Boston Red Stockings: The 1872 Season

Harry Wright wasn’t a sore loser, but as captain of the Cincinnati Red Stockings, he’d been unaccustomed to losing. After his Red Stockings went through the 1869 season without losing a game, and finished the following year with just a handful of losses, Wright expected that the team he brought to Boston in 1871 would win the first National Association pennant. He’d taken the Red Stockings he believed to be the most reliable, and supplemented them with outstanding young talent like pitcher Al Spalding and second baseman Ross Barnes of Rockford.

The Red Stockings were not only talented; under Wright’s leadership they were perhaps the most respected team in the NA, and in early 1872 the New York Clipper stated, “Boston sets a good example for other teams with their gentlemanly conduct and honorable play.”1 Betting, one of the albatrosses of the NA, was not allowed on Boston’s Union Grounds, which meant that gamblers had to ply their business quietly and couldn’t openly abuse those players whose efforts were harmful to their investments.

Despite its talent and character, Boston hadn’t won the 1871 pennant, in part due to injuries to George Wright and others, but Harry was certain that, absent the misfortune that dogged his club the previous year, he would win in 1872. He therefore retained essentially the same players, adding only Fraley Rogers, a 22-year-old outfielder from Brooklyn, and Andy Leonard, one of the old Cincinnati Red Stockings who’d played in Washington the previous season.

The NA presented an unbalanced lineup in 1872, almost equally divided between stock clubs and cooperatives. The former paid its players a regular salary while those who played for co-ops received a share of the gate receipts. Nearly all players preferred a guaranteed salary and the most marketable signed with the stock clubs. For the most part, the co-ops were left with players who couldn’t win a spot on the stock clubs.

It’s hard to beat teams with players who weren’t good enough to make those teams, and the presence of such a large number of uncompetitive co-op nines wasn’t good for the NA. Harry Wright was to blame for the entry of at least one of the weak sisters. When Benjamin Douglas of the Middletown Mansfields wrote looking to schedule exhibition games, Wright suggested that Douglas pay the NA’s $10 admission fee, which would obligate all NA teams to reply in the affirmative to Douglas’s requests.

Ten dollars and a box of stationery do not make a major-league team, a fact that would become painfully apparent when the stock clubs met the co-ops on the diamond. At the Union Grounds in Brooklyn, the admission fee was 50 cents when stock teams were playing, but it cost just 25 cents to watch a game involving a co-op team. In mid-May, the New York Clipper noted that stock and co-op teams had played each other 18 times, and each time the stock club had won.2 Eventually the Clipper began publishing separate standings for each class, even though they were in the same league.

The Red Stockings had gotten off to a sluggish start in 1871, but in 1872 they left the gate like a lightning bolt, winning 22 of their first 23 games, a pace reminiscent of Wright’s old Cincinnati juggernaut. Boston ran roughshod over the co-ops, scoring 20 or more runs seven times in the 23-game span, each time against a co-op team. The only loss was to the Athletics of Philadelphia on May 4. By July 4, when Boston won its 22nd game, the Athletics were second (on a percentage basis) with a 13-3 mark.

On July 27 the Red Stockings (22-2) met the Athletics (14-5) in a game that, if Boston won, would give them a commanding lead. The Athletics shuffled their lineup, and the new combination won the game, 9-1, keeping the Philadelphia club in the race.

As the summer wore on, the NA’s weaker teams fell by the wayside, one by one. The Nationals of Washington played their final game on June 26, finishing with an unblemished 0-11 record. There was no official announcement of disbandment; the Nationals simply vanished and played no more. The Olympics, also of Washington, lasted just nine games, although they managed to win two of them.

The Haymakers of Troy, which had been one of the league’s better teams in 1871, and which had a 15-10 mark by late July 1872, ceased operations after a game with the Mansfields on July 23. The Troy stockholders, facing expenses of $500 per week, stopped paying the players, who took the field a couple of times on a cooperative basis before ending the career of the venerable organization. A number of the Troy players came from Brooklyn, and when the Haymakers folded, several of them went back to their home city to play for the Eckfords, a co-op that had difficulty putting fans through the gate and nine players on the field.

