Notwithstanding the blustering weather the Akrons and the Browns yesterday afternoon played the last game of their series. There was a good crowd out to witness the contest. The Browns appeared in a terribly crippled condition. In their strait Dan Morgan, of the Reds, was called on to do the pitching; Seward was sent behind the bat; Baker went to right, and McGinnis to center field, while McCaffrey was called in to play second base. In these positions the Browns made a very poor showing against the fine fielding and hard batting of the Akrons, who played a quiet, earnest game throughout. They will be here again, perhaps, later in the season, when the Browns will show them what they can do when their men are in anything like shape.
-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 30, 1881
I guess George McGinnis' finger was still pretty sore. The Globe stated that he lost the tip of a finger on his pitching hand during the game against Akron on August 27 and it needed to be stitched up. He pitched in the second game of the series but not particularly well and, here, we see that the Browns had to bring in Pidge Morgan to pitch the third game. McGinnis would be back pitching in the Browns' next game on September 2 and it looks like the finger didn't bother him much the rest of the season.
George McGinnis
Interestingly, there doesn't seem to be much evidence that George McGinnis was ever called Jumbo McGinnis during his playing days and his teammates always referred to him simply as George. In fact, there is a description of McGinnis, in 1886, that says he was rather thin. He did put on a lot of weight after his playing days were over and it is likely then that he picked up the nickname of Jumbo. Personally, if I had been on the Brown Stockings in 1881, I would have started calling him Nine Fingers McGinnis after the first Akron game. But that's just me.
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