NEW DAD CARUTHERS WINS FOR SECOND STRAIGHT DAY

Posted by Ron on Oct 10, 2011 | 0 comments

Bob Caruthers

BALTIMORE –  (Oct. 10, 1889)  Brooklyn ace Bob Caruthers, pitching for the second straight day,  notched his 40^th win of the season, but his first as a brand new dad.

            The Bridegrooms beat Baltimore 17 to 9 as Caruthers decided to stay here and pitch rather than return to Brooklyn to see his first child, a boy, who was born yesterday morning.

            When Caruthers informed club president Charles Byrne of the blessed event, Byrne assumed that his pitcher would want to take time off to go home.  “We cannot spare you but nevertheless I will grant you a leave of absence,”  Byrne said.

            To his surprise, Caruthers declined. ““The telegram says that my wife is doing well, and I know that in case I should go home and the club should then lose games she as well as I would be worried, and that might do more harm than if I remained away. I will therefore stay with the club until the season closes.”

            So Caruthers, who had pitched Brooklyn to a win over Baltimore in the tight American Association race the day before, was again in the box yesterday. Brooklyn went ahead in the first inning when Darby O’Brien doubled and scored on a single by third baseman George Pinkney.  But Caruthers, perhaps still nervous over his new state of fatherhood, gave up five runs to Baltimore in the bottom of the first.

            The Bridegrooms came right back the next inning to tie the game 5 to 5, knocking Baltimore pitcher Matt  Kilroy out of the box.  In the fourth inning, Brooklyn battered Kilroy’s replacement, Frank Foreman, for five more runs, led by a triple by catcher Joe Visner. Brookliyn wound up with 20 hits in the game, while Baltimore roughed up Caruthers for 14 knocks. Still, Parisian Bob’s decision to stick with the team paid off as the righthander improved his record to 40 wins and 10 losses.

             St. Louis kept pace in the pennant race as Icebox Chamberlain picked up this 31^st win aganst 15 losses to lead the Browns to a 8 to 4  win over Louisville. Browns catcher Jocko Milligan led the attack with two homers and five runs batted in. 

           Chris Von der Ahe, the St. Louis owner, isn’t giving up on his team taking the pennant. “ I think we still have a good chance of winning,” he said yesterday in Louisville.  “If the Brooklyns slip up we’ll be on them like a duck on a dung pile.”

American Association Standings

Team                        W            L            Pct            GB

Brooklyn            90            43            .677

St. Louis            87            44            .664            2