Before the Tigers: The Big Four Come to Detroit

In the second of a now three part article, I take a look at the best years of the National League’s Detroit Wolverines between 1886-1887.

For the price of $7,000, new Detroit Wolverines owner Fredrick Stearns had purchased four of the major leagues’ best from the Buffalo Bisons to play for his Detroit Wolverines for the 1886 season. Stearns believed if he spent big on players, more fans would show up at home and on the road, where he would draw good road receipts, and that would pay for the players itself. Besides that, Stearns also wanted this team to win, something it had never done, and these four were going to help make it happen.

Dan Brouthers was the best hitter of the “big four.” He came over as a very accomplished hitter from his days in Buffalo, leading the NL in doubles five times and winning the 1881 and 1882 batting titles. In 1883, the first baseman broke Cap Anson’s major league record with 97 RBIs and was coming to Detroit on the heels of a .359-7-59 season.

Deacon White was a true veteran when he joined Detroit, his sixth team, for the 1886 season. He started his baseball career in 1868 with Forest City and recorded the first hit in the National Association’s history in 1871. One of the best barehanded catchers of his era, White played several other positions before switching primarily to third base during the 1882 season. White hit .292 in ’85, a far cry from his .387 average he recorded in ’77, but still a good average from a player entering his 16^th professional season.

Jack Rowe, like White, started his career as a catcher before switching to shortstop in his last year in Buffalo. Despite only measuring at 5’8”, Rowe had some pop in his bat, slugging over .400 three times. His best season came in 1881, when with Buffalo he hit .333 and led the NL with 11 triples.

Hardy Richardson was the second baseman of the star infield for Buffalo, although he had at one point or another played every position on the diamond. The speedster had also hit .300 or more in his last three seasons and like the other three players making the  move from Buffalo, the player nicknamed ‘Old True Blue’ was expected to make an impact.

And an impact they made. Coupled with returnees Charlie Bennett, Sam Thompson and Ned Hanlon, the offense made a huge splash. The Wolverines went on a 13-game winning streak in May and started 19-3, although it was only good enough for a 1.5 game lead over the Chicago White Stockings. The Boston Globe said on the 17^th of May:

“During the past decade there have been baseball clubs and baseball clubs, and some of them have made great records and won championships, but it is doubtful if the best of them ever started out with such playing as that which has characterized the progress of the nine located this season in the City of the Straits.”

Despite losing 4-3 to Boston on August 6^th, the Wolverines’ record remained lopsided towards the win column at 56-18, still up only 2 ½ games on Chicago. Stearns, perhaps feeling the White Stockings close behind him, made another move. This time, he purchased the contract of all-star 2^nd baseman Fred Dunlap from the St. Louis Maroons for $4,000. Dunlap, dissatisfied with the struggling Maroons, asked for his release and received one better, the opportunity to play for one of the most talented teams in baseball.

Dunlap’s addition didn’t keep Detroit from collapsing, though. A 10-13 August lost them first place but they had a chance to make up ground with first-place Chicago, playing them six times in the final month. On the 9^th, they traveled to the Windy City for three against the White Stockings, trailing them by three games in the standings. After winning the first, the Wolverines dropped the next two by a combined score of 28-12. They had another chance at Chicago late in the season but dropped two out of three at home to fall 5 ½ back with 14 left.

However, the Wolverines still had some fight in them. They won series in Boston and New York before sweeping the lowly Washington Nationals. Detroit headed into the final series only two back of Chicago for the pennant. After tying Philadelphia in Game 1, they humiliated the Quakers 11-0. That, coupled with a Chicago loss, closed the gap to one game. Heading into the final day, Detroit needed to sweep the doubleheader to steal the pennant away from Chicago.

That didn’t happen. Everything that went wrong did, and the high-powered Detroit offense ran out of ammunition. The Wolverines lost both games, 5-1 and 6-1, and fell two games short of a pennant, with an outstanding record of 87-36. Brouthers had an outstanding season, hitting .370 with 11 home runs and 72 RBIs. Right behind him was Richardson with a year of .351-11-61. Thompson drove in a team-leading 89 runs with the newcomer, Rowe, right behind him with 87.

