No, this is not a World Series prediction
The Washington Nationals, celebrated as National League champions contending for the 2019 World Series, were born in 2005 out of the Montreal Expos. Yet the District of Columbia had welcomed, and then said goodbye, to several other big-league clubs before, dating back to 1871. The Nationals, in particular, had first been formed as a amateur nine on November 27, 1859 and became, briefly in the next decade, a powerhouse.
The Nationals had played only five match games in 1865, but in 1866 they began to take on stiffer competition, inviting clubs from Philadelphia and Brooklyn to play on the “White Lot” behind newly installed President Andrew Johnson’s White House. Below I offer an account from the New York Clipper of the Nationals’ thrilling match against the Excelsiors of Brooklyn, touring the South after the Civil War in a return gesture of reconciliation; the Nationals had come up to Brooklyn in July, when they had visited Jim Creighton’s tomb, played a ball game, and were entertained lavishly.
Here, from the Clipper of September 29, 1866, is the account of a game President Johnson may have viewed from his back porch, though he did not deign to come down to the field. The game took place on Tuesday, September 18.
THE SOUTHERN TOUR OF THE EXCELSIOR CLUB.
THEIR GAMES IN WASHINGTON, BALTIMORE AND PHILADELPHIA — FOUR VICTORIES AND A TIE GAME.
The Excelsior club, which left New York at 7 P.M. on Saturday evening, the 15th inst., duly arrived at Washington early on the morning of the 16th, being met at Baltimore by a committee of the Nationals, which included Messrs. Williams, Berthrong, Munson, Smith, & Co., and on their arrival at the depot at Washington they were greeted by a numerous delegation of the club, by whom they were escorted, in stages and carriages, to Willard’s Hotel, which was selected as their headquarters during their sojourn at the Capital. A very handsome programme for their reception had been arranged, as there were but two days to be devoted to visits to the interesting localities around Washington.
THE FIRST MATCH OF THE TOURNAMENT.
The weather on Tuesday, 18th, was splendid: it was warm, but that is what a ball player likes in September. At an early, hour the Muffin fraternity were up and doing; for the morning was to be devoted to their interests, a grand match between the muffs of the National and Excelsior clubs being the opening part of the programme of the tourney, and the feature of the day in the estimation of ye Muffs. By 9 A.M. a large crowd of amateurs were collected on the grounds, among them many of the first nines of the two clubs, who were present to learn “points” of the game from the professors. At 10 P.M. [surely a typo for 10 A.M. — jt], all being in readiness, this brilliant contest began. The fifth innings saw the Nationals in the van by a score of 36 to 26; and, seeing this, the Excelsiors resigned in despair.
THE GRAND MATCH OF THE TOURNAMENT.
The grand, match of the Tourney did not begin until nearly 3 P. M. The arrangements for this match were excellent. One half the field was enclosed by a high fence, inside of which were erected a series of platform seats, those shaded from the sun being reserved for invited guests and ladles, and the other side for those purchasing tickets. From the enclosure all around the field a rope fence was placed, outside of which the crowd was kept by the police, this portion of the field being free to all. By 3 P.M., the reserved seats began to fill up, and an hour afterwards the most brilliant gathering of ladies were present as spectators of the match ever seen on any ball ground, in the country, the fashion and beauty of the city being fully represented. Under the potent influence of such a battery of bright eyes, the two clubs could not help but distinguish themselves, and the first four innings of the match were marked by a brilliant display of the beauties of the game at the hands of both nines. As the game, however, proved to be one of the most exciting and closely contested of the season, we proceed to give
DETAILS OF THE MATCH.
The game began at 2:40, the Nationals going to the bat. Parker led off by going out on a foul ball well taken by Norton; Smith was next, and giving a chance to Flanly by a high ball, had to retire, George capturing the ball in style. Berthrong being the third out on a similar ball to Parker’s, a blank score was the result. Mitchell opened play on the Excelsior side by giving a chance to Berthrong for a fly foul, which, to the surprise of the crowd, was missed; but they were not aware that the first ball held by Berthrong from Williams had split his thumb and hand to an extent that almost rendered him incapable of playing; without saying anything, however, he pluckily kept his place and played on until the pain became so severe that he had to give up his position. Owing to this mishap Berthrong failed to hold balls on three strikes, and Mitchell secured his base by this means, as did Fletcher afterwards, Clyne sending Mitchell home by a splendid hit to right field, himself and Fletcher coming home on passed balls, owing to Berthrong’s sore hand. Norton had previously given Williams an easy chance for a fly catch and retired; Leggett was disposed of by Fox, who caught a foul bound in style, Whiting being an easy victim for Williams and Hodges, the innings closing with the figures of 3 to 0 in favor of the Excelsiors.
In the second innings Williams, after being missed behind, was handsomely disposed of at 1st base by Flanly and Whiting, but Fox, by a miss of Leggett’s, secured his 1st; Hodges was next, and over-running his base had to retire. McLean and Studley then made fine hits on which they easily secured their bases, and eventually both came home, Studley by a wild throw of Norton’s, Randall striking out. We were pleased to see this player taught a lesson by the umpire. He was over particular at the bat in order to give Studley a chance to get in, and had struck twice without effect and had allowed two good balls to pass him, when the third one led the umpire to call a strike on him for not batting at a good ball. The score was now even, 3 to 3, and the Excelsiors, for their share of the second innings, were only allowed to score one run, Brainard securing his first by a good hit, and was sent home by Mitchell after two hands were out. Mitchell was left on his 3d. The outs were from excellent catches by Parker, Smith and Hodges, the tally at the close standing 4–3 in favor of the Excelsiors. In this innings Berthrong went to short field and Fox behind, Smith playing at 3d base.
