The game, played at an earlier day Polo Grounds, 155th Street and Eighth Avenue in New York, was won by the Giants in 13 innings, 1-0, when Silent Mike Tiernan hit a towering home run to end a long, fiercely contested battle that left the spectators completely drained.

The contest featured a superb pitchers’ duel between the Giants’ hard-throwing Amos Rusie and Kid Nichols of Boston. They were two young hurlers destined to become diamond greats. Rusie, a few weeks shy of his 19th birthday, limited Boston to three hits and two bases on balls, while striking out 11. Kid Nichols also allowed only three bingles until Tiernan’s blast. He struck out 10 and gave up only one free pass. In his rookie year in the majors in 1890 and only 20 years of age, Nichols proved so effective in this game that only three times in 12 innings was New York able to hit the ball beyond the infield.

Rusie was to go on to win 28 games in 1890 and over 30 in each of the succeeding four seasons, while Nichols was beginning a great career that would be highlighted by 361 mound victories and election to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Oddly enough, neither team that engaged in this memorable game was a front-line club. Most of baseball’s better players were off performing in the Players League in 1890, and the Bostons and Giants, with patched-up lineups, finished fifth and sixth respectively at the season’s conclusion.

What made the contest rank as one of the finest ever played at the time was due not only to the superb pitching of Rusie and Nichols and Tiernan’s dramatic, game-winning home run, but also due to the brilliant infield play of both teams. Herman Long, the Boston shortstop, twice came up with fielding gems that took away what appeared to be certain Giant hits.

During the first nine innings, the crowd sat spellbound as both pitchers had the opposing batters at their mercy. Then as the contest moved into extra innings without a run being scored, the suspense increased and every play brought shouts and applause.

Rusie, whom historians say threw as hard as Walter Johnson or Bob Feller, occasionally was in trouble, but always came through with strikeouts in key situations. Nichols’ whiffs, although frequent, did not shine as brilliantly because they did not come in as highly suspenseful moments.

Only a wall separated this game from a contest in progress between the New York and Boston Players League teams next door in Brotherhood Park and even spectators at the other tilt went to the top of the fence to peer over and watch the proceedings in the Polo Grounds.

With 25 cyphers on the scoreboard, the Giants came to bat in the 13th. After Nichols retired the first New Yorker, center fielder and leadoff batter Tiernan, one of baseball’s power hitters before the turn of the century, strode to the plate. Nichols’ first pitch to Tiernan was fouled into the grandstand and Umpire Phil Powers gave the hurler a new one.

The ball that had been fouled off was then thrown back onto the field from the stands. Pickingit up, Nichols asked, “This one is all right, isn’t it?”

“No, the new ball was in play first,” responded the umpire.

“Oh, all right,” said Nichols, rubbing the ball into the dirt.

The next pitch sped, shoulder high to the Giant outfielder. It never passed the plate! Tiernan’s bat met the ball with a solid sound.

At first it appeared that the ball would be caught, for it never went more than 35 or 40 feet off the ground. Boston’s Steve Brodie in centerfield and Al Schellhasse in right started after it. But the ball, true to its course, went beyond the fielders and over the centerfield wall – a tremendous blast that bounced off the fence of the neighboring Brotherhood Park.

Tiernan rounded the bases as a wild cheer went up in the Polo Grounds. Equally loud applause also came from those looking over the fence in the Players League park.

A sportswriter covering the game for the New York Times reported that “never before in the history of the game have the same number of people displayed so much enthusiasm in a ball park as was seen at the Polo Grounds yesterday when Tiernan knocked the ball over the centerfield fence, winning the game for the New Yorks. It was the finest contest ever played by two professional teams and will go down on record as such, not on account of the number of innings played, but because of the wonderful work done by the pitchers and the brilliant fielding”.

On September 15, 1901, Detroit, the home team, defeated Cleveland 21-0 in the second game of a doubleheader. The game was limited to 7½ innings since Cleveland had to catch a train. On August 13, 1939, Red Ruffing of the Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Athletics 21-0 at Philadelphia in the 2nd game of a doubleheader, with the game limited to 8 innings by the Sunday law. But both games were surpassed by Pittsburgh’s 22-0 shutout in 1975, with John Candelaria hurling 7 innings and Ken Brett pitching the last 2 innings. Of course, Brett was not credited with a save! In this game, Rennie Stennett of the Pirates became the second player in history (the other was Wilbert Robinson of the NL Baltimore Orioles in 1892) to get 7 hits in a 9-inning game. Stennett had 4 singles, 2 doubles, and a triple, twice having 2 hits in the same inning.

The National League since 1900 had four games of 19-0, with that score previously representing the modern NL mark. The last time this happened was on the night of June 28, 1969 when the Los Angeles Dodgers, behind Don Drysdale, defeated San Diego 19-0 at San Diego. This was the only complete game pitched by Drysdale in 1969 (his final season) and he scored only one additional win when a score arm caused him to end his 209-win career. The all-time record for the greatest shutout score in major league history is 28-0. Providence of the National League, with the great Hoss Radboum pitching, defeated Philadelphia 28-0 on August 21, 1883. There were 2 games in the pre-1900 National League with scores of 24-0 and another with a 20-0 score.

It is usually a once-in-a-lifetime treat for a pitcher to be given 15 or more runs by his team and to still concentrate enough to hurl a shutout game, but Red Ruffing of the New York Yankees won five games by shutout scores of at least 15-0, including the 21-0 game. The others were 18-0, 17-0, and 15-0 twice. Of course, when Ruffing pitched there were 9 good hitters in the lineup since the powerhouse Yankees were supplemented by Ruffing’s own powerful bat, which produced 36 homers and a greater output of RBI’s than any other modern pitcher.

Only 3 other modern pitchers had more than one game of 15-0 or better in his career. Morton Cooper of the St. Louis Cardinals, the only National League pitcher to do it, defeated Cincinnati 18-0 and defeated Pittsburgh 16-0, with both games being on the road and within 2 weeks of each other in June, 1944. Tom Brewer of the Boston Red Sox defeated Washington twice by scores of 16-0, on the road in 1956, and at home in a 1955 game where Norm Zauchin had 10 RBI’s for the Red Sox. Herb Score of Cleveland won a 19-0 game in Boston in 1955, and was a 1 5-0 winner at Washington the following season.

