September 1, 1872
In addition to Joe Dimond’s superb pitching, the Athletics have gotten a lot of runs up and down the lineup. Two players had hitting streaks of 20 games or more come to an end in August. SS Bill Heim, who’s hitting .315 this season, saw his 22 game hit streak come to an end on August 3 against Middletown. C Charlie Harvard had a 21 game hit streak snapped in a 10-1 loss to the Eckfords. Speaking of Brooklyn, even the bolstered Eckford lineup couldn’t pull the team up higher in the standings, as they went 3-5 in their return to play over the last half of the month.
Meanwhile, the announcement that everyone expected to occur ages ago has finally happened. Middletown has been unable to maintain their high payroll amidst diminished returns. After starting the season 3-0, the team fell to 10-14 before announcing their withdrawal from the league on August 13. Despite all the talent the team had acquired, they were 5th in the league in runs scored and 8th in runs allowed. Too many errors on defense cost the team a lot of runs, and the offense simply hasn’t lived up to expectations.
A 3-12 loss to the Red Stockings on August 19 was also the final straw for the Forest Citys. Languishing at 7-15 and 10th place in the league, Cleveland’s departure leaves just 6 active teams for the remainder of the season: Philadelphia, New York, Boston, the Atlantics, Baltimore, and the bolstered remains known as Eckford.
Standings
Code:
W L PCT GB
Philadelphia Athletics 22 8 .733 -
New York Mutuals 24 14 .632 2.0
Boston Red Stockings 19 15 .559 5.0
Brooklyn Atlantics 13 10 .565 5.5
Troy Haymakers 13 12 .520 6.5
Washington Olympics 5 4 .556 6.5
Washington Nationals 5 6 .455 7.5
Middletown Mansfields 10 14 .417 9.0
Brooklyn Eckfords 7 12 .368 9.5
Cleveland Forest Citys 7 15 .318 11.0
Baltimore Canaries 13 28 .317 14.5
League Leaders
Average
.462 John Arend (WSH)
.454 Billy Horace (ECK)
.418 Rudy Stirnemann (ATL)
Total Bases
90 John Nero (NY)
83 Bill Shew (BAL)
81 Bob Brose (ECK)
Stolen Bases
17 Tom Hedgepeth (NY)
15 John Nero (NY)
10 Nat Alsop (CLE), Jack Masterson (BAL)
ERA
1.93 Charlie Champ (CLE)
2.42 Jim Carlos (NY)
2.82 Joe Dimond (PHA)
Wins
12 Joe Dimond (PHA)
11 Charlie Bickley (BOS)
9 Jim Carlos (NY), Pete Jackson (TRO)
Strikeouts
27 Joe Dimond (PHA)
12 Al Allen (ECK)
11 Jake Lindsey (MID)