History of Major League Base Ball (revised)

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May 25, 1876

Chicago White Stockings (9-4) at Hartford Dark Blues (5-6)

So far this season, Chicago are 7-0 away from home. They remain a half-game behind New York going into today's game, as the Mutuals again host St. Louis.

Chicago lineup

Davy Force, ss (.279)
Jim Foran, 1b (.373)
Levi Meyerle, 3b (.361)
George Hall, rf (.339)
Jim Tipper, lf (.200)
Fergy Malone, c (.207)
Joe Quest, 2b (.275)
Pat McGee, cf (.188)
George Zettlein, p (2-2, 3.82)

Harford lineup

Andy Leonard, 2b (.306)
Tom Carey, ss (.271)
Orator Shafer, rf (.224)
Everett Mills, 1b (.417)
Bill Harbridge, c (.104)
Joe Battin, 3b (.364)
Holly Hollingshead, cf (.184)
George Seward, lf (.250)
Frank Buttery, p (1-0, 6.05)

Hartford scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning, with an RBI double by Orator Shafer as the key hit. A couple Chicago errors (by Jim Tipper and George Zettlein) allowed Hartford to extend the lead to 4-0 in the second inning, and George Seward had an RBI single in the third to make it 5-0.

That was where the score stood for the middle innings, as neither club scored in the fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh. Chicago went down in order in the eighth. They put up a bit more fight in the ninth, getting hits from Jim Foran, Levi Meyerle and Jim Tipper and scoring two runs, but that was all they could manage as Hartford came up with the relatively easy win.

Meanwhile, New York beat St. Louis 8-3 to open up a 1 1/2 game lead over Chicago.

Hartford 5, Chicago 2

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May 27, 1876

Louisville Grays (10-4) at Philadelphia Athletics (4-9)

Louisville just keep on winning and now they are a game ahead of Chicago and a mere half-game behind New York going into this game. Is this just an early-season anomaly or can this new club compete with the new league's top teams?

Louisville lineup

Bill Hague, 3b (.308)
Jim Clinton, cf (.257)
Jimmy Wood, 2b (.286)
Tom York, lf (.222)
Jim Devlin, 1b (.328)
Scott Hastings, c (.213)
Chick Fulmer, ss (.222)
Jack Chapman, rf (.304)
Candy Cummings, p (2-1, 2.62)

Philadelphia lineup

Mike McGeary, 2b (.190)
Count Sensenderfer, cf (.196)
Deacon White, c (.345)
Cap Anson, 1b (.302)
John Radcliff, ss (.360)
Clipper Flynn, rf (.326)
Count Gedney, lf (.273)
Henry Burroughs, 3b (.314)
NFN O'Rourke, p (1-1, 2.61)

RBI doubles by Tom York and Chick Fulmer allowed Louisville to jump out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning. The Athletics got one run back in the bottom of the inning when Mike McGeary singled, stole second and took third on a Scott Hastings throwing error then scored on a ground out. Deacon White had an RBI base hit in the third to make it 4-2.

Tom York knocked in a run in the fourth, but in the bottom of the fourth Philadelphia tied the score, as Count Gedney, Henry Burroughs and Mike McGeary each got hits in the inning and Jack Chapman and Scott Hastings committed errors. Through four innings, it was 5-5.

Bill Hague managed a fifth-inning sacrifice fly to make it 6-5 in favor of Louisville, then the next run scored was in the bottom of the seventh when Count Sensenderfer singled home Mike McGeary to tie the game.

Neither team scored in the eighth, then Louisville went down in order in the top of the ninth. In the bottom of the inning, Philadelphia got runners on first and third with two outs, then Clipper Flynn came to the plate. Flynn hit a simple fly out to Jack Chapman in right that should have sent the game into extra innings, but Chapman inexplicably dropped the ball, allowing the winning run to score for Philadelphia.

With New York's victory in their game, the Mutuals were able to open up a more substantial lead over Louisville and Chicago going into the Decoration Day celebrations.

Philadelphia 7, Louisville 6

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The standings on Sunday, May 28, 1876:

New York Mutuals 11-3
Louisville Grays 10-5
Chicago White Stockings 9-6
Hartford Dark Blues 7-6
Boston Red Stockings 7-8
Philadelphia Athletics 5-9
St. Louis Brown Stockings 5-10
Cincinnati Reds 4-11

For the first time this season, a team has opened up a bit of a lead over the rest of the league, as New York now leads Louisville by a game and a half and leads Chicago by 2 1/2.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Frank McCarton, Boston - .429
Everett Mills, Hartford - .418
George Wright, Boston - .397
Jim Foran, Chicago - .382
Ezra Sutton, New York - .375
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .371
John Radcliff, Philadelphia - .364

Runs Scored

Dave Eggler, New York - 17
Chick Fulmer, Louisville - 16
Tom York, Louisville - 16
Jim Devlin, Louisville - 14
Denny Mack, St. Louis - 14
10 players tied with 13 each

Runs Batted In

Chick Fulmer, Louisville - 15
Cal McVey, Boston - 15
Deacon White, Philadelphia - 15
Bill Hague, Louisville - 14
Jack Remsen, St. Louis - 14
3 players tied with 13 each

Won-Loss Record

Asa Brainard, Chicago, 7-3
Dan Collins, Louisville, 7-3
Bobby Mathews, New York, 6-1
Al Spalding, Boston, 4-3
Pud Galvin, St. Louis, 4-5
Tricky Nichols, Hartford, 4-5
Hugh Campbell, New York, 3-2

Earned Run Average (This is a new statistic showing how many earned runs a pitcher gives up per game.)

