The 1884 Maroons: An Animated And Excited Discussion

Nothing else but base ball and the row on the field to-day are talked of to-night.  It was another case of outrageous umpiring on the part of Seward, and following on the heels of his gift to the St. Louis Club yesterday, it was a little more than the home nine could stand.  The scene was a most exciting one at the time of the rank decision.  It was in the ninth inning, with the score standing six to two in favor of the Kansas Citys, and two men were out, Brennan and Werden having second and first base, respectively, when Whitehead hit safely to right field, and Brennan, attempting to score, was thrown out at the home-plate by Shafer.  Baldwin stood squarely on the line to the left of the home-plate and three fee towards third, and as Brennan passed him touched him beyond any question of doubt.  Admitting for the sake the sake of argument that he should have failed to touch him, Brennan could not have reached the home-plate without running so far out of line that he would have been declared out by any fair-minded umpire for so doing.  It was the last chance, however, and Seward took advantage of it by declaring Brennan safe at home.  The decision was so manifestly unjust that the audience rose as one man and a chorus of angry yells of "Put him out," "he's drunk," "he's a thief," etc., rang out and the players of both teams crowded around the plate indulged in an animated and excited discussion of the decision.  The visitors' support of the umpire was decidedly tame, and there is no question that if he had been decided out no word of protest would have been uttered by Manager Rowe or Capt. Dunlap, as they were satisfied they were defeated, and had already donned their Cardigan jackets preparatory to leaving the grounds.  The Kansas City players refused to go on with the game, and President McKim instructed the boys not to resume the game with Seward as umpire, although he expressed his willingness to continue the contest with some other umpire.  The result was that Seward decided the game in favor of St. Louis 9 to 0, not even waiting for the time to pass before he could legally do so.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 23, 1884