[mjj55409]

The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players

Throughout the 1850s and 1860s interest in baseball was burgeoning. In 1858, members of the oldest amateur club, the Knickerbockers of New York City, called a convention of all similarly organized clubs in the metropolitan area. Twenty-two clubs were represented. They formed themselves into a permanent body: The National Association of Base Ball Players. This National Association governed baseball for thirteen years.

The post-Civil War period saw tremendous growth in baseball. From an organization of clubs in the New York metropolitan area, the National Association became truly national in scope. At the convention of 1865, ninety-one clubs from across the country were represented. And as America became more urban and more industrial, the demand for leisure activities increased. A demand that was increasingly met by attending baseball matches. This lead to the clubs beginning to charge for attendance. And since the National Association was an amateur association, prohibitions were in place against paying the players. But this of course just meant that the players were being paid underneath the table. Boss Tweed, a backer of the New York Mutual club, would lure players to the Mutuals by providing jobs on the city payroll.

In 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings rejected the amateur tenets of the National Association and became the first openly professional team. The total payroll for the season of 1869, which in those days lasted from March 15 to November 15, was $9300. The team took on all comers, and they finished the season with a record of 56 victories, 1 tie, and 0 defeats. Professionalism in baseball had arrived.

By the end of 1869, the professionals were in virtual control of the Association convention and were bitterly attacked by last-ditch amateur supporters. At the 1870 convention, about twenty professional clubs were able to dominate the amateurs, who gave way under the pressure and adjourned.

So in March of 1871, nine professional clubs met at a saloon at 840 Broadway in New York City and formed the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. Charter members of the first organized professional league were the Philadelphia Athletics, Washington Olympics, New York Mutuals, Troy Haymakers, Boston Red Stockings, Forest Citys of Rockford, Forest Citys of Cleveland, Chicago White Stockings, and the Kekiongas of Fort Wayne. It is important to note that this is still an association of players, not clubs.

The professional clubs arranged for match tours with each other. Typically, the Eastern clubs would make two trips west, and the Western clubs came east twice. There was no supervised scheduling; the clubs handled all scheduling themselves. Prior to 1871, any talk of a “championship” was informal. The National Association intended to formalize the pennant race. Any professional club could ante up the fee of $10 and join the “championship season.” Each club was to play a best three out of five series against every other club. The one winning the greatest number of games during the season would be declared champion by the championship committee at the convention following the close of the season. The club could then fly the championship "whip pennant" at its park the following season.