Runs and Bases: the 1880's Part 1

[SWC75]

This is a continuation of my project of going through major league baseball history using two statistics, (both pertaining only to hitting), plus some descriptions and stories of some of the prominent players.

The formulas: Runs Produced consists of runs scored, plus runs batted in minus home runs so you don’t count them twice, (a home run is the same run scored and batted in by the same player). Bases Produces is total batting bases, (one for a single, two for a double, three for a triple and 4 for a home run), plus walks plus stolen bases. The rankings at the end are based on the top ten for each year: 10 points for finishing first in runs or bases produced, 9 for second, 8 for third, etc. I’m doing it that way because the numbers will change from year to and era to era for various reasons: where a player placed in the rankings each season is thus a better measure of his production than adding the specific numbers he totaled. But ties will be broken based on who had the fewer plate appearances.


The National League didn’t keep track of stolen bases until 1886. The American Association, which was in business as a major league from 1882-91, also did not count steals until 1886, so the numbers below do not include steals as “bases produced” and those rankings are based only on batting bases and walks.


The American Association was created in a reaction to the perceived attitudes of the National League owners, who wanted to appeal to middle class audiences and have what they might have called a “family friendly” atmosphere. They banned alcohol and Sunday baseball and refused to have franchises in what they called “river cities” which had too many undesirable types, (including immigrants). William Hulbert had bullied the some of the big cities out of his National League, which in 1881 included his Chicago White Stockings as well as teams in Boston, Worcester, Providence, Troy, Buffalo, Detroit and Cleveland. The AA put teams into Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville and St. Louis. The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis teams are today’s Prates, Reds and Cardinals. At the time they were known as the Alleghenys, Red Stockings and Brown Stockings.


The Brown Stockings, (eventually known as the Browns until they changed their team color to cardinal), were the dominant team in the league. They were also known as the most obnoxious, inventing the practice of trash-talking in order to destroy the concentration of the other team and instigating many brawls. Their rowdy behavior spread to their fans and to other teams. Their owner, Chris Von Der Ahe, gladly paid the fines, believing that controversy increased attendance. The AA became known as the rowdy league but also one that appealed to the lower classes and the many immigrants in the “river towns”. It also helped that the population base of the AA teams included about 2,370,000 baseball fans compared to 1,156,000 for Hulbert’s National League.


1880 - National League

Runs Produced
King Kelly CHI 131
Cap Anson CHI 127
Abner Dalrymple CHI 127
George Gore CHI 115
Jim O‘Rourke BOS 110
Harry Stovey WOR 98
Ed Williamson CHI 96
Paul Hines PRO 96
John Morrill BOS 93
Jack Burdock BOS 91

Bases Produced
Jim O’Rourke BOS 181
Abner Dalrymple CHI 178
Harry Stovey WOR 173
George Gore CHI 170
Roger Connor TRO 169
Fred Dunlap CLE 167
Cap Anson CHI 163
Paul Hines PRO 161
King Kelly CHI 150
Orator Shaffer CLE 139

1881- National League

Runs Produced
Cap Anson CHI 148
King Kelly CHI 137
George Gore CHI 129
Lon Knight, DET 118
Hardy Richardson BUF 113
Deacon White, BUF 111
John M. Ward PRO 109
Abner Dalrymple CHI 108
Ed Williamson CHI 103
Tom York PRO 102

Bases Produced
Cap Anson CHI 201
Fred Dunlap, CLE 174
King Kelly CHI 169
Jim O’Rourke BUF 167
Abner Dalrymple CHI 165
Dan Brouthers BUF 164
Tom York PRO 164
Charlie Bennett DET 161
George Wood DET 161
Paul Hines PRO 159

1882 - National League

Runs Produced
Cap Anson CHI 151
George Gore CHI 147
King Kelly CHI 135
Abner Dalyrmple CHI 131
Dan Brouthers BUF 128
John Morrill BOS 125
Ed Williamson CHI 123
Blondie Purcell BUF 117
Hardy Richardson BUF 116
Joe Hornung BOS 116

