“Well, back in 1871, my great-great-grandmother had a boardinghouse in Boston,” recounted a sparkling, white-haired lady speaking with appraiser Leila Dunbar on a PBS episode of Antiques Roadshow. “And she housed the Boston baseball team. Most of them had come from the Cincinnati Red Stockings and were among the first to be paid to play baseball.” Her unique collection, appraised at $1,000,000, contains baseball cards and personal correspondences of the 1871-1872 Boston Red Stockings, Boston’s first professional baseball team. They are also the ancestors of the Atlanta Braves and the first Boston team to wear red socks.

They had sparkled in those red and white uniforms when they came to Boston in the summer of 1870, and Boston businessman Ivers Whitney Adams took notice, particularly of baseball’s Wright brothers, George and Harry, who were touring the East Coast with the legendary Cincinnati Red Stockings, the nation’s first professional baseball team. Adams had begun dreaming of a professional baseball club in Boston since January of that year,1 and was convinced that if professional baseball could be a reality in Boston, he needed these talented brothers. Adams began a correspondence and even made a trip to Cincinnati to talk further with George and Harry.2 George Wright then arrived in Boston in November,3 and met Adams at Boston’s Parker House, shortly after the Cincinnati team disbanded. On December 3, the Boston Journal verified rumors of a new professional team in the works and said that “Boston shall possess a nine, composed of gentlemanly players, whose unquestionable skill and ability will make it second to none in the country.”4

The Wrights began constructing the Boston team. They brought along first baseman Charlie Gould and catcher Cal McVey from their old Cincinnati club, then signed pitcher Albert Spalding, second baseman Ross Barnes, and outfielder Fred Cone of the Rockford, Illinois, club. They also brought along their socks. “Back in Cincinnati,” historian David Voigt wrote, “not even (Harry Wright’s) best friends forgave him for taking the name ‘Red Stockings’ to Beantown.”5

The Boston club was officially organized at the Parker House on January 20, 1871. “Boston can now boast of possessing a first-class professional Base Ball Club,” wrote the Journal.6 The Boston Base Ball Association was now formed with $15,000 in stock divided into 150 shares.7 The next step was to pay the $10 membership fee and join the new National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, organized on a rainy night in Collier’s Rooms upstairs saloon at 13th Street and Broadway in New York City on March 17, 1871. The first professional baseball league was under way.8

The new Boston team practiced for three weeks, then on April 6 the players were ready for their first exhibition game. “With a month of steady practice,” wrote the Journal, “they will be in a condition to contest for the supremacy with the best clubs in the country.”9

The game was between “the new Boston professional nine and a strong nine selected from the best amateurs in this vicinity,” wrote the Journal. The “picked nine,” according to the Boston Herald, consisted of players from the “Harvard, Lowell, and Tri-Mountain clubs.”10 The game was played on the leased Union Grounds, then being referred to as the “Boston Grounds” by the newspapers, and was later named the South End Grounds. “The grounds were not in the best condition owing to the rains of the past ten days,” wrote the Journal.11

This inaugural 1871 game stirred up huge interest in Boston. The crowd was electric, “for there assembled on the grounds of the club yesterday afternoon, full five thousand persons to witness the opening game of the Boston Nine,” wrote the Journal, “thus being a larger number than ever assembled before on these grounds.”12 The Herald estimated a crowd of 6,000, and noted that the crowd was “larger than ever seen here before, and excepting the Peace Jubilee, probably the largest crowd which ever came together on one occasion in this city.”13 Fans were standing on the fence and on nearby rooftops to watch this inaugural event.

The crowd applauded as the new Boston team took the field, looking very much like the old Cincinnati club, with a white flannel shirt, knee breeches, cap, red belt, red necktie, white shoes, and the name of the club in block letters across the shirt. And we mustn’t forget the red stockings, which also made their debut that day, making this “the neatest uniform yet originated,” according to the Journal.14

While no play-by-play account of the game exists, it’s safe to say the 41-10 Boston win was historic but not a classic. After a scoreless first inning, Boston broke out with 10 runs in the second, through some “fine heavy hits, assisted by field errors of their opponents.”15 “This was a long inning,” the Journal elaborated.16 Three more runs came across in the third inning, with runs from Sam Jackson, George Wright, and Barnes, and the score was now 13-0 Boston. They added 11 more runs in the fourth inning, and then the Picked Nine answered with a run of their own to cut Boston’s lead to 24-1. Both teams scored six times in the sixth inning, the Picked Nine’s runs mostly coming courtesy of Boston errors. The lead through seven innings was Boston 32-9, and the final score of 41-10 ended the first game of a Boston professional baseball team. Boston’s George Wright had four total bases in the game and scored four runs, while Harry Wright also scored four times. Jackson scored seven runs, McVey six, and Gould five. Spalding pitched the entire game for Boston.

For the Picked Nine, third baseman Frank Barrows scored twice, as did right fielder Dave Birdsall, a Boston player who played for the Picked Nine that day. First baseman Maxson Mortimer “Mort” Rogers led the Picked Nine with three hits. Left fielder William Ellery Channing Eustis, second baseman Horatio Stevens White, center fielder John Cheever Goodwin, and shortstop Archibald McClure Bush were Harvard players. Catcher William M. “Met” Bradbury, pitcher James D’Wolf Lovett, and Rogers were players from the Lowell team. Barrows was from the Tri-Mountain club, and would later that season play 18 games for Boston, the only player of the Picked Nine to play professional baseball. “It is quite apparent,” the Journal remarked, “that a nine picked from two or three clubs, be they ever so good players, do not do so well as in their own club.”17

“Of course the Picked Nine were defeated,” espoused the Harvard Advocate, “but not ‘of course’ as badly as the result shows. Never was the fact made equally manifest that working together constitutes a club’s strongest point. The men played each for himself, and the effect was a brilliant series of abortive efforts at even medium play.”18

Boston fans had now seen the stars of the old legendary Cincinnati Red Stockings who were now their Boston Red Stockings. “George Wright fully maintained his reputation as the model base ball player of the country,” wrote the Journal. “Some of his stops, fly catches and throws Thursday equaling anything seen on a ball field. … Harry Wright also played well up to his usual standard of excellence. … McVey bids fair to succeed to the laurels of catcher par excellence of the country. … Spalding will rank among the best professional pitchers of the country. He has good command over the ball, which he sends into the bat at a speed somewhat less than a cannon ball.”19

Today, Boston’s MBTA subway rumbles into Ruggles Station, and busy Northeastern University students and other hurried Bostonians pass by the spot where the South End Grounds once stood. Only an overlooked, lonely plaque remains to tell us of the origins of professional baseball in Boston and of the beginnings of the Atlanta Braves franchise.

Except for a few extraordinary baseball cards.

This article was originally published in “Boston’s First Nine: The 1871-75 Boston Red Stockings” (SABR, 2016), edited by Bob LeMoine and Bill Nowlin. To read more articles from this book at the SABR Games Project, click here.

Sources

Besides the sources cited in the text, the author benefited from the following sources:

Batesel, Paul. Players and Teams of the National Association, 1871-1875 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2012).

Devine, Christopher. Harry Wright: The Father of Professional Baseball (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2003).

Harvard Book: A Series of Historical, Biographical, and Descriptive Sketches. Harvard University Archives. Retrieved May 16, 2015, https://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.arch:15010.

Harvard College Class of 1873 Ninth Report of the Secretary. Boston: Rockwell & Church Press, 1913. Retrieved May 16, 2015. https://books.google.com/books?id=tdglAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA20&ots=3R35K_uW_d&dq=John%20Cheever%20Goodwin%20Harvard%20class%20of%201873&pg=PA19#v=onepage&q&f=false.

Report of the Secretary of the Class of 1871 of Harvard College, Issue 11. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Class, 1921. Retrieved May 16, 2015, https://books.google.com/books?id=vCZOAAAAMAAJ&dq=inauthor%3A%22Harvard%20university.%2C%20Class%20of%201871%22&pg=PP5#v=onepage&q&f=false.

Articles

Bevis, Charlie. “Ivers Adams,” The Baseball Biography Project, SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/813abb83, accessed May 1, 2015.

Brooks, Jimmy. “Columbus Lot Slabbed Where Boston’s Historic South End Grounds Once Stood,” Huntington News, January 9, 2014. Accessed May 16, 2015, https://huntnewsnu.com/2014/01/columbus-lot-slabbed-where-bostons-historic-south-end-grounds-once-stood/.

Thorn, John. “Baseball’s First League Game: May 4, 1871,” https://ourgame.mlblogs.com/2012/02/07/baseballs-first-league-game-may-4-1871/ accessed May 12, 2015.

Voigt, David Quentin. “The Boston Red Stockings: The Birth of Major League Baseball,” New England Quarterly vol. 43 no.4 (1970), 531-549.

 Websites

“1871-1872 Boston Red Stockings Archive.” Antiques Roadshow. Public Broadcasting System, 2014. https://pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/season/19/new-york-ny/appraisals/1871-1872-boston-red-stockings-archive–201407A12, accessed May 15, 2015.

Notes

1 Based on Adams’s recollection at the founding of the team a year later. “The Boston Base Ball Club: Meeting of the Stockholders — A History of the Enterprise — Organization of the Association and Election of Officers,” Boston Traveler, January 21, 1871.

2 George V. Tuohey, A History of the Boston Base Ball Club … A Concise and Accurate History of Base Ball From Its Inception (Boston: M.F. Quinn & Co., 1897), 61 [Google Books version]. A special petition was submitted to the Massachusetts Legislature to grant a charter for a new baseball club with no less than $10,000 capital stock at $100 per share. Acquiring the services of George and Harry Wright was now the top priority. “A Boston Professional Base Ball Nine,” Boston Journal, November 15, 1870: 2.

3 “Base Ball Matters,” Boston Journal, November 25, 1870: 4.

4 “Boston and Vicinity: The Boston Professional Nine,” Boston Journal, December 3, 1870: 3.

5 David Quentin Voigt, American Baseball: From the Gentleman’s Sport to the Commissioner System (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966), 34.

6 “The Boston Base Ball Club: A Permanent Organization Effected All the Players Engaged,” Boston Journal, January 21, 1871: 1.

