The 1876 Brown Stockings: Here We Go Again

The third game of the Mutual-St. Louis series was played this afternoon in Brooklyn, in the presence of about 1,500 people, Mr. Daniels umpiring. The Mutuals won the toss, and took the field at 4 o'clock. Cuthbert went out by Hallinan's assistance. Clapp was saved by an error of the same player, and scored on Pike's two-baser to right field. For the Mutuals, Holdsworth and Start made safe hits. Tracy hit to McGeary, and the latter threw wild to Mack, to make a double play, Holdsworth scoring. Start was forced at home plate on Hallinan's hit to Mack. Another bad throw by McGeary of Craver's hit let Tracey home, and Hallinan scored on Hick's high fly to Blong. Booth ended the inning for three runs by going out at first.

In the second inning Blong, Bradley and Dehlman went out in the order named. After Mack had cleverly disposed of Matthews and Nichols, Holdsworth hit safe, and Battin muffed Start's grounder. McGeary muffed Tracey's fly, and threw high home to catch Holdsworth. Hallinan hit safe past third, and two runs came in. Hick's high fly to Battin ended the inning for the three runs.

In the third inning Mack and Cuthbert went out at first. Clapp also retired on a line hit to center, well caught by Holdsworth. Booth, matthews and Nichols were retired on weak hits to the in-field. In the fourth inning McGeary took first on Hallinan's juggle, stole second, and scored while Battin was being thrown out at first, Pike and Blong being the other outs. Holdsworth retired on a weak hit to Bradley. Start and Tracey made safe hits, the former being forced out at third on Hallinan's hit to Bradley, and, as Craver also hit to Bradley, he retired.

The fifth and sixth inning saw both sides blanked in first-class style, Battin putting three players out in splendid style, and the Browns all going out on fly balls. The remaining innings were devoid of interest, save the eighth, when Bradley and Dehlman, by errors of Hallinan and Craver, made their bases. Mack then hit direct to Nichols, and a double play resulted, destroying all hopes of the St. Louis Club making a rally. The game was lost by the bad playing of McGeary, whose errors gave the Mutuals every run they made.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 28, 1876

McGeary had five errors in the game and let's just say that we're going to be talking about that for the next few days. The Globe's headline for this article was "McGeary Responsible for a Brown Stocking Defeat." Anybody want to guess what the New York press had to say about all of this? Mike McGeary. The Brown Stockings. The New York press. Nineteenth century baseball. Anybody? I'll take "Accusations of Game Fixing" for a thousand, Alex.

Traveling East By Train In 1876

Since we're talking about the 1876 Brown Stockings heading out on their first eastern road trip of the season, I thought I'd pass along this article I found about a trip from St. Louis to Washington, D.C. that took place in May of 1876:

We left St. Louis Friday night at 7:05, via the Ohio and Mississippi railroad, for Washington, arriving in Cincinnati for breakfast at 8 o'clock. The distance is three hundred and forty miles-four miles less than from Little Rock to St. Louis-and we made it in four hours less time than is consumed on the Iron Mountain road. Saturday was passed rolling across the broad acres and beautiful farms of southern Ohio, except toward night, when we passed into the southeastern corner, where the country is very sparsely settled, rugged and mountainous. The farmers were busy with their labor-saving machines, and crops looked forward. The farms along the Hocking valley were in a delightful state of progression. At 5:30 we crossed the Ohio river on an elegant bridge, stopped to change engines at Parkersburg, W. Va., and were soon whirling eastward on the Baltimore and Ohio road. Here it is that the obliging "conductaire" is not his own chief cook. He is accompanied by a "ticket collector," who walks backward through the train just ahead of the conductor, first taking tickets and money, and after noting receipts passing the same to the conductor. The company cannot have any respect for its employees to subject them to such surveillance. Seeking the sleeper at Grafton about 10 o'clock, Sunday morning at 8 o'clock found us in this great national whirlpool of political excitement. All the way along we noticed travel centennialward very light, and conversing with the people found that no very great reduction had been made in the cost, and that the middle classes would not go unless tickets were placed at lower rates. Many strangers from abroad in town, and hundreds of tourists to Philadelphia about the city.

-Daily Arkansas Gazette, May 25, 1876

One would imagine that our ballplayers found similar conditions as they travelled around the country, east to west and back and forth, throughout the season.

