Shown: END OF SEASON: Chicago White Stocking's (light blue) winning streak overtakes the Providence Grays (gray) in a CAROUSEL and wins their third straight pennant.

Note that Chicago overtakes Providence in three days: September 12, 13, and 14. This was not a classic Carousel situation where Chicago might have been playing Worcester, a team with only eighteen 1882 victories, while Providence was battling third place Buffalo (light green). It was rather a three game set played between Providence and Chicago in Chicago and Chicago, three games down, swept three straight to gain a modern tie for first place. Officially, in this final season where "most victories" was the qualifier for first place, Chicago would finally gain a share the top spot September 16th and garnering it for good, September 26th, with their fifty-second win.

This "choke" was as crushing to Providence fans as any modern let-down. For "attendance reasons" Chicago talked Buffalo into moving their season ending three games from Buffalo to Chicago. Providence first-year manager Harry Wright claimed the move was illegal and protested Chicago's three game sweep should not count. This would have lowered Chicago's wins from fifty-five to fifty-two, but on the final day of the season his Providences failed to win their fifty-third game and his protest was dropped. In that final game sophomore right-hander Jim "Grasshopper" Whitney of Boston beat Providence's Charles Radbourne 2-1 with his own ninth inning single. Pete "The Monkey" Hotaling scored on that play with an awkward slide around catcher Barney Gilligan. The Providence home crowd - and even Boston papers - insisted Hotaling never came near the plate, but ump Bill Hawes gave it safe, and never again worked a National League game.

For Providence the season was all about the shortstop position. Legendary George Wright, "virtually retired" since 1879, made a come-back attempt dodging charley-horses all year and appearing in just over half of the Gray's games. He batted .162 with flashes of brilliance in the field. Late in the year catcher Gilligan and pitcher John Ward took turns replacing him at short and John Troy controversially filled in for four games despite being suspended by Philadelphia of the American Association. His stock dropped when he inexplicably flubbed a thrown ball one ninth inning, to open up a four run Buffalo rally that cost Providence a September win (see Game Dot, Friday, September 1). Wright came back after that just in time for that Chicago sweep to finish the year and his career with a meek 6-for-44.

Providence took over first place July 31st beating Troy behind Charles Radbourne's twentieth victory. Providence then took eight of twelve hosting each Western opponent in a six week long home stand. The home stand featured two games at Boston and one at Worcester as it was custom between Massachusett's neighbors to play "one game at home followed by one game on the road". Providence took two of three hosting Cleveland, a series that featured right-fielder Cliff Carroll's debut from a fledgling Nevada league, and then took two of three from Chicago behind Paul Hines' hot bat. Hines, in an extra-base filled 13-for-26 batting spree, capped an eight-run 6th inning August 10th with an rbi-triple off Goldsmith and beat Chicago the next day pulling a two-rbi seventh inning single off Corcoran that gave the game its 2-0 final score. The Detroits were next and they were swept three straight to open up Providence's biggest lead of the season: three and one-half games. Game two of the Detroit series was an eighteen inning 0-0 tie broken up by Radbourne's two out homer over the left field gardens. Radbourne, however, wasn't the pitcher that day. He was in right-field! John Montgomery Ward, who alternated evenly with Radbourne, spun the behemoth nine-hitter with one walk to win over Detroit's junkballer George Weidman. The Buffalos took two of three in their set and these are the first three dots from the left for both of those teams.

You can see how, just prior to the Chicago sweep, both Providence and Chicago enjoyed undefeated 3-0 weeks, winning Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday against, respectively, Cleveland and Troy. These three wins marked the beginning of Chicago's 15-1 finish and came just as Chicago solved a shortstop problem of their own: they moved season-long shortstop experiment King Kelly and his error-filled 0-for-20 back to right field, reactivated Joe Quest off the bench to play second, with Tommy P. "Away Up" Burns back where he belonged at short. September 5th marked not only that first Troy game and the hot team spurt but the reappearance of the great "Stonewall Infield" that had won pennants the previous two years and new uniforms consisting of tight, natty shirts and "parti-colored caps". Chicago outscored Troy 41-2 in three games.

