or second place between
Chicago, Philadelphia and New York. By the end of September New York was
out of the fight so far as second place was concerned, the battle for
which had narrowed down to Chicago and Philadelphia, which finally went
to the latter after a hard struggle.

The Detroits that season won 79 games and lost 45, the Philadelphias won
75 games and lost 48, the Chicagos won 71 games and lost so, Boston,
Pittsburg, Washington and Indianapolis finishing in the order named.

The champions of that year also succeeded in doing what we had failed to
accomplish, that is, they beat the St. Louis Browns by one game in the
series for the world's championship that was played after the close of
the regular League season.

In the matter of the batting averages for that year I stood second on
the list, with a percentage of .421, having taken part in 122 games,
while Maul, of the Pittsburg team, who led the list with .450, had only
taken part in sixteen games, these figures including bases on balls as
base hits.

The League circuit for 1888 remained the same as in 1887, and all of the
clubs made money with the exception of Detroit, Washington and
Indianapolis, and their losses were small.

The attendance at the games everywhere was something enormous, and the
race between the four leaders a hot one from start to finish.

Early in the spring the Chicago club management pocketed another check
for $10,000 for the release of a player, the one to join the Hub forces
this time being John Clarkson, a man who had often pitched the Chicago
Club to victory, and a player that I personally regretted to part with.
With the assistance of this really great pitcher the Boston management
hoped to get even for their disappointment of the preceding season and
once more fly the pennant over their home grounds, to which it had for
some years been a stranger.

With Clarkson and Kelly out of the way we were looked upon prior to the
opening of the season as a rather soft mark by the other League clubs,
but that they reckoned without their host is shown by the records. We
were in it, and very much in it, from start to finish, finishing in the
second place, the championship going to New York, the team from the
Eastern metropolis winning 84 games and losing 47, while Chicago won 77
games and lost 58, Philadelphia came third on the list with 69 games won
and 61 lost, and Boston fourth with 70 games won and 63 lost, Detroit,
Pittsburg, Indiana