John Peters At The End Of The Road

John Peters

Johnny Peters, the short stop, left town yesterday morning to join the Stillwater (Minn.) Northwestern League Club, with whom he has signed for the rest of the season.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 28, 1884


John Peters was an outstanding ballplayer going back to the amateur, pioneer era in St. Louis when he played with the Empires and Reds in the early part of the 1870s.  He was probably the best shortstop in baseball in the early days of NL but, by 1884, he was at the end of the road.  He hadn't hit well with Buffalo of the NL in 1881 but had a decent season with Pittsburgh in the AA in 1882.  And that was really it for Peters.  He got into eight games for Pittsburgh in 1883 and one game in 1884.  According to his entry in Major League Baseball Profiles, 1871-1900, Volume 1, Peters had put on a great deal of weight and this led to his decline as a ballplayer.  By 1884, he couldn't hit, couldn't field his position and couldn't find a job in the major leagues.  In 1885, he was out of professional baseball, although he continued playing with minor clubs in St. Louis for several years.        

Redmond's Whereabouts Is Unknown

I'm back from my little sabbatical and feeling much refreshed. Hope you didn't miss me too much.

The following is from an article that appeared in the Milwaukee Journal in June of 1895 regarding former major league players:

(John) Peters is connected with the water department in St. Louis.

(Daniel) Morgan is a successful businessman in St. Louis.

(Billy) Redmond's whereabouts is unknown

Billy Redmond was actually dead. Based on Peter Morris' research, we now know that Redmond, who had been working in St. Louis as a bricklayer, died on either April 2 or 3, 1894 and was buried at St. Matthew's Cemetery in St. Louis. His last name, and that of the other family members buried near him, is spelled "Redmon" in the cemetery records and on the tombstones.

The Base Ball Sensation Of The Year

The feature of the game was (John) Peters' play in short field, all the more noteworthy in view of the fact that he was suffering horribly from an attack of pleurisy. This young man is the base ball sensation of the year up to this time. Taken from a St. Louis amateur club, in which he played semi-occasionally, as often as he could spare the time from his underground employment as a miner, he was placed in the White Stocking nine to fill the difficult position made vacant by the illness of Jimmy Wood. After playing second base extremely well, he was transferred to short field, where his record is a marvel among ball-players. At first he was nervous at the bat through lack of experience with professional pitching, but he has got bravely over this, and is now giving Meyerle, Cuthbert, and Force a hard rub for the batting supremacy. Peters was out of place in St. Louis, and Chicago took him in. It may gratify his many admirers to know that his engagement with the White Stocking nine continues for three years.

-Chicago Tribune, July 26, 1874

According to Tobias, Chicago "perpetrated highway robbery" in May of 1874 when, after playing in St. Louis, they signed Peters, of the Reds, and Dan Collins, of the Empire Club. However, Tobias wrote, "the Reds did not feel the loss of Peters to any tearful extent..." That, of course, is utter nonsense. The Reds were not a particularly heavy hitting club and Peters proved to be a fine hitter. I think there's enough statistical evidence to show that he would have been an improvement at shortstop over Billy Redmon.

There Was Some Talent On That Club

For two or three years before the country had become infected with the base-ball fever, the Globe-Democrat called attention to the fact that there was a nine in St. Louis which, if kept together, would prove as formidable as any in the country, and urged the citizens of St. Louis to give it such encouragement as would insure its permanency. This they refused to do, and the St. Louis Red Stockings were allowed to disband. That the merits of these gallant young players were not overrated, a glance at the great nines of the country will show. The St. Louis Red Stockings have contributed more brilliant players to the professional ranks than any other organization in the country. Johnny Peters, the first to go, was good enough to play short for the club that won the championship; Flint, Houtz and McSorley have aided the Indianapolis nine in achieving their numerous triumphs over League organizations, and the former is thought by many to rank with Clapp as the best catcher in the country; Galvin and Dolan have done more than their seven comrades to secure for the Alleghenies their series of extraordinary successes; Croft, engaged as a substitute for the St. Louis Brown Stockings, by his telling work soon secured a permanent position on the nine; Redmond, as Captain of the Memphis Red Stockings, has piloted that club to many a well deserved victory; Morgan's valuable services in the pitcher's position were snapped up by the Milwaukee professionals, while Magner and Gleason are gaining many friends by their fine work in Columbus and Minneapolis.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 2, 1877

Where Are They Now?