Hugh O'Neil, Cincinnati - 1.26
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 1.45
Hugh Campbell, New York - 1.67
Flip Lafferty, Philadelphia - 1.77
Bobby Mathews, New York - 1.90
Lon Knight, Philadelphia - 1.96
Al Spalding, Boston - 2.01

Strikeouts

Dan Collins, Louisville - 43
Al Spalding, Boston - 16
Pud Galvin, St. Louis - 13
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 12
Bobby Mathews, New York - 10
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 9
2 players tied with 8 each

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

At the end of May 1876, it's time for a quick look at the first-ever affiliated minor league, the Northwestern League. Here are the standings:

Minneapolis Millers 13-3 (Boston's affiliate)
Fort Wayne Railroaders 11-2 (Cincinnati)
St. Paul Saints 10-3 (New York)
Evansville Hoosiers 7-6 (Louisville)
Peoria Distillers 7-8 (Chicago)
Grand Rapids Woodworkers 5-10 (Hartford)
Terre Haute Hottentots 4-12 (Philadelphia)
Quincy Ravens 1-14 (St. Louis)

The NWL league leaders:

Batting Average

Charlie Gould, Fort Wayne - .538
Joe Gerhardt, Evansville - .526
George Bird, Minneapolis - .487
John Morrill, Minneapolis - .444
Joe Keenan, Minneapolis - .435
Jumbo Latham, Minneapolis - .424
Gat Stires, St. Paul - .420

Runs Scored

Jim Keenan, Minneapolis - 19
Steve Bellan, Minneapolis - 17
James McDermott, Minneapolis - 15
Pete Donnelly, Minneapolis - 14
Tim McGinley, Peoria - 14
John Morrill, Minneapolis - 14
Gat Stires, St. Paul - 14

Runs Batted In

James McDermott, Minneapolis - 19
John Morrill, Minneapolis - 17
Jim Keenan, Minneapolis - 14
7 players tied with 11 each

Won-Loss Record

Mike Golden, Minneapolis, 6-0
John Cassidy, Fort Wayne, 4-0
Tommy Bond, St. Paul, 4-1
Fred Goldsmith, Evansville, 4-1
Dale Williams, Fort Wayne, 4-1
Bill Stearns, Peoria, 4-5
Frank Pearce, Evansville, 3-0

Earned Run Average

Bill French, Grand Rapids - 1.50
NFN Edwards, Fort Wayne - 1.50
John Cassidy, Fort Wayne - 1.75
Mike Golden, Minneapolis - 2.00
Joe Borden, Fort Wayne - 2.00
Dale Williams, Fort Wayne - 2.05
Ed Stratton, St. Paul - 2.06

Strikeouts

Bill Stearns, Peoria - 12
Tommy Bond, St. Paul - 5
Charlie Mason, Grand Rapids - 5
NFN Edwards, Fort Wayne - 4
Bill French, Grand Rapids - 4
7 players tied with 3 each

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

June 1, 1876

Louisville Grays (11-5) at New York Mutuals (11-4)

This week the Grays are visiting Gotham and they already took the first game 3-2 to move within a half-game of first place. Now these teams will do battle today with the winner ending the day in first place.

Louisville lineup

Bill Hague, 3b (.311)
Scott Hastings, c (.243)
Jimmy Wood, 2b (.250)
Tom York, lf (.264)
Jim Devlin, 1b (.315)
Jim Clinton, cf (.256)
Chick Fulmer, ss (.229)
Jack Chapman, rf (.276)
Candy Cummings, p (2-2, 2.51)

New York lineup

Dave Eggler, cf (.292)
John McMullin, rf (.284)
Dick Higham, c (.524)
Ezra Sutton, ss (.356)
Steve King, lf (.302)
Bob Ferguson, 3b (.317)
John Hatfield, 2b (.246)
Z.H. Taylor, 1b (.190)
Hugh Campbell, p (3-2, 1.67)

Neither team scored in the first five innings of the game, and Louisville did not even manage to get a runner into scoring position. In the bottom of the sixth New York managed to load the bases with one out, but Bob Ferguson flied out and John Hatfield grounded out to end the threat.

Finally, in the bottom of the seventh Dave Eggler got a two-out hit then stole second, followed by a John McMullin infield hit. Then Dick Higham came up and hit a long double to score both runners, the game's first two runs. Ezra Sutton followed with a triple to make it 3-0.

Meanwhile, Campbell was able to pitch a scoreless eighth and ninth for the win. Louisville managed only three hits in the game, as New York recorded the shutout and the victory.

New York 3, Louisville 0

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The standings on Sunday, June 4, 1876:

New York Mutuals 13-4
Louisville Grays 11-7
Hartford Dark Blues 9-7
Chicago White Stockings 10-8
Boston Red Stockings 9-9
Philadelphia Athletics 7-10
St. Louis Brown Stockings 6-12
Cincinnati Reds 5-13

New York, after taking two of three from Louisville last week, has opened up a bit of a lead in the National League. Meanwhile, there are now four clubs in the struggle for the runner-up position - Boston seems to be over its early-season slump and could be in position to start chasing the Mutuals.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Everett Mills, Hartford - .433
Frank McCarton, Boston - .426
Cal McVey, Boston - .405
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .398
Jim Foran, Chicago - .388
George Wright, Boston - .375
Ezra Sutton, New York - .348

Runs Scored

Dave Eggler, New York - 19
Tom York, Louisville - 18
Cal McVey, Boston - 17
5 players tied with 16 each

Runs Batted In

Deacon White, Philadelphia - 18
Cal McVey, Boston - 17
Chick Fulmer, Louisville - 15
Bill Hague, Louisville - 15
Jack Remsen, St. Louis - 15
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 14
4 players tied with 13 each

Won-Loss Record

Dan Collins, Louisville, 8-4
Bobby Mathews, New York, 7-2
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 7-5
Al Spalding, Boston, 6-3
Tricky Nichols, Hartford, 5-5
Pud Galvin, St. Louis, 5-6
Hugh Campbell, New York, 4-2

Earned Run Average (This is a new statistic showing how many earned runs a pitcher gives up per game.)

