Plenty of Vintage Base Ball This Sunday

For those interested in watching base ball played circa 1869 rules, you have two big chances to see matches this weekend.

The Cincinnati Red Stockings and Cincinnati Buckeyes make the trip down the Ohio to meet in friendly strife at the Farnsley-Moreman Landing in Louisville this Sunday, July 8 starting at one o'clock.

The Red Stockings and Buckeyes are pillars of the Queen City vintage base ball community and those who go out to see them on Sunday are guaranteed a thrilling match.

The Bluegrass Barons, Kentucky's sole entrant in the Vintage Base Ball Association, make the trek north to Hamilton, Ohio for the Heart of Vintage Base Ball Tournament at Joyce Park this Sunday, July 8, with their first match at ten o'clock against the Losantiville Black Stockings.

The Backbottom 9, a stalwart aggregate of sluggers and sure-handed fielders based in Hamilton, graciously host this tournament each year and are the defending champions. Their hospitality, artistic creativity, and logistical brilliance ensure a good time for all.

If one wants to indeed see vintage base ball's heart, they need to see this tournament. It encapsulates all that is right in vintage base ball.

The Barons, Blackbottom 9, Losantiville Black Stockings, Rising Sun Belle Rivers, Cincinnati Vintage Base Ball Club, Eastwood Iron Horses, Moscow Monarchs, and Tippecanoe Canal Jumpers all vie for the honors of winning this tournament. All are strong clubs and sure contenders and the winning aggregate will have to go a long way in order to take the winner's laurels.

If you can get to either of these contests, you'll not regret in so doing. We in vintage base ball hope to see you there.

The 1888 Colonels- A Disastrous May Ends

When we left the Colonels, they'd just been swept handily by the Reds and limped out of the Queen City, on its way to the "City of Brotherly Love" to face the Athletics

On May 19, the Colonels opened the Athletic series with a 6-5 win. Louisville native Gus Weyhing took the box for the Athletics, Ramsey for the Colonels and both pitchers commenced to mow down each batting order. Ramsey struck out 11, Weyhing 13. Philadelphia took an early lead, but the Colonels promptly roared back, aided by two walks and a wild pitch by Weyhing that allowed three Louisville runs. The Courier-Journal, somewhat hyperbolically stated "All in all, the Louisvilles put up a game that was well-nigh invincible.

Falls City fans should've savored the win, they wouldn't see another the rest of the month.

The next game occurred Monday, May 21 as Philadelphia, like many cities east of the Alleghenies prohibited amusements of any kind on Sundays. These local "Blue Laws" determined to keep the Sabbath holy and had immense sticking power. Philadelphia clubs wouldn't play Sunday ball until the 1930s.

On that Monday, Louisville lost more than just 14-4. Catcher Lave Cross went down with a split finger that tore off his nail and opened it to the bone. The Courier-Journal reported Cross would be out a month and departed for Louisville to recuperate. John Kerins replaced him but was in no better condition. He had two sore fingers and a game leg.

The injuries forced a rash of position changes for the Colonels. Kerins disability contributed to the shellacking "Ice Box" Chamberlain and Scott Stratton took that afternoon. Descriptions of Louisville's effort that day varied depended on what city's paper one read. The Courier-Journal said the Colonels played "pluckily" while the Philadelphia Inquirer stated they "gave a wretched exhibition."

With Cross lamed and Kerins not at full tilt, Louisville determined to find a "first-class man" to sign as a fill-in. 

The next day saw Louisville put up a fight with the Athletics, but still come up short 6-5. Louisville's shoddy defense undercut their effort and Pete Browning's offensive heroics (3-3 with a triple) and stellar defense (outfield assist to first for a double play) could not make up for it.

In spite of the lackluster field work, Louisville had the lead until the eighth inning, when a three-run Athletics rally doomed the Colonels.

The Falls City Nine departed Philadelphia to go to Brooklyn, to face the surging Bridegrooms (so called after a season where many of their players got married).

