Ernie Lanigan’s “This Day in Baseball History,” 1876–1920
A long-languished gem, uncovered
I like timelines, having created some and taken a hand in others. Admittedly a timeline provides at best a strip mine of history, devoid of much in the way of context. Most of those on the web are created by fans or marketing departments, not historians, and suffer not only from sketchiness but also disqualifying errors. The best of all baseball timelines— and they are both truly awesome — are Jim Charlton’s Baseball Chronology and the Protoball listings of ball games prior to 1860.
The most quirky and least consulted may be Ernest J. Lanigan’s typescript “This Day in Baseball History,” which long resided undisturbed in the Swales Collection of the New York Public Library (https://on.nypl.org/3D4x4xr). Nearly forty years ago, while researching the early game, I stumbled upon it. I paid NYPL to have the typescript microfilmed and then I transcribed into a word-processing program (WordStar, for my Kaypro’s CPM operating system). Apart from an occasional peek to corroborate a date, I have not made much use of Lanigan’s work, nor have I thought to reissue it.
Now I undertake to do so, in parts. The item is catalogued as: This Day in Baseball. Typescript. Description of games 1846–1920. However, there is little of value before 1876, so we will begin there. Typos have been corrected but facts are largely unchecked; several events and descriptions may have been altered by subsequent SABR research, but my interest now is the transcript, despite my reflexive wish to add events.
Importantly, Lanigan’s work was organized by date; the wonders of the computer age have enabled me to reshuffle the entries by year, which I think more valuable. Entries for birth dates and death dates have been scoured, as these are broadly available. Lanigan’s work predates his creation of The Baseball Cyclopedia in 1922, a portion of which I published here: https://bit.ly/3rj6pdW.
Who was Ernie Lanigan? I take the liberty of reprinting some of that introductory material below.
Fred Lieb, in the second number of SABR’s Baseball Research Journal, in 1973, wrote: “Ernest John (Ernie) Lanigan, early historian of the Hall of Fame, who was king of baseball figures, statistics, records, names and birth-places of players, events and incidents, both ordinary and extraordinary. He was born in Chicago on January 4, 1873, and died in Philadelphia on February 6, 1962. SABR, the Society for American Baseball Research, may well consider the beloved Ernie Lanigan as its patron saint or guardian angel. No man, living or dead, did as much for baseball research as the diligent, untiring, ever-searching Ol’ Ernie.”
I never knew him, but we are brothers. He is credited with publishing baseball’s first encyclopedia, in 1922, which he updated annually through 1933. He compiled RBI statistics for 1907–19 and Caught Stealing data for 1912–19 at a time when no was else was doing so; Pete Palmer and I incorporated his data in Total Baseball. From 1946 until his retirement in 1959, Lanigan served as the curator of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and later as its historian.
Now, on to “This Day in Baseball History.” Part One will run to 1890.
4/25/1876: Chicago shut out Louisville, 4 to 0 in the first game of this kind in National League. Albert G. Spalding was the winning pitcher, allowing seven hits.
4/29/1876: First extra inning game played in National League, Hartford winning from Boston, 3 to 2 in 10 rounds.
7/11/1876: St. Louis Nationals shut out Hartford, 2 to 0 in the first game of a series of three in which the Connecticut team was blanked. Not until 1886 did another National League team receive three successive kalsominings. [This archaic baseball lingo is a delight throughout. — jt]
5/14/1877: Louisville Nationals defeated Cincinnati, 24 to 6, running up highest score of year.
9/19/1877: Frank Leroy Chance, Cubs’ manager when they won four pennants and two world series, born in Fresno, Cal.
5/15/1878: Providence defeated Boston, 24 to 5, running up highest score of year in National League.
5/28/1879: Troy defeated Cincinnati, 20 to 6 — only game of year in which 20 runs were scored and naturally highest score of year.
6/10/1880: Charley Jones, Boston, made two home runs in one inning in game with Buffalo.
6/12/1880: J. Lee Richmond, Worcester, retired Cleveland with a hit or run and prevented anyone from reaching first.
6/17/1880: John Montgomery Ward pitched a perfect game for Providence against Buffalo, no one reaching first. Ward is now practising law in New York.
