Gimme a new infield! And an outfield, too!

Frank Meinke pitched in 35 games for the 1884 Detroit Wolverines. He started 31 games and completed every one. His won-loss record was not particularly good – 8-23. ERA 3.18 was good.

Meinke didn’t get much help from the iron hands playing around him. In 289 innings pitched, Meinke gave up 102 earned runs. But, in total 217 base runners crossed the plate in his games. By baseball math, that comes out to 115 unearned runs.

The next year was not so good, either.

In 1885, Meinke pitched in one game. He started the May 22 game and lasted for five innngs. With the same iron hands behind him, Meinke gave up 12 runs, two earned.

He also played 51 games at short, five in the outfield, three at second base and three at third. His batting average was .163. In those 51 games at short, Meinke made 39 errors.

Life can be tough in The Show.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=meinkfr01