September 21, 1883: Bobby Mathews wins 30th game in a wild one in the Gateway City

It was a battle for the American Association pennant, but “not a good game from a scientific standpoint,” opined the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.1 The first-place Philadelphia Athletics (63-28) arrived in the Gateway City to kick off a pivotal three-game series with the second-place St. Louis Browns (61-31). On a season-ending 13-game road swing, the Athletics needed to win just three of their final seven games to secure the championship of the American Association’s second season; the Browns needed a miracle. The result was a contest that had everything, noted the Globe-Democrat: “home runs, loose fielding, interspersed with brilliant performances, wild throws, muffs, wrangles over points, appeals to and arguments with the umpire.”2

Baseball fans flocked to Sportsman’s Park on the city’s north side to take in a Friday afternoon of baseball. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that there were at least 8,000 spectators at the game,3 while the (Philadelphia) Times described it as the “largest week-day gathering in the history of the home association” and estimated the crowd at 12,000.4 The City of Brotherly Love was also baseball-mad. The score was shown in Recreation Park, the Athletics’ home ballpark, while “bulletin boards around newspaper offices were besieged” by fans.5

The game pitted two of the league’s best right-handed hurlers. Scheduled to start for the A’s was rookie Jack Jones, but skipper Lon Knight made a last-minute change, sending his ace, Bobby Mathews, to the rubber because he “always proved to be a terror” to the Browns, reported the Times.6 Just 5-feet-5 and 140 pounds, he was in search of his 30st victory of the season and the 221st of his career, which would tie Tommy Bond for the most wins by an active player.7The Browns skipper, Charles Comiskey, called on emerging star Tony Mullane, who had already reached the 30-win plateau for the second consecutive season.8

Despite the marquee pitching matchup, the game was sloppy as “both sides exhibited great nervousness,” the Times wrote.9 An average of nearly 10 errors was committed in an American Association game in 1883; this game had 31, including 14 by the Browns, who had the league’s best fielding percentage.10 Only four of the game’s 31 runs were earned, all of them for St. Louis.11

The Browns won the coin toss and chose to take the field. The game commenced at 3:13 and the A’s jumped out to a 6-0 lead.12 Jud Birchall led off with a “corking hit” through shortstop and scored three batters later on shortstop Bill Gleason’s throwing error to home.13 The A’s tacked on four more runs in an error-laden third, highlighted by the league’s most formidable slugger, Harry Stovey, who smacked one of his league-most 31 doubles.14 Birchall made it 2-0 when he scored after being caught in a rundown at third. With the bases loaded, Jack O’Brien sent one to left field to plate Stovey; catcher Pat Deasley muffed George Strief’s infield relay, enabling Knight and Mike Moynahan to score. In the top of the fourth, Birchall’s double to left drove in Cub Stricker for a 6-0 lead. The league’s most potent offense, averaging 7.35 runs per game, was cruising.

The Browns revived the “drooping spirits” of the spectators, wrote the Globe-Democrat, by scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth.15 A turning point came when first baseman Stovey sprained his knee chasing a foul ball by Strief with two men on. Moments later, Stovey attempted to complete an inning-ending double-play but his throw home to nab Hugh Nicol on Strief’s grounder was late, giving the Browns their first run.16 Unable to walk, Stovey exited the game, replaced by George Bradley, a former pitcher and third baseman. Two batters later, Bradley muffed Mullane’s high popup, allowing Fred Lewis and Deasley to score. Bradley made four errors in the game, but would emerge as one of the day’s heroes.

Each team scored three runs in an action-packed fifth. The A’s managed just one hit (O’Brien’s double to deep left), but Mullane’s “delivery became very unsteady,” wrote the Globe-Democrat.17 He walked one and threw two wild pitches, one resulting in a run. The other two were tallied on a fly ball and first baseman Comiskey’s wild throw to third attempting to complete a double play. The Browns answered with their heaviest hitting of the game. Comiskey singled, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Nicol’s single. The Browns hit only seven home runs all season, one of which was Lewis’s two-run blast over the right-field fence to pull the Browns to within three, 9-6.

The Browns tacked on two more in the seventh inning, which also produced the game’s first brouhaha. Nicol began the frame by reaching first on an error. He stole second, but suddenly three A’s players, “yelling like Comanches,” surrounded umpire Charles Daniels, reported the Post-Dispatch.18 Daniels reversed his decision and called Nicol out, prompting the Browns bench to erupt. It looked as if Nicol and Daniels might brawl. The entire “circus” delayed the game five minutes, continued the newspaper, and Daniels stood by his second call. Joe Quest accounted for both runs, tripling to left-center to drive in Lewis, and scoring on a passed ball to make it 9-8.

With the game’s momentum shifting, the Athletics exploded for four runs in the eighth. Birchall led off with his game-high fourth hit, progressed stations on a passed ball and Mullane’s wild pitch, and scored on Knight’s grounder that shortstop Gleason fumbled. Run-scoring singles by O’Brien and Fred Corey and another wild pitch by Mullane resulting in a run accounted for the other three tallies to give the Athletics a 13-9 lead.

The Browns answered in the bottom of the frame with three runs. Gleason reached when Bradley (who “could not catch anything,” wrote the Times)19 muffed a relay throw. He moved to third on Comiskey’s single and scored on Arlie Latham’s sacrifice. Nicol’s double plated Comiskey, then he stole third and came home when catcher Ed Rowen (who “threw the ball in all directions,” lamented the Times),20 fired the ball into left field, committing one of his eight errors.