7 Adams was elected president of the club, along with vice president John A. Conkey, treasurer Harrison Gardiner, secretary Harry Wright, and “fifth director” G.H. Burditt. “The Boston Nine. Organization of the Boston Base Ball Association — History of the Movement — Adoption of By-Laws and Election of Officers,” Boston Herald, January 21, 1871.

8 The Boston club was one of eight teams pay the $10 fee to join. The others were the Philadelphia Athletics, New York Mutuals, Washington (D.C.) Olympics, Troy (New York) Haymakers, Chicago White Stockings, and two teams sharing the same name: the Cleveland Forest City club and the Rockford (Illinois) Forest City club. Before the season began, a ninth club joined: the Fort Wayne (Indiana) Kekiongas.

9 “Base Ball: Opening Match of the Boston Club — The Picked Nine Defeated, 41 to 10 — Other Matches,” Boston Journal, April 7, 1871: 2.

10 “Affairs About Home: Baseball,” Boston Herald, April 8, 1871: 4.

11 “Base Ball: Opening Match of the Boston Club.” The Union Grounds opened on June 19, 1869, on the east side of the Providence Railroad track, near Milford Place on Tremont Street. The game was between the Brooklyn Atlantics and a picked nine from the Lowell, Massachusetts, and Tri-Mountain clubs. The Boston Herald reported that despite the large crowd the game was long and tedious as foul balls over the fence had to be chased down. See “Affairs About Home.”

12 “Base Ball: Opening Match of the Boston Club.”

13 “Affairs About Home: Baseball,” Boston Herald, April 8, 1871: 4. The “Peace Jubilee” was a massive music festival in Boston organized by band leader Patrick S. Gilmore to celebrate the end of the Civil War. The celebration was held for a week in June 1869, and included thousands of instrumentalists and singers in a specially built coliseum to hold the enormous crowd. Among the celebratory masses were President Ulysses S. Grant and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes. This was the first so-called “monster” festival in 19th century America. See Roger L. Hall. “Peace Jubilees,” Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press, accessed May 5, 2015, https://oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/A2252160.

14 Ibid.

15 “Base Ball: Opening Match of the Boston Club”

16 Ibid.

17 Ibid.

18 “The Games on Thursday,” Harvard Advocate, Vol. XI. No. V, April 14, 1871, 69. Retrieved May 9, 2015. books.google.com/books?id=PN3OAAAAMAAJ&lpg=PA69&ots=E3t8MgYPD&dq=%22picked%20nine%22%20%22eustis%22&pg=PA69#v=onepage&q&f=false.

19 “Base Ball: Opening Match of the Boston Club.”

Ivers Whitney Adams’s assembled dream team of Boston Red Stockings was designed to have an exciting and superior baseball season in 1871. But after winning their very first two games on the road, their initial home appearance at the South End Grounds, between Columbus Avenue and the South End railroad yards, proved disastrous. The 29-14 Opening Day thrashing there by the Troy Haymakers on May 16 shocked local fans. But who could have known that Troy’s 15-run margin would be the largest Adams’s stars ever suffered in their 292 NA games? Later success unknowable at the time, it was not the way to begin their inaugural “homestand” before highly expectant fans.

A few days later Boston made amends by beating pitcher-manager John Dickson McBride and his strong Athletics of Philadelphia, 11-8, behind Harry Wright’s and Charlie Gould’s hitting and a seven-run inning. All seemed well again. Making its debut that day at the Grounds was the ever-enterprising Max Mort Rogers’ “elegant new scorecard with Harry’s picture on the cover,” noted the Boston Herald.1 The mediocre Washington Olympics were the next visitors, featuring pitcher Asa Brainard, the iconic hurler of the Cincinnati Red Stockings with whom four of the now Boston Red Stockings played in 1869 and ’70. The other half of Cincinnati’s legendary barnstorming team also had signed with Washington: catcher Doug Allison, third baseman Fred Waterman, outfielder Andy Leonard, and infield sub Charlie Sweasy. Joining them was the little fireball, Davy Force, at second.

Businessman Adams had signed Cincinnati brother-stars Harry and George Wright back in January, along with catcher Cal McVey and first sacker Gould. By late April Charlie Gould and George Wright were already in the sporting-goods business on Boylston Street. Star batsman and shortstop George Wright missed the Troy trouncing and nearly half the season because of an injury, but the other Red Stockings certainly appeared to have enough combined talent to win without him. Of note also on Boston’s roster was Albert Spalding of the old Rockford Forest Citys amateurs, who was in the pitcher’s box with his Rockford second baseman, Ross Barnes, behind him, while Philly native Harry Schafer played third and tough David Birdsall of the New York Morrisania club patrolled the outfield with manager Harry Wright.

Spalding was terrific for seven innings against Washington (allowed three hits) and held a 4-1 lead as Boston scored its four in the third inning. In the ninth a defensive collapse became crucial as with two outs and nobody on a few Boston errors (six total by Schafer) let Washington tie the score 4-4 just before umpire (and scorecard seller) Mort Rogers of the Lowell Club called the game because of darkness, a decision not agreed with by many of the spectators who enjoyed the exciting, small-score battle. Not only was it the Reds’ only tie in 1871, it was the only NA tie game ever in Boston. Both the Olympics and Red Stockings then boarded a late train and met to play each other at Brooklyn’s Union Grounds three days later in an unusual neutral site game on May 27. It is listed as a home game for Boston. The Reds jumped out to a comfy 5-1 lead before squandering it all in the final two innings and losing 6-5 to a rally sparked by ex-mates Allison, Waterman, and the pesky Force. Two sure wins were instead a very disappointing loss and tie. The Westernmost NA Rockford Forest Citys pro team then arrived in Boston. They had been thrown together in the final weeks before the National Association started and just did not have the all-around talent of the other clubs. Boston swept two, 25-11 and 11-10, winning in the ninth on Decoration Day, May 30, as Birdsall walked, made third on McVey’s hit, and scored on Gould’s single.

June brought Chicago’s White Stockings to the Hub with ace thrower George “The Charmer” Zettlein. George would be as much a thorn in the Red Stockings’ side as anyone for all five NAPBBP seasons. He was no stranger to four of them as Zett was the Brooklyn Atlantics hurler who beat the undefeated Cincy club in June 1870, 8-7 in 11 innings, garnering national headlines. However, on June 2, 1871, he was pounded for 10 runs in two innings and dejectedly walked to right field — replaced by third baseman Ed Pinkham. Pinkham didn’t have much on the ball but the Reds suddenly had less. Though wild at first, relief man Ed held the Reds to four more runs while Spalding lost his touch completely. Manager Harry Wright did so poorly in relief trying to quell the rally that Spalding came back in a second time to allow even more runs. The Chicagomen scattered 11 unanswered runs for a 16-14 victory, thanks to Brooklynites Pinkham (three runs) and shortstop Ed Duffy (three doubles, four runs). Tied in the ninth, Chicago got two hits, a Boston error, and two groundouts that scored the winning tallies. Relief winner Pinkham, (really an infielder) pitched twice more during the year, notching one save. He did not play in the NA beyond 1871. In this giveaway Boston made 12 errors, four by Schafer at third.

Twelve days went by before Albert George Pratt came to town with the Cleveland Forest Citys, which had lost the very first NA game, 2-0 to the Fort Wayne Kekiongas. Cleveland behind the hitting of catcher James Doc White (three hits/two RBIs), first baseman Jim Carleton (three hits/two RBIs), and third sacker Ezra Sutton (four hits/one run) maintained a slight lead for “Uncle Al.” In the ninth Boston needed three to win but plated just one, losing 8-7. Pratt tried for the next four years but never beat Boston again. Meanwhile the South End horror show continued as the solid New York Mutuals visited the Red Stockings. Pitcher Reinder “Rynie” Wolters gave the Reds fits, winning easily 9-3, getting two hits with one RBI himself, and getting help from Dickey Pearce (two hits/two runs) and Joe Start (three runs). Reds sub second sacker Sam Jackson had five errors of the 12 Boston committed. Only one other time in those five years would the Reds lose three consecutive South End games. (In late September of 1874 they lost three straight and five of six, but were far ahead in the standings by then.)  

Fort Wayne’s struggling Kekiongas paid the price for the Reds’ awful showing as they played the final homestand game before Boston left town. Spalding allowed the light-hitting Indiana club only a two-out, first-inning single by Jim Foran. The contest turned out to be Spalding’s best pitched NA game in terms of hits allowed, and the Red Stockings ripped the usually reliable Bobby Mathews (tosser of the league’s Opening Day 2-0 shutout of Rockford), 21-0. It was Spalding’s only shutout of the year and Bobby’s worst defeat in his NA career. The Reds stood at 6-5.

Still minus George Wright’s bat and defensive prowess, the Reds boarded a southbound train for Philly and were beaten by McBride, 20-8, at the new Jefferson Street Grounds at 25th. They rallied and whipped Brainard in Washington, but out West in Chicago Zettlein took his revenge, 7-1, easily the fewest runs scored in one game by the Bostons that year. That sequence left Adams’s Wrightmen at 7-7, their worst 14-game starting record during the five NA seasons. After George Wright rejoined the squad, the Reds were terrific and won their last seven home games, but enough damage had been done. In a close finish but behind the champ Athletics, the Reds could have/should have salvaged at least three of those home losses and tie that they suffered by blowing leads. Those victories would have given them a better final record than Philadelphia and therefore a clean sweep of all five National Association championships. Apparently the Red Stockings did learn a valuable lesson, and won 87 percent of their home games (113-17 the next 4½ years) after that hapless homestand from hell.

This article was originally published in “Boston’s First Nine: The 1871-75 Boston Red Stockings” (SABR, 2016), edited by Bob LeMoine and Bill Nowlin. To read more articles from this book at the SABR Games Project, click here.

Notes

1 “Affairs About Home,” Boston Herald, May 22, 1871: 4. The Boston Daily Advertiser offered more information about the scorecard: “Mort Rogers issued for the first time at the Boston-Athletic match, Saturday (May 20), his photograph score-card. Each of these cards contains the names of the players in order of striking, with their positions, and on its back a photograph of some prominent player. The card at the match, Saturday, had a capital picture of Harry Wright, by Black, and other members of the Boston club will figure on the cards for succeeding games here. It will be seen readily that a person can secure by the close of the season a record of all important games here, and a collection of photographs of the Boston club and all the leading base-ball players in the country. The idea is an excellent one, and Mr. Rogers will doubtless reap the remuneration he deserves. These cards will be sold inside the grounds.” Boston Daily Advertiser, May 22, 1871: 1.

