Saturday, October 13, 2007

The Reds Get Their Revenge

The Reds ended their tumultuous 1875 season with a four game series against the Stocks. Playing at the Compton Avenue Park, the two teams met on four Sunday afternoons in October. The Stocks, bidding to become the unofficial champions of St. Louis, defeated the Reds in the first game, upset the Empires on October 10th, and then beat the Reds again in the second game of the series.

The Stockyard nine was on a roll when they met the Reds for the third time on October 24th. But the Red Stockings, "chagrined at the double defeat" and playing before a crowd of more than 2,000 people, jumped on their rivals and took a quick 4-0 lead. The rout was on and the Reds took the third game by a score of 12-2.

On October 31st, the two teams met for the final game of the series. The game was a barn burner. The Stocks were leading 5-3 after two innings when the Reds scored one in the third and five in the fourth to go ahead 9-5. Coming back, the Stockyards scored three in the bottom of the fifth to cut their deficit to one run. The Reds immediately answered back in the top of the sixth with two more runs to put the game away. The final score was 13-9. In their final game of the season, the Reds managed to half the series and regain a bit of their pride.

The Reds nine, in these final games of 1875, was, due to the turmoil of the summer, a bit different than the nine that competed in the NA. The team consisted of Charlie Houtz (1b), Art Croft (2b), Dan Collins (3b), Billy Redmon (ss), John Magner (LF), Tom Loftus (CF), Tom Oran (RF), and a battery of Silver Flint (C) and Pidge Morgan (P). In game two of the series, Croft pitched in place of Morgan, who was home with his pregnant wife. In that game, Welch played 2b in place of Croft and "the substitute" Roe replaced Loftus in center field. The Globe-Democrat singled Welch out for poor play in game two and wrote that his fielding "lost the game".

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