On This Date: Fargo Players Appear; Millers' Home Finale

Sept. 19, 1897 - Trying to squeeze in just a little more summer, the workers of the Northern Pacific and Great Northern Railroads scheduled a game in St. Paul. Slated to appear for the Northern Pacific team were three players who appeared for Fargo earlier in the season. The most notable of these was Jimmy Banning, the only man to appear on both the 1887 and 1897 Fargo league teams. Banning made a few playing and umpiring appearances in Fargo earlier in the summer of 1897. Also appearing for the NP were Frank Schumansky, who was slated as the starting pitcher, and the unfortunate Hornsby, whose brief appearance for Fargo had been an embarrassment.

An awful weather day greeted the railroad men on the afternoon of Sunday, September 19. The cold conditions made controlling the ball a difficult task for Schumansky, who walked ten Great Northern batters. But he may have survived his wildness if not for the eighth inning. In the eighth frame, Schumansky allowed five consecutive singles as the Great Northern club extended their lead from two runs to six. The Northern Pacific men couldn't make up any of the deficit, and fell 12-6.

Meanwhile, the woeful Minneapolis Millers scored two ninth inning runs to defeat the equally woeful Kansas City Blues in the Millers' home finale. The teams finished sixth and seventh respectively in the standings of the eight team Western League. Minneapolis would lose its season finale 20-3 to Connie Mack's Milwaukee Brewers on Sept. 21, the season's final day. Deacon Phillippe pitched poorly for the Millers, though only seven of the runs he surrendered were earned. The St. Paul Saints held onto third place in the standings, just a half game ahead of the Brewers.

The final Western League standings
1) Indianapolis 98-37
2) Columbus 89-47
3) St. Paul 86-51
4) Milwaukee 85-51
5) Detroit 70-66
6) Minneapolis 43-95
7) Kansas City 40-99
8) Grand Rapids 35-100.

St. Paul Globe Sept. 19, 1897 p.8 "Fun for Railway Fans"
St. Paul Globe Sept. 20, 1897 p.5 "Safe on Third" and "Great Northern Won"
St. Paul Globe Sept. 22, 1897 p.5 "It Was Sufficiently Easy"

Home Run Joe Marshall Leads Senators

No one could blame Joe Marshall for the Grand Forks Senators being second in the league standings at the end of June 1897. Marshall was on a tear for the first month of the season, and his team narrowly trailed Moorhead for the league lead at a record of 12-9. "Home Run" Joe was the star for Grand Forks, and arguably the entire league through June, posting a .417 batting average, hitting six doubles, scoring twenty runs, and clubbing an incredible seven home runs. Playing in the heart of the "deadball era" of baseball, Marshall's seven home runs was an astounding statistic, especially considering the feat was accomplished in just 21 games. By comparison, the National League home run leader for 1897, Hugh Duffy of the Boston Beaneaters, hit eleven home runs in 134 games played.

Marshall's great month included an otherworldly three games against Wahpeton-Breckenridge June 23-25. Leading the Senators in a three game win streak, Marshall slaughtered the W-B pitching trio of Oliver Berg, Reddy O'Donnell, and Conrad. The Audubon, MN native went 10 for 16 with two doubles, two home runs, and three runs scored, as the Senators welcomed the Methodists to Grand Forks by outscoring them 38 to 14.

Fargo Forum and Daily Republican, Grand Forks Herald, Moorhead Independent box scores from editions May 27 through June 30, 1897.

On This Date: "Where Were We At?"

July 26, 1897 - Player/manager Ed Corbett returned from league talks in Crookston to tally two hits batting cleanup for the Methodists, who won the series finale against Fargo 6-1.  Oliver Berg pitched a great game, going nine innings and allowing just one run on four hits. Berg's fielders backed up his stellar performance with their own solid effort, not committing a single error just a day after bungling 12 chances.

In Grand Forks, the Senators dropped a doubleheader to Moorhead, as the Barmaids put aces Bob Brush and Pike Mullaney on the mound. With the two losses, Grand Forks fell further behind the first-place Moorhead club, and now only led W-B by a half game in the standings. Fargo was still in the league's cellar, despite playing better in recent weeks.

"Where Were We At?" and "Moorhead Wins Two" Fargo Forum and Daily Republican July 27, 1897 p.4

On This Date: Sunday Exhibition Slaughter

July 25, 1897 - Unfortunately for Fargo, their Sunday afternoon slaughter of Wahpeton-Breckenridge didn't count in the standings. Still, the Divorcees 22-5 exhibition win over the Methodists must have been satisfying. Fargo continued to languish in last place in the RRVL, despite playing better baseball in recent weeks. Sunday's game was a wild, error-filled contest, with the teams combining for a shockingly awful 21 errors. It is hard to fathom how so many fielding miscues could occur in a minor league game. Charles C. Alexander's biography on Ty Cobb provides some insight. He highlights several aspects of baseball at the turn of the century that were unique to that era. Though much of baseball has remained unchanged in the 115 years since the Red River Valley League of 1897, one key item of contrast is found in the equipment. The fielders worked with gloves that Alexander describes as "flimsy little devices", grossly ineffective when compared with today's options. Alexander also notes that scorekeepers of games didn't give the players any breaks despite the primitive equipment. Furthermore, the lack of regularly replaced baseballs made fielders throw with less accuracy, and the pitchers didn't help with their notorious doctoring of the ball. The playing fields didn't aid fielders either, and were not tended to by full-time grounds crews. Uneven ground was more the rule than the exception. Perhaps for the RRVL, the best example of a less than ideal playing field would be the home park of the Grand Forks club. On this field, the Senators and their opponents had to contend with a cement bicycle track that was part of the baseball diamond.

