BLACK
SHEEP OF THE NEW NATIONAL LEAGUE
Cincinnati
meat packer Josiah Keck bought a baseball team set to play in the newly formed National
League. Hoping to capitalize on the popularity of the original Red Stockings, he chose the
same name for his new club. The newly developed National League would field eight teams. The
Chicago White Stockings (Cubs), Boston Red Caps (Braves), St
Louis Brown Stockings, Hartford Dark Blues, Louisville Grays, New York Mutuals, Philadelphia
Athletics and the Cincinnati Red Stockings.
The
Cincinnati Red Stockings owner also secured Avenue Grounds and the services of two of the
original Red Stockings: first baseman Charlie Gould & second baseman Charlie Sweasy. Gould
also served as manager of the Red Stockings. The rest of the starting line up consisted of
catcher Dave Pierson, second baseman Charlie Sweasy, third baseman Will Foley, shortstop Henry
Kessler, and outfielders Charlie Jones, Redleg Snyder and Bobby Clack. The pitchers were
Cherokee Fisher with 4 wins & 20 losses, and Dory Dean who posted 4 wins and 26 losses in
his only major league season. Manager Charlie Gould also pitched in 2 games.
Although
they shared the same name as the glorious Red Stockings of old, the similarities ended there.
Despite winning their first two games against the St Louis Brown Stockings, the Red Stockings
were absolutely dreadful. The club lost nine games straight from May 4th to May 30th. The club
ended the streak with an 8-2 victory on June 1st over the Hartford Dark Blues. However, it
would be the only game the Red Stockings would win in the month of June. The club would not
nab another win until July 6th against the Philadelphia A's. Cincinnati went on to drop
nineteen straight after July 6th.
When the
season concluded, the Red Stockings compiled a woeful record of 9-56, finishing the season
with a .138 winning percentage. The Red Stockings were a distant 42½ games behind National
League Champion Chicago White Stockings (Cubs). The 1876 Red Stockings are the only
major league team to win fewer than 10 games in a full season. The club still holds the second
worst winning percentage in major league history. Not a single player on the team batted over
.300. As a result of the poor play on the field, the club began having serious problems in the
box office. The Red Stockings finished the season in the red.
The
beginning of the 1877 baseball season saw Charlie Gould replaced as Red Stockings field
manager. However, he remained the Red Stockings first baseman. His replacement was Lip Pike
who managed the Troy Trojans and Hartford Dark Blues in the old National Association. Pike
also played second base for the Red Stockings that year.
The
starting line up saw the return of Will Foley at third base and Charlie Jones in the outfield.
New starters were Scott Hastings at catcher, Bobby Addy and Ned Cuthbert in the outfield and
Jack Manning at shortstop. Manning won a pennant in 1875 while playing for the Boston Red Caps
(Braves)
in the National Association. His manager was none other than former Cincinnati Red Stocking
Harry Wright.
The
starting pitchers for the Red Stockings were all newcomers. Candy Cummings (5-14), Bobby
Matthews (3-12) and left handed pitcher Bobby Mitchell (6-5). Candy Cummings is
credited for inventing the curve ball.
Before the season
started, the National League scaled back from eight teams to six teams. The clubs dropped from
the circuit were the New York Mutuals and the Philadelphia Athletics. As for the Red
Stockings, they got off to a horrible start, losing 11 of the first 14 games. The situation
became so bad that Red Stockings owner Josiah Keck simply disbanded the team on June 16th.
The NL
did not want to disband Cincinnati in midseason, especially since it would leave a 5 team
league after the loss of New York & Philadelphia. So a group of eight Cincinnati
businessmen, led by J. Wayne Neff, scrambled to successfully reassemble the team. However, the
club had to pay its June membership fee, so approval to rejoin the league had to be by
unanimous vote from the rest of the club owners. It took league president William Hulbert
three weeks to secure approval.
The Red
Stockings played their return game on July 3rd. But the team’s re-entry in mid season
caused massive confusion. To begin with, there was confusion as to whether Cincinnati's games
should count in the standings or not. Some newspapers carried the standings including
Cincinnati, while other papers excluded the club. Some just decided to carry both versions.
But the Red Stockings managed to make up all but three of the games they missed during the
hiatus.
But other problems
appeared. While the Red Stockings were out of the league, Hulbert's Chicago White Stockings (Cubs) signed
three of the Reds' players - Harry Smith, Jimmy Hallinan and Charley Jones. Jones was the Red
Stockings most popular player at the time. So following much public screaming, Hulbert
returned Charley Jones, but kept the other two players. He claimed that
all three had been signed after they had been properly released by Cincinnati.
After
the season had ended the Red Stockings hit another road block. The club was expelled from the
National League during the league's annual meeting in December because the league never
received Cincinnati’s June membership fee. So the Red Stockings had their 1877 record
retroactively disallowed. Shortly thereafter, it was decided to simply readmit the Red
Stockings & their record, a record that would have been best forgotten. Cincinnati
finished with a crummy record of 15-42, finishing a distant 25½ games behind the Boston Red
Caps (Braves).
