1894 by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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Page 78
average, but team leading honors went to Duffy at .363, who also placed high in runs scored and base hits. Boston, 86-43, meanwhile, cruised to another National League pennant, but with the ill received postseason competition of the previous year discontinued, most Boston players thereafter busied themselves playing lucrative exhibition matches. Hugh, however, passed on these paydays to attend to his seriously ailing wife. It was hoped that a winter stay on the warmer West Coast might restore Katie’s health, but the sojourn proved to no avail. With the 1894 baseball season fast approaching, the couple began their return home to River Point, but Katie did not make it. Removed from the train and hospitalized in Blackstone, Massachusetts, Katherine Gilland Duffy died on March 31, 1894, age 25.
A grief stricken Hugh Duffy got an understandably late start on the 1894 campaign. But by the time that it was over, he had completed a season like few others in baseball history. Duffy batted .440, still the all-time, major league, single season batting average high. He also led the league in base hits - 237, doubles - 51, home runs - 18, extra base hits - 85, and total bases – 374; while finishing second in RBIs - 145, fourth in runs scored - 160, and ninth in stolen bases – 48. Hugh also played excellent outfield defense, combining with McCarthy, who batted .349, to register 55 assists. But the Beaneaters’