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Lewis (baseball)

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For other baseball players with the surname Lewis, see Lewis (surname) § Sports.

Lewis
Pitcher, left fielder
Born: Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Batted: Unknown
Threw: Unknown
MLB debut
July 12, 1890, for the Buffalo Bisons
Last MLB appearance
July 12, 1890, for the Buffalo Bisons
MLB statistics
Games played1
Earned run average60.00
Innings pitched3.0
Teams

Lewis (first name unknown; fl. 1890) was an American professional baseball player who, in his sole career game, achieved the worst WHIP pitching statistic in the history of the short-lived Players' League (PL) of the 19th century. The game in question occurred on July 12, 1890, when Lewis played with the Buffalo Bisons. After asking the Bisons manager for a tryout and pitching three innings, his earned run average (ERA) of 60.00 and WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) rate of 6.667 became the highest in the history of the PL. Lewis's first name, date of birth, date of death, as well as batting and pitching stance were not recorded.

On July 11, 1890, the Bisons' record stood at 17 wins and 42 losses, a poor performance that was attributed to the team's weak pitching. The following day, the Bisons played against the Brooklyn Ward's Wonders in Brooklyn. Lewis, a "local boy" born in Brooklyn, New York, who stated he was a pitcher, asked Bisons player-manager Jack Rowe for a tryout. Rowe agreed; Lewis was the starting pitcher for the game. In the three innings he pitched, Lewis allowed twenty earned runs for an earned run average (ERA) of 60.00 before he moved to left field, where he played for the remainder of the game. The Bisons lost 28–16; the total of 44 runs set a record for most runs scored in an MLB game that stood until 1922. In the third inning Lewis allowed two home runs to Lou Bierbauer, only the second time a batter in a major league game had hit two home runs in a single inning. Newspaper accounts described Lewis as a "failure", "unfortunate" and a "much disgusted ball tosser" by the time he moved to left field.

After the season, the PL folded and teams either merged with the NL, joined the AA, or folded outright. There are no further listings of Lewis having played any other major or minor-league games.

Background

Despite defeating the Cleveland Infants 23–2 on Opening Day for the 1890 season of the Players' League (PL) and starting the season with four consecutive wins, Buffalo had fallen to last place in the league by May 17 and, after a brief stint in seventh place, returned to last place on June 2.[1] Author and baseball historian Norman L. Macht attributed Buffalo's poor record to the performance of their pitchers,[2] and author and baseball historian Ed Koszarek stated the Bisons still needed pitchers by the time John Buckley made his debut for the team on July 15;[3] by July 11, the day before Lewis made his debut, the team had a record of 17–42, the worst in the PL.[1]

Players' League game

A faded clipping from Sporting Life, dated July 19, 1890.
A Sporting Life clip that describes Lewis as a "much disgusted ball tosser"; taken from an article dated July 19, 1890[4]

Born in Brooklyn, New York,[5] Lewis, according to Macht, was a "local boy" who stated he was a pitcher and asked for a tryout when Buffalo played against the Brooklyn Ward's Wonders on July 12, 1890, at Eastern Park in Brooklyn.[2][6][7] Bisons player–manager Jack Rowe started Lewis on the mound.[2]

Lewis probably[note 1] pitched in the top of the first, second, and third innings of the Bisons' game on July 12, during which he allowed 20 earned runs over three innings pitched for an ERA of 60.00.[note 2] After the third inning, he moved to left field and left fielder Ed Beecher switched to pitcher.[2][5][6] In the third inning Lou Bierbauer hit two home runs off Lewis's pitching;[11] this was only the second time a batter in a major league game had hit two home runs in a single inning.[12][13] Lewis did manage to record at least one strikeout as a pitcher.[5][9] Defensively, Lewis recorded two putouts and three assists on five total chances as a pitcher, with no putouts or assists on no chances as a left fielder. As a batter, Lewis recorded one hit over five at bats for a batting average of .200, and scored a run.[5] Lewis is credited with only two innings played in the outfield,[5] though several box scores[6][4][14] only list nine players as having played for Buffalo in the game, the game as lasting nine innings, and Lewis as having played only in left field and as a pitcher. A July 13, 1890 article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle described Beecher as an "improvement" over Lewis as a pitcher, but Sporting Life's notes on the game say Beecher "fared but little better".[4][15]

Brooklyn won the game 28–16. The total of 44 runs set a record for the most combined runs scored in a single MLB game which stood until 1922.[16] Lewis recorded a loss for his dismal performance.[5] According to a box score in The New York Times, 600 people attended the game,[6] compared to attendances of 2,156 for a PL game in Boston, 2,508 for a PL game in Philadelphia, and 4,304 for a PL game in New York.[17] The game in which Lewis played lasted two hours and three minutes, according to The New York Times; Lon Knight and Charley Jones served as umpires.[6] The wind during the game was described as "chilly",[18] with "awfully stiff" winds blowing in from Jamaica Bay and fans "shiveringly [clinging] to their seats".[10]

