Taking him all around, however, he was better than the average, but not to be compared with some of the men who afterwards played in that position.
Cassidy, the right fielder, was only an average player, and Hankinson, who played third base and change pitcher, was never in the first class.
Larkin, who had pitched the year before for the Hartford Club, was a rattling good man and a really first-class pitcher, who would have won more games than he did had he met with the support that he should have had.
Remsen was a fine fielder and a fast base-runner, but his weak point was in hitting.

He was a good thrower, too, though I beat him in a match at Hartford by covering 127 yards and 4 inches, a performance that surprised some people who had wagered their money on his success.
During the greater part of that year I was troubled with a frog felon on my right hand that nearly incapacitated me from playing altogether.

It was absolute torture to me to catch, but I managed to worry along with it in some sort of fashion, though unable to do myself justice, and for that reason I stood lower on the list of averages than I might otherwise have done.
A felon is a mighty unpleasant thing to have at the best, and a man deserves some credit for playing ball at all that is afflicted in that way.
When the season ended none of the clubs had made any money, but the game was growing steadily in public favor, and it was evident to even the most superficial observer that there was "a good time coming." The following year, 1879, saw a great many changes both in League memberships and in the personnel of its players.

At the annual meeting held in Cleveland December 4, 1878, the Indianapolis Club resigned its membership and the circuit was filled by the admission of clubs from Cleveland, Buffalo and Syracuse.

The Milwaukee Club afterward failing to come to time the Troy, N.Y., Club was taken in to fill the vacancy.
George Wright, one of the greatest players of the day, and the man to whom Boston owed much of its success in winning the pennant, deserted Boston for Providence, taking O'Rourke with him, and after the hardest sort of a fight with Boston, Chicago and Buffalo he succeeded in winning the pennant with that organization, he having the services of John M.
Ward and "Bobby" Matthews as pitchers, Lewis J.Brown as catcher; Joe Start, M.H.McGeary and W.L.Hague on the bases; with "Tommy" Stark, Paul Hines and James O'Rourke in the field.