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Penn History

This exhibit was created in 2005 by Mary D. McConaghy and by Michael T. Woods, University Archives Summer Research Fellow and an undergraduate at Penn State University, from research compiled by Cappy Gagnon and other members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).

Summary

University baseball team, 1898

Great pitching and fielding were the keys to victory this season as Penn posted 18 of them out of 24, including a 12 game win streak consisting of an undefeated May (8-0). After this win streak however, the team won only 1 out of their next 4 to end the season. But, despite this late season skid, this team had tremendous talent both individually and as a whole, and was therefore one of the best in history to represent Penn on the diamond.

Note that the list of team members varies slightly from source to source. Included here is everyone named in the 1898 yearbook, the Athletic Association history of Penn athletics published in 1913, or both.

Team Members

  • M. Delmar Ritchie, ’99 Medical, captain
  • Theodore E. Brown, ’00
  • Edward L. Cheyney, ’00
  • Walter Johnston Coombs, ’00
  • A. King Dickson, ’00 Law
  • Bertram G. Frazier, ’99 Law
  • Joseph H. Huston, ’98
  • Mack Roy Jackson, P.G. Dental
  • Daniel Layton, ’00
  • George J. Schwartz, ’00 Medical
  • Alvan Woodward Sherrill, ’01 Medical
  • J. DeWitt Robinson, ’98 Law
  • Jerome Wilhelm, ’98

Substitutes:

  • Frederick R. Gillinder, ’99 Law
  • Daniel Layton, ’00
  • William Piersol, ’99 Law
  • J. Blakely Thatcher, ’00 Medical

Managers:

  • Charles McIlvaine, ’98
  • Thomas Blaine Donaldson, ’99

Coach:

  • Dr. J.M. Murphy
Date Opponent Location Score Outcome
Penn Opponent
April 8 Vanderbilt Franklin Field 10 0 Win
April 9 Vanderbilt Franklin Field 7 1 Win
April 11 Georgia Franklin Field 11 2 Win
April 12 North Carolina Franklin Field 0 9 Loss
April 13 Georgetown Washington 12 2 Win
April 20 Manhattan Franklin Field 2 3 Loss
April 23 Penn State Franklin Field 16 0 Win
April 27 Lehigh Franklin Field 12 5 Win
April 30 Columbia Franklin Field 3 0 Win
May 7 Georgetown Franklin Field 2 1 Win
May 11 Virginia Franklin Field 9 3 Win
May 14 Cornell Franklin Field 2 0 Win
May 18 Brown Franklin Field 3 2 Win
May 21 Harvard Franklin Field 3 2 Win
May 25 Lafayette Franklin Field 7 1 Win
May 28 Cornell Ithaca 7 4 Win
May 30 Lehigh South Bethlehem 3 2 Win
June 1 Cornell Ithaca 7 4 Win
June 4 Lafayette Franklin Field 8 11 Loss
June 7 Manhattan

Franklin Field

5 3 Win
June 10 Holy Cross Worcester, Mass. 3 11 Loss
June 11 Harvard Cambridge 1 2 Loss
June 13 Brown Providence 0 16 Loss