The biggest shutout by a no-hit pitcher in this century was posted by Frank Smith of the White Sox, who beat the Tigers in 1905 by 15-0. The great Jim Galvin of Buffalo won an 18-0 shutout at Detroit in 1884 which was also a no-hitter. Teddy Lyons of the White Sox won a 17-0 one-hitter at Washington in 1925, and Ken Holtzman of the Cubs won a 1 5-0 one-hitter on the road vs. the San Francisco Giants in 1970. Here is a list of the 79 games since 1 900 (40-NL, 39-AL) where a team won by a shutout score of 15-0 or greater, with the winning pitchers also listed.

American League Lopsided Shutouts

National League Lopsided Shutouts

#First game; +second game

One reason Chicago was a better club was because of the batting and all-around play of Roscoe Conkling (Ross) Barnes. He topped the league with a lofty mark of .429, according to the Macmillan Encyclopedia. He finished more than 60 points ahead of his nearest rival, and also led in runs, hits, doubles, and triples. He also hit the new league’s first home run, connecting in the fifth inning off William “Cherokee” Fisher at Cincinnati on May 2, 1876.

Although Barnes was considered one of the game’s early greats by many authorities, he isn’t a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Barnes probably would have been elected to the Hall of Fame, but a technicality makes him ineligible. Hall of Fame rules stipulate that a player must have played in the majors for ten seasons to be eligible for the Hall of Fame. He was not a manager or an executive like Spalding Who could qualify on other grounds.

Barnes’ record included only nine seasons recognized by the Hall of Fame as major league seasons – five in the National Association (1871-1875) and four in the National League (1876, 1877, 1879 and 1881).

Barnes, a second baseman and a shortstop, started his baseball career in Rockford, Ill., on a youth team, the Pioneers, which also included Al Spalding.

In 1866, Barnes and Spalding were invited to join the Forest Citys of Rockford, a team which went on to become one of the nation’s best. An indication of the baseball skills displayed by Barnes as a youth is his age when he was asked to join the Forest City club. He was born May 8, 1850, which means he was only 16 through most of his first season with an adult team.

In 1871, Barnes joined Boston of the National Association. In five seasons with Boston, he compiled a .379 batting average, won league batting titles in 1873 (.402) and 1875 (.372) and led the league in both hits and runs in 1871, 1873 and 1875. (Some sources also credit Barnes with winning the National Association batting title in 1872.) Boston won the National Association title in each of his last four years with the Red Stockings (1872, 1873, 1874 and 1875).

In 1876, Barnes, Spalding, Cal McVey and Deacon White, called “The Big Four,” jumped to Chicago for the first National League sea son. The four were largely responsible for Chicago winning the first NL pennant, the fifth consecutive pennant-winner on which Barnes was a regular.

The 1877 season marked the start of the decline of Barnes’ baseball career. A rules change prior to the 1877 season helped reduce his batting mark to .272. Prior to 1877, any ball that hit fair and then rolled foul was considered a fair ball.

In The National League Story, the late baseball historian, Lee Allen, wrote: “Barnes made a specialty of fair-foul hits, many of them bunts; after the rule was changed, he operated at a disadvantage.”

Barnes was also bothered by illness in the 1877 season, and he played in only 22 of Chicago’s 59 games. In his final two NL seasons, he hit .266 for Cincinnati in 1879 and .271 for Boston in 1881.

The record books which show that Barnes won three (or four) batting titles and played on five pennant winners in nine major league seasons indicate he was a quality player. However the testimony of his contemporaries is even more impressive.

Al Spalding, a long-time teammate of Barnes, in his book, America’s National Game, published in 1911, called Barnes “in my opinion one of the best all around players the game has produced.”

Another former Barnes teammate and opponent, Adrian (Cap) Anson, wrote in his autobiography, A Ball Player’s Career, published in 1900:

“Ross Barnes was one of the best ball players that ever wore a shoe,

and I would like to have nine men just like him right now under my

management. He was an all-around man, and I do not know of a single

man on the diamond at the present time that I regard as his superior.”

Baseball writer Sam Crane, who saw Barnes play, wrote a series on the “Fifty Greatest Ball Players in History.” In the story on Barnes in the series, in the New York Journal of December 26, 1911, he wrote:

“Ross Barnes, in the opinion of the players who played on the same clubs with him, and also those who were his opponents, was the best second baseman the game has produced, and there are, too, many old-time players and fans who have kept in touch with baseball for forty years or so, who still think that Baines has never been excelled as a guardian of the keystone sack, even by the many stars in the position who have been before the public since.”

Crane’s lengthy article on Barnes went on to praise the former second baseman with quotes from former players. It also had a reference to his speed on the bases:

“Harry Wright put Barnes to lead off in the batting order, both for his ability with the `wagon tongue’ and his speed on the bases. Probably Barnes could get to first base oftener than any other player on the Boston team, not excepting the great George Wright.”

In making note of Barnes’ death in 1915, the 1916 edition of Spalding’s Official Baseball Record said Barnes was “by many considered the best second baseman in the history of Base Ball.”

In the two-page obituary of Barnes in the 1916 Spalding’s Official Baseball Guide, Barnes was called “one of the greatest ball players who ever lived.” The obituary also said:

“Old Base Ball players and old managers, who were expert in their judgment, considered Ross Barnes to be the most expert second baseman who had ever played the position.

“Barnes was not only a good fielder of wide range, but he was a sure fielder. He played the hardest hits with so much ease that they looked easy. Almost every second baseman, who, at some time, commands so much attention that he is esteemed to be a leader, excels in some one characteristic or another. Either he is a great thrower or fields a ball better on his right side than on his left. Such was not the case with Barnes. He was almost Base Ball perfect in everything and as expert with one arm as with the other. If a one-hand stop was to be made it seemed as if he could grasp a ball as easily with his left hand as with his right.”

The History of Baseball by Allison Danzig and Joe Reichler quotes former Boston Globe sports editor Walter Barnes in 1936 as saying that George Wright, Ross Barnes, Cal McVey and Adrian Anson were most frequently mentioned as the best players of the pre-1900 era.

