, 1889-09-29
GREAT BASEBALL.
The League Teams Played
Well in 1888.
NEW YoRK's GIANTS CHAMPIONS.

Nelse lines Reviews In His Best Vein
Last Years Race for the Pennant-How
the War Was waGed from Start to
Finish.
A great baseball year was that Of 1888. It
saw as champions for the first time since their
connection with the League the New York
Giants in a most exciting campaign. Again
did the Bostons enter the battle strongly
equipped by the accession of a new star
and this time it was the strong pitcher of the
Chicago club, John G.. Garrison. II was
Krock, from the Northwestern league, that
Capt Anson, depended upon mostly to take
Clarkson's place. The Philadelphias lost by
death that remarkably fine pitcher and gem
eral player, Ferguson, and his place could not
be wholly filled, although the club was fortu-
nate to the services of that promis-
ing young player, Sanders.
The Detroits were badly crippled, and this
had a great deal to do with the low standing
they had at the close Of the season. Richard
son was injured in the leg at the height of
the season so that he was unable TO rejoin the
club. Thompson, of the same club, injured
his arm so that he was unable to throw, and
the players who were substituted for these
remarkably strong men were unable to fill
their places, and the result was that the club
was unable to do that fine work that won for
1t the championship of the season previous
Pittsburg relied upon Morris and Calvin to
do most Of its pitching, and toward the end
of the season secured First Baseman Beckley
from the St Louis Whites, of the Western
association. He proved to be a great acqui-
sition to the club. Had he and Pitcher Sta
ley, who Joined the club at the same time
that Beckley was secured, been in the nine
from the first, the Pittsburgs would have
made a great bid for first honora
The Washingtons were not strong enough
in their personnel to allow the pitchers conf
dence enough to do good work. In fact the
nine relied altogether too much upon its
pitchers to win games. As was the case in
the campaign of 1887, the Bostons opened the
season with a rush and filed their admirers
with joy by winning o straight games, 4 each
in Philadelphia and Washington and l in New
York. The Chicagos had been playing good
ball, however, and on May 8 the clubs were
even, with II victories and 3 defeats each.
In April, when the Bostons had made the
record of 8 straight games, the Philadelphia,
who beat them at the end. won but Q games
out OF o.
The month of May showed some great
changes. The Philadelphias rallied and won
Ii games out Of 10, while the Bostons took n
great drop, winning but IL out of "a. The
Chicagos took and held the lead after MAY 5.
On June l they had won 81 games and lost
but 8, while the New Yorks had won II and
lost IL to II won and 10 lost for Detroit. In
June the Chicagos not only held the lead but
added to it, winning in that month IA out of
q, while the New Yorks could win but Is out
OF "a The Dotroits made a good squirt in
this month, and had IL not been for unfortun-
ate injuries they would probably have main
tanned this gait. They won 10 games out of
~, and this gave them a record up to July /
of 80 victories and ~ defeats to 50 victories
and IL defeats for Chicago. The New Yorks
had won 80 games and lost %, and while the
other clubs were well ahead the New Workers
were not out of the race. AT this time the
Bostons Ind won 80 games and lost "a, and
were therefore IN almost even terms with
the New Workers.
Matters changed greatly in July. The
New Yorks, with Whitney, of the Pittsburgs,
on third base, began to put up the finest kind
of ball that was ever seen In New York and
that won for It three championships, viz,
the League championship, the championship
OF the world and the championship of New
York and Brooklyn. President Day encour-
aged his men to do their best, and the result
was that in July the New Yorks won IS
games out Of %, a record not even approached
by any OF the other clubs This steady play
drove the Bostons out of the third place. The
Chicagos fell off badly, and after having
been in the lead all the time from May 5 to
July %, this club took a bad tumble and left
the first place to be fought for by the De-
troits and New Yorks. The end of July saw
the New Yorks In the van, the Detroit sec
ond, the Chicagos third, the Bostons and
Philadelphias close to one another in the
fourth and fifth positions.
The following were tho figures of the LIST
of August; New Yorks won 4S, lost 2S; Be
troits won AZ, lost 20; Chicagos won As, lost
81; Bostons won 81, lost Al; Philadelphias
won SO, lost 80. The situation was therefore
most interesting. The New Workers chung
to the lead and made almost as good a record
as in the preceding month, its record for Au-
gust being 10 victories in "a games played,
making the fine showing for July and August
of "a games won and but ID lost, a champion
ship gait. The Bostons and Philadelphias
both rallied in August, the Bostons winning
10 games out Of % and the Philadelphia
securing 10 games out Of "a. 1t was In this
month that the Detroits began to fall behind,
losing game after game until they lost IS
consecutive games. This put them out of
the race. The P~ittsburgs made their best
record of the season in this month, winning
10 games out of 25. Sept l came and found
the New Yorks in the van with ca victories
TO their credit and 80 defeats; Chicago won
81, lost A; Detroit won So, lost As; Boston
won %, IoSV ~, fnllnuelpnla won o., lost As.
The New Yorks kept up their steady gait
up to the close of the season and were never
again headed. winning by a lead Of seven
games in victories and eleven in defeats, the
percentage being 81 for New York to 5l.O
for Chicago. Had the New Yorks begun the
season as strong as they flushed, the cham
pionship would have been won in a canter.
1t WINS a fine struggle between the Bostons
and Phiadelphias for the third place, but the
Bostons could not hold their own on home
grounds at the close of the season, winning
but five games out of ten in October, while
the Philadelphias won eight out of nine. The
Detroits did as badly as the Bostons, and
were in the fifth place at the close of the
campaign by three points in percentage.
In no small measure was the winning of the
Pennant due to the fine pitching of Reefe, of
the New Yorks, who won IS out of AZ games
pitched, and TO WEIGH, whose victories num-
bered 20 In IS games Titcomb also made a
most creditable record, winning IA games out
OF q played Krock, of the Chicagos, won
25 games out of 80; Buflnton, of Philadel-
phia, 30 out Of A; Garrison, of Boston, SO
out OF So; Conway, of Detroit, 81 out OF As.
The leading League batsman was Arson, of