History of Major League Base Ball (revised)

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

EDIT: these numbers have changed. My power briefly went out today and it had been a week since I saved the game, so June 17-24 got resimmed. The new and improved results:

Sunday, June 24, 1877
Standings and Leaders

Louisville Grays 12-6
Chicago White Stockings 13-7
Cincinnati Reds 9-8
Boston Red Stockings 8-8
Hartford Dark Blues 7-9
St. Louis Brown Stockings 4-15

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Cal McVey, Boston - .431
Jim Devlin, Louisville - .405
Lip Pike, St. Louis - .402
Charley Jones, Cincinnati - .392
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .387
Everett Mills, Hartford - .385
Scott Hastings, Louisville - .377

Runs Scored

Ross Barnes, Boston - 24
Scott Hastings, Louisville - 22
Mike McGeary, Cincinnati - 21
Cap Anson, Cincinnati - 20
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 20
Jim Devlin, Louisville - 19
Tom York, Louisville - 19

Runs Batted In

Henry Burroughs, St. Louis - 19
Chick Fulmer, Louisville - 18
Cal McVey, Boston - 18
Jim Foran, Chicago - 16
John McMullin, Cincinnati - 16
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 16
Ezra Sutton, Louisville - 16

Stolen Bases

Ross Barnes, Boston - 14
Cap Anson, Cincinnati - 9
George Hall, Chicago - 8
Andy Leonard, Hartford - 8
Mike McGeary, Cincinnati - 8
John McMullin, Cincinnati - 7
Cal McVey, Boston - 7

Won-Loss Record

Dan Collins, Louisville, 6-3
George Zettlein, Chicago, 6-3
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 6-4
Al Spalding, Boston, 4-2
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati, 4-5
Hugh Campbell, Hartford, 4-6
Cy Bentley, Boston, 3-4

Earned Run Average

George Knight, Louisville - 1.80
Al Spalding, Boston - 2.21
Bobby Mitchell, Cincinnati - 2.40
Dan Collins, Louisville - 2.65
Bobby Mathews, Boston - 2.66
Jim Britt, Hartford - 3.08
Cy Bentley, Boston - 3.09

Strikeouts

Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 41
Dan Collins, Louisville - 34
Hugh Campbell, Hartford - 20
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 18
George Zettlein, Chicago - 16
Cy Bentley, Boston - 14
Pud Galvin, St. Louis - 14

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Back from vacation and ready to talk about Charley Jones! In my universe, Jones debuted with Keokuk in 1875 at age 23 and hit .254 in 13 games. That was good enough to get him a position with Cincinnati for 1876, and he hit .250 with the club last season. This year, he's had a bit of a breakout and is batting .392 with 12 extra-base hits in Cincinnati's first 17 games. So what was his story in reality?

First of all, he was most known to late 20th and early 21st century researchers as the most prominent player to simply disappear without a death date or any other known trace. His entry on bb-ref's Bullpen page in 2011 began, "Charley Jones is the best-known player for whom we have no death details. And we assume he's dead, because otherwise he would be over 150 years old." Similarly, Nemec, writing in 2011, said, "Jones's complete disappearance after 1909 from the face of the earth is as troubling to baseball mavens as Judge Crater's is to crime filberts."

But let's go back to the beginning. Jones was the first major league baseball player from North Carolina, but he was raised in Princeton, Indiana by a relative, possibly because his parents had both died. He played for a number of top amateur clubs in the west before ending up in Keokuk in 1875. That winter, after the Westerns disbanded, Nemec says:

...the Boston Globe reported that Jones had first signed for 1876 with the Chicago NL entry but requested his release once he sized up the Second City team as too strong for there to be a place for him in its lineup and then signed with Cincinnati instead. A member of the lowest-paying team in the NL, Jones received a club-high $1,500. On May 2, 1876, he hit his first career home run off Chicago's Al Spalding. Asked to return to the Queen City for the 1877 season, Jones agreed, perhaps because by then he had already opened the thriving laundry business in Cincinnati that he would operate for a number of years...

He was considered one of the top sluggers of his day, and was one of the first examples of a player being noted particularly for his power. Although he was banned from baseball for two years in the prime of his career for playing in an outlaw league, his play won wide renown. From 1876-80, he had the highest career OPS in the entire National League.

He was also one of baseball's biggest partiers. Many of his teammates talked about him as a player who was out almost every night and rarely got home before 2:00 a.m. He was involved in several tabloid-style love affairs, including one event where his common-law wife caught him in bed with another woman and threw cayenne pepper in his eyes, temporarily blinding him.

Perhaps because of this hard-partying lifestyle, he did not last that long after his baseball career ended. He was described in 1909 as being "weakened by age and infirmity," and that was the last anyone knew of him for over 100 years. According to his Bullpen page:

The last piece of information that was known about him was that a benefit was held in his honor on Staten Island, NY on August 31, 1909, after he had fallen ill. However, there was no obituary for him, and given his very common first and last names, retracing his death details proved to be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

In late 2011, researcher Greg Perkins, who was interested in the Ludlow team from northern Kentucky on which Jones had been the star player in the early 1870s, took an interest in Jones's case. Digging through the file on Jones held by the Hall of Fame, he found a letter addressed to National Commission chairman Garry Herrmann in 1913 from a reporter from the Cincinnati Enquirer that mentioned he had written an article about Jones. Perkins found the article, in which it stated that Jones had died at Bellevue Hospital in New York City in July of 1911. That lead allowed Perkins to narrow his search in the New York City death index and to uncover a listing for a Charles W. Jones, who died on June 6th that year. The death certificate in the city archive had names for Charles' parents matching those in earlier census records, confirming that this person was the ballplayer. It also rectified Jones's year of birth [from 1850 to 1852].

