After the first game of the 1887 post season series between the American Association champion Browns and the National League champion Detroit Wolverines—won by St. Louis 6 to 1–The St. Louis Post-Dispatch found that the various options to bet on game two and the series “at the local pool rooms” was “exciting, and some of it was quite humorous.
The paper said before game one the “betting was 100 to 65 that Detroit would win the series and now the betting s even.”
The betting odds on game two were “10 to 9 on the Browns,” and said the paper “several thousands of dollars were staked.”
Most interesting, said the paper were the “peculiar bets” offered:
(Ten to win 30) that Bob Caruthers makes most hits in the game today
10—50 that Bill Gleason makes most hits
1-1 that Caruthers, Tip O’Neill, and Arlie Latham make more hits than Sam Thompson, Fred Dunlap, and Hardy Richardson
1—1 that O’Neill makes more hits than Thompson
4—1 that Thompson does not make the most hits
10—5 that Richardson does not make the most hits in game
10—5 that Dunlap does not make the most hits
10—5 that Latham does not
1—1 that Curt Welch, Charles Comiskey, and Latham steal at least one base
The paper also said the odds on that day’s game were “10—9 against Detroit.”
The Wolverines won game two, 5 to 3, and won the series 10 games to 5.
The game two box score
As for the “peculiar bets” on game two: Detroit’s Charlie Bennett and Sam Thompson each led with three hits. Latham, O’Neill, and Carruthers had four hits, Thompson, Dunlap, and Richardson had three.
Sam Thompson
Thompson had three hits to O’Neill’s one, and while Comiskey and Latham each stole a base, Welch did not.
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