From the desk of: FINGERPRINTS OF THE BUMS
130th Anniversary
1890 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
BROOKLYN BRIDEGROOMS
Bridegrooms Become Only Team to Win Back to Back Championships Playing for Two Different Leagues
In 1883 a new Brooklyn Atlantics Baseball Club was founded
unrelated to the old. Their home field is newly constructed Washington Park conveniently located on the outskirts of Red Hook, a reasonably short distance south along 5th Avenue from Flatbush Avenue. In 1884 the Atlantics became members of the American Association, the National League's two-year-old rival. They post a 40-64 record during their inaugural season. After this, the team nickname is dropped in favor of the Grays. As such, they continue onward, sandwiching a third-place finish in between two more losing campaigns. This era of Brooklyn baseball is most notably anchored by players the likes of p-Adonis Terry; p-Henry Porter; p-John Harkins; p-Hardie Henderson; 1b-Bill Phillips; inf-Bill McClellan; ss-Germany Smith; 3b-George Pinkney; of-John Cassidy; of-Ed Startwood.
By 1887 the Grays are a seventh-place club. Recognizing it would be best for the team, club president Charley Byrne relinquishes his self-anointed role as field manager and hands it to newly hired Bill McGunnigle, a former pitcher with the Buffalo Bisons and Worcester Ruby Legs. Byrne also understands the true measure of a league champion over being a mere contender is possessing the wherewithal to procure, accumulate, and retain quality talent. Charley henceforth begins improving the roster while making cost a secondary consideration. He purchases the failing New York Metropolitans and transfers its best players Darby O'Brien among them to Brooklyn. Byrne soon after pays a handsome fee to the St. Louis Browns for pitcher Bob Caruthers, pitching and first base threat Dave Foutz, and catcher Doc Bushong. Entering 1888, the club is now most commonly referred to as the Bridegrooms, and with improvements, fortunes begin changing for the better. Charley executes another savvy midseason transaction with the August purchase of infielder Oyster Burns from the Baltimore Orioles, then very late in the season purchases of/inf-Hub Collins away from the Louisville Colonels. The Brooklyn Bridegrooms finish in second place with an 88-52 (.629) record, a mere 6.5 games out of first, the finest ever regular-season finish throughout their eight-year American Association existence. But Charley Byrne is not yet done, making another key off-season addition to the pitching staff with the purchase of right-hander Tom Lovett.
1889 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION CHAMPIONS
Brooklyn's new pitching triumvirate is spearheaded by Bob Caruthers, who proves a worthy investment after issuing the league's least walks per nine innings and for a second time leading with a career-high forty victories against eleven losses with a 3.13 earned run average. Adonis Terry, a pitcher with the club since the Atlantics days and who in 1884 wins 19 games as a rookie, finally posts his first twenty win season with a 22-15 record and 3.29 ERA. And after debuting as a rookie in 1886 with the Association's Philadelphia Athletics 24-year old Tom Lovett returns to the game after a three-year absence to post a representative 17-10 record with a 4.32 earned run average. Together they join for 79 victories accounting for 85% of Brooklyn's 93 regular-season wins. Brooklyn's pitching staff as a whole is deceptively effective despite registering the league's fifth-best team ERA. That's because they issue the league's least base on balls while surrendering the third least average hits per game. In turn, their staff 1.324 WHiP ranks second. The 1889 Brooklyn Bridegrooms also wield a productive stick. They lead the American Association in walks and runs scored. They are otherwise across the board above league average in home runs, total bases, stolen bases, team batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging. Oyster Burns bats .304 and is one of two Bridegrooms to achieve one hundred runs batted in. The other is Dave Foutz, who leads the team with 113 runs batted in. Darby O'Brien bats .300 with 80 runs batted in and a team-high 91 stolen bases. George Pinkney, with the team since 1885, is third on the team with 82 runs batted in. Pinkney, O'Brien, Burns, Foutz, and last year's late-season acquisition Hub Collins, each exceed one hundred runs scored. Worth mentioning is pitcher Adonis Terry who bats an even .300 with 14 extra-base hits and 26 runs batted in through 160 at-bats. Brooklyn entreats their trolley dodging fans to a 50-19 record at Washington Park, to go along with a league-best 43-25 record on the road. Alas, Charley Byrne's astute decisions pay off as Brooklyn crosses the finish line with a 93-44 record to capture the American Association pennant by a slim two-game margin over the dethroned St. Louis Browns.
1890 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
After six seasons as an American Association member club, Brooklyn in 1890 abruptly jumps over to National League baseball's more established environs, wherein their first season wins the pennant, and thus repeat as a major league champion. Brooklyn's pitching triumvirate flourishes against its newest competition, with each achieving at least twenty victories. Tom Lovett posts a 30-11 record with a 2.78 ERA; Adonis Terry is 26-16 with a 2.94 ERA; Bob Caruthers goes 23-11 with a 3.09 ERA. The staff finish the season tied for third in team ERA, yields the third least home runs, and the second least walks. At the plate, Brooklyn leads the circuit in runs scored, slugging, and stolen bases. They rank second in home runs, team average, and on-base percentage. Oyster Burns leads the National League with 13 home runs and 128 runs batted in; first baseman Dave Foutz bats .303 with 98 runs batted in; and longtime Bridegroom favorite George Pinkney bats .309 with seven home runs and 83 runs batted in. Team captain Darby O'Brien leads the club with a .314 average, and Hub Collins leads with 85 stolen bases. With an 86-43 (.667) record, the Bridegrooms clinch first place by 6.5 games over the second-place Chicago Colts and 9.0 games over the third-place Philadelphia Phillies. The defending world champion New York Giants with a record of 63-68 finish a distant sixth, 24-games back of Brooklyn.
Despite winning two straight major league pennants, manager Bill McGunnigle fails to capture a world championship in 1889 against the National League New York Giants, and then again in 1890. However, the series ends in a tie against the American Association Louisville Colonels. McGunnigle is fired and replaced with the irrepressible John Montgomery Ward.
EXTRA INNINGS: The Ongoing Debate
Some consider the 1890 Player's League to have been the best of the year's three operating circuits. The American Association, to begin with, was constantly having their major league viability questioned. Meanwhile, most upper-echelon players to join the Players League were National League defectors. However, Brooklyn somehow remained relatively unscathed, and so contrarians contend the Bridegrooms did nothing more than get the better of a weakened field.
Make of it what you will ...
Twenty-five years pass before Brooklyn wins another pennant.
Sources:
