THE SPORT
November 1857
1857 BASE BALL REVIEW
1857 Base Ball Average Leaders
Note: Actual 1857 Averages in Parenthesis. Modern BA, Rs and RBIs to Right in Parenthesis.
Code:
Rank Name Team Runs/Game Outs/Game
1 Ja. Wood, C HARLEM 4.0 (NA) 5.3 (NA) (.484,12,9)
2 Masten, C CONTINENTAL 3.8 (3.3) 3.5 (3.3) (.417,15,7)
3 M. Gelston, C EAGLE 3.7 (3.7) 2.6 (2.1*) (.566,33,17)
4 Jo. Wood, 3B HARLEM 3.7 (NA) 5.3 (NA) (.500,11,6)
5 P. O’Brien, OF ATLANTIC 3.3 (3.6) 3.3 (2.6) (.545,30,18)
6 Robinson, 2B HARLEM 3.3 (NA) 7.3 (NA) (.290,10,12)
7 Berry, OF CONTINENTAL 3.3 (3.5) 4.0 (2.5) (.429,13,6)
8 M. O’Brien, P ATLANTIC 3.2 (3.8) 3.4 (2.8) (.483,29,30)
9 G. Grum, SS ECKFORD 3.1 (3.8) 4.0 (0.6*) (.429,22,12)
10 D. Pearce, SS ATLANTIC 3.1 (3.5) 3.3 (2.4) (.500,28,19)
11 J. Holder, 2B ATLANTIC 3.1 (3.7) 3.6 (2.8) (.492,28,19)
12 Liscomb, OF HARLEM 3.0 (NA) 4.0 (NA) (.520,9,6)
13 Gesner, 2B PUTNAM 3.0 (3.5) 5.3 (2.0) (.467,9,2)
14 W. Young, 1B EXCELSIOR 3.0 (5.0) 5.0 (3.0) (.375,9,7)
15 Dyer, OF HARLEM 3.0 (NA) 5.7 (NA) (.346,9,9)
16 Kanski, OF HARLEM 3.0 (NA) 6.3 (NA) (.321,9,6)
17 J. Price, 1B ATLANTIC 2.9 (3.8) 3.9 (3.0) (.444,26,21)
18 P. Boerum, 3B ATLANTIC 2.9 (2.8) 3.9 (2.4) (.435,26,32)
19 Johnson, 2B GOTHAM 2.8 (2.2) 3.8 (3.0) (.406,14,13)
20 Gorff, C EMPIRE 2.8 (3.0) 3.0 (1.4*) (.500,22,20)
21 F. Neibuhr, 3B KNICKS 2.8 (3.5) 3.0 (1.5*) (.500,11,3)
22 McCosker, 3B GOTHAM 2.8 (2.6) 4.0 (2.6) (.429,11,3)
23 L.M. Bergen, C ATLANTIC 2.7 (3.8) 3.8 (2.4) (.485,24,28)
24 Hoyt, OF PUTNAM 2.7 (5.0) 5.0 (3.0) (.444,8,9)
25 C. Etheridge, P EXCELSIOR 2.7 (4.0) 4.7 (2.0) (.417,8,2)
26 Gibbs, 1B PUTNAM 2.7 (5.0) 6.0 (3.0) (.333,8,4)
* Incomplete - outs not counted in all games
Note: The scoring averages seem to be in the ball park, maybe a little low in some cases. The outs per game were substantially higher than actual averages. I guess some tweaking will be necessary for ‘58 season.
Marvin Gelston: Outstanding Ball Player of the Year
Eagle club catcher Marvin Gelston has been selected by The Sport as the Outstanding Ball Player of 1857. Gelston, who has been a member of the Eagle base ball club since its foundation, led all New York club players in scoring. He tallied 33 aces in nine games, averaging 3.7 per game. Many of his peers also recognize him as the best defensive backstop in the Association. Unfortunately, his prowess with the bat and behind the plate didn't translate to a successful season for the Eagle as the club finished 3-6. However, with Gelston and most of its other current members promising to return for next season, the Eagle look to reverse their fortunes.
Other Base Ball Notes:
Pete O’Brien of Atlantic and Norman Welling of the Knicks were tied for the league lead in home runs with two each.
Empire’s second baseman, Howard Miller, led the league with seven doubles.
There were six Association players with one triple. They are: Pete O’Brien (Atlantic); Archie McMahon (Atlantic); Charles Place (Eagle); Dick Thorn (Empire); Ed Ward (Empire); and Alfred Vrendenburgh (Knicks).
Base Ball’s Future Looks Promising
This game is over for the present, but appearances indicate an increased and more wide-spread interest in the sport next season. It is a beautiful exercise, and equally fascinating to player and spectator. The game is confined chiefly to the New York vicinity, but we hope to see it “caught up” in other localities on the opening of the season of 1858.
