First National Association Game
Retrosheet is proud to present the details of the first
Major League game ever played, a National Association contest
between the Cleveland Forest Cities and Ft. Wayne Kekiongas on
May 4, 1871. The basic play by play information was gathered
by Bob Tiemann, who graciously donated it to Retrosheet. Andy
Singer, a very knowledgeable researcher on 19th century baseball,
did the actual computerization. Bob made available many more
games than this and work is underway to get them computerized.
However, the special nature of this game demanded that it be
presented now.
Some comments are in order. In 1871, the home team would
often bat in the bottom of the 9th inning, even if they were ahead.
Ft. Wayne did choose to do so on this day, while leading 2-0.
Of course, the home team could in fact choose to bat first, which
did happen on occasion, although not here. Then there is the
matter of determining which batter leads off an inning. The rule
was that the man after the one who made the last out would lead
off the next inning. Hypothetical inning: Batter A walks, Batter
B strikes out, Batter C strikes out, and Batter D hits into a force
play, with Batter A being retired at second base. The first
batter in the next inning is Batter B! He is literally "the next
batter after the one who made the last out". There were no cases
of this situation in this game. Our software needs some adjustments
to deal with these very unusual (by modern standards) conditions.
It is also true that batters were out on foul balls which were
caught on a bounce. There were 3 occurrences of this type of out
in this game. Andy Singer has very kindly prepared a Word document
with the 1871 rules which make fascinating reading.
Gary Hull provided weather data for that day. The observations were
taken about 1 mile outside Ft. Wayne and are included in the expanded
box score.
What follows below are the full play by play of this historic
game along with a modern style expanded box score and a more
conventional newspaper style box score. That is, conventional
for the second half of the 20th century, but not for 1871!
Retrosheet Play-by-Play Account
Game of Thursday, 5/4/1871
Cleveland Forest Cities at Ft. Wayne Kekiongas (D)
Starting Lineups:
Cleveland Ft. Wayne
1. D.White c F.Sellman 3b
2. G.Kimball 2b B.Mathews p
3. C.Pabor lf J.Foran 1b
4. A.Allison cf W.Goldsmith ss
5. E.White rf B.Lennon c
6. A.Pratt p T.Carey 2b
7. E.Sutton 3b E.Mincher lf
8. J.Carleton 1b J.McDermott cf
9. J.Bass ss B.Kelly rf
FOREST CITIES 1ST: D.White doubled; G.Kimball lined into a
double play (T.Carey unassisted) [D.White out at second];
C.Pabor popped to B.Lennon in foul territory; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0
LOB. Forest Cities 0, Kekiongas 0.
KEKIONGAS 1ST: F.Sellman popped to D.White in foul territory;
B.Mathews popped to D.White in foul territory; Caught on one
bounce; J.Foran singled; W.Goldsmith popped to D.White in foul
territory; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Forest Cities 0, Kekiongas 0.
FOREST CITIES 2ND: A.Allison struck out [A.Allison to first
(error by B.Lennon)]; E.White struck out while A.Allison stole
second; A.Pratt popped to J.Foran in foul territory; E.Sutton
flied to B.Kelly; 0 R, 0 H, 1 E, 1 LOB. Forest Cities 0,
Kekiongas 0.
KEKIONGAS 2ND: B.Lennon doubled to left field; T.Carey flied to
A.Allison; E.Mincher popped to G.Kimball; J.McDermott singled
[B.Lennon scored]; B.Kelly popped to D.White in foul territory;
1 R, 2 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Forest Cities 0, Kekiongas 1.
FOREST CITIES 3RD: J.Carleton struck out; J.Bass flied to
B.Kelly; D.White popped to B.Lennon in foul territory; 0 R, 0 H,
0 E, 0 LOB. Forest Cities 0, Kekiongas 1.
KEKIONGAS 3RD: F.Sellman popped to D.White in foul territory;
Caught on one bounce; B.Mathews popped to D.White in foul
territory; J.Foran flied to E.White in foul territory; 0 R, 0 H,
0 E, 0 LOB. Forest Cities 0, Kekiongas 1.
FOREST CITIES 4TH: G.Kimball popped to F.Sellman; C.Pabor
popped to F.Sellman; A.Allison popped to B.Lennon in foul
territory; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Forest Cities 0, Kekiongas 1.
