Cincinnati Red Stockings
Encyclopedia
The Cincinnati Red Stockings of were baseball
's first fully professional team, with ten salaried players. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club formed in 1866 and fielded competitive teams in the National Association of Base Ball Players
(NABBP) 1867–1870, a time of a transition that ambitious Cincinnati, Ohio
businessmen and English-born ballplayer Harry Wright
shaped as much as anyone. Major League Baseball
recognized those events officially by sponsoring a centennial of professional baseball in 1969.
Thanks partly to their on-field success and the continental scope of their tours, the Red Stockings established styles in team uniforms and team nicknames that have some currency even in the 21st century. They also established a particular color, red, as the color of Cincinnati, and they provide the ultimate origin for the use of "Red Sox" in Boston
.
, President. A few years later Goshorn earned international fame as Director-General of the (U.S.) Centennial Exposition
held 1876 in Philadelphia. Founding member George B. Ellard also led the Union Cricket Club and the relationship between them proved decisive for the baseball club's success.
After playing four matches that summer, Cincinnati joined the NABBP for 1867 and concluded an agreement to play at the Union Cricket Club grounds. George Ellard's son says that "a great number of the cricket club members" joined and so "the team was greatly strengthened and interest in baseball gained a new impetus." Plans for a new clubhouse and "more substantical" enclosing fence were approved in April and the commercial basis was approved in June: members of both clubs admitted free to all matches; otherwise "ten cents for home matches and twenty five cents for foreign matches. Ladies free."(Ellard 23-27).
The team was soon nicknamed "Red Stockings" in reference to the main feature of the uniforms designed by Ellard: red stockings, worn with short white trousers. Long stockings were then a novelty in team uniforms.
Harry Wright
had migrated from New York in 1866 for a job as "club pro" at the Union Cricket Club. Next year he picked up similar baseball duties, but the lingo is commonly stretched to call him a baseball "manager" from that time. His first team may have been local to a man, but he both developed and imported players to represent the club in competitive play for the 1868 season. The first team won 16 matches with regional opponents, losing only to the touring Nationals
from Washington. As for most hosts on that tour, it was a "bad loss" on the scorecard but an instructive one for Cincinnati: the players, the club, the fans, and perhaps the local newspapers. Everyone learned advanced points of play and, from their different perspectives, witnessed the gulf in playing strength.
About half of the 1868 Red Stockings were eastern imports, presumably compensated somehow. The two leading batsmen, John Hatfield
and Fred Waterman arrived from the New York Mutuals
, one of the strongest teams anywhere and another team pushing the bounds of the amateur code. Asa Brainard
had been the Brooklyn Excelsiors regular pitcher for four seasons, succeeded in 1867 by Candy Cummings
. Catcher Doug Allison
was from the Geary club of Philadelphia, one of the stronger clubs in that city. There was one local recruit, too, from the rival Buckeye club: Charlie Gould
at first base. Harry Wright remained the first pitcher, sharing that position and second base with Brainard, and three other incumbents remained in the outfield and at shortstop. The 1868 team played a heavy schedule including a late eastern tour, once again dominating the western teams but losing seven of 43 matches in all.
When the NABBP permitted professional members for 1869, Harry Wright
and probably George Ellard organized a fully professional team: ten men on salary for eight months, March 15 to November 15. Wright played center field and coordinated the team defense, a novelty from any position. Younger brother and shortstop George Wright, new to the team in 1869, was its best player, maybe the best of his time.
The professional Cincinnati Red Stockings played their first game May 4, 1869, with a 45-9 win over the Great Westerns of Cincinnati. The team won 57 games and lost zero, counting only matches with Association clubs. They played over 70 games counting outside teams. Its commercial tour of continental scope, visiting both Boston and San Francisco, was unprecedented and may be essentially unrepeated. The first season ended November 6 at home with the Cincinnatis beating the Mutuals of New York
17-8.
With the same regular nine, the team continued to win regularly, perhaps 24 games before losing 8-7 in eleven innings to the Brooklyn Atlantics
in Brooklyn, June 14. The Red Stockings remained one of the few strongest teams on the field, losing only six games, but attendance declined badly, especially at home.
Harry Wright
was hired by founder and president Ivers Whitney Adams
to organize a new pro club in Boston and he signed three Cincinnati teammates to join the 1871 Boston Red Stockings in the first professional league, as it turned out. Ex-Cincinnati Red Stockings moved around some (see the note on Team members) but Boston retained both Wright brothers throughout the five years of the
National Association
.