Bases Produced
Dan Brouthers BUF 213
Roger Connor NY 198
Cap Anson CHI 194
Paul Hines PRO 187
George Gore CHI 184
Abner Dalrymple CHI 181
Jack Glasscock CLE 174
Harry Stovey WOR 174
King Kelly CHI 173
George Wood DET 172

1882- American Association

Runs Produced
Hick Carpenter CIN 144
Joe Sommer CIN 110
Charles Comisky STL 101
Pop Snyder CIN 98
Jud Birchall PHI 92
Harry Wheeler CIN 87
Ed Swartwood PIT 86
Jumbo Latham PHI 85
Chick Fullmer CIN 81
Jack O’Brien PHI 78

Bases Produced
Ed Swartwood PIT 176
Pete Browning, LOU 173
Mike Mansell PIT 159
Hick Carpenter CIN 158
Joe Sommer CIN 153
Billy Taylor PIT 142
Oscar Walker STL 136
Guy Hecker LOU 133
Jack Gleason STL 132
Harry Wheeler CIN 128

1883- National League

Runs Produced
Dan Brouthers BUF 179
Ezra Sutton BOS 171
Joe Hornung BOS 165
Jack Burdock BOS 163
George Gore CHI 155
Jack Farrell PRO 150
King Kelly CHI 150
John Morrill BOS 145
Ed Williamson CHI 140
Jim O’Rourke BUF 139

Bases Produced
Dan Brouthers BUF 259
John Morrill BOS 227
George Wood DET 221
Erza Sutton BOS 218
George Gore CHI 212
Joe Hornung BOS 207
Jack Burdock BOS 204
Charlie Bennett DET 202
Paul Hines PRO 202
Fred Dunlap CLE 201

1883- American Association

Runs Produced
John Reilly CIN 173
Harry Stovey PHI 162
Mike Moynihan PHI 156
Charley Jones CIN 154
Lon Knight PHI 150
Charles Comisky STL 149
Jack O’Brien PHI 144
Hick Carpenter CIN 136
Joe Sommer CIN 128
Jud Birchall PHI 118

Bases Produced
Harry Stovey PHI 240
John Reilly CIN 221
Charley Jones CIN 204
Mike Moynihan PHI 196
Pete Browning LOU 189
Candy Nelson NY 189
Pop Smith COL 188
Jim Clinton, BAL 184
Bill Gleason STL 182
Hick Carpenter CIN 181

1884- National League

Runs Produced
King Kelly CHI 202
Cap Anson CHI 189
Fred Pfeffer CHI 181
Jim O’Rourke BUF 177
Roger Connor NY 176
Joe Hornung BOS 163
Ezra Sutton BOS 160
Abner Dalrymple CHI 158
Deacon White BUF 151
Jack Farrell PRO 150

Bases Produced
Cap Anson, CHI 287
King Kelly CHI 283
Abner Dalrymple CHI 277
Ned Williamson CHI 273
Fred Pfeffer CHI 265
Jim O’Rourke BUF 259
Dan Brouthers BUF 257
Paul Hines PRO 257
Ezra Sutton BOS 242
Roger Connor NY 237

1884- American Association

Runs Produced
Harry Stovey PHI 197
John Reilly CIN 194
Dave Orr NY 185
Charley Jones CIN 181
Bid McPhee CIN 166
Charles Comisky STL 158
Pop Corkhill CIN 151
Chicken Wolf LOU 149
Pete Browning LOU 144
Hick Carpenter CIN 136

Bases Produced
Harry Stovey PHI 270
Charley Jones CIN 259
Dave Orr NY 252
Long John Reilly CIN 252
Pete Browning LOU 224
Dude Esterbrook NY 216
Sam Barkley TOL 215
Candy Nelson NY 208
Chicken Wolf LOU 205
Fred Corey PHI 202

Top 25s

Let’s expand the cumulative rankings to a Top 25, (enough years have passed to provide us with enough players). Again, the system is simple: If you were #1 in your league for runs or bases produced, you get 10 points. If you were #2, you get 9 points, etc. These are the total “ranking points” accumulated from 1871-1884 onward, with years played in that time used to break ties and then plate appearance if a second tie-breaker is needed. The players whose careers began in this era are now starting to take over the rankings from those who were in mid-career when the National Association began.

Cumulative Run Production Ranking

Cap Anson 68
Ross Barnes 49
King Kelly 47
Cal McVey 47
Jim O’Rourke 46
Deacon White 45
George Wright 41
George Gore 30
Charlie Jones 27
Paul Hines 27

Harry Stovey 24
Abner Dalrymple 21
John Reilly 19
Ezra Sutton 19
Charles Comisky 18
Lip Pike 17
Andy Leonard 17
Dan Brouthers 16
Al Spalding 16
Joe Hornung 14

Lon Knight 13
Ed Williamson 12
Dick Higham 12
Ned Cuthbert 12
Joe Sommer 11

Cumulative Base Production Ranking

Jim O’Rourke 66
Cap Anson 53
Ross Barnes 50
George Wright 41
Lip Pike 39
Charlie Jones 38
Paul Hines 37
Abner Dalrymple 34
Cal McVey 33
Harry Stovey 31

Dan Brouthers 29
King Kelly 28
Deacon White 28
George Hall 22
Pete Browning 21
Charlie Jones 21
George Gore 19
John Reilly 16
Roger Conner 16
Andy Leonard 16

Fred Dunlap 15
Tom York 15
Dave Eggler 11
Orator Shafer 11
George Wood 11

 

[SWC75]

The 1880 Troy Trojans were a mediocre team, finishing 4th in the NL with a 41-42 record but they had three young players on them who became major stars of 19th century baseball: Roger Connor, Dan Brouthers and Buck Ewing.


ROGER CONNOR has been called the “Babe Ruth of the 19th Century” and indeed, it was his career home record that the Babe broke, (the record thus went from Connor to Ruth to Aaron to Bonds). Of course Connor hit only 138 home runs but in his day, many parks had no outfield fence so his real power is measured not just by home runs but by triples, of which he had 233 and doubles, of which he had 441. A chapter is devoted to 19 century sluggers in Bill Jenkinson’s “Baseball’s Ultimate Power”. Connor was huge man for his time, 6-3, 220 pounds and he had some legendary drives, despite the fact that the ball didn’t have a cork center until 1911. He hit the most famous home run of 19th century baseball, a 440 foot drive that left the confines of the original Polo Grounds in 1886. In his first season in New York, Connor had hit another drive so impressive that a collection was taken from fans to give a gold watch to Roger in honor of the achievement. (You don’t see that happening much these days.) In 1881, he hit the first recorded grand slam home run- and he did it with two outs in the ninth inning and his team down by three runs!


Like Ruth, Connor had various nicknames, “The MIghty Clouter” and “The Swat King”. But those are not the most famous nickname for which was responsible. The Trojans moved to New York in 1883 and their admiring manager looked at the towering, muscular Connor and pronounced the team “My Giants” and the team has been known by that name ever since.


But DAN BROUTHERS, (pronounced “Brewthers”), is probably the best choice for the greatest hitter of the 19th century. He was pretty sizable himself at 6-2, 207. He hit .342 lifetime, (compared to .317 for Connor), in a career that lasted from 1879-1906, majors and minors with 460 major league doubles, 205 triples and 106 home runs. He had the highest slugging percentage of the century by 14 points, (.519). He’s been called “the Mickey Mantle of the 19th century” because he hit the longest home runs seen in most of the cities in which he played and because he walked much more than most players of his era- his lifetime on base percentage is a robust .423. And it took more balls to get a walk in those days: 9 before 1880, 8 from 1880-81, 7 in 1882-83, 6 in 1884-85, back to 7 in 1886, five in 1887-8 until they finally got it right with 4 in 1889 and ever since.