The 1876 Brown Stockings: The High-Water Mark

The games between the Mutual and St. Louis clubs have always been noted for their brilliancy, and the second game of the Centennial series this afternoon on the Union grounds was no exception. Better pitching and finer fielding, with three exceptions, are rarely seen. The outfielding of both nines was grand. Only a small audience was fortunate in witnessing the display. Mr. Daniels again officiated as umpire and called play at 4 o'clock, the Mutuals going to bat first.

Holdworth opened with a liner between short and third, but, after Start had been caught out by Pike, he was run out by McGeary in trying to steal second. Tracy finished the inning by a foul fly to Bradley. Cuthy died at first by Nichol's good play, and Clapp hit to Holdsworth and retired. McGeary earned first and immediately stole second, where he was left, Tracey attending to Pike's hit. Hallinan gave Clapp an easy chance. Craver drove a hot liner near Pike and stopped. Hicks struck out. The Browns did no better, Battin retiring on the bound to Hicks, and Blond and Bradley on good catches by Tracy.

In the third inning, after McGeary had caught Booth out, Matthews earned first, where he was left. A fine foul fly catch by McGeary, made back of first base, disposed of Nichols, and Holdsworth struck out. Dehlman pushed one to Matthews, and found the ball at first base before him. Mack drove a hard one past Nichols, reached first, stole second, and went to third on Cuthbert's base hit. Cuthy allowed himself to be caught between second and first, and while being put out Mack scored. Clapp was third out on another hard hit to center. In the fourth inning, Start, Tracy and Hallinan were the outs for the Mutuals in the order named, Cuthbert making a brilliant running catch. The Browns got in another run in their half of this inning, a bad throw of Hallinan's sending McGeary to second. Start's muff gave him third and Pike first. Battin hit to second, and while being put out McGeary scored, Blong and Bradley immediately after going out on fly catches by Nichols and Holdsworth.

The fielding in the next four innings was of the sharpest possible kind, eleven of the thirteen Mutuals who went to the bat being retired on fly catches, every one of which elicited enthusiastic applause. But one reached first base, and that was Craver, who led off in the eighth inning with a line hit over second, only to be left as his three followers retired without helping him further than third base. The fielding of the Mutuals was not one bit inferior to that of their opponents, for though Dehlman led off the fifth inning with a safe hit and stole second, he was left by the next three strikers, and Clapp opened the sixth with a two-baser, no run could be scored. A magnificent catch of Tracy being noticeable.

The ninth inning was opened by Nichols, who retired on a difficult running catch by McGeary. Holdworth and Start earned their bases. Tracy hit high and Bradley dropped it to make a double play, but Battin's bad throw to second saved Start, Holdsworth alone being put out. Hallinan hit hard to Battin, who, instead of touching third, threw wild to first, and the bases were full. A magnificent stop and throw of Mack's redeemed the errors and closed a magnificent game. The Browns made no effort to increase their score in the last half of the ninth inning.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 26, 1876

A couple of quick notes before I get to the point I really want to make:

-That was a crazy top of the ninth.

-This was George Washington Bradley's fifth shutout of the season. He's lead the League in 1876 with sixteen.

Okay...

Going into the season, the Brown Stockings, their fans and many in the press declared the club to be a serious contender for the championship. But the truth is that they never really challenged Chicago for the pennant. In the end, they finished tied for second but six games out of first. After the first month of the season, they never were a true threat to win the championship.

This was not because they were a bad club. The 1876 Brown Stockings were a good, if flawed, baseball team. Under normal circumstances, they may have been a real threat to win the pennant but the problem was that the Chicagos were an outstanding baseball team and ran away with the thing. I'm not going to go into to how Chicago put their club together or the great players they brought in (except to say that Ross Barnes was awesome) but there was not a club in the country that could have challenged them for the championship. Maybe if the Browns had bought George Hall and Ezra Sutton from Philadelphia and had them replace Joe Blong and Herman Dehlman in the lineup, they would have had enough to catch Chicago. Maybe.

After the above game on May 25, 1876, the Brown Stockings found themselves in third place, two games behind Chicago and Hartford. This is the closest they would get to first place for the rest of the season. In June, the club would win six games in a row and only pick up one game on the Whites. In July, they'd win seven in a row and not make up any ground at all. Between May 27 and July 22, the Brown Stockings would go 17-8 and lose 3.5 games in the standings. Think about that for a minute. The Browns played .680 ball and lost 3.5 games in the standings. It's ridiculous.

