a #><* ^ £ 4cL. 12 CORRECT DIAGRAM OF BALL GROUND, Cfentse 1st Baseman P TCHER 3 /\ -S ( \ a. \ *r/ CATCHER \ \V/ UMPIRE / A / o Catcher's fence A. A. A.—Ground reserved for Umpire, Batsman and Catcher. B. B. B.—Ground reserved for Captain and Assistant. C—Players' Bench. D.—Visiting Players' Bat Rack. E.—Home Player's Bat Rack, A. H. Spink, Editor. C. C. Spink, Business Manager. THE SPORTING NEWS, OF ST. LOUIS, the brightest aod best base ball paper pub- lished in the world, has reduced its. sub- scription price to $1.00 a year, less than two cents a copy. Send name on postal card for free paper. We will send to any address a fine embossed picture of either a monkey, dog, elephant, or frog. Send for one. It costs you nothing. THE SPORTING NEWS guarantees advertisers over 60,000 CIRCULATION. THE SPORTING NEWS PUBLISHING COMPANY, 105 & 107 North Sixth St., ST. LOUIS, MO. REACH'S OFFICIAL BASE BALL GUIDE FOE 1892. AN ANNUAL COMPENDIUM OF BASE BALL LITERATURE. CONTAINING REVIEWS OF BASE BALL ASSOCIATIONS, OFFICIAL RECORD OF GAMES, THE NATIONAL AGREEMENT, NATIONAL PLAYING RULES, SCHEDULES, ETC. PHILADELPHIA: PUBLISHED BY A. J. EEACH CO. No. 1113 Market Street. 1892. : Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1892, by A. J. REACH CO., in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. CONTENTS. PAGE. Portrait of A. J. Reach 1 Introduction 7 Review of the Season of 1891 ' .... 8 The American Association 9 The National League 1:; The Washington Conference 15 Reprisals upon Players 15 The American Association's Annual Meeting 17 The League's Annual Meeting 18 The Consolidation . - 19 Review of the Season of 1892 22 The New Western League 23 The Old Western Association 26 The Eastern Association 28 The Eastern League of Base Ball Clubs 29 The New England League 31 The Northwestern League 32 The Illinois-Iowa League 33 The Wisconsin State League 34 The New York and Pennsylvania State League . .35 On the Pacific Coast 35 Ohio League 37 A Florida League 37 Base Ball Abroad 38 Champion Teams of 1891 38 The Apportionment 39 The Overflow 40 Reservations 41 World's Championship 44 Some Notable Deaths 44 Shut-outs for 1891 48 Things to be Remembered 49 Interesting Pick-ups 52 Official Record of Games American Association 55 The National League 63 Western Association 70 Eastern Association 76 Pacific Northwest League 82 Illinois and Iowa . 85 California League 90 Wisconsin League 94 The National Agreement 99 National Playing Rules 106 Index to Playing Rules 126 Schedules 136 INTRODUCTION. This is the Tenth Annual issue of Beach's Official Base Ball Guide. Although the American Association of Base Ball Clubs passed out of existence during the winter just gone'by, there has been such a general demand in base ball cir- cles for the Reach Guide, that we have felt constrained to issue the tenth number, as usual, being assured in advance that the merging of the Association into the National League will have no effect upon the wide circulation of this volume. Indeed, our Guide has become so solidly established in the favor of base ball patrons, that its future publication as an independent base ball annual compendium seems to be made a necessity. In this issue we have endeavored to give all the official averages and data of all the professional associations in the United States, and have devoted more than usual attention to the lesser organi- zations. With the satisfactory settlement of all the base ball quarrels and troubles at every point, and on the eve of the era of pros- perity which seems to be surely coming, the Reach Guide will be welcomed by every student and lover of the national game as an accurate annual history of base ball in America. We shall endeavor to make each number more valuable and interesting than any one of its predecessors. A. J. Reach Co. THE SEASONrOF 1891. In last year's issue of Beach's Guide these words occur at the close of the section under the caption of The Con- solidation: "So another war is on in professional base ball, and it can but result in injury to the game, as did the one of 1890.''' Those words were not prophetic, because their meaning was based upon philosophical facts. Any war or bitter vindictive rivalry between base ball organizations is bound to result in disaster to the game, and, of course, to the capitalists who back the clubs, and then, indirectly, to the players themselves. Such was the outcome of the Union Association's war against the League and American Asso- ciation in 1884. That year, however, the brunt of the losses fell upon the capitalists behind the insurgents, because the Union Association found itself lamentably weak before two months of its initiatory campaign had passed. During