(John) Peters is connected with the water department in St. Louis.

(Daniel) Morgan is a successful businessman in St. Louis.

(Bill) Redmond's whereabouts is unknown.

-Milwaukee Journal, June 1895

Maybe We Should Go Find Some Professional Players (Or Chicago Adds Insult To Injury)

In 1874, according to E.H. Tobias, the Chicago White Stockings "came to St. Louis under an arrangement to play four games each with the Empire, Red Stocking and Turner Clubs..." These were probably the three best clubs in St. Louis at the time and the Chicagos cleaned their clocks. While there were a couple of close games, the White Stockings went undefeated on their St. Louis trip and embarrassed the St. Louis baseball fraternity.

Below is the dates of the games played and their results:

April 21 Chicago 24 Empire 2
April 23 Chicago 6 Reds 0
April 26 Chicago 6 Empire 4
April 28 Chicago 22 Turners 5
April 29 Chicago 30 Empire 9
April 30 Chicago 31 Reds 10
May 1 Chicago 21 Empire 10
May 2 Chicago 31 Reds 13

Thankfully, the weather in St. Louis was rather rainy (as it usually is at that time of year) and the rest of the games were unable to be played-although the Reds did make a trip to Chicago and finished their series with the White Stockings on May 6 (when they promptly lost by a score of 14-7). The Chicagos came to St. Louis, went 7-0 on the trip and outscored the best teams in St. Louis by an aggregate score of 171-53. If you count the Reds game in Chicago, the White Stockings were 8-0 against the best St. Louis had to offer and had a run differential of +125.

To add insult to injury, the Chicagos "perpetrated highway robbery while (in St. Louis) and secretly carried their spoils home with them in the person of Johnnie Peters, second base of the Red Stockings, and (Dan) Collins, the Empire pitcher." So not only did the White Stockings come in and crush everybody, they also stole two of the best players in town.

You can date the beginning of the movement to create a professional baseball team in St. Louis and the beginning of the St. Louis/Chicago baseball rivalry to late April/early May 1874. It was this crushing performance by the Chicagos and the humiliation suffered by the St. Louis baseball community that set into motion the events that would lead to the creation of the Brown Stockings. It also puts into perspective the celebration that erupted following the Brown Stockings 10-0 victory over the White Stockings on May 6, 1875. The Browns 4-3 win over the Chicagos two days later was just icing on the cake (and payback for stealing Peters and Collins).

Edit: This little story keeps getting worse. It seems that the White Stockings came back to St. Louis in October of 1874 and continued their dominance over the St. Louis clubs. On October 15, they defeated the Reds 17-3 and two days later they beat the Empires 13-0, the first time in the proud history of the Empire Base Ball Club that the team had ever been shutout. So for those scoring at home, the Chicagos were 11-0 against St. Louis clubs in 1874, outscoring them 215-63 for a run differential of +152.

The Reds First Big Win

If we accept E.H. Tobias' assertion that the Reds came into existence in 1873 (as I believe that the evidence suggests we should) then the Reds first big win against a St. Louis amateur power came on July 19, 1873 against the Turners. The Turner Base Ball Club had been in existence since at least 1869 and was a member of the State Base Ball Association. They challenged for the championship in 1872 and were able to take one game from the Empire Club. In 1873 they challenged the Empires again although they lost all three games to the champions. The Turners' reputation was such that when the Chicago White Stockings visited St. Louis in 1874 one of the teams that they played was the Turners.

Despite the Turners reputation as a top amateur team, the upstart Reds were actually favored in the first game between the two. On July 5, the two teams met and to the surprise of the Red Stocking faithful the Turners hung eleven runs on the new club in the third inning and went on to win the game 19-17. Tobias writes that Packy Dillon, the Reds' catcher, was suffering from a finger injury during the game that caused the Reds to shuffle their lineup to the teams' detriment.