The first tilt (May 25) between the Colonels and Bridegrooms fell to the Brooklyn club, 4-1. The "Red Devils" as the Brooklyn Daily Eagle referred to the Louisville club in its crimson uniforms "played ball like a lot of cigar signs," according to the Courier-Journal. A steady rain fell throughout  the game, more than likely contributing to the defense's less-than-stellar support of Toad Ramsey.

The next day, Brooklyn pitcher William "Adonis" Terry added to Louisville's spring of woe, as he no-hit the flailing Colonels in front of 4,875 "intensely gratified spectators" as the Bridegrooms won 4-0.

Toad Ramsey pitched for the second time in two days for the Colonels, as he was the only man the hobbled John Kerins could catch effectively. Ramsey pitched well in the losing effort, but second baseman George Mack's error in the sixth inning gave Brooklyn a lead Terry wouldn't let them relinquish.

The Courier-Journal mentioned the no-hitter in passing, as no-hitters in that era didn't get a lot of publicity, though they were rare. The reporter with the Courier-Journal had to telegraph the game report back to Louisville, and he tried to keep it short and cheap. Also, with the malaise surrounding a 9-20 start, a no-hit loss was just one more misery for the Louisville fans.

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle gave the event more attention, and rejoiced in the win, but the hoopla that surrounds such doings in this modern age didn't avail itself in 1888.

Louisville performed much better the next day as a steady rain fell, but still came up short to the Bridegrooms 6-5. The Falls City contingent held a 5-1 lead going into the seventh, but a Brooklyn rally in the eighth cut the lead to 5-3. The rain fell harder in the ninth and made the ball difficult to grip, with Brooklyn taking advantage as they scored three runs and avoided a "signal defeat." The win propelled the Bridegrooms to second in the American Association standings.

According to the Courier-Journal, Ice Box Chamberlain pitched well, but the Colonel defense-as it had all year-looked poor, with Browning fielding "like a blind man" and Chicken Wolf not looking "lively enough" and allowing two pop flies to drop as hits.

Brooklyn swept Louisville the next day. Smelling blood in the water from the wounded Colonel nine, the Brooklyn manager refused to allow a Toad Ramsey for Guy Hecker substitution. Paul Cook, the Louisville catcher, who was hurt (of course!) had difficulty catching Hecker, but could catch Ramsey. Seeing how this could hurt his odds of winning, the Brooklyn manager didn't allow it, as was his prerogative. He did allow Kerins (hurt too) to replace Cook, but after one inning Kerins left the game as his injuries prohibited him from competently playing.

Chicken Wolf came in to catch, and pitcher Scott Stratton went to the outfield in his place. Stratton proved a bright spot on the day, going 3-3 with a walk. One of the few bright spots of the day for Louisville.

On the whole, this trip had been a nightmare so far for Louisville, Browning had gone hitless against Brooklyn and that was merely a symptom of the problems bedeviling the Louisville nine. No one knew exactly what was wrong, but the Courier-Journal stated "they seem, each and all, the pitchers excepted, to be listless before the game commences."

Defeats will do that, losses pile up and a previously confident team will go from optimism and pessimism in short order. Add injuries and slumps into the mix and the ingredients are all too perfect for a horrendous stretch of play, as evidenced by the record up to this time. However, that alone couldn't explain what was going on, the team did seem dissatisfied.

Louisville happily put Brooklyn, with its bridge, Navy Yard, and overwhelming ballclub (but no hipsters at this time) behind them as they rode the rails south to Baltimore, where they'd face the Orioles.

"The Louisville Club came upon the Baltimore grounds yesterday for the first time this year, casting a lurid glare over the place by the intense brilliancy of their cardinal costumes," stated the Baltimore Sun. This comment really proved the most memorable thing about the game for the Falls City faithful, as Louisville played its last game of May, losing 7-3.

Rain mercifully cancelled a game the next day, ending the month in appropriate fashion for the flatlining Colonel nine.