Walter Barnes was a fan in the National Association days, became a sports writer in the 1880’s and was named to a committee to select the five greatest pre-1900 players for inclusion in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Another item in The History of Baseball:

 W.B. Hanna of the New York Tribune, in naming an all-time team in 1926, picked Eddie Collins at second base, but, he added, “Lajoie and Ross Barnes can be considered.”

The case for Ross Barnes as one of baseball’s early greats seems very solid. Perhaps as a gesture in honor of the 100th birthday of the National League the Baseball Hall of Fame could waive its ten-year rule and induct Barnes. It seems only fair that the rule shouldn’t be applied to players who started their careers before 1871.

A much more positive and meaningful listing would be the season leader with fewest strikeouts per at bat. In other words, a batter with 15 strikeouts in 600 at bat would get recognition over someone who fanned 12 times in 400 at bats because his percentage would be better.

What is the significance of a batter who whiffs say, 20 times a season rather than 100? The player who fans 100 times is making no contribution, he is freezing the action on each of those occasions. The player who fans 80 fewer times is keeping the ball in play. Even by making an infield out he could be advancing runners, possibly even scoring a run.

A review of the batters with fewest strikeouts over the last 65 years indicates that the totals went up and down by era. There was a fair amount of whiffing in the teens, but with the introduction of the lively ball in 1920, there was a general reduction which lasted until about World War II. In the late 1940s and 1950s the totals were up a little, and in the 1960s and even in the present period, the strikeouts per at bat are higher than ever before.

In spite of these ups and downs, there were two players who stood out in their respective eras. They were Joe Sewell in the period 1920-33, when there were fewest strikeouts, and Nellie Fox, 1947-65, who played in an era of increasing numbers. Fox led his league 11 times while Sewell held the title 9 times. While Sewell’s yearly totals were about one/half those of Fox, the two were nearly comparable for their eras.

These two players clearly dominated in their particular specialty. Some say Willie Keeler would be in the same category, but strikeout records for batters really were not kept during most of his career. Consequently, there is no sound basis for a statistical comparison. In spite of published reports that in the 1890s Keeler once went a full season with the Orioles without striking out, recent research has proven that inaccurate. Even with incomplete data, at least 2 strikeouts have been found for each of those seasons.

The recent illness and death of Nellie Fox prevented an interview with him on the subject of his few strikeouts. However, contact was made with Joe Sewell at his home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, after a detailed analysis was made of each of Sewell’s strikeouts. First the date of each whiff was copied from the game record and then the opposing pitcher was singled out from the play-by-play account. This was done primarily to find out which pitcher fanned Sewell the most times, but the close scrutiny resulted in two other discoveries.

While the official record says Sewell fanned 114 times in his career, one of those strikeouts should have been credited to another Cleveland player. Two independent play-by-play accounts of the June 29, 1923 game between the Indians and the White Sox indicate it was Lutzke, not Sewell, who fanned. Hence, the career total is 113.

Furthermore, by checking the dates of each strikeout, we find that in 1929 Sewell was fanned by George Blaeholder of the Browns on May 17 (third inning), and was not victimized again until Danny MacFayden of the Red Sox set him down in the sixth inning on September 20. In the interim he played in 115 games and went to bat 442 times without whiffing. Heretofore, Fox has been credited with going a record 98 consecutive games without striking out.

On the pitcher analysis, we find that Sewell, who batted left handed, was fanned by southpaws 44 times and righthanders 69 times. On two occasions he was fanned twice in the same game. The first time was on May 13, 1923, when Wally Warmoth, a rookie southpaw of the Senators, set him down both times. The next time was May 26, 1930, and Lefty Pat Caraway of the White Sox did it twice that time.

By that time Sewell was notorious for being tough to strike out, and Caraway’s feat received some notice. Joe recalls that it was the white shirts in the centerfield bleachers that threw him off. Anyway, he fanned only three times in 1930, and two of them came in the same game. Joe was so irked he went the rest of the season, from May 26 on, without fanning.

Playing for the Yankees the next season, Sewell recalls that in one game he was again batting against George Blaeholder, who was supposed to have invented the slider.

“Bill McGowan was the umpire and the count was 3 and 2. The next pitch was a fast ball right even with my cap bill. McGowan hollered “Strike three – Oh my God I missed it.” All this in one breath. I looked at him but did not say a word. The next day he came over before the game and apologized for missing the third strike in the previous game. He was a good umpire, very capable, and I never held it against him.”

In his 14 years of play, Sewell was never fanned by any pitcher more than 4 times. Nine different pitchers accomplished that. They included the aforementioned Blaeholder, Bob Shawkey, Walter Johnson, Urban Shocker, Waite Hoyt, and Earl Whitehill, all long-service hurlers, and three short-time lefties, Bill Bayne, Mike Cvengros, and Ed Wells. Yet, Sewell says it was none of these who gave him the most trouble. “The hardest pitcher for me was Hubert ‘Dutch’ Leonard of Detroit. He was a lefthand spitball pitcher, and he was mean with it.”

“I had real good luck against both Lefty Grove (who fanned him only one time) and Walter Johnson. I am almost certain I had better than a .300 average against both of them. I got 5 for S one day off of Lefty Grove, the last one a home run in Yankee Stadium.”

Unlike Keeler or Fox, Sewell did not really choke up on the bat. At 5-6½ and weighing only 155 pounds, he was smaller than Fox, but hit more homers and doubles. He usually swung away, and therefore his record for fewest strikeouts is all the more remarkable. He didn’t start off particularly well, fanning 17 times in 1921 and 20 in 1922. By 1925 he was down to 4 strikeouts and he never got into double figures again. He had the five best season marks in recorded history, 3, 3, 4, 4, and 4. Those five seasons are balanced on the other end of the strikeout spectrum by free swingers of another era – Bobby Bonds, 189 and 187, Mike Schmidt, 180, Dave Nicholson, 175, and Reggie Jackson, 171.

There follows a list by year of the players with the fewest strikeouts on a frequency basis with a minimum of 350 at bats for the 154-game schedule, and 400 at bats for 162 games.