the Brotherhood war, or the fight between the Players' League on one side and the National League and American Association on the other, in 1890, the losses were enormous; and as the fight was nearly equally balanced, each side shared in the financial disaster with a weight that permitted of no room to boast of having the best of it. The war of the year just past between the National League and the American Association was scarcely less destructive in a financial way. Not five clubs out of the sixteen arrayed on the two sides cleared expenses, and the losses in a num- ber of instances ran up into the thousands of dollars. The mischief did not stop within the confines of the two bodies in open hostility. The minor leagues and associa- tions suffered from the concussions. Only those which were too far off to be influenced by the constant jarring of the two warlike armies, and those which were considered too weak in material to aid as contraband munitions of war managed to ride through the season. The Eastern League and West- THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 9 ern Association went down under the pressure, and several League and Association members were only kept in till the end by the bolstering of their more courageous and more wealthy associates. This second year of internecine war seemed to reach the limit of the game's endurance. It became patent to the dullest and most unreasonable element of the two factions that strife must cease, or that the third season of battle would result in extirpation of the great national game, which had taken such deep root in the hearts of Americans during the years of its peaceful prosperity. It was this cold, stern fact, arising above the grievous principles and dogged assertions of the two sides, which, after the season had closed and the losses were figured out, animated a few men on either side to suggest a truce and a conference, looking toward a permanent peace, which should be honorable and fair to both parties, and which might be lasting in its effect. How well these suggestions turned out will be seen a little further on. THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. Under the handicap which the American Association Clubs took upon themselves when they withdrew from the National Agreement, they expected to be bitterly opposed by other organizations, especially by the National League. In this expectation they were not disappointed. Every obstacle which the National Agreement forces could throw in their way without overt acts of war was brought forward. The League was wofully disappointed in their belief that the Association had no generals able to cope with the diplo- mats of their own body. In Kramer, Von der Ahe, Wagner, Von der Horst, Phelps, and others they found foes worthy of their own long experience in base ball finesse. There was only one point in the League's and Association's circuit where the clash between the two bodies smacked very much of open warfare—that was in Cincinnati. Owing to A. L. Johnson, who had bought the Cincinnati Club from the old Players' League, the Association were dis- appointed and slightly crippled before their season began. 10 reach's official base ball guide. They firmly believed that Johnson would remain with them, with his club, but he sold the club and franchise to the Association's rival. The Association, however, refused to give up Cincinnati, and they fitted up new grounds in the east end of that city, and thereon placed a new team, under the captaincy of M. J. Kelly, the famous ball player, who was released for that purpose by the Boston Association Club. This club was a heavy loser from the start, on ac- count of the bad location of the grounds and the lack of means of transportation for carrying spectators from the business part of the city. In August, therefore, the backers of the Cincinnati Club, with the consent of the other Asso- ciation Clubs, sold their franchise and part of their team to the Milwaukee Club, of the Western Association. The lat- ter thereupon withdrew from the Western Association and was taken into the American Association, fulfilling the dis- banded Cincinnati Club's dates upon the schedule to the end of the season. The Boston team won this, the tenth and last champion- ship of the Association. It was an eventful season though, honorably conducted, free from scandal of all kinds, and peaceful in its internal relations. This record is especially commendable when one takes into consideration all the disadvantages with which the clubs were surrounded and the temptations of the players and officials which were being constantly thrown in their way by their National Agreement opponents.