Following up on a post from last week that featured two vintage 1884 Brooklyn Atlantics (the Dodger franchise) scorecards, I now share another scorecard from the following season in 1885 (Auction Link).
As you can see, Brooklyn outfielder John Cassidy is featured prominently on the cover. It dates to a game played on July 31st between Brooklyn and the Philadelphia Athletics, which the A's won 10 to 7, and notes a wild and raucous affair.
There were a total of twenty errors recorded in the game -- including nine by Brooklyn pitcher John Harkins. Hilariously, the story in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle the next day made sure to let its readers know how bad Harkins was.
The battery errors of Harkins, however, proved to be very costly, as he gave three men their bases on balls and made four wild pitches, besides hitting a batsman and thereby giving him his base. This was the result of striving too much for speed in his pitching and trusting too little to strategic skill, of which, by the way, he knows but little.Ouch!
Although, I get the impression that the definition of an error is vastly different from what we think of today.
Overall, the paper notes that Brooklyn committed fifteen miscues on the field to the Athletics five. The article also mentions a team "Captain" named Hovey(SP?), but I have no idea who or what that is. I can't find any player by that name on either ballclub. Regardless, the paper pointedly takes some shots at his captaincy:
"Captain" Hovey, as usual, distinguished himself as a "kicker." Like Latham, of the Virginians, he is one of the class of captains who think that "kicking" against the decisions of the umpire is the principal part of a captain's business, when the very reverse is the case, the captain who thus prejudices the umpire against his team simply being a fool for his pains.By this time during the season Brooklyn was in second to last place and going nowhere fast. In just their second season as a Major League club they had yet to prove they belonged. Fortunately, they would turn things around a couple of years later.
Below is the Brooklyn Daily Eagle story about the game, dated August 1, 1885.
The ninth game of the series between the Brooklyn and Athletic clubs was played yesterday at Washington Park, and it resulted in the success of the visitors, who outfielded the home team and thereby won the game, as the score of earned runs was 5 to 1 in favor of the Brooklyns, though the Athletics' base hits were 11 to Brooklyn's 9. The battery errors of Harkins, however, proved to be very costly, as he gave three men their bases on balls and made four wild pitches, besides hitting a batsman and thereby giving him his base. This was the result of striving too much for speed in his pitching and trusting too little to strategic skill, of which, by the way, he knows but little. Hayes had a hard task to support his wild delivery. The visitors played a fine fielding game, they supported Kanuff' pitching admirably in a majority of the innings, Douck's play at short field being especially noteworthy, as was that of Stricker, except in two instances. "Captain" Hovey, as usual, distinguished himself as a "kicker." Like Latham, of the Virginians, he is one of the class of captains who think that "kicking" against the decisions of the umpire is the principal part of a captain's business, when the very reverse is the case, the captain who thus prejudices the umpire against his team simply being a fool for his pains. The game opened up unfavorably for Brooklyn, the third inning ending with the score at 5 to 1 in favor of the Athletics, not a single run of the six being earned, as the Athletics made their runs on five base hits and seven errors, and the Brooklyns their run on one base hit and three errors. The fact was the home team entered upon the contest heavily handicapped, as the enforced absence of Smith and Peoples obliged them to place an experimental team in the field. But three of the Brooklyn team played without error, and of these McClellan bore off the palm, as neither Terry nor Hotaling put out a player. Hauck led at the bat for the Athletics, and Pinckney for Brooklyn.
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