Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-17

them. and many a twirling enigma was
shown up by the swatters.
The championship team Of 1887 was COM
posed of Charlie Bennett, catcher; Lady"
Baldwin, Charlie Getzein and Larry Twitch-
ell, pitche rs; Dan Brouthers, first base:
Fred Dunlap, second base; Jack Rowe.
shortstop; Deacon White. third base; Har-
die Richardson. left field: Ned Hanlon. GEN.
ter field, and Sam Thompson, right field.
OF this aggregation, Brouthers, Richardson.
Thompson, Rowe, White and Dunlap were
all able to clout the sphere away over the
300 mark.
The Tigers went in and simply batted
their way to the worlds championship at
the expense Of the Browns pitchers. De-
spite all the famous inside work and heady
base ball Of Comiskey's men they could do
nothing in the face OF the storm Of hits
generated from the Detroit bats.
Again, in 1883, for the fourth time in sue
cession. the Browns won the pennant in the
American Association. and at this time
Giants in the fight, for the big champion
ship. The pace set by the Giants was too
hot for the Browns. and for the second
time they were defeated in a worlds cham
pionship series. The Giants beat the hard
hitting Detroit team for the National
League pennant because Of the weak work
of Pitchers Baldwin and Getzein.
The Giants Of 1888.
The New York team Of 1888 was one OF
the strong base ball mines of history Dur
ing the series with the Browns Buck Ewing
caught every game, Tim Keefe and Smiling
Mickey Welsh alternated in the box. Roger
Conner. Danny Richardson, John M. Ward
and Arthur Whitney composed the infield.
while Jim ORourke, Mike Herman and
Slattery worked in the outfield.
This defeat was too much for Won der
Abe. and he was so angry that he offered
Charley Byrne of Brooklyn the pick of his
Foutz, and gave Won der Abe $1,000 for the
trio. These three men succeeded in Winning
the pennant for Brooklyn in 1889.
Team work, then in its infancy, was
really responsible for the continued sue
cesses of the Browns during these years.
Comiskey drilled his team on that feature
necessarily, and no man on the team ever
broke away from the knowledge that there
were eight others the team working for
! the same end that he was.
Comskeys men introduced many new
plays in the game. but have never re-
ceived credit for all that they did to make
During the four years Aof uninterrupted
pennants there were few changes in the
team. Hudson helped in the pitching de-
partment. and Hugh Nicol and Tom Nc
Carthy worked in the outfield at different
times, but the brunt of the work was borne
by the nine which defeated Ansons team
twice.
Comskey, WEIGH, Latham, Nicol and Nc
Carthy were star base runners. and the
first two We're the first men to perfect and
use the slide to second base on a steal.
Latham perfected the bunt, and could fool
any pitcher by continually foulng off until
he saw ball he thought he would like
The Lively Baltimores.
The Baltimore Orioles have been given
credit for the invention of the hitand-run
game, but Comiskey's men did this before
Keller, McGraw and Kelly were in the
game.
Comskey played the deepest first base
that was ever seen on any diamond. 1t
was often said that when Commy played
first base there was no need of having a
right fielder, as the old Roman played so
deep that he was able to catch everything
that went to short right field. He conse-
quently first made the pitcher cover the
first sack.
Outfielder Tip O'Neill was one Of the best
! batters that ever lived. He Joined the
Browns as a pitcher, but his great hitting
powers caused Comskey to put hin In the
outfield in order that his batting might be
used in every game Tip was said to have
been a rather weak fielder, but that was
never apparent to the fans because or the
marvellous work of Curt WEIGH In center.
WEIGH took half the balls that belonged
to ONell. and would often go over into
the other garden and gather in a few of the
more difficult ones. Curt was weak bat
ter, but always had the nerve to allow him
self to be hit when it would help the team
to get a run across the plate.
'Brudder Bill Gleason, the third base
man. was a tremendous batter but trife
slow in his work in the field. Bushong was
a great catcher, and caught nearly every
game that the Bhowns played in during the
four years from 1885 to 1888.
In 1888 Comiskey replaced Carruthers and
Foutz with Charlie King. who soon be-
came one of the best pitchers in the game
Jack Boyle took Bushongs place. and, with
only one good battery, King and Boyle, the
Browns nearly beat out Brooklyn for the
Dennant in that year.