It's always nice when a great real-life player who doesn't necessarily start out as a star develops into a great player in OOTP as well. If Jones can sustain his improvement this season, he may be just such a player.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

June 25, 1877
Louisville Grays (12-6) at Hartford Dark Blues (7-9)

With the resimmed week, Louisville and Chicago have ended up tied and lowly Hartford managed to go on a four-game winning streak to improve their competitiveness. Whatever Louisville did today was bound to yield a club along atop the NL, as Chicago were idle today.

Pitching and defense carried the day for Louisville, as they picked up three runs in the third inning, then only allowed Hartford that many for the entire game. Candy Cummings pitched well to get the win and put Louisville in first place.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

June 26, 1877
St. Louis Brown Stockings (4-15) at Chicago White Stockings (13-7)

Chicago was a half-game back headed into this game, and needed the win to keep pace with the Grays. They hosted lowly St. Louis, a club they'd certainly be expected to beat handily.

It didn't go that way though. Lip Pike came up big for the Brown Stockings and Chicago slipped a full game back as they went behind early and never recovered.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Sunday, July 1, 1877
Standings and Leaders

Louisville Grays 16-6
Chicago White Stockings 14-8
Cincinnati Reds 9-8
Boston Red Stockings 8-11
Hartford Dark Blues 8-11
St. Louis Brown Stockings 5-16

A great week for Louisville sees them move two games ahead of the competition. By run differential, Louisville, Chicago and Cincinnati are actually all nearly tied.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Lip Pike, St. Louis - .429
Cal McVey, Boston - .407
Charley Jones, Cincinnati - .392
Jim Devlin, Louisville - .385
Davy Force, Chicago - .371
Everett Mills, Hartford - .368
Jim Foran, Chicago - .367

Runs Scored

Scott Hastings, Louisville - 26
Ross Barnes, Boston - 24
Tom York, Louisville - 23
George Bechtel, Louisville - 21
Jim Devlin, Louisville - 21
Mike McGeary, Cincinnati - 21
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 21

Runs Batted In

Henry Burroughs, St. Louis - 22
Cal McVey, Boston - 19
Ezra Sutton, Louisville - 19
Chick Fulmer, Louisville - 18
George Bechtel, Louisville - 17
Jim Devlin, Louisville - 17
John Peters, Chicago - 17

Stolen Bases

Ross Barnes, Boston - 16
Cap Anson, Cincinnati - 9
Dave Eggler, Cincinnati - 8
George Hall, Chicago - 8
Andy Leonard, Hartford - 8
Mike McGeary, Cincinnati - 8
3 players tied with 7 each

Won-Loss Record

Dan Collins, Louisville, 8-3
George Zettlein, Chicago, 7-3
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 6-5
Candy Cummings, Louisville, 4-3
Al Spalding, Boston, 4-4
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati, 4-5
Hugh Campbell, Hartford, 4-6

Earned Run Average

Al Spalding, Boston - 2.14
Bobby Mitchell, Cincinnati - 2.40
Dan Collins, Louisville - 2.53
Bobby Mathews, Boston - 2.66
George Zettlein, Chicago - 3.05
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 3.10
Jim Britt, Hartford - 3.33

Strikeouts

Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 41
Dan Collins, Louisville - 37
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 23
Hugh Campbell, Hartford - 21
Al Spalding, Boston - 20
George Zettlein, Chicago - 19
Pud Galvin, St. Louis - 17

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

On July 1, our look-in on the affiliated Northwestern League:

Minneapolis Millers 22-7 (Boston's affiliate)
St. Paul Saints 22-8 (unaffiliated)
Fort Wayne Railroaders 19-10 (Cincinnati)
Peoria Distillers 17-13 (Chicago)
Grand Rapids Woodworkers 13-17 (Hartford)
Quincy Ravens 10-20 (St. Louis)
Evansville Hoosiers 8-20 (Louisville)
Terre Haute Hottentots 6-22 (unaffiliated)

The NWL league leaders:

Batting Average

Jim Keenan, Minneapolis - .414
Bill Hague, Evansville - .345
Fred Cone, Minneapolis - .337
Fraley Rogers, Minneapolis - .337
Gat Stires, St. Paul - .323
Dave Pierson, Fort Wayne - .322
Ham Allen, Terre Haute - .320

Runs Scored

Fred Cone, Minneapolis - 34
Jim Keenan, Minneapolis - 23
Jack Burdock, St. Paul - 18
George Bird, Minneapolis - 17
Fred Treacey, Fort Wayne - 17
5 players tied with 16 each

Runs Batted In

Jim Keenan, Minneapolis - 30
George Bird, Minneapolis - 23
Fraley Rogers, Minneapolis - 22
Gat Stires, St. Paul - 21
Fred Cone, Minneapolis - 16
Henry Luff, Fort Wayne - 16
3 players tied with 15 each

Stolen Bases

Fred Cone, Minneapolis - 17
Tom Barlow, Peoria - 14
Pony Sager, Minneapolis - 14
Ralph Ham, Peoria - 13
Jim Keenan, Minneapolis - 13
Herm Doscher, Grand Rapids - 12
Will Foley, Fort Wayne - 12

Won-Loss Record

Foghorn Bradley, Minneapolis, 8-0
Tommy Bond, St. Paul, 8-1
Ed Stratton, St. Paul, 7-2
NFN Edwards, Fort Wayne, 6-1
Phonney Martin, Minneapolis, 6-2
Bill Stearns, Peoria-Terre Haute, 6-3
Terry Larkin, St. Paul, 6-4

Earned Run Average

John Cassidy, Fort Wayne - 0.60
Mike Golden, Minneapolis - 0.67
Dale Williams, Fort Wayne - 1.42
Foghorn Bradley, Minneapolis - 1.53
Bill Stearns, Peoria-Terre Haute - 1.57
NFN Edwards, Fort Wayne - 1.69
Cherokee Fisher, Peoria - 1.76

Strikeouts

Fred Goldsmith, Evansville - 130
Tommy Bond, St. Paul - 95
Cherokee Fisher, Peoria - 95
Dick McBride, Grand Rapids - 94
Len Lovett, Peoria - 91
NFN Edwards, Fort Wayne - 89
Bill Stearns, Peoria-Terre Haute - 86

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Asa Brainard, star pitcher of the undefeated 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, is a bridge between the pre-Civil War amateur club baseball players and the professional era - more so than any other single player. Although in reality his career was over before the National League began play, in my universe he continues to be a solid pitcher. Today we take a look at his baseball life.