Hugh O'Neil, Cincinnati - 1.19
Flip Lafferty, Philadelphia - 1.37
Hugh Campbell, New York - 1.38
Pidgey Morgan, Hartford - 1.59
Bobby Mathews, New York - 1.72
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 1.83
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 2.14

Strikeouts

Dan Collins, Louisville - 46
Al Spalding, Boston - 19
Pud Galvin, St. Louis - 17
Bobby Mathews, New York - 14
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 13
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 12
Tricky Nichols, Hartford - 10

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

The standings on Sunday, June 11, 1876:

New York Mutuals 16-4
Hartford Dark Blues 12-7
Louisville Grays 12-9
Boston Red Stockings 11-10
Chicago White Stockings 11-10
Philadelphia Athletics 9-11
St. Louis Brown Stockings 6-15
Cincinnati Reds 5-16

The Mutuals are on a real hot streak and suddenly look like running away with the league. They will play Chicago this upcoming week, but the White Stockings are in a big slump at the moment.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Frank McCarton, Boston - .432
Everett Mills, Hartford - .430
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .418
George Wright, Boston - .376
Jim Foran, Chicago - .376
Cal McVey, Boston - .371
Orator Shafer, Hartford - .341

Runs Scored

Dave Eggler, New York - 25
Mike McGeary, Philadelphia - 21
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 21
Ross Barnes, Boston - 20
Cal McVey, Boston - 20
Count Sensenderfer, Philadelphia - 20
Tom York, Louisville - 19

Runs Batted In

Deacon White, Philadelphia - 23
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 19
Cal McVey, Boston - 18
Chick Fulmer, Louisville - 17
Bill Hague, Louisville - 16
Bill Harbridge, Hartford - 16
2 players tied with 15 each

Won-Loss Record

Bobby Mathews, New York, 9-2
Dan Collins, Louisville, 9-5
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 8-5
Al Spalding, Boston, 7-4
Tricky Nichols, Hartford, 7-5
Hugh Campbell, New York, 5-2
Pud Galvin, St. Louis, 5-8

Earned Run Average (This is a new statistic showing how many earned runs a pitcher gives up per game.)

Hugh Campbell, New York - 1.18
Flip Lafferty, Philadelphia - 1.23
Hugh O'Neil, Cincinnati - 1.38
Bobby Mathews, New York - 1.60
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 2.12
Tricky Nichols, Hartford - 2.33
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 2.33

Strikeouts

Dan Collins, Louisville - 47
Al Spalding, Boston - 22
Pud Galvin, St. Louis - 18
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 16
Bobby Mathews, New York - 16
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 15
Tricky Nichols, Hartford - 13

[OmahaReynolds]

Enjoying this a lot. I remember reading some of your older threads on here. Do you watch a lot of these games? Using historical transactions?

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Originally Posted by OmahaReynolds

Enjoying this a lot. I remember reading some of your older threads on here. Do you watch a lot of these games? Using historical transactions?

Thanks! I realized early in the covid shutdown that it had been five or six years since I started an 1871 league, and both our knowledge of early baseball and the OOTP engine had progressed quite a bit since then. I made my way through the NA, finishing about a month ago, and figured when I switched to the National League it was a good time to start things up over here.

I watch one game, or most of it (I sim forward if the games become blowouts), every game day. I've learned through experience that it's not worth writing about all those games - if I start making myself do a writeup every time I watch a midseason game between two second-division teams, I eventually stop wanting to move forward because it feels more like work than fun. But I am actually seeing most of this evolve in real time.

I don't use historical transactions. Instead, I make sure each player starts with whatever team he started with in real life. From there, I let the AI decide how to run the club and I don't intervene. The only exception to this is when new teams arise - which of course happens all the time in the 19th century. In the first year of its existence, I give the new team all the players it actually had during its first year.

So, for instance, in 1878 when Providence makes its NL debut they are going to get a couple guys who are currently stars in the league - Paul Hines and Dick Higham. By contrast, because Cap Anson wasn't with Chicago in 1874 when they returned to the NA after a two-year absence due to the Chicago Fire, he didn't get put on the White Stockings and is currently with Philadelphia. At the end of 1876, Philadelphia will be kicked out of the National League, which means Anson is going to be a free agent this offseason and can sign with anyone.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

The standings on Sunday, June 18, 1876:

New York Mutuals 19-4
Hartford Dark Blues 14-8
Boston Red Stockings 14-10
Louisville Grays 13-11
Chicago White Stockings 11-13
Philadelphia Athletics 10-13
Cincinnati Reds 7-17
St. Louis Brown Stockings 6-18

New York swept the White Stockings to widen their lead over the rest of the league. Boston also continues to rise in the standings - after a 5-8 start the Red Stockings have won 9 of 11 games.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Frank McCarton, Boston - .421
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .411
Everett Mills, Hartford - .402
George Wright, Boston - .388
Jim Foran, Chicago - .368
Cal McVey, Boston - .360
Orator Shafer, Hartford - .344

Runs Scored

Dave Eggler, New York - 27
Mike McGeary, Philadelphia - 25
Ross Barnes, Boston - 24
Cal McVey, Boston - 24
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 24
Count Sensenderfer, Philadelphia - 22
2 players tied with 21 each

Runs Batted In

Deacon White, Philadelphia - 27
Bill Harbridge, Hartford - 22
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 20
Bill Hague, Louisville - 19
Cal McVey, Boston - 19
John Bass, Cincinnati - 18
Tom York, Louisville - 18

Won-Loss Record

Bobby Mathews, New York, 10-2
Dan Collins, Louisville, 10-6
Al Spalding, Boston, 8-4
Tricky Nichols, Hartford, 8-6
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 8-7
Hugh Campbell, New York, 6-2
Cy Bentley, Boston, 5-4

Earned Run Average (This is a new statistic showing how many earned runs a pitcher gives up per game.)