7/16/1880: Buffalo Nationals defeated Providence, 1 to 0, in 14 innings. [For the first twenty (gloveless) years of professional baseball, a low score was more admired than a high one. — jt]
8/19/1880: Larry Corcoran pitched no-hit game for Chicago against Boston.
8/27/1880: Crowley, Buffalo, had four assists from the outfield in a game with Boston.
8/20/1880: John F. Galvin, pitching for Buffalo of National League, held Worcester hitless.
5/21/1881: Detroit, in the National League then, won from Providence, 16 to 0.
6/16/1881: For the first time on record a National League player made six hits in six times at bat. This player was left fielder Dickerson of Worcester and he accomplished feat in game in which Buffalo, Lynch pitching, was beaten 15 to 4. One of his hits was a triple. Harry Stovey, Worcester right fielder, struck four blows, he and Dickerson accounting for 10 of their team’s 17 safeties.
5/6/1882: Boston Nationals, scoring 10 runs in the eighth inning, defeated Troy, 18 to 3.
5/25/1882: Buffalo defeated Cleveland, 20 to 1, getting 27 hits off George Washington Bradley, whose nickname was the Perpetual Grinner.
8/17/1882: First 18 inning and longest 1 to 0 game played in National League, Providence winning over Detroit on Charles Radbourne’s home run. Famous iron man, who was playing right field, was pioneer batter in last round. Pitchers: John Montgomery Ward and Stump Weidman. Rhode Islanders almost won in 15th, George Wood in attempt to stretch triple into homer. Weidman’s command was perfect and Ward gave only one pass. Winners made seven hits, losers nine.
9/10/1882: Chicago Nationals defeated Troy, 24 to 1, the Trojans helping the White Sox greatly in their scoring by making 15 errors.
9/11/1882: Tony Mullane, Louisville, pitched no-hit game against Cincinnati.
9/19/1882: Guy Hecker, Louisville, pitched no-hit game against Pittsburg.
9/20/1882: On closing day of the season [not so — jt] Larry Corcoran, Chicago Nationals, pitched no-hit, no-run game against Worcester, winning over Frank Mountain, 5 to 0. Anson’s team made four errors, Corcoran passing one man and striking out three.
5/1/1883: Giants played their first game in National League, winning from Boston by a score of 7 to 5. “Smiling Mickey” Welch pitched for New York.
5/15/1883: Cubs and Giants met for first time, Chicago winning over New York, 8 to 7 in Chicago, with Larry Corcoran pitching against Mickey Welch.
6/9/1883: Boston Nationals annihilated Detroit, 30 to 8.
7/3/1883: Anson’s Chicago White Stockings set National League record for two base hits in one game while they were obliterating Buffalo, 31 to 7. They made 14, two triples as well and 16 singles — a total of 50 bases. George Derby was the battered pitcher. He received atrocious support, 14 errors being made behind him, of which the outfielders committed nine. Nineteen of Chicago’s runs came after chances had been offered to retire the side.
7/6/1883: Cincinnati annihilated Baltimore, 23 to 0.
7/25/1883: Charles Radbourne, Providence Nationals, sent the Clevelands down to hitless and runless defeat, winning over One Armed Daily, 8 to 0. One error was made behind him, he struck out six men and passed no one.
8/21/1883: Record shutout game played in National League when Providence defeated Phillies, who made 27 errors, 28 to 0.
9/6/1883: Largest inning on record in National League game, Anson’s Chicago team scoring 18 runs in the seventh off Weidman and Burns of Detroit. Game wound up with Ansonites on top, 26 to 6. Tom Burns of Chicago batted three times in the seventh and made three hits.
9/12/1883: Reds defeated Pittsburg, 27 to 5, making 34 hits for a total of 54 bases.
9/13/1883: Hugh Daily, one armed pitcher of the Clevelands, retired Phillies without hit or run.
5/14/1884: Providence defeated Detroit, 25 to 3.
5/15/1884: Phillies, for first time in their National League career, scored more than 20 runs, winning over Buffalo, 25 to 5.
