Runs and Bases: the 1880's Part 2

[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 Big News in the latter part of the decade was the post season series conducted between the National league and the American Association. Modern writers have referred to these as the first “World Series”. Others aren’t quite sure what to make of them. They seemed to have been treated at least partially as exhibitions games, or at least games that were not vitally important to win. There were a lot of blow-out losses and in 1885, the series ended in a tie. The lengths of the series varied from 3 to 15 games and games were played in cities besides the two home cities of the teams. The 1887 series had 15 games played in 10 different cities.

The series actually began in 1884 with the Providence Grays of the National League sweeping the New York Metropolitans, (yes- the Mets!) 3-0, out-scoring them 21-3. The wild 1885 confrontation between St. Louis, the best and rowdiest AA team and Cap Anson’s staid Chicago White Stockings, featured a tie game in the opener, ended by darkness and not resumed and a disputed second game where Charlie Comisky pulled his team, down 4-5 in the 6th to protest the umpiring. That game was forfeited to Chicago but St. Louis asserted that it shouldn’t count. The Browns won 3 of the 5 remaining games, all of which were actually co0mpleted but with the forfeit, the series ended in a tie, 3-3-1 with no champion. The two teams split a $1000 prize. The Browns came back to win the 1886 series 4-2 over the White Stockings, the only undisputed AA win.

In 1887 the NL’s Detroit Wolverines beat the Browns 10 games to 5, (obviously, it wasn’t “best of 15), in games played in Pittsburgh, Brooklyn, New York, (Brooklyn became part of New York in 1898), Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, as well as Detroit and St. Louis. The 1888 series lasted 10 games in four different cities. The New York Giants beat the Browns 6-4, with St. Louis winning the last two games. The next year the Giants beat the AA’s Brooklyn Bridegrooms 6-3, in the first subway series (or the first Trolley series as the subway wasn’t opened until 1904), with all the games being played in New York or Brooklyn. The Giants won the last 5 games. It seems they were trying to make money and advertise the game, more than determine a champion.

Take a trip from New York to Brooklyn via the Brooklyn Bridge, which had opened in 1883:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:N...n_Bridge,_no._2,_by_Thomas_A._Edison,_Inc.ogv

Cap Anson solidified his position at the top of the runs and bases standings. Dan Brouthers slugged his way into the top 5. Harry Stovey had some hugely productive seasons. King Kelly was at the top of his game. The “originals”: those who were the top players when major league baseball began in the 1870’s, (Barnes, White, Wright), started their decent from the top levels of the list although Orator Jim O’Rourke was still making his presence felt, (in more ways than one, no doubt):

1885- National League

Runs Produced
Cap Anson CHI 201
King Kelly CHI 190
George Gore CHI 167
Roger Connor NY 166
Abner Dalrymple CHI 159
Fred Pfeffer CHI 158
Jim O’Rouke NY 156
Ed Williamson CHI 149
Dan Brouthers BUF 139
Buck Ewing NY 138

Bases Produced
Roger Connor NY 276
George Gore CHI 268
Abner Dalyrmple CHI 265
Dan Brouthers BUF 255
Jim O’Rourke NY 251
Cap Anson CHI 248
King Kelly CHI 237
Hardy Richardson BUF 215
Jack Glasscock STL 215
Ned Hanlon DET 212

1885- American Association

Runs Produced
Harry Stovey PHI 192
Pete Browning LOU 162
Frank Fennelly CIN 161
Curt Welch STL 150
Hick Carpenter CIN 148
Dave Orr, NY 147
Long John Reilly CIN 147
Tom Brown PIT 145
John Coleman PHI 138
Charley Jones CIN 138

Bases Produced
Pete Browning LOU 280
Harry Stovey PHI 276
Dave Orr, NY 249
Charley Jones CIN 246
Frank Fennelly CIN 240
Tom Brown, PIT 220
Chicken Wolf LOU 212
Long John Reilly CIN 209
Bill Phillips, BKN 192
Chief Roseman NY 192

