Baseball season 3: Let's see if we can finish this one
Can Arsenal bounce back from relegation? Can Crystal Palace make an impact in their debut season? Are Brentford merely Fulham in disguise? All the questions you never knew you wanted answers to.
Having learned lessons from the rain-sodden 1907 campaign, the British Baseball League kicked off earlier in 1908, with the opening games played on 16 May.
For Woolwich Arsenal, the team’s dismal performance in 1907 had resulted in relegation to the second-tier London Baseball League. This league received far less coverage than the top tier, meaning it has been hard to track down results.
According to the Richmond and Twickenham Times from 23 May 1908, the London Baseball League’s membership consisted of Woolwich Arsenal, Crescent (who ground-shared with Brentford), Fairbairn House, Clapton Orient Reserves, and West Ham.
Oddly enough, Arsenal’s baseball journey seems to have foreshadowed what later happened to the football club. Poor attendances and poor performances led to relegation to the Second Division in 1913, six years after the same fate befell the baseballers.
The Gunners were replaced in the British Baseball League by Crystal Palace, who had long harboured an interest in baseball and played several friendly matches in 1907.
Fulham dropped out of the league altogether, although it seems from several reports that many of their players simply transferred to Brentford, who took their place in the top tier. Indeed, some reports describe Brentford as essentially the Fulham team under a different name.
Baseball, America’s great national game, which holds the same relative position in the States and Canada that cricket does here, is increasing in popularity in this country. Saturday marks the opening of the third consecutive season, and the wise prophets are predicting that last season’s attendances will be doubled this. These prognostications are based on the improvement in the form and the increased number of native players. Those who have taken up the game have learned it quickly, and are now putting up a contest as good as can found among teams of the same standard in America.
(From Sporting Life, 13 May 1908.)
A boxer turned pitcher
By far the most exciting element of that opening weekend was the selection by Nondescripts of world heavyweight champion boxer Tommy Burns among their players. The Canadian “played a rattling good game”, according to Sporting Life’s report from 18 May, scoring his team’s first run and pitching well in the latter stages, helping the Nondescripts to a 21-11 win over Brentford.
At the time, Burns had been the reigning world heavyweight champion for more than two years since beating Marvin Hart in February 1906. He would go on to retain it through three more fights after his cameo appearance in the British Baseball League, before losing to Jack Johnson in December 1908.
He played in several other games for Nondescripts, including on 6 June when he hit a “three-bagger” – meaning he got to third base, one step short of a home run.
Spurred on by the excitement of a celebrity player, Nondescripts were the early pacesetters in the league, winning their first three games.
May 1908
Also on that opening day, Leyton beat Crystal Palace (just, by 5-4), and Clapton Orient beat Spurs 11-8.
A week later, Nondescripts beat Spurs 10-7 despite the absence of Tommy Burns. However, it’s Clapton Orient who steal the limelight by stopping Leyton from scoring altogether, winning 16-0. Palace beat Brentford 12-9 for their first competitive baseball victory.
The first games of the London Baseball League (as far as I have found) also took place on 23 May. Clapton Orient Reserves almost echoed the senior team’s feat with a 12-1 win over West Ham. Fairbairn House defeated Crescent 34-23.
West Ham are referred to as West Ham Tramways in some articles – I’m yet to confirm how much of a link they have to the football club.
Tommy Burns returns for the Nondescripts on 30 May to help them scrape past Palace 17-16. Burns’ appearance is used in adverts for the Crystal Palace venue in multiple newspapers.
After their heroics last week, Clapton Orient are shocked by newcomers Brentford who rack up an impressive 27-10 victory for their first win of the campaign. Spurs are beaten again, this time 10-2 by Leyton.
In the second tier, West Ham do a little better but are still beaten 38-21 by Fairbairn. Clapton Reserves and Cresent play out the only draw I’ve yet come across, 31-31. Unlike in the US, where additional innings are played, it appears that after nine innings they just took the result as it was.
June 1908
Spurs are rock bottom after another defeat, this time to Palace on 6 June. This weekend also sees Nondescripts lose for the first time this season, a heavy 24-9 defeat to Clapton despite the efforts of Burns. Brentford stage a dramatic ninth-innings comeback to beat Leyton 12-11.
After four rounds, Clapton Orient and Nondescripts both have six points (three wins and one defeat), while Crystal Palace, Brentford and Leyton all have four points.
Meanwhile, also on 6 June, Woolwich Arsenal play their first game in the second tier, beating West Ham by a massive score of 45-4. In the other game, Clapton Reserves beat Crescent 29-7.
Bank Holiday games on 8 June see Clapton Orient take a clear lead at the top of the table, dismissing Nondescripts 21-4. Leyton draw level with the “Nons”, piling the misery on Spurs with an 11-3 win.
A match report from regular Leyton baseball columnist ‘Pitcher’ mentions a Chapman in the Spurs ranks. While Herbert Chapman definitely did play baseball as we learned in part three of this story, I don’t think this is him as he had already left Spurs for Northampton. ‘Pitcher’ also later refers to “C. Chapman”, implying that it was not Herbert.
Brentford were scheduled to play Crystal Palace on 8 June but there is no record of this match that I’ve been able to find.