Jenkinson, says that Brouthers is the author of the mightiest home run of the 19th century, a 450 foot 1894 blast in Baltimore over deepest center field. John McGraw said “In all my experience in baseball, I have never seen a hit made to equal the one made by Brouthers in Baltimore and I don’t think I ever will.” McGraw thought enough of Brouthers, who was his teammate on the famous Orioles teams of the 1890’s, to give him a job as night watchman at the Polo Grounds, (actually the third stadium to be called that), during the years McGraw managed the team and McGraw would often stay after the games to discuss the good days with his powerful friend. Brouthers had a dog named Kelly, probably after King Kelly, who would sit in the dugout quietly until his master came up, and then perform somersaults when his master got a hit. One of Brouthers’ famous drives wound up in a cemetery. Well, it was the Dead Ball Era….


BUCK EWING was the most famous catcher of the era and had a reputation of being perhaps the greatest player. In the first Hall of Fame vote for 19th century players he tied with Cap Anson at t top of the list. A 1919 article in the Reach Guide lists Ewing, Honus Wagner and Ty Cobb as the three greatest players of all time. He was a great defensive catcher but despite this Bill James thinks he’s a bit over-rated because he caught only 5,413 innings, (636 games), a fraction of what most Hall of Fame catchers caught. He was a good hitter but not comparable to Connor or Brouthers, (.303 batting average and 499 extra base hits. He was one of the first catchers to crouch close to the batter rather than stand a distance behind the plate. He was said to be able to throw baserunners out form any position with “a sharp forearm snap”. It obviously left an impression. He was fast enough to steal 354 bases, despite the fact that steals were not kept track of the first 6 years of his career. He became a successful manager, which never hurts your perception as a player. It was said of Ewing that “he did not allow the platitudes of the multitudes to turn his head.”


Before Babe Ruth the single season home run record was held by ED WILLIAMSON, called “Ned” in most modern publications due to a typographical error. This record was so obscure before Ruth that nobody knew who held it, (the same was true of Connor’s career home run record, which was not discovered until decades after Ruth). When the Babe hit 29 in 1919, it was though he had set the record previously held by Buck Freeman of the National League’s Washington Statesmen in 1899, who hit 25 homers that year. Years later it was found that Williamson had hit 27 home runs for Chicago in 1884. But Williamson’s obscurity is probably deserved. Chicago played in a place called Lakeshore Park, which, unlike a lot of venues in that era, had an outfield fence. It was 186 feet to left field, 300 feet to center and 190 feet to right. The ground rule until 1884 was that balls hit over that fence were to be considered doubles and in 1883, Williamson set the record for doubles with 49. In 1884, it was decided that balls hit over the fence should be considered home runs so Williamson set that record with 27. The rule was changed back the next season and Williamson didn’t do very well in either category with 16 doubles and 3 home runs. He wound up with just 64 round-trippers for his career. Williamson was a big man, 5-11 225 but was brought down by a fondness for the bottle. One day he was sitting on a street corner with his friend and teammate, Billy Sunday, when Billy told him, “Goodbye. I’m going to Jesus Christ” and launched a career as a famous Evangelist. Williamson drank himself to death by 1894, which is why he was not there in 1919 to tell everybody that he had once hit 27 home runs.


The most eccentric and tragic player of the time was surely PETE BROWNING, the best hitter in the American Association. He hit .341 lifetime but without the power of Connor or Brouthers. He was also a notably terrible fielder but there were reasons for that. He suffered from childhood with an inner ear infection called mastoiditis that made him virtually deaf and caused severe pain and headaches. To self-medicate, he developed a bad drinking problem. He came up as an infielder and would play standing on one foot, using the other to sense when a baserunner was sliding in. He somehow became a great hitter. He was a classic “stats” player- he used to keep track of them on his sleeves. He always touched third base for good luck when he ran off the field to bat. One time the opposing team removed the base. Browning spotted the player with the base in the dugout and ran after him, chasing him literally all over the ballpark trying to retrieve it. When he came up he took two strikes, noticed third base was back in its proper place, put his bat down and ran to it to touch it before continuing the at bat. He never learned to read and was described as “a player so simple minded that no one thought to take advantage of him. One of his performances, when he was in his prime, while the Louisville team was in Kansas City, was to rig up a fish pole after a rain and calmly sit in front of the hotel and fish in the deep pools of water in the street."