Cleveland had also fielded a respectable team in 1871. In 1872, they were able to beat the co-ops but not the stock clubs, and that shortcoming prevented them from drawing crowds large enough to pay salaries. After some poor performances in late May, the Forest City club aborted a road trip and returned home to Cleveland. After a lengthy hiatus, they took to the road again in late June. After a 20-1 loss to the Mutuals, Cleveland pitcher Rynie Wolters disappeared, forcing his teammates to take the field shorthanded. Remarkably, Wolters’ eight teammates managed to defeat the Eckfords, an indication of the ineptitude of the Brooklyn club. For a second time, the discouraged Cleveland players crept back to the shores of Lake Erie. In mid-August, with no money left in the treasury of the stock organization, the Forest Citys took the field against the Red Stockings under a cooperative format. Two one-sided losses marked the end of the Cleveland team.

The Mansfields, coming from little Middletown, Connecticut, managed to last until mid-August, when they folded with a 5-19 record, having lost their last 10 games. With their passing, the only co-op teams left in the field were the Atlantics and Eckfords, both of Brooklyn. On the date of the last Cleveland game, the NA’s survivors lined up as follows:

 

	W	L	Pct.	GB
Boston	30	3	.909	—
Athletics	20	5	.800	6
Baltimore	21	13	.618	9½
Mutuals	20	13	.606	10
Troy*	15	10	.600	11
Cleveland*	6	16	.273	18½
Atlantics	5	16	.238	19
Olympics*	2	7	.222	16
Mansfields*	5	19	.208	20½
Eckfords	2	13	.133	19
Nationals*	0	11	.000	19
*Disbanded

 

A quick perusal of the standings reveals a number of troubling aspects. First is the sharp divide between Troy and Cleveland, indicative of the uncompetitive nature of the 1872 NA. A second unsettling development is the fact that by mid-August five of the 11 teams—nearly half—were no longer in the field. Further, the paring of teams had not made the NA any more competitive. The six remaining clubs were divided in a rigid class structure: Boston and the Athletics were the aristocracy, Baltimore and the Mutuals represented the middle class, and the Atlantics and Eckfords stood at the bottom of the social ladder.

Finally, one notes the discrepancy in the number of games each team had played. Apart from the troubles of the disbanded clubs, first-place Boston had played 33 games while its closest pursuer, the Athletics, had played just 25. With no formal schedule, each team could dictate its pace, which was a problem throughout the life of the NA. Clubs canceled engagements if one of their players was injured or if a more lucrative opportunity arose. The disbandments created another problem, necessitating an increase in the number of games to be played in each series from five to nine. Many series remained unfinished at the end of the season, as the top teams played exhibitions against each other after they’d finished their quotas, rather than play championship games with the Atlantics and Eckfords, who drew poorly. A game between Baltimore and the Atlantics at Brooklyn’s Capitoline Grounds attracted only 100 fans and another between the Red Stockings and Atlantics just 200.

The Red Stockings had six games remaining with the Athletics in September and October, games that would determine the championship of the NA. In the first game, which took place on September 5, the first inning set the tone. The Athletics, batting first, loaded the bases with none out, but couldn’t score. The first five Red Stocking batters got hits, leading to three runs. Four more Boston runs in second began the rout that ended with a 16-4 win, leaving the Athletics 7½ games behind.

It looked as though the pennant race was over, for not only had the Athletics fallen further behind, they had played sloppily. At one point, Andy Leonard of Boston fell while running from third to home, but shortstop Denny Mack of the Athletics wasn’t paying attention and held the ball while Leonard scrambled to his feet and scored.

With nearly half its teams out of commission, two of the remaining clubs uncompetitive, and the pennant race decided, the NA faced a dilemma. There was no postseason competition to whet fan appetites, and the fact that only six teams remained active encouraged the playing of exhibitions after quotas were completed. Exhibition games were notoriously suspicious, with many fans believing they were decided based upon the gamblers’ wishes. Prior to the start of the season, the Red Stockings and Athletics had stated they would not play exhibition games against NA teams, a stand heartily supported by the Clipper. When the number of teams dwindled, however, the noble intentions of the Red Stockings and Athletics dissipated.

In order to stimulate interest, William Cammeyer, proprietor of the Union Grounds in Brooklyn, proposed a tournament at his facility and put up $4,000 in prize money. Cammeyer’s idea was not original, for in July a Philadelphia sporting gentleman had offered a similar amount if the top five teams in the NA would play one game against each other. His offer was not accepted, but the Red Stockings, Athletics, and Mutuals agreed to compete in Cammeyer’s tournament for a first prize of $1,800, a second prize of $1,200, and a third prize of $1,000.

