SABR All-Time Eras Teams:
19th Century Era (1876-1900)
Throughout the 2026 season, SABR members will have a chance to vote on SABR’s All-Time Eras Teams as we celebrate the 150 years of baseball and American history since the founding of the National League in 1876.
The All-Time Eras Teams project is an interactive opportunity for all SABR members to participate in, debate with one another, and learn more about the iconic players and figures from different eras.
- Voting period: April 17–May 4, 2026
- Zoom webinar: Wednesday, May 13, with a presentation by Brian M. Ingrassia of West Texas A&M University
Each of the six All-Time Eras Team ballots will be released throughout the baseball season. SABR members will be able to vote for players at every position on the diamond, as well as the top manager and executive from that era.
Each ballot period will culminate with a virtual Zoom webinar which includes a presentation covering that era of American history prior to the unveiling of the team chosen by our members. Zoom links will be sent out to all SABR members on the morning of each webinar.
Cast your vote now!
(Click here to access the survey on mobile devices.)
Get an All-Time Eras Teams baseball card set!
Sign up as a new annual member during SABR’s All-Time Eras Teams membership drive using the code AllEras15 and you’ll receive an exclusive baseball card set of players across our All-Time Eras Teams, as well as a one-year membership discount! Join between April 7 and May 13 to qualify and save $15 off the cost of a one-year membership. Click here to learn more.
Current SABR members who refer two new members by May 13 will also receive an exclusive baseball card set featuring players selected to our All-Time Eras Teams! New members must use the discount code AllEras15 to qualify for this promotion.
If you have any questions about signing up for a new SABR membership, please email Jessica Smyth.
More about the 19th Century Era (1876-1900)
As MLB Official Historian John Thorn wrote in his introduction to SABR’s Inventing Baseball: The 100 Greatest Games of the 19th Century, “Early baseball, however you define or pinpoint it in the years before 1901, was indeed different from the game we see on the field today, yet there can be no doubt that it was baseball. Players in the big-league parks of the 1880s, packed with thousands of paying spectators, knew they were playing the same game that had been staged for free at the Elysian Fields of Hoboken decades earlier.
“These players deserve to be recalled by all baseball fans of today in their greatest moments, in the glory of our times as well as theirs. To know that Albert Pujols and Derek Jeter are part of a seamless web with Roger Connor and John Ward makes the experience of today’s games richer than merely to compare our stars with those since 1901.”
SABR’s Nineteenth Century Committee encourages research on all facets of baseball before 1901. The committee organizes an annual conference each April at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York; all baseball fans are welcome to attend. In a nod to technology in this century, the committee also hosts a monthly speaker series on Zoom.
The 19th Century League and Team Resources collection at SABR.org aims to collect all available pre-1900 baseball documents and make them available online to future researchers. The collection includes dozens of documents from the National League’s founding in 1876 to the NL’s final season as a sole major league in 1900.
Further Reading
