Full evidence of the grip that baseball had on
Hamiltonians in 1885 was the schedule of the Canadian Baseball League. Hamilton
was the only city in the league to have two franchises, the Clippers and the
Primroses. On the national holiday, the Primroses played the Clippers at the
Dundurn ball grounds in the morning. In the afternoon, the Clippers played an
exhibition game against the Cass from Detroit also at the Dundurn yard, while
the Primroses had to quickly travel to Guelph to play an afternoon game with
that city’s Maple Leafs team. There was also an afternoon game involving the
Torontos playing in London against the Londons.
In 1885,
the local newspapers were generally only a pages long, with only one page
reserved for Hamilton local news items. As evidence of the interest of Hamilton
residents on the baseball news of the day, the Spectator on July 2, 1885
devoted nearly have of that one page to sporting news, mostly baseball.
Following is that coverage
as regards baseball in full, including full box scores.
THE CLIPPER-PRIMROSE MATCH
“This match created much
interest among the admirers of the game. The fact that the Woods brothers were
to be the battery for the Primroses led many to suppose that the Clippers were
to be beaten, and almost everybody thought it quite possible that that result
might be attained. There were five thousand spectators, and the Primroses had
the sympathy of the crowd. People who had refused to applaud the Wood brothers
cheered them vociferously yesterday. It was evident that the crowd wanted to
see the Primroses win. Little Richardson, too, when he stepped to the front was
received with applause. The game was a good one. There was little choice
between the batteries. Both catchers caught well – Moore perfectly. Pete Wood
pitched out more men than Chamberlain did, but eight hits were made off Wood,
but two off Chamberlain. This fact is partially accounted for by the relative
batting strength of the teams. As it was right there that the Clippers had the
advantage; they out-batted the Primroses by a very heavy majority. And the
Primroses assisted the Clippers’ batting by making errors rather too profusely.
The very newest of the men in either team did not show to good advantage.
Except Richardson and he is hardly a new man in Hamilton. He was the only man
of the team who got to third base. It might be mentioned that only two reached
second base, and only four arrived safely at first. The game was characterized
by good sharp play, and it was quite evident that both teams played to win.
Everybody was thoroughly satisfied that they had seen a capital game, and all
Hamilton people are prepared to state, openly, that there two particularly
clever ball teams in this neighborhood. Crowfoot umpired and did it well. The scorer has this to say:
Clippers
A.B. R. B.H.
T.B. P.O.
A. E. Rainey, 3b 4
0 0 0
4 4 1
Andrus, ss
4 1 2
2 1 2 0
Moore, c.
3 1 1
1 8 1 0
Chamberlain, p.
4 0 0
0 0
9 2
Crogan, lf. 4 1
1 2 3
0 0 Stapleton, lb. 4 1
2 2 13
0 0
McGra, 2b.
3 0 0
0 1 2 0
Wilson, rf. 3 0
0 0 1
2 0
Hoyt, cf. 4 0
1 1 1
0 0
_____________________________________________
Totals 83 4
3 9 27 18
3
Primroses
A.B. R. B.H.
T.B. P.O.
Bierbau,2b 4 0
0 0 1
0 0
Richardson, ss
4 0 1
1 2 0 0
Wilson, lf. 4 0
0 0 1
0 0
P. Wood, p.
3 0 0
0 1 11 7
J. Wood, cf.
4 1 1
2 3 0 0
Jones, 1b, lf. 4 0
0 0 2
0 1
Kirkland, 3b. 3 0
0 0 2
0 1
F. Wood, c.
2 0 0
0 1 2 0
Hoyt, cf. 4 0
1 1 10
0 0
Barnfather, rf.
3 0 1
0 0
0 0
_____________________________________________
Totals 29 0
2 3 24 13
13
Clippers ………… 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 * 4
Primroses ………… 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4
Runs Earned – None
First base on errors – Clippers 8, Primroses 1
First base on called balls – Clippers 4, Primroses 1
First base on Fielder’s choice – Clippers 1, Primroses 0
Reached first base – Clippers, 17, Primroses 4
Total called balls – On Chamberlain, 58, on Wood 83
Struck out – Clippers 8, Chamberlain, Crogan 2, Wilson 2,
Hoyt 2; Primroses7, Bierbau, Wilson, 3, j. Wood, Kirkland, F. Wood.
Total strikes called – Off Chamberlain, 47; off P.Wood
42.
Left on base – Clippers 9, Primroses 3
Two base bit – Crogan
Double play – J. Wood to Richardson
Passed balls – Moore, 0, F. Wood, 1
Wild pitches – Chamberlain 1, P. Wood 1
Umpire – Crowfoot, Toronto.
Time of game – One hour and 35 minutes.