Because Cincinnati is the birthplace of professional baseball, the current Cincinnati Reds
club and some people identify the Cincinnati Red Stockings with the modern Cincinnati Reds, a major league club that began in 1882, or with the National League
club of 1876-1880. http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/cin/history/timeline1.jsp Rather, the Red Stockings established a point of reference for 'Red' nicknames and a basis for fan identification and club marketing in Cincinnati.
The distinct Boston Red Stockings, beginning business with half of the Cincinnati team, both followed the young tradition and spread it to Boston. Eventually the Boston Red Stockings adopted the name Boston Braves; the club is now based in Atlanta, and still retains red as one of its uniform colors. The Boston Red Sox
, established in 1901, adopted their version of the old nickname in 1908.
From 1867 Harry Wright fulfilled the duties of modern field managers, general managers, and traveling secretaries. In 1868 he and Brainard shared the pitcher and second base positions with Allison, Gould, and Waterman already manning the other bases. For the crosstown rival Buckeye club, Sweasy and Leonard played second and third with Hurley a substitute. Among them only Gould was a Cincinnati native; the others were from the East, presumably compensated somehow by club members if not by the clubs. (The Association first permitted professional clubs for 1869.) Meanwhile George Wright and McVey played in New York and Indianapolis, primarily at shortstop and pitcher.
For 1871 the Nine split between two teams in the new all-professional National Association: Gould, the Wright brothers, and McVey with the Boston Red Stockings; Brainard, Allison, Sweasy, Waterman, and Leonard with the Washington Olympics
. Substitute Hurley is also a "major leaguer" for his brief play with the Olympics in 1872, although that club went out of business midseason and he did not return to the league. The leading substitute in the second season, Harry Deane
joined the Fort Wayne Kekiongas
in 1871 and later played a full season regularly.
Andy Leonard rejoined Gould, the Wrights, and McVey in Boston for 1872, the first of four consecutive championship seasons there. After one miss Harry won his last two championships as a non-playing manager in 1877-1878 with Leonard and brother George still among his regulars. Gould and McVey left in 1873, although McVey returned for 1874-75 only.
. In 1867 and 1868, Cincinnati was beaten only by clubs from that eastern corridor, winning 16 and 29 games without defeat against western opponents.
Championship matches with professional teams 1869-1870
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
's first fully professional team, with ten salaried players. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club formed in 1866 and fielded competitive teams in the National Association of Base Ball Players
National Association of Base Ball Players
The National Association of Base Ball Players was the first organization governing American baseball. The first, 1857 convention of sixteen New York City clubs...
(NABBP) 1867–1870, a time of a transition that ambitious Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
businessmen and English-born ballplayer Harry Wright
Harry Wright
William Henry "Harry" Wright was an English-born American professional baseball player, manager, and developer. He assembled, managed, and played center field for baseball's first fully professional team, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings...
shaped as much as anyone. Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
recognized those events officially by sponsoring a centennial of professional baseball in 1969.
Thanks partly to their on-field success and the continental scope of their tours, the Red Stockings established styles in team uniforms and team nicknames that have some currency even in the 21st century. They also established a particular color, red, as the color of Cincinnati, and they provide the ultimate origin for the use of "Red Sox" in Boston
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
.
Baseball club
The Cincinnati Base Ball Club, or simply Cincinnati Club, was established June 23, 1866 at a downtown law office, drawing up a constitution and by-laws and electing officers including Alfred T. GoshornAlfred T. Goshorn
Alfred Traber Goshorn was a Cincinnati, Ohio businessman and booster who served as Director-General of the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia...
, President. A few years later Goshorn earned international fame as Director-General of the (U.S.) Centennial Exposition
Centennial Exposition
The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. It was officially...
held 1876 in Philadelphia. Founding member George B. Ellard also led the Union Cricket Club and the relationship between them proved decisive for the baseball club's success.
After playing four matches that summer, Cincinnati joined the NABBP for 1867 and concluded an agreement to play at the Union Cricket Club grounds. George Ellard's son says that "a great number of the cricket club members" joined and so "the team was greatly strengthened and interest in baseball gained a new impetus." Plans for a new clubhouse and "more substantical" enclosing fence were approved in April and the commercial basis was approved in June: members of both clubs admitted free to all matches; otherwise "ten cents for home matches and twenty five cents for foreign matches. Ladies free."(Ellard 23-27).
