Delaware Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1843-1874, 1866-08-06
For the Delaware Republican,
THE OLYMPIC v5, COMMONWEALTH

. we deprecatea a newspaper controversy, bu
compelled by the mistatemeHts ts of the Secre.
I tary of the Commonwealth Base Ball Club o
Philadelphia, published In the Republican, o
the 18th idst., concerning the game played be
tween the clubs above named, we must ii
justice to ourselves reply thereto.
Misstatement lst.-aEight O'Clock being the
time appointed to begin, but they (the Com
monwealth,) were delayed for over an hour by
tue nonappearance OF some OF the memoe-s OF
the olympic" We positively deny the state-
ment The truth Is, that after the last man oi
the olympic was on the grouud and waiting
one at least, of the Commonwealth had not
made bis appearance.
Misstatement 2nd.-"At the fourth inning
when the Olympic gained go much upon the
Commonwealth, which was attained by Mr..
Barritt, (pitcher.) meeting with severe strain
and Mr.. Kern I'D base,) being struck with a
foul ball which laid him out, almost disabl ling
| him"
| Scarcely any Of this Is true. The pitcher,
was not strained. Mr.. Kern vas hit as stated
but was able to play to the end of the game.
But had all these statements been correct, the
Commonwealth, like any other club took the
chances and run the risk of casualties ~ play
ing match game, and their excuses amount
to nothing
Misstatement 3d.-"The Olympic refused to
allow any one to run the base for them" This
is not true. The Olympic did OBJ ject to Moore,
"a good runner,) running in the place of Bar
ritt IA bad one,) and who was not in any way
hurt in the game, but they made the offer to
let some ore run in the place of Kern, hit by
the ball, which was declined.
Misst atement 4th.-"When the fifth inning
was played it was after ons O'Clock, and the
Commonwealth being compelled to leave for
home on the 2.30 train.n
This statement is not true in any particular |
The Commonwealth discontinued playing a
few minutes after IL o'clock, and the train did |
not leave until 2.4o P. NJ, thus making pc.
riod ct more than two hours and half before |
train time, when half an hour would have given |
ample time TO get ready to leave
Misstatement 5th.-"The Olympic not under
standing that Eve innings may constitute a
game.n
Five or more innings may constitute game |
but the Umpire In all match games shall de- |
termine when play shall discontinue. In this
game the Commonwealth entirely ignored the |
rules the game, and authority OF the Umpire, |
and broke the game up at the end Of the fifth |
innings, aud it was unfair, unjust and unmanly
TO refuse to play at the end of ave innings,
when the Commonwealth discovered they
would surely be beaten. Tha. club did not
discover 1t must leave in the afternoon train
until It saw 1t would be beaten; then the men,
oers said, as they were all employed in Phil
adelphia, they could not lose the time to re-
main longer. The Olympic than offered to pay
their expenses, and pay them for all lost time
If they would remain and finish the game, but
they declined the offer.
Misstatement 6th.-"Tsking into considera-
tion the fact that the Uommonwe ealth being a
JUNIOR cluoI ths Umpire not being couversant
with the rules of the game, the grounds being
very poor, and the sympathies of the spectators
being in favor of the Olympic, it may be said
the Commonwealth played an up hill game"
And we may add would have been badly
beaten had they played the full nine innings
II these statements are true, the facts the Com
m onwealta wish taken into consideration were
as disadvantageous to the other club as to |
Lhem. That the Commonwealth was junior
club was no disadvantage that we can see,-
that the Umpise was ignorant OF the rules oil
me game was favorable tn that club,-if the
grounds were poor, both clubs had the same I,
disadvantage, and the sympathies of the spec
'toIs could not cause good club to maze
Dad playing, nor bad clab to make good play :
ng. We have seldom seen better grounds on
which TO play bass ball.
Mlsstatement 7th.-"As for being the guests y
IT the Olympic we would not have known that :,
uch clnb existed as far as nospitalities were II
oncerned, as there was no one at the depot =
o bid us adieu."
There ia no truth in this statement, Several
- sAN VI thS Ot5mpiC hCCOuphH | ,l
De Commonwealth to .he cars, but we regret u
0 be obliged to state the facts; but justice to ~ =.
urseiVes demands that we must produce them. is
ONE Of the members OF the Common wealth
pent the two hours and halt between the u
me they ceased to play and the moment of ef m
avlngi in drinking, carousng and singing at - -
10 hotel part OF them even under the nfu- y,
ice of liquor, two or three very much so, and ~
1e so much intoxicated that it was fouad nee p
s9BaFy in he \ ma ha |
erefore that they were not aware that the VI
'ympic accompanied them to the cara and al al
d them friendly farewell. he
We will say in conclusion that the article in pr pr
Q Republican of the 18th ult., to which tho Gu gu
'creary of the Commonwealth replied, was VI
It written by any member ofthis club or with wy :"
Q knowledge or consent of it. .os
y. B. oLARksoS, Sec'y Olympic B. B. c. w. w.
July %, 1866. . .es
w