The 1884 Maroons: Dull And Stupid

The Baltimore Unions played a miserable game with the St. Louis Club at Union Park this afternoon.  W. Sweeney was put in the pitcher's box and in the first inning eleven men went to the bat.  Eight base hits were made and seven runs scored.  The home team could do nothing with Sweeney's puzzling delivery and failed to score in their part of the first inning.  In the second inning Robinson was put in the box.  He managed with the assistance of fielding errors to give the St. Louis boys eight runs in the last eight innings.  After the first inning the home team were broken up, and the visitors played a loose game, making it dull and stupid for the spectators.  Graham's catching in left field was a feature.  Say made his usual error, and Cuthbert, in center field, got three by letting balls pass by him.  Rowe, Dunlap, Sweeney and Quinn did the fielding for the visitors, and all hands did the batting.  

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 5, 1884


Baltimore would have been better off going with the whole "We're not feeling well today and can't play" thing they pulled the day before.

On the bright side, "Say made his usual error" might be my all-time favorite piece of baseball writing.  It's just brilliant.