AMERICAN GLADIATOR: The Life And Times Of ... - The Book Locker

AMERICAN GLADIATOR
numbered future major-league star Fred Pfeffer, rated by experts as one of the 19 th -century’s two best secondbasemen
(Hall-of-Famer Bid McPhee is the other).
The steadily-developing Browning, according to existent records, continued to play third and bat in the leadoff
slot. And, though the Eclipse did not go unbeaten in 1880, they most certainly did have a phenomenal
campaign. Virtually invincible, they were as hard to deal with as a fastball on a hot summer’s day: a stream of
thin, white sewing thread ominously unraveling in the blinding sunlight.
Here is a sampling of some 17 games, from June through October, 16 of which were won by the Eclipse. The
results are a testament to the team’s power and Browning’s hitting talents, which included ten multi-hit games and
one collar, a zero-for-four contest on September 12.
• June 20: two hits, one run in 6-3 win over the Red Stockings
• June 23: four hits, one double, five runs in 28-0 stampede of Evansville
• June 24: two hits, 2 runs in 9-1 win over Evansville
• June 27: one hit in a 12-inning, 1-0 victory against Covington
• July 4: three-for-four, one double, one run, 5-1 win against the Cincinnati Americus
• July 5: one-for-four, one run, lost 7-5 to the Cincinnati Buckeyes
• July 11: three-for-six, beat Red Stockings 1-0 in 12 innings
• July 19: two-for-five, one run, defeated Covington 12-0
• July 25: one-for-five, one double, one run in 8-7 defeat of the New Orleans Lone Stars
• July 26: two-for-four, one double, one run in 3-1 win versus the New Orleans Lone Stars
• August 15: two-for-four, one double; 5-1 win over the Cincinnati Wirths
• August 22: One of the more unusual lines you’ll ever see for Browning or any other ballplayer.
One-for-six, but five runs scored in a 20-1 rout of the Cincinnati Alerts.
• August 29: three-for-five, one run in 6-0 win against the Ohio Columbias
• September 12: zero-for-four in 5-0 win against the Cincinnati Ravens
• September 20: one-for-four, one double, one run in 3-0 shutout of St. Louis Brown Stockings.
• October 10: three-for-five, one triple, one run, 11-3 victory over the Cincinnati Stars
• October 17: one-for-four, one run in 5-1 season-closing win over the Cincinnati Buckeyes
1881
In 1881, the year the Red Cross was founded and Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee Institute,
Browning signed his first professional contract for $60 a month. That campaign, which opened with a 9-4 win over
the Cincinnati Ravens on Sunday, April 24, was hallmarked by a host of signature events.
One was a 19-inning marathon contest between the Eclipse and the Akrons at Eclipse Park before a packed
house of 2,500 fans on Sunday, June 26. In the seventh, Browning tied up the game with a double to the left off a
hanging curve, his lone hit in eight at-bats.
That was it for the scoring. The protracted contest was called a 2-2 draw because of darkness, and
subsequently replayed as a nine-inning game. Remarkably, Browning played the entire set and that constituted a
quick comeback for Browning, who had missed the previous day’s game because of a serious, but undescribed
illness. The Courier-Journal described the situation this way in ‘Diamond Dust’, their post-game notes section:
“Pete Browning has about given up all idea of playing any more this season. His physician says it won’t do.”
The tie game wasn’t the first time that season Browning’s health had come into issue. In a Sunday, May 22
game, an obviously distressed Browning came to the plate in the ninth with the Eclipse down 9-8 against the
Chicago Athletes. Browning got a four-run ninth going with a double that plated two runs, and the Louisville club
went on to take a 12-9 victory.
The following morning’s Courier-Journal played it for all it was worth with a story billed as “Browning’s
Last Call”. That was followed by a supporting headline that read: “A Sick Man Saves The Day For The Eclipse,
And Defeats The Chicago Visitors.”
12