We've started simming the "pre-history" of our league, so to give you a taste of what we're doing, I'll start posting each season's recap here.
Starting with the beginning of time...
1876—The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs (it would not receive its less cumbersome moniker for another four years) opened with clubs in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Hartford, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis. The 8-team league was not organized into divisions, but with four clubs on the Eastern seaboard and the others all west of Lake Erie, there was already a geographic divide that affected scheduling and road trips. Not that the schedule was particularly hectic; no teams played games on consecutive days, spreading out 70 games over 23 weeks. As the sport’s popularity continued to grow, the players’ workload would too, but that was all in the future.
The Chicago entry took the league’s first pennant relatively easily, finishing 47-23, seven games better than second-place Philadelphia. Dubbed the “Haymakers” by a local newspaperman, Chicago was led by center fielder Tim Mary, who led the league in hitting (.355), runs scored (86), and stolen bases (65), and pitcher George Stonge, who paced the circuit in ERA (1.87), victories (46), and strikeouts (80), becoming the first Triple Crown winner in history.
http://www.american-circuit.net/repo...00_0_1876.html