*HE NEW YORK CLIPPER ALMANAC.
 

41
 

BASEBALL
 

THE    SEASON    OF    1876
 

"VTEVER before in the history of baseball did so many
-'-^ clubs take the field as in 1876, and never before
were so many games pla3'ed in a single season. More¬
over, the records of the contests on the ball-fields of
the country from 1860 up to 1876 shoAv no such brilliant
displays of fielding and batting skill as marked the
games of 1876. In the early days of baseball, when
batting Avas regarded as the feature of the game, the
sending of a lively ball—ten inches in circumference
and containing over tAvo ounces of rubber—to the out¬
field for home-runs Avas considered quite a feat. In
the decade from 1857 to 1867 the scores of games were
gradually increased until 1867, when the general aver¬
age of the scores of the leading clubs of the period
Vf3iS Jifty rurs and over! shoAving heavy batting, but
very poor fielding, comparatively speaking. In 1867, in
the published averages of the previous season's play,
we find the Athletic Club's average of runs to a
match reaching the high figure of jTjty-one ; the Cin¬
cinnati Club, fifty-one; the Active of Indianapolis,
fifty-tAA-p; the Union of St. Louis, fifty-tAvo; the Active
of Buffalo, fifty—in one match at BuflTalo in 1866 the
score of 202 runs! in nine innings' play Avas reached—
BrandyAvine of Westchester, Pa., fifty-four; Peconic
of Brooklyn, fifty-four, etc. This Avas the culmination
of the furor for heaA-y batting Avith its sequence of
large scores, long and tedious games, a large aA'erage
of injuries and poor fielding displays.

From 1867, ouAvard, skill in fielding began to be the
sine qua non, and from the period of the inauguiation
of the Professional National Association the rules
haA-e been each season improved in accordance with
the noAA'-established theory that fielding skill is the
most attractiA'e and prominent feature of baseball,
and the only department of the game—if we except
base-running—Avhicli requires constant practice and a
system of thorough training to enable anyone to excel
in it. It is well knoAvn that a mere tyro in the game,
Avho could no more fill a field-position acceptably than
he could fly, can take a bat in hand and send a lively
ball to the outfield for a home-run without difficulty.

Coming to the play of 1876, Ave find a point of excel¬
lence reached in the fielding and base-running de¬
partments ncA'er before attained. Games were played
in Avhich the full nine innings on each side AA-ere
completed vitkout a single run bting stortd! This
is simply the perfection of play. Contests have
taken place, too, in Avhich from fifteen to seventeen
innings had to be played before a decision could be
arrived at as to Avliich Avas the victorious nine. In
comparison with the large-score contests and four-hour
games of ten j-eirs ago, Avhen the lively rubber ball
Avas in vogue, these single-figure games of the present
day, occupying less than an hour and a half to play
them, present attractions to the experienced and in¬
telligent votaries of the game unknoAvn in the "good
old daj-s of baseball," as some old-timers frequently
term the days Avhen they used to knock the ten-inch
rubber ball over the heads of the outfielders. But
just as in the time when Ave found advocates for the
catching of fair balls on the bound opposing the rule
of the " fly Rame," so do ve now find men adi-ocating
the return to the system of lively balls. But the pub¬
lic, having witnessed the beautiful displays of fielding
skill, the exciting closeness of contests in Avhich the
ninth inning ends Avith the scorin," of the first run in
the game, and the really skillful exhibitions of batting
Avhicli the dead ball admits of, Avill scarcely take the
same pleasure in attending games in Avhich heavy bat¬
ting and large scores are to be the attraction.

The professional campaign of 1876 Avas not so suc¬
cessful as Avas anticipated in the Spring-time of the
year. It aa-;iR, in the fir.st place, mistakenly supposed
that the rush for amusement during the Centennial
Avould carry Avitli its tide the baseball fraternity; but
it has been shoAvn that the great exhibition monopo¬
lized so much of the attention and the means of the
general public that but little Avas left for Avhat are
technically knoAvn as the "sideshoAvs," Avhich position
professional baseball the past season occupied.    The
 

continuation, too, of the financial depression—a fact
the professional-club managers strangely ignored__in¬
terposed another obstacle to their pecuniary success,
the fifty-cent tariff Avhich they continued to enforce
keeping thousands from the ball-grounds.