The end of May saw a fierce struggle at the top of the Association standings, Louisville did its part by losing a total of 12 games to league leaders Brooklyn, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. Louisville wasn't last, they could thank the still-worse Kansas City club for taking that honor by a half game, but things looked bleak. The Colonels seemed dead in the water, with most of the season yet to play.

Something seemed terribly wrong.

American Association Standings- 05/30/1888

Club                W     L   Pct   GB

Brooklyn        25     9   .735

Cincinnati      23     9   .719    1

St. Louis        19     8   .704    2.5        

Philadelphia  14     15  .483   8.5

Baltimore      13     15  .464   9

Cleveland      11     20  .355  12.5

Louisville       9      23  .281  15

Kansas City   7      22   .241  15.5

The 1888 Colonels-A Difficult May Begins

When we last left the Colonels, the Reds had just polished them off in Eclipse Park in Louisville. 

Life didn't get easier for the Colonels, as the three-time defending champion St. Louis Browns arrived at the Falls City.

The Colonels, behind the formerly recalcitrant "Ice Box" Chamberlain, surprised the Browns in the first game, winning 7-4. According to the Courier-Journal, they played almost perfect ball and Chamberlain would "win it or pitch his arm off."

The performance proved an anomaly, as the Louisvilles lost 7-5 in front of a small crowd as foul weather threatened throughout the day. However, those who did show up were "rewarded by witnessing a sharp and exciting game of base-ball."

Scott Stratton started for Louisville and pitched well, as the vaunted Browns lineup made "spasmodic but vain attempts to smash the ball." In the end, his efforts weren't enough, as St. Louis held the edge that afternoon after a four-run fifth inning. 

The next day could not be called a fine ballgame, as Louisville put on a "sorry exhibition of base-ball" according to the Courier-Journal, losing 18-1 to St. Louis.

"Toad" Ramsey took the box for the Colonels and didn't pitch badly, but the rest of the team fielded poorly. St. Louis took full advantage of every Louisville miscue and made no miscues in the field.

But facing the champs and poor fielding alone couldn't explain the shoddy play of the Louisville Club. The club had talent, but as The Courier-Journal stated "there is something radically wrong with the club," and dissention seemed to rack the team. The article pointed out that when Toad Ramsey and Scott Stratton pitched, the Louisville fielders performed poorly, but Ice Box Chamberlain benefitted from a seemingly competent Colonel defense. Things would not get better in the coming days.

On May 6, Louisville lost 4-2 to St. Louis as the Colonels ran themselves off of the bases. Ice Box Chamberlain again pitched well, but critically walked three and hit one batter. All of those contributed to the loss. Luckily for the Louisville fans, only 2,500 turned out on a perfectly fine Sunday to see the effort. The club's previous ineptitude kept many at home.

After an off day, the battered Colonels welcomed the Kansas City Cowboys to Eclipse Park. There were almost more participants than spectators present as only 500 bothered to show up. Those who did show saw Louisville win 6-3.

Guy Hecker pitched well and helped his own cause with a three-run single. Pete Browning, well-renowned for his hitting but not his fielding prowess, killed a Cowboy rally with a crucial assist from centerfield that put out Henry Porter at the plate.

The Colonels lassoed the Cowboys again the next day (May 9) as they won 18-6. Kansas City pitching walked eight Louisville batters and their "rotund catcher" Charles "Fatty" Briody (The 19th Century wasn't a period for those who were overly sensitive) allowed two passed balls.
 

Louisville hit, pitched, and fielded well. William "Chicken" Wolfe and George Mack both had three hits, and Pete Browning struck two doubles. 

Chamberlain started for Louisville and pitched well and "had the big Kansas City batters at his mercy." He pitched so well that he did so with both hands. He pitched right-handed the first five innings and with Louisville up by an almost insurmountable margin, pitched the sixth and seventh innings left-handed. Ambidexterity is a rare trait among pitchers, as it's difficult pitching well period, much less with both hands, but some players can do it. 