For the
1878 season the National League went through some changes. Returning to the National League
would be the Cincinnati Red Stockings, Boston Red Caps (Braves), and the Chicago White Stockings (Cubs). Teams
from the prior year that folded were the Hartford Dark Blues, Louisville Grays and the St
Louis Brown Stockings. New teams introduced to the League were the Providence Grays, Milwaukee
Cream Citys and the Indianapolis Hoosiers.
The 1878 season saw almost the whole Red Stockings team change, which was
sorely needed after the miserable failure of the team over the previous two years. Some of the
only players to return from the 1877 team were pitcher Bobby Mitchell, part time position
player Chub Sullivan and outfielders Charley Jones & Lip Pike. Jones had the second
highest batting average for the Red Stockings in 1877 with a percentage of .313, and the
highest slugging percentage of .466. For the 1878 season Jones would go on to have the
highest batting average (.310) and slugging percentage (.441) for Cincinnati.
Cal McVey would come onboard from Chicago and be a
player/manager for Cincinnati. As a player McVey won pennants with the Boston Red Stockings (Braves) in
1872, 1874 and 1875 and the Chicago White Stockings (Cubs) in 1876. McVey certainly had seen
much success, but most importantly as a 20-year-old young man, McVey played right field for
the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings. So his return was certainly a welcome sight.
Other new players for Cincinnati were Joe Gerhardt at second base, Bill Geer
at shortstop, and rookie and eventual Hall of Famer King Kelly in the outfield. Behind the
plate was baseball star catcher Deacon White, who came over from the Boston Red Caps (Braves).
White had a great career prior to his arrival in Cincinnati, playing for six straight pennant
winning teams. The Boston Red Stockings (Braves) in 1873,1874 and 1875, the Chicago
White Stockings (Cubs) 1876 and then again with the Boston
Red Caps (Braves)
in 1877. The Boston teams were managed by former Red Stocking Harry Wright. White's batting
average for Cincinnati was .314 with 81 hits and 29 RBI's. Needless to say, he was a
great acquisition.
Along with the great addition of Deacon White was
his younger brother Will White, marking the first time brothers played together in the majors.
Will White pitched in a handful of games the previous year in Boston, but little did anyone
realize how great of an acquisition he was. He'd go on to be a stellar pitcher for Cincinnati.
Pitching in the 1870’s was completely different than what it would later evolve into in
the twentieth century; pitchers at the time threw underhanded. White pitched in 52 of the 61
games played in 1878, amassing a record of 30-21 and an E.R.A of 1.79. The only other pitcher
for the Red Stockings that year was Bobby Mitchell who pitched in the nine games that White
did not.
The Red
Stockings opening day was held on May 1st and the Red Stockings beat the Milwaukee Cream Citys
13-2. Cincinnati proceeded to sweep the Cream Citys and the Chicago White Stockings (Cubs)
putting the club at 6-0. The club was a total surprise. The Red Stockings entered June with a
record of 11-3 and went on to spend 62 days of the season in first place. But the club would
eventually sink in the standings and finish the season in second behind the Boston Red Caps (Braves). The
Cincinnati Red Stockings posted a 37-23 record with a .617 winning percentage, finishing 4
games behind Boston for the pennant. To give you an idea of how great the 1878 Red Stockings
turnaround was, their winning percentage was the exact same as the 1972 pennant winning Reds
club.
For the 1879 season,
the National League went through a couple of franchise changes. After spending the previous two years with only six
clubs, the League decided to expand to eight. Returning to the League were the Cincinnati Red
Stockings, Boston Red Caps (Braves), Chicago White Stockings (Cubs) and
the Providence Grays. The Indianapolis Hoosiers and the Milwaukee Cream Citys both folded. New
to the League were the Buffalo Bisons, Cleveland Blues, Syracuse
Stars and the Troy Trojans (Giants). As a result of the expansion to
eight teams, the National League extended the number of games per season to 84.
The 1879 Red Stockings
season was full of high hopes after the great year prior. But the 1879 season was nothing of
the sort. The season was riddled with mediocre performance on the field and more front office
turmoil. The trouble started when Deacon White was named manager instead of Cal McVey from the
previous year.
Deacon’s
starting line up for the season saw the return of himself at catcher, where his batting
average was .330 and his slugging percentage was .423. Former Red Stockings manager Cal McVey
would return to play first base. Joe Gerhardt returned to play second, Buttercup Dickson would
be promoted to the starting position in the outfield where he was joined with new comer Pete
Hotaling and Will Foley. Foley actually started at third base for the Red Stockings in 1876
and 1877. He left the club and played for the Milwaukee Cream Citys for the 1878 season. After
Milwaukee folded, he returned to Cincinnati in 1879. Up and comer King Kelly was already at
third base forcing Foley to play in the outfield.
Twenty-one-year-old
King Kelly had a monstrous year. His batting average was .348, on base percentage was .363 and
slugging percentage was .493. He led the Red Stockings in runs scored (78) and hits (120), and
tied Pete Hotaling for doubles (20).
