,
was having a most exciting and prosperous season, though the majority of
clubs had signed many more players than they had any use for, the object
being to keep them away from the Union Association. For the Chicago Club
that season no less than nineteen players were signed, some of whom were
seldom called upon to play.

The regulars, that is, the men who were depended upon to do the playing,
were Corcoran, Goldsmith and Clarkson, pitchers; Flint and Kelly,
catchers; Anson, first base; Pfeffer, second base; Williamson, third
base; Burns, shortstop; Dalrymple, Gore, Kelly and Sunday in the
outfield.

In some way or other we got started off with the wrong foot first, as
the horsemen would, say, and the end of May found us in the fifth place,
Boston and Providence being the leaders, and at the end of June we had
not improved our position.

From that time on the Providence Club played great ball, the wonderful
endurance of Pitcher Radbourne being one of the features of the season,
and though we rallied in September and October, winning every game that
we played in the last-named month, the best that we could do was to beat
New York for the fourth place, each club winning 62 games and losing 50.

The championship record showed 84 games won and 28 lost for the
Providence Club, 73 games won and 38 lost for Boston, and 64 games won
and 47 lost for Buffalo, while Philadelphia, Cleveland and Detroit
brought up the rear.

In the matter of averages James O'Rourke again led the list, with a
percentage of .350 to his credit.

The position that the club occupied at the close of that season was not
satisfactory to me, as I felt that it should have been better, but there
was no use crying over spilt milk, the only thing to do being to try it
again.

At the close of the season Corcoran, whose pitching days were about
over, was released, as was also Goldsmith, whose work had not been of
the first class, and Clarkson and McCormick, the latter having played
with the Cleveland team the year before, were relied upon to puzzle the
opposing batsmen, the other members of the team being Flint, Kelly,
Anson, Pfeffer, Williamson, Burns, Dalrymple, Gore and Sunday. O. P.
Beard, C. Marr, E. E. Sutcliffe and Joe Brown were all given a trial,
but released early in the season.

The St. Louis Club, of which Mr. Lucas was the President, was taken in
in order to fill the vacancy caused by the withdrawal of Cleveland, and
this act on the part of