Sunday, August 22, 2010

The 1886 World Series: Just About Ready

Mr. Von Der Ahe leaves for Chicago tomorrow to arrange the dates of the Browns-Chicago series.
-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 4, 1886

Mr. Von Der Ahe yesterday sent a telegram to President Spaulding, of the Chicagos, suggesting that the first three world's championship games be played Chicago, October 18, 19 and 20, and that three more be played in St. Louis October 21, 22 and 23. If it is necessary for a seventh game to be played the choice of grounds will be decided by toss. It is very likely that the above dates will be satisfactory to Mr. Spaulding.
-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 7, 1886

New Orleans parties have sent North an offer to the Chicago League and St. Louis American clubs to play three of the base ball championship games [in that city.] The offer comprises a large guarantee, $5,000 it is said, and the payment of all expenses. Base ball is on the a boom South, and it is expected that if the games can be arranged to take place here, there will be people from several States on hand to see them.
-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 8, 1886

The difficulty in the selection of umpires to officiate in the Chicago-Brown Games was yesterday amicably settled. Mr. Von der Ahe selected Pierce and Quest from the three named by President Spaulding and the latter selected Kelly and McQuade from the American Association staff. It is expected that about 500 people from this city will go up to Chicago and witness the opening games.
-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 9, 1886

The last regular championship game to be seen in St. Louis this season will be played at Sportsman's Park, between the Browns and the Brooklyns, this afternoon. The game will be one of special interest. The Browns are the first club to win the championship twice in succession, and Mr. Von der Ahe has decided to properly celebrate the event this afternoon.
-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 10, 1886

Seldom has such interest in a base ball championship race been exhibited in [Chicago] as during to-day, when the reports of the Philadelphia-Detroit games at Philadelphia, and the Boston-Chicago games at Boston were being received through the "tickers," and announced on the bulletin boards about the city. It was known that to make sure of its hold upon the pennant the White Stockings would have to win the game with Boston, or Detroit would have to lose one or more games with Philadelphia. When the news was received of Chicagos' victory and the Detroits' defeat there was cheering by the crowds. On learning of the club's victory President Spalding , of the Chicago Club, sent a telegram to Capt. Anson, in which he said:

You have clinched the pennant in great style. Knew we could depend on the old war horses on a pinch. You have won the League championship, now come home and win the world's championship.

The telegram also notified the members of the team that a suit of clothes awaited the order of each, and that the team collectively should receive one half of the receipts in the coming games with St. Louis.
-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 10, 1886

The series for the world's championship between Anson's men and the Browns has been arranged and the first games will be played at the Congress street grounds Oct. 18, 19, and 20, and the next three in St. Louis Oct. 21, 22, and 23. The point for playing off the seventh game, should such be necessary, will be decided later...The rules governing the games will be based upon Mr. Spalding's letter of Sept. 27 accepting Mr. Von der Ahe's challenge.
-Chicago Tribune, October 10, 1886

3 comments:

David Ball said...

Looking forward to this. My understanding is that the '86 series drew a lot more attention and was a greater success than the previous year's. I wonder how much the winner-take-all financial format had to do with that.

Jeffrey Kittel said...

There was certainly more press for this series than the one in 1885, not just in Chicago and StL but nationally as well. There are probably a lot of reasons for that but I was thinking that the fact that it was a rematch of the previous year's rather controversial series had a lot to do with it.

Jeffrey Kittel said...

Btw, since you said you're looking forward to this, I should mention that I'm mining this material for all it's worth. I'm not really purposefully stretching it out but there's just a ton of good stuff to post. I just finished a week's worth of posts about Game One of the series, which wasn't even a particularly interesting game. The StL and Chicago papers were just all over this and the national press was picking it up as well, so there's a ton of material to pick from. The umpire situation and the gambling angle are particularly interesting to me so I have to cover that.