Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The 1884 Maroons: I Don't Think You Can Strike Out Eight Men In One Inning

The St. Louis Unions won another 11-inning game from the Pittsburg Club this afternoon, in the presence of 1,000 spectators.  Up to the seventh inning the contest was between the pitchers, with the honors pretty evenly divided.  Boyle, who pitched for the visitors, proved a puzzler to the home club.  In the eleventh inning he succeeded in striking out eight men, and escaping with only six hits being made off him.  Daily struck out ten men, but the six hits which were made off his delivery all counted.  Shaffer knocked out a three-bagger and a home-run.  The last was in the seventh inning and ended the game.  Gardner, of the home club, scored in the seventh inning on the errors of Whitehead and Dunlap.  The other two runs of the home club were made on Schoeneck's and Kreig's singles and a passed ball.  The St. Louis' runs were made by Shaffer's three-bagger and singles by Gleason and Quinn in the seventh inning, Dunlap's single and a base on called balls, and an error by Strief in the eighth, and Shaffer's fly in the eleventh.
-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 31, 1884


Okay, theoretically, you can strike out eight guys in an inning but it's a difficult task to accomplish if you have a half-competent catcher behind the plate.  I'm thinking the author of this little article meant that Boyle struck out eight in eleven innings rather than eight in the eleventh.  Also, I think this might be the first reference I've ever seen to Hugh Daily that didn't mention his hand problem. 

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