Career Summary of Batters Most Difficult to Fan

*Career data not complete

The Society, made up of more than 300 baseball historians, statisticians, and dedicated fans, was asked during 1975 to vote on the 10 most colorful performers. Some 75 sample names from Richie Allen to Hack Wilson were supplied to stimulate some head-scratching, and the members were encouraged to use their own interpretation of colorful within the general contest of “generating crowed reaction.”

In other words, the performer could be a character like Stengel, a clown like Nick Altrock, a showboat like Bobo Newsom, cocky like King Kelly, controversial like Leo Durocher, flamboyant like Ruth, aggressive like Pete Rose, or exciting like Jackie Robinson. There is no denying that each type has contributed in some special way to a century of fan interest in baseball.

There were 97 ballots returned and 112 different names were listed. Even Bill Veeck, a colorful but ineligible non-performer received one vote. But even with this broad interpretation, a consensus was achieved which seemed to place greater emphasis on dynamic performance rather than on the other aspects of “colorful.”

Ruth led with 594 points (based on 10 for first, 9 for second, etc.), Dean was next with 459, and Stengel followed with 438. Then there was a substantial drop-off to 281 for Cobb, 263 for Mays, and then in gradually descending order, Jackie Robinson, Leo Durocher, Ted Williams, Satchel Paige, and Pepper Martin. All of the top ten are considered Hall of Fame caliber except Martin, the “Wild Hoss of the Osage.” This does not imply, however, that color is equated with performance, as Henry Aaron received only one tenth-place vote.

The active performer receiving the most votes was Pete Rose, the hustling thirdsacker of the Reds, who finished in 22nd spot. Billy Martin, the new Yankee manager, finished 28th. Yogi Berra, the deposed skipper of the Mets, was in the No. 20 spot.

Baseball coaches were best represented by the Washington Senators’ clown combination of Al Schacht and Nick Altrock, who ranked 23rd and 24th. Umpires, usually the model of decorum on the field, did not get much play from the voters. Of the seven receiving votes, Emmett Ashford, the first Negro arbiter in the majors, who was short in stature but long on flamboyant gestures, received 19 points to 17 for Bill Klem. William “Lord” Byron, the long-forgotten singing umpire, got only two points.

The top 50 vote-getters in the balloting for most colorful baseball performer are listed below:

While the Canton team was assembling players, it did not get around to hiring a manager until April 16, when the club’s secretary-treasurer, William Heingartner was selected to fill that spot. Manager Heingartner promptly announced that he would select a team captain to direct the team on the field and first baseman Ed Cline was his choice.

The exhibition season started with a game with the Mount Union College team, and while Will Irwin was the lead-off pitcher, Tom Williams and Denton Young were also scheduled to work a part of the game. Concern was expressed about the ability of Canton’s new catcher, Henry Yaik to handle the pitches of Dent Young. The Canton Respository stated on April 18, 1890 that:

“Some difficulty, it is thought, will be experienced in securing a catcher to hold Pitcher Young in a satisfactory manner, as it is conceded by all who have seen him pitch that he throws the swiftest ball of any pitcher ever seen in this city. Yaik, it is thought will be able to fill the bill all right after he gets a little practice; at least he says he is not afraid to try it. Yaik says he never saw a pitcher he couldn’t catch.”

The first exhibition game was played on April 20 and the Canton professionals mauled the Mount Union Collegians by a score of 22 to 4. Irwin started the game for Canton, but in the fourth inning Young went to the box for a three-inning stint. He struck out seven batters, walked none, gave up a lone hit and also had a wild pitch for his first test under fire.

*This is one of the articles left by Mr. Peterjohn when he died in 1974.

On April 23 Canton met the semi-pro Columbus Clippers in the third exhibition game between the two clubs and Young received his second pitching assignment. He struck out 13 batters over the nine-inning route and limited the Clippers to one hit in a 14 to 1 victory before seven paid admissions. The Canton Repository noted that, “Yaik caught yesterday and considering his right hand was swollen to twice its natural size, he did reasonably well.” The paper did not specify the cause of the swelling.

After four exhibition wins against college and semi-pro teams Canton met Altoona in a three game exhibition series in Canton. Although Young lost one of these game 1-0 on April 27, it was announced that day that “Cyclone” Young would be a member of the three-man pitching staff for 1890 along with veteran Will Irwin and another rookie Tom Williams from Pomeroy, Ohio.

The Canton baseball team journeyed overland to Wheeling, West Virginia to open the Tri-State League season on April 30 with a morning and afternoon doubleheader. For Canton, Cyclone Young started the morning game with Henry Yaik as his catcher. He went the full route limiting Wheeling to just two runs and three hits. Striking out eight batters and giving up only one base on balls, the Canton hurler recorded his first O. B. victory 4-2. Will Irwin was clobbered in the second game losing 23 to 6 as Tom Williams, playing the outfield, hit the first Canton home run of the new season.

Cy Young made his second start for Canton on May 4 against McKeesport and recorded a 4 to 3 win. Young had four strike outs and one base on balls. Two days later Young recorded his third win beating Akron 3 to 2. The victory streak ended at three, when Akron defeated Canton on May 8 by a 7 to 6 score. Seven Canton errors indicated something less than a stellar team defensive effort. Young issued no bases on balls and hit a double in a vain effort to win his fourth game in a row.

Returning to Pastime Park, Canton started Cy Young in the box for its home opener on May 15. Cy responded to the 800 fans on hand by taming Akron 3 to 2, driving in one run with a single, and striking out 11 Opposing batters. Young’s next start was on May 18 against McKeesport and Cy dropped a 5 to 4 decision despite nine strike outs and a lone base on balls.

Three weeks of early season efforts showed Canton with a disappointing five wins and seven loss record, arid on May 19 the club replaced Will Heingartner as club manager and named veteran major league catcher Jimmy Peoples as the new team leader.

Cy Young responded to this change by winning his next two starts in an impressive fashion on May 22 and 25; however, fate can be fickle, and on May 28 Mansfield hammered Young for 13 hits as Canton lost 9 to 3. His next two starts were even worse as Mansfield routed Canton 12 to 1 and Springfield trounced them 13 to 5 with Cy giving up 1 7 hits.

