In 1893, a full year before the 1894 hitting onslaught, the rule was changed to allow for the modern 60' 6" pitching distance between pitcher and batter. Additionally, the pitchers were "confined" to a 12" x 4" slab mounted atop the pitching mound which, according to veteran outfielder Jim O'Rourke, caused pitchers "extra discomfort." Frankly, I'm not sure how an extra pitching distance of five feet and a rule disallowing pitchers from roaming around the pitcher's mound would make much of a difference, but who am I to argue with the great Jim O'Rourke?

The Team

Who were these great players and why didn't they win the championship after dominating baseball with three consecutive championships before 1894? For those of you who are enchanted with some of the players from the New York Yankees of the 1990's or even the 1920's, let me introduce you to several Beaneaters who not only hailed from my favorite baseball city -- Boston -- but who were every bit as colorful as any who ever played major league baseball.

Any introduction to the team must begin with the great Hugh Duffy. Duffy was born literally during the Civil War in a little town in Rhode Island and loved baseball throughout his entire life. He began his major league career in the late 1880's with the Chicago White Stockings and, in fact, because of his small 5' 9" stature he was initially mistaken at first by Chicago manager Cap Anson for being the team bat boy! After his stint with the White Stockings, Duffy jumped to the short-lived Players League and led the rebel league in both hits and runs.

In 1892 Duffy joined the Beaneaters and quickly teamed up with fellow outfielder Tommy McCarthy by anchoring the team with his glove and his bat. The crowds at the South End Grounds loved the two Irishmen as they quickly became favorites for their smart and heady defensive play. They became known as the "Heavenly Twins" and led their Boston brethren to pennants during the first two seasons that they played together. Duffy was a great fielder but even a better hitter while McCarthy could hit well but was a magician in the outfield.

Hugh Duffy was downright dominant in 1894. I have already mentioned that the little right-hander smacked an awesome .440 average for the year but equally impressive is that he led the league also with 18 home runs and 145 RBIs. In other words, by modern standards, future Hall of Famer Hugh Duffy enjoyed a Triple Crown performance. During the off season, Duffy was able to parlay his enormous popularity in the Boston area by teaming up with his fellow "Heavenly Twin" McCarthy as they ran the most popular saloon in Boston's south side. Hugh considered himself a Beaneater forever as he eventually settled and lived amongst his fans in Boston's Brighton section. In 1954 he passed away and was buried a few feet from . . . you guessed it, fellow "Heavenly Twin" Tommy McCarthy.

How did Tommy fare in 1894? During the incredible 1894 year, McCarthy hit for a .349 average and managed to smack respectable 13 home runs in the process. Additionally, he continued his magic in the outfield. For example, on August 15, 1894, McCarthy made one of the most unusual triple plays in baseball history. With Duffy out with an injury, Tommy was positioned in centerfield in the ninth inning with men on first and second. The batter smacked a short fly to center as Tommy charged in, smartly let the ball drop in front of him, then short hopped it to second baseman Bobby Lowe. The runner from first was forced out at second and Lowe's peg nailed the hitter by a hair at first. The third out was made by McCarthy who was covering home plate for the Beaneater catcher who was woefully out of position!

The lead off hitter for the 1894 Beaneaters was Bobby Lowe. Lowe was a steady ballplayer for many years who eventually played in nearly 2,000 games, recording nearly 2,000 hits and scored over 1,100 runs. However, Lowe is primarily known today for what he did during the second game of double header against the Cincinnati Reds on May 30 during the incredible 1894 season. Lowe was having a poor day during the first game for he was hitless after six at-bats. However, in the third inning of the second game he smacked the ball over the left field fence for a home run, igniting a Boston rally.

During his second trip to the plate that same inning, Lowe hit a second home run whereupon Boston manager Frank Selee (inducted into the Hall of Fame last year) was heard to exclaim, "Two home runs in one inning! That must be a record!" Actually, it tied a record but Lowe wasn't done as he hit two more home runs which, according to the next day's Boston Globe, sent the crowd into a "wild tizzy." The fans, in fact, were so appreciative that they threw well over $150 in silver coins at home plate whereupon Lowe scooped up his newfound booty and celebrated with Duffy, McCarthy, Selee and his other teammates at Duffy and McCarthy's tavern after the game!

Unlike Duffy and some of the others, Lowe's baseball feats were almost forgotten even during his lifetime. Thirty-four years after his great year, during the New York Yankees spring training camp, a small, thin and wiry gentleman asked Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig for their autographs. Modestly, Lowe didn't tell the great stars who he was, and ironically a few years later when Gehrig became the first player in the 20th century to hit four homers in a single game Lowe was coaxed into posing for photographs with "The Iron Horse." "I feel complimented to share the record with so grand a boy as Gehrig," Lowe said. "Are you kidding?" Gehrig said as he recalled giving the gentleman his autograph years before, "I should have asked you for your autograph years ago!" Bobby eventually spent his remaining years in Michigan in semi obscurity and passed away in 1951.

To round off the team, it's important to note that even though 1894 was not a stellar pitching year for the Beaneaters they did have on staff one of the greatest pitchers of all time, Charles Augustus (Kid) Nichols. When he first joined Boston in 1890, young Charlie Nichols looked so unassuming that the veterans began calling him "Kid." The nickname stuck with him for the remainder of his life. Kid Nichols was a terrific pitcher and maybe the only 300 game winner in major league baseball history who dominated the opposition with only one pitch . . . the fast ball!! The history books are replete with stories from old-timers who marveled at the Kid's ferocious fast ball and pinpoint accuracy. He never developed a curve, rarely threw a change-up but relied totally on his "buzz saw."