The best source I know of for Brainard's pre-NA career is his SABR bio, which focuses heavily on that time frame. His bio begins by noting the most famous modern fact about Brainard, which is the highly questionable claim that a top pitcher being called an "ace" is in honor of him. (The idea of referring to something excellent as an "ace" in general is certainly not traceable to him, and when it became used for top pitchers in later years I find it highly unlikely people were thinking of Brainard rather than the general term.)

From his SABR bio, here's an account of Brainard's early years:

Upon settling with the Excelsiors of Brooklyn in 1860, he was initially a second baseman and outfielder because the great James Creighton was positioned in the box. After Creighton’s premature death in October 1862, Brainard became the team’s main hurler. Over the years, he was a member of the first three significant barnstorming teams in the sport’s history: an eastern tour by the Excelsiors in 1860; a western trip by the Nationals of Washington, D.C., in 1867; a nationwide excursion with Cincinnati from 1869-1870.

In 1868, he was recruited by Harry Wright for the soon-to-be famed Red Stockings of Cincinnati, the team that altered the course of the sport’s history. The Reds rattled off two great seasons behind Brainard’s right arm. He was indeed the ace of the Red Stockings, a club that went 57-0 in 1869 and extended its overall consecutive winning streak to 89 games. In contemporary accounts the Brooklyn Eagle referred to him as “Acey” as early as August 15, 1864, and shortened it to “Ace” by at least September 3, 1875. The monikers were rhythmically related to his name Asa; it would be decades before the term “ace” became an adjective and noun commonly used to denote a club’s top hurler.

Asel Brainard was born in Albany, New York, around 1839. There is some confusion as to his given name and his birth year. Some sources claim that his first name was Asahel. Asel was chosen here because just as many sources claim that that was his given name; in addition, it was used more often in the U.S. Censuses and in fact sits on his grave marker. Likewise, the reference sites claim his birth year as 1841, but the 1840 Census seems to indicate that he was alive by that time. He could have been born as early as 1837, but 1839 was chosen because it is the date listed on his grave marker, which can be seen at Findagrave.com. There is a contemporary reference to his middle name beginning with the letter “C,” but this cannot be confirmed.

Asa’s parents were Leonard Whitmore Brainard and Sarah Ann (Kenyon) Brainard, who were married in Haddam, Connecticut, on August 29, 1828. Sarah was born in 1811; her family was from Connecticut but it seems that she was born in New York. Leonard was born in Eastbury, New York in 1802. Per a publication by the Daughters of the American Revolution, “He commanded a sloop launch when 18 years of age, which carried passengers at the time of the Erie Canal celebration at Sandy Hook at the meeting of the waters from Lake Erie to the ocean. He commanded a sailing vessel on the Hudson River, and then a steamboat for many years. He was captain of the steamboat South America, the handsomest boat of its day, the first to have staterooms, the first to burn coal, having previously burned pine wood.”

In 1844 the family moved to Brooklyn, where Leonard was employed as a commission and forwarding merchant, a wholesaler in boats and marine merchandise. He became involved in local Republican politics and served for years in various posts including assemblyman. In April 1861 the governor named him Harbor Master for New York City.

The Brainards had six children, all born in Albany: Sarah Allen, 1829; Redelia Kenyon, 1834; Josephine, 1835; Leonard Whitmore Jr., 1836; Asel; Harrison Whitmore, 1842.

The same SABR bio has an incredibly detailed and interesting account of Brainard's career in the 1860s and I recommend all of it. Most notably, he was a teammate of the great Jim Creighton, and when Creighton died famously and suddenly in 1862 Brainard was his replacement at pitcher. His bio's description of him as a pitcher:

Brainard stood five feet, eight and a half inches tall and weighed approximated 150 to 160 pounds during his career. He was a righthander as nearly all pitchers of the day were. He stood erect before delivering with his left foot touching the back of his right foot. He then went into his windup and delivered the ball after one step or stride. At the time, pitchers had to send the pitch to the batter’s specified general location, either high or low. It was delivered strictly underhand. At the onset of his career, the curve wasn’t a part of the game, though it soon would be. Pitchers typically mixed fastballs with a changeup, or slow ball. Asa, like others, started to use a whip-like arm motion to gain additional speed. Creighton was snapping his wrist to get movement and power on the ball. Brainard surely noticed Creighton’s technique and adopted it.

Brainard strove to upset the batters’ timing and keep them off balance and worked fast compared to the other hurlers of the day. Though he was required to deliver to a general location, the batter never seemed to get what he was looking for. Brainard was trying to out-think the man with the bat. He moved the ball in and out and up and down in the never-ending cat-and-mouse game between pitcher and batter.

Brainard was good enough that Harry Wright recruited him to be the pitcher for the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1869 - the first openly professional team. They traveled the country and went undefeated that year, and Brainard was one of the club's top players, though he and Wright evidently did not get along well.

Within a few years of the formation of the National Association, Brainard was done as a pitcher. In fact, most pitchers of the late 1860s/early 1870s did not last into the new decade, as the curveball became the big new innovation and pitchers who did not throw it did not last long. Here's what Nemec has to say about Brainard's NA career:

It is difficult to gauge whether Asa Brainard pitched for a string of bad teams in the NA because none of the good teams wanted him or whether he just had the poor judgment to consistently sign with bad teams. A mere five years before he appeared in his final NA game he had been the toast of baseball as the ace of the undefeated 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, so it would seem that the game could hardly have passed him by so quickly. Yet once the NA formed in 1871, very few pitchers from the pre-professional era successfully made the transition. Actually, in just the few short months from 1871 to 1872 the game changed dramatically as the pitching rules were liberalized to make way for the first curveball pitchers to appear in major league livery. Brainard was not among them. His twin fortes were guile and his skill at watching base runners. By the early 1870s "scientific" pitchers dependent largely on changing speeds to retire batters were few, and those, like Harry Wright, who were successful usually pitched only a few innings and against certain types of teams.

In the NA, Brainard pitched for the Washington Olympics - which was where most of the Red Stockings who Wright didn't want in Boston ended up - then for Middletown and Baltimore, after Baltimore was no longer a competitive team. His career ended after the 1874 season. Nemec on his post-baseball life:

[In 1875] he opened an archery range on Staten Island and in 1882 he was seriously injured when a customer accidentally shot an arrow through his hand. Later in the 1880s Brainard moved west to Denver and ran the Markham Hotel billiard room until he died of pneumonia in 1888, the first of the 1869 Red Stockings to pass away.

In my universe Brainard's career has lasted longer, though at age 36 he probably doesn't have too many good years left. He pitched for the Olympics in 1871-72 just as he did in real life, then he went to the New York Mutuals for the rest of the NA years, having his best year in 1874 when he went 19-12. He was released by New York after the 1875 campaign and signed with Chicago after they lost Dan Collins to Louisville. He went 17-16 with Chicago in 1876 and is 6-5 so far in 1877. Overall he has a career record of 81-51, good enough for seventh in career wins at the moment.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Sunday, July 8, 1877
Standings and Leaders

Louisville Grays 18-7
Chicago White Stockings 16-9
Cincinnati Reds 10-11
Boston Red Stockings 10-12
Hartford Dark Blues 9-13
St. Louis Brown Stockings 7-18

Louisville continues to hold a two-game lead over Chicago with every other NL team below .500. It's looking increasingly like this season will be another two-club race.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Lip Pike, St. Louis - .411
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .383
Cal McVey, Boston - .367
Clipper Flynn, Hartford - .361
Davy Force, Chicago - .361
Everett Mills, Hartford - .360
Charley Jones, Cincinnati - .356

Runs Scored

Scott Hastings, Louisville - 28
Ross Barnes, Boston - 25
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 25
Tom York, Louisville - 25
George Bechtel, Louisville - 23
Mike McGeary, Cincinnati - 23
3 players tied with 22 each

Runs Batted In

Henry Burroughs, St. Louis - 22
Cal McVey, Boston - 22
Chick Fulmer, Louisville - 19
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 19
Ezra Sutton, Louisville - 19
3 players tied with 18 each

Stolen Bases

Ross Barnes, Boston - 19
Dave Eggler, St. Louis - 12
Cap Anson, Cincinnati - 10
George Hall, Chicago - 10
Andy Leonard, Hartford - 10
Mike McGeary, Cincinnati - 10
John McMullin, Cincinnati - 9

Won-Loss Record

Dan Collins, Louisville, 10-3
George Zettlein, Chicago, 7-4
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 7-5
Al Spalding, Boston, 5-5
Candy Cummings, Louisville, 4-4
Cy Bentley, Boston, 4-5
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati, 4-7

Earned Run Average

Al Spalding, Boston - 1.94
Dan Collins, Louisville - 2.29
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 2.99
Hugh Campbell, Hartford - 3.03
Jim Britt, Hartford - 3.11
Bobby Mitchell, Cincinnati - 3.14
George Zettlein, Chicago - 3.16

Strikeouts

Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 49
Dan Collins, Louisville - 40
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 27
Hugh Campbell, Hartford - 23
Al Spalding, Boston - 22
George Zettlein, Chicago - 20
Cy Bentley, Boston - 18

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Tom Carey was a glove-first middle infielder who hit .269 for a series of teams throughout the 1870s. In my universe, he's 30 years old and has defended quite well at shortstop, though he gets almost no walks or extra-base hits. He played for the Fort Wayne Kekiongas in 1871, then spent three years with Baltimore and is now in his third year at Hartford. As one of the players who's had a solid career in the 1870s, I thought it'd be worthwhile to see what his story was in reality. SABR doesn't have a bio for him, and Nemec only has a short entry. However, his Wikipedia entry links to a newspaper account that I find baffling for reasons I will explain.

First, Nemec in his entirety on Carey:

Tom Carey served with the 17th New York Infantry in the Civil War. On October 11, 1905, he was discharged from a veteran's home in Napa, California, after being under care there for some time, and disappeared. It was recently learned that he died in San Francisco the following August.

While with Fort Wayne in 1871, Carey appears to have attached himself to the team's star pitcher, Bobby Mathews. The two moved as a unit to Baltimore in 1872 after the Kekiongas disbanded and then switched to the New York Mutuals in 1874 once the Baltimore club dissolved. Carey began 1874 as the Mutuals captain but was replaced by Dick Higham on June 27. He then played in Hartford in 1875 and remained with Hartford through 1877 while it played its home games in Brooklyn. His final two major league campaigns, with Providence and Cleveland, were colored by a marked decline in hitting but otherwise might appear to be as nondescript as the rest of his career. However, a closer examination reveals that Carey had one extraordinary distinction: he was almost impossible to walk. In 2,426 plate appearances Carey drew only 16 bases on balls. Even allowing for the infrequency with which hitters walked in the 1870s, Carey stands out as the all-time anti-walk king. Upon departing Cleveland, Carey played in the California League through 1880. Later he umpired 29 games in the AA in 1882, its fledgling season.

There's not a lot of other information out there on Carey - maybe he really was as "nondescript" as Nemec seems to think. However, his Wikipedia page has a link to a strange newspaper story. This is from the San Francisco Call on May 24, 1906:

Tom Carey, the famous old-time shortstop who played with the invincible Chicago White Stockings in the early 80s, is in the bread line at the park, down and out. Carey says his baseball days are over and cheerfully remarks that the sore-arm liniment, as he terms our fog, has put his "wing on the bum." The old fans will remember the days when Carey was regarded as the greatest shortstop in the baseball world. "Them were 'appy days," and old Tom Carey, one of the highest-priced ballplayers of his time, stands with the rest, in line, waiting for his daily handout.

Carey signed with the most famous aggregation of ball twirlers that played during the 80s. He was shortstop for the White Stockings when that team sold Mike Kelly, the famous pitcher, to the Bostons and later parted with $10,000 to get him back. In 1882 the Chicagos came west and played a series of games, defeating the Knickerbockers, Sam Rainey's great bunch of firemen players.

Carey sadly recalls the joyful moments when he used to draw $5,000 a season for five months' playing with the Chicagos. Then he was with the crown of spheroid throwers that held the championship over the Bostons and the Cincinnati "Reds." Adrian Anson was captain and first baseman, "Silver" Flint catcher, Ed Williamson and Joe Rueft on third and second base and Dalrymple, Kelly and George Gore in the field. George McCormick, Mike Kelly and Larry Cochran twirled the horsehide for the team.

This seems to fit with what's known of Carey's bio from the Nemec entry but of course there's one big problem: Tom Carey never played for Chicago. Tom Burns, who died in 1902, was the shortstop on those Chicago clubs. I honestly have no idea what to make of this.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Sunday, July 15, 1877
Standings and Leaders

Louisville Grays 19-8
Chicago White Stockings 18-9
Boston Red Stockings 13-13
Cincinnati Reds 11-12
Hartford Dark Blues 10-16
St. Louis Brown Stockings 7-20

Measured by run differential, Chicago and Boston are actually ahead of the rest of the league, with Louisville and Cincinnati also having positive run differential. Things could be tightening up and maybe (hopefully!) setting up a good pennant race.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Lip Pike, St. Louis - .405
Cal McVey, Boston - .373
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .371
Clipper Flynn, Hartford - .368
Davy Force, Chicago - .359
Charley Jones, Cincinnati - .354
Jim Devlin, Louisville - .347

Runs Scored

Ross Barnes, Boston - 32
Scott Hastings, Louisville - 32
Tom York, Louisville - 27
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 26
Cal McVey, Boston - 24
5 players tied with 23 each

Runs Batted In

Cal McVey, Boston - 27
Henry Burroughs, St. Louis - 23
Ezra Sutton, Louisville - 22
Ross Barnes, Boston - 21
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 21
3 players tied with 20 each

Stolen Bases

Ross Barnes, Boston - 21
Dave Eggler, St. Louis - 13
Cap Anson, Cincinnati - 11
Andy Leonard, Hartford - 11
Mike McGeary, Cincinnati - 11
George Hall, Chicago - 10
John McMullin, Cincinnati - 9

Won-Loss Record

Dan Collins, Louisville, 10-4
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 8-5
George Zettlein, Chicago, 7-4
Al Spalding, Boston, 7-5
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati, 5-7
Jim Britt, Hartford, 4-3
Candy Cummings, Louisville, 4-4

Earned Run Average

Al Spalding, Boston - 1.95
Dan Collins, Louisville - 2.57
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 2.74
Jim Britt, Hartford - 2.95
Hugh Campbell, Hartford - 3.03
George Zettlein, Chicago - 3.18
Cy Bentley, Boston - 3.21

Strikeouts

Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 52
Dan Collins, Louisville - 41
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 29
Hugh Campbell, Hartford - 28
Al Spalding, Boston - 28
George Zettlein, Chicago - 22
Jim Britt, Hartford - 19

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Davy Force, who might have been the best middle infielder of the 1870s if not for Ross Barnes and George Wright, was the fourth-best defensive position player of 1871-77 and the 12th best hitter. SABR has no biography of "Wee Davy" (Force was 5'4" and 130 pounds, small for a baseball player even in 1870) but Nemec has a decent listing on him and he shows up as a side character in lots of 1870s stories.

Nemec's introduction to Force:

When detectives came east from California searching for Davy Force, suspected of murdering one Joe Manning in what turned out to be a case of mistaken identity, the description they got from NL president Nick Young must have been out of the ordinary for a murder suspect. Young told the detectives that Force was short, bowlegged, and "a good fielder and a fair hitter." The physical description may have been helpful, but the characterization of Force's baseball talents would have been less useful. If the detectives were fans, they would have recognized "fair hitter" as a euphemism of the period meaning, "I hate to put it bluntly, but the man really can't hit at all."

Yet Young, who had known Force since both were active in Washington baseball circles thirty years earlier, would have remembered a time when Force was a very fine hitter. He began his career in 1862 with the Unknowns in Harlem, then a New York suburb. According to his commonly listed birth date, he would only have been 12 or 13 at the time, but the 1870 census lists him as 22, and if that information is correct then like many players he was actually older than his baseball age.

Force's career actually had two phases: the 1871-77 phase when he was a very good hitter and overall the third-best middle infielder in all of baseball behind Barnes and Wright, and then the 1879-86 phase, when he could no longer hit much at all but survived as a player because he remained one of the best defensive middle infielders in baseball. Nemec attributes Force's rapid decline as a hitter to the abolition of the fair-foul rule, the development of faster pitching and the rise of the curveball. In my Ross Barnes entry, I talked about why I'm skeptical about players' careers having been wrecked by the abolition of the fair-foul rule. However, I also said this:

Davy Force is probably the truest fair-foul player. He was a little guy, a middle infielder, and he hit .316 with an ISO of only .059 from 1871-76. He was an above-average hitter in the NA, but survived into the 1880s only because he was a good fielder - he was quite a bad hitter whose ultimate career batting average was just .249.

