Commie's First Game With The Browns

I've been skimming through a biography of Charles Comiskey written by G.W. Axelson and published in 1919. Axelson allowed Comiskey to tell much of the story in his own words and, in that sense, the book is almost an autobiography. The year of publication is certainly interesting but it's probably a coincidence.

One of the things in the book that grabbed my attention was an account of Comiskey's first game as a Brown. Axelson writes that "(the) team which took the field in 1882, with Ed Cuthbert as manager, had some good players in its lineup but it did not compare with those which followed. Before the regular season opened in the spring exhibition games were played..." He then gives a box score for the game that the Browns played in St. Louis against the Standards, "the first game in which Comiskey appeared in a St. Louis Browns' uniform".

That, in and of itself, is rather interesting but the best part is who was playing in the game for the Standards: Pidge Morgan, Art Croft, Charlie Hautz, and Packy Dillon. It seems that in 1882 the Standards had almost half of the starting nine of the 1875 Reds.

I find this information significant for a couple of reasons. First, the guys playing for the Standards (including Frank Decker and Eddie Hogan) identifies the Standards as a St. Louis team. While it was assumed that the Browns would be playing a local team to tune up for the season, the fact that the Standards were stocked with St. Louis baseball players pretty much confirms it. I had never heard of the Standards before but I feel comfortable adding them to my list of 19th century St. Louis baseball teams (which I'll post one of these days).

The second reason I'm excited about this information is because we just don't know that much about some of the guys on the 1875 Reds, especially Dillon and Morgan. Any piece of information about them or any reference to them that I find always adds to the record. Information about these guys is so scarce that if I find a paragraph about them it's like hitting the motherload.

Before I read this book, I knew that Packy Dillon had pretty much retired from baseball by 1886 but I couldn't tell you much about his career after 1877. Now I know that he was still playing baseball in 1882. Also, this information probably means that he was still living in St. Louis in 1882. That adds quite a bit to what we know about Dillon.

General Sherman Visits The Ballpark

W.A. Kelsoe, in A Newspaper Man's Motion-Picture Of The City, describes the second Brown Stockings-White Stockings game:

"The second game between the Chicago Whites and the St. Louis Browns, played here Saturday, May 8 (1875), resulted in another victory for the home club, but this time St. Louis made only four runs and Chicago scored three, all in the last inning. The crowd was even larger than at the first game, being estimated at over 8,000 people. One of the spectators was General Sherman, who viewed the game from a seat with the reporters in the press stand. He seemed to enjoy the game fully as much as he did the trotting when with General Grant at the 'Big Thursday' races of the St. Louis Fair a few months before, in October, 1874. The headquarters of the United States Army were still in St. Louis, southwest corner of Tenth and Locust streets. It was a splendid game throughout, 'the best ballplaying ever seen west of the Mississippi,' said City Editor Stevens in one of his headlines for my report of the contest. Ed. Cuthbert, noted as an outfielder, caught three flies in this game and ended the eighth inning with a foul-bound catch, fouls taken on the first bound then counting as outs. Chicago had now had seventeen innings in succession (counting those of the first game) without making a single run. Then came the last inning of the second game, when Bradley, the St. Louis pitcher in both games, was batted for three safe hits, as many as Chicago had made in the other eight innings, and three runs resulted, every one of them earned. The umpire was James Baron, shortstop of the old Missouri champion Empires."

Sherman, who had been appointed Commanding General of the United States Army by President Grant, had moved his headquarters to St. Louis in order to escape the political infighting of Washington D.C. Prior to the Civil War, Sherman had lived in St. Louis and served as president of the Fifth Street Railroad. Interestingly, Sherman writes in his memoirs "that Mr. Lucas...held a controlling intrest of stock" in the railroad and was one of the people who wanted to hire him for the job. Lucas was most likely J.B.C. Lucas, one of the richest men in St. Louis and president of the Brown Stockings. Sherman, who died in 1891, is buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis.

The "St. Louis Fair" that Kelsoe mentions is, of course, not the World's Fair that was held in 1904 but rather an event that was held annually in the city. In 1856, a group called the St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association purchased a site of 50 acres north of the city on Grand Avenue and set up the Fairgrounds, which included what was at the time the largest amphitheater in the United States, a mechanical hall, a agricultural hall, a floral hall, a Gothic fine arts hall, a three stories high "Chicken Palace" for displaying poultry, a race track, and a grandstands. According to the Fairground Park website, "(the) fair was an immediate success and soon became noted all over the country. It was, in reality, a gigantic country fair. There were booths for vending wine, beer, and other delicacies. There were displays of livestock, poultry, vegetables, grains, and the latest inventions in farm machinery, tools, household gadgets, etc." In 1860, the first baseball game ever held in St. Louis took place on the Fairgrounds.

I think that Sherman's presence at the game shows the significance of the Brown Stockings' May 6th victory over Chicago. The hoopla that followed that game brought out not only a larger crowd, as noted by Kelsoe, but also one of the city's most prominent citizens.

More On The Sullivan Benefit

From the Sporting News, March 29, 1886:

"A Benefit For Tom Sullivan

John T. Magner, the well known ex-professional, is getting up a benefit game for Tom Sullivan, who recently had the fingers of his right hand amputated. It will take place at Union Park some time in the near future, Mr. Lucas having tendered the use of his grounds for that purpose. Mr. Magner says that Ed Cuthbert, Charles Houtz, Harry McCaffery and several other old professionals have promised to assist him in getting up the benefit, which promises to be a veritable bumper."

Note that this Sporting News article states that Sullivan lost the fingers of his right which contradicts Al Spink's claim that Sullivan had both of his hands amputated. Also, they say this happened "recently" which gives further evidence to the idea that Sullivan's injury happened in the winter of 1875/76.