I guess my point is that their is no pennant race in this story. There's no tale of a valiant club challenging a juggernaut and falling short. It's just the run of the mill story of a good team getting blown out of the pennant race by a great team. However, St. Louis and Chicago would play six games in eleven days in August with the season series still up in the air. So we have that part of the story to look forward to. And George Washington Bradley still has eleven more shutouts and a no-hitter to throw.

The 1876 Brown Stockings: A Little Exhibition Game

By Telegraph.

Elizabeth, N.J., May 24.-St. Louis 6; Resolutes, 3.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 25, 1876

I missed the notice for this game and had to go back and find it. I'll look around and see if I can find anything else about the game but no promises.

Update: I found a bit more in the May 25, 1876 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

Several games were played yesterday, May 24, worthy of note. At Elizabeth, the St. Louis nine had work to do to whip the Resolutes of that town, by 6 to 3. The score stood at 2 to 1 only at the close of the sixth inning. The same nine played as that which defeated the Mutuals 12 to 3, except that Dick Pearce played in McGeary's place at second base, Dick putting out six players there.

Unearned Runs In 1876

I was prattling on about unearned runs the other day and wondered if anybody had looked to see how many unearned were scored during the 1876 season. With the question kicking around in the back of my head, I looked for the information and found it at BRef. After doing a little math, I figured out the percentage of unearned runs scored in the National League in 1876 and thought I'd share the information.

Team Runs Earned Runs %ER %UER

StL 222 78 35.1 64.9

Chi 257 116 45.1 54.9

Hart 261 116 44.4 55.6

Bost 450 176 39.1 60.9

Lville 334 121 36.2 63.8

NY 412 173 42.0 58.0

Phi 534 197 36.9 63.1

Cin 575 238 41.4 58.6

NL Total 3045 1215 39.9 60.01

Pretty simple stuff. I went to the pitching totals and took the total numbers of runs allowed by each club and the total number of earned runs allowed. I divided earned runs by total runs scored and multiplied by 100 to get the percentage of earned runs each club allowed. Then I subtracted the percentage of earned runs from one hundred to get each club's percentage of unearned runs allowed. I added up the club totals, multiplied, divided and subtracted and got the percentage of unearned runs allowed in the NL in 1876. Feel free to correct me if the math or methodology is wrong.

Sixty percent of runs scored in the NL in 1876 were unearned. By way of comparison, 8.4% of runs allowed by the 2009 St. Louis Cardinals were unearned (and they were not a great defensive club). For some reason, I had that 60% number in mind when I started doing this so I'm thinking that someone, somewhere already did this exercise and came up with the same number. I'm not all that bright and I don't believe in coincidences so I must have read about this somewhere.

Applying this information to our investigation of the 1876 Brown Stockings brings up an interesting question. Were the Brown Stockings the best defensive club in the League? They certainly had the reputation of being an outstanding defensive club and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat stressed the importance of defense to their success. Looking at the raw numbers, the Browns lead the League in fewest runs allowed, fewest earned runs allowed, fewest errors and highest fielding percentage and that would support the idea that they played good defense. However, the 1876 Brown Stockings led the League in percentage of unearned runs allowed and that tells me that their defensive reputation may be bit exaggerated.

The Browns were a good defensive club and I wouldn't argue otherwise but I can't say that it's obvious that they were the best defensive club in the League. They committed fewer errors and had a better fielding percentage than Chicago or Hartford but gave up a higher percentage of unearned runs than either club. Based on that (and comparing their team defensive stats) I think that you could make an argument that Chicago and Hartford were every bit as good defensively as St. Louis.

On the other hand, the Brown Stockings scored substantially fewer runs than either Chicago or Hartford and there is no doubt that their success was built around pitching and defense. Maybe we should be giving more credit for the club's success to George Washington Bradley. The Browns, with Bradley on the mound, just didn't give up many earned runs. To score against Bradley, you had to hope that the defense behind him was booting the ball around. That may be why I was so amazed at the number of unearned runs the club was giving up in April and May of 1876. Not only were they giving up a lot of unearned runs but most of the runs that they gave up were unearned. The unearned runs simply stand out more in that context.