He had a fetish about his bats. They were huge, 37 inches long and weighing 48 ounces. He had over 200 of them and gave them Biblical names. He would talk to them as he worked on them, much as a plant lover talks to his plants as he waters them. Browning felt that each bat had only a certain number of hits in it and retired bats when they had reached their limit. Bill James credits Browning with doing a lot “to change bats from the crude nineteenth century table legs into modern tools of the trade.” He did this in concert with Bud Hillerich, a baseball fan who worked in his father’s furniture store. Bud promised Browning a new bat when he broke a favorite one and went on to found the Hillerich & Bradsby Company, who makes the “Louisville Slugger” bat, named after Browning’s days playing for that city,


Browning liked to lean his head out of train windows because he said the cinders from the smoke stack cleansed his eyes. Right… People talked about his ears which seemed to be “pointing forward”. The portrait on Baseballreference.com does seem to suggest a Vulcan:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Pete_Browning

Wikipedia says that “He remained a popular Louisville figure until June 7, 1905, when he was declared insane and committed to a local asylum.” Insanity does tend to effect one’s popularity. “In addition to the mastoiditis, he was afflicted with cancer, advanced cirrhosis of the liver, alcohol-related brain damage, and according to some sources, paresis.” He died that year, a tough way to go.


CHARLIE BENNETT also faced tragedy but his life had a much happier ending. He played for Detroit’s National League team, the Wolverines, during the 8 years of their existence, 1881-88, including their 1887 team that won the National League pennant and then beat the American Association champion St. Louis Browns in a post season series to win Detroit’s first World Championship”. He’d got off to a good start as a hitter, with three straight .300 years. He was also a tremendous defensive catcher. “He went after everything, he knew no fear, he kept his pitcher from going into the air.” Bill James says he caught twice as many games as Buck Ewing and his defensive stats are much better.


In 1894, Bennett went west on a hunting trip. He stopped in Wellsville Kansas for a brief visit with a friend. He tried to get back on a moving train but slipped and fell under the wheels, depriving him of his legs and ending his career. He wound up running a newsstand near the new ballpark in Detroit that opened in 1896 and was named after him, Bennett Park. There was a tradition in Detroit that Charlie would throw out the first pitch each opening day, which he did from his wheelchair. He became so popular that fans flocked to his store and he did quite well. He continued throwing out the first pitch until his death in 1927. It was in Bennett Park that the Chicago Cubs won the only World Series they ever won in 1907 and 1908. It was later replaced by Navin Field, which was built on the same spot and was later renamed Briggs Stadium and eventually Tiger Stadium. It’s kind of too bad owners Frank Navin and Walter Briggs insisted their stadiums be named after them instead of Bennett but at least they had old Charlie throwing out the first pitch for as long as he lasted.


One of the ways baseball historians judge player’s records is called the “black ink” test. Black ink is often used to identify when a player led his league in a statistic. HARRY STOVEY, playing first in the American Association, then the Player’s League, then the national league, led in RBIs once, runs scored 4 times, doubles once, triples 4 times, home runs 5 times and steals once. He was the first player to hit 100 home runs, winding up with 122 and totaling 643 extra base hits in a 14 year career. He was fast eno9ught o steal 97 bases in one season and had 509 in the last 8 years of his career, (they didn’t keep track of them before that). Yet he was never regarded as a great star in his time and is not in the Hall of Fame. He’s often cited as the player not in the Hall who is most deserving of being elected, (Browning gets some support there, as well). In his time, players tended to have reputations based on two things: defensive process, which was based not on stats but anecdotal evidence and batting average. Stovey was not a great defensive player and he wasn’t a great hitter for average, batting .289 lifetime. A comparison to Ricky Henderson might be accurate, (Stovey scored as many as 152 runs in a season- in 137 games.)