The team was soon nicknamed "Red Stockings" in reference to the main feature of the uniforms designed by Ellard: red stockings, worn with short white trousers. Long stockings were then a novelty in team uniforms.
Harry Wright
Harry Wright
William Henry "Harry" Wright was an English-born American professional baseball player, manager, and developer. He assembled, managed, and played center field for baseball's first fully professional team, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings...
had migrated from New York in 1866 for a job as "club pro" at the Union Cricket Club. Next year he picked up similar baseball duties, but the lingo is commonly stretched to call him a baseball "manager" from that time. His first team may have been local to a man, but he both developed and imported players to represent the club in competitive play for the 1868 season. The first team won 16 matches with regional opponents, losing only to the touring Nationals
Washington Nationals (NA)
The Washington Nationals were the first important baseball club in the nation's capital. They played part of one season or parts of two seasons in the National Association, the first professional league, so they are considered a major league team by those who count the NA as a major league...
from Washington. As for most hosts on that tour, it was a "bad loss" on the scorecard but an instructive one for Cincinnati: the players, the club, the fans, and perhaps the local newspapers. Everyone learned advanced points of play and, from their different perspectives, witnessed the gulf in playing strength.
About half of the 1868 Red Stockings were eastern imports, presumably compensated somehow. The two leading batsmen, John Hatfield
John Hatfield (baseball)
John Van Buskirk Hatfield was an American professional baseball player in the 1860s and 1870s. He was a batting star and versatile fielder for the Mutual Base Ball Club both before and after spending the 1868 season as left fielder for Harry Wright's Cincinnati Red Stockings...
and Fred Waterman arrived from the New York Mutuals
New York Mutuals
The Mutual Base Ball Club of New York was a leading American baseball club almost throughout its 20-year history. It was established during 1857, the year of the first baseball convention, just too late to be a founding member of the National Association of Base Ball Players. It was a charter...
, one of the strongest teams anywhere and another team pushing the bounds of the amateur code. Asa Brainard
Asa Brainard
Asahel "Asa" Brainard , nicknamed "Count", was the ace pitcher of the original Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first fully professional baseball team, after having pitched for the Excelsior club of Brooklyn, New York....
had been the Brooklyn Excelsiors regular pitcher for four seasons, succeeded in 1867 by Candy Cummings
Candy Cummings
William Arthur "Candy" Cummings was a professional baseball pitcher in the National Association and National League who was credited with inventing the curveball. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.-Career:...
. Catcher Doug Allison
Doug Allison
Douglas L. Allison played catcher for the original Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first fully professional baseball team. He was considered a specialist, at a time when some of the better batsmen who manned the position normally rested, or substituted at other fielding positions. In Cincinnati,...
was from the Geary club of Philadelphia, one of the stronger clubs in that city. There was one local recruit, too, from the rival Buckeye club: Charlie Gould
Charlie Gould
Charles Harvey Gould , nicknamed "The Bushel Basket", was an American Major League Baseball player during the 1860s and 1870s. He was the first baseman for the original Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869 and 1870, the first team consisting entirely of professional players...
at first base. Harry Wright remained the first pitcher, sharing that position and second base with Brainard, and three other incumbents remained in the outfield and at shortstop. The 1868 team played a heavy schedule including a late eastern tour, once again dominating the western teams but losing seven of 43 matches in all.
First professional team
Harry Wright
William Henry "Harry" Wright was an English-born American professional baseball player, manager, and developer. He assembled, managed, and played center field for baseball's first fully professional team, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings...
and probably George Ellard organized a fully professional team: ten men on salary for eight months, March 15 to November 15. Wright played center field and coordinated the team defense, a novelty from any position. Younger brother and shortstop George Wright, new to the team in 1869, was its best player, maybe the best of his time.
The professional Cincinnati Red Stockings played their first game May 4, 1869, with a 45-9 win over the Great Westerns of Cincinnati. The team won 57 games and lost zero, counting only matches with Association clubs. They played over 70 games counting outside teams. Its commercial tour of continental scope, visiting both Boston and San Francisco, was unprecedented and may be essentially unrepeated. The first season ended November 6 at home with the Cincinnatis beating the Mutuals of New York
New York Mutuals
The Mutual Base Ball Club of New York was a leading American baseball club almost throughout its 20-year history. It was established during 1857, the year of the first baseball convention, just too late to be a founding member of the National Association of Base Ball Players. It was a charter...