The season Avas made noteAvorthy by its being the
first of the existence of the League of Professional
Clubs, Avho.'^e attempt to monopolize the busines.s
proved a failure, as the pecuniary success of a ma-
jorify of the thirty odd co-operative clubs Avhich took
part in the season's play fully proA-ed. During the
past season the professional class Avas largely increased
by the acquisition of co-operative nines and gate-
money teams, over forty of Avhich took part in the
season's Avork. Of these the success of the t^tar Club
of S3-racuse in defeating the strongest of the League-
club teams Avas especially notable.

The clo.se of the season left the League champion¬
ship pennant in possession of the Chicago Club,
while the previous champions—the Bo.ston Red,Stock¬
ings—had to be content with fourth position. Practi¬
cally, the St. Louis Club bore off the palm for excel¬
lence in fielding, they defeating the Chicago nine in
ten out of the fifteen games the two nines played
together; but the defeats sustained by the St, Louis
nine, owing to the one unreliable element of their
team in the early part of the Kea,son, prevented their
attaining the full measure of the season's success.
 

NOTEWORTHY GAMES OF 1876.

The campaign of 1876, both in and out of the League
arena, Avas marked by seA-eral noteworthy contests,
games characterized by unequaled displays of skill
Not only Avere there games in Avhicli "nine innings'
play Avere completed on each side before either nine
could score a run, but contests lasting through fifteen,
sixteen, and even seventeen innings narked the record
of the season. Sometimes a single run in the first
inning Avould eventually decide a contest, and in two
instances it Avas not until the tenth inning Avas played
that the first run was scored.

The model contest A^'as that Avhich took place on the
Union Grounds, Brooklyn, on June 10, the contesting^
nines being the Mutual and Cincinnati. The feature
of the contest Avas the fact that nine full innings'
play Avas had on both sides Avithout a single run being
.scored, the only run obtained beiag that scored by
the Mutuals in the tenth inning. SAv-easy's play at
second base on the Cincinnati side Avas the fielding
feature of the game.    The score AAas as follows:
 

Cincinnati. tu.r.Hs.po. a. e.
 

Ke.shler, s. s. 4

Booth, c.....4

Clack, 1st b. 4
Jones, c. f... 4
Snyder, 1. f.. 4
Pierson, r. f. 4
Foley, 3d b.. 4
Swfasy, 2d b. 4
Fisher, p___3
 

Mutual.    tb.r.Ib.po.
 

H'ldsAv'h,c. f 4
Start, Istb.. 5
Treacy, 1. f.. 4
Hallinan, s.s 4
Craver, 2d b. <'

Hicks, c..... 3

Booth, r. f... 3
MatheAvs, p.. 3
Nichols, 3d b. 3
 

1 2
1 11
0 2
0   1

0   0

1  13
1 0
0 0
0   1
 

Totals.. 35   0   6 30 14   8        Totals.. 33   1   4 30   7   2

Cincinnati. 000000000      0—0

Alutual.....000000000      1—1

First base by errors—Cincinnati, 0; Mutual, I. Runs
earned—Cincinnati, 0; Mutual, 1. Umpire, Mr. Kenny of
the Atlantic (Jlub.   Time, Ih. £(jm.

The most notew-orthy contest in regard to the num¬
ber of innnings required to settle the question of the
victory Avas the fourth of the series betAveen the Rhode
Lsland and Taunton Clubs, which took place on tlic
former's grounds, at Providence, R. I., on June 7. At
the close of the ninth inning the score stood at 2 to 2,
after Avhich seven successive innings Avere played
Avithout either side adding a run. After the score had
been tied the contest became intensely interesting.
Time and again did players reach third base only to
be left there or be put out at the home base in run¬
ning in, additional blanks being the result in each
instance. Many fine double-plays Avere made, just
Avhen victory seemed Avithin the grasp of the runners