Fargo and Wahpeton-Breckenridge were slated to play the final game of their series Monday afternoon. Oscar Peterson was the starting pitcher for the Divorcees, and the Methodists countered with Oliver Berg. Unfortunately for Ed Corbett and his team, the end of the series would not mark the end of trouble for the W-B franchise. Corbett spent the day in Crookston discussing the possible transfer of his team. According to the Forum, there was considerable excitement about a new rivalry between Crookston and Grand Forks. The team's transfer from W-B to Crookston was scheduled for August 2.

Fargo Forum and Daily Republican July 26, 1897 p. 4 "An Awful Score"
Charles C. Alexander Ty Cobb Oxford University Press, 1984, p. 29-30.

On This Date: Fargo Rebounds, Defeats Senators

Fargo enjoyed redemption in game two of their four game series with Grand Forks, winning 6-3 to even the series at a game a piece. Shortstop Bill Zink was the star for the Fargo nine, pounding out a home run and a double, while pitcher Oscar Peterson surrendered just three hits in nine innings of work. Peterson struck out the side in the fifth inning and added three hits of his own batting ninth in the lineup for the Divorcees. Deacon Phillippe showed his versatility and athleticism by manning right field for Fargo, helping in the absence of the team's outfielder Hopkins, who continued to recover from an injury sustained three days earlier against Moorhead. The umpire for the contest was Arthur "Tige" Lyons, who would officiate all four games of the series.

Standings published by the Forum

Team                      W-L          PCT
1. Moorhead          18-8           .692
2. Grand Forks      16-13         .552
3. Wahp-Breck      12-16         .429
4. Fargo                 10-19         .345

Fargo Forum and Daily Republican July 16, 1897 p.4 "Easy For Us"

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

On This Date: Joe Marshall Tearing up the RRVL

June 17, 1897

When the Grand Forks Herald listed the Senators team batting leaders on June 17th, one name stood out from the rest: Joe Marshall. The 21-year-old led the team with a .449 batting average, adding a home run to help Grand Forks beat Moorhead on the 17th by a score of 6-1. Over the next week, Marshall was nearly unstoppable. During a stretch of four games against Wahpeton-Breckenridge, the Audubon, MN native went 11 for 21 with two home runs, two doubles, and eight runs scored.

June 23 - 2 for 5 with a double in a 7-0 Grand Forks shutout win
June 24 - 4 for 5 with a home run and three runs scored in a 9-6 win
June 25 - 4 for 6 with a home run, double, and four runs scored in a 22-8 rout
June 26 - 1 for 5 with a run scored in a 8-7 loss

Marshall did commit six errors in the four game stretch, three of them playing out of position as a catcher in the June 26th loss. "Home Run" Joe typically played second or third base for the Senators during the 1897 season.

What in tarnation is WHIP!!??

Baseball statistics are more in-depth than ever before. Everything is measured: a player's batting average against left handed pitching after the 7th inning in night games on the road with runners in scoring position and an 0-2 count (seriously, I bet you could find it), something called offensive win percentage, and then the acronyms: WAR, VORP, PETOCA, NERD, BABIP, DIPS, OPS, WPA, REW, and of course, WHIP (Yes these are all real - and there are many more!). If you are really curious about what these mean, I suggest an internet search. I could stumble my way through explaining some of them, but it would be rough.

I thought it would be interesting to put myself in the mind of an official scorer in 1897. At the time, the list of what was recorded was fairly basic (and not analyzed to death). At-bats, hits, runs, errors, assists, put outs, doubles, triples, home runs, walks, stolen bases, strikeouts, and hit-by-pitcher, and time of game. Honestly, when I first saw some box scores from the 1890s, I was impressed with the amount of detail I found.

Without further ado, an attempt at humor using some current "sabermetrics" and other statistics, as seen from the eyes of an 1897 official scorer:

BAA - Baseballers Arrested Annually
BS - Well...
ERA - Well, I think they call this the "Golden Age" or something like that.
GIDP - Guaranteed Instances of Dirty Players
IBB - Intentionally Bringing Booze (a player stat)
NERD - Those folks that waste time debating the gold standard
OBP - Other Booze-influenced Plays
RBI - Reasons Betting is Increasing
SV - Splendid Victory
WAR - I think it's about time. Spain has had it coming.
WHIP - That's what we do to the umpire when he gives us a bad call!