17-8.
With the same regular nine, the team continued to win regularly, perhaps 24 games before losing 8-7 in eleven innings to the Brooklyn Atlantics
Brooklyn Atlantics
The Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn was baseball's first champion and its first dynasty.Established in 1855, Atlantic was a founding member of the National Association of Base Ball Players in 1857. In 1859, with a record of 11 wins and 1 loss, Atlantic emerged as the recognized champions of...
in Brooklyn, June 14. The Red Stockings remained one of the few strongest teams on the field, losing only six games, but attendance declined badly, especially at home.
Perfect Season
In 1869, the Red Stockings posted a perfect 65-0 record, the only perfect season in baseball history. This was the first team to play on the East and West coasts in the same season. More than 2,000 people greeted the team when it arrived in San Francisco at 10 p.m. “They really helped nationalize the game and put Cincinnati on the map as a baseball town,” said Greg Rhodes, a Reds historian who wrote “The First Boys of Summer” (Road West Publishing Company, 1994), along with Enquirer reporter John Erardi, about the 1869-1870 Red Stockings.1871
The Executive Board now led by President A.P.C. Bonte recommended November 21 that the club not employ a nine for 1871, for that had become too expensive. The spokesmen anticipated "a development of the amateur talent of our club, such as has not been displayed since we employed professionals." The officers subsequently decided to disband the club (the team having disbanded via the market) and a public meeting of the members put that decision into effect (Ellard [1908]: 155-56).Harry Wright
Harry Wright
William Henry "Harry" Wright was an English-born American professional baseball player, manager, and developer. He assembled, managed, and played center field for baseball's first fully professional team, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings...
was hired by founder and president Ivers Whitney Adams
Ivers Whitney Adams
Ivers Whitney Adams was an American baseball executive and businessperson, and founder of the first professional baseball team in Boston, the Boston Red Stockings.- Baseball :...
to organize a new pro club in Boston and he signed three Cincinnati teammates to join the 1871 Boston Red Stockings in the first professional league, as it turned out. Ex-Cincinnati Red Stockings moved around some (see the note on Team members) but Boston retained both Wright brothers throughout the five years of the
National Association
National Association of Professional Base Ball Players
The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players , or simply the National Association , was founded in 1871 and continued through the 1875 season...
.
Because Cincinnati is the birthplace of professional baseball, the current Cincinnati Reds
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....
club and some people identify the Cincinnati Red Stockings with the modern Cincinnati Reds, a major league club that began in 1882, or with the National League
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
club of 1876-1880. http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/cin/history/timeline1.jsp Rather, the Red Stockings established a point of reference for 'Red' nicknames and a basis for fan identification and club marketing in Cincinnati.
The distinct Boston Red Stockings, beginning business with half of the Cincinnati team, both followed the young tradition and spread it to Boston. Eventually the Boston Red Stockings adopted the name Boston Braves; the club is now based in Atlanta, and still retains red as one of its uniform colors. The Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
, established in 1901, adopted their version of the old nickname in 1908.
Players
Ten men composed the 1869 team and the First Nine returned for 1870 in the same roles.- Asa BrainardAsa BrainardAsahel "Asa" Brainard , nicknamed "Count", was the ace pitcher of the original Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first fully professional baseball team, after having pitched for the Excelsior club of Brooklyn, New York....
, Pitcher - Doug AllisonDoug AllisonDouglas L. Allison played catcher for the original Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first fully professional baseball team. He was considered a specialist, at a time when some of the better batsmen who manned the position normally rested, or substituted at other fielding positions. In Cincinnati,...
, Catcher - Charlie GouldCharlie GouldCharles Harvey Gould , nicknamed "The Bushel Basket", was an American Major League Baseball player during the 1860s and 1870s. He was the first baseman for the original Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869 and 1870, the first team consisting entirely of professional players...
, First Base - Charlie SweasyCharlie SweasyCharles James Sweasy , born Swasey, played second base for the original Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first fully professional baseball team. He returned to Cincinnati in 1876, hired by the new club that was a charter member of the National League...
, Second Base - Fred Waterman, Third Base
- George Wright, Shortstop
- Andy LeonardAndy LeonardAndrew Jackson Leonard played left field for the original Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first fully professional baseball team. He was one of five men to play regularly for both the Cincinnati and the Boston Red Stockings, the latter winning six championships during his seven seasons...
