Here is the record of the June campaign, showing which club led in won games during the month.
THE JUNE RECORD. ———————————————————————————— P P P e P e l r l r L a c L a c W o y e W o y e o s e n o s e n Clubs. n t d t Clubs. n t d t ———————————————————————————— Brooklyn 18 5 28 .789 Philadelphia 11 12 23 .478 Baltimore 20 6 26 .769 Cleveland 9 13 22 .409 Boston 18 8 26 .692 St. Louis 10 15 25 .406 New York 15 8 23 .686 Washington 9 15 24 .375 Pittsburgh 13 13 26 .500 Chicago 8 17 25 .320 Cincinnati 12 13 25 .480 Louisville 4 22 26 .154 ————————————————————————————
It will be seen that out of the twelve clubs but four won more games than they lost, the Louisvilles ending the month's play with a record of but 4 games won out of 26 played, the poorest record of any single month of the season.
THE JULY CAMPAIGN.
The July campaign opened with the Baltimore and Boston clubs as apparent fixtures for the two leading positions, the "Orioles" leading the champions on July 5th by seven points only, viz., .679 to .672. On the 2d of July New York was sixth and Brooklyn third in the race. By July 5th, however, the "Giants" had jumped into third place, and Brooklyn had fallen back to sixth position. On the same date Baltimore, Boston and New York occupied the three leading positions, and though three more months of the season still remained, the other nine clubs were even then virtually out of the race, the only other point of interest left in the championship contest being that of the fight for the last three places in the first division, Pittsburgh being at that time the only Western club out of the second division. Of course, such a one-sided condition of things in the pennant race led to a falling off in the interest in the championship contests, especially out West, where the clubs of that section lost patronage greatly, four of the six Western clubs being virtually out of the race as early as May, as far as winning the pennant was concerned. During July there were only two points of interest in the race outside of the fight for first place between the three leaders, viz., the struggle between the Brooklyn and Philadelphia clubs for fourth place in the race, and that between the Cleveland and Pittsburgh clubs to retain a place in the first division. Cleveland lost its position in the first division the first week in July, Pittsburgh on July 2d being in fourth place. By the 6th of that month the "Phillies" had overtaken them, and by the 9th the Pittsburghs were down to sixth place, the Clevelands then heading the second division. The "Pirates" then rallied and got ahead of Brooklyn, the latter being driven into the second division by July 17th, Cleveland rallying and getting among the six leaders again by the 18th of July, after which date they remained in that division to the close of the season, A feature of the July campaign among the six tail-end clubs was the close fight between Washington and Louisville on the edge of the last ditch. First one club would cross the goal line and make a touch-down—as the foot ball men have it—and then the other, Louisville being in eleventh place at the end of the month, while the "Senators" rolled about in the last ditch. When the July campaign ended Boston was in the van with the percentage figures of .659, Baltimore being second with .618, and New York third with .613. It looked at that time pretty sure for Boston.
Here is the record of the month's play, showing which club won the most games during July:
THE JULY RECORD. ———————————————————————————— P P P e P e l r l r L a c L a c W o y e W o y e o s e n o s e n Clubs. n t d t Clubs. n t d t ———————————————————————————— New York 18 7 25 .720 Philadelphia 12 14 26 .462 Boston 16 9 25 .640 Baltimore 10 14 24 .417 Cleveland 18 11 29 .621 Pittsburgh 10 16 26 .385 Chicago 16 10 26 .615 St. Louis 10 17 27 .370 Cincinnati 16 11 27 .593 Brooklyn 9 16 25 .360 Louisville 13 15 28 .464 Washington 8 16 24 .331 ————————————————————————————
But five clubs out of the twelve won more games than they lost during the July campaign, but there was a little improvement shown in the difference of percentage points between the leader and tail-ender, the figures being .363. The Baltimores made the poorest record in July for a month's campaign of any they made during the season; while New York made the best show of any one of their four months' campaigns up to the close of July. Chicago also made their best monthly record in July, likewise Cincinnati and Louisville.
THE AUGUST CAMPAIGN.
Baltimore rallied in fine style in August, that club winning 22 out of 29 games that month, while New York won 20 out of 28; but Boston won only 15 out of 25, Philadelphia pulling up with 19 out of 29. Chicago also won a majority of their August games, these being the only clubs of the twelve which won more games during the month than they lost. When the August campaign opened the first division clubs included Boston, Baltimore, New York, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Brooklyn, the "Phillies" being in the second division; but the latter soon took Brooklyn's place and sent them to seventh place in the race. But before the first week of the month had ended, Brooklyn replaced Pittsburgh in the first division. The "Pirates," however rallied and drove their Eastern opponents back again; Brooklyn ending the month in sixth place, and after that the "Pirates" remained at the head of the second division to the finish. The 31st of August saw the first division clubs fixed for the season, as far as first and sixth places in the race were concerned, the interesting point in the month's campaign being the struggle between the New York and Boston clubs for second place and that between Brooklyn and Philadelphia for fourth position. There was but one Western club in the first division at the end of August, the other five staying in the second division to the finish, a result that was ruinous to the financial interests of the Western clubs, and to a large extent to the clubs of the East, all of which clubs played to "small houses" out West, especially at Louisville, the cranks of "Breckinridgeville" being disgusted with their local club team during the last three months of the season.