The tournament began on October 8 and 9 with two exciting games. On the 8th, the Mutuals and Red Stockings played a 10-inning 7-7 tie that was called due to darkness and a disabling injury suffered by Boston catcher Dave Birdsall when he was hit by a foul tip. The following day, the Athletics beat the Mutuals 9-7 in 12 innings.

Despite the exciting baseball being played at the Union Grounds, the fans didn’t seem interested. Attendance was disappointing, and it looked as though Cammeyer might not recoup his investment. His prospects weren’t helped by the fact that Boston, which was not playing in the tournament on the 9th, played the Atlantics at the nearby Capitoline Grounds, siphoning a few potential spectators from Cammeyer.3

Under the tournament’s round-robin format, the Athletics and Red Stockings qualified to play for the championship, but the game ended in a 10-10 tie called due to darkness after 12 innings. Since Cammeyer was dissatisfied with the gate receipts, he continued to amend the format, allowing the Mutuals, who’d been eliminated, to re-enter the fray, and set up a second championship game. That contest was postponed due to rain and Boston, which had a number of injured players, declined to play further. After 10 days and nine games, there was no champion. It was rumored that the teams had agreed in advance that the Athletics and Red Stockings would get $1,500 each and the Mutuals would get $1,000. Despite the muddled results in New York, the same three teams went to Philadelphia to partake in a similar affair, which proved as unfulfilling as Cammeyer’s disappointing tourney.

With the pennant in hand, the Red Stockings fell off the torrid pace they’d maintained for most of the season, going 7-5-1 in their last 13 games. Still, they won the pennant handily.

 

	W	L	Pct.	GB
Boston	39	8	.830	—
Athletics	30	14	.682	7½
Baltimore	35	19	.648	7½
Mutuals	34	20	.630	8½
Troy	15	10	.600
Cleveland	6	16	.273	20½
Atlantics	9	28	.243	25
Mansfields	5	19	.208	22½
Olympics	2	7	.222	18
Eckfords	3	26	.103	27
Nationals	0	11	.000	21

Note: Although the NA based its standings on number of wins, the table above has been adapted to the modern standard of percentage of wins.

 

Boston’s success on the field was not accompanied by a happy pecuniary result. Harry Wright was one of the most financially astute managers in baseball, and he was as unaccustomed to losing money as he was to losing games, but the mismatched league, the unsuccessful tournament, and the fans’ skepticism over the integrity of the games led to a $5,000 deficit at the end of the year. With cash in short supply, the Red Stockings had been unable to pay its players in full when the team disbanded for the winter.

A catastrophic fire ravaged downtown Boston in October 1872, and in combination with the losses suffered by the Red Stockings, it was questionable whether Wright would be able to place a team on the field in 1873 to defend the NA title. He spent much of the winter attempting to convince his players that if they signed for the 1873 season, the club would pay the salary arrearage as well as salaries for 1873.

Perhaps it was Harry’s formidable rhetorical ability, or maybe it was the lack of viable alternatives, for there were only a few stable stock organizations, and none of the players wanted to take their chances with a cooperative nine. Whatever the reason, virtually all of the Red Stocking players agreed to play in 1873.

On December 11, 1872, more than 150 supporters of Boston baseball met in Brackett’s Hall and developed a plan to save the Red Stockings. A new organization, called the Boston Base Ball Club, was formed and the Boston Association, which had operated the team in 1872, was dissolved. The new entity took control of the team, raised money through the sale of stock, and assumed the debts of the Boston Association, including the unpaid salaries. There would be major-league baseball in Boston in 1873, and it would be winning baseball, for the 1872 club was the first of four consecutive championship teams.4

BILL RYCZEK has written a trilogy on 19th century baseball: Baseball’s First Inning, When Johnny Came Sliding Home, and Blackguards and Red Stockings. The latter is a history of the National Association that covers the period when the Boston Red Stockings dominated major-league baseball. He has also written on baseball and football during the 1960s, including books on the Yankees, the Mets, and the American Football League’s New York Titans. Bill is a finance professional who lives in Wallingford, Connecticut.

 

Notes

1 New York Clipper, March 9, 1872.

2 New York Clipper, May 18, 1872.

3 Remarkably, the Atlantics beat the first-place Red Stockings.

4 In its November 30, 1872, issue, the New York Clipper reported receipt of a letter from Thomas Hall of Boston stating that it was almost certain that the Red Stockings would take a trip to England during the summer of 1873. The supposition was correct but a year premature.