Player Profile: Big Bill Zink

The Tuesday, June 15th Forum brought news that Fargo had signed three players, including a second baseman. A Grand Forks observer touted the second baseman as "one of the best ever seen in the northwest." He compared the young player favorably to Willie Murphy, who played for Fargo in 1887. Murphy spent part of the 1887 season in Minneapolis, hitting .313 for the Millers, and batted .254 in 189 at-bats in one major league season (1884).

William Henry Zink, better known as Bill Zink, debuted at second base that Tuesday afternoon, playing second for Fargo as they faced Wahpeton-Breckenridge. The Iowa native did not disappoint, going 2 for 5 with a home run, two runs scored, and no errors in five chances in the field. If it weren't for a nice play by the W-B shortstop, Zink would have debuted with three hits. The performance of Fargo's second baseman proved to be no fluke. Over the next two months, the then 23-year-old Zink would hit .300 for the Fargo team. Including his time in Fargo, Zink went on the play over 1,000 games in 15 minor league seasons.

Highlights and Lowlights

In digging into Fargo's place in the standings a couple of days ago, I realized I could use the game by game chronicle I put together of the team's season and give you some highlights (and low lights). Exhibition games are included (see previous post for my reasoning in doing that).

Longest Win Streak: 4 games
Longest Losing Streak: 5 games
Most Runs Scored in a Game: 22 (defeated Wahpeton-Breckenridge 22-5 on July 25th, 1897)
Most Runs Surrendered in a Game: 27 (May 31, in a 27-6 exhibition loss to Moorhead)
Fewest Runs Scored in a Game: 0 (Five times - 3 times vs. Grand Forks, 2 times vs. Moorhead)
Fewest Runs Allowed in a Game: 0 (Three times - one vs. GF, one vs. Moorhead, and one vs. W-B)

Win/Loss record against opponents:
vs Moorhead: 7-13 (one game, a loss by Fargo, was protested and not replayed)
vs. Grand Forks: 7-9 (one tie)
vs. Wahpeton-Breckenridge: 9-7 (one tie)
vs. Detroit Lakes: 1-0
 

Moorhead's Aces

The Moorhead team finished the 1897 RRVL season with a record of 32-12, including a 6-2 record after the official season ended prematurely. Behind their star pitchers, the Moorhead club left no doubt regarding who was the superior team in the league. Pitcher "Pike" Mullaney went 14-3 for the club, including a 2-hit shutout against Fargo on June 24th and a 4-hit shutout against Fargo on July 3rd. Bob Brush was also impressive for the Barmaids with a record of 11-4 on the season..

Moorhead Wins the Pennant

Somewhat anticlimactically, Moorhead was awarded the 1897 RRVL pennant after the league disbanded. Final standings printed in the Forum on July 31st show how the "Barmaids" truly dominated the truncated season:

                                          W          L        PCT
Moorhead                           26       10        .722
Grand Forks                       18        21       .463
Wahpeton-Breckenridge     16        21       .433
Fargo                                 15        23        .395

These standings are somewhat questionable, however. Clearly Moorhead was the best team in the league, but Fargo played better than the published standings show. The sticking point is exhibition games. Occasionally, the papers would explicitly state which games were exhibitions, but not always. Fargo's record, including exhibition games and games played after the league officially disbanded, was 24-30. All of Fargo's exhibitions in 1897 were against other RRVL teams, except for a 8-6 win on June 22nd against Detroit Lakes, a team in the running for membership in the RRVL before the season began.

1897 Statistics - Fargo Divorcees

The Forum published the following statistics for the Fargo team after the end of the 1897 season. Statistics were published for players who spent the most time with the team. Obviously, there isn't quite the detail of today's sabermetrics, but it's nice to have what was recorded. 

BATTING

Player	At Bats	Hits	AVG
Oscar Peterson	64	20	0.313
J. Hopkins	127	40	0.315
Josh Reilly	78	24	0.308
Ryan	39	12	0.308
Bill Zink	147	44	0.299
Hayes	60	17	0.283
George Keas	120	33	0.275
Green	44	12	0.273
Charles Brown	169	43	0.254
Breuer	28	5	0.179
Hartman	172	30	0.174
Fred Steele	35	5	0.143
Gus Muenche	50	2	0.040
FIELDING
PLAYER	Put Outs	Assists	Errors	PCT
Charles Brown	447	12	9	0.981
Hayes	49	5	3	0.947
J. Hopkins	94	9	7	0.936
Ryan	57	15	4	0.947
Hartman	168	63	19	0.924
Josh Reilly	61	41	14	0.879
George Keas	33	93	17	0.881
Breuer	14	15	5	0.853
Bill Zink	83	105	35	0.843
Oscar Peterson	8	36	8	0.846
Gus Munch	7	20	5	0.844
Fred Steele	3	13	4	0.800
Green	9	0	3	0.750