Attendance – 5,000
THE
CLIPPER-CAS GAME
“The
Clippers have had their revenge. A little while ago, they sent a crippled team
to Detroit without a catcher, and the Cass club played the Detroit league team
and several other big teams against them, and crushed the poor Clippers 12 to
1. Yesterday, the Cass club sent one or two Cass men, the big slugger of the
crack Indianapolis league team, and a lot of professional players over here to
repeat the performance. But they didn’t. Rooney, a new man, pitched for the
Clippers. He is a fat, good-natured sort of fellow, does his work easily and,
does not seem, from the reporters’ box to be much of a pitcher. But, all the
same, he makes them pound wind in an eminently satisfactory manner, and the
hits made off him by the aggregation of sluggers opposed to him were few and
far between. It must be that he deceived the reporter. He certainly deceived a
large number of heavy batters. The Cass men were overmatched – the Clippers had
a catcher – and the Clippers pulled away ahead of them. The seven foot slugger
from Indianapolis finally knocked the ball away over the trees and back of the
right field crowd. It had been agreed before the game that two bags only should
be made of a hit in that crowd; but the tall fellow ran home. Then there were
some expostulations. Finally, the Clippers grew generous and gave him the home
run. Another man followed with another ball in the same direction, and made
three bags. Then there was more expostulation ; but the umpire said that as the
rule had been broken, it must stay broken. These performances and some errors
judiciously placed by the Clippers, shot the Cass people up to 6 runs, but they
staid there – just two behind the Clippers. The game on the whole was not a
very brilliant display of ball; but the crow was invigorating. The attendance
was probably the largest ever seen at a ball game in Hamilton. Listen to the
score:
Clippers A.B.
R. B.H. T.B.
P.O.
A. E. Rainey, 3b 5
2 3 3
2 2 0
Andrus, ss
4 0 1
1 1 2 7
Moore, c.
4 2 3
3 11 5 1
Crogan, lf. 4 0
0 0 1
0 0
Stapleton, 1b
3 0 2
3 8 0 1
McGra, 2b.
4 1 2
2 3 4 1
Myers,cf. 4 1
1 1 1
0 0
Rooney, p.
3 0 2
3 0 11 7
Hoyt, cf. 4 2
1 1 0
0 1
_____________________________________________
Totals 36 8
15 17 27 24
12
Cass
A.B. R. B.H.
T.B. P.O.
Buckenberger,2b 1
0 0 0
4 3 1
Poorman, lf.&
p. 4 0
0 0 1
3 3
Walker, c. 3 0
0 0 6
6 5
Thompson, 1b.
4 2 4
9 9 2
1
Rouseau, 3b.
4 2 1
1 2 0 0
Robinson, ss.
4 2
1 3 0
0 0
Lawrence.p & lf. 4
0 0 0 1
2 2
Leadley, cf. 4 0
0 0 1
2 0
Williams, rf. 3 0
0 0 0 0 0
_____________________________________________
Totals 30 6
6 13 24 16
15
Clippers ………… 2 2 0 0 3 1 0 0 * 8
Primroses …… 0
1 0 0 0 0 3 0 2 6
Runs Earned – Clippers 0, Cass 1
First base on errors – Clippers 3, Cass 7
First base on called balls – Clippers 2, Cass 5
First base on Fielder’s choice – Clippers 2, Cass 1
Reached first base – Clippers, 20, Cass 14
Total called balls – On Rooney, 39, on Lawrence 22, on
Poorman 40
Struck out – Clippers 5, Crogan, Stapleton. McGra, Myers,
Hoyt; Cass 11, Buckenburger, Poorman, Rousseau 2, Robinson 2, Leadley 3,
Williams, Lawrence.
Total strikes called – Off Rooney, 49; off Lawrence11,
off Poorman 20.
Left on base – Clippers 6, Cass 2
Two bas
Two base hits – Stapleton, Rooney.
Three base hit – Robinson.
Home run - Thompson
Double play – Andrus to Stapleton, Poorman to Thompson to
Walker
Passed balls – Moore, 0,
Walker, 2
Wild pitches – Rooney 2, Lawrence 1, Poorman 2
Umpire – Crowfoot, Toronto.
Time of game – One hour and 50 minutes.
MAPLE
LEAFS v. PRIMROSES
“Guelph,
July 1 – The game here today between the Maple Leafs and the Primroses resulted
in favor of the Leafs, much to the surprise of Guelph. The Primroses were
strengthened, while The Maple Leafs had to put in the veteran Billy Smith to
pitch. It was the first professional game he pitched since the old professional
Maple Leafs and Tecumsehs were rival on the ball field. He received and ovation
from the spectators as he stepped into the box. The Primroses presented Young
and O’Neil as their battery as the Wood brothers, who played in the morning
game against the Clippers, were not on the field this afternoon. Barnfather
relieved O’Neil after the first inning, and caught the rest of the game. Both
side batted freely. The following is the score by innings :
Maple Leafs ………… 0 3 1 0 0 1
1 0 2 8
Primroses …… 3 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 5
NOTES
“Poor old London!
“Yesterday was London’s
Knight off.
“Richardson has forgotten
how to run.
“Stapleton was struck four
times by the ball while at bat yesterday.
“The Maple Leafs have some
idea of joining the Canadian league.
“Two games and a long ride
to Guelph was too much for the Primroses yesterday.
“The blue suits of the
Primroses were better filled yesterday morning than ever before.
“News comes of a terrible
accident at Guelph. The Maple Leafs have won a game.
“The Torontos are the most
fatigued men in the league today. Nineteen times around the bases – Phew!
“Were they really men – ball
playing men paid for playing ball – that let another lot of fellows make
nineteen runs yesterday?”1
1“The
World of Sport : Items of Interest to the Noble Fraternity : How It Was
Observed By Hamilton People : Notable Ball Games ”
Hamilton Spectator July 02, 1885.
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