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Not too long ago pitchers had begun to gain the upper-hand on batters. New pitches - especially the curveball - gave the hurlers an edge, and offense bottomed out in 1892 when the brand-new FABL collectively hit .249 and only five hitters topped the .330 mark, led by a young centerfielder in Philadelphia named Fred Roby, who hit .360 for the Keystones.

The next year, things began swinging the other way and hitters - led by Roby's team mate (catcher Claude Jones who hit .370) brought that league-wide average up twenty points. In 1894, Roby put together the best season by a hitter in the not-quite-two-decade-old history of professional baseball.

Frederick John Roby was born in Cranston, Rhode Island in November of 1866. His father had managed to survive the entirety of the Civil War and mustered out at the start of 1866. Reunited with his young bride, Fred came along shortly thereafter. Always a rambunctious kid, Fred showed skill at base ball and his father, a printer by trade, indulged his son and gave him ample time to play the game. By his 18th birthday, Fred was a regular on the town circuit in Rhode Island and was signed by the Keystones after Zebulon Banks was impressed with him while touring with his barnstorming team after the 1887 season. Fred joined Philadelphia in '88 and hit .282 but soon blossomed into a great hitter, even better than Banks, who was his team mate, manager and mentor.

Roby had twice led the league in hits, once in stolen bases, once in average and once in RBIs - he was an offensive force. In 1894, he put it all together, and led the league in hits (with a record 249), average with a superb .416 mark, home runs with 19, and RBIs with 142 - a Triple Crown season. And all three of those totals were single-season records.

Roby's great season didn't add up to a pennant for Philadelphia - that went to the Boston Brahmins who won a tight four-way race that saw them edge the Keystones and Washington Eagles by a one-game margin. New York, the defending champs, were four back after a three-game skid at the end of the season. Washington's great season was powered by a veteran RF named Freeman Rogers. Freeman, if he were around today, would be called a "professional hitter" - because all he did was show up and hit. He had led the league in doubles three times and his 235 hits in 1894 marked the fourth time he'd topped that margin. He'd only failed to hit .300 once in his nine-year career and at age 34, turned in his best season yet - a .402 average with 39 doubles, 18 triples and 12 home runs. Unfortunately for him, Fred Roby was just a little bit better.

Over in the Continental Association, the pennant - again - went to the Philadelphia Sailors. They had a hard-fought season of their own, edging out the New York Stars by two games and the Brooklyn Kings by four. As with the season before, the Sailors had it all - hitting and pitching. But when it came time for the World Championship Series, they just couldn't quite get it done.

The Brahmins, champions of the Federal Association, had five .300 hitters in their lineup and enough pitching depth to get around some injuries and still win the pennant with an 82-58 record. One of those .300 hitters was a fella by the name of Charles Taylor. Charley - or "Eagle Eye" as the second baseman was known to fans and newsmen, was one of the game's preeminent practitioners of the fine art of drawing walks, something he did 139 times in 1894. In his five years with Boston he had failed to draw 100 walks only once - and that one time he had 99 free passes. He could hit too (he won a batting title as a rookie in 1890) and he brought a .329 lifetime average into 1894 and went out and hit... yep, .329 for the season. He did his thing against the Sailors - in the six-game victory by Boston, he drew five walks, hit .440, struck out only once and scored eight runs. They didn't do it back then, but he would've been the Series MVP. 

Hitters didn't have all the fun in '94 - Don Noftall of the Cougars posted a very solid 2.29 ERA while winning 28 games. Other standout pitchers included Montreal's Johnny Williams (26-23, 2.45) and the Cougars other ace - Allan Allen, who went 24-20 with a 2.70 ERA. New York Stars pitcher and outfielder Elmer Jackson showed you could still be a two-way star, hitting .336 while playing 50 games in the outfield and 48 as a pitcher, where he went 30-15 with a 3.12 ERA.