1886- National League

Runs Produced
Cap Anson, CHI 254
King Kelly CHI 230
George Gore CHI 207
Dan Brouthers DET 200
Sam Thompson, DET 182
Jack Rowe DET 178
Fred Pfeffer CHI 176
Hardy Richardson DET 175
Roger Connor NY 169
John M. Ward NY 161

Bases Produced
King Kelly CHI 377
Dan Brouthers DET 371
Hardy Richardson 359
Cap Anson CHI 358
George Gore CHI 322
Roger Connor, NY 320
Jack Glasscock STL 286
Paul Hines WAS 281
Sam Thompson DET 272
Ned Hanlon DET 253

1886- American Association

Runs Produced
Tip O’Neill STL 210
Curt Welch STL 207
Henry Larkin PHI 205
Bid McPhee CIN 201
Arlie Latham STL 198
Bill McClellan BRO 198
Frank Fennelly CIN 179
Dave Orr NY 177
Pop Corkhill CIN 173
Charles Comisky STL 168


Bases Produced
Harry Stovey PHI 347
Henry Larkin PHI 345
Dave Orr NY 334
Arlie Latham STL 331
Bid McPhee CIN 320
Curt Welch STL 309
Bill McClellan BRO 305
Yank Robinson STL 300
George Pinkney BRO 294
Ed Swartwood BRO 281

1887- National League

Runs Produced
Sam Thompson DET 274
Dan Brouthers DET 242
Jack Rowe DET 225
Hardy Richardson DET 217
Cap Anson CHI 202
Roger Connor NY 200
Billy Nash BOS 188
Sam Wise BOS 186
Jimmy Ryan CHI 180
King Kelly DET 175

Bases Produced
Jim Fogarty PHI 387
Dan Brouthers DET 386
King Kelly BOS 375
Roger Connor NY 373
Sam Thompson DET 362
John M. Ward NY 353
Cap Anson CHI 341
Jimmy Ryan CHI 324
Sam Wise BOS 323
Hardy Richardson DET 323

1887- American Association

Runs Produced
Tip O’Neill STL 276
Pete Browning LOU 251
Arlie Latham STL 244
Charles Comisky STL 238
Mike Griffin BAL 233
Denny Lyons PHI 224
Bid McPhee CIN 222
Frank Fennelly CIN 222
Oyster Burns BAL 212
Bill Gleason STL 211

Bases Produced
Pete Browning LOU 457
Tip O’Neill STL 437
Arlie Latham STL 433
Denny Lyons PHI 418
Oyster Burns BAL 407
Mike Griffin BAL 376
Bid McPhee CIN 370
Charles Comisky STL 368
Fred Fennelly CIN 367
Hugh Nicol CIN 351


888- National League

Runs Produced
Dan Brouthers DET 175
Cap Anson CHI 173
Jimmy Ryan CHI 163
Jim O’Rourke NY 158
Roger Connor NY 155
Jerry Denny IND 143
Deacon White DET 142
Ed Williamson CHI 140
Fred Pfeffer CHI 139
Paul Hines IND 138

Bases Produced
Jimmy Ryan CHI 378
Dan Brouthers DET 344
Cap Anson CHI 332
Roger Connor NY 331
Dick Johnston BOS 326
Dummy Hoy WASH 321
Emmett Seery IND 309
Fred Pfeffer CHI 291
Mike Tiernan NY 283
Jim O’Rourke NY 281

1888- American Association

Runs Produced
Long John Reilly CIN 202
Oyster Burns BAL 200
Tip O’Neill STL 189
Dave Foutz BRO 187
Henry Larkin PHI 186
Curt Welch PHI 185
Hub Collins LOU 184
Harry Stovey PHI 183
George Pinkney BRO 182
Charles Comisky STL 179

Bases Produced
Harry Stovey PHI 393
Long John Reilly CIN 363
Hub Collins LOU 344
Arlie Latham STL 338
Curt Welch PHI 324
George Pinkney BRO 319
Hugh Nicol CIN 318
Yank Robinson STL 315
Ed McKean CLE 313
Tip O’Neill STL 306