Just as quickly Cy snapped back to win the next three games. This brought Canton’s season record to 12 wins and 16 losses on June 10. Young’s part of that record was nine wins and five losses. On June 12 manager Jimmy Peoples was fired and Will Heingartner again took over the managerial reins.

Cy defeated Dayton on June 13 and 15, but his winning streak ended on June 17 as he dropped a 9 to 3 decision to Youngstown. On June 29, Cy proved his versatility by catching a full game as Akron walloped Canton 22 to 5. As the Canton team really hit the skids, Young lost to Akron 5 to 2, McKeesport 14 to 4 and Mansfield 8 to 0.

On June 28 Cicero L. Hiner, the Canton Baseball Club’s Vice President, was named the team manager and shortstop George Westlake was named team captain. After the Canton loss to McKeesport by an 18 to 1 score on June 27, a club director had wired Manager Heingartner:

“Release the man who scored the run so he can sign with a baseball club.” (George Westlake scored the lone run)

By July 7 Canton’s record was 17 wins and 35 losses for a solid eighth place in the team standings. Cy Young suffered with the general ineptitude of the team, losing to Mansfield and McKeesport before splitting two decisions with Wheeling in mid-July. Additional losses to McKeesport and Wheeling occurred before Cy and Canton returned home from a disastrous road trip.

On July 25, 1890 Cy Young went to the mound at Pastime Park and the Saturday edition of the Canton Repository told the story of the game and Young’s superlative effort for his final appearance in Canton.

“WITHOUT A HIT”

“Young strikes out eighteen of the McKeesport players”

“At exactly 4:25 PM Umpire Jamison called play at Pastime Park yesterday afternoon and 600 people in attendance witnessed one of the greatest contests ever seen on a ball field, the main feature being the pitching of Mr. Denton Young of Gilmore, Ohio, the fellow who is termed by many Tri-State exchanges to be the “farmer.” Just previous to the game he remarked that he was going to pitch the game of his life and he did it. He succeeded in breaking the professional record by striking out eighteen men, not a clean hit being made off his delivery. But three of the visitors managed to reach first base, and but two got to second, white there was one run scored. Had Canton played an errorless game none of the visitors would have reached even first. It was, indeed, a great day for Young and he put the ball over the plate at a speed that would indicate it was fired from a cannon. Yaik supported him finely behind the bat and on the whole the infielders did well. But one ball was knocked outside the diamond by McKeesport and that a fly out to right fielder Hart by Hartmann. Another thing worthy of special mention was the batting of Westlake, who out of five times to bat got five hits, one a three bagger. Young also swiped the ball for a couple of hits.”

The same paper reported that the Cleveland National League baseball team had made an offer for Cyclone Young’s services, but two other clubs were also said to be bidding for him. On July 30 manager Cicero Hiner returned from a trip to Cleveland and indicated that a price had been agreed upon for Cy Young’s services and on August 2 President Thomas F. Turner of Canton took Denton T. “Cy” Young to Cleveland and a career in the National League.

For 14 weeks in Canton, Cy Young posted 15 wins and 15 losses for a last place team. He started 29 games, worked relief in two others, winning one of those appearances. He struck out 201 batters and issued only 33 bases on balls indicating exceptional control. This was Cy Young’s only appearance in minor league baseball. The Canton team folded several days after he joined the Cleveland Spiders.

The Cleveland Spiders of 1890 were owned by traction magnate Frank DeHaas Robison. The team had rejoined the National League in 1889 after an absence of five years. It had been decimated by raids of the Union Association war in 1884. Now it was engaged in a bitter battle with the Brotherhood League in yet another baseball confrontation.

Most of the Spider regulars for 1889 had jumped to the Brotherhood League and manager Gus Schmelz had only four regulars from the previous year on the team roster. Shortstop Ed McKean, catcher Chief Zimmer, outfielder Bob Gilks, and pitcher Ed Beatin were the veteran members of the club. The other players on the club were generally ineffective.

By the time Young made his first start for Cleveland, Gus Schmelz had been fired as manager, and Robert H. Leadley, who had piloted Detroit to a championship in the International League in 1889, was in charge of the club. The team had an unimpressive record of 25 wins and 61 losses, and was in seventh place in the standings. After his experience with Canton, Young was used to working for talent-poor ball clubs.

Cy Young journeyed to Cleveland on August 2 and the local newspapers indicated that the Spiders had paid Canton $300 for his services. His first pitching assignment was against the Chicago Colts of the legendary Adrian “Cap” Anson as part of a doubleheader on August 6. The story of Young’s victory over Chicago has been told many times but the reporting of the game and the picture painted of Young’s efforts are worth repeating.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer headlined it’s story of the 8 to 1 victory “Young’s Great Work”. The details included the following:

“Several days ago a big farm boy arrived in Canton on a load of hay and after selling his produce he took in a ball game. It struck him that pitching a ball was a rather easy way of earning a livelihood and he applied for a job to the Canton officials. The farmer boy was big and strong and the Canton officials, being hard up for pitching talent, in a lucky hour decided to give him a trial. He pitched a game and two or three hits were made off him and thus it was that Cyclone Young, the ex-farmer boy, turned out to be a ball pitcher.

Yesterday he appeared in Cleveland dressed in a pair of mufti pants and a baseball shirt several degrees off color. This led the wicked boys on the bleaching boards to call him “Jed Prouty Young” “Josh Whitcomb” and other derisive names. This didn’t seem to bother the ex-farmer boy and the way he mowed down Anson’s big batters was to say the least startling. He struck out five men and just three hits, all singles, were made off him.”

The Cleveland Leader and Herald was equally descriptive in its story for the day.

“Mr. Young, formerly of Canton, 0., now of this beautiful city of trees and pretty girls, made his debut yesterday at League Park. It is sincerely to be hoped that he will keep on repeating his debut throughout the remainder of the season. Cleveland can stand those performances without a murmur. Mr. Young is a tall, very well put together and athletic young man of sundry summers. He pitches the ball, not hardly that either, rather he sends lessons in geometry up to the batter with a request for solution. Mr. Young seems to know almost as much about curves as an engineer on a railroad in West Virginia.”

The box score of the game follows:

Some histories of this game credit Young with striking out Cap Anson, but the box scores of the game published in the Cleveland papers indicate that Carroll, Bums, Hutchison and Glenalvin (twice) were the ones Young whiffed. However, Anson did not get a hit in four times at bat.

