The 1874 Boston Red Stockings World Tour

Harry Wright planned on returning one day to his native England. He drew on the success of the All-England cricketers touring in North America in 1859 and 1868 and the success his Cincinnati Baseball Club experienced from 1867 to 1869 to convince the Red Stockings officials to allow the team to travel to Britain with a second professional baseball team. He also hoped, if nothing else, to cover all expenses. Wright, born in Sheffield, England, in 1835, felt that the American game of baseball would be politely attended if a fellow countryman was the driving force behind the historic event. In January of 1874, he sent his 23-year-old star pitcher, Albert Spalding, and Warren Briggs, a Harvard student, to Britain to arrange a series of baseball matches in the summer of 1874. The plans included the possibility of matches in Scotland, Ireland, and France, although the bulk of the tour would take place in England.

Spalding was the best pitcher in professional baseball, having compiled a 98-32 record in his three seasons as the Red Stockings’ ace. He and Briggs, a member of the Beacon Club of Boston, met with Charles W. Alcock, the secretary of the Surrey Cricket Club. After a long conversation on the possibilities and logistics of Americans playing baseball in England, the two engaged in the first American baseball game played on British soil, on February 27, 1874, at the Cricket Oval at Lords (London). Spalding and Alcock headed teams made up of local cricketers. Spalding pitched for one side and Alcock the other with Briggs as his catcher. The match was halted after six innings by rain. Alcock’s side won, 17-5, and he thus joined the relatively exclusive list of pitchers who had defeated Spalding. After a second meeting between the two teams the next day, Alcock agreed to become the promoter of the American baseball tour.

Alcock appeared to be a solid choice. He would be later known as the Father of Modern Sport in England for his work with the English game of football, including the founding of the Football Association (FA) Cup, the introduction of international soccer matches, and his writing and reporting on cricket.

While Spalding and Briggs were overseas, Harry Wright was busy looking for a club to accompany the Red Stockings, and persuaded the Athletic of Philadelphia Club to make the trip. While Wright may have been happy, the Boston club’s stockholders were not. Many of them felt that the trip would be a financial disaster, as well as a deterrent in the club’s quest for a third straight National Association of Professional Base Ball Players championship.1

Spalding and Briggs returned to America relieved that they could report to Wright that a relatively important figure was to take care of the tour particulars, and they handed Wright a tentative schedule. The tour was to begin in England at the end of July. Spalding did his best to hide the fact that at Alcock’s request the baseball players would also play cricket at each place they visited. Wright wanted the main focus of the tour to be baseball and was unhappy to learn that cricket matches were included, as he knew that they would become the focus of the Britons. Soon after Spalding left England, Alcock hurt his thigh badly during a soccer match, an injury that severely hindered his efforts to secure grounds for baseball games and to promote the Americans’ arrival. After the injury healed, he failed to truly immerse himself in the job. He eventually was able to gain access to playing fields, but his efforts to promote the summer event remained weak.

To open time for the trip to England, Wright had canceled the Red Stockings’ Canadian tour for 1874, playing just one date in Brantford and one in Guelph.2

The Athletics and Red Stockings played “farewell” matches, one in Boston and one in Philadelphia before leaving in the middle of the National Association season. On Monday, July 13, at the South End Grounds, Boston won 7-6 in front of large and enthusiastic crowd. It was Boston’s fourth win in a row over the Athletics. The two clubs then headed to Philadelphia. En route, the Red Stockings stopped in New York on July 14 and defeated the Mutuals, 9-8, giving Al Spalding his 30th win of the season. On July 15, the Athletics defeated Boston, 6-4, in front of an estimated 10,000 spectators at the Jefferson Street Grounds.3

On Thursday, July 16, the two clubs, stockholders, reporters, and friends boarded the steamship Ohio and headed to England. The rosters were as follows:

Red Stockings of Boston Roster

• Cal A. McVey – Catcher
• Albert G. Spalding – Pitcher
• Jim O’Rourke – First Base
• Ross C. Barnes – Second Base
• Harry C. Schafer – Third Base
• George Wright – Short Stop
• Andy J. Leonard – Left Field
• Harry Wright – Center Field (Captain)
• George W. Hall—Right Field
• Thomas L. Beals—Substitute
• John F. Kent—Change; First Base (Harvard Col. BBC)
• *Sam Wright Jr. – Substitute

*Recruited primarily for his knowledge of cricket, Sam Wright did not begin his professional baseball career until the 1875 season with the New Haven Elm Citys of the National Association.

