The date was August 31, 1887 and the setting was Eclipse Park (I), Louisville. The New York Metropolitans (aka Indians) of Staten Island were playing their 12th game of a Western road trip that had taken them to Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Louisville. They had gone 1-10 on the roadtrip so far with losing scores such as 4-16, 5-15, 1-10, 8-14, and only the day before, on May 30, a rousing 5-23 loss to the Louisville club they were playing on 31st. The Metropolitans would finish 44-89 and disappear from the AA and Staten Island.
In that 30th game, Indians pitcher Ed Cushman had gone the distance allowing 27 hits and 6 walks, in addition to the 23 runs (21 earned). Cushman would have a 4 year career, mostly in the AA, with a 62-81 record. He would later umpire in the NL (1898, at least).
On the 31st, they took losing to a new level, losing 11-25, using 5 pitchers with Darby O'Brien playing 5 positions. They gave up 16 hits and 16 phantom hits (remember, this is 1887 when walks were counted as hits)
Here is a copy of the game account & box from the Sept. 1, 1887, New York Herald:
Recreating the lineup and the shifting of the positions results in the following:
Starting lineup (through 1 out in 1st and 7 runs):
1. Hogan rf
2. Radford ss
3. D. O'Brien 1b
4. Jones cf
5. Hankinson 3b
6. Ryan p
7. Donahue c
8. Roseman lf
9. Gerhardt 2b
After Darby O'Brien took over Ryan at pitcher, O'Brien and Ryan swapped positions:
1. Hogan rf
2. Radford ss
3. D. O'Brien p
4. Jones cf
5. Hankinson 3b
6. Ryan 1b
7. Donahue c
8. Roseman lf
9. Gerhardt 2b
O'Brien lasted 3 2/3 innings from my account, pitching through the end of the 4th, allowing 5 runs. In the 5th, Radford took over, O'Brien swapping positions with Radford, going to ss.
1. Hogan rf
2. Radford p
3. D. O'Brien ss
4. Jones cf
5. Hankinson 3b
6. Ryan 1b
7. Donahue c
8. Roseman lf
9. Gerhardt 2b
Radford, "trying his hand", pitched only the 5th & 6th, allowing 10 runs. Jones then relieved Radford and pitched the 7th & 8th allowing 2 runs. Radford went back to ss and O'Brien took over for Jones in cf.
1. Hogan rf
2. Radford ss
3. D. O'Brien cf
4. Jones p
5. Hankinson 3b
6. Ryan 1b
7. Donahue c
8. Roseman lf
9. Gerhardt 2b
And finally, Roseman came in in the 8th and finished out the game, allowing the last of the 25 runs.
Jones went back to cf and O'Brien shifted to his 5th position, taking over for Roseman in lf.
1. Hogan rf
2. Radford ss
3. D. O'Brien lf
4. Jones cf
5. Hankinson 3b
6. Ryan 1b
7. Donahue c
8. Roseman p
9. Gerhardt 2b
Quite typical of the era, players shifted around to replace instead of having a true substitution. In fact, this was still the era when the opposing manager could dispute a substitute player entering the game (a player faking an injury to get a better pitcher into the game is an example).
I am not sure if this is the most pitchers used in a game up to this time - in the 3 AA seasons that I have researched (1887, 1888, & 1890), this is the most (small sample size). I would be interested in learning of other occurrences with this many pitchers used and the 5 positions played by O'Brien in the game.
A couple of related notes:
I still (or someone else who would like to be very helpful) need to check the Louisville papers to get some more details. especially on the scoring of Louisville and verification of the the exact point in the game when the switches occurred as well as which O'Brien played.
I need to verify which O'Brien was used in the game. Darby O'Brien is shown in another source as the pitcher, while B-R implies that Tom O'Brien was the pitcher (allowing 5 runs). The other source has Darby at the other 4 positions as well. It also has Tom playing his last game on the 27th of August. Ironically, B-R does not have Tom playing ss, but has Darby playing it (among the many positions that both played that season). I think it was just a error in loading the database that B-R uses and I will follow up on that avenue.
Also, I need to verify who pitched the 6th inning as from the above newspaper account and B-R innings - The other source indicates the Radford pitched 1 inning after O'Brien (3 2/3) and Ryan (1/3) pitched, sending the game up through the 5th. The other source shows Jones with 2 innings, but the game description above indicates he "pitched an inning", implying 1 inning. Hope to find a Louisville (read local) source that can confirm the other source's information.
If anyone has access to the Louisville papers in KY or in DC at the LOC, please let me know.