Three days later Cy Young started again against the Cincinnati Reds at League Park. Arlie Latham had recently been secured by Cincinnati to play third base for the Reds on a veteran team that had scarcely been disturbed by the Brotherhood War. His mound opponent was the Reds’ sensational rookie pitcher, Billy Rhines, who was destined to win 28 games for Cincinnati in 1890.

While Young did not match his initial performance against Chicago, he did manage to edge Cincinnati 5 to 4. Giving up nine hits without a base on balls, Young recorded his second victory. Four Cleveland errors made the victory harder to achieve.

On August 13 Cy hurled his third straight win besting the hapless Pittsburgh team by a score of 20-9. On August 16, the winning streak ended as Cincinnati pounded Young for 17 hits and a 10-0 win. For the balance of the season, Cy continued winning and losing in equal numbers down to the last day of the season. His record stood at 7-7, including a disputed game on October 2 that ended in a 2 to 2 tie.

On October 4, Young took the mound in the opening game of a season ending twinbill with Philadelphia. Pitching in fine fashion, Cy limited the Phillies to five hits to post a 5 to I victory over the nine-inning route. Young also pitched the second game, a seven-inning affair. This game looked like a possible loss for Young until the Spiders scored seven runs in the sixth inning to put the game safely away for the Big Farmer. George Davis’ triple was the big blow for Cleveland, but five Philadelphia errors really made the big inning possible.

With these two wins, Cy Young finished the first of 22 consecutive major league seasons with the nine wins and seven losses for a seventh place team. The Spiders record for the year showed 44 wins and 88 losses. It was an excellent first year for a rookie pitcher in the National League. The 21 seasons that followed were even more impressive as Cy Young pitched a record 511 major league wins – the absolute test of pitching ability.

Broad shouldered, round faced, moody, Beckwith was one of the first in that long line of black power hitters beginning with Louis Santop and Josh Gibson of the old Negro leagues and continuing down to Mays and Aaron of the modern major leagues. Some who saw him say Beckwith was the mightiest of them all.

There was one big difference between Beckwith and Aaron. Although both were quiet and introverted, Beck, unlike Hank, had a reputation for being rough, even in his era, the 1920’s, when black ballplayers had to be tough to survive.

“He wasn’t a rowdy guy,” says one old teammate, Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe, “but he didn’t take any foolishness. He would fight in a minute if somebody did something to him.”

And could he hit the ball!

“Of course John Beckwith hit the ball farther than anybody,” says Holsey “Scrip” Lee, who pitched against him in the old Eastern Colored league in the late 1920’s. “For power he was the hardest hitter I ever saw. I’d say Babe Ruth and Beckwith were about equal in power. Beckwith weighed about 230 pounds and used a 38-inch bat, but it looked like a toothpick when he swung it.”

Lee recalls one Beckwith blast in a post-season game against New York Yankee pitcher Roy Sherid in Baltimore about 1926: “Beckwith hit the ball as far out of the park as he was in it. They say Ruth and Gehrig never hit the ball that far in their lives.”

The longest Beckwith poke of all, Lee believes, came in Washington’s old Griffith Stadium, which taunted right-handed hitters with the longest left field wall in the major leagues. Behind the wall the bleachers rose at a sharp angle, and above the last row stood a sign extolling a local sausage company, perhaps 460 feet from home and about 40 feet high. Beckwith hit the sign.

Beckwith, big and brown, was the first person ever to hit a ball over the laundry roof behind Cincinnati’s Crosley Field. He did it in 1921, when he was only 19 years old.

Yet Beckwith was fated, it seemed, always to be second fiddle. Like Sam Crawford or Lou Gehrig, who played in the shadows of Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, Beck always seemed to be upstaged, first by the flamboyant Oscar Charleston, later by the Herculean Josh Gibson. Yet in the seven years for which we have final or partial statistics, Beckwith rocked Negro league pitching for a lifetime batting average of .408. He hit over .400 no less than four of those years, between 1921 and 1929, yet three of those years he finished second – twice to Charleston, and once to Chino Smith. He finished first in 1930, but he had to hit .546 to do it! And twice he missed the league home run crown, each time losing to Charleston by a single homer.

Beck was born in Louisville in 1902. Moving later to Chicago, he caught on with Joe Green’s touring Chicago Giants as a catcher, later moving to shortstop to make room for rookie catcher Frank Duncan.

In the years to follow, Beck would play almost any position – first base, third base, even pitcher. They put him anywhere to keep that big bat in the line-up.

By 1921 Beckwith had moved on to the black big time, to Rube Foster’s Chicago American Giants, where he hit a rollicking .419 but was second to Charleston’s .425.

Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe, then playing sandlot ball in Chicago, recalls: I’ve seen him hit a ball out here in the American Giants’ old ball park. There weren’t too many balls hit over that fence. Left center field was 390 feet, and he cleared it with room to spare. Nobody hit the ball any farther than him – Josh Gibson or nobody else.”

In 24 games against white big leaguers Beck hit an estimated .320. He faced his first white big league opposition in the autumn of 1923 – and immediately smacked a homer over the centerfield fence off Dave

Danforth of the Browns to give Beck’s team a 7-6 victory. The next day St. Louis’ Elam Van Gilder held Beckwith hitless, but in the third game Beck erupted against Ray Kolp with two hits – a double and a triple -though his team lost 11-8. That same year, against the Detroit Tigers, Beck collected two hits against Bert Cole and George “Hooks” Dauss. He doubled and scored the game’s first run, then singled in another to help his club gain a 5-5 tie.

In 1924 Beckwith listened to the call of the new Eastern league and jumped to the Baltimore Black Sox, where he teamed with Jud Wilson to form a frightening murders’ row. Wilson hit .402; Beck topped him with .452, though he played only 24 league games, about one half a full schedule. Beck’s 40 homers (league and non-league) tied him with Charleston for best in the East. That fall Beckwith and Wilson joined forces again to play the Philadelphia A’s. Beck slammed a homer and single in the opener against Eddie Rommel, though the A’s won 4-2. In the nightcap he slugged a homer, double and single against Bob Hasty to give the Black Sox the victory 8-7.

