug. 5, 1877) - Overbrook took on Independence at Mt. Moriah Park on Sunday, and although Overbrook had the lead for much of the game, Independence won it with a huge seventh-inning rally:

Overbrook started splendidly with three runs in T1, with a two-run Double by 1B Gareth Webber the key hit. The visitors would then add single tallies in the 3rd & 5th to take a 5-0 lead. Independence scored three times in T5, with a two-run Triple by LF Jerald Coleman making it a 5-3 game. Overbrook then added five runs over the 6th & 7th on a series of Singles to go ahead 10-3, making them appear likely victors.

Independence came to bat for the bottom of the seventh inning and, facing a seven-run deficit, they reeled off an eleven-run rally – mostly Independence’s doing (8 H) but with plenty of Overbrook help (6 E) – to take a 14-10 lead that would further grow to 16-10 before Overbrook scored twice in the ninth.

There was plenty of offensive action in this one. Both teams had twenty Hits, and in total four players had 4+:

• OVER #1 Cornelius Gibson (CF): 5/6 (all 1B), 3 R, 0 RBI, SB
• OVER #4 Gareth Webber (1B): 5/6 (2B, 6 TB), 1 R, 5 RBI
• OVER #6 Jonathan Lowe (2B): 4/6 (all 1B), 1 R, 2 RBI
• IND #2 Jonathan Turriff (2B/SS): 5/6 (2 2B, 7 TB), 1 R, 6 RBI, 89 GMSC

That Overbrook had three of the four batting stars of the day but still lost by four is more proof that the disastrous seventh inning was their undoing. Independence, who has had little in the way of good fortune this season, will have been all to happy to take a win that didn’t look likely for much of the contest.

With one week left to play, Overbrook is 28-37 and could finish anywhere from fourth to seventh in West Philadelphia, while Independence is 19-46 and guaranteed to have the worst record in the P.C.B.L.

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ATLANTIC & ECKFORD WITH 10-GAME STREAKS
BROOKLYN POWERHOUSES PLAYING INCREDIBLE BASEBALL; PENNANT RACE WILL GO TO FINISH

BROOKLYN (Aug. 6, 1877) - While the other five regional championship of the National Base Ball Organization have been decided, the Brooklyn Championship will go down to the final week as longtime rivals Atlantic & Eckford remain just two games apart in the standings.

The two are so close to one another because both have been playing absolutely extraordinary baseball over the past two weeks plus, with leaders Atlantic having won all of their last ten games (WWWWW at Cont’l, WWWWW vs Nassau Co.) and Eckford doing Atlantic one better by winning their last eleven (W at Atlantic, WWWWW at Star, WWWWW vs Marathon). The takers of the last seven Brooklyn pennants are in some of their best form ever, and right as the season nears its end.

Atlantic will be at home against third-place Bedford for the final week of games, while Eckford will play at fifth-place Empire. Both teams are 3-2 against their opposition this year. That gives the leaders a slight schedule advantage, which in turn makes them the favorites to win the Brooklyn Championship given their two-game lead with five left.

Still, Eckford cannot be counted out as nine of their eleven consecutive wins have been by multiple scores, clear evidence that they are playing utterly dominant baseball right now. Atlantic will have to consider the possibility that Eckford wins all five games at Empire, and if that happens then Atlantic will need to go 3-2 vs Bedford to force a playoff and 4-1 to win the Brooklyn Championship outright.

The 1877 Brooklyn Championship will go down to the wire, and it’s only fitting for such a pennant race to be contested by its two best outfits since the league split, with both running rampant over the opposition in recent weeks.

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SHAMROCK HAS FIVE WITH 3+ HITS AT FLOUR CITY
BOSTONIANS BATTER GOODMAN & OTHERS DURING BEST PERFORMANCE OF ’77 SEASON

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (Aug. 10, 1877) - With the legendary James Goodman taking the ball, Flour City figured that they’d at least have a good chance to win at home to open their series against Shamrock on Friday afternoon. Instead…

Shamrock scored early and often, putting nine Runs (4 ER) and a dozen Hits on Goodman before he left during the fifth innings. The visitors continued to slap around Flour City pitching after Goodman’s exit, scoring sixteen more times before finishing with a 25-run, 27-hit outing that should easily stand as their best performance of 1877.

