In those days poolrooms were a much greater evil than they are at the present time, and the betting on baseball was hot and heavy. The Louisville having such a lead were favorites at long odds. When the club started on its last Eastern trip they had some twelve games to play, out of which they had less than half to win in order to land the pennant. On this trip enough games were thrown to give Boston the pennant, and when the directors of the Louisville Club came to sift matters down they had but little difficulty in finding out the guilty parties, who were A. C. Nichols, William H. Craver, George Hall and James A. Devlin.
How much money this quartette netted by its crooked work is not known to this day, but it has been proven that Devlin secured but a beggarly $100 as his share, as once the others had him in their power they could compel him to do just whatever they pleased under threats of exposure.
These four players were promptly expelled for selling games by the Louisville Club, whose action was later ratified by the League, and though they made application time after time in later years to be reinstated, their applications were denied and they passed out of sight and out of hearing as far as the base-ball world was concerned.
They were all of them good ball players, better than the average, and Devlin, a really great pitcher, undoubtedly had a brilliant future before him. The inability to stand temptation, however, caused his downfall and left him but little better than a wreck on the shores of time.
The year, taken as a whole, has been generally set down as being the darkest in the history of the League. As in the preceding year, all the clubs lost money and the outlook seemed indeed a dark one.
The darkest hour comes just before the dawn, however, and the following year saw a change for the better in base-ball prospects.
[CHAPTER XIII. FROM FOURTH PLACE TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP.]
The year 1878 saw but six clubs in the league race, there being the Boston, Cincinnati, Providence, Chicago, Indianapolis and Milwaukee clubs, and they finished in the order named, the Hub's representatives winning by a margin of four games from their nearest competitor. The early part of the year saw the Cincinnatis in the lead, with Chicago well up toward the front, and it looked for a time as though the honors of the season might be carried off by the Western clubs. The Cincinnati Club went into the air during the summer, however, and surrendered the first place to Boston, the latter team playing finely together, and though it rallied strongly afterward it found itself unable to overtake the leaders.
The Chicago team was not a strong one that season and minor ailments and accidents made it still weaker than it would otherwise have been. A. G. Spalding having retired from active ball playing, had gone into the sporting goods business, and Robert Ferguson had been selected to take his place as manager and captain of the team, which was made up as follows:
Robert Ferguson, shortstop and captain; Anson, left field; Start, first base; Cassidy, right field; Remsen, center field; Hankinson, third base; McClellan, second base; Frank Larkin, pitcher; Harbidge, catcher; Hallman and Reis, substitutes.