Flip Lafferty, Philadelphia - 1.00
Hugh Campbell, New York - 1.03
Hugh O'Neil, Cincinnati - 1.48
Bobby Mathews, New York - 1.53
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 2.13
Tricky Nichols, Hartford - 2.29
Al Spalding, Boston - 2.55

Strikeouts

Dan Collins, Louisville - 48
Al Spalding, Boston - 23
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 20
Pud Galvin, St. Louis - 19
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 18
Bobby Mathews, New York - 16
Tricky Nichols, Hartford - 16

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

One thing that's worth thinking about: who is Frank McCarton and why is he leading the National League in batting in 1876?

First of all, this is no fluke. As of June 18, 1876, McCarton is the only player in the top ten in career hits (he's tenth, with 388) who wasn't active in 1871. The second-most hits for a non-1871 player is Jim O'Rourke with 288 hits.

McCarton, at age 17, debuted with the NA's Middletown Mansfields and he was the team's starting center fielder. He batted .317 that season and was one of the team's better hitters. That offseason he was signed by Boston, who needed a new full-time center fielder since player-manager Harry Wright was too old to be an everyday player.

McCarton has played for Boston ever since and has thrived there. He hit .317 again in 1873, .356 in 1874 and .341 in 1875. He led the league in hits in 1874 and was fifth in 1875, and has generally been one of the league's better hitters. It looks like he's going to be one of the better players in baseball for years to come, because he doesn't turn 22 until late in the 1876 season.

So why wasn't he a famous superstar in the real world? Well, if you look at his bb-ref page right now, he played 19 games in 1872, batted .305 and never played again. There are a few things about this to understand: first of all, as of relatively recently his average on bb-ref was .329 - three hits and three at-bats have been taken away at some point, probably due to improved research. The version of him that imported from the database batted .329, and any reference that's more than a couple years old will say that as well.

As for who he was and why he didn't have a long career, I'm going to defer to the work of David Nemec, which... if you have any interest in 19th century baseball you need to read Nemec. He has literally researched every single player who played before 1901 to write sketches about them. This is his McCarton entry, from The Rank and File of 19th Century Major Leaguers:

Frank McCarton is currently listed as the owner of one of the top BAs on the Mansfields - the original MacMillan marked him at only .271 - but he evidently was not viewed as one of the club's better batsmen, for he generally hit near the bottom of the order. Although reference works say he was only 17 when he made his ML entrance, census records reflect that he was actually two years older.

McCarton was with the Mansfields all of the 1872 campaign but didn't play in their last two games. He had come to the Mansfields the previous season from the Warren club of New York and chose to remain in the Middletown area and play for the local team even after it left the NA and most of its better players joined clubs in other cities so as to stay in ML company. McCarton also may have wanted to tarry in Middletown because he had met a local woman, Annie Leahy, whom he married in 1873. To support their eventual three children he worked in a silver plate shop until around 1883 when he returned to the New York City area, where he was born, and became a Bronx patrolman. By the early 1900s he had risen to the rank of lieutenant. McCarton died in 1907 at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan of a ruptured appendix.

Oops, I guess he's supposed to be two years older.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

The standings on Sunday, June 25, 1876:

New York Mutuals 21-5
Hartford Dark Blues 15-9
Boston Red Stockings 15-12
Louisville Grays 14-12
Philadelphia Athletics 12-14
Chicago White Stockings 12-15
Cincinnati Reds 9-18
St. Louis Brown Stockings 7-20

The Mutuals seem like they are going to turn this season's pennant race into a runaway. After last season's very close Boston-Chicago battle generated interest, this year the new National League might spend the summer with its first championship all but decided.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .425
Everett Mills, Hartford - .386
Frank McCarton, Boston - .380
Jim Foran, Chicago - .376
Cal McVey, Boston - .363
George Wright, Boston - .357
Deacon White, Philadelphia - .342

Runs Scored

Dave Eggler, New York - 30
Mike McGeary, Philadelphia - 28
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 28
Count Sensenderfer, Philadelphia - 28
John McMullin, New York - 26
Ross Barnes, Boston - 25
Cal McVey, Boston - 25

Runs Batted In

Deacon White, Philadelphia - 28
Bill Harbridge, Hartford - 22
Ezra Sutton, New York - 22
Cal McVey, Boston - 21
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 21
3 players tied with 20 each

Won-Loss Record

Dan Collins, Louisville, 11-6
Bobby Mathews, New York, 10-2
Al Spalding, Boston, 9-4
Hugh Campbell, New York, 8-2
Tricky Nichols, Hartford, 8-7
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 8-9
Frank Buttery, Hartford, 5-1

Earned Run Average (This is a new statistic showing how many earned runs a pitcher gives up per game.)

Flip Lafferty, Philadelphia - 1.16
Hugh Campbell, New York - 1.23
Bobby Mathews, New York - 1.66
Hugh O'Neil, Cincinnati - 1.70
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 2.16
Tricky Nichols, Hartford - 2.24
Al Spalding, Boston - 2.36

Strikeouts

Dan Collins, Louisville - 51
Al Spalding, Boston - 24
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 24
Pud Galvin, St. Louis - 21
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 20
Tricky Nichols, Hartford - 17
Bobby Mathews, New York - 16

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

If you know one 19th century major league player, that player is probably Cap Anson. Anson is by far the most famous of the 1871 major leaguers, and to this day ranks as one of the best position players of all time. (Right now, today, Fangraphs has him as the 25th-best position player of all time by total WAR.) You might also know him as a virulent racist whose insistence on not playing against teams with black players led to the imposition of the color barrier in the 1880s. Not to defend Anson, whose abhorrent behavior was notable even at the time, but I think it's probably unfair to blame him for single-handedly excluding black players - in the 1880s and 1890s all kinds of institutions in America were resegregating. After the optimism and hope of the Reconstruction era, white America decided to go with an apartheid regime that was a little less than slavery, but still pretty awful. Plessy v. Ferguson was decided in 1893, and Anson can't be blamed for that.