5/24/1884: Albert W. Atkisson, Athletics, held Pittsburg hitless. Pirates, then in American Association, escaping shutout when Swartwood, first batter in opening inning, was hit, stole second, reached third on a putout and scored on a passed ball. Score of game, 10 to 1.
6/5/1884: Frank H. Mountain, Columbus, pitched no-hit, no-run game against Washington, Ohio’s American Association team winning 12 to 0. Mountain passed one man, struck out eight and three errors were made behind him.
6/6/1884: Providence and Boston tied in 16 innings, 1 to 1.
6/7/1884: Charley Sweeney, pitching for Providence, made National League strikeout record for all time by whiffing 19 of the Bostons in nine innings. He won his game, 2 to 1.
6/27/1884: Larry Corcoran, Chicago Nationals, retired Providence hitless and runless, winning over Charley Sweeney, strikeout king, 6 to 0. The winners made six errors, Corcoran passing one man and fanning six.
8/4/1884: Jim Galvin pitched no-hit game for Buffalo against Detroit.
8/6/1884: After having made two home runs the previous day off McCormick of Cleveland, Adrian Anson of Chicago hit three circuit drives in succession off Moffatt — a total of five homers in two successive days.
5/27/1885: Giants ran up their highest shutout score and one of the largest on record when they defeated Buffalo, 24 to 0. Jim Galvin pitched for the losers, Mickey Welch for the winners. New York made 25 hits and Buffalo made 15 errors.
6/12/1885: Dave Orr, Metropolitans, batting six times against Bob Caruthers of Browns, made six hits for a total of 13 bases — two singles, two doubles, one triple and one home run. New York’s American Association team won the game, 17 to 8.
6/16/1885: Ted Larkin, Athletics, batting six times against Southpaw Ed Morris of Pittsburg, made six hits for a total of 13 bases — two singles, two doubles, one triple and one home run. Philadelphians won game, 14 to 1.
6/25/1885: Two American Association Georges — George B. Pinckney of the Brooklyns and George A. Strief of the Athletics — distinguished themselves in game which Brooklyn won, 21 to 14. Pinckney, batting six times against Matthews and Coleman, singled six times; Strief, batting five times against Harkins, knocked out four triples and one double — a total of 14 bases.
7/27/1885: John Clarkson pitched no-hit game for Chicago against Providence. The year before, in the Northwestern League, Clarkson struck out 418 men in 41 games.
7/29/1885: After having pitched a no-hit game against Providence two days previously John Clarkson allowed the Clam Diggers only four hits in 14 innings and won, 3 to 2.
8/29/1885: Charles G. Ferguson, Phillies, pitched no-hit, no-run game against Providence, Grays getting two passes and four reaching first on errors. Shaw pitched well for the losers, score of game being 1 to 0. Lone run made in the ninth by Joe Mulvey, now an employee at Polo Grounds. Arthur Irwin, Hartford manager early this season, played short for Providence.
5/28/1886: Chicago won from Washington, 20 to 0. Of the four National League games that year in which 20 or more runs were scored, Anson’s men figured in three.
6/12/1886: Detroit made seven home runs in game with St. Louis off Charley Sweeney and Al Bauer — one in the second, three in the third, one in the fifth, and two in the seventh.
7/21/1886: For the first time on record major league team made 10 runs in extra inning. Kansas City Nationals, winning over Detroit, 12 to 2 in 11 rounds, scored 10 runs in last period. Jim Whitney pitched against Charles Getzien. Detroit hurler was fined $100 for outcome of game and Detroit center fielder — Ned Hanlon — $25 for same reason.
7/29/1886: Tom Ramsey, Louisville lefthander, struck out 16 of the Baltimores and held them to one hit — a single by O’Connell, center fielder. He won his game 6 to 0, Hardie Henderson pitching against him.
7/30/1886: Pirates went to Newark to play exhibition game and Eastern Leaguers defeated them, 5 to 1 in 14 innings. Worse happened to Baltimore later in season, for Orioles, shut out by John (Phenomenal) Smith, did not make a hit and none of them reached first.
7/31/1886: Tom Ramsey, Louisville, held Baltimore to one hit in 12 innings and won his game, 2 to 1, Matt Kilroy, another famous lefthander, pitching against him. Ramsey struck out 16 men, Kilroy, 11.