Several articles recounted Lewis's performance in the game. A contemporary writer for The Pittsburgh Press described Lewis's tryout as a "disastrous experiment" and called the game "one of the greatest slugging matches ever seen since curve pitching came into vogue",[14] while Sporting Life reported that "[t]he Buffalos tried a new pitcher named Lewis in the box, but after three innings he retired to left field, a much disgusted ball tosser."[4] The Brooklyn Daily Eagle said that "the way [Ward's Wonders] pounded Lewis' delivery must have convinced that aspirant for fame that the [P]layers' [L]eague [was] above his class", and described him as "unfortunate".[15] Other contemporary papers covered the game: the Buffalo Courier said Lewis was "slaughtered";[19] the New-York Tribune called him a "failure";[20] and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said the game was "full of accidents", though "Lewis was used worse than all the rest, as he was knocked completely out of the box".[18] A 1963 article in Baseball Digest described Lewis as a "neophyte" whose "first name has been lost to posterity",[21] and as of 2007, Lewis’s first name remained "mercifully unknown", according to Macht.[2]

Aftermath

Lewis did not make another appearance for the Bisons during the rest of the season, and his first name, date of birth, date of death, and batting and pitching stances were unknown as of June 2021,[2][5] though a writer for The Pittsburgh Press described Lewis as a "young man" when he played for the team.[14] The Brooklyn Daily Eagle used the performance to argue that Buffalo should ask other clubs to borrow pitchers for the team.[15] Lewis's ERA of 60.00 and WHIP rate of 6.667 were both the highest on the Bisons and the highest in the history of the PL.[22][23][24] Lewis does not hold the MLB single-season highest ERA record among non-qualifiers, which is infinity.[25] Lewis is not listed as having played in any other major or minor-league games.[5]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Home teams in the late 19th century could select which team batted first, the home team often opting to bat first to get the first opportunity to hit using the game ball, only one of which was often available for the entire game.[8] A recollection in The Illustrated Buffalo Express and in the Brooklyn Citizen state that Brooklyn batted first,[9][10] though it is recorded that Brooklyn batter Lou Bierbauer hit his two home runs in the bottom of the third inning.[11]
  2. ^ Baseball-Reference lists Lewis as allowing 20 earned runs,[5] though various box scores[4][6][10] state Brooklyn only scored 14 earned runs over the entire game. A recap of Lewis's pitching in The Illustrated Buffalo Express was as follows: "Lewis sent Ward and Joyce to first on balls, and Ward scored on a passed ball. Orr made a home run and Joyce run in [sic] ahead of him. Van Haltren got a base on balls and scored on McGeachy's single. Daly [sic] hit safe and McGeachy scored. ... In the second the Brooklyns added six more runs to their credit on hits by Orr, Daly [sic], Sowders, Ward, Joyce, and Andrews. ... In the third on Bauer's two home runs, McGeachy's two-bagger, Daly's, Sowder's, Ward's and Andrew's singles added eight runs to the Brooklyn's score".[10] A different recollection appeared in the Brooklyn Citizen.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b "1890 Buffalo Bisons Schedule". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Macht, Norman L. (2007). Connie Mack and the Early Years of Baseball. University of Nebraska Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-8032-0990-9.
  3. ^ Koszarek, Ed (2014). The Players League: History, Clubs, Ballplayers and Statistics. McFarland. pp. 50, 52–53, 87. ISBN 978-1-4766-0918-8.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Base Ball: Players' League" (PDF). Sporting Life. Vol. 15, no. 16. July 19, 1890. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 12, 2014 – via LA84 Foundation.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Lewis". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "All our Local Clubs Won: The Cincinnatis Leave the Field, Causing a Scene" (PDF). The New York Times. July 13, 1890.
  7. ^ Snyder-Grenier, Ellen Marie (1996). Brooklyn!: An Illustrated History. Temple University Press. p. 232. ISBN 978-1-59213-082-5.
  8. ^ Simon, Gary A.; Simonoff, Jeffrey S. (2006). ""Last Licks": Do They Really Help?". The American Statistician. 60 (1): 13. doi:10.1198/000313006X90350. JSTOR 27643721. S2CID 219593418.
  9. ^ a b c "The Baseball World: Results of Games Played on Many Diamonds Yesterday". Brooklyn Citizen. July 13, 1890. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ a b c d "Just Think of It". The Illustrated Buffalo Express. July 13, 1890. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ a b "Lou Bierbauer Career Home Runs". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  12. ^ Dickson, Paul (2011). The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (3rd ed.). W. W. Norton & Company. p. 527. ISBN 978-0-393-07349-2.
  13. ^ Vincent, Dave (2007). Home Run: The Definitive History of Baseball's Ultimate Weapon. Potomac Books. Chapter 1. ISBN 978-1-61234-459-1.
  14. ^ a b c "A Disastrous Experiment". The Pittsburgh Press. July 13, 1890. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ a b c "Fine Fun for Ward: His Wonders have Taken Four Straight Games". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. July 13, 1890. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Liebman, Ronald G. (1980). "The Highest Scoring Games". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  17. ^ "Yesterday's Ball Games: Player's League". The Boston Globe. July 13, 1890. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ a b "Brooklyn, 28; Buffalo, 16". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. July 13, 1890. p. 24 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "His Name Was Lewis: After the Game it Was Mud – Bisons Tried a New Pitcher". Buffalo Courier. July 13, 1890. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Home Nines Win Again: Bridegrooms Increase Their Lead". New-York Tribune. July 13, 1890. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Overfield, Joseph M (April 1963). "The Wildest Opening Series Ever Played". Baseball Digest. p. 49.
  22. ^ "1890 Buffalo Bisons Statistics". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  23. ^ "1890 PL Standard Pitching". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  24. ^ "Leaderboard Glossary". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference, LLC. Archived from the original on May 13, 2020. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  25. ^ Spatz, Lyle, ed. (June 2004). "The Infinite ERA Club" (PDF). Society for American Baseball Research. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 6, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
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