As part of a 27-hit effort, there will be outstanding individual performance, and Shamrock had no shortage of them, with no fewer than five members of their lineup finishing with 3+ Hits on the afternoon:

• SHA #2 William Dickerson (3B): 4/7 (2B, 3B, 7 TB), 2 R, 5 RBI, SB
• SHA #3 Leonard Noble (RF): 4/7 (all 1B), 4 R, 2 RBI
• SHA #5 Charles Washer (LF): 4/7 (2B, 5 TB), 4 R, 5 RBI
• SHA #6 Robert Jessup (SS): 5/7 (3B, 7 TB), 2 R, 4 RBI
• SHA SUB Henry Humphreys (1B): 3/4 (3 2B, 6 TB), 4 R, 3 RBI

Washer earned Player of the Game, but the most impressive performance was perhaps that of Humphreys, who entered for a slightly-injured Frank Bulger in the fourth inning and still had the time to hit three Doubles while scoring four Runs and driving in three more.

With eight games left to play, both Shamrock & Flour City have been eliminated from playoff contention. Flour City is 38-44 and likely to finish 3rd-5th in the Colonial Championship. Shamrock is 37-45 and likely to finish 4th-last.

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BROOKLYN CHAMPIONSHIP GOES TO PLAYOFF
ECKFORD WINS 15 OF FINAL 16 GAMES TO FORCE ONE-GAME PLAYOFF TO DECIDE CHAMPION

BROOKLYN (Aug. 12-13, 1877) - One week ago, we reported on the status of the Brooklyn Championship. With one week left to play Atlantic was ahead of Eckford by two games, with Atlantic having won ten straight games and Eckford eleven.

With Atlantic at home vs Bedford and Eckford at Empire, here was how the final week of games for the two teams went:

• BED 5-14 ATL – ATL RF MacKenzie Wilson: 3/4 (2B, 4 TB), 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB
• BED 5-3 ATL – BED P Calvin Randazzo: CG (15-8, 2.54), 7 HA, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
• BED 14-10 ATL – BED 2B Moriarty Murray: 3/6 (all 1B), 2 R, 1 RBI
• BED 2-10 ATL – ATL 3B John Stoneman: 2/4 (both 1B), 2 R, 2 RBI
• BED 7-4 ATL – BED LF Bernard Lambert: 2/4 (2B, 3 TB), 3 R, 3 SB
• ATLANTIC: 2-3 vs BED; Final Record 48-22

• ECK 16-7 EMP – ECK 2B William Snyder: 4/6 (2B, 5 TB), 3 R, 2 RBI
• ECK 15-9 EMP – ECK LF Louis Murray: 4/5 (2B, HR, 8 TB), 2 R, 6 RBI, 2 SB
• ECK 7-3 EMP – ECK 2B William Snyder: 2/4 (3B, 4 TB), 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB
• ECK 6-8 EMP – EMP 2B William Vogel: 4/5 (all 1B), 2 R, 2 RBI
• ECK 14-12 EMP – ECK 2B William Snyder: 4/5 (2B, 5 TB), 2 R, 2 RBI
• ECKFORD: 4-1 at EMP; Final Record 48-22

On the final day, with Atlantic ahead by one game they played poorly in a home loss to Bedford. That gave Eckford an opening that it looked like they weren’t going to take advantage of, but a seven-run ninth inning at Empire gave them a 14-12 win and tied Atlantic’s 48-22 record. Incredibly, Eckford had won fifteen of their final sixteen games to force a playoff.

That meant there would be a one-game playoff on Monday to decide the Brooklyn Championship, with the game at Eckford’s Manor House Grounds since they won 6/10 meetings between the two teams during 1877.
With Atlantic’s & Eckford’s seasons on the line at Manor House, here is how the Brooklyn playoff turned out:

It was a thrilling game for the 3,500+ in attendance. Eckford opened the scoring in B2 on one-run Singles by James Kramer & Fred Roberts, with Atlantic evening up matters on a one-run Triple by MacKenzie Wilson in the third and a run-scoring Single by John Stoneman in the fourth. Eckford took the lead back in the sixth on a two-run Single by Kramer, with the score 4-2 to Eckford going into the late innings.