In what would be a “prime time” matchup today, the first scheduled game of the new National Association of Professional Base Ball Players was to be a match of the now-disbanded Cincinnati Red Stockings, or what the Boston Advertiser called a matchup liken to “When Greek meets Greek.”2 Five of the old Red Stockings (Charlie Sweasy, Asa Brainard, Doug Allison, Andy Leonard, and Fred Waterman) signed with the Washington Olympics, while four signed with Boston (Harry and George Wright, Cal McVey, and Charlie Gould), which also took the Red Stockings name. A rainout on May 4 spoiled that storybook beginning of the association, yet the matchup still, according to the New York Clipper, was “the principal topic of interest in base ball circles east and west.”3 The matchup of Boston and Washington, which countered with the nickname of Blue Stockings, was a battle of two teams “torn from their Western admirers,” grumbled the Cincinnati Enquirer.4

“Long before the appointed time for calling play (4 P.M.), crowds could have been seen moving towards the grounds from all directions – hacks, ambulances and street-cars coming out heavily loaded … an eager and expectant multitude, numbering at least five thousand, were in waiting,” the National Republican wrote.5 The Olympic Grounds were located about 13 blocks north of the White House.6 Members of President Grant’s Cabinet, congressmen, and two British high commissioners, were in attendance.7 “The National Game of Base Ball has many admirers here at the Metropolis,” wrote Benjamin Perley Poore of the Boston Journal, “especially among those young men who are clerks in the Departments, and who need outdoor exercise.”8 This was the first official game in Boston’s professional baseball history.

Fans traveled from Cincinnati “anxious to witness the playing of those who gave the name of that pork packing metropolis such an honorable place in 1868, ’69 and ’70,” wrote Poore.9 There was a new team wearing red stockings with “the name ‘Boston’ emblazoned in scarlet letters upon the white flannel which covered their ample chests.”10

Umpire Hicks Hayhurst failed to appear, so Hervie Alden Dobson of the Flower City club of Rochester, New York, was chosen. Dobson was the baseball editor of the New York Clipper and had lost a leg in the Civil War but “moves about nimbly on crutches.”11 He was also a known friend of the Washington club and “it was generally remarked on the grand stand that the Bostons were playing against the Olympics and the umpire.”12 Dobson had also written a letter in the March 11, 1871, Clipper, suggesting batting averages should be determined by at-bats, not games played.13

Pitching for Washington was Brainard, “who rivals Lord Dundreary in his faultless attire and his whiskers,” Poore commented.14 Albert Spalding pitched for Boston.

At 3:30 P.M., the flags of both clubs were hoisted up the flagpole. Harry Wright won the coin toss and elected for Washington to bat first. Washington starters Sweasy and John Glenn were unable to play due to illness.

With runners at first and second in the first inning, Washington’s Doug Allison doubled on a fair-foul hit15 past third that scored Davy Force and put Everett Mills on third. George Wright’s throw of a George Hall grounder was wild, and Mills scored. Allison scored on a passed ball to make the score 3-0. Andy Leonard and the pitcher Brainard walked to load the bases, and then Harry Wright misplayed a fly ball by Henry Burroughs to center, and Hall scored. A groundball and another passed ball gave Washington a 6-0 lead over the error-prone Boston team.

Boston countered with one run in its half of the first, as George Wright walked and scored on a single by Cal McVey.

In the Washington second, Force led with a single, and Mills was hit by a pitch. Allison’s fair-foul loaded the bases with no outs. A single by Hall scored Force and Mills. George Wright and Henry Schafer collided on a pop fly hit by Leonard, and Allison scored. A single by Burroughs scored Leonard, and Washington led 10-1 after two innings.

In the Boston third, Spalding and George Wright scored on a throwing error by Allison. McVey reached on Harry Berthrong’s error, and Ross Barnes scored. Gould’s grounder scored Birdsall, and Schafer’s single scored McVey. Fred Cone walked to load the bases, and a groundout by Spalding scored Gould, making the score 10-7 Washington. George Wright hit back to the pitcher, but Schafer beat the throw to the plate. Seven runs scored on only two hits, making the score Washington 10-8.

In the fourth, singles by Hall and Brainard plus another error on George Wright loaded the bases for the Olympics. Berthrong walked, scoring Hall. Washington scored another run in the fifth to take a 12-8 lead, then added another three runs in the sixth inning, as another error by George Wright scored Burroughs and Berthrong. Barnes dropped a pop fly and Waterman scored. Washington led 15-8 after six innings.

In the Boston seventh, George Wright walked for the fourth time, advanced to second on a passed ball, and stole third. Barnes walked, and both runners scored on Allison’s throwing error. Allison also “had his thumb split by a ball,”16 and had to leave the game later. Birdsall scored on a single by Harry Wright, who scored on a double by Gould. Washington led 15-12.

In the Washington eighth, a groundball through George Wright’s legs scored Mills and Hall. A single by Burroughs scored Leonard. Washington pushed its lead to 18-12. In the Boston eighth, Schafer reached on an error by Norton, who was now playing third. He scored on a double by Cone, who then scored on a throwing error by Waterman, now catching. Wright scored on a double steal to cut the Washington lead to 18-15. Also in the eighth, “The umpire received an ugly blow on his only leg in the eighth inning, which keeled him over on the grass, but he soon recovered,” reported Poore.17

Boston held Washington scoreless in the ninth.

Harry Wright led off the Boston ninth with a walk and Gould singled. Both scored on Schafer’s triple to center, cutting the lead to 18-17. Spalding singled in Schafer to tie the game. George Wright singled, and Barnes doubled in Spalding with what would today be the walk-off run, but back then the entire inning had to be played out. Dave Birdsall tripled to right, scoring Barnes with Boston’s 20th run for the eventual 20-18 win. Boston tallied six of its 13 hits in the ninth inning, “when Brainard had dropped his pace to accommodate Waterman, who was catching,” wrote the Clipper.18 In those days with smaller rosters, the lack of a qualified backup catcher proved a game-changer that day for Washington.

“The victors were loudly applauded and warmly congratulated,” wrote Poore, “while the Olympics received many compliments for their plucky playing under the difficulties incident on the loss of three of their trained nine.”19

However, umpire Dobson was lambasted in the papers. “In several instances,” blasted the Boston Herald, “he called balls when they should have been strikes, and vice versa.”20 The Cincinnati Gazette declared that he “kept the bases full continually by calling every ball either as a strike or as a count, and the consequence was that the poorest batter got his base equally with the best.”21 A walk was definitely not as good as a hit in those days.

The Clipper, however, blamed the rule changes, not the umpire, for the chaos. “He umpired the game strictly in accordance with the letter of the new rules, never letting a ball pass after the first one, without it was either called ‘strike’ or a ‘ball.’ It is the first game so umpired here.” The rule change made an immediate impact on game strategy, the Clipper believed. In what sounds familiarly close to modern baseball strategy of taking pitches and making the pitcher work, “the Bostonians … won the game by waiting. Harry Wright’s orders were to wait for three balls, as they must necessarily come before three strikes in nine cases out of ten. … (F)orty-six strikes were called on the Boston to twelve on the Olympic, showing that the game was won by simply waiting. Truly not very scientific play.”22 Boston walked 18 times, Washington, 10.

The Cincinnati Gazette, not surprisingly, wasn’t impressed with the new Red Stockings. “The Reds made several wretched muffs, such as dropping flies, overthrows and general bad playing. They will have to vastly improve before they will be up to the old Red Stocking discipline.”23

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to John Thorn for research assistance in writing this article.

Photo caption

An advertisement in the May 4, 1871 edition of the Daily National Republican in Washington, D.C. This was the first regular-season game in Boston professional baseball history. It was rained out and played on May 5.

Notes

1 Benjamin Perley Poore, “Base Ball at Washington. The First Match for the National Championship. The Boston Club Victorious,” Boston Journal, May 6, 1871: 1. Note: The article is signed at the bottom with “Perley.” Benjamin Perley Poore (1820-1887) was a Washington correspondent for the Boston Journal (1854-1883) and other newspapers, covering mostly Congress and politics. He used his trademark “Perley” on his articles. Joseph P. McKerns. “Poore, Benjamin Perley,” in American National Biography Online, February 2000. https://anb.org/articles/16/16-01311.html; accessed July 24, 2015.

2 “The Red Stockings vs. Blue Stockings Base-Ball Match,” Boston Advertiser, May 8, 1871: 4.

3 “Grand Match at Washington,” New York Clipper, April 29, 1871: 26.

4 “Base-Ball. The Great Game at Washington. Boston Club Victorious,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 6, 1871: 1.

5  “Base Ball. The Great Game. Boston 20 – Washington 18,” Daily National Republican, May 6, 1871: 4.

6 The Olympic Grounds were bounded by 17th Street NW on the west, 16th Street NW on the east, and S Street NW to the south. Paul Batesel, Players and Teams of the National Association, 1871-1875 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2012), 196 [Google Ebook edition]. According to the National Republican, (January 27, 1870), work began on the new Olympic Grounds in early 1870. A block of ground bounded by 16th and 17th and R and S Streets were fenced in with an eight-foot fence. They also erected “a beautiful cottage-style club-house, painted in lavender and white, set back from the street, inclosed by a neat picket fence, to be decorated by a flower garden in front, when the season shall justify.” Two tiers of seats of 125 feet long, with five rows of seats in each tier, were assembled and could hold 1,000 spectators.  Between the tiers was a space of 40 feet, above which the scorers and writers would stand. The total size of the grounds were said to be 426 feet by 450 feet, with an excellent drainage system.  The grounds were formally opened on April 27, 1870, for the then-amateur Washington Olympic Base Ball Club, according to the April 30 edition of the Republican. The fences were “colored with a wash of bluish tint,” and seating accommodated over 1,000 spectators.  A year later, with the Olympics becoming a professional club and acquiring an influx of new talent, the grounds were improved. The Republican (January 20, 1871) noted that double train tracks were to be put in place by the Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company along 14th Street to accommodate visitors. The Republican (April 7, 1871) noted that by the opening of the baseball season that there was a line of covered seats constructed to accommodate 2,500 spectators. The west side of the grounds contained a section seating 600, and along the north side was a section seating 1,200 along the entire width of the grounds. The grandstand was called “The Grand Duchesse.” The grandstand was 60 feet long and 12 feet in width, and could accommodate 200, with front seats reserved for the press. The east side had a row of uncovered seats accommodating 500. The northwest end of the section with covered seats was a “refreshment stand provided with eatables and drinkables in abundance for the benefit of the inner man. Many persons visiting the grounds to witness a game are compelled to go without their dinners, and this eating saloon, no doubt, will receive its full share of patronage.”

