On This Date: Sporting News Mention and Fargo's Team Leaders

The Red River Valley League received mention on page six of the Sporting News on July 10th. In a dispatch written by W. Cloutier, likely a Fargoan, the sporting weekly mentioned Fargo's signing of pitchers Deacon Phillippe and Fred Steele, and ripped umpire Tupper's work in a June 26 game between Fargo and Moorhead, saying he had made "...one of the rankest decisions ever seen on the Fargo grounds." ("It Was Larceny"). The biased account also belittled the brash Moorhead catcher Tim Keefe as clearly inferior to Fargo's catcher Hartman (who was hitting .130 at the time).

The Forum on July 10th printed batting and fielding statistics for the Divorcees (through about 23 games):


Batting Average (minimum 30 at-bats):
Zink .322
Peterson .303

Brown .242
Hopkins .224
Jahnke .205
Murphy .200
McDonald .186
Hartman .130


Fielding Average (minimum 30 chances):
Brown .972
Hopkins .929
Hartman .914
Zink .892
McDonald .843
Jahnke .826
Keas .818
Murphy .682 (15 putouts , 15 assists, and 14 errors!)

Fargo Forum and Daily Republican - Saturday Evening
July 10, 1897 Front Page