Still seems true. While he was still a good hitter, he got himself into a contract controversy that helped bring an end to the NA, as he signed for 1875 with both Chicago and Philadelphia. The dispute was resolved in favor of Philadelphia and it became one more thing William Hulbert of Chicago used to argue that a more stable league structure was needed.

After Force's baseball career was over, he worked for years for the Otis Elevator Company. (It was during this time that the California detectives mistakenly suspected him of murder.) He died in 1922, a little shy of his 69th birthday.

In my universe, he is still a really solid hitter. His career batting average is .305 and he's been an above average hitter in each of his full seasons. He played for the Washington Olympics in 1871 and 1872, then ended up with the ill-fated Baltimore Marylands in 1873. When Chicago rejoined professional baseball in 1874, he joined up and has played for them ever since. He's batting .359 this season, which would be his highest batting average ever for a full season. We'll have to see whether he can maintain this level of production longer than he did in reality.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

July 17, 1877
Boston Red Stockings (13-14) at Chicago White Stockings (19-9)

With a four-game winning streak, Chicago had moved within a half-game of the Louisville Grays, and with a win here the two clubs would be tied at the top of the league. Of course, Boston had been underachieving all season and a breakout could happen at any time.

The game ended up being absolutely bananas. Boston jumped out to a 15-0 lead by the sixth inning, then Chicago *almost* battled back, ultimately getting as close as 17-15. Boston's big three of Barnes, Wright and McVey went 10 for 22 in the game with eight runs scored and nine driven in.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Sunday, July 22, 1877
Standings and Leaders

Louisville Grays 20-10
Chicago White Stockings 19-11
Boston Red Stockings 16-15
Cincinnati Reds 12-13
Hartford Dark Blues 14-18
St. Louis Brown Stockings 8-22

Louisville and Chicago continue to be locked in a close race, and Boston had a strong week and is maybe one really strong week away from being a part of the pennant race.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Lip Pike, St. Louis - .403
Cal McVey, Boston - .394
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .372
Davy Force, Chicago - .372
Jim Devlin, Louisville - .361
Scott Hastings, Louisville - .359
Dick Higham, Chicago - .350

Runs Scored

Ross Barnes, Boston - 38
Scott Hastings, Louisville - 33
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 31
Cal McVey, Boston - 30
Andy Leonard, Hartford - 29
3 players tied with 27 each

Runs Batted In

Cal McVey, Boston - 33
Jim Devlin, Louisville - 24
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 24
Ezra Sutton, Louisville - 24
Ross Barnes, Boston - 23
Henry Burroughs, St. Louis - 23
Lip Pike, St. Louis - 23

Stolen Bases

Ross Barnes, Boston - 23
Dave Eggler, St. Louis - 15
Andy Leonard, Hartford - 14
Cap Anson, Cincinnati - 11
Mike McGeary, Cincinnati - 11
George Hall, Chicago - 10
3 players tied with 9 each

Won-Loss Record

Dan Collins, Louisville, 10-5
Al Spalding, Boston, 9-5
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 9-6
George Zettlein, Chicago, 7-5
Jim Britt, Hartford, 5-3
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati, 5-8
Hugh Campbell, Hartford, 5-11

Earned Run Average

George Knight, Louisville - 1.80
Joe Blong, St. Louis - 2.29
Al Spalding, Boston - 2.30
Dan Collins, Louisville - 2.64
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 2.76
Jim Britt, Hartford - 3.00
Bobby Mitchell, Cincinnati - 3.05

Strikeouts

Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 55
Dan Collins, Louisville - 49
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 33
Al Spalding, Boston - 32
Hugh Campbell, Hartford - 30
Jim Britt, Hartford - 23
2 players tied with 22 each

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Hugh Campbell has been the franchise death watch player in my universe - he debuted with Elizabeth in 1873 and was the team's primary pitcher, going 1-11. Then, when the Resolute club left the NA after 1873, he moved to Baltimore, where he was a solid 15-8 pitcher. However, Baltimore folded following 1874 and he went to Brooklyn. He was 2-10 in 1875 and killed his third team. In 1876 he pitched for the New York Mutuals and won a pennant, going 17-6, but of course they were expelled from the National League.

Now he is a key pitcher for Hartford, which can't be a good sign for the Dark Blues. He's 5-11 at this point in the season and has a 40-46 career record.

In reality there wasn't a lot to say about Campbell. He only played for one season - 1873, with Elizabeth. Here's everything Nemec has to say about him:

Hugh Campbell was the brother of first baseman Mike Campbell, his teammate on the 1873 Resolutes. After first appearing together in 1866 with Irvington, New Jersey, the pair moved to the Elizabeth team after the 1870 season and were on its 1872 New Jersey state championship squad. In several 1872 games against National Association teams Campbell had fared reasonably well. These outings gave the Resolutes confidence that they could compete in the 1873 National Association, but it was illusory. Campbell's only two wins came on June 5 at Brooklyn, and, stunningly, in the first game of a July 4 doubleheader at Boston when he beat Al Spalding 11-2. He died in Newark of tuberculosis in 1881.

Not much of a story. He's been more resilient in my world, though of course all these 1870s pitchers could be in trouble when actual strikeout pitchers show up on the scene in a few years.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

July 24, 1877
Boston Red Stockings (17-15) at Louisville Grays (20-11)

After a 17-6 start, Louisville have gone only 3-5, while Boston are in the process of regrouping from a bad start. A loss today would drop Louisville into a tie with Chicago for first place in the National League, and Boston themselves would only be 2 1/2 games back in that situation.