The third innings saw the Nationals retire for one run, although both Williams and Fox made fine hits, but the high ball the latter sent to the centre field was handsomely caught by Clyne, Williams being left at first, a poor reward for his beautiful “grounder,” the other two being prettily caught by Flanly and Fletcher. Another 3 for the Excelsior in this innings ran their score up to 7, Fletcher, Brainard and Flanly, batting finely. McLean took Fox’s place behind in this innings, and for four innings he played in fine style, facing Williams’ swift balls bravely. He made a splendid one hand fly catch sharp from the bat in this innings, and allowed but four balls to pass him in four innings play. The totals now stood 7 to 4 in favor of the Excelsiors, the contest proving to be a close one, despite the misfortune of having one man wounded. The fourth innings yielded nothing to either, the fielding being very sharp on both sides. Three fine catches by Flanly, Mitchell and Whiting caused the retirement of the Nationals, Studley being left on his base, and Parker, McLean, and Fox disposed of the three Excelsiors, Norton being the one to be left, the totals remaining as before at 7 to 4.
The important 5th innings was now commenced, Parker leading off on the National side. By errors in the field on the part of Mitchell, Flanly and Leggett, and wild throwing by Norton, no less than six players secured their bases before a single hand was put out, and afterwards four missed-catches, together with passed balls and failures to stop them, led to no less than twelve runs being scored in this innings, the field almost becoming demoralized. But six players were entitled to their bases in this innings by their batting, and yet 13 made them. This was a great pull up for the Nationals, and it encouraged them to more earnest efforts. The Excelsiors, we noticed, did not give up at all, but went in pluckily to recover their lost ground, and by excellent batting scored five runs in the same inning, amidst the applause of the crowd, the assemblage being the most impartial one we have ever seen at a match, because the majority present within the enclosure were of the educated class.
Encouraged by this partial recovery of their previous position, they disposed of the Nationals for a blank score in the sixth innings, Elmendorf and Leggett making two fine catches, the latter and Whiting putting out Randall prettily at 1st base. For their own share of the score in this innings they secured no less than eight, a fine catch by Studley being the feature of the fielding, the totals now standing 20 to 16 in favor of the Excelsiors; this rally for the lead was the best we have seen at the hands of the Excelsiors for a long while.
In the 6th innings the Nationals batted finely for 6 runs, a pretty catch by Flanly marking the fielding. This put their score 22 to 20, but in the same innings the Excelsiors added 3 thereto, again resuming a leading position by the totals of 23 to. 22. The game was now intensely interesting. Despite the drawbacks the Nationals had, they fought manfully for victory, and their every movement was watched by their friends with eager eyes. In this innings, Berthrong, having, had his hand tied up, went behind again, and marked his play with a beautiful catch, but the pain from his wound caused a second retirement, and he went to centre field. In the previous innings Fox had gone on to pitch, but the experiment was a costly one, as the score showed, and in this innings Williams resumed his place, a smaller score being the result.
In the 8th inning the Nationals sent five men to the bat; but no runs were scored, the fielding being too sharp. On the Excelsior side, however, they scored 5 runs, when, but for miss-catches, a blank score would have been the result. This advantage, however, was offset by the Nationals in their last innings by a score of 6, they thereby sending the Excelsiors to the bat in their ninth innings with the totals at 28 to 28, amidst the greatest excitement, the ladies present especially taking great interest in the proceedings. All that was requisite to save defeat now was for the Nationals to make their opponents retire for a blank score, and this they went in to do, but the Excelsiors were bent on taking the trophy home, and Leggett, opening play with a fine grounder, was sent home by Whiting’s fine hit, thereby securing the winning run, amidst the flying up of caps from the Excelsiors and the applause of a large portion of the assemblage. Before the game terminated the score was run up to 5, the totals at the close standing at 33 to 28 in favor of the Excelsiors.
The umpiring in this match was excellent, not a dissentient voice to a single decision being heard, and the umpire had several close points to decide upon. The game was played in the most friendly spirit throughout. We append the score: —
A more exciting or a more closely contested game than this was we have not witnessed for a long time, and a feature of the contest was the plucky, up-hill style of play shown by both parties. The Nationals displayed this manly characteristic by the manner in which they fought with a prominent player disabled and the Excelsior by the style in which they bore their reverse in the 5th innings. The catching of Norton and everything save throwing, in this game, was a model exhibition, and we never saw Brainard pitch as well before. But the great feature of the match was the friendly spirit manifested throughout the entire contest, even at its most exciting period, for neither party forgot, for a moment, that they had their reputation as gentlemanly exponents of the game to sustain, as well as that for skillful play, the latter being the most important of the two. As for the conduct of the vast assemblage it was beyond all praise. The award of applause was thoroughly impartial and the decorum observed was quite a model to copy from.
In the evening the Excelsiors were, the recipients of more palatial favors at the hands of their warm hearted hosts, and it really seemed as if the Nationals were determined to kill their guests with this feasting business, for there was no end to it while their victims were on their hands. Their bills must have been enormous. This time the feast was a princely affair, got up in the highest style, of the art by the proprietors of Willard’s Hotel, a more sumptuous entertainment never having been provided for a ball club than that given on this occasion. All the luxuries of the season in profuse quantity, with delicious wines to wash down the tempting viands, marked this feast, and truly was it a gala affair. Thus ended the first day of the tournament and the third day of the Excelsior tour.
[On the following day in Washington, D.C., the Excelsiors defeated the Unions of Washington as Asa Brainard was relieved in the pitcher’s box by “young Cummings,” who next year would invent the curve ball, in an Excelsior game against Harvard.]
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