New
to the Red Stockings was twenty-nine-year-old Ross Barnes who would play shortstop. Barnes was
in the tail end of his career. He played for all of Harry Wright's
Boston Red Stockings (Braves) in the National Association days,
winning five league pennants. He then went to the Chicago White Stockings(Cubs) in 1876 and helped the White
Stockings(Cubs)
win the first National League pennant, marking his sixth straight league championship.
The
starting pitching was taken care of by Will White. He pitched in 76 of the 84 games the Red
Stockings played, amassing a record of 43-31. When White wasn't pitching, position players
were. Blondie Purcell, Jack Neagle, Harry Wheeler and Cal McVey all had 0 wins and 6 losses.
The Red Stockings began
the season against the Troy Trojans (Giants) on May 1st. Cincinnati promptly
beat the Trojans by a score of 7-5 and went on to win their next four games. Despite the hot
start, the club wound up winning only three of their next nine games putting the Red Stockings
at 8-7 at the end of May. After some "off the field" turbulence within the
front office, manager Deacon White would be replaced after 16 games. He
was promptly replaced by the previous year’s player/manager Cal McVey. It didn't help,
and the Red Stockings began June with an eight game losing streak.
In Deacon White's brief
time as the manager, he managed to alienate prominent Cincinnati sportswriter O.P. Caylor.
Caylor had wanted to become the team's official scorer but White gave the position to his
brother-in-law. After the manager's sleight, Caylor set about criticizing every move that the
club made. The Red Stockings finished the season with a record of 43-37, placing them 14 games
behind the National League Champion Providence Grays. The Grays were managed by former Red
Stocking and Hall of Famer George Wright. It was Wright's only year he would manage a major
league club.
On top of the poor
season by the Red Stockings, the clubhouse started to polarize. One
group consisted of stars Ross Barnes, Deacon White and Cal McVey, who made $2000 per season
each. The other group consisted of the rest of the team, who made only $800 apiece, and
resented the stars' attitudes and salaries.
As if the team didn't have enough problems already, attendance was terrible all year. When
losses reached $10,000, Neff pulled the plug on the team. On
September 24th, Neff informed his players that their services would not be required after
October 1st. In the interim, the NL owners passed the first reserve rule in an attempt to curb
out of control player salaries, as had been evidenced by Cincinnati's financial trouble. To
top off a terrible year, the Cincinnati Red Stockings officially resigned from the League. The
club would be re-instated in December after Justus Thorner bought the troubled franchise.
For the
1880 season the National League would see the return of all of their franchises with the
exception of the Syracuse Stars. The Stars folded and were replaced by the Worcester Ruby Legs
(Phillies).
The Red
Stockings new owner Thorner would release most of the clubs good players from the past two
years. Rather than keep most of the players that contributed to two successful seasons,
Thorner simply cleaned house, leaving only Deacon and Will White plus outfielder Blondy
Purcell.
The
newcomers to the team and starting line up were John Clapp at catcher and field manager, John
Reilly at first base, Pop Smith at second base, Hick Carpenter at third base and Lou Say at
shortstop. The outfield had Mike Mansell and Jack Manning. Manning had played with the Red
Stockings in 1877, leaving to play for the league champion Boston Red Caps (Braves) in
1878.
Also
new to the team was outfielder Andy Leonard. Leonard played for the famed 1869 Cincinnati Red
Stockings. However, he would play in only 33 games in his return to Cincinnati. He would
retire at the season’s end.
Will
White was the starting pitcher and his record for the season was 18-42. Blondie Purcell
pitched in 25 games posting a record of 3-17.
The Red Stockings
complete overhaul resulted in a last place finish in the National League. The club ended the
year with a record of 21-59, putting the club 44 games behind the National League Champion
Chicago White Stockings (Cubs). The final game of the season was on
October 6th and was played in front of a pathetic crowd of 183 fans.
In an effort to bring in additional revenues, Red Stockings owners rented out the Avenue
Grounds for use by non-league teams when the Red Stockings weren't playing. The rentals were
mainly for Sunday games at which the sale of beer was permitted. Even though the club raked in
large profits from these activities, both were against strict league rules.
A puritanical battle took place between the Cincinnati media and media from other League
cities, such as Troy (Giants), Providence and Worcester (Phillies).
At a special league meeting in October, the other seven clubs passed a rule prohibiting the
sale of alcohol at league parks, even at non-league games, and use of the park on Sundays.
Failure to comply would mean termination of the franchise. When Red Stockings ownership
refused to sign the pledge, Cincinnati was unceremoniously dumped, to be replaced by the Detroit Wolverines for the 1881 season. The Red Stockings were disbanded.
For the
1881 season a new Red Stockings club was fielded as an independent team. Since 1866,
Cincinnati baseball teams (that functioning under the name Red Stockings) played on an
amateur level eight years out of sixteen. Local Cincinnati sports writer O.P. Caylor and
former Red Stockings owner Justus Thorner wanted to end amateur and independent status once
and for all. This, of course, would be quite difficult since there was only a single major
league. And the Red Stockings were just dropped from that one major league. So Caylor and
Thorner set out and began establishing a new major league to rival the National League. They
would become the founders of the first major league to rival the National League. The name of
the new league was the American Association.
Edited By Chris Drew. |