8/9/1886: Tom Ramsey, Louisville, fanned 17 ofthe Mets in nine innings, winning his game, 6 to 0. One New Yorker who didn’t whiff was Dave Orr. The big first baseman singled all four times he faced the Colonels’ drop ball expert.
8/10/1886: John Clarkson, pitching for Chicago, fanned 16 of the Kansas City team.
8/12/1886: Louisville whipped Brooklyn, 27 to 11 in a seven inning game, making 24 hits for a total of 40 bases off Steve Toole and John Harkins.
8/15/1886: Guy Hecker, Louisville, scored seven runs in game with Baltimore that Colonels won, 22 to 5. He batted seven times and made three home runs, two doubles and one single. Dick Conway, who now lives in Lowell, Mass., was the pitcher he beat up. Hecker, the time he didn’t make a hit, reached first on an error. Guy pitched this game, allowing four hits.
8/20/1886: Double one-hit game in American Association, Kilroy pitching for Baltimore and Miller for Athletics.
8/24/1886: Matt Kilroy, pitching for Baltimore, fanned 16 of the Athletics and held them to two hits, yet lost his game, 2 to 0 on pair of wild pitches and a pair of errors. Every Philadelphian fanned on one or more occasions. Wilbert Robinson, who caught for the winners and was their leadoff man, struck out three times.
9/10/1886: Dan Brouthers, first baseman of the Detroit Nationals, made three home runs, a double and a single, but McCormick was effective against the other Wolverines and the Ansonites won, 14 to 8.
9/16/1886: Connie Mack played first major league game, catching Shadow Gilmore for Washington in New York against Giants. Mack then got one of five hits obtained by Senators off Tim Keefe. He had nine putouts and two assists and started the only double play made in the game, which resulted in a 1 to 1 tie, eight innings being played.
9/22/1886: Kansas City Nationals shut out for third successive time by St. Louis Maroons.
9/23/1886: Philadelphia fans saw Connie Mack in action for first time. Tall Tactician caught game for Washington that Phillies won, 3 to 1, Charley Ferguson pitching against Shadow Gilmore, who had been Mack’s battery partner at Hartford.
9/28/1886: Shadow Gilmore, pitching for Washington, a team he had only joined about a fortnight before, fanned 16 of the St. Louis team in nine innings, but the Maroons, with Egyptian John Healy hurling, won over the Senators, for whom Connie Mack caught, 5 to 2. Long blows by McGeachy and Denny proved fatal.
4/30/1887: James F. (Tip) O’Neill of the Browns, batting three times in the fifth and sixth innings against Morrison of Cleveland, made two home runs and a triple — three long hits for a total of 11 bases. In other parts of the contest he obtained a single and a double. O’Neill ran up a batting average of .492 in the American Association that year, players then being allowed four strikes and a base on balls then being counted as a hit. It was then the term, “safe hit” crept into the pastime — to distinguish real hits from those obtained on passes.
4/30/1887: Pirates first game in National League. Team defeated Chicago, 6 to 2, Jim Galvin pitching against John Clarkson.
5/3/1887: Hugh Duffy, Red Sox pilot, played his first professional game in Springfield, Mass., as member of that city’s Eastern League team against Hartford. He caught Stafford and turned back two men who tried to steal, scribe reporting occurrence as follows: “Duffy did extremely creditable work behind bat and his throwing to base nipped in the bud two runs which the Hartfords thought they had certainty of. Stealing bases became less popular with the Hartfords after these suggestions by Duffy.” Duffy’s record: Four at bats, no runs, no hits, two putouts and two assists, no errors.
5/17/1887: Billy George, lefthander for Giants, and Larry Corcoran, righthander of Indianapolis, competed to see who could give the greatest number of passes. Honors were won by the southpaw, who deadheaded 13 men to the northpaw’s 10.
5/20/1887: Pirates and Giants met for the first time, New York winning 10 to 9. Sixteen years later Yankees and White Sox had their first battle, New York being successful, 5 to 2.
5/30/1887: William George, lefthanded pitcher of Giants, passed 17 of the Chicagos in a nine inning game.