7 The two British high commissioners were among several in Washington from February 27 to May 8 to draw up the Treaty of Washington. After the Civil War, tensions were high between the United States and United Kingdom over the latter’s role in assisting the Confederacy during the war. The treaty settled various disputes between the countries. Theodore A. Wilson, “Treaty of Washington.” Salem Press Encyclopedia (January 2014): Research Starters, EBSCOhost (accessed June 14, 2015).

8 “Base Ball. The Great Game. Boston 20 – Washington 18.”

9 Poore.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid.

13 John Thorn, “Chadwick’s Choice: The Origin of the Batting Average.” Our Game.  Published September 18, 2013. https://ourgame.mlblogs.com/2013/09/18/chadwicks-choice-the-origin-of-the-batting-average/.

14 Poore.

15 A fair-foul hit was one that landed started fair and rolled foul, even in the infield. In baseball’s early days, this was scored a hit, as opposed to the modern game’s foul ball. Some batters excelled at hitting fair-fouls.

16 Poore.

17 Ibid.

18 “The Professional Championship. Boston vs. Olympic,” New York Clipper, May 13, 1871: 42.

19 Poore.

20 “Base Ball. Boston vs. Olympic,” Boston Herald, May 8, 1871: 2.

21 “Base Ball. The Red Stockings of Boston vs the Olympics of Washington. All in the Family,” Cincinnati Gazette, May 6, 1871.

22 “The Professional Championship.” The rules of umpires calling balls and strikes had changed, based on the action of the convention in November 1870, and both of the split amateur and professional leagues approved these in March of 1871. “The Base-Ball Guide for 1871,” published after these conventions, stated in Rule II, Section II, “Should the pitcher repeatedly fail to deliver to the striker fair balls, from any cause, the umpire must call one ball; and if the pitcher per­sists in such action, two and three balls. When three balls shall have been called, the striker shall take the first base without being put out.” Rule III, Section II stated, “The striker shall be privileged to call for either a high or low ball, in which case, the pitcher must deliver the ball to the bat as required. The ball shall be considered a high ball if pitched between the height of the waist and the shoulder of the striker; and it shall be considered a low ball if pitched between the height of the knee and the waist.” (This text is taken from https://retrosheet.org/1871Rules.doc.) The first pitch was not called anything unless the batter swung. Strictly calling balls and strikes as the rules dictated, based on the striker’s (batter’s) request of “high” or “low,” resulted in more bases on balls. This outraged fans as it “took the bat out of player’s hands,” and made for a less interesting game. Still, there was disagreement over the actual rules themselves, something not uncommon in the NAPBBP. See David Nemec, The Great Encyclopedia of 19th Century Baseball (New York: David Fine Books, 1997), 7-8; William J. Ryczek, Blackguards and Red Stockings: A History of Baseball’s National Association, 1871-1875 (Wallingford, Connecticut: Colebrook Press, 1992), 17; Peter Morris, Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That Shaped Baseball: The Game on the Field (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2006), 17-20.

23 “Base Ball. The Red Stockings of Boston vs the Olympics of Washington.”

The night before, the visiting Troy Haymakers quartered at the United States Hotel and were “accompanied by quite a large delegation of their friends,” wrote the Boston Journal.2

Both “nines made their appearance on the field, and were greeted with hearty cheers by the large crowd of spectators in attendance, numbering some 2,500,” the Journal wrote.3 Mortimer M. Rogers, of the Star Club of Brooklyn, was chosen as the umpire, and the game began at 3:30 PM.4 Boston’s Harry Wright lost the toss, so Boston batted first.

Al Spalding was pitching the first home opener for Boston. Spalding was off to a 2-0 start with a 4.00 ERA. Troy sent a 22-year-old John McMullin to the mound. McMullin was seeking redemption for the loss he received in his first start against Boston a week prior, although he only gave up 3 earned runs in a complete-game loss. Boston’s George Wright was unable to play after injuring himself in a game at Troy the previous week. Left fielder Fred Cone didn’t hear Wright calling for a fly ball because of a passing train, leading to a collision.5 Wright injured his leg and would play in only 16 games in 1871.

It was an explosive first inning for both teams. Boston’s Ross Barnes led off, grounding to Steve Bellan, who threw wildly to first and Barnes was safe at second. Barnes scored on a single to center by Dave Birdsall. Cal McVey doubled to left, scoring Birdsall, then moved to third on a groundout. Charlie Gould grounded to Edward Beavens at second, scoring McVey. With two outs, Harry Schafer second on another error. Fred Cone grounded to Beavens, who threw wildly to first and Schafer scored. “Spalding made two bases on a corker to left field,”6 the Journal described, scoring Cone. Sam Jackson singled home Spalding, giving Boston fans the delight of seeing their club tally a 6-0 lead in their inaugural inning.

Boston was sloppy in the field, however. Mike McGeary of the Haymakers reached on a throwing error, then stole second. Gould’s muff landed Tom York at first and McGeary went to third. McGeary scored when Barnes threw wild in an attempted double-play and the pitcher McMullin, batting cleanup, reached first. Steve King doubled, scoring McMullin. A Beavens’ grounder would have been an easy out, “but H. Wright was pushed aside by King, just as he was fielding the ball,” and King scored. Troy had cut Boston’s lead in half, 6-3.

In the Boston second, Barnes scored on a passed ball to make the score Boston 7-3. The inning ended when a “splendid throw”7 by Clipper Flynn cut down Birdsall who tagged up.

In the Troy third inning, Beavens singled home King on a fair-foul, then Bellan scored on Lipman Pike’s triple to cut Boston’s lead to 7-5. The inning also saw Craver ground out to Schafer, whose throw resulted in Gould “taking the ball high in one hand.”8

In the Haymaker fourth inning, McGeary walked and stole second. York reached on a dropped popup by Barnes. McMullin singled home McGeary, then King reached on a single, scoring York. Beavens singled, scoring McMullen and King. Beavens scored on a passed ball. Bill Craver singled to left, scoring Bellan. Six runs scored, and Troy now led 11-7.

Boston struck for two runs in the fifth inning. Harry Wright walked. A sharp liner by Gould was caught by Bellan, who tried to double-up Wright at first, but his throw went through Pike’s hands “and injured him so as to cause a temporary suspension of the game.”9 Schafer got a broken-bat single, and both scored on wild throws by Craver and Pike to cut the Troy lead to 11-9.

In the Troy sixth, Beavens reached on a wild Harry Wright throw, stole second, and reached third “on a muff between Harry and Barnes,”10 then scored on a sacrifice fly. Craver and Flynn reached on errors by Schafer and Barnes, then both scored on McGeary’s single. McGeary scored on a Birdsall muff of a York fly ball, and after the comedy of errors, Troy had added four more runs for a 15-9 lead.

Boston countered with two runs in the seventh to cut the lead to 15-11. Gould sent a fly ball to Flynn who “took it very close to the ground.” McVey ran to third base on the play. The Haymakers wanted an appeal on the catch by Flynn. Rogers ruled the batter out on the fly. Play was about to resume when Craver then asked for an appeal on McVey, “it being claimed that he failed to touch the second base before running on the play.”11 Rogers ruled McVey out for failing to touch second base, ending the inning. This must have been a replay challenge, circa 1871.

In the seventh, the Haymakers scored 11 runs in the inning, “but two or three being earned,” wrote the Journal.12 Beavens, Bellan and Pike all scored on a hit to short center field by Craver, who then scored on a hit by Flynn. An error by Schafer put McGeary on base, followed by a York double. McMullen, “got to his first, while Harry Wright, Barnes, and Jackson stood in a triangle watching, any which either might have taken” wrote the Herald.13 McMullen and York scored on a double by King, who then was out trying to steal third. Beavens and Bellan singled, and Cone muffed a Pike fly ball to load the bases. Craver “cleared the bases and took the second by a hot grounder to left field” wrote the Herald.14 Troy now had a 26-11 lead.

Boston scored two runs in the eighth, but Troy wasn’t done yet. A walk and another error on Schafer led to York and McMullin scoring on King’s double. Three runs came across to make the score Troy 29-13. Boston added a lonely run in the ninth, and the final score was 29-14.

“There is no mincing the matter at all,” wrote the Journal, “our ‘Red Stockings were beaten by the ‘Haymakers’ in the match game yesterday. It was not only a beat, but a bad beat.” Fans witnessed “the rather slovenly exhibition made by the Bostons.”15 The loss of George Wright was a big factor, “but this is hardly an excuse,” the Journal whined, “for errors in others nearly as proficient in their own positions as he most certainly is in his.”16 The first opening day was known for “muffs and errors being frequent in all parts of the field” slammed the Herald, as Boston committed 15 errors and Spalding’s pitching “void of its usual effects.”17 The highly-anticipated home opener  did not live up to expectations, “for the credit of Boston,” wrote the Boston Post, “we could have wished it were played elsewhere.”18

The Journal seemed to give a hint of fans sensing heartbreak in losing on opening day (something that would often be repeated in Boston baseball history). “To think that our boys, on whom we depend so much, who, we began to believe, were invincible, should be so thoroughly defeated on their ground, is rather tough…[ George Wright’s] “absence from the field seemed to demoralize to a certain extent the whole club.”19 The 29 runs allowed by the Red Stockings were the most runs allowed in a game in the 1871-1875 period. Only on two other occasions did they allow 20 or more runs in a game (20 runs on June 22, 1871, and 22 runs on June 5, 1873). 