Providence put up a better fight. The first game was a 6-4 squeaker won in the top of the fifth inning when Abner Dalrymple beat center-fielder Paul Hines with a two-rbi double drilled over his head. Chicago was now two games back. Game two was a 6-5 win won by Chicago in the top of the eighth inning when George Wright's high toss pulled Joe Start off first base and two runs scored. Chicago was now one game back. Game three was a neat 6-2 Chicago win: a 2-2 tie until Kelly's league leading 28th double of the year set up two sixth inning tie-breaking runs off Radbourne. Chicago had modern first place with a 46-28 record while Providence was at 47-29. Chicago pitchers Larry Corcoran and Fred Goldsmith were in the strictest two-man rotation to date with Corcoran undefeated after August 16th. Incidentally, Anson had a baby boy born in Philadelphia the morning of the first game and guaranteed a win over Providence. "We can't lose." he said. Sadly, the boy could and would be dead before Providence left town. Anson missed a weekend of play consoling his wife in Philadelphia.

The next twelve days saw intense pressure as Providence remained no further than one game back. Providence lost to Detroit in the first game after the Chicago sweep, September 16, by a 2-1 score - Ward's last start of the year as his arm was spent - and then came back to win in their next game, September 19th, 6-2 when Gilligan hit a bases clearing "lucky triple" in the fourth inning after Detroit second baseman Joe Farrell slipped trying to make a third out tag. Providence hung tough with another win the next day scoring fours runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie Detroit - all scored after Detroit centerfielder Ned Hanlon let a can of corn bounce straight out of his hands. "Providence to win pennant on Hanlon's muff." newspapers read. Providence won again Saturday, September 23, when Paul Hines slammed a seventh inning rbi-triple off Lee Richmond to break a scoreless duel with Radbourne who was now used for every game. But the break came in the morning game of a double-header, Monday, September 25, when Worcester's Frank Mountain (3-22) outdueled Radbourne (31-18), and won 4-3. The first double header for one admission in big-league history.

The next day, Chicago overcame Buffalo's 7-2 lead in the seventh and eighth innings when exhausted right-hander Pud Galvin had to resort to a slow ball delivery. Chicago had the one-and a half game lead. Chicago clinched in their next to last game, September 28th, the second of the transferred Buffalo games, when Anson broke a fifth inning deadlock with an rbi-single off of Blondie Purcell, a rightfielder trying to give Galvin a day of rest. Galvin had alternated most of the year with Hugh "One-Arm" Daily, but the sore-headed Daily was given a leave of absence August 18 with a sore arm. Galvin tried finishing the season alone. He won thirteen and lost four in thirty-eight days before his arm blew out that final week. Cleveland's Jim McCormick, too, tried finishing the season alone when his pitching partner, George Bradley, begged off for extra recuperation time after the Fourth of July. McCormick finished the year 23-16 while other Cleveland pitchers finished 1-4.

Let's appreciate what made Pud Galvin great. Galvin could "go it alone" as a one-man pitching staff like no other. He could post respectable won-lost percentages as a one-man staff and, more importantly, he could come back the following Spring with a fresh arm. Of the hundreds of other pitchers who were forced to work as a one-man staff, only Cy Young shares this remarkable trait. But note how Galvin and Young's teams never finished in first place. That was the catch-22 of pitching rotations: when the two man rotation was developed the teams with the best pitchers resisted and failed with the best!

I wanted to mention something about the Detroit team, seen on game Dots gravitating towards .500. Detroit had held first place for eighteen days (modern method) in the first half of the season before being displaced by Chicago, July 8th. This was a charming Cinderella franchise who had no business in the top spot.

Detroit was led by Frank C. Bancroft, a thirty-five year old New Bedford, Massachusetts hotel manager who had filled in as a player on light New Bedford nines of the mid-1870's. He rose to New Bedford manager in 1878, entered the team in the International Association, but withdrew from that organization after only three games when he realized he would have to pay a $75 per game guarantee to each visiting club until July, when New Bedford would finally get its own road trip. He scheduled his own unheard of 150 game schedule which included a Fourth of July triple-header and a visit to the White House where the players shook hands with President Rutherford Hayes.

He became known as the "Great Advertiser" but it was his hotel management people skills that elevated him above the rest. He delegated all authority for strategic decision-making to his captains and insisted only that each dollar and cent was accounted for. He treated players as gentlemen and was able to sign the most promising and keep his stars from being tempted by other offers. Because he refused to play or even run the team on the field he created the position we know as general manager. Financially successful in New Bedford, he stepped down in the Fall of 1878 because his hotel business was booming and needed his attention. Offers from major league franchises flooded in. He chose to manage Worcester, his home town, in the National Association, a league that had previously been the International Association of 1877 and 1878 but which had been renamed after the Canadian teams dropped out.

