Spalding's Baseball Guide and Official League Book for 1895 — John Shaqi
Spalding's Baseball Guide and Official League Book for 1895
History
Spalding's Baseball Guide and Official League Book for 1895
Baseball -- Periodicals
Judging by the percentage figures of the twelve clubs, recorded at the
end of each month's campaign of the season, the race was a one-sided one
almost from the start, the Baltimore and Boston clubs being in the
leading positions from the very outset of the race, the remaining ten
clubs fighting for third place from April 19th to June 20th, when New
York took the lead of the other nine, joining Baltimore and Boston in
the struggle for the leading position.
A League pennant race--or that of a minor league, for that matter--to be
up to the regulation standard, should at least show a difference in
percentage figures varying, on the average, not far from 250 points; a
model race, in these figures, not exceeding 200 points. But this
standard has not been reached in League records for fifteen years, the
best being over 223 points. Then, too, comes the record of the occupancy
of the several positions of the two divisions, this, to a certain
extent, showing the character of the pennant race of the season. In this
regard, an evenly contested race should show a weekly change of position
in each division, for one thing, and also a change from first division
to second division at least once a month. A model race should see the
first three positions changed weekly, the first six places at least
fortnightly, and the tail end positions once a month at farthest. But
what does the figures of the pennant race of the League for 1894 show?
Let us glance at the; records of the occupancy of the first and second
divisions in last year's pennant race. From the 22d of April to the
close of the season, the Baltimore and Boston clubs were never out of
the ranks of the first division clubs; nor were the Chicago, Washington
and Louisville clubs ever out of those of the second division. This
alone was a one-sided condition of affairs in the race. From May 1st to
July 17th the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh clubs occupied positions in
the first division, and the Cleveland club was in the first division
from April 22d to June 27th and from July 17th to the finish, while New
York was in the same division from June 29th to the close and Brooklyn
from August 27th to the end of the season. On the other hand, Chicago,
St. Louis and Cincinnati, together with Washington and Louisville, were
practically out of the race from May to September.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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