“We congratulate the Haymakers,” wrote the Journal, “and beg to advise them that when our nine are all right again they propose to retake the wreath which they lost yesterday, and hold it to the end of the season. Meanwhile, the Haymakers had as well wear it as any other club, and we wish them joy in having so finely demonstrated their worthiness to do so.”20

The Haymakers stayed in town another day, playing on the same field against Harvard, and losing 15-8 to the “flyers of the magenta.” That evening, the Haymakers left on the 9 o’clock train on the Boston and Albany Railroad.21

Photo Caption

Advertisement for the first Opening Day in Boston’s professional baseball history, Boston Herald, May 16, 1871. 

Sources

Thanks to Dixie Tourangeau for research assistance in writing this article.

Notes

1 “Local Matters. About Town,” Boston Advertiser, May 16, 1871: 1.

2 “Base Ball. First Defeat of the Boston Club,” Boston Journal, May 17, 1871: 1.

3 Ibid. Actual attendance accounts ranged from 2,500-8,000 spectators depending on the newspaper.

4 Maxson Mortimer “Mort” Rogers had an interesting baseball career prior to this game. A Brooklyn native, Rogers was the son of a fish dealer. In the 1860’s, Rogers and his two brothers played for the Brooklyn Resolutes amateur club. He later moved to Massachusetts and played center field for the Lowell Club and was called an outfielder “ahead of his time,” wrote James D’Wolf Lovett in his Old Boston Boys and the Games They Played (Boston: Riverside Press, 1907), 165. “There is no player who can run in to a swiftly batted liner and pick it up within six inches of the ground better than he could,” D’Wolf said. Rogers and E.E. Rice became involved with the New England Base Ballist, a weekly sports newspaper which ran from August-December of 1868. The first edition announced “After a long and arduous experience in reporting and playing Base Ball, we have at last the pleasure of addressing the Fraternity, and friends, through the medium of the Editorial columns of a paper devoted to the interests of our National Game, other Field and outdoor Sports, Music and the Drama.” The paper evolved into the National Chronicle, edited by Rogers, Rice, and C. Ruthven Bryan, and ran 1869-1870. In the 1870s, Rogers wrote for the Sunday Mercury newspaper and produced scorecards of Boston’s games, the first to include photographs of the players. See Peter Morris “Clipper Base Ball Club of Lowell,” in Baseball Founders: The Clubs, Players, and Cities of the Northeast that Established the Game (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2013), and the New York Clipper, May 21, 1881: 138.

5 Harold Kaese. The Boston Braves 1871-1953 (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1954), 9.

6 Ibid.

7 “Affairs About Home. Base Ball. The Professional Championship –– Haymakers vs. Red Stockings –– The Latter Badly Whipped –– Score 29 to 14,” Boston Herald, May 17, 1871: 1.

8 “Affairs About Home. Base Ball,”

9 “Base Ball. The National Championship–– Red Stockings vs. Haymakers,” Boston Advertiser, May 17, 1871: 1.

10 “Affairs About Home. Base Ball,”

11 “Base Ball. The National Championship,”

12 “Base Ball. First Defeat of the Boston Club,”

13 “Affairs About Home. Base Ball,”

14 “Affairs About Home. Base Ball,”

15 “R Beaten!” Boston Journal, May 17, 1871: 4. (Note: The author isn’t exactly sure if the article headline is “R” or “B,” based on the poor quality of the digitally scanned version of the Journal. However, he is convinced it is “R” based on other examples on the page, and “R” would stand for “Red Stockings,” although no experts were consulted in its analyses.

16 “Base Ball. First Defeat of the Boston Club,”

17 “Affairs About Home. Base Ball,”

18 “Base Ball. Match Between the Boston Nine and the Haymakers, of Troy–– the Boston Club Badly Beaten,” Boston Post, May 17, 1871: 3.

19 “R Beaten!”

20  Ibid.

21 “Base Ball. Credible Victory for the Harvards,” Boston Journal, May 18, 1871: 1.

The amateur Lowell Base Ball Club of Boston hosted the Kekiongas on Tuesday, June 20; the Fort Wayne nine lost by a score of either 12-2 or 10-2.2 At 3:35 the following afternoon, the Kekiongas faced the Boston Red Stockings before a crowd of about 700 at Boston’s South End Grounds. On the mound for the Red Stockings was 21-year-old right-hander Albert Goodwill Spalding, making his 12th start of the season. The Kekiongas countered with 20-year-old right-hander Bobby T. Mathews, making his 12th start of the season. Harry Wright managed and played center field for the Reds while catcher Bill Lennon managed the Fort Wayne nine. Harry Wright’s brother, George, did not play in this game. M.M. Rogers of the Star Brooklyn Club assumed umpiring responsibilities. 

The Reds batted first and shortstop Ross Barnes reached first on a fly to “short field.”3 He advanced to third on a passed ball and right fielder Dave Birdsall reached first on an error by third baseman Williams.4 Birdsall stole second and scored along with Barnes on a double by catcher Cal McVey. In making a play on a popup by second baseman Sam Jackson, Kekiongas catcher Bill Lennon collided with pitcher Mathews. Mathews needed time to collect himself, but returned to the mound and completed the game. An out made by first baseman Charlie Gould ended the top of the first.

The Kekiongas sent four men to bat in the bottom of the first, and scored no runs. The top of the second began shakily for the Kekiongas as passed balls, dropped flies, and errant throws allowed the Reds to score six runs. The inning started with an error by Pete Donnelly in right field that allowed Harry Schafer to reach first. Schafer advanced to third on a passed ball. Left fielder Fred Cone walked and stole second; Lennon’s poor throw allowed Cone to advance to third and Schafer to score. After Spalding popped up to Williams for the first out, Barnes singled to left, advanced to third on Foran’s inaccurate throw to home plate, and saw Cone score. Donnelly muffed Birdsall’s popup and Barnes scored. McVey hit to third, where Williams made a clean play and good throw to first, but first baseman Charles Bierman dropped the ball. Jackson flied out to Jim Foran for the second out, but Birdsall and McVey scored on another passed ball. Harry Wright then singled to right, advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored on Charlie Gould’s hit to left. Gould stole second but was left there as Schafer flied out to Kelly. Six runs had scored. Despite errors by the Bostons in the bottom of the second, the Fort Wayne team again was unable to score. They did make changes on the field, however, with Williams moving from third base to catcher, Lennon from catcher to shortstop, and Wally Goldsmith from shortstop to third.

Each team exhibited solid fielding in innings three through six; only two runs were scored, both by the Reds. In the top of the seventh, the Red Stockings demonstrated good batting and fine baserunning. At one point, with the bases loaded and McVey at bat, Harry Schafer, who was running for Birdsall, was caught in a rundown. He managed to evade a tag until two more runs had scored. Although the Kekiongas had a baserunner reach third in their half of the seventh, they could not score and the Reds now led the contest 14-0.  

The Bostons sent four men to bat in the top of the eighth, and did not score. The Kekiongas did have baserunners in the bottom of the eighth, but none were able to reach home. This inning did see a close play at first, however. Williams had reached first on an error by Barnes; he advanced to second after Mathews earned a walk. However, on the next at bat, left fielder Foran flied out to Schafer, whose quick throw to first caught Mathews, who had started to run. The umpire’s call was “a doubtful decision,” the Advertiser wrote.5

The Red Stockings held a commanding lead by the top of the ninth inning, but their scoring for the day was not over. After left fielder Fred Cone flied out to Bill Kelly in center field, Spalding reached on first baseman Bierman’s error. He scored on Barnes’s single; Birdsall hit safely and drove in Barnes. McVey singled and drove in Birdsall. Wright and Gould reached base, and after a “heavy hit”6 by Schafer, scored. Before Cone ended the inning with an “easy”7 hit to Mathews, Schafer scored the seventh run of the inning on a passed ball. The score was now 21-0.

The Kekiongas closed out the game, which ended two hours after it had begun, with a quick 1-2-3 inning, and, as with each inning prior, scored no runs. Al Spalding had his sixth win and his only shutout of the 1871 season, a one-hitter.

The Boston Daily Advertiser summarized the game thus: “The score shows this to be one of the most remarkable games of record. The deportment of the Kekiongas on the field was excellent, and notwithstanding their severe defeat they maintained a perfect composure. The impression made by them here is favorable and our base-ball men heartily wish them better luck next time.”

The Boston Journal noted of the Kekiongas: “They are to be commended … for the plucky manner in which they played the concluding portion of the game against such odds.”

Rosters

Boston Red Stockings

• Ross Barnes, ss
• Dave Birdsall, rf
• Cal McVey, c
• Sam Jackson, 2b
• Harry Wright, cf (manager)
• Charlie Gould, lf
       Fred Cone, lf
• Harry Schafer, 3b
• Al Spalding, p

Fort Wayne Kekiongas

• Williams, 3b
• Bobby Mathews, p
• Jim Foran, lf
• Wally Goldsmith, ss
• Bill Lennon, c (manager)
• Tom Carey, 2b
• Charles Bierman, 1b
• Pete Donnelly, rf
• Bill Kelly, cf

Sources

In addition to the sources indicated in the notes, the author also consulted:

Wilbert, Warren N. Opening Pitch: Professional Baseball’s Inaugural Season, 1871 (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2008).

Notes

1 Before its settlement by French fur traders in the 17th century, the area that encompasses Fort Wayne had the Native American name Kekionga. It was the capital of the Miami nation. “History of Fort Wayne, Indiana.” u-s-history.com/pages/h2273.html.

2 The Boston Daily Advertiser of June 22, 1871, said the score was 12-2; the Boston Journal said it was 10-2.

3 “Base Ball, Visit of the Kekiongas – Their Defeat by the Boston Nine,” Boston Daily Advertiser, June 22, 1871.

4 Frank Sellman also played under the name Frank C. Williams. Sellman played third base, as did Williams in this game.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

The National Association began play in 1871. With neither a reserve nor a draft, the Cincinnati Base Ball Club had informed its players that it would not field a professional nine. The Cincinnati players soon found work with the Boston and Washington clubs, which stocked their rosters with these proven veterans. Boston manager Harry Wright took the name Red Stockings and three regulars, while manager Nick Young’s Olympics, nicknamed Blue Stockings, signed the other five to contracts.2

The game at Cincinnati offered something akin to a homecoming for the original Red Stockings during the Fourth of July holiday.  It offered the return of professional baseball to Cincinnati, a city that had a reputation for drawing a large crowd to a baseball game on Independence Day. Both Boston and Washington were in competition for the National Association championship.