With the Athletics leading 13-11 to start the ninth, a cold front moved in, dropping the temperature from around 70 at game time to the high 50s.21 Mullane set down the visitors one-two-three. The skies grew even darker and according to the Times, “a regular hurricane had possession of the park and clouds of dust at times hid players from sight.”22 Several A’s players surrounded the umpire and asked that the game be called. Daniels, reported the Times, “acquiesced and walked to the bench, as through to get his coat at leave the grounds,” setting off another brouhaha.23 The Browns’ German-born owner and president, Chris von der Ahe, who had been sitting with his players on the bench, jumped up and ordered Daniels to continue the game. Players began “gesticulating” at one another while spectators were “hooting and hollering” to play ball.24 Perhaps concerned about a possible riot, Daniels ordered the Athletics to the field, after which the club said it would play the game under protest.

Hit hard in the previous two innings, Mathews took the mound for the final inning. He “proved as invulnerable as ever,” gushed the Times, and “by his generalship he outwitted the home team and at critical moments his cool head prevented a rattling of his forces.”25 Strief led off with a fly to right field, but the “ball was scarcely distinguishable.”26 Knight muffed the catch and Strief reached second. Mullane popped high to Moynahan at short. Gleason followed with what “seemed like best hit of the day,” a blast to deep center field where the much-maligned George Bradley had been moved to start the inning.27 According to the Times, Bradley “lost [the ball] in a great cloud of dust,” then caught it.28Gleason stayed on first, claiming that he had dropped it. Daniels seemed confused, but called Gleason out. “To the surprise of all,” acknowledged the Globe-Democrat,” Bradley saved the game.”29 Comiskey hit to O’Brien to end the contest in 2 hours and 45 minutes.

The 13-11 victory moved the Athletics to within two games of the title, but the quest for those victories was tension-filled. They split the final two in St. Louis, then traveled to Louisville for a season-ending four-game series with the Eclipse. After losing the first two games, they won the third to claim the title.

Mathews’ 30th victory of the season marked a stunning change of fortunes for the Baltimore native. After winning 131 games in the National Association (1871-1875), he bounced around in various independent leagues and for four teams in the National League, winning just 60 big-league games in his next seven seasons (1876-1882). He reclaimed his ace status with the Athletics in 1883, and won exactly 30 games each of the next two seasons. In 1885 Mathews set a big-league record with his 252nd victory and extended the mark until Pud Galvin overtook him in 1888.30 Mathews retired with 297 victories (and 248 losses), the most in big-league history of anyone not inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author accessed Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, and SABR.org.

Notes

1 “A Loose Exciting Game and a Victory for the Athletics,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 22, 1883: 4.

2 “A Loose Exciting Game and a Victory for the Athletics,”

3 “The Athletics Win a Victory and the Pennant, Also,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 22, 1883: 9.

4 “The Athletics’ Victory,” (Philadelphia) Times, September 22, 1883: 2.

5 “The Coming Champions,” (Philadelphia) Times, September 22, 1883: 2. Without radio or television, the scores of baseball games were often displayed inning by inning at many kinds of venues, from newspaper offices to stores. The Times noted also that “enterprising news dealers and cigar men in all portions of the city had bulletin boards up.”

6 “The Athletics’ Victory.”

7 This claim deserves a caveat: Bond effectively stopped pitching after the 1880 season and had a record of 221-145. He made only five appearances in 1881 and 1882, losing four decisions. Technically not retired in 1883, Bond did not play big-league baseball. He returned in 1884, going 13-9 in the Union Association and 0-5 in the American Association.

8 The 24-year-old Tony Mullane finished the season with a 35-15 slate in 1883 after a 30-24 record in his first full big-league season. Bobby Mathews was a former star for the Baltimore Canaries and New York Mutuals in the National Association.

9 “The Athletics’ Victory.”

10 An average of 9.97 errors was committed in American Association games in 1883. The Browns made the fewest (3.96); while the A’s (5.95) were ranked seventh in the eight-team league.

11 All of the play-by-play information for this game is from three sources: “A Loose Exciting Game and a Victory for the Athletics,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 22, 1883: 4; “The Athletics Win a Victory and the Pennant, Also,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 22, 1883: 9; and “The Athletics’ Victory,” (Philadelphia) Times.

12 Information about the coin toss and the game’s starting time from “A Loose Exciting Game and a Victory for the Athletics.”

13 “The Athletics’ Victory.”

14 Harry Stovey also led the AA with 14 home runs, 110 runs scored, and a .506 slugging percentage in 1883.

15 “A Loose Exciting Game and a Victory for the Athletics.”

16 According to the Globe-Democrat, as Strief grounded to back to the mound, Nicol broke from second to steal third. Mullane’s throw to Stovey dispatched Strief, but Stovey’s throw to Rowen at the plate was late.

17 “A Loose Exciting Game and a Victory for the Athletics.”

18 “The Athletics Win a Victory and the Pennant, Also.”

19 “The Athletics’ Victory.”

20 “The Athletics’ Victory.”

21 “The Weather,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 22, 1883: 5.

22 “The Athletics’ Victory.”

23 “The Athletics’ Victory.”

24 “The Athletics’ Victory.”

25 “The Athletics’ Victory.”

26 “The Athletics’ Victory.”

27 “The Athletics’ Victory.”

28 “The Athletics’ Victory.”

29 “A Loose Exciting Game and a Victory for the Athletics.”

30 In the history of major-league baseball, beginning with the conclusion of the first season in the National Association in 1871, only four pitchers have been the career leader in victories at the end of each subsequent season: Al Spalding (1871-1884), Bobby Mathews (1885-1887), Pud Galvin (1888-1902), and Cy Young since 1903.