Anyway, it's somewhat notable that in this league, Anson never seems to be up there with the league leaders. One thing to note is that this isn't as ahistorical as it seems - Anson was an above-average player in the Association era, but he wasn't what we'd now call an MVP. His ranking by position-player WAR from 1871-75 in the real world:

1871 - 21st (to be fair, he was just turning 19)
1872 - 6th
1873 - 5th
1874 - 11th
1875 - 12th

In fact, he actually only led his league in position player WAR twice - in 1880 and 1881. The player whose career value is similar to Anson's is actually Henry Aaron - never really towering over other players but having a career that lasted a really, really long time. That's Anson - he was still an above-average major league contributor in the mid-1890s, when he was in his mid-40s. That's even more amazing than it sounds, given how different the game was by then.

But my point here is that Anson became one of the all-time greats because he lasted forever, not because he was head-and-shoulders better than the players around him. That's the hardest thing for the OOTP engine to account for, because the players who flame out early and the players who last forever aren't decided by the game unless we recalculate ratings periodically, which I do not. This is either the fourth or the fifth time - I can't remember - I've done a pretty slow-moving replay of early baseball and every previous time Anson has sort of fizzled out without becoming a surefire Hall of Famer. (To be fair, his career got wrecked by injuries in one of those replays.) He's always a good player, but unless he sustains his play for a long time he doesn't end up being great. It's not crazy that the game doesn't turn him into a mega-star, because the kind of career he had would have been prospectively very unlikely viewed from the perspective of the early 1870s. Levi Meyerle, Ross Barnes, George Wright, Cal McVey, Jimmy Wood, Joe Start, George Hall - all of them were top players and more prominent than Anson in the Association days, and none of them were still star players at age 40.

Viewed in context in this way, Anson is actually about where you'd expect him to be. He's a good hitter at age 24 - .310 lifetime and an above-average number of extra-base hits for the 1870s. He's a solid defender at first base and will probably improve whatever team he goes to in 1877 when the Philadelphia Athletics are banished from the NL. (Spoiler alert, I guess.) I don't play with ratings on, but the OOTP scouting report calls him "an above-average big league first baseman," which is accurate.

In general, a power-hitting first baseman who is a good but not MVP-caliber player at age 24 will be struggling to stay in the league in his early to mid-30s. Time will tell, but that would be a pretty normal career progression for Anson. Again, the comparison to Aaron is instructive - when he was a talented young slugger in the mid-1950s you could probably have predicted he'd still be a good hitter in the mid-1960s, but it'd be hard to imagine that he'd be one of the NL's top hitters in the early 1970s. That's Anson, and it's why he doesn't show up on these league-leading lists even though he's a good player.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

We're at the end of another month, so here are the July 1 standings and league leaders for the affiliated Northwestern League:

Minneapolis Millers 24-6 (Boston's affiliate)
St. Paul Saints 21-7 (New York)
Evansville Hoosiers 19-9 (Louisville)
Fort Wayne Railroaders 17-12 (Cincinnati)
Peoria Distillers 14-16 (Chicago)
Grand Rapids Woodworkers 13-17 (Hartford)
Terre Haute Hottentots 6-24 (Philadelphia)
Quincy Ravens 3-26 (St. Louis)

The NWL league leaders:

Batting Average

John Morrill, Minneapolis - .463
Gat Stires, St. Paul - .462
Joe Gerhardt, Evansville - .455
James McDermott, Minneapolis - .449
Jumbo Latham, Minneapolis - .420
Wes Fisler, Grand Rapids - .407
Jim Keenan, Minneapolis - .400

Runs Scored

Jim Keenan, Minneapolis - 38
Pete Donnelly, Minneapolis - 32
Steve Bellan, Minneapolis - 31
Jumbo Latham, Minneapolis - 31
James McDermott, Minneapolis - 31
John Morrill, Minneapolis - 31
Gat Stires, St. Paul - 31

Runs Batted In

James McDermott, Minneapolis - 33
Jim Keenan, Minneapolis - 32
John Morrill, Minneapolis - 31
Jumbo Latham, Minneapolis - 28
Steve Bellan, Minneapolis - 24
Jim Snyder, St. Paul - 24
Gat Stires, St. Paul - 23

Won-Loss Record

Mike Golden, Minneapolis, 10-0
Fred Goldsmith, Evansville, 10-3
Bill Stearns, Peoria, 9-9
Tommy Bond, St. Paul, 8-2
Phonney Martin, Minneapolis, 8-2
John Cassidy, Fort Wayne, 7-2
Ed Stratton, St. Paul, 7-2

Earned Run Average

Rynie Wolters, Evansville - 1.45
Mike Golden, Minneapolis - 1.80
Fred Goldsmith, Evansville - 1.86
John Cassidy, Fort Wayne - 2.09
Tommy Bond, St. Paul - 2.20
Frank Pearce, Evansville - 2.27
Dale Williams, Fort Wayne - 2.46

Strikeouts

Bill Stearns, Peoria - 25
NFN Edwards, Fort Wayne - 14
Harry Arundel, St. Paul - 9
Tommy Bond, St. Paul - 7
Bill French, Grand Rapids - 7
Dennis Coughlin, Peoria - 6
Charlie Mason, Grand Rapids - 6

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

The standings on Sunday, July 2, 1876:

New York Mutuals 23-5
Hartford Dark Blues 18-9
Boston Red Stockings 16-14
Louisville Grays 16-14
Chicago White Stockings 14-16
Philadelphia Athletics 13-16
Cincinnati Reds 9-20
St. Louis Brown Stockings 7-22

New York continues to absolutely dominate the rest of the National League. None of the other clubs expected to be contenders - Boston, Louisville or Chicago - are even much over .500, leaving Hartford to be the only team that's even within shouting distance of the Mutuals.

