The 1884 Maroons: The Best Game Of The Series

The best game of the first home series between the Baltimore and St. Louis Union Clubs was played yesterday afternoon in the presence of over 6,000 spectators.  The heavy shower that fell between 2 and 3 o'clock kept many from attending and also gave the grounds a thorough wetting.  Nevertheless, the game was called promptly at 3:30, with the diamond in very fair condition.  Before the game was half over it was perfectly dry.  W. Sweeny and Fusselbach were the Baltimore battery, while Taylor and Baker filled similar positions for the home team.  The slippery condition of the ball in the opening innings made the pitchers' work difficult, and as a result two wild pitches were scored against each.  Fusselbach lost the game for his side, making four errors and having two passed balls.  Had he supported Sweeny as he usually does, the St. Louis Unions would, in all probability, now have one defeat to acknowledge.  Each side scored nine hits.  The only two-bagger was credited to Shafer.  Phelan led the batting with three hits out of four times at the plate.  Five of the home team and two of the visitors struck out.  The feature of the game was Seery's great performance in left field.  He made six catches, two of them exceptionally fine, and scored one assist which resulted in a double play.  The crowd cheered him repeatedly and at length.  Rowe, at center, accepted two opportunities and made one superb running catch.  Shafer captured three flies at right and threw two men out at first.  Oberbeck had but two chances and made the most of both, taking one in fine style.  Levis is playing in fine form.  His record was ten put-outs and one assist.  Quinn played first perfectly for the home team.  Dunlap covered second in his inimitable style, and scored five outs and three assists.  Whitehead was charged with two errors and credited with five assists.  His throwing to first is equaled by but few in the profession.  Say did not have many chances.  He made a bad muff, however, at a critical stage.  Dickerson is acting like a regular third baseman instead of the project of an emergency.  Robinson may be a good third baseman, but he appears to have too big a contract when he undertakes to properly cover his position and captain his nine.  In the ninth inning, when two men were on bases and a ball was fielded home from center, he left his base and ran to back up Fusselbach.  The latter got the ball, and Quinn, who was running for the plate, seeing himself cut off, turned back to third.  Without looking to see whether anyone was covering third or not, Fusselbach sent the ball flying over the bag to left, letting in Quinn and Dunlap.  Had Robinson held his position or called upon Say to take it when he left, Quinn would almost certainly have been put out.  

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 19, 1884


First of all, as I've stated on a few occasions, Yank Robinson was a hell of a player.  Second, I don't see how the play in the ninth was his fault.  You can blame Ed Fusselback for throwing to an undefended base and, to be fair, the Globe does indeed lay the loss at Fusselback's feet.  Also, Lou Say should have been covering third.  It was just one of those bad plays that Whitey Herzog used to call "horseshit baseball."

Moving on to the What Did Dunlap Do? segment of our show,  the great Fred did his T-800 thing and went two for five with a couple of runs scored.  The man was a machine.  And he also "covered second in his inimitable style."

The Maroons were 17-0 with Tim Murnane's Boston Unions coming to town.  Hopefully, we'll have a sighting of the very young Tommy McCarthy playing outfield for Boston.