That was the good news, the bad news for the day featured Toad Ramsey. Manager John Kelly suspended him indefinitely and without pay. Ramsey quickly gave up the temperance pledge he'd made early in the season and routinely drank and showed up in no condition to pitch. 

The next day (May 10), Scott Stratton pitched well, but lost 2-1 to the Cowboys. Stratton pitched well, issuing no balls and giving up three hits. However, catcher John Kerins allowed three passed balls, which proved devastating to the Colonels. The Colonels hit well, but ran themselves off the bases. All-in-all, a frustrating day on the field.

The next day featured heavy hitting and four double plays between the two combatants and it looked like yet another defeat for Louisville, but a three run ninth tied the game and sent it to extra innings. Unfortunately, about half of the crowd left in frustration and didn't see the rally.

Pete Browning saved the game in the tenth, once again displaying his unheralded defensive prowess, making a circus catch for the third out, stranding two Kansas City players in scoring position.

"Chicken" Wolf drove in the winning runs in the eleventh, and Louisville eked out the win. 

After the game, the Colonels departed Louisville and went up the Ohio to the Queen City, to pay a visit to the Reds.

In the first game of the four game tilt, "The Louisville Club added another chapter to its spring serial of base-ball ill luck" as it lost 8-3 to the Reds.

The Colonels, in desperate need for help, met with Toad Ramsey and successfully came up with an agreement, lifting his suspension. Ramsey "looking fresh as a buttercup" pitched well, but not as well as Cincinnati's Lee Viau, who also had strong support from his Association-leading Reds. 

A steady rain fell the next day (May 15) as both teams hit well, but Cincinnati hit better, winning 8-4. Tony Mullane started for the Reds and the Colonels hit "The Apollo of the Box" hard (Browning going 4-4), but the Reds defense bailed him out throughout the contest.

The Cincinnati Enquirer stated the Colonels, "disgusted with Ramsey's conduct" were entertaining offers for Toad Ramsey. Louisville wanted $10,000.00 for their former ace, whom the Enquirer implied had seen better days. Even though the Colonels and Ramsey had came to an amicable agreement, Louisville felt they could lose as easily without their former star as with him. This was another indicator of the ill-mood of the club.

Louisville closed out the series on the business end of the broom as the Reds swept them with a 5-3 win. Despite Guy Hecker's pitching, "poor old Louisville (was) again the sufferer" according to the Enquirer. Hecker had good speed and Cincinnati had difficulty with his deliveries, but they managed to hit him nonetheless.

As May passed it's midpoint, the Colonels were in trouble, they stood seventh in the eight team American Association with an 8-16 record. Only the hapless Cowboys played worse ball at this point. As the Colonels chugged east to play Association stalwarts in Philadelphia and Brooklyn, things looked bleak indeed.

The Louisville Courier-Journal, Cincinnati Enquirer, www.newspapers.com, and www.baseball-reference.com all contributed mightily to this article.

Monarchs Sucessfully Defend Waveland Cup

Special to The Faded Chalklines Blog-

The Monarch Club of Moscow, Ohio successfully defended the high honors from winning last year's inaugural Waveland Cup in fine form this afternoon at Waveland State Historic Site in Lexington.

They proved themselves worthy of the name of the city which doomed Napoleon as they gave the Bluegrass Barons Club of Lexington and the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame the Waterloo treatment.* Tallying the most runs and giving up the fewest, the Monarchs turned back the stern challenge offered by their esteemed opponents, taking the trophy back to their noble town on the north bank of the Ohio.

A large throng of spectators saw a first rate stick-work and capital defense which shone throughout the three contests today as the Hall of Fame Club defeated the Monarchs, the Barons defeated the Hall of Fame Red Stockings, and the Monarchs defeated the Barons.

With such exciting feats of base ball, hope abounds among the leaders of Lexington's vintage club of a challenger within Central Kentucky to spread the gospel of the 1860s version of the National Game.

(*I hope the dear reader pardons me for mixing my Napoleonic references.)