KEKIONGAS 4TH: W.Goldsmith walked; B.Lennon popped to D.White
in foul territory; T.Carey forced W.Goldsmith (J.Bass to
G.Kimball) [T.Carey to first]; D.White allowed a passed ball
[T.Carey to second]; E.Mincher popped to A.Pratt; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E,
1 LOB. Forest Cities 0, Kekiongas 1.
FOREST CITIES 5TH: E.White struck out; A.Pratt walked; E.Sutton
singled [A.Pratt to third]; E.Sutton was picked off first
(T.Carey unassisted); Out at 1st after foul; J.Carleton flied to
E.Mincher; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Forest Cities 0, Kekiongas 1.
KEKIONGAS 5TH: J.McDermott grounded out (G.Kimball to
J.Carleton); B.Kelly singled; D.White allowed a passed ball
[B.Kelly to second]; D.White allowed a passed ball [B.Kelly to
third]; F.Sellman grounded out (J.Carleton unassisted) [B.Kelly
scored]; B.Mathews popped to D.White in foul territory; Caught
on one bounce. 1 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Forest Cities 0, Kekiongas 2.
FOREST CITIES 6TH: J.Bass flied to E.Mincher; D.White reached on
an error by W.Goldsmith [D.White to first]; G.Kimball popped to
J.Foran; B.Lennon allowed a passed ball [D.White to second];
C.Pabor popped to B.Mathews; 0 R, 0 H, 1 E, 1 LOB.
Forest Cities 0, Kekiongas 2.
KEKIONGAS 6TH: J.Foran popped to G.Kimball; W.Goldsmith popped
to D.White in foul territory; B.Lennon popped to J.Bass; 0 R, 0
H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Forest Cities 0, Kekiongas 2.
FOREST CITIES 7TH: A.Allison singled to shortstop; E.White
struck out; A.Allison was caught stealing second (B.Lennon to
T.Carey); A.Pratt popped to T.Carey; 0 R, 1 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.
Forest Cities 0, Kekiongas 2.
KEKIONGAS 7TH: T.Carey grounded out (A.Pratt to J.Carleton);
E.Mincher grounded out (E.Sutton to J.Carleton); J.McDermott
grounded out (J.Bass to J.Carleton); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB.
Forest Cities 0, Kekiongas 2.
FOREST CITIES 8TH: E.Sutton popped to B.Lennon in foul
territory; J.Carleton grounded out (F.Sellman to J.Foran);
J.Bass popped to W.Goldsmith; 0 R, 0 H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Forest
Cities 0, Kekiongas 2.
KEKIONGAS 8TH: B.Kelly flied to A.Allison; F.Sellman popped to
G.Kimball; B.Mathews grounded out (J.Bass to J.Carleton); 0 R, 0
H, 0 E, 0 LOB. Forest Cities 0, Kekiongas 2.
FOREST CITIES 9TH: D.White singled to center field (J.McDermott
to T.Carey) [D.White out at second]; G.Kimball popped to
B.Lennon in foul territory; C.Pabor reached on an error by
J.McDermott [C.Pabor to first]; A.Allison struck out; 0 R, 1 H,
1 E, 1 LOB. Forest Cities 0, Kekiongas 2.
KEKIONGAS 9TH: J.Foran grounded out (A.Pratt to J.Carlton);
W Goldsmith grounded out (A.Pratt to J.Carlton);
B.Lennon grounded out (J.Bass to J.Carlton); 0 R, 0 H, 0 E,
1 LOB. Forest Cities 0, Kekiongas 2.
Final Totals R H E LOB
Forest Cities 0 4 0 4
Kekiongas 2 4 3 3
Retrosheet Expanded Box Score
Game of Thursday, 5/4/1871 -- Cleveland at Ft. Wayne (D)
Cleveland 000 000 000- 0
Ft. Wayne 010 010 000- 2
--------------------------------------------
CLEVELAND AB R H BI BB SO PO A
--------------------------------------------
D.White, c 4 0 2 0 0 0 9 0
G.Kimball, 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 1
C.Pabor, lf 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
A.Allison, cf 4 0 1 0 0 2 2 0
E.White, rf 3 0 0 0 0 3 1 0
A.Pratt, p 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 3
E.Sutton, 3b 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
J.Carleton, 1b 3 0 0 0 0 1 6 0
J.Bass, ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 4
--------------------------------------------
Totals 30 0 4 0 1 6 27 9
--------------------------------------------
BATTING
2B: D.White (off B.Mathews).
