On June 17, 1888, the Whites played the Maroons in Chicago. Two names, Brown and Flynn, appear in the box score. Brown played center field, batted ninth, and went 0-3 with three strikeouts.
On June 17, 1888, the Whites played the Maroons in Chicago. Two names, Brown and Flynn, appear in the box score. Brown played center field, batted ninth, and went 0-3 with three strikeouts.
The following information was given about "Brown" in two different reports on the game.
From the St. Paul Globe, July 18, 1888:
"Brown, who is a well-known Chicago boy of a far different name, had an average of 1.000 in strike outs. Three times at bat and nine holes in the air is his record."
From the Globe-Democrat, on June 18, 1888:
"A Yale College pitcher named Tilden played with the visitors under the name Brown."
Looking through the newspapers of the time, a player named Fred Tilden appears in the box scores for teams playing in the Chicago Commercial League in 1887 and 1888. Tilden played for Harvard in 1884 and 1885. He is described in various articles as "a fine left-handed batsman and a good fielder" and as having "made the greatest record at the bat ever made by a Harvard man in one season." He was also described as "a son of wealthy parents residing in a suburb of Chicago and plays ball for the fun of it."
Just a few days before Brown appeared with St. Louis, Tilden appears in a box score playing with Pete Gallagher for the Chicago Kents in a game against Racine, where Tilden went to college prior to attending Harvard.
Tilden was signed by Des Moines for the 1889 season. He never with Des Moines during the 1889 season, although the Sioux City Journal reported "it is almost now certain that Fred Tilden will be secured by Des Moines to play center field" (May 3, 1888).
Tilden is identified on the roster for a club in the Commercial League called the Carletons in 1890, and in 1893 is reported as being a member of a 'All-Star' club that was going to tour the country. The club, described as "what will probably prove to be one of the strongest amateur baseball teams in the country," was a collection of college alumni with a national reputation. One of the other members of this team was pitcher Joseph A. Murphy, graduate of St. Louis University. Murphy pitched one game for the Browns in each of 1886 and 1887, and he appeared in two games for the Whites in 1888 under the names Hughes and Farquhar.