The 1884 Maroons: The Outlaw Reds Put A Real Team On The Field

The attendance at the game between the Cincinnati Unions and the St. Louis Unions to-day was 3,500.  Great interest was felt in to-day's game, because the three men newly engaged from the Cleveland Club - Glasscock, McCormick and Briody - mad their first appearance.  In the very first inning Glasscock fumbled and let Dunlap to first.  He did some good playing afterwards in the way of assists.  In the second half of the inning he got first on a hit, and stole second, but had not the support behind him to bring him home.  In the second inning the visitors earned one run on Gleason's two-baser.  After two were out, Gleason got home on Briody's throw to Barber.  It was in the second half of this inning that the Cincinnatis got eight hits on Sweeny and won the game, scoring six runs - in a bunch - three of them earned.  Powell got first on Gleason's slow handling and took second on a safe hit by McCormick.  Barber then made three strikes and was thrown out at first, while Powell and McCormick each moved up a base.  Powell came home on Gleason's fumble of Crane's hit, on which Crane got first and then stole second.  McCormick and Crane scored on Baker's failing to hold Whitehead's assist.  Hawes hit safe.  Harbidge and Glasscock made hits and Burns made a three-bagger, after which the side was retired.

An Up-Hill Struggle.

In the third, Dunlap, after two men were out, made a run on his single, a fumble by Burns, and a hit to left by Shafer.  In the fourth inning Glasscock made a fine assist to Powell, putting Boyle out and retiring the side.  In the last half of the inning Briody went out on a foul fly and the side was retired by Gleason, Boyle and Dunlap.  In the fifth Quinn hit for first, Baker went out on a foul tip, Whitehead went out on a fly to Hawes.  Quinn got third on a passed ball.  Dunlap got first on balls and Quinn came home while Crane and Powell were trying to put out Dunlap.  Shafer's two-bagger gave Dunlap third and Rowe's safe hit to right brought him home, netting two runs.  In the last half of this inning the double play of Whitehead to Dunlap to Quinn, together with McCormick's out on strikes, retired the side.  In the sixth an assist by Glasscock to Powell retired Sweeny at the outset, Boyle went out on strikes and Quinn was caught between third and home.  The Cincinnatis made one in this inning on Barber's two-baser, Crane's single, Whitehead's wild throw, two stolen bases by Crane and a bad throw by Baker and a hit by Briody.  Here a double play by Dunlap and Quinn put Briody out and retired the side.  In the seventh inning Glasscock made a fine assist to Powell, but McCormick missed an easy foul of Dunlap.  In the last half of the inning Whitehead, Dunlap and Quinn, by a double play, retired Glasscock and Harbidge, and Burns went out on a fly.  Burns' splendid catch in left, which put out Boyle and retired the side, was the feature of the eighth inning.  From this to the end of the game the sides were retired rapidly.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 11, 1884


This loss snapped the Maroons' thirteen game winning streak (that was actually a fourteen game winning streak).  But don't worry too much about it.  The club was in the middle of a stretch where they would go 37-2 (or 38-2, if we're counting that game on August 9). 

However, given the nature of the UA, I bet the Maroons were glad that they were finished with the Outlaw Reds for the rest of the season.  After adding Jack Gleason, Jim McCormick and Fatty Briody, the club finished the season 35-7 and were probably every bit as good as the Maroons.  Both clubs would feast on the weak sisters of the league (which, in all honesty, was pretty much everybody else - both Baltimore and Boston were under .500 against teams with a winning record) but Cincinnati just waited too long to get their infusion of talent.  If they had put this club on the field to start the season, they would have given the Maroons a run for the pennant.