The 1884 Maroons: In A Crippled Condition

The St. Louis Unions made their first appearance in Boston to-day under very unfavorable circumstances.  Their team was in a crippled condition, being without the services of some of its best players on account of sickness, Dunlap among the number.  The batting was heavy on both sides, and was terrific on the part of the visitors, but the home players did by far the best fielding.  In the first inning Shaffer made a high drive to right for two bases, but was neatly thrown out at the plate by Slattery in trying to score on Rowe's base hit.  Rowe went to second on the put-out and scored on a hit to left, which was muffed by Butler, owing to a collision with Slattery while running for the ball.  In the next inning Boston tied the score, Murnan leading off with a base hit, being given a life by Baker's muff, and scoring on Burke's single.  The score did not remain even, as the visitors in their inning took the lead again by earning runs on singles by Brennan and Whitehead and Shaffer's second two-bagger.  Errors gave the Bostons another run in the third, and they took the lead again in the fourth on three singles and three errors.  They scored 2 more unearned runs in the fifth on two hits and costly errors.  The St. Louis men had drawn two blanks meanwhile, but in the fifth Gleason lifted the ball high over the left field fence for a home run.  The seventh increased the Bostons' score by 2 runs.  The visitors fell upon Burke for two doubles and two singles, which earned 3 runs.  A three-bagger by O'Brien, and two singles with errors by Rowe and Gleason, added 3 more runs to the Boston's score in the eighth.  The rally of the St. Louis players did not hold out long enough, and although they scored in the last two innings, they could not take the lead.  Baker played a great game at second for the visitors, while Shaffer and Gleason did some heavy batting.  There was a great crowd present.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 15, 1884