The 1884 Maroons: Ridiculous

The second game between the St. Louis and Baltimore Union Association teams was played yesterday afternoon in the presence of about 2,000 persons.  As an exhibition of terrific hitting on the part of the home team it was a great success, but as a contest it was too one-sided to be in any degree exciting.  With Gleason on the hospital list the local nine pounded the first pitcher that opposed them out of his position in the third inning, and in the rest of the game hammered Robinson until their aggregate of singles amounted to 27, and their total bases to 38.  Dunlap, Shafer, Quinn and Whitehead each made four hits, Dunlap, Dickerson, Rowe and Baker each made one double, Shafer and Taylor each made two, and Shafer scored one three-bagger.  Ten runs were earned, and by energetic base-running every error of the visitors was made so costly that the total was swelled to 20.  The visitors made nine hits, Robinson scoring a two-bagger and Levis a three-bagger.  

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 16, 1884


Cutting straight to the chase:  What Did Dunlap Do?  Fred just went four for six with a double.  I think it was his best day at the plate since he went five for five on May 1st against Altoona.  For the season, if my math is correct, Dunlap was 29 for 58, good for an even .500 batting average.  The amazing thing is that I couldn't say for sure that he was leading the team in hitting.  Bollicky Bill Taylor was hitting the snot out of the ball and was probably the best hitter on the team through their first fifteen games.  He was certainly hitting for more power than Dunlap.

But the whole team was just crushing UA pitching.  This was the ninth time in fifteen games that the Maroons scored in double figures and the second time that they scored at least twenty runs.  Their run differential at this point in the season was +131.  That's ridiculous.  They were 16-0 and winning by an average of eight runs a game.

I should point out that Dunlap also had two errors in this game and that the team had ten total errors.  If there was a weakness in this Maroons club, comparing them to other UA clubs, it was their defense.  The Globe certainly believed that Washington and Baltimore were both better defensively than the Maroons.  Looking at the first couple of weeks of the season, I'm certainly not impressed with their glove-work.