The Ballist's Bookshelf: The Great Baseball Revolt

While on a family vacation to Arizona, I managed to finish another book pertaining to the era which is the focus of this blog. It's titled The Great Baseball Revolt: The Rise and Fall of the 1890s Players League by Robert Ross and published by the University of Nebraska Press.

By the late 1880s, labor relations in baseball reached its nadir. The owners of clubs held tight grip on the salaries and the destinies of the players, which limited the say players had pertaining to their freedom as employees.

The reserve clause ruled the business side of the game by this point. The reserve clause bound a player to his club for as long as the owner pleased, dictating salary, prohibiting a player from entertaining other contracts, and ensuring better profits for the owners. Owners ran the game, they controlled the business of it, the reserve clause infuriated the players, but that was hardly the only thing that drew their ire.

Owners kept salaries artificially low, through various means, the most hated and nefarious being the Brush Classification System. Devised by Indianapolis owner John Brush, it graded players on ability, physical health, and personal habits and determined their salaries as a result. By this time, the best players rarely made more than $2,500.00 a year. A fantastic salary for the era to be sure, but one contrived in the owners' favor.

The artificially capped salaries proved to be part of the problem. Sometimes players didn't get paid for their services, either due to the club's unwillingness or inability to pay. Owners figured ways to deduct salaries, from fines to deducting the laundering of uniforms from their pay.

In addition, woe betide the man who fell injured. Many instances saw players lamed on the field not receive pay while recuperating, what's worse is when they recovered, they didn't necessarily have a roster spot to return. Replacements sometimes supplanted those hurt, but the reserve clause still bound the man to his club. This placed a man in a payless, play-less purgatory.

The environment proved perfect for rebellion, and John Montgomery Ward led the revolt. Ward, a former pitcher and current shortstop for the New York Giants was more than one of the preeminent players of the era. Armed with a law degree from Columbia University, Ward had an intellectual capacity that matched his ability to hit or defend the middle of the infield. This combination, plus his disgust with the owners, made him the ideal leader for the Players League.

By 1890, the time proved right for the players to assert their rights. A new league to rival the National League and American Association made it's debut. The league had strong investors and most importantly, the best players in the nation (to include Louisville's Pete Browning).

However, three major leagues vied for the fans' hearts and-more importantly-their dollars. The talent pool in the American Association and the National League thinned as the ranks of the Players League swelled with the best players the nation had to offer.

Louisville won its solitary major league pennant in 1890, one year after an execrable 1889 campaign (which we'll discuss later). One can make a good argument that the dilution of talent in the major leagues helped to mightily contribute to its miraculous turnaround. All three leagues faced the brink, but it seemed the Players League had the upper hand.

With these advantages, the future looked promising for the players, but would they be able to fulfil the promise? How did the labor struggles in the national game figure in to the larger struggles in American labor as a result of the Industrial Revolution?

Robert Ross tackles these issues in his recent look at the Players League. The above topics are discussed, but most importantly, he links the player's struggle with the struggle of those in America's working class. As industrialization transformed America, the gulf between those who produced and those who profited widened by the day. The Gilded Age of America saw great wealth and crushing poverty. The disparities occurred in all industries, even baseball.

The players looked out for their interests, but really saw their struggle as one with them against the owners, and really didn't sympathize a great deal with the burgeoning struggle between capital and labor in general. While organized labor saw the players as kindred spirits in the fight, the Players League didn't exactly reciprocate.

However, the players weren't the only laborers whose livelihoods lay in the balance. Those who built the parks, made the equipment, and tended the fields all had a stake in the game. Unfortunately, many times in the founding of the Players League, the concern of those who ran the new league and its players proved myopic when it came to the logistical support of the game.

For those looking for page after page of diamond heroics, this won't satisfy you. For those looking at a strict monograph, you'll be pleased to a degree. But for people interested in the labor history of the game and the labor history of the United States, this is your book. It weaves a history of labor and baseball and does a good job of giving an overview of the situation facing the players at this point in the game's history and their attempt at redressing the inequities.