It was the final innings where the action really picked up. Atlantic scored twice in T7 on a runner-advancing Ground Out and a Single by 4x All-Star Herb Verrett to tie the game 4-4. Eckford responded with three runs in B7 via Isaac Kelly Single, Passed Ball, & Louis Murray Single to take the lead again by the score of 7-4. In T8 Atlantic tied the game AGAIN, with two runs coming on a Henry Neal Double to make it a 7-6 game and a Single by PH Albert Pickett making it 7-7. Eckford put a man on second in B8 but didn’t score, and that set up the season’s most important inning.

Atlantic came to bat in the top of the ninth and scored three Runs to take the lead for the first time, with John Stoneman’s two-run Single giving them a 9-7 lead and a Single by substitute Coleman Creek bringing the score to 10-7. Eckford sent six men to bat in the bottom of the ninth, but with the bases loaded and two out PH Jochen van Dijk hit a weak fly ball to the Atlantic 2B, and the visitors had overcome Eckford winning fifteen of their final sixteen games to take the Brooklyn Championship for the second consecutive season.

Incredibly, the other two New York League regional champions, New York Athletic Club & Utica, finished with records of 48-22, so Atlantic’s win in the Brooklyn playoff gave them a 49-22 record and the #1 seed for the N.Y.L. playoffs. If Atlantic takes advantage of the first round bye and goes on to win the Tucker-Wheaton Cup for the first time, it could very well be Eckford’s historically hot finish to the season that aided Atlantic in their championship pursuit.

The 1877 N.B.B.O. season may have featured too many regions in which the first-place team ran away from the competition, but at least Brooklyn was able to give the neutral fan an exciting and memorable pennant race.

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PBCC’S BENSON TAKES 2ND STRAIGHT TRIPLE CROWN
STAR PITCHER HAS EARNED PITCHING TRIPLE CROWN BOTH SEASONS IN LEAGUE

PHILADELPHIA (Aug. 13, 1877) - The Philadelphia City Baseball League has come to an end, and for the second straight season Philadelphia Baseball & Cricket Club’s Robert Benson has pulled off one of the most difficult feats in the sport.

Last season, Benson earned the first Triple Crown in P.C.B.L. history by leading the league with 33 Wins, a 1.84 ERA, and 103 Strikeouts over 362.1 innings. This season, Benson repeated the feat:

• 30-7, 2.02 ERA, 98 K, 356.1 IP, 30 CG, 1 SHO, 2 SV, 2.3 K/BB, 2.5 K/9, 9.3 HA/9, 1.16 WHIP, 6.7 WAR, 9.3 rWAR

While his numbers weren’t quite as incredible as they were last season, Benson still became the first player in any league to earn two Triple Crowns, and he’d done it in consecutive seasons as the anchor of a P.B.C.C. team that prides itself on winning games with pitching excellence and peerless defense.

Nobody was particularly close to Benson in any of the three Triple Crown categories, either. His 30 Wins were five better than James Kilgore of Spartan (25-17), his 2.02 Earned Run Average was a touch above 0.25 better than runner-up Henry Brown of Merion (2.28), and his 98 Strikeouts were 21 better than second-place Richard Sutherland of Germantown (77).

Benson’s dominance in the P.C.B.L. has occurred thanks to a small repertoire that relies on perfect command. He delivers the ball in just two ways as opposed to the 3-5 typically seen from regular pitchers, which is something that would limit him if he pitched in the N.B.B.O. or A.P.B.L. However, the command he has over his two types of pitch, a standard ball and a variation of it that dives downward, is almost perfect, and his ability to induce ground balls from opposing batters plays right into P.B.C.C.’s hands since they have the league’s best infield defense by far.

Robert Benson has only been in organized baseball for two seasons, but in those two short years has already delivered an extraordinary list of performances and achievements for P.B.C.C. One wonders how long Benson can keep this up, but given his age (30) he should be able to give the team at least five more years of prime performance.

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METROPOLITAN TITLE DECIDED AT ELYSIAN FIELDS
EXCELSIOR & KNICK TWO GAMES APART WITH THREE GAMES AGAINST EACH OTHER LEFT TO PLAY

MANHATTAN (Aug. 17-19, 1877) - For one half of the A.P.B.L., the race to claim the pennant went down to the final weekend of play.

