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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, 1896

Penn started this season winning 6 in a row, but played like a .500 team for the rest of the year going 8-8. They ended the season with 14 wins and 8 losses. Also, the Penn Freshman team was recorded as playing 2 games this year against Harvard winning once and losing once.

Note that the list of team members varies slightly from source to source. Included here is everyone named in the 1896 yearbook, the Athletic Association history of Penn athletics published in 1913, or both.

The yearbook lists fourteen men on this team: one catcher, four pitchers, a shortstop, three basemen, three fielders and two substitutes. Only Blakely and Gray had been on the previous year’s team.

Team Members

  • John Blakely, ’98 Law, captain
  • Albert Harris Smith Cantlin, ’99
  • G. L. Darte, ’96
  • P. Z. Gray, ’96 Dental
  • William Hoeffer, ’97 Dental
  • Thomas Beaver Holloway, ’97 Medical
  • J or M. Roy Jackson, ’97 Dental
  • J. G. Johnson, ’98 Law
  • G or S. P. Middleton, ’96 Law
  • William A. O’Donnell, ’99 Law
  • Atlee Hoffman Tracy, ’97
  • L. Lee Voight, ’97 Dental
  • Jerome Wilhelm, ’98
  • Charles Whitall Wunder, ’99 Medical

Managers:

  • Charles L. McKeehan, ’97
  • F. Basil Miles, ’97

Coach:

  • Jesse Hall Allen, M.D. 1897
Date Opponent Location Score Outcome
Penn Opponent
April 4 Hobart Franklin Field 18 6 Win
April 13 Dickinson Franklin Field 20 5 Win
April 15 Washington and Jefferson Franklin Field 17 3 Win
April 18 Lehigh Franklin Field 19 1 Win
April 20 State College Franklin Field 17 6 Win
April 22 Trinity Franklin Field 10 5 Win
April 25 Georgetown Washington 7 19 Loss
April 27 Brown Franklin Field 7 15 Loss
April 29 Lafayette Franklin Field 11 7 Win
May 2 Georgetown Franklin Field 13 14 Loss
May 6 Cornell Ithaca 10 9

Win

May 9 Cornell Franklin Field 11 6 Win
May 13 Lehigh Bethlehem 13 8 Win
May 18 University of Virginia Franklin Field 3 2 Win
May 23 Harvard Franklin Field 3 8 Loss
May 23 Penn Fr. vs. Harvard Fr. Cambridge 7 5 Win (freshmen)
May 25 Chicago University Franklin Field 10 55 Loss
May 30 Cornell Ithaca 26 9 Win
May 30 Penn Fr. vs. Harvard Fr. Franklin Field 9 5 Win (freshmen)
June 2 Cornell Franklin Field 11 2 Win
June 6 Harvard Cambridge 3 11 Loss
June 8 Brown Providence Called (rain)
June 10 Lehigh Franklin Field 6 7 Loss
June 17 Lafayette Easton 4 1 Win
June 23 Harvard Cambridge 0 2 Loss