There is more joy for Clapton Orient on 13 June as they beat Palace 19-7 to stay top. Leyton are clear in second after beating Nondescripts 19-6, and there is relief in North London as Spurs finally get off the mark with a 14-6 win over Brentford.
In the London Baseball League, Woolwich Arsenal edge past Fairbairn 13-12.
A week later and it’s back-to-back wins for Spurs as they record a shock victory over leaders Clapton Orient, 14-5. Brentford beat Palace 32-10 in a game that was essentially over after the third inning, when Brentford led 21-0.
In the London Baseball League, Woolwich Arsenal make it three from three with a 28-13 win over Crescent. Fairbairn are back to winning ways with a 23-21 triumph over West Ham.
The month of June ends with Leyton drawing level with Clapton Orient at the top of the league after a narrow 6-5 win over the Os on 27 June. Spurs are on a run – three from three now after a 13-5 win over Palace.
Elsewhere, Crescent get their first victory of the season, beating Fairbairn 34-32.
July 1908
After a couple of weeks away from competitive action, Nondescripts pick up where they left off – by losing 19-3 to Spurs on 4 July. Clapton Orient are in a rut too: their 20-9 loss to Brentford means it’s three defeats on the bounce.
Things are going much better for Woolwich Arsenal as they notch up another win, this time 27-5 over Crescent.
On 11 July, Crystal Palace inflict more woe on Clapton Orient, winning 9-6. However, leaders Leyton also slip up, losing 17-8 to Brentford. This means there is a three-way tie for the leadership of the league between Brentford, Clapton Orient and Leyton.
(Using the American system of win percentage, Brentford and Leyton would rank above Clapton as they have played fewer games.)
In the second tier, Crescent beat West Ham 27-17. By this point, according to the results I have collated, Woolwich Arsenal are top of the London Baseball League with a 100% record from four games (giving them eight points). Fairbairn House are second with six points from five games.
However, the caveat here is that I have only three games for Clapton Orient Reserves (two wins and that weird draw) but seven for Crescent (two wins, the draw, and four defeats). West Ham are five played, five lost.
I’ve no idea how many games I’ve missed at this stage, and so far I’ve only uncovered two further results from this league from August, including a third meeting between Fairbairn and Crescent which doesn’t seem to make sense.
On 18 July, the first round of the Baseball Cup takes place. Spurs edge out Crystal Palace 13-12, Clapton beat Brentford 4-2, and Leyton wallop Nondescripts 26-4. William Jarman, the pitcher who did so well for Spurs in the first season, is in his second season at Leyton and continues to dominate games with clever play.
Three London Baseball League teams are scheduled to play off for a place in the semi-finals. Woolwich Arsenal beat West Ham 10-7 in the preliminary round on 18 July.
A week later, while Arsenal are comfortably beating Crescent 31-15 to book their semi-final spot, in the British Baseball League Leyton dispatch Palace 29-7 to go clear at the top.
August 1908
As the football season approaches, baseball coverage starts to get a bit patchy.
Brentford thump Nondescripts 35-1 on 1 August to draw level with Leyton at the top of the league again. Meanwhile, Leyton edge past Clapton Orient 4-3 in the cup semi-final.
Leyton were scheduled to play Nondescripts on 3 August according to the fixture list from the start of the season, but I’ve so far been unable to track down any record of the match taking place on this date.
Baseball coverage is instead dominated by an international match between Wales and England, which Wales won. It’s interesting to note that England’s team is drawn entirely from teams in the north west, especially around Liverpool, which had its own league.
The Welsh had a distinct advantage as the teams agreed to play by Welsh rules. The match reports don’t explain what this means beyond the fact that pitchers must bowl exclusively underarm, and there appear to be just two innings each. Scoring is indecipherable but seems to be closer to cricket than baseball. Perhaps the English just took their word for it.
It’s back to league action on 8 August, and Tottenham beat Brentford 13-12. This, I believe, is Spurs’ 10th and last league game and gives them a respectable 50% win ratio – not bad after such a dismal start. It also means a remarkable four-way tie for the lead, albeit with Spurs and Clapton having played all 10 of their games.
Leyton have two games left to play and Brentford one, but again this is only as far as I’ve been able to ascertain. The championship was going down to the wire, but the media – at least the outlets that I have been going through – seem to have lost interest.
Also, at some point Spurs are meant to have played Woolwich Arsenal in the second cup semi-final, but again I can find absolutely no record of this game.
Speaking of semi-finals, there are a couple of mentions in the Woolwich Herald of Arsenal’s “biggest game of the season” on 8 August against Clapton Reserves in the semi-final of the “English Baseball Cup”. This was apparently introduced by one of the Arsenal directors in 1907, but it’s the first mention I’ve found of it. And, indeed, the last. Arsenal lost 30-14, and there is no record of the final.
The Baseball Cup Final
The season came to an end, of sorts, with the Baseball Cup Final between Leyton and Tottenham Hotspur on 22 August. The 1906 cup winners prevailed again, Spurs winning 6-5 in an “interesting” game. As eight of those 11 runs were scored in the first innings, I’ve taken “interesting” to mean ‘dull as ditchwater’.
Who knows whether Arsenal won the London Baseball League? Who knows whether Leyton or Brentford prevailed in the British Baseball League? I certainly don’t and it seems that, ultimately, no one cared. It had all been a complete waste of everyone’s time.
Thanks for wasting your time reading about it.