In order to bolster their pennant chances, New York made a move this week to repair their one roster hole. Expected first baseman Joe Start suddenly retired just before the start of the season and as a result the Mutuals have been starting Z.H. Taylor at first. Taylor has batted only .198 for the season thus far. Meanwhile, Denny Mack has been hitting .256 for last-place St. Louis - not great, but better than Taylor.

Over the weekend, New York and St. Louis entered into the National League's first player "trade" - where teams agreed to swap players. The legality of doing this had been unclear, but in this new league where the clubs hold most of the power it was not surprising that this deal was allowed. In the swap, New York got first baseman Mack while St. Louis got a trio of young players - pitcher Joe Blong and two infield prospects, John McGuinness and Billy Redmond.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .415
Frank McCarton, Boston - .378
Everett Mills, Hartford - .365
Jim Foran, Chicago - .364
Cal McVey, Boston - .358
Ezra Sutton, New York - .351
George Wright, Boston - .344

Runs Scored

Dave Eggler, New York - 32
Mike McGeary, Philadelphia - 32
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 31
Count Sensenderfer, Philadelphia - 30
Bill Harbridge, Hartford - 27
Cal McVey, Boston - 27
3 players tied with 26 each

Runs Batted In

Deacon White, Philadelphia - 31
Tom York, Louisville - 24
Chick Fulmer, Louisville - 23
Bill Harbridge, Hartford - 23
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 23
Ezra Sutton, New York - 22
3 players tied with 21 each

Stolen Bases

Dave Eggler, New York - 29
Mike McGeary, Philadelphia - 28
George Wright, Boston - 22
John McMullin, New York - 16
Ross Barnes, Boston - 14
Denny Mack, New York/St. Louis - 13
Cal McVey, Boston - 13

Won-Loss Record

Dan Collins, Louisville, 12-7
Bobby Mathews, New York, 11-2
Tricky Nichols, Hartford, 10-7
Hugh Campbell, New York, 9-2
Al Spalding, Boston, 9-5
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 9-10
Frank Buttery, Hartford, 6-1

Earned Run Average (This is a new statistic showing how many earned runs a pitcher gives up per game.)

Flip Lafferty, Philadelphia - 0.96
Hugh Campbell, New York - 1.21
Bobby Mathews, New York - 1.62
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 2.07
Tricky Nichols, Hartford - 2.08
Hugh O'Neil, Cincinnati - 2.13
Al Spalding, Boston - 2.28

Strikeouts

Dan Collins, Louisville - 53
Al Spalding, Boston - 29
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 28
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 23
Pud Galvin, St. Louis - 23
Tricky Nichols, Hartford - 18
Bobby Mathews, New York - 16

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Denny Mack, the player traded from St. Louis to New York this week, had a couple real-life historical footnotes in baseball history. He was from Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe), Pennsylvania - about 10 miles north of Allentown - and was a college guy who attended Villanova. At age 21, he headed west and joined the professional Rockford, Illinois baseball team and ended up being probably their best player.

After a year out west, he came back to Pennsylvania and spent a few years playing for the Athletics and Whites. He was both a first baseman and a shortstop and an adequate but not great player. His time in Philadelphia ended when he was caught up in a game-fixing scandal - a very common thing in 19th century baseball.

He ended up playing a few more years in the major leagues for some mediocre western teams, and was the player-manager for the 1882 American Association Louisville club. He was never a big star, but spent a decade or so as a solid contributor.

In this world, he's followed a very similar path - one year in Rockford, several years as an adequate but not good player in Philadelphia, and then back out west to St. Louis. He's been hitting .256 thus far in 1876, and now he suddenly is getting a chance to go to New York City and possibly be a starting player on a pennant-winning team. It's a very big difference from reality, and it's a great opportunity for a player who was mostly a footnote in reality.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

The standings on Sunday, July 9, 1876, as the league nears the midpoint of its season:

New York Mutuals 25-5
Hartford Dark Blues 19-11
Boston Red Stockings 19-14
Louisville Grays 16-16
Chicago White Stockings 16-17
Philadelphia Athletics 15-17
Cincinnati Reds 10-22
St. Louis Brown Stockings 7-25

New York continues its dominance over the rest of the league, and while the two New England clubs have been playing well it seems unlikely they will be able to catch up with the enormous lead the Mutuals have built up.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .433
Frank McCarton, Boston - .383
Ezra Sutton, New York - .377
Jim Foran, Chicago - .356
Cal McVey, Boston - .353
Bob Ferguson, New York - .342
Everett Mills, Hartford - .336

Runs Scored

Mike McGeary, Philadelphia - 36
Dave Eggler, New York - 34
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 33
Count Sensenderfer, Philadelphia - 33
Ross Barnes, Boston - 31
Bill Harbridge, Hartford - 30
2 players tied with 29 each

Runs Batted In

Deacon White, Philadelphia - 31
Ezra Sutton, New York - 28
Bill Harbridge, Hartford - 27
Chick Fulmer, Louisville - 26
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 25
Tom York, Louisville - 24
5 players tied with 22 each

Stolen Bases

Mike McGeary, Philadelphia - 32
Dave Eggler, New York - 30
George Wright, Boston - 22
John McMullin, New York - 18
Ross Barnes, Boston - 16
Denny Mack, New York/St. Louis - 14
3 players tied with 13 each

