The 1876 Brown Stockings: Another Tough Loss To Hartford

Even a smaller audience than on Tuesday greeted the second appearance of the St. Louis Club to-day, not more than 300 people being present when the game was called, at 3:30 o'clock. In the first inning, Cuthy went out on a foul bound, but Clapp got to first on a safe hit to right field, and was put out at second on a steal. McGeary went out on a fly to center. Burdock retired on a foul, and Remsen and Higham at first by the assistance of McGeary and Battin. In the second inning, Pike went out at first, Battin on a foul bound and Blong on a fly to Remsen. Ferguson went out on a foul bound, but Carey reached first on a safe hit to right. Bond reached first on

Battin's Muff

of a ball hit to Mack. York went out on strikes, and Mills on a fly to McGeary. In the third inning Bradley, Dehlman and Mack went out on flies to Ferguson, York and Blong. Harbidge and Remsen went out at first, and Burdock on a fly to Pike. In the fourth inning Cuthy was put out on strikes, Clapp on a fly to York, and McGeary at first on a hit to short. Higham reached second on a square muff of his high fly, hit to Cuthbert, and he reached third on Ferguson's safe hit to right, and home on McGeary's error and Clapp's throw;

Ferguson Scoring

on Bond's out at first. Carey out by battin to Dehlman, and York on a fly to McGeary. In the fifth inning Pike went out, and Battin, also, on fly balls to Ferguson and Mills. Blong reached first on a safe hit, but Bradley went out on a foul fly to Harbidge. After Mills and Harbidge had been retired on fly catches by Pike and Battin, Burdock hit safe for one bag, took second on a passed ball, and scored on Remsen's safe hit to center, the latter being thrown out while trying to steal second. In the sixth inning, Dehlman opened with a fair-foul, and

Stole Second,

reaching third on Mack's hit to second. On Clapp's hit and out at first Dehlman scored, and Cuthy reaching first on Higham's drop, and scoring by stealing second and third, and home on McGeary's hard hit to second, but was caught between that base and third and run out by Ferguson. Higham opened with a safe hit, but was thrown out at second. Ferguson earned first and reached third on Blong's error in dropping Carey's high fly. Ferguson scored while Bond was being thrown out at first, and York ended the inning by a

Grounder To M'Geary.

In the seventh inning Pike and Battin were thrown out at first, and Blong retired on a foul to Allison, who had taken Harbidge's place, the latter having had his hand badly split while playing up under the bat. Mills out at first, Allison on a fly to Pike, and Burdock on a fine running foul-bound catch by Cuthbert. In the eighth inning Bradley, Dehlman and Mack went out on weak hits. Remsen reached first on a safe hit. Higham hit to Battin and McGeary dropped the throw to make a double a double play, Remsen scoring while Ferguson was being thrown out at first. Carey and Bond were then retired

At The Same Place

before Higham could get home. In the ninth inning Cuthbert and Clapp opened with good hits, McGeary helping each along one base on a block hit, but was thrown out himself. Pike brought Cuthbert home on a safe hit to left field, Battin out on a foul fly to Ferguson. Pike ran down to second, and Clapp was neatly caught too far off third by Allison. York reached third on a beauty to center, and scored on Mills' two baser to left, the next three strikers going out at first base.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 9, 1876

A couple of thoughts:

-This was not the lead baseball story of the day in the Globe. The top story was the Stocks 10-9 victory over the Reds. The Reds had been down 10-4 after five innings and staged a furious comeback, scoring one in the seventh and four in the ninth. With two outs in the final inning, Pud Galvin dropped a fly ball to put the tying run on third. "The excitement was painful." The game ended on an outstanding play by John Gleason, who snagged a hot-shot at third off the bat of Billy Redmon.

-There were a rather interesting play in the sixth. First, Cuthbert reached on an error, stole second and third, and then scored on a grounder to second. That is how you manufacture a run right there. I saw Whitey Herzog's Cardinals score in the same manner many a time. The only way that play could be any better is if the batter reaches on an infield hit. The other interesting part of the play was, if I'm reading it correctly, that McGeary, whose grounder scored Cuthbert, was tagged out between second and third. The play must have went 4-2, runner safe at home, McGeary aggressively taking second on the infielder's choice, and then getting tagged out by Ferguson when either McGeary lost his mind and tried to take third or the ball was fumbled at the plate and McGeary thought he could get one more base. That's a crazy couple of at bats.

-When I originally read the account of the play, I thought to myself that I haven't noticed many guys getting tagged out on the base paths in these games. We can say that it's a small sample and all that but in all the games that I've looked at in this era, I really can't remember too many guys getting tagged out between bases. Don't know why that is. You would think that with the aggressive base running of the era, you'd see that play more but you really don't. Think of how many guys you see in a modern game caught between the bases and tagged out. I bet Albert Pujols, who's a very aggressive base runner, got caught between bases at least six times last year. These guys are certainly running into a lot of outs but it appears to me that when they're taking the extra base, for the most part, they get it. In this era, the base runners were forcing the defense to make plays that it doesn't appear that they were capable of making.