6/9/1887: Elmer Smith, Cincinnati, held Brooklyn to one hit.
6/9/1887: Detroit Nationals received 13 passes from Pitcher Kirby of St. Louis.
6/21/1887: Seventeen of the Cleveland American Association batters were fanned by Tom Ramsey of Louisville.
6/27/1887: Boston Nationals got 16 passes from George Van Haltren, Chicago.
6/28/1887: Phillies ran up their largest shutout score by winning from Indianapolis, 24 to 0, game being played in Indianapolis and winners going to bat only in eight innings. Morrison and Sowders pitched for the Hoosiers, allowing 21 hits and giving 11 bases on balls. Losers made 13 errors, four of these being chargeable against Harry Boyle, pitcher, who was playing in center.
8/6/1887: 1887: Charles Buffinton of the Phillies held Indianpolis to one hit, which was quite a feat that year, because the batter had four strikes to take, instead of three.
8/9/1887: Charley Buffinton, Phillies, made single, double and three triples pitched one-hit game against Chicago. Two days before he had limited Indianapolis to one safety.
8/29/1887: Louisville ended a three game series against the Mets in which team averaged over 20 runs to the game. Colonels scored 62 times and the losers 24.
9/1/1887: Hugh Duffy, Red Sox manager, playing for Lowell of the New England League, made three home runs and one double off McDermott of Manchester. It was hitting of his kind that induced Anson to buy Duffy for Chicago.
9/29/1887: Pirates held to one hit by Mark Baldwin of Chicago.
5/17/1888: After having struck out 11 Pirates on May 15, Tim Keefe, Giants, went back at them with one day’s rest and whiffed 11 more — a total of 22 for two successive games.
5/27/1888: William H. (Adonis) Terry of Brooklyn Association team pitched hitless and runless game against Louisville, winning over Tom Ramsey, 4 to 0. He struck out eight men and passed two.
6/6/1888: Henry Porter, pitching for Kansas City of American Association, held Baltimore hitless and runless and won over Matt Kilroy, 4 to 0. He fanned one man and passed one. Four errors were made behind him. Fifteen of the Orioles were retired on fly balls. Chronicler of event says Porter was steady and cautious.
6/6/1888: Cleveland finished first in a slugging match with Louisville, the score of which was 23 to 19. Guy Hecker yielded 27 hits, Billy Crowell and Bob Gilks for 23. Pete Hotaling, Cleveland center fielder, flushed six safeties in seven times at bat, one being a triple.
6/8/1888: Giants, making 25 hits, of which five were homers, off George Van Haltren, defeated Chicago, 19 to 2.
7/26/1888: Cincinnati, then in the American Association, held hitless by Ed Seward of Athletics. Reds scored two runs in the eighth on two errors by Brudder Bill Gleason and a muff by Harry Stovey. Wilbert Robinson, Brooklyn manager, handled delivery of man who entered Pitchers’ Hall of Fame. Tony Mullane pitched for losers, score of game being 12 to 2.
7/31/1888: Gus Weyhing pitched no hit game for Athletics against Kansas City.
4/29/1889: Connie Mack, catching Hank O’Day for Washington, had four of his team’s five errors in game with New York.
5/2/1889: Two National League clubs scored 16 runs, Indianapolis making this number off Ad Gumbert and John Kinley Tener of Chicago and New York, duplicating the feat against Hank O’Day of Washington.
5/4/1889: Jerry Denny, Indianapolis, made six hits in six times at bat off Jim Galvin and Harry Staley of Pittsburg. Hits totalled 10 bases, one being a double and one a home run. Hoosiers won game, 17 to 12.
5/5/1889: For the third time in succession, Kansas City Cowboys dealt Charley Comiskey’s famous St. Louis Browns a bad beating, winning 18 to 12. On May 3 they won 16 to 3 and May 4, 16 to 9.
5/7/1889: Comiskey’s St. Louis Browns defeated Columbus, 21 to 0, the Old Roman scoring four runs and making single, double and homer.
5/11/1889: Charley Comiskey’s St. Louis Browns annihilated Baltimore, 20 to 4. W. Arlington Latham was prominent in the St. Louis victory, scoring five runs and making five hits for a total of 12 bases — two home runs, two singles, one double.
