Quakers Pitcher Charlie Ferguson, Becomes indelibly Written into Philadelphia Baseball History: August 29, 1885
As Charlie Ferguson sat on the bench, the twenty-two year old must have had butterflies in his stomach. He turned in a remarkable pitching performance, having gone a full nine innings for the Philadelphia Quakers, one of the nicknames that the Phillies were known by until about 1890, and not a single member of the Providence Grays had gotten a hit off of him.
Unfortunately, the Quakers’ offense was just as anemic as the Grays’ was that day. And so, on this August 29, 1885, Charlie Ferguson would have to sit and wait, and even be ready to go out for a possible tenth inning.
Charlie Ferguson's Opponents Had Been Involved in the First World Series
The Quakers’ opponent was the Providence Grays, the reigning National League champions. They had been involved in the first World Series, although, calling it that may give it a bit more of an air of formality than the series of matches really deserves. Back in 1884, there were two separate major leagues. There was the National League, which of course still exists today. But, for those markets that had been ignored by the National League for years, there was the American Association, also known as the Beer and Whiskey League, because, unlike the National League, alcoholic beverages were allowed to be served at their ball games. Indeed, distilleries owned some franchises.
In 1884, when the New York Metropolitans won the Beer and Whiskey League pennant, Manager Jim Mutrie issued a challenge to Frank Bancroft, the manager of the Providence Grays, who had won the national League pennant. If each team put up $1,000, then the two teams could play a series to determine which team was the best in professional baseball, and the winner would keep all of the money. Seeing an opportunity to promote such a series and attract a paying crowd, Bancroft agreed. It would be a best of three series, played under American Association rules, and at the Polo Grounds. The teams played the first game on October 23, 1884, and the Grays won 6-0. The second game was played the next day, but had to be called on account of darkness. That was a common problem in fall games. Sometimes the games wouldn’t start until 3:00 in the afternoon, and that didn’t give the teams much time to finish the contest before sunset. Although, it was rare for a game to last more than two hours. But the teams had played at least five innings, making it an official or regulation game, as we now call it. So, the game was stopped in the seventh inning, with the Grays winning 3-1.Having won two games, the Grays had taken the series, and were thus the champions of baseball. Game three was superfluous. Nonetheless, the two teams played, hoping to attract another crowd of paying fans. The problem was that the weather had turned cold. Only 300 fans turned up for the final game. After six innings, the Grays were ahead 6-0. But the game was called, on account of the weather.
Newspapers varied somewhat in describing what the Grays had won. The New York Clipper reported that the Grays were “The Champions of the United States.” But The Sporting Life, adding a bit of good natured hyperbole, called the Grays the “World Champions.” The name stuck, and the two leagues agreed to continue with the post season contest which they billed “The World Series.” The tradition continued until the American Association folder in 1891.
Providence Faced Philadelphia in August of 1885
But on this day, in late August of 1885, the Grays were just above the Philadelphia Quakers in the standings, in third place. If the Quakers were going to finally break out with a season with a winning record, they were going to have to start by defeating the reigning the champions.
That day, Charlie Ferguson showed that he was up to the task.
Charlie Ferguson Showed Baseball Talent at a Young Age
On that late August day, there had been other pitchers who had completely baffled the hitters of their opponents, and pitched nine innings without giving up a hit. This was the tenth season of the National League, and to date, there had been nineteen no-hitters.
Charlie Ferguson's No-Hitter Would Be Historic
But Charlie Ferguson’s no-hitter would be significant, because if he completed it, it would be the first no-hitter for the young Philadelphia franchise. Two no-hitters had been thrown by professional Philadelphia teams before. Joe Borden of the Philadelphia White Stockings of the National Association, threw a no-hitter in 1875, the last season of the first fully professional league. Al Atkinson of the American Association Philadelphia Athletics had also thrown a no-hitter in 1884. But for the team which we now call the Phillies, the feat had yet to be accomplished.
And Charlie Ferguson’s performance had been impressive. He struck out eight batters. One batter was called out on a caught foul-tip, a play we now count as a strike out. Seven batters were retired with short fly balls to the infield. The only blot on Ferguson’s pitching performance that day was the fourth inning. He had walked two batters, and an error had loaded the bases. Nonetheless, Charlie was able to pitch out of the trouble to end the inning, his no-hitter intact.
Charlie Ferguson Was the First Phillies Superstar Baseball Player
In fact, Charlie Ferguson would become the first superstar in Phillies’ history. Charlie made his debut on May 1, 1884, a 13-2 complete game victory against the Detroit Wolverines. In that contest, Charlie contributed to the offensive onslaught, hitting a triple and two singles. He won over twenty games that year, but still had a losing record of 21 wins against 25 losses. His team didn’t fare much better, as the Quakers rose out of the basement for its second season, but still finished in sixth place with a dismal 39-73 record. One bright spot was Charlie’s ERA, which was 3.54.
But that was Charlie Ferguson’s only losing season. In 1885, 1886 and 1887, Ferguson put up more
than twenty wins each season, topping out at thirty wins in 1886. Over those four seasons, Charlie Ferguson
posted a record of 99 wins to 64 losses, with a 2.67 ERA and has twice pitched
more than 400 innings in one season.
Charlie Ferguson was a pitching workhorse.