From the old Reds, the Boston club started Cal McVey at catcher, Charlie Gould at first, and Harry Wright in center field. George Wright, the shortstop, did not travel to Cincinnati on this trip. The Olympic club fielded Fred Waterman at third base, Doug Allison at catcher, Andy Leonard at second, and Asa Brainard in the pitcher’s box. Second baseman Charlie Sweasy was on the Olympics roster but did not play.

The championship game was preceded by an exhibition on July 3 when the former 1869-1870 Cincinnati Red Stockings, the “Old Reds,” played a “Combination Nine,” consisting of players from the Boston and Washington nines who were not on the 1869-1870 Cincinnati nine. As George Wright was not present, 1870 Cincinnati substitute Harry Deane, of the 1871 Fort Wayne Kekiongas, appeared for the Old Reds. The Old Reds lost, 15-13. The result surprised the New York Clipper’s writer, but he noted George Wright’s absence, and observed that Charlie Sweasy was immobile fielding at second base, ineffective at bat, and someone who played for “advertising effects” only.3

The record for the National Association championship race showed Boston at 6-6, in sixth place, while Washington was in fourth at 9-7. The two clubs had previously played three games, each team winning one with one tie. The victor on July 4 would be in position to win their five-game series.  

Living up to its reputation for drawing power on July 4, this particular day was no different, with 5,000 Cincinnati spectators ready to watch the game between the Red Stockings and the Blue Stockings.

At 3:30 P.M. Dr. John Draper of the Cincinnati Base Ball Club was selected umpire and tossed the nickel. Captains Harry Wright and Charlie Sweasy watched the nickel land in the ground; Wright selected Boston to field first.4

In the top half of the first inning, the Olympics batted against pitcher Al Spalding. With one out, Davy Force reached first on a low drive to left. Everett Mills hit a ground ball directly to second baseman Barnes, who forced out Davy Force and threw to Gould to execute a double play. In the Boston half, Ross Barnes hit a ball hard to left, earning first base. Dave Birdsall hit a hopping ball to third baseman Waterman, who badly overthrew first base, enabling both Barnes and Birdsall to score. “This was a very unreasonable proceeding on Fred’s part,” wrote the Cincinnati Daily Gazette, “as he could not by any stretch of imagination have concluded that Mills could by personal exertion on the spur of the moment have added three cubits to his stature.”5 The Washingtons completed the inning with their own double play; Sam Jackson took off from first when Harry Wright hit a long fly ball, caught by John Glenn, who earned an assist when Jackson failed to get back to first base quickly enough.

In the top of the third inning, George Hall of the Olympics reached on an infield grounder to second baseman Barnes. Harry Berthrong followed with a hard ball to shortstop Jackson, who tossed the ball to Barnes at second, forcing out Hall. Waterman hit another to Jackson, who forced Berthrong at second but threw poorly to Gould at first base, and Waterman scampered to second base on the error. Washington scored when Waterman went home on two flies, first by Force — who reached on Birdsall’s error — and the second by Mills, who safely recorded a base hit with a fly to short left.

Boston increased its lead to 3-1 in the bottom half of the third inning. Fred Cone made second base when he executed a hit on a high fair-foul ball that Glenn could not reach from right field. Cone advanced to third base when Brainard was charged with a balk. Spalding then hit a line drive into left field. Berthrong grabbed it on the fly with one hand and made a throw to home plate, but Cone beat the throw, if only barely, and scored.

In the fourth inning Spalding had the breath knocked out of him when Glenn drove a pitched ball into his chest. Spalding managed to pick up the ball and throw the ball to Gould at first to force Glenn out. Washington completed another double play to end the bottom half of the fourth.

Both clubs scored in the fifth inning. In Washington’s half, Hall doubled on a hit to left and scored when Berthrong hit a fly ball to right. When Waterman hit a fast grounder through the left side, a good throw from outfielder Cone to Schafer caught Berthrong trying to make third. Waterman stole second base, but Mills and Force went out. In Boston’s half, Spalding hit a ball hard to third baseman Waterman, who overthrew first again, and Spalding took second. Barnes hit a line drive hard to Hall, who dropped it, and Barnes took first. Birdsall advanced the runners when he “rolled the ball” to Force and was out at first. McVey hit a drive over second and scored both Spalding and Barnes. The Reds led, 5-2.

In the sixth inning, both clubs scored the rest of their runs of the game, putting Boston up 7-3. In the top half, Allison drove a pitch into left for a single and then took second when Glenn hit one at Jackson and Barnes failed to cover second. Allison moved to third when Spalding made a balk and went home on Leonard’s fly out to Cone. Boston scored two runs during its half. The Clipper’s writer particularly noted Berthrong’s fielding: “Wright sent a long fly to left, which Berthrong took magnificently on the back run.”6 Gould singled to left. Schafer then doubled to left with a similar hit which advanced Gould to third. Force misplayed Cone’s grounder, which scored Gould, advanced Schafer to third, and placed Cone on first. The Red Stockings then executed a double steal, Cone taking second and Schafer scoring on the throw. Spalding and Barnes both grounded out.

Neither club scored the remainder of the game, although Boston ended the game with second and third bases occupied. The New York Clipper evaluated the 1-hour 45-minute game as a fine one, with great catching by the catchers (neither recording an error), good hitting and fielding, and fine umpiring.

Boston finished the championship season in third place with a 20-10 record, and Washington finished fourth, at 15-15. In head-to-head matchups between the two clubs, the Red Stockings won three games to the Olympics’ one, and they tied one game.

Sources

Unless otherwise noted, the game account is from the New York Clipper, July 15, 1871: 116. Certain details are from Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes

1 The Cincinnati Base Ball Club grounds were at the Union Grounds, at the foot of Richmond Street. See a reprint of the 1907 book by Harry Ellard, Base Ball in Cincinnati: A History (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., Inc., 1998), 24. The 8 acres were fenced and behind Lincoln Park near the Union Terminal. Stephen D. Guschov, The Red Stockings of Cincinnati: Base Ball’s First All-Professional Team (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., Inc., 1998), 10.

2 See Guschov, 133-137; the Washington Olympics were called the Blue Stockings in the Cincinnati Daily Gazette account of the game. See Cincinnati Daily Gazette, July 6, 1871: 4.

3 New York Clipper, July 15, 1871: 116. A complete account of the game is recorded in the Cincinnati Enquirer, July 4, 1871: 4.

4  Cincinnati Daily Gazette, July 6, 1871: 4.

5 Ibid.

6 The writer at the Chicago Tribune wrote, “For the Boston’s Harry Wright tremendous hard hit was taken in superb style by Berthrong, on a backward run, with his side turned toward the ball.” Chicago Tribune, July 5, 1871: 4.

Some 3,000 spectators arrived at the Haymakers’ Grounds with “the expectation that the occasion would be marked by one of the finest displays of the beauty of ball tossing science,” wrote the New York Clipper.2 George Wright returned to the Boston lineup for the first time since he injured his leg on that very field in May. Charlie Sweasy of the Washington Olympics was the umpire for the game.

The Boston Red Stockings were 10-7-1 and 4½ games from first place. Troy was 7-7-1 and six games behind. Albert Spalding of Boston would oppose John McMullin of Troy. Both pitchers started every one of their team’s games that season. 

Boston batted first. George Wright singled to left-center and made it to second on an error by Tom York. Ross Barnes walked. As Dave Birdsall struck out, Wright took off for third. Bellán began the game as the goat, muffing the throw from catcher Mike McGeary, ruining the double-play attempt and allowing Wright to score. Harry Wright singled to center and Barnes scored. Harry Wright scored on a double steal, and Boston had a 3-0 lead after the first inning.

In the bottom of the second, the Haymakers got a run back when Steve King reached second on first baseman Charlie Gould’s error. Lipman Pike singled King to third. Bellán began his path to redemption by singling to right-center, scoring King. A double play ended the inning, with Boston leading 3-1. In the top of the third, a triple by Barnes and a single by Cal McVey gave Boston a 4-1 lead.

The Haymakers erupted for five runs off Spalding in the bottom of the third. York singled and Dickie Flowers reached on an error by Harry Schafer at third. York scored on Clipper Flynn’s single, then King got a hit. Flowers scored on a passed ball by McVey, which then led to a comedy of errors. Pike hit a foul ball, but both runners, King and Flynn, “supposed that Pike was out, and started to take their fielding stations,” wrote the Troy Times.3 In the rules of the time, runners had to hurry back to their bases on foul balls at the risk of being put out. But a “series of wild throws to bases by Spaulding [sic]”4 in overthrowing bases allowed both King and Flynn to score. Pike reached on a hit, and another bad throw by Spalding put him at second. Pike made third on another passed ball, and scored on Bellán’s single past George Wright at shortstop. Only one run of the five was earned. Troy now led 6-4 after three innings. Spalding was obviously having a bad day, so Harry Wright decided to pitch and moved Spalding to center field in the fourth inning. McVey, also having a bad day, was replaced behind the plate by Birdsall, McVey moving to right field. The Haymakers offense didn’t let up, however, as York and Flowers both scored in the fourth, giving Troy an 8-4 lead.

The Red Stockings scored two runs in the top of the fifth, as George Wright reached second on a fair-foul hit to the left of home plate, went to third on a bad throw by McGeary, and scored on a bad throw from York to Bellán. Barnes also reached on a fair-foul, stole second, and scored on McVey’s single. The inning ended as Bellán made “a magnificent running foul bound catch,”5 that was called “the catch of the game” by the Troy Times6 and “which called forth several rounds of applause,” according to the Troy Whig.7

Not to be outdone, Troy answered with two more runs in the bottom of the inning. For whatever reason, all Boston fielders returned to their old positions, and Spalding was back on the mound.  Pike tripled on a “splendid line hit to South fence,” and Bellán singled him home. Troy now led 10-6 after five innings. Boston was held scoreless in the sixth, thanks again to Bellán, who caught a Spalding pop fly, then doubled off Harry Schafer scrambling back to second, “a pretty chance for a double play prettily taken,” according to the Troy Times.8

Boston scored two runs in the seventh inning as Fred Cone scored on George Wright’s double, Wright took third on an error, and he scored on a fly ball by Barnes. Boston had cut the lead to 10-8. Again the Haymakers countered, scoring three runs for a 13-8 lead. A muffed fly ball by Harry Wright was followed by a walk to McMullin. Bellán launched a triple to the center-field fence, scoring both runners. Bill Craver’s fly ball scored Bellán.

