Notwithstanding the extreme warm weather and the short announcement given that a match game of base ball was to be played on Alstyne's prairie yesterday afternoon, a large crowd of spectators assembled to see the sport. The game was between the Nationals of St. Louis and Occidentals of [Quincy.] At 4 1/4 o'clock, the game was called. Mr. Rod Gurley, having been chosen as umpire. The O's were again lucky, won the "toss up" and took the field. In the first inning the St. Louis boys succeeded in getting in two runs, while in the third they made but one. The O's were "whitewashed" nicely the first two innings, but in the first half of the third they got down to their work bravely and sent their opponents to the field with a blank. In this inning the O's did their best batting, and scored three runs, the game then standing 3 to 3, which made it exceedingly interesting. As the N's were to leave on the down boat, the 4th inning was announced as the last. The excitement at this stage consequently increased. In this inning the N's made two runs, while the O's got in but one, when the N's gave up the game on account of the arrival of the boat, leaving the Quincy boys with only one man out. The Nationals are a strong nine, but we are of the opinion that the Occidentals are more than a match for them in a full game. The game was decided a draw.
-Quincy Daily Herald, July 7, 1874
2 comments:
OK, that is a genuinely amusing anecdote. It is up there with the episode in 1860 when the Athletics of Philadelphia took a trip to Mauch Chunk. When they arrived at the field, they found it set up for the Massachusetts game. There had been a failure of communication in setting up the match.
That's a good one. Did they play the match anyway?
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