The1876 Brown Stockings: A Signal Victory

In the presence of about two thousand people, the St. Louis Club opened their Eastern series of games with a signal victory over the Mutual Club, of Brooklyn. Mathews and Hicks made their reappearance for the Mutes, after an absence of about ten days. The game was remarkable for heavy batting and brilliant fielding. The weak spot in the Mutuals was in the pitching department, Mathews not having had any practice since his sickness.

The game opened with the Browns at the bat. Cuthbert took first on called balls, and scored on Pike's hit. Clapp earned first, and was sent home by a safe hit of Blong to center. Pike was put out at the home plate trying to score on the same hit. The other outs were McGeary and Battin on the fly to Tracy and Matthews. The Mutuals opened in splendid style, Holdsworth, Start and Tracy filling the bases immediately by hard, safe hits. Hallinan, the big batter, disappointed every one by tipping out to Clapp. A passed wild pitch let Big Jim in. Craver struck out, and Hicks retired at first. Thus a very dangerous looking inning ended very luckily for St. Louis

The Browns' second inning decided the game. Battin opened with a fly to Tracy and retired. Blong earned first and Bradley struck out. Dehlman, after being given a life by Tracy on a foul fly, took first on called balls. Mack reached first the same way. Cuthy hit safe. Clapp was sent to first on called balls. McGeary, Pike and Battin followed with clean hard line hits, and before Blong forced Pike out at third base six runs were scored. The Mutuals being blanked, all doubt as to the result of the game was over.

In the third inning Battin and Blong led off with safe hits, but the latter, with Bradley, were victimized in a double play by Hallinan, Craver and Start. Dehlman making the third hand out, left Battin on third. Start, Tracy and Hallinan went out in the order named. The Browns added three runs to their score in the fourth inning, Mack and Cuthbert getting first on wild throws by Hallinan and Matthews, and with McGeary scoring, on the safe hits of Clapp, McGeary, Pike and Battin, Clapp being put out at the home plate by Holdsworth and Hicks. Pike was run out between third and home, and Bradley at first base. For the Mutuals, Craver hit safe, Hicks got one past Mack. Booth tried one to the same player, but was doubled up with Hicks by Dennis, McGeary and Dehlman. Craver, going to third on the play, scored on Clapp's high throw to Battin to catch him napping.

One, two, three was the order of retirement for both sides in the fifth inning. After retiring the Browns for a blank in the sixth inning, the Mutuals made a desperate rally, Hallinan, Craver and Hicks following each other with safe hits, the former scoring. A good running catch by Pike disposed of Booth, and by Bradley's assistance a double play was made. Craver having run to third on the hit, and Pike overthrowing to second. Matthews ended the inning by hitting to Mack. The remainder of the game was remarkable for nothing of moment in the way of scoring. Base hits by Dehlman and Mack yielded the former a run in the eighth inning. Only one of the Mutuals reached first, Booth earning that base in the ninth inning.

A feature of the game was the number of times an inning was ended by one player, Nichols, putting the Browns out by himself in the fifth inning, Dehlman doing the same for the Mutuals in the seventh, and Mack fielding the three batsman all out at first base in the eighth inning. The play of Mack, Hallinan, Nichols, Dehlman and Start was remarkably fine. But one fly ball was hit to the St. Louis out-field during the game. To-morrow the St. Louis Club plays in Elizabeth, N.J.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 24, 1876

1876 Brown Stockings: The Chicagos Patch Up Their Prestige

The Chicagos managed to-day to patch up their prestige a little, which had been left sadly out of repair by the events of the previous day. They turned the tables on their St. Louis opponents in a substantial, if not in a very handsome, style, winning the game by a score of 6 to 3. The game was quite evenly contested, both in the field and at the bat, but the home club contrived to pop in their errors at the least critical junctures, and what most surprised the 6,000 people in attendance, they actually struck two or three fair streaks of batting, and sped around the bases at a lively rate, in spite of the excellent fielding of their competitors. Neither side, on the whole, made a good batting display, and the outfielders hardly performed their share of the work.

The Browns won the toss. Battin signalized himself, the first thing, by a low throw to first, permitting Barnes to take his base on a poor hit. By a neat double-play, however, Anson was retired on a fly catch by McGeary, and Barnes was caught between first and second. McVey's grounder went right through Mack, and he took an unearned base, upon which he was left, as Hines failed to cross the plate. The Browns retired with even greater precipitation. Cuthbert lifted a high one, which Glenn gathered. McGeary fouled out to White, and Pike dropped the ball at second base, whence it was neatly fielded to first before he got there.