 

Athletic of Philadelphia Roster

• John E. Clapp – Catcher
• Dick McBride – Pitcher (Captain)
• Weston D. Fisler – First Base
• Joseph Battin – Second Base
• Ezra B. Sutton – Third Base
• Mike H. McGeary – Short Stop
• Alfred W. Gedney – Left Field
• John F. McMullin – Center Field
• Adrian C. Anson – Right Field
• John P. Sensenderfer – Substitute
• Tim Murnane – Substitute
• **Al Reach – Substitute

**Al Reach, originally selected, declined the invitation to oversee the growing sporting-goods business he founded in Philadelphia in 1865.

 

The Philadelphia riverfront was filled with hordes of people bidding the travelers goodbye on the night of July 16. McClurg’s Silver Cornet Band of Philadelphia enthusiastically played as tugboats started the ship left for England on its journey. By the next morning many of the players and guests had succumbed to seasickness and could be seen “admiring the waves over the side of the steamer.”4 To help pass the time, some played games like shuffleboard, ring of the pegs, chess, cribbage, pinochle, checkers, seven up, euchre, and forty-fives, while others took tours of the steamship. The evening of the 20th featured a concert presented by some of the players. The acts included sentimental singing by George Hall and Andy Leonard of Boston, comical singing by John McMullin of Philadelphia, and piano solos by John Sensenderfer and Albert Gedney of the Athletics.

On Friday, July 24, the weather became rough and the Ohio was caught in heavy swells. The seas became calmer in the evening and the ballists staged a second concert. Saturday produced the roughest seas of the journey. At times the waves were so high that they reached the ship’s deck. A shoal of dolphins swam with the ship all day. On Sunday the 26th at 10:00 A.M., Red Stockings president Charles Porter held a religious service on the deck. When the Irish coast became visible at about 3:00 P.M., the entire party cheered with joy.

The travelers transferred to a tender outside Queenstown, Ireland, at 11:00 P.M. bound for Liverpool, which they reached at 10:30 P.M. on Monday, July 27. The Americans went straight to the Washington Hotel. The New York Times reported that some members of the party went to London but would return for the match on July 30.5

Before the first match, the teams held short practices on July 28 and 29 at Edgehill, the grounds of the Liverpool Cricket Club. As the Americans would see, the venues they would play in were maintained and manicured to levels far better than they were used to. The fields were green, usually level, and very firm. The hardness of the ground caused the era’s dead ball to become very lively.

George Mortimer Pullman, the inventor of the sleeping car, granted the entourage free use of his cars while in England. The previous January Pullman had introduced his sleeping cars to England, on the Midland Railway.

The first match was scheduled for July 30. The players arrived at Edgehill before 2:30 P.M., to lay out and mark the playing field. With only about 500 spectators appearing at the historic event, Alcock’s scheduling was immediately questioned. Wright could not have been more disappointed with the turnout. Boston won the toss and sent the Athletic to the bat. The Red Stockings scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and tied the score, 9-9, but Philadelphia won in 10 innings, 14-11. The English press covered the match extensively. The Liverpool Daily Albion printed the most detailed and insightful article on the occasion. “The match fixed for yesterday came off on the ground of the Liverpool Cricket Club, at Edgehill. There were not many spectators to witness the introduction of the new game, not from any lack of interest attaching to the event, but because the public do not seem to have been properly informed that the match was coming off.”6 Descriptions of the uniforms, equipment, player positions, and strategies were offered.

Sounding a theme that would be repeated in almost every article covering the Americans as they moved around England, the Manchester Guardian wrote, “Base ball, as we were prepared to find, is an American modification, and, of course, an ‘improvement’ of the old English game of ‘rounders,’ or, as it is called in the West Riding, ‘touch ball.’”7

The next day on the same grounds, only 200 spectators braved the rain to see the Red Stockings even the series with a 23-18 victory in a sloppily played match.

The players took a one-hour train ride from Liverpool to Manchester on August 1 and proceeded directly to the field to play the third match of the tour. The baseball game, scheduled for 1:00 P.M., was played at Old Trafford Grounds, home of the Manchester Cricket Club and as of 2016 still in use by Lancashire County Cricket Club. Before the game, players explained to the crowd how to lay out a baseball field, and put on demonstrations of throwing and catching the ball. Crowds more to the liking of Harry Wright and the Americans turned out; 2,000 people watched the two-hour match. Included among the spectators was the “American Consul with several American ladies and George W. Taylor,”8 part owner of the upscale Lord & Taylor department stores. Philadelphia won, 13-12.