This game stayed close until Louisville scored eight runs in their final two trips to the plate. Jim Devlin clobbered four hits for the Grays as they maintained their narrow lead over the Chicagos.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Sunday, July 29, 1877
Standings and Leaders

Louisville Grays 21-11
Chicago White Stockings 19-12
Cincinnati Reds 14-13
Boston Red Stockings 18-17
Hartford Dark Blues 15-20
St. Louis Brown Stockings 9-23

The Grays continue to maintain their lead. Chicago, Cincinnati and Boston all look good at times but none have been able to break through to catch the league-leading Louisville squad.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Lip Pike, St. Louis - .412
Jim Devlin, Louisville - .385
Cal McVey, Boston - .383
Davy Force, Chicago - .381
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .373
Scott Hastings, Louisville - .360
Charley Jones, Cincinnati - .353

Runs Scored

Ross Barnes, Boston - 45
Scott Hastings, Louisville - 34
Cal McVey, Boston - 34
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 31
Jim Devlin, Louisville - 30
Andy Leonard, Hartford - 29
Cap Anson, Cincinnati - 28

Runs Batted In

Cal McVey, Boston - 37
Ross Barnes, Boston - 27
Jim Devlin, Louisville - 27
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 25
Lip Pike, St. Louis - 25
Ezra Sutton, Louisville - 24
3 players tied with 23 each

Stolen Bases

Ross Barnes, Boston - 28
Dave Eggler, St. Louis - 15
Mike McGeary, Cincinnati - 15
Andy Leonard, Hartford - 14
Cap Anson, Cincinnati - 11
George Hall, Chicago - 10
Cal McVey, Boston - 10

Won-Loss Record

Dan Collins, Louisville, 11-5
Al Spalding, Boston, 11-5
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 9-7
George Zettlein, Chicago, 7-5
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati, 6-8
Bobby Mitchell, Cincinnati, 5-3
Jim Britt, Hartford, 5-4

Earned Run Average

Joe Blong, St. Louis - 2.29
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 2.56
Al Spalding, Boston - 2.71
Dan Collins, Louisville - 2.72
George Bradley, St. Louis - 2.83
Bobby Mitchell, Cincinnati - 2.94
Tricky Nichols, Hartford - 3.00

Strikeouts

Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 60
Dan Collins, Louisville - 55
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 35
Al Spalding, Boston - 33
Hugh Campbell, Hartford - 33
Jim Britt, Hartford - 25
Cy Bentley, Boston - 24

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

This season 32-year-old Everett Mills of Hartford is hitting .343, which would be his highest career average if he finished out the season at that level. However, he's batted .308 for his career and has won three Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger award at first base, which is substantially better than Mills did in his real-life baseball career.

There's not a ton of information out there about Mills - he was known as a good player but never really as a star during his career. Baseball Reference Bullpen says this about him:

Everett Mills, also called "Ev Mills," played all five years of the National Association's existence and the first year of the National League. His time as a ballplayer goes back at least as far as the 1865 Newark Eurekas, for whom he played first base. He holds the single-season record for most at-bats in a season without getting a walk. In 1875, he had 342 at-bats and not a single walk. This isn't entirely surprising, however, as in 1,525 career at-bats, he walked only 13 times and had 12 strikeouts.

Mills managed the 1872 Baltimore Canaries for 14 games.

The book When Johnny Came Sliding Home: The Post-Civil War Baseball Boom, 1865-70 calls him a "jovial, wise-cracking first baseman."

Here's what Nemec has to add:

In 1886 Ned Cuthbert told The Sporting News of a game he recalled in 1871 in which Everett Mills had lined a shot back through the box that had nearly decapitated Chicago's Ed Pinkham. Cuthbert also recollected that Mills liked low pitches and Pinkham, a southpaw, threw him a steady diet of outcurves, suggesting that Mills was a left-handed hitter. Mills began with the Eureka club of Newark, New Jersey in 1864 and by 1869 had joined the New York Mutuals, remaining with them through 1870.

A steady performer throughout the National Association's five-year history, Mills tumbled in 1876 when he scored just 28 runs for Hartford in 63 games. He played with Milwaukee of the League Alliance in 1877, briefly in the 1878 International Association, and then served as sergeant-at-arms in Quarter Sessions Court in Newark, New Jersey, before dying of heart disease in 1908.

So, not that notable of a career in real life, but he's been a solid above-average player in my universe. He's 32 this season, so he's probably on the downward slope of his career, but he's been a very solid player and continues to be one.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

It's August 1! NWL update time:

St. Paul Saints 33-13 (unaffiliated)
Minneapolis Millers 31-13 (Boston's affiliate)
Fort Wayne Railroaders 29-15 (Cincinnati)
Peoria Distillers 26-18 (Chicago)
Grand Rapids Woodworkers 19-26 (Hartford)
Quincy Ravens 15-29 (St. Louis)
Evansville Hoosiers 13-29 (Louisville)
Terre Haute Hottentots 10-33 (unaffiliated)

The NWL league leaders:

Batting Average

Jim Keenan, Minneapolis - .398
Henry Luff, Fort Wayne - .352
Gat Stires, St. Paul - .331
Ham Allen, Terre Haute - .323
Dave Pierson, Fort Wayne - .316
John Radcliff, Peoria - .309
Tom Barlow, Peoria - .309

Runs Scored

Fred Cone, Minneapolis - 41
Jim Keenan, Minneapolis - 35
Jim Carleton, Peoria - 28
Gat Stires, St. Paul - 27
Fred Treacey, Fort Wayne - 24
Will Foley, Fort Wayne - 23
Denny Mack, Minneapolis - 23

Runs Batted In

Jim Keenan, Minneapolis - 36
George Bird, Minneapolis - 29
Gat Stires, St. Paul - 27
Charlie Eden, Peoria - 26
Fraley Rogers, Minneapolis - 26
Charlie Hodes, St. Paul - 25
John McGuinness, Quincy - 25

Stolen Bases

Fred Cone, Minneapolis - 24
Pony Sager, Minneapolis - 23
Jim Keenan, Minneapolis - 22
Denny Mack, Minneapolis - 20
Tom Barlow, Peoria - 19
3 players tied with 17 each