Long Island seems to have most the most wonderful progress, as the following list of clubs will show, most of them having been organized during the year just about closing :—Atlantic, Alert, Active, Bedford, Baltic, Continental, Eckford, Excelsior, Enterprise, Franklin, Franklin Jr., Hamilton, Independent, Layfayette, Liberty, Montauk, Nassau, Niagra, National, Neptune, Oriental, Osceola, Pastime, Polytechnic, Putnam, Rough and Ready, Superior, Star, Saratoga, Union, Victory, Warren, Wayne, and Young America.
Massachusetts' Association Leaders
Runs Scored (Average per game in parenthesis)
Code:
1. George J. Arnold, Jr., OLYMPICS 64 (7.2)
2. Ben F. Guild, TRI MOUNTAIN 52 (7.4)
3. R. G. Hubbard, OLYMPICS 50 (5.6)
4. George B. Stone, OLYMPICS 48 (5.3)
5. Ed Saltzman, TRI MOUNTAIN 47 (6.7)
6. Henry W. Copp, WINTHROP 39 (7.8)
7. Henry F. Gill, OLYMPICS 39 (4.3)
8. O. F. Frye, OLYMPICS 38 (3.3)
9. Henry Von Gudera, TRI MOUNTAIN 34 (4.9)
10. Charles F. Richards, WASSAPOAG 28 (9.3)
Tri Mountains' Saltzman says club favors New York game
Shortly after winning the 1857 Massachusetts championship, Ed Saltzman, who founded the Tri-Mountain baseball club last year, says he would prefer to play with New York rules in 1858. His declaration has ruffled the feathers of the older ball clubs in the Boston area.
Saltzman, a transplanted New Yorker, learned the game while playing for the Gothams. It isn't unusual to see the Tri-Mountains playing the New York version of the game during intrasquad matches. During the past season, the Tri-Mountains used New York rules during at least two matches played against other squads. The first was a match against a visiting club from Portland Maine. It was a tightly contested affair won by the Tri-Mountains 47-42.
Later, the Knickerbocker rules were used during a match between Tri-Mountain and the Winthrop club. Rather than play nine innings, the victor was the first team to tally 21 aces. Tri-Mountain won the four-Inning affair 21-8.
Despite this, the majority of the Massachusetts men seem to prefer their traditional style of play as the more “scientific” game and reject the upstart New York version. They prefer a square field, overhand pitching, no foul territory, ten to twelve men per side, one out to retire all, and victory belonging to the team that first scores one hundred runs.
The sport continues to see excellent support in Boston – from favorable notices from the local press to the cooperation of city merchants who close their doors on summer Saturday afternoons.
FOOTBALL
Will Football Catch On In America?
Football seems to be enjoying a surge of popularity In England, especially with the recent formation of that country's first football club in Sheffield. We here at the Sport are interested in what the prospects for football are in this country.
Much as has happened on English campuses, American schools have developed their own unique forms of the sport. At Princeton, they play a version called "ballown.” Harvard, Yale, and others each have individual variations. However, if the diverse development echoes Britannia, the American style of play resembles circa medieval. The only thing missing is the Dane's head. The spectacle of young gentlemen attacking each other in the most ungentlemanly ways moved the New York EVENING POST to observe that American football "makes the same impression on the public mind as a bull fight. Boys and young men knock each other down, tear off each other's clothing. Eyes are bunged, faces blacked and bloody, and shirts and coats torn to rags."
The usual excuse for a game of football on various American campuses is the "class rush", a joyous custom in which the sophomores demonstrate the benefit of an additional year's education by trampling the freshmen into the campus sod. The frosh, in turn, are determined to prove their worthiness to frequent the ivy halls by attempting to fertilize the sod with sophomores. Although a ball of some sort is involved, no one really keeps score so long as a sufficient number of opponents are mangled.
At Harvard, "Bloody Monday" has taken place on the first Monday of each new college year since 1827, involving the freshman and sophomore classes. In the latest installment, it was reported that the freshmen kicked the ball well, but the sophomores kept missing the ball and kicking the freshmen. The game, according to another account, "consisted of kicking, pushing, slugging and getting angry."
At Yale, the interclass conflict takes on a more definite form. The upper classmen supervise the freshmen who are herded into a huge phalanx with the ball carrier in the center. Then the sophomores attack this mob and try to push, kick, throw, or otherwise coerce the ball over the goal. Meanwhile, the upper classmen stand off to one side and cluck about school spirit and sportsmanship while occasionally wiping off spatters of blood.
The faculties and administrations alternately approve and condemn football playing. On the plus side, the game revs up school spirit and decreases class sizes. But, on the other hand, there is altogether too much destruction of school property to be tolerated.
As the contests grow in size, there is concern that the destruction may begin to spread into the nearby towns. New Haven officials have often complained to Yale authorities about the sport and it seems the game is always on the verge of being abolished.
As the game gains stature in England, hopefully some of that luster will rub off on the American game as well.