How about a quick game of Hot Potatoe?

Today many sports admire the skills exhibited by todays Major League Baseball fielders. We watch highlight shows showing play after play made with seeming effortless ease of fielding plays made that the average person can only dream about making. Baseball in the beginning of course was not like this. So what was it like? Back in the first season the National League it was not uncommon for a team to have 10 errors and still win a game.

You are probably asking, how bad was the worst of the lot? It was really, really bad. Today we observe the anniversary of the worst fielded game in MLB history, June 14, 1876. The game was played during the National Leagues first season at South End Grounds in Boston, Massachusetts between the Boston Red Caps and the Saint Louis Brown Stockings.

Red Caps second baseman Andrew J. Leonard lead the way racking up 9 miscues throughout the course of the game. His teammates kicked in another 15 errors. The Brown Stockings them- sevles booted another 16 plays for a total of 40 errors in the game. This of course was not the norm but, the extreme. In all due respect, South End Grounds like many ballparks of its day were not the well groomed parks that we know and love today. Rocks were quite plentiful on the surface of the playing field. Tarps for rainy days were unknown. Gloves were yet another advantage that the fielders of the day did not have available. So next time your favorite player boots and easy grounder or drops a lazy fly ball, remember this post and what it was like in the National League 134 years ago. The question now is who won the game? The Brown Stockings won by a score of 20-6.

Tomorrow we look at a Sunday game played in Texas to record results.