Won-Loss Record

Bobby Mathews, New York, 12-2
Dan Collins, Louisville, 12-8
Hugh Campbell, New York, 10-2
Al Spalding, Boston, 10-5
Tricky Nichols, Hartford, 10-9
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 10-10
Frank Buttery, Hartford, 7-1

Earned Run Average

Flip Lafferty, Philadelphia - 0.94
Hugh Campbell, New York - 1.28
Bobby Mathews, New York - 1.83
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 1.88
Hugh O'Neil, Cincinnati - 2.02
Al Spalding, Boston - 2.09
Tricky Nichols, Hartford - 2.13

Strikeouts

Dan Collins, Louisville - 56
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 37
Al Spalding, Boston - 31
Pud Galvin, St. Louis - 25
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 24
Tricky Nichols, Hartford - 19
Lon Knight, Philadelphia - 18

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Levi Meyerle is the best hitter in the league at the moment. Thus far, there are really only four players who can argue that they have been the top player since professional baseball began: Meyerle and the three Boston stars - second baseman Ross Barnes, shortstop George Wright and catcher Cal McVey. They are currently the top four players in career hits:

Meyerle - 520
Wright - 509
Barnes - 488
McVey - 486

No one else has more than 450 hits. (Lip Pike is fifth with 442.)

For the five seasons of the Association, Meyerle's lowest batting average was .344 in 1875, and his highest was .418 in 1873. He's been remarkably consistent and remarkably healthy for his entire time as a pro ballplayer.

In reality, Meyerle's highs were a bit higher and his lows a bit lower - his range was from .316 to .492 - but he was similarly one of the top hitters in baseball. Meyerle was only 11th in the NA in hits from 1871-75, but hius .365 batting average was second to Ross Barnes's .390. (In my universe, Meyerle's career average is .379, second to Higham's .382. Barnes is fourth at .376.)

Both in real life and in my sim, David Nemec's comment about Meyerle appears to be true:

There was nothing fluky about Meyerle's performance, no rule quirks, park effects or whatever to account for those astronomical figures. Meyerle simply could hit a baseball better, farther and more often than any other player of his day.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

The standings on Sunday, July 16, 1876:

New York Mutuals 28-6
Boston Red Stockings 22-14
Hartford Dark Blues 20-13
Louisville Grays 18-18
Philadelphia Athletics 16-19
Chicago White Stockings 16-20
Cincinnati Reds 11-24
St. Louis Brown Stockings 9-26

New York is still looking very strong, but now Boston looks like the second-best club - since their slow start the Red Stockings are 17-7 in their last 24 games. Of course, New York is 20-3 in the same time frame.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Dick Higham, New York - .451
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .427
Frank McCarton, Boston - .381
Jim Foran, Chicago - .369
Ezra Sutton, New York - .364
Cal McVey, Boston - .351
Everett Mills, Hartford - .331

Runs Scored

Dave Eggler, New York - 40
Mike McGeary, Philadelphia - 39
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 35
Ross Barnes, Boston - 34
Count Sensenderfer, Philadelphia - 34
4 players tied with 32 each

Runs Batted In

Deacon White, Philadelphia - 32
Ezra Sutton, New York - 30
Bill Harbridge, Hartford - 29
Tom York, Louisville - 29
Cal McVey, Boston - 28
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 28
3 players tied with 26 each

Stolen Bases

Mike McGeary, Philadelphia - 34
Dave Eggler, New York - 33
George Wright, Boston - 24
John McMullin, New York - 20
Ross Barnes, Boston - 17
Denny Mack, New York/St. Louis - 16
Ned Cuthbert, St. Louis - 15

Won-Loss Record

Bobby Mathews, New York, 14-2
Dan Collins, Louisville, 13-9
Al Spalding, Boston, 12-5
Hugh Campbell, New York, 11-3
Tricky Nichols, Hartford, 10-10
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 10-11
Cy Bentley, Boston, 8-7

Earned Run Average

Flip Lafferty, Philadelphia - 1.04
Hugh Campbell, New York - 1.39
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 1.96
Bobby Mathews, New York - 2.04
Al Spalding, Boston - 2.16
Tricky Nichols, Hartford - 2.38
Frank Buttery, Hartford - 2.58

Strikeouts

Dan Collins, Louisville - 60
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 43
Al Spalding, Boston - 31
Pud Galvin, St. Louis - 28
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 24
Tricky Nichols, Hartford - 20
Bobby Mathews, New York - 19

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Let's talk about Dick Higham, the catcher who is helping turn the Mutuals' season into a pennant-winning rout. First, the historical player. There's actually quite a lot to say about Higham, who was one of the more controversial figures of early baseball. But first, we'll need to say it correctly. If you're like me, you've seen this guy's name and mentally pronounced it "HIG-um." In fact, it is pronounced "HIGH-um," which I just learned recently after having done numerous 19th century replays calling him HIG-um in my head.

If you look at his bb-ref numbers only, you see a player who was a catcher-outfielder and who was a very good hitter in most years, with a few suboptimal seasons, most notably the half-season he spent in Chicago in 1875. He left major league baseball in his mid-20s when he was seemingly in the prime of his career.

If you know a bit more about him, you might know he was an umpire in the early 1880s and that he was always considered a really controversial figure - as with Hal Chase a generation later, there always seemed to be rumors of game-fixing following him around. He consorted with gamblers pretty openly and was eventually fired as an umpire and blackballed from the game in 1882. The traditional view on Higham has him as one of these shady characters who hung around the game for its first 50 years and who was rightfully banished after a while, like Jim Devlin, Chase, Chick Gandil and others.