In the Colonial Conference, St. John’s had the pennant wrapped with a week remaining, taking an eight-game lead over Niagara with six left on the schedule. For the mighty men from Providence, the last week of the season would be spent preparing for the Founders’ Cup, their fourth trip to the series and their first in four years.

This was not the case in the Metropolitan Conference, where the neck-and-neck race between Excelsior & Knickerbocker continued into the final week. At the start of the last week of play, Excelsior (54-30) had a two-game lead on Knick (52-32). Both teams then went 2-1 in their week-opening series, with Excelsior’s at home vs Gotham and Knick’s played at Kings Co.

That meant the gap between the two teams remained two games with just three left in the season, and the two would be playing those games against each other at the venerable Elysian Fields in Manhattan. With Knickerbocker able to boast of a 31-11 home record in 1877, it meant a sweep that would rip the pennant out of Excelsior’s grasp on the final day of the 1877 season was entirely possible.

How would the series unfold?

GAME ONE (Elysian Fields, ATT. 4,089)
EXC 7-14 KNI – 2B Anthony Mascherino (KNI): 4/5 (2B, 3B), 1 R, 2 RBI, DEF DP

The series opener wasn’t much of a contest. The hosts scored all fourteen of their runs over the first six innings, after which they had a 14-2 lead. Elmer Seabold struggled (3.0 IP, 11 HA, 5 ER), and it was the living legend Mascherino who led the charge that left Knickerbocker just one game behind Excelsior with two to go.

GAME TWO (Elysian Fields, ATT 4,085)
EXC 9-2 – P Jim Creighton (EXC): CG, 6 HA, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 2/4 (2B), 1 R, 1 RBI

Just as a living legend led his team to victory in the opener, it was time for another to lead his team to victory in the middle game of the series. Jim Creighton took the ball for Excelsior and was masterful, holding the league’s #1 offense to a pair of Runs and six Hits while batting 2/4 and hitting a Double during the six-run rally in the eighth that sealed the Excelsior win.

The result moved Excelsior back to two games ahead of Knickerbocker with one game left. Excelsior had clinched the Metropolitan pennant for the first time, and would be making their first postseason appearance since 1867 in the N.B.B.O.

GAME THREE (Elysian Fields, ATT 4,071)
EXC 3-4 KNI (10) – 3B Hugh Harris (KNI): 2/5 (3B), 1 R, 2 RBI, GW HIT

The final game of the season was one for preparation for Excelsior and one for pride for Knickerbocker, but that didn’t stop the two from putting on a fine contest. The offense was sparse, and after a scoreless ninth inning the game would go to the tenth tied 3-3. Excelsior went down 1-2-3 in T10, and in B10 Harris came to bat with two out and Singled in P Robert Goodman to win the game.

The Metropolitan Conference top two looked like this after Excelsior & Knickerbocker's final game, before the others had finished

• #1: Excelsior at 57-33 (+119 RD)
• #2: Knickerbocker at 56-34 (+182 RD)

Knickerbocker had the superior offense and Run Differential, but Excelsior had legendary pitching, fine offense, decent defense, and a better record in one-run games (11-5 vs 12-12). It was now time for Excelsior to take on St. John’s to see if Jim Creighton could finally win his first major championship. For Knickerbocker it was their second straight runner-up finish, but it was a four-win improvement over last year and a sign that, perhaps, the best was yet to come now that American appeared to be in decline.

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THE FIFTH LIBERTY BELL CLASSIC
PHILADELPHIA BCC TAKES ON A NEW CONTENDER FOR THE PHILADELPHIA CROWN

PHILADELPHIA (Aug. 14-18, 1877) – The fourth Liberty Bell Classic was a rematch of the third edition, with the two best single-season teams in P.C.B.L. history, Frankford Arsenal & Philadelphia B.C.C., meeting in what figured to be an epic series that would have the city on edge.

Instead of a five-game epic the series ended in four, with Frankford FINALLY winning the city championship on their fourth try and giving Joseph Evans a proper sendoff to the A.P.B.L. Frankford won the title at home with a late rally, Evans was 8/16 in the series, and Jonathan Toppin was named Liberty Bell Classic M.V.P. It was a storybook season for Frankford Arsenal.