1889- National League

Runs Produced
Roger Connor NY 234
Hugh Duffy CHI 221
Dan Brouthers BOS 216
Cap Anson PHI 210
Mike Tiernan NY 210
Jack Glasscock IND 206
George Van Haltren CHI 198
Hardy Richardson BOS 195
Jimmy Ryan CHI 195
Sam Thompson PHI 194

Bases Produced
Jimmy Ryan CHI 402
Mike Tiernan NY 377
Roger Connor NY 376
King Kelly BOS 360
Jack Glasscock IND 360
Jim Fogarty PHI 351
Cap Anson CHI 341
Hugh Duffy CHI 341
George Van Haltren CHI 336
Dan Brouthers BOS 334

1889- American Association

Runs Produced
Harry Stovey PHI 252
Dave Foutz BRO 225
Tip O’Neill STL 224
Darby O’Brien BRO 221
Billy Hamilton KC 218
Hub Collins BRO 210
Denny Lyons PHI 208
Charles Comisky STL 204
Oyster Burns BRO 200
Tommy Tucker BAL 197

Bases Produced
Harry Stovey PHI 432
Billy Hamilton KC 409
Darby O’Brien BRO 389
Bug Holliday CIN 369
Herman Long KC 364
Tommy Tucker BAL 360
Tip O’Neill STL 355
Jim McTamany COL 349
Lefty Marr COL 342
Dan Stearns KC 340

Cumulative Run Production Ranking

Cap Anson 110
King Kelly 76
Jim O’Rourke 57
Dan Brouthers 52
Ross Barnes 49

Deacon White 49
Cal McVey 47
Harry Stovey 47
George Gore 46
George Wright 41

Tip O’Neill 36
Roger Connor 36
Long John Reilly 33
Charles Comisky 30
Charlie Jones 28

Paul Hines 28
Abner Dalrymple 27
Curt Welch 21
Hardy Richardson 21
Pete Browning 20

Hick Carpenter 20
Fred Pfeffer 19
Ezra Sutton 19
Ed Williamson 18
Lip Pike 17

Cumulative Base Production Ranking

Cap Anson 86
Jim O’Rourke 73
Harry Stovey 70
Dan Brouthers 64
King Kelly 57

Roger Conner 51
Ross Barnes 50
Charlie Jones 45
Abner Dalrymple 42
George Wright 41

Pete Browning 41
Paul Hines 40
Lip Pike 39
George Gore 34
Cal McVey 33

Long John Reilly 28
Deacon White 28
Dave Orr 24
Jimmy Ryan 23
George Hall 22

Arlie Latham 22
Charlie Jones 21
Jack Glasscock 17
Andy Leonard 16
Jim Fogarty 15

 

[SWC75]

TIP O’NEILL- In 1887 it was decided in both leagues to count hits as walks, essentially making a player’s batting average into an on-base percentage, although they didn’t call it that. The big beneficiary was Tip O’Neill pf the St. Louis Browns, who, under this system ‘hit’ .492, the highest batting average ever recorded. When the MacMillan Baseball Encyclopedia came out in 1968, it was decided to recomputed his batting average without the walks which reduced it to .435 and made Hugh Duffy’s 1894 batting average of .438 the highest ever.(Duffy’s batting average has since been recalculated to .440). In 2010 there was a decision made to reinstate O’Neill’s batting average to respect the rules of the time. O’Neill still batted .435 without counting walks and still won the batting title over Pete Browning, (.402). The problem as in the National League, where Cap Anson had won the batting title with .421 to Dan Brouther’s .419 and Sam Thompson’s .406 but if you removed walks, Thompson won with .372 to .347 for Anson and .388 for Brouthers. So it was decided to acknowledge O’Neill and Anson as the batting champions but not use the inflated averages for the purpose of records or lifetime batting averages. (The 20th century politician is named after this 19th century baseball player.)