After the game the clubs headed for London and arrived on Sunday at 4:00 A.M., ending up at the Midland Grand Hotel. The players were given a day off to rest and relax.

The next day, August 3, was a Bank Holiday, and the clubs played in both a cricket match and a baseball game before a large crowd on the Ground at Lords. The cricket match, between the Marylebone Cricket Club and the 18 Americans, began at 12:15. It was halted at 3:00 P.M. and the base ball game began, with Boston winning the toss and sending the Athletics to bat. After the game ended, the cricket match was resumed and was played until darkness forced it to end. Between 4,000 and 6,000 spectators attended the “doubleheader,” paying one shilling each (all proceeds going to the Americans). For their money they witnessed a subpar baseball game. The Athletics made nine errors, four by second baseman Joe Battin. (The Red Stockings made one.) The Greounds’ extremely hard surface produced four Boston home runs, one each by Al Spalding, Andy Leonard, Jim O’Rourke, and George Wright, all off Athletics pitcher Dick McBride. Adrian “Cap” Anson hit one for Philadelphia off Al Spalding in the 24-7 drubbing by the Bostons. After the match it was announced that the trip to Paris was canceled, reportedly due to the dearth of playing fields. More likely, it was due to Alcock’s lack of interest in his job as promoter. The cricket match was completed the following day, in front of a much smaller crowd. The players received the afternoon off as the base ball game was canceled because of “unfavorable weather.”

Only 200 spectators attend the second match in London, on August 6, and 1,000 braved showery conditions in Richmond two days later. Large crowds showed up for two games at Crystal Palace, but one of them, on August 10, was shortened by rain. The clubs and their entourages headed to Kennington, each club having won four games.

The first day first at Kennington, August 13, began with a cricket match against the Surrey Cricket Club. After the lunch break the baseball game was played and then the cricket match resumed until it was stopped by darkness. The cricket match resumed the next day, in front of 4,000. During the afternoon break a long-distance throwing exhibition was held, then the base ball game begn. Jim O’Rourke of Boston threw a ball 122 yards and Ezra Sutton of the Athletic Club threw a ball 120 yards. The base ball game were a bit of a break for the Americans. Sides were split and captained by Al Spalding and John McMullin.

Both games played in Harry Wright’s hometown, Sheffield, drew very small crowds. Boston won both and took a 7-5 lead in the series. The tour returned to Manchester on August 20, with the Athletics beating Boston 7-2 in front of a predictably small audience, after a cricket match. The next day again began with a cricket match. In the afternoon Harry Wright and Dick McBride captained teams made up of base ball players and Manchester Cricket Club players. Wright’s side won 14-9, with no cricketer scoring a run.

The Americans made the short boat ride to Ireland on August 22 to conclude the tour. John Lawrence of Dublin arranged the games in Ireland and by all accounts did a wonderful job in promoting the Americans and base ball; however, the Irish public showed little interest. After a day off in Dublin, the tour resumed with a cricket match and a base ball game. Boston beat Philadelphia 12-7, taking an 8-5 series lead. The cricket match was concluded on August 25 and the Athletics won the final base ball game, 15-4. The matches in Ireland drew only about 1,500 spectators in all.

The final day in Dublin, August 26, offered the ballists a break from the grueling tour. The Americans challenged the Dublin Cricket Club. The American side was made up of nine players from the Red Stockings and Athletics and the opposing side was five members of the Dublin Cricket Club, plus George Wright as pitcher, Harry Wright as catcher, John Kent at first base, and the Earl of Kingston. The Ireland Nine were allowed five outs per inning and the Americans three. The “Americans” still won the contest, 12-6.

After a break the Americans played a “scratch game” before a large gathering. The Athletics were captained by John McMullin and the Red Stockings by Al Spalding. Unfortunately for Athletic pitcher Dick McBride, he broke his thumb during the game.

The Americans left Queenstown, Ireland, on August 27 on the Abbotsford and arrived in Philadelphia on Thursday, September 10 at 8:15 A.M. At 3:55 P.M. the two teams played a regular-season game in front of 2,500 spectators at the Jefferson Street Grounds, which the Red Stockings won 5-4. Two days later in Boston, they played again at the South End Grounds before a crowd of 4,000; this time the Athletics won 6-5.

The game of base ball was not well received in England or Ireland. The crowds were disappointingly small.

