The club retained some of it’s principal players, but found future major leaguers to round out their roster. They acquired James “Jumbo” Davis from the Quincy squad to play the third base, while Jacob Goodman from Trenton, New Jersey was charged with manning the first sack. They also engaged some local Michigan talent by enlisting the skills of John Morrison from Port Huron to patrol the center field.
As for the ballists they retained from 1883, manager and second baseman, William H. Watkins, remarked that the short stop James Turbidy and right fielder James “Cuddy” Cudworth were two of the fastest men in the league, and top-notch defenders. As for catchers, they retained the services of George Bignell, Joseph Crotty, Joseph Strauss, and Charles Robinson. All three of these gentlemen would go on to have a variety of success in the major leagues. As for pitchers, the Bay Citys retained the services of their star Foutz, and Henry Porter. Porter, like Foutz would go on to have major league success as well.
Below is a list of the players expected to play for the Independents for the 1884 season, and their corresponding batting and fielding averages for 1883. Take note of the number of players at each position. It seems as though they planned on entering the season with 3 pitchers, a gentleman at each infield spot, two outfielders, and 5 catchers. The large number of catchers was no doubt due to the calamity of injuries that would beset 19th century back stops.
Not only would the faces on the field
change a bit, but the uniforms would take a turn as
well. Manager Watkins was quoted on Feb. 14, 1884 as
stating that, “The suits will consist of red and black
striped stockings, and cap, brown leather boots, red
belt, red jacket, tight jersey shirts trimmed with
red, one brown and one grey, and two pairs of pants,
one brown and the other gray.” Perhaps the new
uniforms were the cause of the Bay Citys being
referred to as the “Chocolates” on occasion.
By late July Bay City had completely turned around their fortunes from the previous season and posted a record of 40 wins to only 13 losses. Dave Foutz was now one of the brightest stars in the league and the team was playing well in support of his efforts. Unfortunately for the Bay City faithful they were not the only ones who appreciated Foutz's talents. Foutz had caught the eye of Chris Von der Ahe the owner of the American Association's St. Louis Browns. Von der Ahe took advantage of the financial difficulties that the Bay City franchise had been experiencing, and offered to purchase the rights to Foutz's contract for the large sum of $2,000. The Bay City leadership relented due to financial strain, and signed Foutz away on July 25, 1884. Following this transaction the Bay City Franchise disbanded, and did not complete the rest of their scheduled games. After the collapse of the Bay City Club five other teams gave way to financial difficulties during the summer of 1884, and by 1885 the Northwestern League no longer existed.
After leaving Bay City Foutz went on to help lead Von der Ahe's Browns to the American Association championship in 1885, 1886, and 1887. In 1885 and in 1886 Foutz would face off against John Clarkson again in the World's Series. The 1885 series was considered a draw, but in 1886 Foutz would get the better of Clarkson again when his browns topped the White Stockings in the Series.
At the conclusion of the 1887 season Von der Ahe assumed that Foutz's pitching days were over, and he traded him away to the Brooklyn Bridegrooms for the princely sum of $6,000. Von der Ahe was correct in his assumptions about Foutz's hurling talents. In the previous season Foutz had been struck by a line drive on his pitching hand. The hand never completely healed and Foutz's control was gone. While with Brooklyn Foutz turned himself into a first baseman, and became quite a successful hitter. He went on to become one of the league's premier RBI men and helped lead the Brooklyn Bridegrooms to Major League championships in 1889 and 1890.
Despite only pitching three full seasons in the Major Leagues Foutz went on to post 129 wins, and throw 16 shutouts. He is tied with former Yankee great Whitey Ford for second all time in winning percentage with a .701. Despite all of his accomplishments Foutz has never been elected to the Hall of Fame.
Foutz would not be the only gentleman of the Independents to reach major league status. Several of the Bay Citys were scattered to the wind, and achieved moderate to high success in base ball after the Northwestern League. Joseph Crotty would spend time playing behind the batter for the Sioux Citys. Henry Porter and George Bignell would both be shipped off to Milwaukee of the Union Association, one of the recognized major leagues of the day. In their time there as battery mates they each set a major league record in a game against Boston on October 3, 1884. Porter would set a record for most strikeouts by a losing pitcher, 18, which would stand until Steve Carlton broke it in a losing effort with 19 in 1969. Bignell, Porter’s catcher for the day, was credited with 17 putouts and six assists, while committing two errors and yielding two passed balls. That remains a record for chances accepted in a nine inning game, more than 120 years later. Porter would later be shipped out to the Kansas City Cowboys, and re-unite with former teammate James “Jumbo” Davis.
McGunnigle would also reach great heights at various levels of base ball after leaving Bay City. In 1885 he summoned the talents of “Cuddy” Cudworth and Bignell to Brockton, Massachusetts where he would manage the Brockton club to great heights in the New England Base Ball League. Later, McGunnigle would move on to manage in the majors for Brooklyn where he brought National League Championships to the Brooklyn Grays by employing Henry Porter, Joe Strauss, Jumbo Davis and later Dave Foutz all former members of the Bay City Independents. Despite winning league championships in Brooklyn, with no future Hall of Fame talents, “Gunner” McGunnigle was replaced by Montgomery Ward, star player of the Giants and ringleader of The Player’s Association, when Ward became available from New York.
So it seems that in the 19th Century, Bay City was a little city with big league talent.