O’Neill’s 1887 season was remarkable with or without the walks being counted as hits. His .435 batting average is still second to Duffy’s, (which was inflated for another reason, which I’ll discuss next week). He won the Triple Crown, leading the AA in home runs and RBIs. He also led in doubles, triples and runs scored. But Browning actually led in bases produced (457-437) because he stole 103 bases to only 30 for O’Neill.


Had the National league counted walks as hits in 2004, Barry Bonds would have had a batting average of .607. of course, with my7 base production formula, none of this makes any difference. Tip O’Neill produced 437 bases in 124 games in 1887, (3.52 bases per game). Barry Bonds in 2004 produced 541 bases in 147 games (3.68 bases per game)


CURT WELCH- Was the center fielder for the Browns, who had the highest winning percentage of any franchise in the decade. He was regarded as the outstanding fielding center fielder of the time. He also made what Bill James calls the “most famous play of the 19th century: stealing home to win the 1886 series for the Browns over the White Stockings. It was called “The 15,000 slide” because that was the purse for the3 winning team. Welch was a swift baserunner who officially stole 453 bases plus whatever his totals would have been for the first two years of his career, 1884-85. He was also the center of many brawls and was known as the “toughest player on the Browns”, who were considered to be the toughest team, ‘toughness’ meaning combativeness in those days. But he did lose one battle. He used to hide beer bottles beyond the billboards on the outfield fence for consumption during games. “An uncouth and uneducated man, Curt Welch drank himself out of the major leagues at age 31 and into a grave by age 34.”


GEORGE GORE- The White Stocking’s center fielder and another heavy drinker. Bill James quotes a source that calls him “a clown who would turn his hat backwards and dance on the base paths to entertain the crowd and distract the opposition”. A story goes that Gore and some teammates went to the track and bet on a horse named Charley who came up lame. When Gore got a cramp in the next days’ game, they called him “an old horse, just like Charley” and thus the term “Charley Horse” was coined. Gore’s own nickname was “Piano Legs” due to his bowed legs. But he as a good hitter, (.301) and great baserunner who twice stole 7 bases in a game. He may have stolen 8 in an 1881 game as a newspaper article says he swiped 2nd base five times and 3rd base three times. That would be the all-time record. But he wasn’t Welch’s equal as a center fielder, setting an all-time record for career errors with 368.


He was traded to New York after the 1886 season as a scapegoat for the loss to the Browns in the post season series, during which ti was alleged that many of the White Stockings players were drunk, (or that they had thrown the series). Gore’ social life was said to be interfering with his duties with the team. Cap Anson said years later: "Women and wine brought about his downfall, however, and the last time that I saw him in New York he was broken down, both in heart and pocket, and willing to work at anything that would yield him the bare necessities of life."


ABNER DALRYMPLE- The lead-off hitter for the White Stockings was one of those guys who never leads the standings or is considered to be in the highest rank of players but who is consistently productive thought the course of his career. James: “He was fast, an excellent left-handed line-drive hitter with some power, a fair arm and a good fielder. On a team field with characters and giants, he was a relatively quiet, almost sedate personality.” Still, he was not above pulling a baseball hidden in his shirt and pretending he caught it. Abner hit 22 home runs in 1884 the same year Ed Williamson hit 27 and for the same reason. He hit .311 lifetime.


HARDY RICHARDSON- In the TV series “Boardwalk Empire”, Nucky Thompson says that when he was a kid he had a catcher’s mitt signed by Hardy Richardson that some big kids stole from him. His father made Nucky go fight the kids to get it back. Richardson was one of the “Big Four” of the Buffalo Bison on the National league in the early 1880’s. The Detroit Wolverines bought the Bison franchise for a total of $7,000 to add their players to their own, (you don’t see that any more). They really wanted the “Big Four”, which consisted of Richardson, Orator Jim O’Rourke, Dan Brouthers and Deacon White. The two teams had been 41-67 and 38-74 the year before. The combined teams went 87-36 in 1886 and then won the pennant and the post season series with the Browns in 1887. Richardson’s biggest year was in the Player’s League of 1890 where he led with 146 RBI’s.


