The Nats win Two!
1884, the Washington Nationals have lost the first three games in a four game series with the powerful St. Louis Union nine. The St. Louis Club, also called the Maroons, are 83 and 11, the Nationals having remade the team are 39 and 51. Today they hope 23 year old Bill Wise can beat the strong arm of Charlie Sweeney.
18 September St. Louis 2 Washington 4
For once the St. Louis team did precisely the opposite, and in consequence retired from the field at the end of nine innings defeated. Proceedings opened with a little tempest that for a time threatened to prevent het game from being played. Secretary Warren White had appointed Bill Stearns umpire for the day. When Fred Dunlap found this out he refused to let his team play. The Nationals went to the field, and after Bill Wise had pitched nine balls over the plate, Stearns declared the St. Louis Club had forfeited the game by 9 to 0. The spectators were notified that their money would be refunded at the gate and begun to disperse. But after a time it was finally concluded to go on with the game and let Jennings umpire. As the Nationals had won the game actually played, no question will be raised as to the forfeited game, but there is no doubt the Nationals won on a forfeit declared by Stearns.
The Nationals made three unearned runs in the second inning on atrocious fielding by the St, Louis team and a base hit by Tom Evers. In the third Henry Moore made a two-base hit, went to third on sacrifice hits by Phil Baker and Abner Powell, and scored on Henry Boyle’s muff of Chris Fulmer’s fly, the St, Louis team earned their first run in the sixth inning on Milt Whitehead’s two-bagger and Dave Rowe’s single. Their run in the seventh was made on Charlie Sweeney’s two base hit and Evers’s fumble of nineteen year old Joe Quinn’s grounder. The fielding errors of the home team were confined to Evers’s failure to stop a ball thrown by Bill Wise, the fumble referred to, and an excusable error by Charlie Geggus in dropping Boyle’s fly while at full speed on a long run. Moore dropped another ball from Sweeney’s bat, but escaped an error, as Sweeney was declared out for failing to touch first base. Jerry McCormick made a splendid left hand stop of a high-bounding ball from Jack Gleason’s bat in the first inning and a great catch of a hot liner from the same player in the sixth inning. Jim Halpin played beautifully at short, and Baker’s work behind the bat was a treat. Fulmer did perfect work at first. Evers and Moore both made good plays in their places. Tom Dolan, behind the bat, did the best fielding for St. Louis, being the only one of the lot to escape an error. There was little difference in the effectiveness of the two pitchers, but had Sweeney been properly supported the Nationals would have been shut out. Wise pitched one of his very best games, and when Wise does pitch a good game he is a very hard man to hit, as Dunlap found out. Umpire Jennings. Time 1:40.
Cincinnatis is in next. Only five more home games left in the championship season. The Amateur season starts tomorrow at Capitol Park. Ladies will be admitted free to the grounds and grandstand.
