THE 1878 MILWAUKEE GRAYS

June 20, 1878 at Milwaukee
Grays lose to White Stockings, 9-7
Season record: 7-15-1

The Chicago boys defeated the Milwaukees, yesterday, by a score of nine to seven. The game as a whole was very uninteresting. The Milwaukees did well during the first part of the game, but after the rain began to fall, a succession of errors seemed to discourage them and the game was lost. The turn of the penny gave the visitors the opportunity of going into the field, and they whitewashed the home nine in the first inning in short order. They then took their turn at the bat, and Anson and Ferguson started the record of success by each making a tally. In the second inning, Foley made a handsome two-base ht, but was put out before reaching the plate. Golden followed with a good rap and made first base on error. Redmond then took his turn and sent a tremendous sky-scraper [note: I wonder what constituted a skyscraper in 1878] over the fence at right field, bringing in Foley, who had stolen second, and obtaining second himself. [note: as you can see, hitting one over the fence did not result in a home run.] Morgan went out at first and Bliss struck out, leaving Redmond on second. The visitors went out in one, two three order, Cassidy at first, Larkin on a foul handsomely taken by Bliss, and Hankinson at first through a credible assist by Bliss. In the third, Creamer sent a daisy to left field, which was taken by Anson; Dalrymple followed suit; Peters made a base hit, but Goodman went out at first and the inning closed with no tallies. For the visitors, Remsen struck out, Harbridge sent a foul to Bliss, and Start made a tally, but those who followed him failed to “get round.” During this inning, the falling of a shed roof outside the grounds, loaded with men and boys, created some excitement, but nobody appeared to be hurt.

In the fourth, Redmond put in a two-baser, but the side went out without a tally. Cassidy put a hot ball to right field, which was splendidly taken by Peters, with the left hand, while on the run. Larkin got to first on an error, but Harkinson and Remsen went out in short order. The fifth proved the most interesting inning of the game. Peters, Goodman, Golden, Redmond, Morgan and Creamer each made a tally, so that the game stood seven to three. The visitors did nothing to change this. The sixth resulted in a zero for each side. During the seventh, the rain began to fall and time was called twice. The visitors made two, but the home nine did nothing. The eighth put the visitors up to nine and the game was called.

Notable:
- Golden, the pitcher, was charged with 10 errors.
- The linescore in the box actually shows Chicago scoring one in the eighth and two in the ninth.
- Bliss is Frank Bliss, who played third base (Foley was at catcher due to the numerous injuries at that position) and he was making his major-league debut. He would play only one more game in the majors.
- In fact, Bliss recorded his only career hit (going 1-for-4). He also played a flawless third base, handling all four chances which came his way (2 PO, 2 A).
- More on Bliss: He was the first player in the majors from the University of Michigan. And in fact, he was one of the first college graduates to play in the major leagues.