August Pick Ups

[Joe_G.]

An interesting early scorecard, New York Giants hosting the Detroit Wolverines. The date was May 30th, 1883.




Here is a nice summary that can be found on the SABR website.

Usually baseball games on the Polo Grounds took place one at a time. However, during a two-week stretch beginning May 30 (1883) Decoration Day (the original name of Memorial Day), both the New-Yorks (NL - Gothams/Giants) and Metropolitans (AA) were at home. Fortunately, the western diamond was finally ready for occupancy by this time, although the Metropolitans quickly learned that it was a far inferior playing area (with some of the tract reportedly leveled with the use of raw garbage as landfill).

However, the Metropolitans had little choice because five games--involving five major league teams and two college squads--were scheduled for the Polo Grounds on Decoration Day, and two diamonds would be necessary to accommodate all the games.

The Metropolitans started the long day of baseball with a 9:30 a.m. game against Cincinnati, a contest that marked the opening of the west diamond at the Polo Grounds. A half-hour later, just a bit to the east, the New-Yorks began a game against Detroit.

When the National League game was over, Yale and Princeton took the field on the east end for a game to decide the college championship. Upon its conclusion, the New York and Detroit teams returned for the second game of their doubleheader. Meanwhile, the Metropolitans--who had eked out a 1-0 win over Cincinnati in the morning game--were beating Columbus, 12-5, completing a doubleheader sweep over two different teams.

The crowds were sparse for the early games, but fans came and went over the course of the day and, in all, upward of 10,000 fans turned out at some time to see some of the baseball at the Polo Grounds on Decoration Day.
In an attempt to quell some of the confusion of simultaneous games, John B. Day had a flimsy, canvas-covered fence erected to separate the playing areas. This portable fence remained up through June 14, during which time the New-Yorks and Metropolitans continued to play on opposite ends of the same grounds at the same time.

Some additional items of interest include that 1883 was the first year for the NY Giants with the May 30th double header accounting for their 16th & 17th games of the year.

The score card is for the 2nd game of the doubleheader in which NY beat Detroit 8 to 4. What I find most interesting are the light pencil notations on the back which record the inning-by-inning accounts for the NY Mets victory over Columbus (12-5) and Yale's victory over Princeton (5-4). A lot of baseball for one day, I wonder if the scorer made the two earlier games as well.