SAM THOMPSON- But the biggest gun for the Wolverines was Sam Thompson, a muscular 6-2 207, (Bill James compares him to Juan Gonzalez). Sam batted .331 lifetime with 630 extra base hits, including 126 home runs. He and Jimmy Foxx are the only two players to have 160+ RBI’s with one team, Thompson getting 166 with the Wolverines and 165 eight years alter with the Phillies, when he set a record with 61 RBIs in one incredible month that will never be broken. Those were the highest RBI figures in baseball until Babe Ruth came along. Thompson ranks #4 all time in RBIs per plate appearance. Bill Jenkinson has a chapter on him in “Baseball’s Ultimate Power”. He documents two 425 foot home runs Sam hit onto a railroad station in 1889 when he was with the Phillies. At age 46, he became the oldest man to hit a triple in the major leagues when he appeared in 8 games with the Detroit Tigers.


DAVE ORR- If Sam Thompson was the “Juan Gonzalez” of the 19th century, Dave Orr was the Prince Fielder. At 5-11 250, he didn’t seem to have the physique of a baseball player but he could clobber the ball, which he did on his way to a .342 lifetime batting average in a brief career. He never made double figures in home runs but had as a many as 31 triples in a season. With his dimensions, (and he was not a big-time base stealer), you know that was about power, not speed.


Orr was a great favorite in Brooklyn and when he was traded to the Columbus Solons, a poem appeared in the paper lamenting his departure:

"To Dave Orr — Brooklyn's Lament
What! Big Dave Orr gone?
No, not He, who, with smiling face,
Has so often set the pace
For the Brooklyns in the pennant race.
It's not possible he has gone.
Who'll take the place of our genial Dave?
He, who with a mighty wave,
With his great big stave,
Would the sphere so smite,
With 'Herculean' might.
Who'll take the place of Dave?
* * *
Oh! Columbus, you've got our Dave;
You have got a jewel whose immense worth
Is as great as his girth.
And may his shadow know no waste,
And remain as great as his waist.
Wherever you are, 'success attend you, Dave.'

But Orr had not performed his last service for Brooklyn. The Bridegrooms, as they were called then, were battling the Browns, who had won four straight AA pennants for the 1889 title. The Brown’s last game was against Columbus and Orr came up to the plate with the score tied with two outs in the bottom of the 9th. The Bridegrooms would win the pennants if the Solons could pull it out. The count went full and then: "There was a situation for fair - one to dream about! One ball to decide a pennant! The pitcher heaved up the ball and Orr swung. There was a crack and the ball started toward the city. It crossed the right center field fence still going higher. It crossed the canal, hit just above the second-story window of a cottage, bounded and rolled up an alley - and Comiskey's men yielded the pennant."


Orr returned to Brooklyn the next year to play for their team in the Player’s League. At the end of that season he suffered a stroke at age 31 that ended his career. Dan Brouthers:"The greatest hitter that ever played ball was old Dave Orr. He didn't care whether they were over the plate or not. If they were within reach of that long bat of his he would hit them out, and when he hit them there was no telling whether they would be found again or not. I have always held that Dave Orr was the strongest and best hitter that ever played ball." When he died in 1915, Brooklyn sports writer Abe Yager wrote: "Dave Orr is no more. A finer soul never breathed in any walk of life and he was a credit to the profession. In a talk on general subjects the last time he was in the press box at Washington Park, the veteran remarked that he never said anything derogatory against anybody, and that was true. The writer knew him 25 years and never heard him say a harsh word to anybody." That might be Dave Orr’s most impressive accomplishment.

 

[br801]

Great stuff. I'm familiar with a lot of those names, but didn't know anything about Dave Orr before reading that. Thanks.

 

[SWC75]

Great stuff. I'm familiar with a lot of those names, but didn't know anything about Dave Orr before reading that. Thanks.

I'm having fun finding out about these guys, too. I feel like I watched Orr's home run go over the fence.