Cricket was too popular in Britain allow a different game, especially from America, to achieve a following even for a summer. Boston won eight and lost six to Philadelphia; the two clubs combined to achieve a 6-0-1 record in cricket matches against various opponents. (The Americans had one big advantage; they put 18 players on the field instead of the usual 11.9)

The tour was not successful financially, as each club’s stockholders had predicted. The red ink for both clubs combined was about $2,500, affecting each team’s profit margin for the 1874 season. Despite the failures and general lack of interest, Spalding would take the game overseas again in 1888-1889, in an attempt peddle his baseball products.

Full results of baseball matches played:

• Thursday, July 30 at Liverpool: Athletic 14, Boston 11 (10 innings)
• Friday, July 31 at Liverpool: Boston 23, Athletic 18
• Saturday, Aug. 1 at Manchester: Athletic 13, Boston 12
• Monday, Aug. 3 at London: Boston 24, Athletic 7
• Thursday, Aug. 6 at London: Boston 14, Athletic 11
• Saturday, Aug. 8 at Richmond: Athletic 11, Boston 3
• Monday, Aug. 10 at Crystal Palace: Boston 17, Athletic 8
• Tuesday, Aug. 11 at Crystal Palace: Athletic 19, Boston 8
• Thursday, Aug. 13 at Kennington: Boston 16, Athletic 6
• Friday, Aug. 14 at Kennington: Spalding’s Nine 14, McMullin’s Nine 11
• Saturday, Aug. 15 at Sheffield: Boston 19, Athletic 8
• Monday, Aug. 17 at Sheffield: Boston 18, Athletic 17
• Thursday, Aug. 20 at Manchester: Athletic 7, Boston 2
• Friday, Aug. 21 at Manchester: Wright’s Team 14, McBride’s team 9
• Monday, Aug. 24 at Dublin: Boston 12, Athletic 7
• Tuesday, Aug. 25 at Dublin: Athletic 15, Boston 4
• Wednesday, Aug. 26 at Dublin: American Nine 12, Ireland Nine 6; Spalding’s Nine 9, McMullin’s Nine 8

ERIC MIKLICH has written for SABR and John Thorn’s Base Ball: A Journal of the Early Game. In 2014, he co-authored Forfeits and Successfully Protested Games in Major League Baseball: A Complete Record, 1871-2013, with David Nemec and has been a contributing author to other Nemec publications. He is a member of SABR’s Nineteenth Century Committee and has served on the Executive Board of the Vintage Base Ball Association (VBBA) from 2009 to the present, seven years as its Historian. Eric owns 19C Base Ball Inc. and maintains its website, www.19cbaseball.com. He was a Volunteer 19th Century Base Ball Coordinator at Old Bethpage Village Restoration (Long Island), the re-birthplace of 19th century base ball in North America, from 2000-2009. Eric has competed in close to 800 19th century base ball matches throughout the US and currently pitches for the Eckford of Brooklyn BBC. He is from and still lives on Long Island.

 

Sources

The research for this article comes from Eric Miklich’s forthcoming book The World Tour of ’74.

 

Notes

1 William J. Ryczek, Blackguards and Red Stockings: A History of Baseball’s National Association, 1871-1875 (Wallingford, Connecticut: Colebrook Press, 1992), 137, See also New York Clipper, April 4, 1874, and Boston Daily Advertiser, July 13, 1874.

2 Ryczek, 137.

3 The attendance is reported in New York Clipper, July 25, 1874: 131.

4 “On the Ocean Wave,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 12, 1874: 3.

5 “The American Base-Ball Clubs in Liverpool,” New York Times, July 29, 1874.

6 Liverpool Daily Albion. Reprinted in Leeds Mercury as “Base Ball in England,” August 1, 1874.

7 Manchester Guardian. Reprinted in the Birmingham Daily Post as “The Americans Base Ball Players,” August 1, 1874.

8 New York Clipper, August, 22, 1874: 163.

9 Why did the American sides field 18, instead of the customary 11? Spalding said it was because even though they were accomplished athletes, most of the Americans had never seen cricket played. Spalding later wrote, “As we had eighteen men—and I urged that no one wanted to be left out of the cricket games—it was agreed that we should, in all cricket matches, play at the odds of eighteen to eleven in our favor, which, considering the fielding ability of the Americans, was greatly to our advantage.” See Albert G. Spalding, America’s National Game (Lincoln, Nebraska: Bison Books, 1992, reprint of 1911 edition), 180.