The second game of the series between the two clubs took place on July 19. In what was described as "a splendid exhibition of cool, watchful playing," the Reds avenged their earlier defeat. Jumping out to a 7-0 lead, the Reds defeated the Turners 16-5 behind four runs by Billy Redmon and three each by John Paul Peters and center fielder Dean. Pidge Morgan pitched well, putting up goose eggs in six frames, and the Reds defense played outstandingly behind him, committing only "three or four" errors.

This was a significant victory for the Reds, establishing them as a power on the local baseball scene and validating the hype that had surrounded them entering the 1873 season. It also jump-started a successful season that saw the club take the Empires to a deciding fifth game in their championship series before falling to the defending champs.

A Statistical Look At The Early National League

A while back I put up a link to Walk Like a Sabermetrician. The reason for the link is that they're running a fascinating series on the early National League-taking a statistical look at the league from 1876 to 1881. Since they just posted the entry for the 1878 season, I thought this would be a good time to mention it.

Obviously, from my point of view, the most interesting entries were the ones for the 1876 and 1877 seasons when the Brown Stockings were playing in the NL. Specifically of interest was that they like John Clapp quite a bit and rate him as the best catcher in the league for both '76 and '77. The Browns had a much better season in 1876 than in '77 and that shows up in the analysis. The Browns placed Clapp, Joe Battin, and Lip Pike on the All-Star team for '76 and they felt it necessary to explain why they didn't place George Bradley on the team. Clapp again made the team for 1877 and was joined by Mike Dorgan, who they rate as the best rookie hitter in the league that year. Also of note, St. Louisan John Paul Peters made the All-Star team at shortstop for both seasons.

It's good stuff and I certainly recommend taking a look at it.

Person John Clapp

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John Peters

John Peters led the National League at short field in 1876 and 1880.

He was the short fielder in 1876 of the Chicago White Stocking and on the infield that year were Cal McVey at first base, Ross Barnes at second and A.C. Anson at third...

Peters held his own with this great team. He was a short stocky built man, a splendid fielder and accurate thrower.

Peters after quitting Chicago went to the Providence team and in 1880 while a member of that organization he again led the National League at short field.

Peters was born in St. Louis and now holds a position in one of the St. Louis city departments. He was a member of the St. Louis Reds in the sixties and was one of the many of the great players given to the professional field by that once famous organization.

-From The National Game

John Paul Peters was born on April 8, 1850 in New Orleans and died January 4, 1924 in St. Louis. He is buried at Old St. Marcus Cemetery in St. Louis.

Interestingly, while Peters was a good shortstop and a decent hitter (career OPS+ of 97), he pitched one inning of one game in 1876. In that game, Peters threw one inning, giving up a hit and an unearned run while earning a save. That was only time he ever pitched in the major leagues.

The Deadball Era has a copy of Peters' obituary which appeared in The New York Times on January 6, 1924.




Frank Russo has a nice piece on Peters over at Find A Grave:

John Peters started his career as a teammate of Al Spading in 1874 with the Chicago White Stockings of the National Association. He played mostly at shortstop throughout his career, occasionally filling in at 2nd base and the outfield. He was considered to be a wonderful fielder during his playing days, even though he averaged about 38 errors a year and had 453 errors lifetime. Playing barehanded, he became very adapt at turning double plays. He was also a decent hitter, who batted .280 or better 6 times, and batted .300 for 3 straight years. He moved with the White Sox when they joined the National League in 1876 and stayed and additional 3 seasons before joining the Milwaukee Grays who were managed by Jack Chapman. After one season there he rejoined the White Stockings in 1979. He then moved on for a one season stints with the Providence Grays in 1880 and the Buffalo Bisons in 1881. 1882 saw him with the Pittsburgh Alleghenys where he batted .288 in 78 games. He broke his leg in 1883 and only appeared in 8 games. Attempts and a comeback were eventually futile, as he lost his range and speed. He retired after 1 game with Pittsburgh the next season. After his career, he worked with the St. Louis Parks Department, where he took special care of the baseball fields around the city. In 615 league games, spanning 11 seasons, John Peters accrued a lifetime average of .278 in 2695 career at bats, with 3 homers and 248 RBI's.

Peters grave at St. Marcus Cemetery is unmarked. According to Connie Nisinger, the cemetery is now a city park. Which is kind of odd.