The game was won for the Whites in the second inning. Bradley helped the thing along by permitting Spalding to take first on called balls. Bielaski feebly wailed the leather to second, and was cut off at first. Then the fun commenced. White made a beautiful base hit to center field, and Spalding took third. Peters made a fair foul base hit, giving Spalding an unearned run, and advancing White to third base. Glenn then sent a grounder to the left field, which Cuthbert picked up nimbly and sent home just as White crossed the plate. Clapp failed to gather in the ball, as he should have done, and, striking White on the shoulder, it bounded one side twenty feet, and Peters got home. White's run was earned. The crowd was wild with enthusiasm, and breathed easier in the expectation that the Whites would now certainly retrieve their fallen fortunes of the day before. Barnes then went out on a high fly to center field, and Glenn was nipped by Clapp as he essayed to reach the home plate before the ball did. The Browns failed to emulate the example of their opponents. Pike gracefully retired on three strikes. Anson caught Battin's little fly, and after a neat base hit to center field by Blong, Bradley retired the side by lodging a foul fly in Anson's hand.

The third inning was noteworthy only for the splendid fielding of a hot grounder from Cuthbert's bat by Barnes to McVey. Dehlman excited a storm of hisses by hunting a ball at his feet, after which exploit he ingloriously attempted to reach first base. Neither side made a base hit. A fine effort by the Browns to tally in the fourth was thwarted in the nick of time. Clapp made a clean base hit to center field. McGeary and Pike were then retired, Clapp advancing to third. Battin then sent a hot grounder to Barnes, which was fielded in the finest possible form to first, where it lodged in McVey's hands just as Clapp was within five feet of home.

The fifth inning presented no interesting features, except a fine base-hit to left by Dehlman, which filled him with such conceit that he tried to steal second, and came to grief. In the sixth, the Whites scored another unearned run. Anson went out on a foul tip to Clapp. McVey then tapped the ball gently, and sent it rolling to Mack, who fielded it well to first, but Dehlman made a horrible muff, and McVey took his base, whence he had the cheek to steal to second. Hines then made a two-base hit to left field, bring McVey Home. The side was then retired. In the latter half of the inning Mack was sent to first on called balls, and by the time that Cuthbert and Clapp had taken their seats, he had reached second. McGeary then sent a ball way over the short fielder's head, and made a creditable effort to get home, but was cut off almost over the plate by a fine throw from Hines to White.

The Chicagos revived their batting powers for another fail display in the seventh inning. White made a fine base hit to center. Peters made another first base hit, and White took second. A short ball from Glenn's bat was fielded from Bradley to Battin in time to cut off White at third. Battin then, in his haste to shorten Glenn's life, threw rather high to first, and the ball hit Dehlman on the bridge of his nose, turning his thoughts heavenward for a minute, while Glenn took second, and Peters third. Game was suspended for a few minutes to enable Dehlman to recover his breath. Barnes then sent a grounder to Mack, which was fielded to third in time to cut off Glenn, and Peters meantime came home. A base hit from Anson's bat brought Barnes home, and the Whites had scored two more unearned runs.

The exhibition of the Whites in the two last innings was not worthy of detailed mention. In the seventh, the Browns tallied their first run. After Cuthbert and Clapp had been easily retired, McGeary made second base on an error of Anson's in fumbling the ball and then throwing wild to second. A fine base hit from Pike's bat to right field brought McGeary home, amidst the hearty cheering of the audience. The Browns made their only earned run in the eighth inning, on a safe hit from Blong, a fair-foul base hit from Dehlman, and a fine base hit from Cuthbert to the left field gave Blong a tally. McGeary tallied again in the ninth inning, thanks to a very bad muff of his fly by Glenn and Battin's base hit. Pike, Blong and Bradley retired the club gracefully and ended the game, leaving Battin on second base.

Bielaskie took Addy's place in right field yesterday, to see if he would make a better record than that young man had achieved in the preceding game. He did nothing at the bat, and had only one opportunity in the field, which he improved in good style. Pools on the game sold at odds of $10 to $7 in favor of Chicago. Only a small number were disposed of.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 21, 1876

And so the 1876 Brown Stockings ended the first part of their western schedule with a loss to the Chicagos but with an overall record of 7-5. They also split their four games with the Whites and established themselves as a championship contender. After this game, the club would head east for twelve games and the championship wheat would get separated from the pretender's chaff.