A New History of Baseball

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The year is 1871. The first professional league, the National Association, is about to begin it's inaugural season.

This is a historic league using the standard (Lahman?) database. Re-Calc is turned off to allow for some interesting developments. All players will begin their careers with the teams they debuted with in real life until the draft begins in 1965.

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1871 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION PREVIEW

Nine teams have signed up for the first National Association season. The clubs agreed upon a loose schedule with an unbalanced number of games per team. It was agreed, after much debate, that the champion will be the club with the highest winning percentage after the season. The league was mostly a player's league, with no real contracts so to speak of. Players got paid for the season and they could keep playing with the same club the following year or go elsewhere. There were real, big-market teams like New York, Philadelphia and Chicago and there were small town clubs from Fort Wayne, Indiana and Rockford, Illinois. This was the first organized professional sports league in the world and it would take a few years to really figure out how to make one run smoothly.

The Philadelphia Athletics are predicted to be the pennant winners in 1871, with a 17-12 record.

Philadelphia third baseman Levi Meyerle is the game's best hitter.


19-year-old phenom Bobby Mathews of the Fort Wayne Kekiongas is top pitcher in the NA.


Boston second baseman Ross Barnes is the top prospect in baseball.


TOP 10 PROSPECTS
2B Ross Barnes, 20, Boston Red Stockings
RF Lip Pike, 25, Troy Haymakers
3B Levi Meyerle, 21, Philadelphia Athletics
SS George Wright, 24 Boston Red Stockings
3B Cap Anson, 19, Rockford Forest Citys
CF George Hall, 20 Washington Olympics
SS John Bass, 22, Cleveland Forest Citys
CF Fred Treacey, 23, Chicago White Stockings
C Cal McVey, 21, Boston Red Stockings
SS Dickie Flowers, 20, Troy Haymakers

The Boston Red Stockings have the #1 system in the league.

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1871 OPENING DAY LINEUPS


BOSTON RED STOCKINGS
SS George Wright
CF Harry Wright
2B Ross Barnes
C Cal McVey
1B Charlie Gould
3B Harry Schafer
LF Fred Cone
RF Frank Barrows
P Al Spalding


CHICAGO WHITE STOCKINGS
RF Ed Pinkham
LF Tom Foley
2B Jimmy Wood
CF Fred Treacey
1B Bub McAtee
C Charlie Hodes
SS Ed Duffy
3B Mike Brannock
P George Zettlein


CLEVELAND FOREST CITYS
3B Ezra Sutton
CF Art Allison
SS John Bass
C Deacon White
LF Charlie Pabor
1B Jim Carleton
RF Elmer White
2B Joe Quest
P Al Pratt


FORT WAYNE KEKIONGAS
2B Tom Carey
CF Bill Kelly
1B Jim Foran
3B Frank Sellman
LF Harry Deane
C Paddy Quinn
RF Pete Donnelly
SS Wally Goldsmith
P Bobby Mathews


NEW YORK MUTUALS
CF Dave Eggler
LF John Hatfield
2B Dick Higham
1B Joe Start
SS Dickey Pearce
3B Bob Ferguson
C Charlie Mills
RF Tom Patterson
P Rynie Wolters

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PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS
LF Ned Cuthbert
CF Count Sensenderfer
3B Levi Meyerle
RF George Bechtel
2B Al Reach
C Fergy Malone
SS John Radcliff
1B Wes Fisler
P Dick McBride


ROCKFORD FOREST CITYS
1B Denny Mack
2B Bob Addy
3B Cap Anson
RF Gat Stires
CF George Bird
C Scott Hastings
SS Chick Fulmer
LF Ralph Ham
P Cherokee Fisher


TROY HAYMAKERS
SS Dickie Flowers
1B Clipper Flynn
LF Steve King
RF Lip Pike
2B Bill Craver
CF Tom York
3B Steve Bellan
C Mike McGeary
P Jim McMullin


WASHINGTON OLYMPICS
2B Andy Leonard
3B Fred Waterman
C Doug Allison
CF George Hall
SS Savy Force
1B Everett Mills
RF John Glenn
LF Henry Burroughs
P Asa Brainard

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MAY 1871

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
STANDINGS______W-L__PCT__GB_
New York_______2-0_1.000_1__
Cleveland______6-2__.750____
Washington_____6-4__.600_1__
Rockford_______4-4__.500_2__
Chicago________3-3__.500_2__
Troy___________3-3__.500_2__
Boston_________3-5__.375_3__
Philadelphia___0-1__.000_2.5
Fort Wayne_____0-5__.000_4.5

New York is technically in first place due to their winning percentage.

Of teams who have played more than two games, Cleveland has taken the early advantage. Their early success is thanks to the superb pitching of Al Pratt (6-2, 8/7 BB/K, 2.18 ERA), and the hitting of Deacon White (.410/.429/.513, 8 RBI) and John Bass (.378/.429/.811, 3 HR, 11 RBI). Pratt and Bass have also been excellent with the glove, with Deacon White also providing some excellent catching.

Washington is creating some early competition for Cleveland, with both great hitting and pitching. Doug Allison (.380/.380/.480, 8 RBI) John Glenn (.362/.388/.404, 5 RBI) Everett Mills (.354/.347/.542, 12 RBI) and Andy Leonard (.314/.308/.373, 9 RBI) are providing plenty of runs for the club. Their pitching has been best in the league so far thanks to the arm of Asa Brainard (6-4, 11/7 BB/K, 1.91 ERA).

AROUND THE LEAGUE
5/15 - Washington Olympics LF Henry Burroughs will miss 4 months with a torn labrum.
5/17 - New York Mutuals CF Dave Eggler goes 5-7 in a 19-10 victory over the Troy Haymakers.
5/22 - Washington Olympics SP John McMullin shuts out the Troy Haymakers. 9.0 IP, 6 H, 1 K.
5/23 - Rockford Forest Citys C Scott Hastings goes 5-7 in a 28-9 victory over the Fort Wayne Kekiongas.
5/26 - Troy Haymakers CF Tom York will miss the season with a torn UCL.


George Wright
BATTING LEADERS
AVG: .600 - George Bechtel, Philadelphia
OBP: .600 - George Bechtel, Philadelphia
SLG: 1.600 - Levi Meyerle, Philadelphia
H: 21 - George Wright, Boston
2B: 4 - Denny Mack, Rockford & Fred Waterman, Washington
3B: 6 - George Wright, Boston
HR: 3 - John Bass, Cleveland
RBI: 12 - 3 tied
SB: 3 - 6 tied
WAR: 1.6 - John Bass, Cleveland


Asa Brainard
PITCHING LEADERS
ERA: 1.91 - Asa Brainard, Washington
W: 6 - Asa Brainard, Washington & Al Pratt, Cleveland
L: 5 - Bobby Mathews, Fort Wayne & Al Spalding, Boston
SV: 1 - Chick Fulmer, Rockford
IP: 85 - Asa Brainard, Washington
BB: 16 - Cherokee Fisher, Rockford
K: 11 - George Zettlein, Chicago
WHIP: 0.67 - Tom Pratt, Philadelphia
FIP: 3.18 - John McMullin, Troy
WAR: 1.7 - Asa Brainard, Washington

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june 1871

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july 1871

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august 1871