When Henry Chadwick first started keeping baseball numbers he started using what we would now call slugging percentage to evaluate players: one base for a single, two for a double, three for a triple and four for a home run divided by at bats. But he backed off of this because of his background as a cricket player. In that sport the great skill is to hit the ball between the fielders, not past them or over a fence. Chadwick felt that using slugging to evaluate a player would encourage the crude practice of seeing how far the ball could be hit, rather than “placing” hits, which he felt was a greater skill. He thus promoted “batting average” as the basic stat of the game and thus a Dan Brouthers at .342 was considered incomparably greater than Stovey at .289. But these days Harry’s the darling of the sabrematricians.


Perhaps the most interesting person to play baseball in the era was JOHN MONTGOMERY WARD, often called “Monte Ward” by writers these days but never called that in his time. No, he didn’t found the Montgomery Ward company- that was Aaron Montgomery Ward, no relation. But he was a great pitcher who won as many as 47 games in one season, including a perfect game in 1880, (the next perfect game in the National League was by Jim Bunning 84 years later). He then switched to shortstop and in 1887 batted .338 with 111 stolen bases. He became a prominent lawyer in the offseason and used his talents in that field to create the first union for baseball players and even took the step of founding the Player’s League in 1890 to force concessions from the owners. He went on to become a manager and executive. Then he took up golf and became one of the top early golfers in the United States. Bill James: “John Montgomery Ward lived so many lives that even his biography can hardly account for them.”


The manager and first baseman for the St. Louis Brown’s championship teams of the 1880’s was CHARLES COMISKEY, who is often credited with, (probably by himself), with being the first baseman to position himself away from the bag to make plays. Later he bought a minor league team in Sioux City, Iowa and moved it to St. Paul, Minnesota and finally on to Chicago where he named them the “White Sox”; after the original name of the National League team there, the Chicago White Stockings. They were in what was called the Western league and which Ban Johnson renamed the American league when he decided to challenge the major league status of the National League. Comiskey achieved his greatest fame as the skinflint owner of the Black Sox and by putting his name on their stadium.


This was the golden age of nicknames. JACK GLASSCOCK was known for manicuring the field around him and filled his pockets with pebbles. He came to be known as “Pebbly Jack”. His fastidiousness paid off as he retired with the most put-outs, assists and double plays as well as the highest fielding percentage of any 19th century shortstop, (.910). Glasscock’s equivalent at second base was BID MCPHEE, real name John Alexander McPhee. He got his nickname because when he was a boy, his family lived in a hotel and he used to help the hotel staff by doing various small errands and jobs: he was always doing their “bidding”. When he grew up he became the greatest fielding second baseman of the time and the last player to play without a glove. He finally conceded on that point and used one when he broke his hand in 1896. The next year he set a record for fielding percentage (.982) that lasted until 1925. Other great nicknames were Piano Legs Gore, Cupid Childs, Dude Esterbrook, Long John Reilly, Candy Nelson, Icebox Chamberlain, Skyrocket Smith and Chicken Wolf. Then there was “Honest John” Kelly. Apparently it was considered a remarkable trait.


Bid McPhee was teammate of Bug Holliday and ARLIE LATHAM, who was called “The Freshest Man on Earth” because of his constant trash talking. Bill James: “He practically invented the characteristic chatter of the baseball diamond….He was clever, funny, rude and extremely loud. He was a clown, a mimic and an natural antagonist. One of his techniques was to run up and down the third base coaching line while the pitcher was in mid-delivery, screaming at him all the way. The third base coaching box was created to prevent him from doing this.” There are many Latham anecdotes, including one about him somersaulting over an attempted tag by Cap Anson. James says “In 1915 he was later reported to be working for George V of England, teaching him about American baseball” and that he “formed a close friendship with the Prince of Wales.” I hope he didn’t explain the game too loudly.