Читать книгу Spalding's Baseball Guide and Official League Book for 1895 - Various - Страница 11

The Boston club, in 1894, after being League pennant winners three years in succession, was obliged to fall back to third place in the past year's pennant race, after a hard fight for first place in the race from April to September, that club standing in first place on April 26th and also on the 29th of August, they varying their position but little during that period. Hitherto, in the races of 1891, '92 and '93, the Bostons were noted for their rallying powers, not only in the latter part of a game, but especially in the closing month of each season. It will be remembered, that in 1892, though they had to succumb to Cleveland in the last part of the divided campaign of that year, they rallied handsomely and easily won the championship in the world's series of that year. This year, however, they went back on their record badly, in failing to attend to the rallying business in the last month of the campaign, the result being that they not only lost the pennant, but had to submit to being forced into third place in the race. The question as to "why this was thusly" is not easy to answer. It may be said, for one thing, that the loss of the valuable services of the veteran Bennett, was one drawback to their success, and the failure of a majority of their pitchers, another; their only really successful "battery" team being Nichols and Ganzel. Then, too, they lost ground in playing, as well as in popularity, by the kicking and noisy coaching profanities of a minority of their team; that kind of "hustling" in a team having become played out as a winning factor in the game in 1894. It must not be forgotten, however, that the Boston club, in 1894, encountered stronger teams in New York and Baltimore than ever before; moreover, they were troubled considerably by the strong opposition of the St. Louis club's team, the only club to score three straight victories from them during the season. That the club had the material to do better than they did, goes without saying; it was a failure in its running that did the business, chiefly.

Here is the record of the victories, defeats, games played, and percentage of victories against each club for the past season of 1894:

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EASTERN CLUBS. WESTERN CLUBS.

P

h

i W P C L

B l a C i S i o

a N a B s l t t n u

l e d r h e t C . c i

BOSTON t w e o i v s h i s

i l o n e b i L n v

vs. m Y p k g l u c o n i

o o h l t a r a u a l

r r i y o n g g i t l

e k a n n d h o s i e

Totals Totals

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Victories 8 6 6 6 9 35 9 8 7 6 8 10 48

Defeats 4 6 6 6 3 25 3 4 5 6 4 2 24

Games Played 12 12 12 12 12 60 12 12 12 12 12 12 72

Per cent. of

Victories .667 .500 .500 .500 .250 .583 .250 .667 .583 .500 .667 .833 .667

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The Bostons, in 1894, took the Baltimore and Washington teams into camp without difficulty, but the best they could do against New York, Philadelphia and Brooklyn, was to tie each series. Against the Western clubs, it will be seen, the only club that troubled them was the St. Louis Browns. Four series tied out of the eleven they played was an unusual record for the ex-champions. In victories, they did better against the West than against the East, by 48 victories to 35; in defeats, however, the result was more even, viz., 25 to 24.

The following is the club's record of series won, lost, tied and unfinished, together with the "Chicago" victories and defeats, and the single and double figure victories and defeats scored by the club in 1894:

————————————————————————————————————— EASTERN CLUBS. WESTERN CLUBS. P h i W P C L B l a C i S i o a N a B s l t t n u l e d r h e t C . c i BOSTON t w e o i v s h i s i l o n e b i L n v vs. m Y p k g l u c o n i o o h l t a r a u a l r r i y o n g g i t l e k a n n d h o s i e Grand Totals Totals Totals————————————————————————————————————— Series won 1 0 0 0 1 2 1 1 1 0 1 1 5 7 Series lost 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Series tied 0 1 1 1 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 4 Series unfinished 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 "Chicago" victories 0 2 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 "Chicago" defeats 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Single figure victories 4 4 4 3 0 15 2 7 2 0 3 5 19 34 Single figure defeats 1 4 1 3 2 11 1 1 1 5 2 1 11 22 Double figure victories 4 2 2 3 9 20 7 1 5 6 5 5 29 49 Double figure defeats 3 2 5 3 1 14 2 3 4 1 2 1 13 27—————————————————————————————————————

The club won but seven of the eleven series played in 1894, though they did not lose a series, no less than four being tied. In "Chicago" games they won but 3, but did not lose a single game by a "shut out." By way of comparison, we give below the records of the same three clubs in 1893, when the three leaders in the race were Boston. Pittsburgh and Cleveland, and the three leaders of the Eastern teams were Boston, Philadelphia and New York, the Baltimores that year being eighth only. Singularly enough, all three clubs did better against their Eastern confreres in 1893 than against the Western clubs.

Here are the three club records of 1893