As Worcester manager he signed left-handed pitcher Lee Richmond, a 20-year old junior from Brown University who, in his Worcester debut, June 2, threw a no-hitter over Cap Anson's Chicago White Stockings in an exhibition game. At the end of 1879, he managed the Rochester Hop Bitters on a barn-storming trip to California, back to Louisiana, and then Cuba in an unprecedented, record-breaking, off-season road trip. He moved Worcester into the National League for 1880, finished just under .500, and turned in a second year of profits from that small town. His best 1881 offer was from Detroit and he took it. He built the Detroit team from scratch, entered it into the National League, had that team in second place until August 13th, and made twelve thousand dollars profit. In the early 1880's, most considered Frank Bancroft a "miracle manager". For example, the day after Harry Wright quit Providence, Providence signed Bancroft to replace him.

Even with Richmond, the left-handed power pitcher - easily the greatest pitcher in baseball in 1879 and 1880 - Bancroft was unable to win pennants. So for 1882 Bancroft tried something new. He went with two young junk-ballers named George: a 24-year old "Master of Strategy" George Derby and 21-year old George Wiedman. Derby had pitched winning ball with Hornellsville, NY, (a nationally respected team) in the late 1870's and with Washington in 1880. Both teams were in the International Association and he was fortunate enough to have King Kelly and Pop Snyder, respectively, as his battery mates. Weidman had less success breaking in with Rochester in 1880 and getting an 0-for-9 (decisions) tryout with Buffalo that year. He replaced Derby as Washington's pitcher in 1881 and then made a sensation in the National League, that September, with a sparkling 1.80 ERA in thirteen starts - qualifying as the official ERA leader. Weidman was so effective that the Detroits released untested rookie Tony Mullane.

The core of the Detroits were the three athletes that loyally left Worcester at Bancroft's request: smart sometimes-captain Lon Knight in rightfield, the 1879 National Association bat champion George Wood in leftfield, and Charlie Bennett one of the top three nineteenth century catchers. On-field trouble-maker Ned Hanlon starred in centerfield, John "Dasher" Troy played secondbase despite signing a contract in 1881 to play with Philadelphia of the American Association, and Martin Powell played firstbase. All had previously played their positions with Detroit in 1881. Newcomers were on the left side of the infield: Brooklyn-born thirdbaseman Joe Farrell was picked up from Albany and celebrated veteran shortstop Mike McGeary, a captain and assistant manager on various teams since 1872, who was signed to be captain.

Bancroft, by pitching Richmond for two years, had realized left-handers couldn't hit the lefty. While other managers had made lineup changes or benched their lefthanded batsmen against Richmond, Bancroft was the first manager to stock the front of his regular lineup with left-handed batters. Wood-Hanlon-and Powell all left-handed, batted one-two-three all year - except when Detroit was opposed by a lefty! The team opened up 9-2 behind their pitching and then won two of five in a week-long series with Chicago. In game three of that series Chicago tied the score, 2-2, with two runs in top of the ninth inning when Bennett threw a wild pick-off throw to thirdbase. In the bottom of the ninth Powell ripped a two-out rbi-triple to win. In the seventh inning of this game, Hanlon, from centerfield, snuck in behind King Kelly and caught a throw to pick him off.

Detroit then went 7-5 on an Eastern road trip which ended June 17th. Catcher Bennett emerged as an NL star leading the league in batting through June. Providence led with a 19-10 record with Detroit second at 18-10. Unfortunately, McGeary's 31-year old legs didn't hold up as shortstop's should. McGeary was released June 26th after Providence and Chicago took the first three of four games opening up Detroit's three week homestand. McGeary had batted 6-for-June and was replaced by longtime Bancroft loyalist Lon Knight. Knight led the team to five wins in six games that finally gave Detroit a slim one game bulge over Providence, June 29th, but losses began to mount as no replacement for McGeary was found. On July 11th, secondbaseman John Troy was horribly spiked by Chicago's George Gore. So crippled by the injury was Troy that he was immediately given one-month's salary in advance and released outright. Firstbaseman Marty Powell also missed one week tending to his sister's death in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.

It all added up to a season ending slide, beginning the second game of the Fourth of July when Boston beat Detroit's Derby at home, 14-1. After Chicago beat Derby again, 23-4, to knock the team out of first place, Bancroft appointed Ned Hanlon captain, the first of many years that Hanlon would lead teams.

