October 7, 1877
The St. Louis Brown Stockings took the pennant after Boston was unable to take advantage of some head to head match-ups. The large lead they had developed earlier in the season seems to have come into play, as St. Louis won just 2 of their last 8 games. One of the keys to St. Louis’ season appears to have been a new strategy in which the team employed two regular starting pitchers. Both Jack Anderson and John Zackery got regular turns to start games for the team, and while other teams started pitchers other than their regular starter, only the Brown Stockings regularly alternated between the two.
The Louisville Grays continued to be mired in accusations of game fixing, both in league games and in non-league match-ups. The surprise of the latter part of the season was that floundering Cincinnati suddenly found themselves in 2nd place by the time all was said and done. The key was a three game set with the Grays from September 6 through 8. The Grays were favored on paper, but the Reds managed to win under some suspicious circumstances. In addition, the Reds were partly responsible for St. Louis’ poor stretch to end the year. Cincinnati took all four contests against the Brown Stockings after the Brown Stockings had clinched the pennant.
In Other News
Sep 4: Boston and St. Louis meet for the first of their final 4 meetings with the Brown Stockigns up 7 games in the standings. The Red Caps commit 8 errors en route to a 16-5 loss to St. Louis.
Sep 5: Pat Denton and Jack Waldrop of the Louisville Grays agree to throw their next game in Cincinnati for $25 each. Both commit errors that lead directly to Cincinnati runs. Both also go hitless as the Grays lose to the Reds 4-2.
Sep 5: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is killed by a guard at Fort Robinson, Nebraska.
Sep 6: Boston’s John Storey wins his 20th game of the season by beating the St. Louis Brown Stockings 5-4.
Sep 13: Boston’s John Storey shuts out the Brown Stockings on 4 hits, but the Red Caps are still 6.5 games behind the league leaders.
Sep 15: St. Louis beats Boston to clinch the pennant. In a hotly contested game that saw the Brown Stockings stay just a run or two ahead of the Red Caps throughout the whole game, finally winning by a score of 8-7.
Sep 25: Louisville newspaper reporter John Haldeman charges Denton and Waldrop of the Grays with throwing the previous day’s exhibition against Indianapolis. The two later admit this to the club’s directors.
Standings
Code:
W L PCT GB
St. Louis Brown Stockings 37 23 .617 -
Cincinnati Reds 31 27 .534 5.0
Boston Red Caps 32 29 .525 5.5
Chicago White Stockings 29 31 .483 8.0
Louisville Grays 27 34 .443 10.5
Hartford Dark Blues 24 36 .400 13.0
League Leaders
Average
.353 John Nero (CHW)
.345 Bob Polansky (STL)
.344 Tom Childers (CHW)
Total Bases
120 Bob Polansky (STL)
119 Henry Rasnick (LOU)
111 John Nero (CHW)
Stolen Bases
16 Jim Heyman (HAR)
16 Fred Mannion (BOS)
12 John Nero (CHW)
ERA
1.92 John Zackery (STL)
2.08 Bill Johnson (CHW)
2.16 George Witcher (CIN)
Wins
22 John Storey (BOS)
19 Bill Johnson (CHW)
15 Jack Anderson (STL), John Zackery (STL)
Strikeouts
94 John Storey (BOS)
72 George Witcher (CIN)
64 John Zackery (STL)