RBI, scoring position, less than 2 outs: G.Kimball 0-1;
A.Pratt 0-1.
BASERUNNING
SB: A.Allison (2nd base off B.Mathews/B.Lennon).
CS: A.Allison (2nd base by B.Mathews/B.Lennon).
Team LOB: 4
FIELDING
PB: D.White 3.
--------------------------------------------
FT. WAYNE AB R H BI BB SO PO A
--------------------------------------------
F.Sellman, 3b 4 0 0 1 0 0 2 1
B.Mathews, p 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
J.Foran, 1b 4 0 1 0 0 0 3 0
W.Goldsmith, ss 3 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
B.Lennon, c 4 1 1 0 0 0 10 1
T.Carey, 2b 3 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
E.Mincher, lf 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
J.McDermott, cf 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 1
B.Kelly, rf 3 1 1 0 0 0 2 0
--------------------------------------------
Totals 31 2 4 2 1 0 27 3
--------------------------------------------
BATTING
2B: B.Lennon (off A.Pratt).
2-out RBI: J.McDermott.
RBI, scoring position, less than 2 outs: F.Sellman 1-1;
T.Carey 0-1; E.Mincher 0-1.
BASERUNNING
Team LOB: 3
FIELDING
E: B.Lennon (drop third strike); W.Goldsmith (fumble);
J.McDermott (fumble).
PB: B.Lennon.
Outfield assist: J.McDermott (D.White at 2B).
DP: (1). T.Carey, unassisted.
---------------------------------------------
PITCHING IP H R ER BB SO
---------------------------------------------
CLEVELAND
A.Pratt (L) 9.0 4 2 1 1 0
FT. WAYNE
B.Mathews (W) 9.0 4 0 0 1 6
DP: (1). T.Carey, unassisted.
GAME DATA -- T: 2:00; A: 200; Temp: 56; Wind:
from the southeast (12 MPH); Sky: cloudy
UMPIRES -- HP: J.L. Boarke
Game of 5/4/1871 -- Cleveland at Ft. Wayne (D)
Cleveland AB R H RBI Ft. Wayne AB R H RBI
White D, c 4 0 2 0 Sellman F, 3b 4 0 0 1
Kimball G, 2b 4 0 0 0 Mathews B, p 4 0 0 0
Pabor C, lf 4 0 0 0 Foran J, 1b 4 0 1 0
Allison A, cf 4 0 1 0 Goldsmith W, ss 3 0 0 0
White E, rf 3 0 0 0 Lennon B, c 4 1 1 0
Pratt A, p 2 0 0 0 Carey T, 2b 3 0 0 0
Sutton E, 3b 3 0 1 0 Mincher E, lf 3 0 0 0
Carleton J, 1b 3 0 0 0 McDermott J, cf 3 0 1 1
Bass J, ss 3 0 0 0 Kelly B, rf 3 1 1 0
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
30 0 4 0 31 2 4 2
Cleveland 000 000 000 -- 0
Ft. Wayne 010 010 000 -- 2
Cleveland IP H R ER BB SO
Pratt A (L) 9.0 4 2 1 1 0
Ft. Wayne IP H R ER BB SO
Mathews B (W) 9.0 4 0 0 1 6
E -- Lennon B, Goldsmith W, McDermott J
DP -- Ft. Wayne 1
LOB -- Cleveland 4, Ft. Wayne 3
2B -- White D, Lennon B
SB -- Allison A
CS -- Allison A
PB -- White D 3, Lennon B
T -- 2:00
A -- 200