5/15/1889: Jesse Burkett, now one of the Giants’ coaches, pitched a one-hit game for Worcester against Newark, contest going 13 innings.
5/19/1889: Grandstand at Washington Park, Brooklyn, destroyed by fire.
5/20/1889: Kansas City American Association team, winning from Brooklyn 18 to 12, scored in every inning. No game of this kind ever has been played in American League and the last game of the sort in the National was played in 1901.
6/14/1889: Paul Hines and Jerry Denny, Indianapolis, each made two home runs in game with Pittsburg, but Pirates won, 13 to 9.
6/18/1889: Athletics whipped Columbus, 22 to 6, getting three more runs than hits because their opponents made 12 errors and because Mark Baldwin, who was pitching against them, released six wild pitches.
6/22/1889: Louisville American Association team dropped its 26th straight game, setting up a major league record that never has been equaled.
6/23/1889: Louisville American Association team, beaten 26 times in succession, finally won a game, defeating Comiskey’s St. Louis Browns, 7 to 3. Tom Ramsey pitched against Elton Chamberlain and Nat Hudson.
7/7/1889: Athletics made five double plays in game with Cincinnati.
7/13/1889: Comiskey’s St. Louis Browns annihilated Baltimore, Cunningham pitching, 25 to 5.
7/23/1889: Red Ehret, pitching for Louisville against Baltimore, fanned 11 men, but lost his game, 6 to 3.
8/3/1889: Giants defeated Phillies, 18 to 8, scoring nine runs in sixth off Sanders.
8/5/1889: Mike Tiernan, Giants, made two home runs off Gumbert of Chicago.
8/7/1889: Cleveland made 14 runs in the fourth inning off Sullivan of Washington and won, 20 to 6.
8/8/1889: Jack Glasscock, Indianapolis, made one hit of each kind (and another single as well) in game with Giants, Mickey Welch pitching.
8/8/1889: W.D. (Darby) O’Brien of Brooklyn American Association team made six hits in six times at bat off Widner and Gastright, three of these hits being doubles. Superbas won in the ninth, 12 to 11, by scoring twice.
8/9/1889: Pittsburg defeated Washington, 15 to 3, Billy Sunday, famous evangelist, making four of the winners’ runs and stealing four bases on the Senators’ catcher — Connie Mack.
8/10/1889: Cincinnati defeated Baltimore, 20 to 0, making 27 hits off Frank Foreman.
8/12/1889: In a doubleheader with Louisville, Frank Fennelly, Athletic shortstop, accepted 21 chances — one putout and 10 assists in first game and two putouts and eight assists in second.
8/13/1889: Harry Stovey, Athletics, made two home runs off Leon Viau of Cincinnati.
8/14/1889: Kid Gleason, pitching for the Phillies, was located for 10 runs in the eighth by Chicago and beaten 19 to 7.
8/15/1889: Larry Twitchell, Cleveland, batting six times against Mike Madden of Boston, made six hits for a total of 16 bases — one single, one double, three triples and one home run. Ohioans scored in each of nine innings and won, 19 to 8. Their 27 hits totaled 48 bases.
8/24/1889: Two thirds of Kansas City’s 12 hits off Ed Seward, Athletics, were long ones; Cowboys made four doubles, four triples and four singles.
8/25/1889: Brooklyn and Cincinnati went to Hamilton, 0hio to play Sunday game, players managed to reel off three and one-third innings and then got pinched. Each was fined $8.85.
8/25/1889: Comiskey’s St. Louis Browns made 12 runs in the third inning off Frank Foreman and defeated Baltimore, 16 to 9.
9/4/1889: Fred Pfeffer, Chicago, stole four bases in game with Phillies, who were vanquished, 15 to 8. Winners made 20 hits.
9/15/1889: Darby O’Brien, Superbas, stole five bases in game with Louisville on Jack Ryan, who coached Cornell’s baseballists this year.
9/19/1889: Hugh Duffy, then with Chicago, stole four bases in game with Cleveland, Ansonites winning 19 to 10. Winners made 20 hits off O’Brien, whose teammates committed nine errors.
Part Two, to 1900, next.
