The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-02-05
GROWTH OF BASEBALL
President Young Looks Back to
Days of His Youth.
WRIGHT'S FAMOUS NINE
Conquering Career OF the Rods Never
Equalled-Some Scores Which Make
Curious Rsading-How Cham
pionships Were Decided.

This last year marked the 2Sth an
niversary of the legal baseball code
which came into existence with the Ma
tional Association of Professional Base
ball Players unused Uncle Nick
Young yesterday, as he turned back 20
the first chapter of the national game
This association was organized in the
spring of II. Before this organizatio
was perfected there were no schedules,
no assignment of games between clubs
1t was the custom to declare a winner
on the basis of what we called best two
in three games The biggest boom the
game ever received before the existence
Oh the professional association came
from Cincinnati, where Harry Wright's
Cincinnati Reds were the idols of the
people of the Queen City, and, indeed,
the whole Buckeye state
The Reds by their unbroken record
of victories during the season of $50
became the undisputed champions of
the world. This aggregation of base
ball heroes swabbed up the diamond
SO to speak, in their triumph tour of
the country In looking over the clip
pings in my scrapbook I find that the
Reds started the season of $50 early IN
March. After Walloping every club in
Ohio they started eastward, hating at
Buffalo for match as they called it
then, with the Niagaras of Buffalo
The Reds wound up the season with a
game that had the old Olympics Of
Washington for opponents Among the
crack teams that fell before the Reds
were the noted Haymakers of Troy,
the New York Mutuals, the Philadel-
phia Athletics, the Brooklyn Eckfords,
the Marylands of Baltimore and the
Nationals and Olympics of Washington.
Perhaps the most remarkable game
OF the season was the one in which
they had the Haymakers for antagon-
lists. This game was played on the
Reds own heather at Cincinnati. 1t was
the only game they failed to win that
season, though they didn't lose it, as
they fought the visitors to draw, a
tie match as we termed it in We palmy
day of the game. My scrapbook tells
me that the banner game for run-get-
ting was played that year by the Reds
against the Buckeye team, at Cincin-
natl, with a record of 103 tallies for
Cincinnati. Just fancy such score in
the last of the century game. Tt almost
beggars belief. The lowest score, and
perhaps the prettiest game of that sea-
son, was between the Reds and MI
tuals, at Brooklyn, the score being to
in favor of the Harry Wrights, at
the end OF the ninth. The tie score of
the Reds and Haymakers was II to IT.
The Reds made a western trip that
season. They began their tour to The
Occident with a game at ST. Louis,
meeting the Unions, the pride of the
Mound City, and winning 70 to g. In
Sc games played that season, the Reds
won So, tied one and scored 1872 runs.
The laurels they gathered during the
last year of the sixties We're well nigh
duplicated in 20. Their season Of 20
opened with a game at Louisville, and
victory, of course, the Eagles of the
Falls City falling for score of "a to T.
Victory was the glorious portion of
these unbeaten champions till June IA.
On this date, ever green in the memory
of us oldsters in baseball occurred the
red-letter game in baseball chronicles
up to that day Eleven innings were
required in the settlement of that
struggle, in which the Atlantics of
Brooklyn We're arrayed against the
champions. Only 10 runs were register
ed at the home rubber. an abnormally
small score for those days. The Allan
tics scored a one-run victory, s to Z. II
was the first overthrow of the Reds