To get a more contrarian take on Higham, you can read his SABR bio, which was written by his descendant, baseball historian Harold Higham. This is what Harold Higham had to say about his ancestor's stint as an umpire and its sudden ending:

In any written account of Baseball’s early days, Dick Higham’s playing prowess and ability to lead teams certainly warrants a word or two along with the rest of early base ball pioneers. However, it is most often as an umpire that he garners unbridled verbiage to this day. He remains the only umpire to be forever disqualified from acting as such in any game of ball participated in by a National League Club. Although nothing is clearly stated in the official League minutes of a hearing held on the matter, it is assumed it had to do with gamblers. 1882 was the first year in which league umpires as well as players and managers were barred from betting on games.

While he was definitely barred from continuing as an umpire in the National League, suffice it to say that the affair itself and the actions of the League, it can fairly be said, are open to questioning and differing determinations.

Of some further interest perhaps is the unsubstantiated hyperbole, which was and has been written about the incident and his later life. For the benefit of history and future researchers, it can be stated clearly, that Dick Higham never confessed to any wrongdoing and denied such accusations; never resigned from his position as a League umpire; his activities were not the subject of any investigations by any private detective, nor was he ever confronted by the findings of any private detective; he did not draw any suspicions of the owner of the Detroit team for their losing out on close calls or having close games go against them. In later life, he was employed, on more than one occasion, as a bookkeeper. He did not become a “bookie” or “race track tout” in Chicago.

David Nemec's research suggests a sort of middle ground way of considering Higham - not the irredeemable scoundrel of early baseball legends but also perhaps not the unjustly accused innocent. First, this is what Nemec says about Higham's early career, which is what maps onto what has been played so far in my world:

The son of a tailor and professional cricket player who immigrated to America in 1853, Higham followed a year later with the rest of his family. He grew up in Hoboken, NJ, and played both cricket and baseball as a teenager. In 1869 he seems to have decided that baseball would be the more rewarding of the two sports and joined the Empire club of New York as a professional, serving mainly as a catcher. Higham finished the following year with the New York Mutuals and remained with them through 1871, their fledgling season in the newly formed National Association. He then moved to Baltimore for a year before returning to New York for the next two seasons. In 1874, after the Mutuals got off to a shaky 13-12 start, he replaced Tom Carey as field captain and led his team on a remarkable 29-11 finishing kick that posed a mild threat for a time to the seemingly invincible Boston nine's reign as the NA champions. That same season, Higham led all catchers in fielding average, an aberration. Although a solid hitter, he was an error-prone receiver and owned a poor arm that dissuaded few runners from trying to steal.

Following the 1874 season, Higham signed with Chicago, which may have been a bad mistake. Already implicated on two previous occasions in suspected game-fixing incidents, stemming largely from his periodic defensive lapses and a predilection for associating with gamblers, he was arrested in a bar fight at the Adelphi Hotel on March 12, 1875, soon after arriving in Chicago. Nevertheless, he was appointed captain of the Chicago club until the local press leveled two more game-fixing accusation at him after he was observed consorting with denizens of the city's underbelly prior to dubious losses. On August 19 Chicago president Will Hulbert released Higham, who was hitting only .236 at the time, and he returned to New York, where he hit a whopping .391 for the rest of the season.

(Have I mentioned that Nemec's three-volume history of every player from 19th century baseball should be essential reading? Going through these books has been one of my happiest times of 2020, not that that's a particularly high bar given everything that's going on.)

At any rate, Nemec goes on to point out that Higham played in Hartford in 1876 with player-manager Bob Ferguson, who was known as a pretty rigid advocate for clean play, and that if he were seen as a tainted player in the mid-1870s that would have been strange. He also quoted from two letters Harry Wright (an even bigger paragon of honest play) wrote in early 1877 - one to Higham and one about him to Cincinnati owner Si Keck. From the letter to Keck:

If he behaves as well as he did last year, he will strengthen your nine very much, and I would be pleased to hear of your having engaged him. . . .This year the Chicago press should let Higham alone. They have said all they could say, and as his record of last year is a clean one, they should not go behind that, when he is trying to do well.

Ultimately, in 1882, a letter from Higham to a gambler surfaced and the Detroit team came forward to get him banned from the game. Nemec is less willing than Harold Higham to pronounce the letter a potential forgery, but he noted the controversy around it. (The younger Higham's theory seems to be that Detroit was unhappy with Higham's calls as an umpire and thus cooked up the letter as a way to get him banished. This is less crazy than it might seem today, because the practice at the time was to have league umpires officiate the same team for long stretches of time. From the start of the 1882 season until June 17 of that year, every game Higham umpires was a Detroit game.)

In any event, Higham was a well-liked figure among his peers and for the rest of his life he stayed in touch with his friends from the early days of baseball, including Al Spalding, who by the end of the 19th century was extremely wealthy and famous. Higham died in 1905.

In my universe, Higham is a somewhat better catcher than he seems to have been in real life. He was given the "Gold Glove" award at catcher in 1871 and 1872, though at this point he seems to be an average catcher or maybe slightly above average. He's still young - he'll turn 25 in about a week - and he is a great hitter. He batted .396 for the pennant-winning Mutuals in 1871, then he jumped to Baltimore in 1872 just as he did in real life. (He hit .409 for the Canaries that year.)

He stayed in Baltimore for as long as the Canaries remained in the Association, unlike his real-world doppleganger. He hit .378 and .321 in the next two seasons, then joined the St. Louis Reds in 1875 after Baltimore folded. St. Louis only lasted 19 games, but Higham batted .356 in them.

He didn't immediately join a club in 1876, and the season started without him. However, New York picked him up on May 15 and since then he has been without question the best hitter in baseball, batting .451 over the past two months as the Mutuals have been running away with the league. His current career batting average is .382, the best of any player. It appears that he could be one of the top baseball players for many years yet to come. Since the Mutuals will be leaving the NL after the season, it will be interesting to see where he ends up - the strong Boston club seems set at catcher with Cal McVey but basically any team would be upgrading by adding him.