April 20, 1896: Beaneaters lead a Patriots’ Day hit parade

A combination of fine weather, a state holiday,1 the largest recorded crowd at the South End Grounds to date, and serious Boston batting made the Beaneaters’ 1896 home opener an event to be remembered for some time, although not for the quality of the baseball.

In 1896 the South End Grounds in its third iteration had a capacity of 6,800. Remarkably, the paid attendance for the home opener was 18,033, including a large enough number of women to be remarked upon in the Boston and Baltimore newspapers, and an additional 21 nonpaying boys taking in the game from the branches of the old tree outside the grounds behind first base.2 According to Tim Murnane of the Boston Globe, “not more than twice before [had] so many people seen a baseball game in Boston,” and the numbers attending on those two occasions had only been estimates.3 Of even greater significance, it was reported that the Beaneaters ownership closed the gates 15 minutes before the 2:30 P.M. scheduled start and “refused to admit thousands of people who pushed and crowded in the street.”4 Moreover, many who did get in but could see nothing returned to the ticket office for a refund. In all, it was estimated that fully 5,000 were turned away.5 Nevertheless, given the nearly threefold disparity between the seating capacity of the ballpark and the number of spectators who had paid for the privilege of viewing the game, many stood throughout the contest, with great throngs impinging on the corner infielders to such an extent that the police were called in to keep them back and force them to sit.

By the time team captains Hugh Duffy (for Boston) and Wilbert Robinson had come to agreement with umpire Tom Lynch on a special ground rule for baseballs hit into the crowds, the game had been delayed a full 15 minutes in starting. The rule agreed upon was that only one base would be allowed on any kind of hit into the crowd, but that a runner would be allowed to come home from second base. Although the rule made sense under the circumstances, it “robbed the game of its most attractive features, brilliant catches in the outfield.”6 As a result, all of the hits amassed by the two teams were singles. As the Baltimore Sun reported, “Naturally there was not much enthusiasm to see the players walk the bases on hits that went over the heads of the fielders into the crowd. It wasn’t much like baseball.”7

This verdict was not really apparent until the bottom of the third inning. At that point, the teams were tied, 4-4, with neither team showing to advantage in the field. Baltimore had scored two unearned runs in the top of the second inning without the benefit of a hit when left fielder Billy Hamilton, second baseman Bobby Lowe, and shortstop Herman Longeach muffed flies. But Boston put the game away in its half of the third inning.

Captain Duffy led off with a single to left. Jimmy Collins placed one to right field and Duffy went around to third as Collins was caught attempting to go to second on fine throws by right fielder Willie Keeler and third baseman Jim Donnelly. Jimmy Bannon singled to center, scoring Duffy. After Tommy Tucker’s hit to short right and Marty Bergen’s infield hit, Kid Nichols walked with the bases loaded, forcing in Bannon. Hamilton then bunted to pitcher Sadie McMahon, whose error allowed Tucker to score. Long’s hit scored Bergen and Nichols. Hamilton and Long advanced a base on Robinson’s passed ball and both scored on Lowe’s single to left. Lowe was thrown out attempting to steal second. Duffy’s second plate appearance of the inning resulted in a walk. Collins reached first on a slow hit to the hapless McMahon, sending Duffy to third. Duffy scored on Robinson’s unsuccessful attempt to catch Collins stealing second. Fortunately for Baltimore, Collins was caught napping shortly thereafter, allowing the frame to close with “only” eight runs plated, baserunning having accounted for all three of the outs.

Although comfortably ahead at that point, Boston was not quite finished demonstrating its batting prowess. The Beaneaters had been able to score only a single run off relief pitcher George Hemming in the fourth inning, but Boston treated him as poorly in the fifth as it had his predecessor in the third, tallying seven runs, all earned, on 10 hits, with Duffy and Collins each collecting two and, of the remaining seven batters, all but Bergen reaching safely, “each batter hitting into the crowd and trotting to second, while his predecessor walked across the plate.”8 

The rest of the game was anticlimactic with the exception of the final two innings when Boston manager Frank Selee unveiled Willard Mains, who had been drafted from Lewiston (Maine) of the New England League.9 While Mains walked four batters over two innings, he allowed none of them to score and his unorthodox crossfire delivery, coming as if from third base, was a real crowd pleaser. In fact, if one merely read the first sentence of the Boston Post’s account of the game (“Mains of Maine was the hero of the opening game on the South End grounds yesterday afternoon”10), one would have been seriously misled into thinking that the game had been a pitching gem rather than a slugfest. In the final analysis, but for the two half-innings of heavy Boston batting, the teams were fairly evenly matched, particularly in the field, with numerous errors committed by the two clubs, not to mention four passed balls, two wild pitches, and a hit batsman.11