This year’s L.B.C. involved one very familiar face: P.B.C.C., who went 53-17 and won West Philadelphia by thirteen games while easily having the league’s best pitching & defense. The other team was a new contender: Queen Village, who took the lead in East Philadelphia with ten days left and held on to take the pennant.


EAST PHILADELPHIA – Frankford Arsenal, the only champions of the eastern half of the city, began August with a one-game lead over Queen Village, but Q.V. pulled even on the 2nd and had a one-game lead by the 3rd. They were 5-2 over their last seven games, Frankford was 4-3, and Herman Stanley’s former team became the new kings of East Philadelphia.

QUEEN VILLAGE KEY PLAYERS

• Thomas Schaeffer (1B): .352, .820 OPS, 70 R, 96 H, 14 2B, 4 3B, 1 HR, 55 RBI, 8 BB, 9 SB, 3.9 WPA, 1.9 WAR
• Perry Collier (2B): .314, .731 OPS, 84 R, 102 H, 14 2B, 6 3B, 1 HR, 62 RBI, 7 BB, 10 SB, 3.3 WPA, 1.5 WAR
• Graham Gross (P): 23-14, 3.39 ERA, 43 K, 337.1 IP, 21 CG, 2 SV, 1.3 K/BB, 1.35 WHIP, 5.7 WAR, 5.8 rWAR

WEST PHILADELPHIA – Philadelphia B.C.C. had an eight-game lead by the middle of July and had the pennant in their hands with nine games remaining. It wasn’t another 55-win season, but P.B.C.C. was the best team in the league by twelve games, their #1 pitcher won another Triple Crown, and they allowed 98 fewer Runs (1.4 RA/G) than any other team.

PHILADELPHIA BASEBALL & CRICKET CLUB KEY PLAYERS

• Frederick Pike (2B): .363, .880 OPS, 83 R, 120 H, 19 2B, 13 3B, 0 HR, 65 RBI, 6 BB, 34 SB, 4.4 WPA, 4.2 WAR
• Leroy Moore (RF): .349, 824 OPS, 81 R, 119 H, 16 2B, 8 3B, 1 HR, 59 RBI, 10 BB, 9 SB, 5.9 WPA, 2.8 WAR
• Robert Benson (P): 30-7, 2.02 ERA, 98 K, 356.1 IP, 30 CG, 1 SHO, 2.3 K/BB, 1.16 WHIP, 6.7 WAR, 9.3 rWAR

P.B.C.C. didn’t have a counterpart with 50+ Wins this time. Instead, they were a dozen victories better than Queen Village and thus enormous favorites to take the fifth edition of the Liberty Bell Classic. Could P.B.C.C. overcome last year’s bitter disappointment against Frankford, or would Philadelphia have another new champion to end 1877?

LIBERTY BELL CLASSIC FORMAT & PREDICTION

SEEDING

• #1: Philadelphia Baseball & Cricket Club (53-17, +232 RD)
• #2: Queen Village B.C. (41-29, +45 RD)

FORMAT

• HH-AA-H Schedule
• No days off since all games are in the same city
• #1 seed has Home Field Advantage

PREDICTION

• Philadelphia B.C.C. (25-10 Away) beats Queen Village (37-33 Pyth) 3-0

The Writers Pool saw this series as P.B.C.C.’s to lose. Not only did they win twelve more games than Queen Village during the season, but Queen Village’s Run Differential suggested a 37-33 record instead of their final mark of 41-29. P.B.C.C. ranked #2/16 on offense, #1 in pitching, & #1 in fielding while Queen Village’s ranks in those categories were #4, #6, & #11 respectively. If Queen Village were to win this series, it would be an upset for the ages.

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GAME ONE (Willow Grove Cricket Grounds – ATT: 6,228)
QV 7-6 PBCC – 1B Graham Haine (QV): 3/4 (all 1B), 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB

So much for a sweep. As he did in last year’s L.B.C., Robert Benson struggled, allowing ten Hits and six Earned Runs before exiting after the top of the sixth. P.B.C.C. tied the game with three runs in B6 – a two-run Triple by Wilbur Graff & a one-run Single by Frederick Pike – but Queen Village took the opener when Haine singled in Jeoffrey Brown in T9.