Won-Loss Record

Tommy Bond, St. Paul, 13-2
Foghorn Bradley, Minneapolis, 12-1
Terry Larkin, St. Paul, 10-4
Bill Stearns, Peoria-Terre Haute, 10-11
Len Lovett, Peoria, 9-3
Phonney Martin, Minneapolis, 9-4
Cherokee Fisher, Peoria, 9-5

Earned Run Average

John Cassidy, Fort Wayne - 0.60
Tommy Bond, St. Paul - 1.66
Foghorn Bradley, Minneapolis - 1.71
Terry Larkin, St. Paul - 1.88
Lon Knight, Grand Rapids - 1.92
NFN Edwards, Fort Wayne - 1.92
Dale Williams, Fort Wayne - 1.96

Strikeouts

Fred Goldsmith, Evansville - 182
Bill Stearns, Peoria-Terre Haute - 171
Tommy Bond, St. Paul - 159
Len Lovett, Peoria - 140
Cherokee Fisher, Peoria - 135
Dick McBride, Grand Rapids - 133
Laurie Reis, Peoria - 126

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Sunday, August 5, 1877
Standings and Leaders

Louisville Grays 23-12
Chicago White Stockings 22-12
Boston Red Stockings 18-17
Cincinnati Reds 15-15
Hartford Dark Blues 15-20
St. Louis Brown Stockings 9-26

Some real tightening this week in the pennant race, as Chicago won 3 out of 3 games including beating Louisville on Saturday to move within a half-game of the top spot. The two clubs have more games upcoming this week, so things could get exciting in the next couple weeks.

The league leaders:

Batting Average

Lip Pike, St. Louis - .416
Jim Devlin, Louisville - .399
Cal McVey, Boston - .383
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - .370
Davy Force, Chicago - .367
Jim Foran, Chicago - .349
Dick Higham, Chicago - .346

Runs Scored

Ross Barnes, Boston - 45
Scott Hastings, Louisville - 36
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 35
Jim Devlin, Louisville - 34
Cal McVey, Boston - 34
George Hall, Chicago - 31
3 players tied with 29 each

Runs Batted In

Cal McVey, Boston - 37
Levi Meyerle, Chicago - 31
Jim Devlin, Louisville - 29
Ezra Sutton, Louisville - 28
Ross Barnes, Boston - 27
Jim Clinton, Louisville - 27
Lip Pike, St. Louis - 27

Stolen Bases

Ross Barnes, Boston - 28
Dave Eggler, St. Louis - 17
Mike McGeary, Cincinnati - 16
Andy Leonard, Hartford - 14
John McMullin, Cincinnati - 12
Cap Anson, Cincinnati - 11
George Hall, Chicago - 11

Won-Loss Record

Al Spalding, Boston, 11-5
Dan Collins, Louisville, 11-6
Asa Brainard, Chicago, 11-7
George Zettlein, Chicago, 8-5
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati, 7-9
Jim Britt, Hartford, 5-4
Bobby Mitchell, Cincinnati, 5-4

Earned Run Average

Joe Blong, St. Louis - 2.29
Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 2.49
Al Spalding, Boston - 2.71
Dan Collins, Louisville - 2.86
George Bradley, St. Louis - 2.87
Tricky Nichols, Hartford - 3.00
Bobby Mitchell, Cincinnati - 3.07

Strikeouts

Sam Weaver, Cincinnati - 72
Dan Collins, Louisville - 59
Asa Brainard, Chicago - 37
Al Spalding, Boston - 35
Hugh Campbell, Hartford - 33
Jim Britt, Hartford - 25
Cy Bentley, Boston - 24

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Shortstop John Bass has been the biggest slugger in baseball history thus far, and he's the current career leader in both triples (72) and home runs (17). He's a bit more of a cipher than most of the 1871 players. Here's what BR Bullpen says about him:

John Bass was a successful slugger in 1871, the first year of the National Association. He led the league with 10 triples (in 22 games) and was only one home run away from leading the league, hitting three. His slugging percentage of .640 was third in the league and he led the league in at-bats per home run. He played only two games in 1872, and then did not come back until 1877 in the National League, appearing in only one game. Prior to the time of the National Association, Bass had been a shortstop with the Unions of Morrisania. He perhaps reminds one of another Bass, Randy Bass, who was also a top slugger. John Bass, however, was 5' 6", short even for his time, while Randy was 6' 1".

John Bass died around the age of 40. He was the first major leaguer to die in Colorado, followed three months later by baseball pioneer Asa Brainard. He died in 1888; earlier that year, he had applied to become a major league umpire.

And Nemec:

A Civil War veteran, John Bass played in the first National Association game, led the NA in triples in its initial season, and fell just one four-bagger short of tying from the home run crown. Moreover, his .640 slugging average was third in the loop. Prior to joining the 1871 Forest Citys, Bass had played shortstop for the Unions of Morrisania. We do not know why he played just two more games in the National Association or how he came to play one National League game for Hartford in 1877. At the time, he appears to have been living in Brooklyn and playing semipro ball there. In 1883 Bass served as a substitute umpire in the American Association until he resigned in early May. Five years later he became the first former major leaguer to die in the state of Colorado. Until recently his grave in Denver's Riverside Cemetery was unmarked.

In my universe he's been a pretty awful defensive shortstop, but his hitting has been good enough to give him steady work. He's hitting .308 with Cincinnati this season, but prior to that he's never had an average above .278 for a full season. Nevertheless, he gets a lot of triples and leads Ross Barnes, second overall, by 20 at the moment. He had no home runs in 1871 but for each year from 1872-76 he's had three and has two so far this season, and this consistency makes him the career leader in that as well.

He was an above-average hitter for Cleveland in 1871, then joined Brooklyn and was a good hitter and bad fielder from 1872-75 for the Atlantics. Now he's been with Cincinnati since the start of the National League and he continues to hit well even though he probably should be moved to a position other than shortstop.