My biggest complaint is that it, like many baseball books treats the American Association as a bit of an afterthought. But that is more a personal pique rather than any real flaw with the book.

It's worth a look for anyone who wants to understand the era this blog covers or those who are interested in the game's difficult history regarding labor.

The biggest thing to realize about professional baseball, especially the finances of the game, there were never any "good old days" of apple pie, mom, and puppies when it came to capital and labor or how the behind the scenes deals enabled the action on the field.

Since the beginnings of professionalism, it's been a ruthless and many times heartless endeavor. Both sides want theirs and will do their best to get it, for the bulk of the game's history, the owners have mostly been on the winning side. But with the death of the reserve clause in 1976, the players' prospects have taken an obvious uptick as evidenced by player salaries (fully earned in this author's opinion).

The Great Baseball Revolt reminds us of this struggle and how important it is to the history of the game and our nation.

The '88 Colonels-April 1888, or Blue Ribbons, Pig-Stickers, and Bull Rings

As I stated in my previous post, unfortunately, an insanely busy April and May of this year prevented me from properly researching and posting about the 1888 Colonels. I've been working extra innings to rectify this, here's my first post to catch up with our friends from Gilded Age baseball.

When we last left the Colonels, they'd been mostly breezing through their spring exhibition schedule. Louisville scheduled a game against the defending National League Champion Detroit Wolverines, but April showers prevented the interleague encounter.

Louisville vented their frustration at missing an opportunity at playing the NL champs by sweeping two games against the Western Association's Milwaukee Brewers.

On April 16 and 17 Buffalo and Louisville split a two game series, Louisville's starters, Guy Hecker and Scott Stratton performed well in both games, Hecker didn't get support, Stratton, Louisville's "veritable wonder," did.

Before the April 16 game, an evangelist preached a temperance sermon, and according to the Courier-Journal, got every Colonel to sign an oath to abstain from alcohol, including the champion drinker/batsman, Pete Browning.

As base ball solidified its grasp as the National Game in the years following the Civil War, the temperance movement in America gained steam. Americans had earned a reputation for overconsumption of alcohol and the ill effects of drink worried many in the nation. A strong prohibition movement grew in an attempt to dry the nation out. Many people signed the pledge to stop drinking, this drive came to Eclipse Park on April 16 and at least for a time included the Falls City's beloved Colonels. The local press called them the "Blue Ribbon club," as the blue ribbon denoted one who'd taken the temperance pledge.

Pete Browning, certainly enjoyed a "drink of an eve" to quote Johnnie Parsons, it seems his drinking started as an attempt to dull the pain of mastoiditis, a painful, debilitating ear ailment. This self-medication grew into a fondness for drink, which was well-known to just about everyone in the city of Louisville and the American Association. His future endeavors indicated he didn't keep his pledge long.

The Colonels left Louisville on the evening of April 17 for St. Louis, where they'd face the three-time defending American Association Champion Browns to open the 1888 campaign.

St. Louis brewer, Chris Von Der Ahe built a dynasty in short time. They had such stalwarts as Arlie Latham, Charles Comiskey (the future owner of the Chicago White Sox), and Tip O'Neil. In 1887, O'Neil hit for the highest average in the history of Major League Baseball when he bat .435. This is incredible at first glance, however this number is inflated by the fact that in 1887 walks counted as hits. This is one of the many statistical anomalies of the game's history, one that I'd like to explore more later, but for now will just present to you in this truncated form.

It's safe to say the Colonels faced a formidable opponent to start the season.

On April 17, the Courier-Journal optimistically predicted a split for the St. Louis series. In my readings of the Louisville paper, it's safe to say the local writers didn't hide their partisanship and as a result overestimated the capabilities of the Colonels. The four-game tilt with the Browns proved this point.

St. Louis blanked Louisville in the opener 8-0 in front of 5,000 on a day that "was bright and sunshiny, a marked contrast to Manager John Kelly's face at the end of the ninth inning."