GAME TWO (Willow Grove Cricket Grounds – ATT: 6,231)
QV 3-9 PBCC – P Robert Benson (PBCC): CG, 6 HA, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 2/4, 2 R

Surprisingly, Benson took the ball again for Game Two, and he made up for his poor work in the series opener with a Complete Game in which he also hit a pair of Singles. That said, the outcome was in doubt until B7, when P.B.C.C. came to bat with the score tied 3-3 and put up a five-run rally on a series of Singles to even the series

GAME THREE (Fitzwater Field – ATT: 3,924)
PBCC 1-10 QV – SS William Holcomb (QV): 3/5 (2B, 4 TB), 2 R, 1 RBI

If Queen Village’s win to open the series was a surprise then their nine-run victory in Game Three was a stunner. Their offense racked up nine Hits against Arthur Lipscomb over 6.2 innings, and P.B.C.C. committed ten Errors during a game whose result was never in doubt. Q.V.’s two runs in B2 were enough for the win, but they scored in five other innings.

GAME FOUR (Fitzwater field – ATT: 3,922)
PBCC 16-2 QV – LF Walter Kirby (PBCC): 3/5, 2 R, 5 RBI, SAC BUNT

With their backs to the wall P.B.C.C. pummeled Queen Village, although it took a bit for their offense to get started. After the first three innings ended scoreless, P.B.C.C. scored twice in the fourth and proceeded to score in each of the five innings after that to turn a scoreless tie into a fourteen-run win.

There would be a Game Five, and it would be at Willow Grove.

GAME FIVE (Willow Grove Cricket Grounds – ATT: 6,281)
QV 9-10 PBCC – 2B Perry Collier (QV): 5/5 (all 1B), 1 R, 2 RBI, SB
C Harrison Hearst (PBCC): Series-winning hit in B9

Game Five at Willow Grove was an all-timer.

After both teams scored a run in the first, Queen Village jumped out to a 5-1 lead with four runs in T2 thanks to three Singles and an Error. P.B.C.C. responded with a pair of runs in the second on a Moody Steiger Single and two more in the third on a Double by Charles Hunt to tie the game 5-5.

After scoreless middle innings, the final frames of the P.C.B.L. season began with a run-scoring Single by Graeme Haine that gave Q.V. a 6-5 lead. P.B.C.C. responded with two in B7 on a Sac Fly & Wild Pitch to take their first lead of Game Five, 7-6. P.B.C.C. then added two more runs in B8 on a Leroy Moore Single to take a 9-6 lead.

Queen Village came to bat in T9 and, against all odds, tied the game. A one-run Error made the score 9-7, and with one out a Single by Joseph Barbati drove in two runs to even the score 9-9. The next two batsmen hit weak balls to infielders, and it was time to see how P.B.C.C. would respond.

The best team in the league responded quickly. After a Double by Frederick Pike to lead off B9, Pike was moved over to third on a grounder by Walter Kirby and, with one out, Harrison Hearst came to bat and hit a line-drive single between the Queen Village 3B & SS to bring home Pike, win the game, and give Philadelphia Baseball & Cricket Club their second Philadelphia championship in three years.

It took two more games than most were expecting, but the best team in the P.C.B.L. during the season had won the Liberty Bell Classic.

LIBERTY BELL CLASSIC MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
2B Frederick Pike (PBCC) – .348 (8/23), .812 OPS, 8 RBI, 7 R, 3 2B, 2 SB, 0.5 WPA, 0.2 WAR

Nobody hit .400 or better during the five-game series, so M.V.P. went to the man who had the most impact with the bat and in the field combined, and that player was Pike, who hit roughly .350 with excellent fielding at Second Base.

Some argued that with a lack of star batsmen during the series the M.V.P. could have gone to Harrison Hearst since he had the series-winning hit in Game Five, but others felt his 7/23 batting with five RBI wasn’t good enough. There were also shouts that Robert Benson should have taken M.V.P. since he overcame his opening-game struggles to earn the Win in his other two appearances and also hit 4/10, but in the end it was Pike who was given the honor.

LIBERTY BELL CLASSIC SUMMARY