Boston scored two runs each in the eighth and ninth innings to keep the game close. In the ninth, George Wright scored on a passed ball to cut the lead to 13-11, and Barnes scored on a groundout. In the ninth, McVey, the potential tying run, doubled past third base with two outs, but was left stranded when Harry Wright grounded out to shortstop. “The ‘Mowers’ escaped from being beaten by a hair’s breadth,” wrote the Troy Whig.9

Bellán was 5-for-5, and “made either first, second or third base hits every time,” reported the Troy Times.10 After his brief professional baseball career (1871-1873), Bellán returned to Cuba and played in his native land’s first recorded organized baseball contest in 1874. Professional baseball began in Cuba four years later, and player-manager Bellàn led Havana to the championship,11 “warming the native people to the sport that would eventually consume a nation.”12 Maybe he told them tales of the day he went 5-for-5 in Troy, New York, and even the great Albert Spalding couldn’t get him out.

Photo caption

Esteban “Steve” Bellán, the first Latin-born player in professional baseball, went 5-for-5 against Al Spalding, leading Troy to the win against Boston. (Ars Longa Cards)

Notes

1 For more on the 1867 National Association of Base Ball Players, see MLB historian John Thorn’s November 12, 2012, blog entry “The Drawing of the Color Line, 1867” in https://ourgame.mlblogs.com/2012/11/12/drawing-of-the-color-line/.

2 “Haymakers vs. Boston,” New York Clipper, August 12, 1871.

3  “Thrashing the Reds,” Troy Daily Times, August 4, 1871: 3.

4 “Haymakers vs. Boston.”

5  Ibid.

6 “Thrashing the Reds.”

7 “The National Game,” Troy Whig, August 4, 1871.

8 “Thrashing the Reds.”

9 “The National Game.”

10 “Thrashing the Reds.”

11 “Cuban Baseball Yesterday,” https://pbs.org/stealinghome/history/.

12 Brian McKenna, “Steve Bellán,” SABR BioProject, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/78dbf37d.

The 1871 Cleveland Forest Citys, who committed 18 errors that day in losing to Boston, 31-10. (Courtesy of John Thorn) 

The Boston Red Stockings were riding a scoring spree. In three of the preceding seven games, they had scored 20 or more runs, with an average of 16.57 runs per game. When the Forest City club arrived in Boston for a Saturday game on September 2, 1871, the weather was ideal and a good game was expected — Cleveland had beaten Boston 8-7 the first time they met, then lost 12-8. Between 1,200 and 1,500 spectators turned out for the game. But “it proved a one-sided and unsatisfactory contest.”1 And it was the Boston Journal that found the 31-10 Red Stockings victory an unsatisfactory game, not a Cleveland paper.

The Journal noted the quality of the actual baseball used. The lopsided result “was owing in part to the ball which the Clevelands furnished, which was known as the Van Horn dead ball, but which proved an exceedingly lively one, and as the pitching was easy to bat, the consequence was the ball was batted all over the field.”2 The defense was unusually poor. Cleveland’s “catcher passed balls without number before he was changed.”3 (There were, in fact, 11 passed balls charged to Forest City’s three catchers. Neither Boston’s Dave Birdsall nor Cal McVey, who took over in the fifth, was charged any.) The Cleveland pitcher was necessarily changed, too, more than once, and with only 11 players on the team, and only nine in the game, the swapping around of pitchers and catchers inevitably destabilized other positions as well.

Boston scored three times in the first inning and added two more in the third. The score was 8-2 in Boston’s favor after six. Then things fell to pieces, for both teams. The Red Stockings batted first (as happened at times) and scored 12 runs in the seventh, the final three of them off the left fielder (and manager) Charlie Pabor, who came in to replace Al Pratt. Both Pratt and Pabor uncorked five wild pitches in the game. Boston threw none. The score was 20-2. Al Spalding was pitching for the Bostons, as he had in every one of the prior 21 games in the championship season. He weakened, and Cleveland scored eight runs in its half of the seventh inning. Harry Wright finished the game for Spalding, swapping places with Spalding going to center field.

With 11 passed balls and 10 wild pitches, one might think Boston’s batters could just stand at the plate and watch runs score, but they cracked out 24 hits, five of them (for 11 total bases, thanks to three triples — two of them in the eighth inning) by shortstop George Wright. Boston second baseman Ross Barnes tripled, too. Indeed, “they punished both Pratt and Pabor without mercy.”4

There were errors, of course, of an uncertain number. The Red Stockings team “made less than half a dozen fielding errors, and who made three double plays.”5 The best play seems to have been the seventh-inning 6-4 double play when third baseman Harry Schafer “made a brilliant one-hand stop, and by a quick throw to Barnes assisted in making the finest double play of the game.”6 None of the box scores otherwise tallied the number of errors assessed, nor did any of the game stories.

In the eighth, Pabor was hit for 11 more runs. The score stood Red Stockings 31, Forest Citys 10.  Forest City failed to score in the eighth. At that point, the Boston Post reported, “It was now getting late in the afternoon and the captain of the Forest Citys withdrew his nine and the ninth was not played.”7 That may have represented a biased point of view; the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote, “At the end of the eighth inning, it being late, the game was called by mutual consent.”8 The game had run 2 hours and 35 minutes, exceptionally long for the era. The Boston Journal probably got it right: After eight full innings, “as the Clevelanders had not a ghost of a chance for winning, they requested that the contest end there, and accordingly game was called.”

The final stood at 31-10. The game had been, as the Post allowed in understated fashion, “rather an uneven one.”9 That there had been a lot of errors was evident. If one counted only earned runs, the score was much closer: Boston 4, Forest Citys 3.10

Notes

1 Boston Journal, September 4, 1871: 4.

2 Boston Journal.

3 Boston Journal.

4 Boston Journal.

5 Boston Journal.

6 Boston Journal.

7 Boston Post, September 4, 1871: 3.

8 Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 4, 1871: 3.

9 Boston Post.

10 The earned-run totals are provided by the Cleveland Plain Dealer in its account.

On Tuesday, September 5, 1871, about 4,000 fans piled into Boston’s South End Grounds to see what the Boston Daily Advertiser described as “by all odds the most interesting [game] witnessed here this season.”1 Player-manager Harry Wright’s Red Stockings were in third place (13-9) and coming off an overwhelming, 31-10 victory over the Cleveland Forest Citys three days earlier in their first home contest since June 21. Their opponent, the Chicago White Stockings, was in first place (17-5), and had been victorious in nine of its last 10 games. Boston hoped to avenge losses in their first two meetings, 16-14 on June 2 and 7-1 on July 7. The pitching matchup featured two righties: Boston’s 21-year-old Al Spalding, en route to a National Association-high 19 victories, and Chicago’s George “The Charmer” Zettlein (so named because his supposedly ever-present smile and jolly disposition drew comparisons to “George the Charmer” in minstrel shows). Both Spalding and Zettlein had started every game for their clubs so far this season. The pitching mound was 50 feet from home plate, and pitchers threw underhand.

The game commenced at 2:30 when umpire Nick Young, pitcher-manager of the Washington Olympics, yelled, “Play Ball.” The Chicagos struck first. Player-manager Jimmy Wood, the club’s best hitter (.378 batting average), “earned first” and then scored on what the Daily Advertiser called “two loose plays” (errors).2 Chicago threatened again in the next frame. After Tom Foley singled to right field and Ed Pinkham drew his league-high 16th walk, Charlie Hodes smashed a double into left field. With some “fast running,” Foley scored, but Pinkham was thrown out at the plate by left fielder Frank Barrows.3 The White Stockings increased their lead to 3-0 in the third inning when Fred Treacey doubled and scampered home on Joe Simmons’ “daisy cutter” between second baseman Ross Barnes and shortstop George Wright.4

Notwithstanding Zettlein’s fine hurling, the Boston nine was probably not concerned about a three-run deficit after three innings. The club averaged 12.9 runs a game, second only to the champion Philadelphia Athletics’ 13.4 per game. As if on cue, Dave Birdsall and Cal McVey led off the Red Stockings’ fourth with hits. Harry Schafer reached first on a two-out error to load the bases. But the first grand slam in professional baseball history had to wait as Zettlein induced Barrows to pop up to second baseman Wood.

“Every Red Stockings inning except for the fifth may be disposed of with the remark that closed fielding and brilliant catching prevented them from tallying,” wrote the Chicago Tribune.5 Harry Wright, Boston’s number nine hitter, led off the fateful frame with a single. His brother George lofted a high fly to outfielder Tom Foley who dropped it. After Barnes lined out to left fielder Treacey, Birdsall hit a screeching liner to Wood. The Chicago Tribune reported that Wood handled it “prettily,” pivoted, and threw wildly to shortstop Ed Duffy in an attempt to cut down George Wright at second.6 By the time Duffy recovered the ball, Harry Wright had scored and runners were on second and third. McVey followed with one of his league-leading 66 hits (good for a runner-up .431 batting average) to drive in George Wright, and then Spalding loaded the bases with a hit to third baseman Ed Pinkham.  Up stepped Charlie Gould.

At an even 6 feet and about 170 pounds, 24-year-old first baseman Gould was one of the tallest players on the Red Stockings, trailing only 6-foot-1 Al Spalding. He was affectionately called “Bushel Basket” for his long arms and reach, which made it easier for fielders to throw the ball to him. A native of Cincinnati, he got his start in Organized Baseball in 1863, and played with the legendary Cincinnati Red Stockings clubs from 1867 to 1870 piloted by Harry Wright. When Wright left the Queen City to organize a team in Boston for the inaugural season of the National Association of Professional Baseball Clubs in 1871, he took along Gould, Cal McVey, and his brother George; he also brought with him the nickname, the Red Stockings.