Lost in the offense, though, was the terrific one-two pitching punch of Lady Baldwin and Charlie Getzien. Baldwin pitched in parts of the ’85 season with Detroit, but stepped it up in 1886. He finished with a 42-13 record while nearing close to 500 innings, and had an ERA of 2.24. Getzien, in his third year as a Wolverine starter, had his best yet, going 30-13 with an ERA of 3.03.

With the core of the 1886 team still intact, Bill Watkins’ club was ready to do more damage then ever in 1887 and got some help from a rival. One month before the season, the pennant-winning White Stockings sold superstar King Kelly to Boston for a record $10,000. With Chicago weaker, the Wolverines got off to a good start in Indianapolis, spreading 28 runs across three victories in their opening series.

Detroit’s high powered offense kicked it into another gear on June 11^th, beating Indy 21-2. The victory put them at 24-9 overall for the season, 1 ½ games up on Boston. However, a six-game slide in July, including two losses against Boston, put Detroit ahead of a charging Chicago team by only one game, with Boston still breathing down their necks.

But the Wolverines rebounded nicely, going on win streaks of 4, 5, and 6 through four weeks in August and September, stretching their lead to a whopping seven games. They clinched in September, going 18-6 in the month, and won the NL pennant by 3 ½ games. This would set up a World Series with the St. Louis Browns, winners of the American Association.

The Browns finished 14 games ahead of second-place Cincinnati, dominating all the way and finished with a 95-40 record. Four players, player-manager Charlie Comiskey, Tip O’Neill, Curt Welch, and Dave Foutz, all finished with at least 100 runs batted in. The Browns averaged a whopping 8.2 runs per game over the season, more then the 7.6 averaged by Detroit.

Detroit was led on offense by the entire starting nine. Sam Thompson had a ridiculous season, hitting .372 while driving in a then-record 166 runs. Dan Brouthers hit a team-high 12 home runs on the season, during which he slugged .562.  A best-of-fifteen series was scheduled across various ballparks across the country, with the first game slated for October 10^th in St. Louis.

In game one, it was the Bob Caruthers show. The right-hander held the Wolverines bats in check, allowing only five hits over nine innings, en route to a 6-1 Browns victory, while helping his own cause with three base hits. In game two, St. Louis’ defense was the story, and not in a good way. Detroit scored five unearned runs and made Lady Baldwin a victor, winning 5-3 and evening the series up at one apiece.

Detroit won game three at home, 2-1, despite giving up 13 hits. Game four took place in Pittsburgh with Lady Baldwin holding the Browns to two hits for his second win of the series, an 8-0 victory. The Wolverines lost game five, 5-2, in Brooklyn, but suffered an even bigger loss in the process. Their big slugger, Brouthers, sprained his ankle and his return for the series was doubtful.

Even without Brouthers for game six in New York, Detroit took a 4-2 series advantage, blanking St. Louis 9-0. Starter Charlie Getzien took a no-hitter into the ninth but ended up surrendering three hits in the final frame. The Wolverines kept rolling, with a 3-1 victory in Philadelphia, and a 9-2 win in Boston, behind two Sam Thompson home runs. They took a commanding 7-2 series lead into Washington after winning 4-2 back in Philly.

The Wolverines looked to clinch the title on the next day, October 20^th but a rainout forced the teams to play two games on the same day in two different cities. The 21^st started with a morning game in Washington, where, behind a triple play, St. Louis stayed alive with a convincing 11-4 victory. Both teams then hopped on a train and headed for Baltimore, where Detroit captured the World Series in dominating fashion, 13-3.

The teams played one more game back in St. Louis four days later and the Browns won 10-5. However, it was already over. Fredrick Stearns was right where he wanted to be when he took over the team from William Thompson, at the top of the baseball world.

The question was, though, how long would he stay there?