Charlie was also talented with the bat. In 1884, Charlie only batted .246. He pitched fifty games, but he also played outfield twice. In 1885, he brought his average up to .306, and played in the outfield for thirteen games when he wasn’t pitching. Indeed, Quakers manager Harry Wright was using Ferguson more and more in the outfield on the days he was not pitching to keep his bat in the line-up. In 1887, despite not playing every day, Ferguson still led the Quakers in RBIs, with 85. He had pitched 37 games, but Wright made the judgment that Ferguson was going to be more valuable to the team as their everyday second baseman. And so, in 72 games, Charlie batted .335. Moreover, the Quakers had risen to second place. Wright had very much set his mind on a pennant run in the next season, 1888, with Charlie Ferguson acting as the Quakers second baseman.
The Physical Strain Took Its Toll on Charlie Ferguson
But all of that physical activity took its toll on
Charlie. He already had a reputation of
being somewhat of a hypochondriac, on account of the fact that he traveled
with a medicine case when the team went on road trips. In 1886, Charlie’s best year as a pitcher, he
won thirty games, and posted an ERA of 1.98.
He even became the first major league pitcher to win two games on the same
day. But by August, Charlie began
feeling weak. He was sent home to
Virginia so that he could recover from an apparent illness. Charlie rejoined the team on a western road
trip starting in Chicago. Whether it was
the extended heat wave, or some have even blamed bad water, Charlie was showing
signs of being ill again. He asked manager
Wright if he could return to Virginia to get proper treatment. Harry Wright refused to give him permission.
Charlie felt that Harry Wright just didn’t understand the seriousness of his illness. So, he made the difficult choice of disobeying his manager, and getting on a train in Chicago to return to Virginia. There he spent ten days in bed, recovering.
Charlie returned to Philadelphia, doctor’s note in hand, to
excuse his long absence. Harry Wright,
however, felt that his errant pitcher needed discipline. Wright suspended Ferguson, and fined him $200
from his salary, which was supposed to be $1,800.
But none of the Quakers were paid the league maximum of $2,000 per season. In fact, co-owner and team treasurer, Colonel John Rogers, had a reputation of being rather cheap, a characteristic that would cost the Phillies in the early twentieth century, when the team’s star players would all jump to the upstart American League.
Ferguson was an early member of an organization started by
New York pitcher, John Montgomery Ward, the Brotherhood of Professional Base
Ball Players. This was a forerunner of a
baseball players’ union. It was formed,
in part, in response to the reserve clause, which robbed players of the ability
to shop their talent and skills from team to team, forcing them to stay with
the team they played for in the last season.
In 1887, Charlie thought he deserved a raise. So, when Harry Wright asked Charlie to join the Quakers for spring training down south, Charlie balked at the idea, and demanded to be paid $3,000. Well, the Quakers refused. Charlie, meanwhile, coached baseball for Princeton University. So he held out on joining his former team. Wright offered Ferguson $2,500. At first, Charlie rejected the offer, but he eventually signed, and was set to begin the 1887 season with Philadelphia.
That season presented a personal tragedy for Charlie and his wife, Mary. In June of that year, the couple lost their infant daughter, which devastated Charlie. He responded by throwing himself into baseball that season to deal with his grief. At one point, he set the team record by winning twelve games in a row. It was a record that stood until Steve Carlton broke it in his magical 1972 season, by winning fifteen in row. Charlie, finished the season with a record of 22 wins to 11 losses, and posted a 3.00 ERA. And as I stated, he led the Quakers offensively with 85 RBIs.
But once again, Charlie was exhausted by the end of the season.
Charlie Ferguson Contracts Typhoid
So, in 1888, Charlie again held out from signing with the Quakers, and coached baseball for Princeton. He didn’t sign with the team until early April of 1888. But, when he played in an exhibition game against the Athletics of the American Association, he didn’t look so good. By mid-April, he had a fever. Then, he began to show spots on his chest. Quakers owner Al Reach called in the best of the doctors to help care for Charlie’s illness. He had been diagnosed with Typhoid. Charlie did not begin the regular season with the Quakers, as he was confined to his North Philly residence for several weeks.
On April 29th, his teammates came to visit him after dropping a game to New York. One teammate is said to have told Charlie, “We are certainly having bad luck this year.” Charlie called for first baseman Sid Farrar to come talk to him. He reportedly said, “Sid, I am afraid I am going to die.” And with that, Charlie went unconscious. His teammates brought Mary up to Charlie’s room. She was, understandably extremely upset and at first not willing to enter. When she came in, the doctors pronounced Charlie dead. Mary screamed in grief, and then fainted. The twenty-five year old star athlete had succumbed to Typhoid.
Epilogue
So we turn back the clock to August 29, 1885. Charlie Ferguson sitting on the bench, watched his teammates come the plate, as they reached the bottom of the ninth in Philadelphia’s Recreation Park.
John Mulvey, the Quakers’ third baseman, got the offense going with a single. He then stole second. When outfield Jim Fogarty grounded out, Mulvey moved over to third. Could his be it? Would the Quakers reward Ferguson with the team’s first ever no-hitter? With the pressure on, the Grays’ pitcher threw a wild pitch. Mulvey came charging home scoring the walk-off run. The Quakers had won the team’s first no-hitter, with the smallest of margins in any Phillies no-hitter, 1-0. And Charlie Fergsuon became indelibly written in the history books of Philadelphia baseball.
By: William J. Kovatch, Jr.
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References
All statistics come from Baseball Reference.
Miklich, Eric, “Charlie Ferguson,” 19c Base Ball (2016).
Shenk, Larry, “Unsung Phillies Legends: Charlie Ferguson,”MLB.com (October 16, 2019).
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