, Left Field - Harry WrightHarry WrightWilliam Henry "Harry" Wright was an English-born American professional baseball player, manager, and developer. He assembled, managed, and played center field for baseball's first fully professional team, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings...
, Center Field/Manager - Cal McVeyCal McVeyCalvin Alexander McVey was a professional baseball player during the 1860s and 1870s. McVey's importance to the game stems from his play on two of the earliest professional baseball teams, the original Cincinnati Red Stockings and the National Association Boston Red Stockings...
, Right Field - Dick HurleyDick HurleyWilliam H. "Dick" Hurley was an American baseball player who was noted as being the substitute player for the first paid professional club, the Cincinnati Red Stockings.Hurley was born in Honesdale, Pennsylvania...
, substitute
From 1867 Harry Wright fulfilled the duties of modern field managers, general managers, and traveling secretaries. In 1868 he and Brainard shared the pitcher and second base positions with Allison, Gould, and Waterman already manning the other bases. For the crosstown rival Buckeye club, Sweasy and Leonard played second and third with Hurley a substitute. Among them only Gould was a Cincinnati native; the others were from the East, presumably compensated somehow by club members if not by the clubs. (The Association first permitted professional clubs for 1869.) Meanwhile George Wright and McVey played in New York and Indianapolis, primarily at shortstop and pitcher.
For 1871 the Nine split between two teams in the new all-professional National Association: Gould, the Wright brothers, and McVey with the Boston Red Stockings; Brainard, Allison, Sweasy, Waterman, and Leonard with the Washington Olympics
Washington Olympics
The Olympic Club of Washington, D.C., or Washington Olympics, was an early professional baseball team.When the National Association of Base Ball Players permitted openly professional clubs for the 1869 season, the Olympics were one of twelve to go pro...
. Substitute Hurley is also a "major leaguer" for his brief play with the Olympics in 1872, although that club went out of business midseason and he did not return to the league. The leading substitute in the second season, Harry Deane
Harry Deane
John Henry "Harry" Deane was an American professional baseball player born in Trenton, New Jersey. He mostly played center field in his two season career in the National Association...
joined the Fort Wayne Kekiongas
Fort Wayne Kekiongas
The Fort Wayne Kekiongas were a professional baseball team, notable for winning the first professional league game on May 4, 1871. Kekionga - pronounced KEY-key-awn-guh - is the name of Chief Little Turtle's Miami Indian settlement where the St. Joseph River and the St. Mary's River join to form...
in 1871 and later played a full season regularly.
Andy Leonard rejoined Gould, the Wrights, and McVey in Boston for 1872, the first of four consecutive championship seasons there. After one miss Harry won his last two championships as a non-playing manager in 1877-1878 with Leonard and brother George still among his regulars. Gould and McVey left in 1873, although McVey returned for 1874-75 only.
Record
Before Cincinnati hired its team for the 1869 season, the strongest clubs were located from Washington to Troy, New YorkTroy, New York
Troy is a city in the US State of New York and the seat of Rensselaer County. Troy is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany and Schenectady, forming a region popularly called the Capital...
. In 1867 and 1868, Cincinnati was beaten only by clubs from that eastern corridor, winning 16 and 29 games without defeat against western opponents.
| Year | Games | Won | Lost | Tied | Rank in games (or wins) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1867 | 18 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 16 (10th in wins) |
| 1868 | 43 | 36 | 7 | 0 | 3 (4th) |
| 1869 | 65 | 65 | 0 | 0 | 1 (1st) |
| 1870 | 74 | 67 | 6 | 1 | 3 (2nd) |
Championship matches with professional teams 1869-1870
| Year | Games | Won | Lost | Tied | Rank in games (or wins) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1869 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 8 (1st in wins) |
| 1870 | 34 | 27 | 6 | 1 | 4 (2nd) |
External links
- Library of Congress American Memory catalog page for "First Nine of the Cincinnati (Red Stockings) Base Ball Club" (lithograph). Cincinnati, OH: Tuchfarber, Walkley & Moellman. 1869.1869Cincinnati Red Stockings Vintage Base Ball Club]
- 19c Base Ball
- SCSR / Cincinnati Red Stockings
- SCSR / Union Grounds
- Baseball card sells for $75,285