The following year Beckwith produced another .400-plus year, hitting .4 19, only to see Charleston beat him out with a .430. Charleston also edged him for the league home run crown. Charley got 14 in 52 games; Beckwith, out for a month of the season, hit 13 in 41 games.

A year later, 1926, Beckwith and Charleston were playing on the same team, the old Harrisburg Giants. With Rap Dixon, Fats Jenkins, and Rev Cannady, the Giants had a truly formidable hitting club. Their pitching was weak, however, and they could finish only second, behind the Bacharachs. No statistics were published, but Baltimore fast baler Laymon Yokely winces at what he recalls as “the longest home run I ever saw. Beckwith hit it up in Newark stadium. It went through the smoke and out of sight.”

In 1927 Beck hit .338 and again just missed the home run crown, hitting 17 over the fence; Charleston and Martin Dihigo each hit 18. Again the Giants finished second to the B’s. Unofficially, in both league and non-league games, Beckwith was credited with 72 homers that year, a truly Gibsonian total. Moving to the Homestead Grays in 1928, he hit 54.

There was, however, one difference between Beckwith and Gibson, who joined the league in 1930. In spite of his sometimes astronomical batting averages, pitchers say Beckwith was an easier man to pitch to than Josh. While Gibson could hit almost any pitch to any part of the playing field, Beckwith’s power was pulling the inside pitch. Thus fielders played him to the left side, and pitchers were careful to keep the ball on the outside.

It doesn’t seem possible that a man could hit them that far and not like to play baseball. But Beckwith had a reputation for being lazy. He was also mean – what the players used to call a “touch pig.” One winter in Los Angeles big Beck hit a long one over the fence to give pitcher Bill Holland a 1-0 lead. A few innings later he booted a ground ball with two men on which lost the game 2-1. Holland tossed his glove in the air and stomped off the mound. Beckwith stomped into the clubhouse right behind Holland and punched him in the face. As they say, Beckwith could be mean.

Norman “Turkey” Stearnes, another great black slugger, demurs “John Beckwith was one of my favorite ballplayers,” he says. “He’d fight in a minute, but if you didn’t bother him, he didn’t bother you. I never did have any trouble with him, and I played on the club right beside him.”

The club they played on was the New York Lincoln Giants, where Beckwith hit .443 in 1929 but again failed to win the batting championship. Teammate Chino Smith beat him with a .467. That October in Baltimore, Beckwith faced Howard Ehmke, the Athletics’ World Series pitching hero, and rapped him for three hits in five at bats, including a homer.

Then in 1930 John Beckwith finally finished first. There were no league statistics that year, but the Lincolns published their own figures for home games, probably including semi-pro contests as well as games against the big league black clubs. They showed Beckwith hitting no less than .546, easily the best on the club, even though he was out for seven weeks with a broken leg.

The records on Beckwith grow dim after that. He played for a few years with the Black Yankees, successors to the Lincolns, and finally ended his career in 1934 with the Newark Dodgers. In his last known appearance in a box score, Beck smashed out one hit in three at bats in an exhibition game against 30-game winner Dizzy Dean.

Beck left baseball after that and faded into obscurity. According to one report he ended up running crap games and bootlegging. Compared to some of his contemporaries, who went on to play in their 40’s and 50’s, he had a rather short career. But no one who saw him play will ever forget those tremendous home runs he hit when he was in his prime.

Who has the highest single season batting average in major league history? The modern fan would probably say that Rogers Hornsby’s .424 in 1924 is the highest. Old timers would point out that Hugh Duffy hit .438 in 1894. But the correct answer is Ty Cobb with .385 in 1910.

How can .385 be higher than .438? The answer is when it is compared to the average of the entire league for the year in question. This is the only way performances from different seasons and leagues can be compared. Thus a hitter’s relative batting average, which is the true measure of his ability to hit safely, is computed as follows:

As a further refinement (since it is unfair to compare a player to himself) the player’s own hits and ABs can be subtracted from the league totals, thus giving an average relative to the remainder of the league.

As an example, compare Bill Terry’s National League leading .401 in 1930 to Carl Yastrzemski’s American League leading .301 in 1968. At first glance the 100-point difference would make it appear that Yastrzemski’s average should not be mentioned in the same breath as Terry’s. But look at the calculations of relative averages:

The relative averages are almost identical, meaning that had the two performances occurred in the same season, the batting averages would have been within a few points of each other. The big difference, of course, is that in 1930 the National League had a combined average of .303, the highest of any major league in this century (and two points higher than Yastrzemski’s 1968 average), whereas in 1968 the American League had a combined average of .230, the lowest for any major league ever. (A relative average of 1.30 indicates that a player’s batting average was 30% higher than the remainder of his league.)

The following two graphs show league averages since 1900. It can be seen that the 1 920s and 30s, following the introduction of the lively ball, were fat times for hitters. Both leagues reached their recent lows in 1968, the “Year of the Pitcher.” Note that for the last three seasons the American League’s Designated Hitter rule has artificially raised the league’s average and thus lowered individual relative averages.

The table below shows the highest single season relative averages since 1900. The list is clearly dominated by Ty Cobb, who has 10 of the top 19 averages, including the highest of all: 1.594 in 1910. Interestingly, the second highest relative average is Nap Lajoie’s 1.592, also in 1910. That epic batting race, enlivened by the offer of a new car to the winner, resulted in a major scandal, the awarding of two automobiles, and incidentally the two highest relative averages of all time. Rogers Hornsby’s .424 produced the highest National League mark of 1.51, but this ranks only 14th on the list. (Duffy’s .438 reduces to a relative average of about 1 .42.) Note that five of this century’s .400 averages do not qualify for this list.

Single Season Relative Average Greater Than 1.45

With the modem preoccupation with home runs, high relative averages (not to mention high absolute averages) have become rare. The only relative average over 1.45 in recent years is Joe Torre’s 1971 mark. For a look at other recent high marks, the next table shows the highest relative averages of the last 20 years. It is interesting to note that Rod Carew’s 1974 and 1975 marks would probably be well over 1.45 except for the Designated Hitter rule in the American League.

