In 1888, Timothy Keefe won 19 consecutive games for the New York Giants. Or did he?
On July 16th, Keefe left the mound in the second inning of a game against the Chicago White Stockings—he played the rest of the game in the outfield. Buck Ewing, the Giants catcher and field manager, moved Keefe to protect him from wearing out during a fantastic pitching streak. At the time, a pitcher did not need to be on the mound for a minimum of five innings to receive an official victory in his record.
Keefe’s outstanding performance, despite the squabbles that may arise regarding the impact of the July 16th game, underscored a fantastic year for the Giants as they penetrated the National League competition to meet the St. Louis Browns in the World Series. New York’s beloved team emerged as the champion.
When the season began, though, Keefe created clouds of question marks that hovered over the New York sunshine when he held out for a higher salary. In the April 11th edition of the New-York Tribune, Keefe remained fortnight but firm in his quest. “I was just thinking about taking a train for Boston,” revealed Keefe. “I guess I will remain over, however, a day or two, and see if the difference in salary cannot be settled. I want $4,000 and will sign with the club when I get it and not before. I am satisfied with the New York Club and have always been treated right by the management, but I think I am worth that amount to the club and will not sign until I get it. I don’t want my release, and neither do I want to go to any other club. I would rather play in New York than any place else in the country.”
A Tribune editorial on April 15th praised the hurler, who went 35-12 in 1888. “Keefe is a wonderful pitcher, of course, probably the best in the country today. The local club cannot very well get along without him, and he never loses sight of that fact.” Further, the newspaper took the position that Keefe and John Montgomery Ward, another holdout, would reach a compromise with the team’s management.
They did.
Keefe’s 1888 statistics reflect his dominance—leading the major leagues in winning percentage (.745), shutouts (8), and strikeouts (335). Additionally, Keefe’s 1.74 Earned Run Average led the National League.
It was a time full of glory in New York. To begin his 1952 book The New York Giants: An Informal History of Great Baseball Club, Frank Graham described the 1880s from its societal elements to its grimy underbelly. “This was New York in the elegant eighties and these were the Giants, fashioned in elegance, playing on the Polo Grounds, then at 110 Street [sic] and Fifth Avenue,” wrote Graham.
“It was the New York of the brownstone house and the gaslit streets, of the top hat and the hansom cab, of oysters and champagne and perfecto cigars, of Ada Rehan and Oscar Wilde and the young John L. Sullivan. It also was the New York of the Tenderloin and the Bowery, of the slums and the sweat shops, of goats grazing among shanties perched on the rocky terrain of Harlem.”
A version of this article appeared on www.thesportspost.com on January 1, 2016.