How successful was this great pitcher particularly during the time period when the rule changes supposedly helped batters? Well, the numbers speak for themselves. Nichols won 27 games as a rookie in 1890 and 273 games in his first ten seasons, more than any other pitcher during the 1890's. On eight occasions he collected 30 or more victories, reaching an astounding 35 wins in 1892. In 1894, Kid won 32 games. The great Beaneaters teams of the 1890's were certainly formidable with four championships and, as manager Frank Selee said many times, no one had more to do with Boston's success than Nichols and his ten straight winning seasons.

Despite winning 361 games during his stellar career, Nichols was not named to the Hall of Fame until 1949. Thankfully, he was alive to receive the prestige and honor he so richly deserved but, alas, he passed away a few short years later in Kansas City, Missouri. How would the Kid stack up in today's game? Last year the New York Yankees starting rotation pitched a couple hundred innings per pitcher for the season. During the decade of the 1890's, the Kid averaged almost 400 innings pitched per season for ten straight years! Take that, El Duque!

Besides Hugh Duffy, Tommy McCarthy, Bobby Lowe and Kid Nichols, Frank Selee's 1894 Boston Beaneaters showcased many other talented and interesting ball players. Third baseman Billy Nash has been called by many the greatest glove man of his time. Nash was always a steady and dependable hitter and learned his defensive prowess while playing for several semi-pro teams in his native Richmond, Virginia. He began his career with Boston in the mid 1880's and eventually became the team captain leading Boston to three championships in the early 1890's. Although Billy was not known as a power hitter, he did manage to get into the act in 1894 by hitting one of the longest home runs ever in Baltimore. The homer was so long it was celebrated in print by the Baltimore hometown reporter the next day. Newspaper accounts say that the ball sailed high over the fence in left field, across the street from the ballpark, and eventually landed on a roof on the other side.

Considering that the baseballs seem to be filled with dynamite during the entire 1894 season for the Beaneaters, how in the world did they manage to not win the championship? Some rightfully point out that except for Kid Nichols the pitching staff was thin and a lack of consistent pitching did the team in. I believe that this circumstance was certainly a factor but the team seemed star crossed from the beginning. In fact, the Beaneaters seemed destined for failure even before the first pitch was thrown in the first game of 1894. For what happened to Charlie Bennett, their tough and steady catcher from the championship years of 1891, 92 and 93, sent the team on a emotional nosedive from day one.

On January 10, 1894, as the new year was just beginning and Boston baseball fans were enjoying their status as home to the world champions, tragedy struck Charlie Bennett. For on that fateful day as Charlie began to board a moving passenger train, he slipped and fell beneath the wheels losing both lower limbs. Charlie was 38 years old at the time of the accident and was the team's anchor as he expertly "handled" the pitching staff. The loss of Bennett was a shock to Boston fans and provided a terrible blow to the psyche of the Boston Beaneaters. Eventually, in late August the team put on a benefit to help Bennett pay his medical bills but reports suggested that it was a sad and pathetic scene as the great catcher stood speechless and legless at home plate. The Beaneaters played listlessly in the rain and even the presence of the heavyweight champion of the world, Gentleman Jim Corbett who played first base, couldn't shake the doldrums. A crowd of 6,000 fans attended and Bennett was given the gate whereupon he relocated to Detroit and opened a pottery business.

As if 1894 was not sufficiently bewildering to Boston baseball fans after the Bennett tragedy, their beloved South End Grounds ball field burnt to the ground while the Beaneaters were playing John McGraw's Orioles on May 16th. Remember the odd scene last year when the Red Sox fans menacingly threw items on the field when the Yankees became the recipient of several horrible umpire calls? Well, it seems like this strange atmosphere isn't new to the Boston faithful because while the fire was raging in the right field bleachers, the attention of the fans was riveted as the Orioles' player-manager John McGraw began fighting with the Beaneaters' Tommy Tucker who was in the midst of participating in a double steal for the Boston club. The fans reacted by littering the field with fruit, trash and beer bottles! In the end, however, the fire prevailed as it destroyed the bleachers, the $75,000 grandstand, and over 170 buildings covering 12 acres around the ballpark!

In retrospect, it is amazing that the ballplayers for Boston were able to achieve what they did during this strange and fateful year. Final proof that the season was simply not meant to be a championship year for the team occurred shortly after the season's end when Boston was saddened by the death of Mike "King" Kelly, a great Beantown favorite who was a staple with the Beaneaters for several years but who was out of baseball by 1894. For the year 1894 ended as it began -- with a certain amount of sadness and melancholy as the great "King" Kelly -- who many say was the Babe Ruth of his day -- was buried.

A glance at the record books shows that the powerhouse Boston Beaneaters not only failed to win the pennant in 1894, but finished third, eight games behind McGraw's Orioles. But as we all know the beauty of our national pastime is that a team could come together once again and find glory, for a short three years later, in 1897, the Beaneaters strengthened themselves with some key additions and ultimately won the pennant over the dreaded Orioles. It is true that throughout the 1890's meetings between the Beaneaters and the Orioles often resembled gang fights more than baseball games but it was particularly satisfying for Boston area fans that they not only won in 1897 but repeated in 1898 . . . again edging out the rival Baltimore club.

» Frank Ceresi is the curator of the National Sports Gallery in Washington, DC.