The final table shows the all-time leaders in career relative average. Not surprisingly, Ty Cobb tops the list with an average that is just a few hits short of 1 .40. Close behind Cobb is Shoeless Joe Jackson, though the closeness of their averages is deceptive. Jackson’s career was abruptly terminated while he was still a star performer, and therefore he did not have the usual declining years at the end of his career that would have lowered his average. During the years that Jackson averaged 1.38, Cobb was averaging a fantastic 1.50.

It can be seen that despite the preponderance of pre-1920 hitters in the single season leaders, the career list contains players from all periods since 1900, including four who are active. Rod Carew, who in 1975 moved past Ted Williams into third place, seems destined to be one of the all-time leaders in relative average. Whether all four active players will finish their careers among the leaders is an open question, but at least they show that hitting for high average is not altogether a lost art.

Highest Single Season Relative Averages During Last 20 Years (1956-1975) 

*Designated Hitter rule in effect

Lifetime Relative Average Greater Than 1.20 (Over 4000 ABs)

*Active player

The last steal of home by a hurler took place September 1, 1963. Curt Simmons of the Cardinals did the honors in the second inning of a game against the Phils. He dashed home from third on a squeeze play that aborted when Chris Short cut loose with a wild pitch. Simmons also collected a triple and two RBIs in a 7-3 victory.

Simmons’ was the last of 40 steals of home by pitchers since 1900. Frank Owen did it three times and several others, including Red Faber, did it twice. One of Faber’s performances was tarnished, however, and really should not be included.

That was on July 14, 1915 when the White Sox were leading the A’s 4-2 in the 4th inning. It was threatening rain and A’s hurler Joe Bush was trying to delay the game by various mound maneuvers. One of his stray tosses hit pitcher Faber, who was batting. Faber took first, and then, in an effort to get thrown out (to speed up the game), he continued running to second, third, and home. The A’s in turn made little serious effort to throw him out. In spite of this sorry exhibition, Faber was credited with three steals in one inning, including a steal of home. Ironically, his “steal” of home turned out to be the winning run as the threatened rain never materialized and the White Sox eventually won 6-4.

The Faber frolic should not be confused with the dazzling performance of Wild Bill Donovan of Detroit in a game against Cleveland on May 7, 1906. Donovan singled in the 5th inning, stole second and third (while Ty Cobb fanned), and then home on a double steal. He also hit a triple and won an 8-3 victory. Donovan was probably the best baserunner among pitchers since 1900.

Almost all of the pitcher steals of home were double steals where a teammate was advancing to second. There were only five individual thefts, including that of Simmons, which merit some mention.

On August 8, 1903, Joe McGinnity was pitching one of his famous doubleheader victories. He had beaten the Dodgers 6-1 in the opener. In the third inning of the second game he singled, went to second on a sacrifice, and when the throw was bad he went on to third, which he made on a disputed call by the umpire. While the Dodgers were arguing, Joe dashed home. Dodger hurler Henry Schmidt was so angry he threw the ball out of the park. For this he was banished from the game.

On April 20, 1946, Bucky Walters of the Reds was hooked up in a pitchers battle with Rip Sewell of the Pirates. In the 6th, Walters bunted safely. He moved to third on a sacrifice and a ground out, and with two strikes on Grady Hatton, Walters caught Sewell napping and stole home. It was the only run off Sewell who beat Bucky 2-1 before 28,000 at Pittsburgh.

Freddie Hutchinson of Detroit was a real hero on August 29, 1947 when he tripled against the Browns in the third, and when Ellis Kinder took a big windup, he hustled home in front of the throw. Hutch also singled and won the game 5-4.

On May 26, 1955, Don Newcombe of the Brooklyn Dodgers went into the 9th of a close game with the Pirates. With two runners on base, the big hurler, who was one of the best hitting pitchers in the game, hit a long fly ball which was misjudged by the outfielder and fell for a triple. Normally a pitcher would be gasping for breath at that point, but while El Roy Face was getting ready to deliver to the next batter, Newcombe lumbered home. Face, caught flat-footed, threw wildly, almost hitting Don, who slid in safely.

Here is a rundown on those pitchers who stole home in major league games since 1900.

National League Hurlers Stealing Home Since 1900

American League Hurlers Stealing Home

Baseball greats are enshrined at Cooperstown, N.Y., but they do not live there, or die there, or are buried there. Their memorial stones are scattered throughout the nation. Therefore, it is unusual that six should be found in a Catholic cemetery in Baltimore, a city which went a half century without major league ball.

In one of the older sections of New Cathedral Cemetery there is a stone marker for Robert T. Mathews. Yes, this is little Bobby Mathews, who won the first game played in the National Association in 1871. He died in 1898, still in his 40s.

The Baltimore Orioles of the 1 890s were an aggressive club under the leadership of Ned Hanlon, who also had a 13-year playing career, 1880-92. Hanlon passed on his leadership qualities to third baseman John McGraw, catcher Wilbert Robinson, and outfielder Joe Kelley. McGraw and Robinson were great players who became famous as skippers. Kelley managed for 5 years at the close of a successful playing career.

Popular writers have said these Old Orioles are buried close together, but it is more than a strong throw from the outfield which separates them. McGraw, who died in New York, is interred in a stately mausoleum shared by his wife’s side of the family. There are sizeable stone markers for Hanlon and Robinson. Kelley’s marker is in a more modern section and is just a short distance from the grave of Eddie Rommel, long-service pitcher and umpire, who died in 1970. The latter has a flat surface marker which is not easily visible.

There are other former major league players buried here, but none of prominence like the six mentioned. Their playing, managing and umpiring careers essentially spanned the history of major league baseball. It has been reported that Walter “Steve” Brodie, another Oriole of the 1890s, is resting near his former teammates, but this is not correct. Brodie is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, which is in the same general area of town.

Here is a brief run-down on the six baseball greats buried in New Cathedral Cemetery.

                                                Born        Career Span       Died

Bobby Mathews                      1851         1871-1881         1898

Ned Hanlon                             1857        1880-1907         1937

Wilbert Robinson                   1863         1886-1931         1934

Joe Kelley                                  1871       1891-1926         1943

John McGraw                         1873         1891-1932         1934

Eddie Rommel                        1897        1920-1959         1970