While the quality of play left a lot to be desired, the forum did give the fans a first look at the new Boston players. Collins, at third base, was not really new to the team, having played briefly in 1895 before being loaned to the Louisville Colonels for the balance of the season. Nevertheless, interest in his prowess at the corner was keen; he was facing the unenviable task of replacing the popular Billy Nash, who had captained Boston’s 1895 squad and had patrolled third base for the Bostons for more than 1,100 games over the previous decade. According to all accounts, Collins acquitted himself quite well, particularly in the field. Hamilton, acquired in the transaction that sent Nash to Philadelphia, replaced Tommy McCarthy, who was sold to Brooklyn after a poor year in 1895 that was exacerbated by an irritable temperament that wore on his teammates. Despite one rather grievous error, Hamilton did well at the plate. The other two newcomers, Bergen at catcher and Mains, were crowd pleasers, the former for the accuracy of his arm in cutting down would-be basestealers and the latter, although wild, for his unconventional pitching form. All in all, the fans left the field contented with this first glimpse of their team’s offseason acquisitions.

In addition to focusing on the newcomers, the fans cheered on the locals from both teams and had ample time to pick out celebrities from the crowd. Cambridge native Joe Kelley, who had played briefly for Boston as a teenager in 1891 and was now playing for Baltimore, received a hand from the crowd when he first stepped to the plate.12 Amesbury native and Holy Cross alumnus Bannon had many friends in attendance from the Saugus area. Around 50 fans from Holyoke were there in support of hometown hero Tucker, and North Brookfield’s Bergen also had a crowd cheering him on from the western part of the state.13 The Boston sportswriters also recognized a number of past Boston players from all four of the other leagues that had fielded Boston teams. Murnane, who had managed the Union Association’s Boston Reds in 1884, spotted center fielder Mike Slattery and star pitcher Dupee Shaw as well as George Wright, the ’84 Boston Reds owner and the star shortstop of Boston’s first professional team, the Red Stockings. Murnane also mentioned sighting John F. Morrill, who had played infield for the Boston National League team from 1876 through 1888 as well as  two final games with the Boston Reds of the Players League in1890.Three players from the 1891 Boston Reds American Association team, Tom Cotter, George Haddock, and Jack McGeachey, also took in the festivities, as did Tommy Bond, who had amassed 123 victories for the 1877-1879 Beaneaters teams. One late arrival, Dr. Tom Gunning, who caught for the Beaneaters from 1884 to 1886, rode the Boston bench along with his wife in order to view the game.14

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle described Baltimore as having met a Waterloo. The lopsided win for last year’s sixth-place team over the league’s champion was certainly an unexpected result, tempered only slightly by the record take of $4,500 in proceeds for the visiting team.15 That the Boston victory was not an aberration was amply demonstrated over the next two weeks as Boston, although outscored 36-25, defeated Baltimore in three of five games over that period.

Notes

1 This was the third annual celebration of Patriots Day, initially proclaimed by Massachusetts Governor Frederic Greenhalge on April 19, 1894, to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord in the American Revolution and the first bloodshed of the Civil War.

2 “Echoes of the Game,” Boston Globe, April 21, 1896: 2.

3 Timothy Murnane, “Out in Batting Togs,” Boston Globe, April 21, 1896: 1.

4 Ibid.

5 “Notes of the Game,” Boston Post, April 21, 1896: 3.

6 Murnane: 2.

7 “Alas, the Champions,” Baltimore Sun, April 21, 1896: 6.

8 “Orioles Badly Beaten,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 21, 1896: 12.

9 The game was called as 6 P.M. approached after eight innings of play to allow the Baltimore team to catch transportation home to play the Beaneaters there on the following day.

10 “Boston Won,” Boston Post, April 21, 1896: 1.

11 According to the Boston Globe, “[T]he ballplayers claim that the South End grounds is the poorest infield in the league; one on which it is impossible to judge a ground ball.” The scribe for the Baltimore Sun was more inclined to attribute the cause of the sloppy fielding to “[t]he immense throng in the rather small Boston grounds pressed so near to the players as to embarrass them and to draw their attention from their work.”

12 Boston Globe, April 21, 1896: 2.

13 Boston Post, April 21, 1896: 2

14 Fall River’s city physician, Dr. Gunning had recently earned non-baseball notice for his participation as an assistant at the autopsies of Lizzie Borden’s ill-fated parents, Andrew and Abby.

15 Boston Globe, April 21, 1896: 2.