Spalding's Baseball Guide and Official League Book for 1889 - Unknown

While en route to Australia the tourists stopped at Honolulu, where they were given a public reception, by King Kalakaua, but their first game played after they had left California was at Auckland, where they first realized what a cordial reception the Australians had prepared for them. On their arrival at Sydney, and afterward at Melbourne, the hearty welcome accorded them, not only as ball players but as representatives of the great Western Republic, was such as to surpass all their anticipations, the heartiness of the greeting, the boundless hospitality and the crowded attendance at their games imparting to their visit a brilliancy of success which fully remunerated Mr. Spalding for all the pecuniary risks he had incurred by the trip. It was originally intended to have made the tour of the colonies a more extended one than was afterward found possible, and so the sojourn of the players on the Australian continent ended sooner than anticipated, only four cities being visited, instead of eight or ten, as laid out. The record of the games played in Australia is as follows:

DATE. |CLUBS. |CITIES. |PITCHERS. |Score.
———-+—————————-+————-+———————+———-
Dec. 10|Chicago vs. America|Auckland |Baldwin, Crane| 22-13
" 15|America vs. Chicago|Sydney |Healy, Tener | 5-4
" 17| " " " | " |Healy, Baldwin| 7-5
" 18| " " " | " |Healy, Tener | 6-3
" 22|Chicago vs. America|Melbourne|Tener, Crane | 5-3
" 24|America vs. Chicago| " |Healy, Ryan | 10-13
" 26| " " " |Adelaide |Healy, Tener | 19-14
" 27|Chicago vs. America| " |Baldwin, Healy| 12-9
" 28| " " " | " |Ryan, Simpson | 11-4
Dec. 29|America vs. Chicago|Ballarat |Healy, Baldwin| 11-7
Jan. 1 |Chicago vs. America|Melbourne|Tener, Healy | 14-7
" 1 | " " " | " |Baldwin, Crane| 9-4
" 5 | " " " | " |Baldwin, Crane| 5-0
" 26 |America vs. Chicago|Colombo |Crane, Baldwin| 3-3

After leaving Australia the tourists called at Colombo, Ceylon, and from thence went to Cairo, and while in that city visited the Pyramids, and they managed to get off a game on the sands in front of the Pyramid Cheops on Feb. 9. Their first game in Europe was played at Naples on Feb. 19, and from there they went to Rome, Florence and Nice, the teams reaching Paris on March 3. The record of their games in Europe is as follows:

In commenting on the physique of the American ball players, the editor of the Melbourne Argus says:

"Right worthy of welcome did those visitors appear-stalwarts every man, lumps of muscle showing beneath their tight fitting jersey garments, and a springiness in every movement which denoted grand animal vigor and the perfection of condition. We could not pick eighteen such men from the ranks of all our cricketers, and it is doubtful if we could beat them by a draft from the foot ballers. If base ball has anything to do with building up such physique we ought to encourage it, for it must evidently be above and beyond all other exercises in one at least of the essentials of true athletics."

The Melbourne Sporteman in its report of the inaugural game in that city, said: "The best evidence offered that Melbournites were pleased and interested in the exhibition lies in the fact that the crowd of nearly ten thousand people remained through not only nine but twelve innings of play, and then many of them stayed to see a four inning game between the Chicago team and a nine composed mainly of our local cricket players, who made a very creditable show, considering the strength of the team they were playing against, and the fact that they were almost utter strangers to base ball. Not only did the spectators remain upon the ground but they heartily applauded the heavy batting, the base running and base sliding and the brilliant fielding executed by our Yankee visitors. Perhaps the truest realization of just how difficult it is to play a finished game of base ball was obtained by the cricketers who went in against the Chicagos. A man may be able to guard a wicket with a degree of skill that would win him wide fame in cricket circles, but when it comes to standing beside the home plate of a base ball diamond, and mastering the terrific delivery of an American professional pitcher, the average cricketer is compelled to acknowledge the wide difference existing between the two positions. Then again, the quick handling of a batted or thrown ball, that it may be returned with all accuracy and lightning like rapidity to the waiting basemen are points which our cricketers are deficient in, when compared with the American professional ball player. It can be seen at a glance that the game is prolific of opportunities for quick and brilliant fielding."

The following is the score of the first match at cricket played by the base ball tourists with Australian cricketers in Sydney on December 18, 1888:

BASE BALL EIGHTEEN.