With the bases loaded and Boston trailing 3-2, Gould had a chance for heroics, yet few players or fans probably thought about a home run. Boston hit only three all season; two of those were by Gould, his only homers in his six-year professional career. The entire league counted just 47 round-trippers in 1871. Gould waited “until he got a nice low ball,” wrote the Chicago Tribune. “[He] hit a terrific drive, and before it stopped on the outside of the left field fence, the bases were emptied.”7 The Boston Daily Advertiser praised Gould’s “powerful arms” and “tremendous sweep” to give the Red Stockings a dramatic 6-3 lead.8 Zettlein retired Schafer and Barrows, but the damage was done.

“The Chicago boys, at least those who had been playing to win, seemed to lose all heart” after Gould’s bases-clearing hit, opined the Chicago Tribune.9  Neither team scored or even mounted a serious threat for the rest of the game, which was described by the Boston Daily Advertiser as “very sharp.”10 The game was completed in two hours.

In light of the low-scoring game, newspaper reports focused on fielding. At this time, fielders did not wear gloves; they became the norm about a decade later. While each team averaged about eight errors per game in 1871, Boston committed only four while Chicago tallied eight.11 The Chicago Tribune lamented that the game was lost “through loose fielding and weak hitting on the part of the Whites” and pointed to the “muffing line” of Duffy, Foley, and Wood as major reasons for the loss despite a strong outing by Zettlein.12 “Tom [Foley],” continued the paper, “seems to have lost all control over his nerves,” and suggested that he should be replaced. Hodes, on the other hand, “showed himself to be a superb catcher” by throwing out two runners attempting to steal and permitting only one passed ball. The Boston Daily Advertiser praised George Wright and Gould for playing the “Cincinnati style” of baseball with smooth fielding and swift, sharp throws to first base; third baseman Harry Schafer, gushed the paper, “distinguished himself by holding two extremely hot flies, low down, for which he was heartily applauded.”13

The gentleman/professional ball players apparently felt no ill will toward one another after the hard-fought game. According to the Boston Daily Evening Transcript, the Red Stockings took their guests to the Globe Theatre later that evening for the opening of a play, The Victims – The Forty Winks.14

Notes

1 “Base Ball – The Red Above The White,” Boston Daily Advertiser, September 6, 1871.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

4 “Games and Pastimes Defeat of the White Stockings by the Bostons, 6 to 3,” Chicago Tribune, September 6, 1871: 4.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

8 “Base Ball – The Red Above The White.”

9 “Games and Pastimes Defeat of the White Stockings by the Bostons, 6 to 3.”

10 “Base Ball – The Red Above The White.”

11 Some contemporary newspapers claimed five errors and nine errors.

12 “Games and Pastimes Defeat of the White Stockings by the Bostons, 6 to 3.”

13 “Base Ball – The Red Above The White.”

14 “Local Intelligence,” Boston Daily Evening Transcript, September 6, 1871: 4.  In the September 5, 1871, edition of the Boston Journal, the Boston-Chicago baseball game and the performance of The Victims – The Forty Winks at the Globe Theatre are listed as the top two items for amusement in Boston on September 6.

The two teams had met thrice previously in the season, the Reds winning at home in May, and then losing one and winning one on the Athletics’ grounds in June and August, respectively. The Bostons were looking to clinch the best-of-five seasonal series with another victory.

Game time at Boston’s South End Grounds was 3 o’clock.  The weather was favorable and helped draw the largest crowd of the year, nearly 5,000, according to the Boston Journal.1 Boston captain Harry Wright lost the opening coin toss and the home team went to bat first.2

Pitching to Wright’s nine was 23-year-old Philly native George Bechtel, who normally shared right-field duties with George Heubel. Bechtel was making his third fill-in start for the ailing Dick McBride, and had no problems in the first inning, retiring the top of the Boston order in one-two-three fashion.  

The Athletics came strong out of the gate in the bottom half, sending 10 men to the plate and producing five runs, aided greatly by three Red Stockings errors. Bechtel helped his own cause with a two-run double to left. During the inning, catcher Cal McVey suffered an injury from a foul tip off Al Reach’s bat. Play was suspended for 10 to 15 minutes while the gash over McVey’s left eye was bandaged.  McVey “pluckily resumed his position,”3 but to “make matters more easy for him,”4 the softer-throwing Harry Wright came in to pitch, sending Al Spalding temporarily out to center field. 

The home team got its offense rolling in the top of the second inning. McVey led off with a double and Spalding followed with a base on balls. Two more safe hits, two more walks, and an error by Heubel added up to four runs for the Reds. 

Philadelphia came roaring right back in its half of the second. Ned Cuthbert, who had been at the plate in the first inning when Heubel was put out running on a foul ball, started the onslaught with a double into left. After a popout to third base, John Radcliff reached on George Wright’s error at shortstop. A wild pitch, a walk, an error by third baseman Harry Schafer, and four straight singles by Reach, Count Sensenderfer, Levi Meyerle, and Heubel resulted in a half-dozen runs for the Athletics. Finally, Cuthbert, up for the second time in the inning, was put out on a great play by George Wright to stop the bleeding.

With the score now 11-4, McVey led off again in the Boston third. Meyerle, the Athletics’ “great-hit, no-field” third baseman, made the first of his four errors in the game, allowing McVey to reach safely. Spalding whacked a ball over Meyerle’s head next, sending McVey to second. The hot-corner barrage continued as Charlie Gould, too, laced a single past Meyerle, scoring McVey. But Schafer’s grounder was fielded nicely by shortstop Radcliff, who cut Spalding down at the plate, catcher Fergy Malone applying the tag. The Reds loaded the bases after that but could not inflict further damage. George Wright’s fly ball was nabbed by Sensenderfer in center to quell the rally.  

Spalding returned to the box in the bottom of the third and blanked the visitors. The score remained 11-5 in the Athletics’ favor as both teams were whitewashed in the fourth and fifth innings. 

Harry Wright began the Boston sixth with a base on called balls and brother George followed with a fair-foul hit that went for two bases. After Ross Barnes’ out and Dave Birdsall’s infield hit, McVey knocked the Wright brothers home with a single to left. Meyerle then made his second error, on a grounder by Spalding, and base hits by Gould and Schafer drove in Birdsall and Spalding, cutting the lead to two runs. Then, when Radcliff misplayed a ball off Frank Barrows’ bat, Gould and Schafer raced home and the score was tied, with five of the six Boston runs being unearned.5 

The Reds made some changes in the field as Philadelphia went to bat in its half of the sixth. Harry Schafer had suffered a collision chasing a fly ball a week or so earlier and, apparently still feeling the aftereffects, was “obliged to withdraw.”6 McVey, who had been mercifully moved from catcher to right field earlier, made his second switch of the afternoon, replacing Schafer at third base. Fred Cone, who like teammate Frank Barrows was participating in his only major-league campaign, entered as the right fielder.  Birdsall continued subbing for McVey behind the bat.

The Athletics proceeded to rough Spalding up a bit, tallying three runs — all earned — thanks to fair-foul hits by Radcliff and Fisler, and pitcher Bechtel’s three-baser to left-center. 

Finding themselves trailing again, 14 -11, Boston’s nine tried to muster something in the seventh. George Wright and Barnes reached on infield miscues. Al Reach then attempted a little trickery, purposely dropping Birdsall’s popup and seemingly catching both runners out, but umpire Bob Ferguson declared that Reach had held the ball long enough and therefore the batter was out, and the runners were held at their bases.7 The Reds, however, failed to make anything of their opportunity. The seventh and eighth went down as whitewashes for both clubs. 

Leading off Boston’s ninth, Captain Wright drew his fourth base on balls of the day. Brother George was up next and sent a low liner to left, which Cuthbert nearly, but not quite, caught. It went for two bases and the elder Wright crossed the plate with the Red Stockings’ 12th run. Barnes garnered a pass on balls as well, and he and the younger Wright lingered on base while Birdsall and McVey were retired on foul bound catches. Meyerle then botched a grounder from Spalding, allowing George Wright to score, and Radcliff, also having a poor day in the field, saw Gould’s grounder go through his legs, letting Barnes in to tie the score again. Schafer, who had returned to his position in the bottom of the seventh, now sliced a double down the left-field line, driving in both Spalding and Gould with the go-ahead runs. Frank Barrows, following, recorded his only hit of the day, a single to center that sent Schafer home with the final Boston run.    

The Philadelphians had nothing left in the tank for the bottom of the final frame. The New York Clipper noted that they hit “carelessly at the first good balls pitched to them.” Cuthbert and Radcliff both made long strikes to left that were hauled in by Barrows, and Malone fouled out to the catcher. A blank for the Athletics and a 17-14 triumph for Harry Wright’s boys.

The Red Stockings thus took the important season series with the Athletics, three games to one. They had already completed — and won — their best-of-five series with the Olympics of Washington and the Rockford Forest Citys. This put them in a strong position near the front of the league, as they looked forward to completing their series with Troy, Cleveland, Chicago, and New York in the coming weeks.

Notes

1 Boston Journal, September 11, 1871: 1. Philip J. Lowry’s, Green Cathedrals (New York: Walker Publishing Company Inc., 2006) lists park capacity as 3,000.  However, Retrosheet.com shows attendance for this game at 4,500, and the Journal states “nearly 5,000.”  For what it’s worth, the New York Clipper’s report on the game says only “over two thousand.”

2 This must have been a going trend, as both the Journal and the Boston Daily Advertiser of September 11 make mocking references to Wright losing the toss “of course” and “as usual.”

3 New York Clipper, September 16, 1871: 186.

4 Boston Journal, September 11, 1871: 1.

5 This article follows the Clipper account in describing this sequence of events.  In some points, such as who scored on a given hit or error — or whether a batter reached via hit or error, it differs from the account in the Daily Advertiser, but as the Clipper’s play-by-play is on the whole more detailed (and thorough, compared with the many gaps in the Boston papers’ reports), we have relied on it here.  

6 Boston Daily Advertiser, September 11, 1871: 1.

7 This was before the creation of the “infield fly” rule.