Louisville had trouble with every facet of the game, only eking out three hits, sloppy defense, and poor pitching.

The next day proved little better, Guy Hecker got hit hard, giving up 24 hits in a 13-7 loss. Pete Browning managed a triple in spite of a cold, but the Colonels performance proved forgettable otherwise.

Sports fans and the sporting press can be fickle, today's hero is tomorrow's goat. It's always been that way, as the Courier-Journal stated Guy Hecker was a "trifle too fat" and he "should condition himself better." The week before the same paper defended Hecker's apparent 30-pound weight gain from the writers of the Baltimore Sun, stating he was not "too fat" after he'd pitched well against Buffalo. How soon we forget!

After an off-day, the Colonels lost yet again to the Browns, 11-7 in spite of a strong outing by Scott Stratton. Louisville's defense again appeared to have stayed in the Falls City, as the Colonels committed many errors.

St. Louis completed the sweep the next day as the Browns pounded Toad Ramsey, who had difficulty commanding his drop curve. Once again, the Colonel defense did little to aid Ramsey's pitching woes and in spite of good base running, Louisville lost 11-6.

Louisville limped out of St. Louis and headed west to Kansas City for a four-game roundup with the Cowboys.

The hefty Guy Hecker took the mound against the Cowboys in what the Louisville press called the "bull ring" on the 24th and he got lit up a second time and the Louisville defense, as usual so far for 1888 didn't show up. However, the Colonels made a game of it, losing 15-13. Pete Browning came up a double short of the cycle and Reddy Mack homered, but the offense couldn't make up for a losing effort in the field and on the mound.

Scott Stratton and Pete Browning led the Colonels to their first victory in 1888, winning 15-6. The Colonel offense stayed hot, as Browning went got five singles in five at-bats and Stratton helped his own cause with two hits.

Louisville made it two in a row on April 25 as they stampeded the Cowboys 18-6. Toad Ramsey found the command of his drop curve he so sorely lacked in his previous start, and the offense continued to click on all cylinders.

Guy Hecker closed out the Kansas City series with a solid 7-3 win on April 26. He had control issues, but also scattered only four hits over the first eight innings.

Admittedly the Cowboys weren't as good as St. Louis, but the Colonels looked good in the 3-1 series win. As the Derby City boys pulled out of Kansas City for their home opener, they and the City of Louisville had high hopes for the next series against Cincinnati.

Cincinnati had just taken a series from St. Louis, three games to one and over their years in the American Association proved one of the best teams in the circuit. The proximity of the Falls City and the Queen City made the two teams bitter rivals. The Louisville press especially spewed invective against their foes up the Ohio. In the coming series, the Courier-Journal called Cincinnatians and their club chumps, "beer drinkers and pretzel eaters" in a slur on the city's German heritage (which is strange, as Louisville has a strong German history as well), and "pig stickers," as Cincinnati was a major pork processing center.

A strong crowd of 3,000 filled Eclipse Park on Saturday, April 28 and the Colonels didn't disappoint, winning 6-4 on the strength of a four-run second and the arm of Toad Ramsey.

An enthusiastic throng of 7,000 Derby City and Queen City residents showed up the next day of the second game. Three boats from Cincinnati brought 1,500 supporters, so a goodly mix of supporters filled the stands.

The Courier-Journal stated "the game was a contest for blood from the start" as the young Scott Stratton faced Cincinnati's "Apollo of the Box" Tony "The Count" Mullane. The handsome Mullane proved a stalwart of the Association and his record made him a formidable opponent for all AA clubs. Stratton found that out this day, as the Reds played well in every particular, winning 8-3.

On a cold close of the month of April, a small crowd of roughly 500 braved the weather to see Louisville go into the bottom of the ninth with a 5-3 lead and two outs. (Note, until 1950 the home team could pick to bat first or second, so Louisville batted first this game, giving the Reds the last at-bat.) Hecker, who'd pitched well, subsequently put two men on as second baseman Bid McPhee came to bat. The future member of the Baseball Hall of Fame subsequently hit a triple, tying the game 5-5. The next batter singled McPhee in and the Colonels lost in crushing fashion.