Bancroft went on to manage Cleveland to a near-miss championship in 1883 and then returned East to Providence, replacing Harry Wright, when his wife's untimely death meant his sister in Worcester would have to care for his children. He finally won his World's Championship in 1884 with a terrific Providence team and would have placed great in 1885 had not Providence directors pulled the rug out from under the players mid-year. The Providence franchise disbanded when the directors turned the field into a horse-racing track for 1886 and Bancroft never again was given the free reign he needed to lead a team. In the few opportunities that came his way he retreated to counting dollars and cents while team captains staked out on-field strategy. In July of 1889 he stepped down as manager of the NL Indianapolis team after finalizing the team's hotel and post-season exhibition game schedule. "The team can save money without paying my salary." he said. After the 1891 season he signed as the beloved "business manager" of the Cincinnati Reds and held that position for twenty years, until shortly before his death in 1921. His final thrill: the 1919 Red championship.

But as beloved as Bancroft always was, 1882 contained a brief side-story that wasn't all roses. On June 24 NL officials met secretly in Detroit at the invitation of Detroit team President - and Detroit mayor - Bill Thompson. The topic of discussion was a hand-written letter found on the floor of a hotel lobby the previous week written by one "Dick" to one "James Todd". "Dick" as Thompson argued, was NL umpire Dick Higham who traveled with Detroit and umped all of the games of Detroit's Eastern road trip. "James Todd" was a Detroit gambler. In the letter, "Dick" proposes to communicate with Dodd which team to bet on in which games while "Detroit is on the road". In support of his argument Thompson provided "four experts" in handwriting analysis who claimed the writing was indeed Higham's, and Worcester manager Freeman Brown who claimed Higham was cavorting with gamblers prior to one of Detroit's games in that city. When Higham denied everything, Bancroft was called into the meeting and vouched for Brown's statement. Higham was immediately blacklisted.

What's interesting about Higham's expulsion is not only its rarity - no other umpire has ever been expelled for crookedness - but that Detroit had advanced to the shadow of first place with their 7-5 road trip. Higham's umpiring was never criticized. Detroit had one late inning loss: June 2nd when Providence got two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to win 8-7. June 9th and 10th Detroit scored late inning wins over Worcester and in Boston Detroit got a ninth inning run in an eventual 4-4, 14-inning tie. Unfortunately for Higham dark elements had followed him around his ten year baseball career. A magnet for both gamblers and brawls, Higham seems to have had bad luck on his side as well. As captain of the 1875 Chicagos in a July losing streak, Higham once took the field after the Chicago Tribune promised fans the "gambler" on the team would expose himself by making an early inning error. Sure enough, Higham, as catcher, threw into centerfield to catch a runner stealing, and the fans booed incessantly in what became Higham's last game with Chicago. Later that year Higham and Lip Pike reportedly bet on the outcome of a game played between their teams - New York and St. Louis, respectively - October 22. In the tenth inning, with the score tied, Pike hit a nubber to Higham, playing secondbase, that Higham misplayed. In 1879, a scandal involving four players - "but not Higham" - of the the Albany Capitol City team of the National Association and the team disbanded early in the year with a 1-5 record. A rap sheet of other suspicious incidents exists as well including "forgot to tag up" from third base, late innings, close game, August 28th, 1871, and a move to expel him earlier that year after he denied pummelling Troy firstbaseman Bill Flynn in front of witnesses, July 11th. Higham's descendents still argue otherwise.

I mentioned Chicago sweeping Providence for a tie in September. Second place teams in baseball history have swept a series of at least three games, after July 4th, to gain a vaunted tie for first place only nine times. Here's a quick look at the other eight. Three game sweeps include: *7/17/1930 CHIn at BKNn; 10/3/1980 LAn vs. HOUn; 10/1/1982* BALa vs. MILa; 9/21/2000 OAKa at SEAa; and 9/10/2002* ANAa vs. OAKa. Four game series sweeps include: 7/8/1890 LOUaa vs. PHIaa; and 9/7/1978 NYa at BOSa. One magnificent five game sweep occurred: 9/1/1916 PHIn vs. BKNn. Asterisks before or after the date indicate additional games were played in the series which may disqualify the events as sweeps for most lists. The Los Angeles hosting Houston sweep, which ended the 1980 season, was attached to one "not previously scheduled" playoff game which was tacked onto the schedule, and which Los Angeles lost. In all, four of the eight sweeping teams went on to win the pennant, while in the National League of 1930 neither team won.