The Colonels closed out the Cincinnati series in abysmal fashion, as Tony Mullane scattered four hits, leading the Reds to an entirely dominant 18-2 victory. The painful loss of the day before apparently hung over the Louisville nine as the Colonels committed a ghastly 13 errors, and Toad Ramsey proved entirely ineffective in the box.

The end of the first three series of the season saw Louisville sit at a 4-8 record. So far the pitching proved uneven and the defense shoddy at best, while the offense for the most part proved highly competent. Baseball's a long season, and so far, while discouraging, nothing seemed to indicate the Colonels couldn't have a good season.

The coming days soon tested that notion.

Book Review-Baseball Before We Knew It

First, I'd like to apologize for my lapse in posting, work and my other sporting love-motor racing have gotten in the way of late. No excuse mind you, but I feel I need to explain myself! The 1888 Louisville Colonels retrospective is still on, but it'll be about a week before I can be fully caught up.

The last month hasn't been a total loss vintage base ball-wise, I got into some action in a couple games in Covington against the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame team and managed to hit line drives at every single player on the left side of the infield. Also, I've just about finished David Block's Baseball Before We Knew It.

This isn't a new title, as it's about 15 years old, but it's a valuable addition to any serious scholar of the game's bookshelf. This is a must-have.

Ask the average person who invented baseball and they'll most likely answer "Abner Doubleday" one day in Cooperstown, New York in 1839. Alas, this isn't so. The future defender of Fort Sumter and the man who commanded the Federal forces on the field briefly on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg had a distinguished life, well-respected by his peers, but baseball inventor he ain't. He was at West Point at that time, enduring the rigors of Academy life.

Doubleday became baseball's creator at the end of a dispute between two of the giants of the early years of the sport. Sporting goods magnate and former pitcher Albert Spalding and the magisterial baseball writer, statistician and historian Henry Chadwick had a running debate between themselves for roughly 20 years as to the game's progeny.

Spalding, proud American to the core, insisted some bright young American lad invented the game. Chadwick, a British expatriate, insisted baseball developed from the British game of rounders. In the sporting press they jousted, mostly in good nature, about the evolution of baseball.

Spalding eventually established a commission to verify who invented the game, and long (long) story short, Abner Graves, essentially a superannuated Colorado crackpot wrote a ludicrously detailed letter regarding how he witnessed the Abner Doubleday invent of baseball as a young man in Cooperstown in 1839. The letter and it's information is spurious at best, but Spalding had what he needed. Doubleday became the game's founder and in the public's eye, the game had a purely American genesis.

Turns out research debunked this story. So is Chadwick right? Not exactly.

Bat and ball games go back time immemorial. David Block masterfully accounts the variety of games played with stick and ball having vestigal semblance to baseball. These games not only developed in England, but all over Europe, North America, and even Africa.

Block, as well as other researchers did masterful work in researching obscure, centuries-old sources to trace down the family tree of baseball.

English writer Jane Austen mentions baseball in Northanger Abbey, written in 1799, well in advance of Doubleday. But that's not the first reference of the game in print. Baseball, stoolball, French "poison ball" among others all have traits similar to our game.

Soldiers on both sides of the American Revolution played stick and ball games, some referenced to base. George Washington himself threw a ball around with his staff at times. Imagine, Washington and Alexander Hamilton throwing a ball around, it's a shame that didn't make it into Hamilton.

In short, baseball has a long history. It's history is still longer than what we know, not to spoil the book, I'll stop here. But, anyone who wants to know about the creation of our game needs this book. It's a must, not only for it's debunking of the Doubleday myth, but also that rounders fathered base basll entirely. The truth is always much more complex, as David Block so skillfully masters in his book Baseball Before We Knew It.