The Parallel History of Baseball, Redux

[mjj55409]

My original attempt at this (found here) succumbed ultimately to a crashed hard disk and corrupt saved game files.

Rather than pick up again from a backup, I am going to start over in 1871. Hopefully, I can incorporate some things I've learned along the way.

And for those interested in following along a little more closely, I'll be publishing the league files here: http://www.paralleluniversebaseball...._101_home.html

[mjj55409]

In 1870, a group of amateur base ball players, led by members of the Cincinnati Red Stockings, the dominate amateur team of the 1860s, decided to band together and form the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. An low entry fee of $10 was all that was required of a team to join the association. Teams then scheduled games over the course of the summer against other association teams, and at the end of the year, the team with the most wins against the other association teams was to be awarded the championship "whip pennant." Interestingly enough, Cincinnati declined to join the association.

In 1871 nine teams anted up the $10. A nice mix of Western (Chicago, Rockford, Fort Wayne) and Eastern (Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Troy, Cleveland) and one club that all teams grumbled about traveling to (Washington).



Troy was the class of the new association teams, lead by pitcher Seymour Landry (1.65 ERA). Another top pitcher was Blackie Stowe (1.68 ERA) for a Fort Wayne team that ran into financial difficulties and couldn't complete its season.

Cleveland batsman Rube Dietrich (.317, 12 doubles, 20 runs, 13 stolen bases) was widely viewed as the best hitter. And although the Boston club had a disappointing season, they had another exciting young hitter in Max Cowley (.368, 19 doubles, 19 runs, 16 rbi).


l-to-r, Seymour Landry, Blackie Stowe, Rube Dietrich, Max Cowley

[mjj55409]

The volatile nature of the association was made apparent in 1872 when none of the Western teams returned for another season. It was just financially too difficult to make so many trips East. Although in Chicago's case, it was because of the Great Fire in October 1871. However five new clubs were enticed to make the jump to the association. Led by Baltimore, a top amateur club, the new clubs were from Brooklyn (who fielded entries, the Eckfords and the Atlantics), another club from Washington (the Nationals), and a mid-point on the route between Boston and New York, Middletown Connecticut's Mansfield club.



Baltimore joined the Association with 23 year-old pitcher Ben Osgood (.95 ERA) and after adding Rube Dietrich from defunct Cleveland club, they had no problems dominating the rest of the association. Middletown also had a surprising showing. While the well-backed clubs from Boston (even though they had enticed Blackie Stowe to join their club), Philadelphia, and New York were once again disappointing.

Pitcher Whip Ogle (1.44 ERA) jumped from the Boston club to the Middletown once Stowe joined Boston. Ogle was a big reason for Middletown's competitive showing, while Stowe did not pitch nearly as well for Boston.

In Baltimore, Rube Dietrich (.387, 65 runs, 44 stolen bases) and Hick Conly (.391, 74 runs, 72 rbi, 41 stolen bases) led a good collection of batsmen.


l-to-r, Ben Osgood, Whip Ogle, Hick Conly

[ashantewarrier]

Welcome Back! I enjoy your work!

[mjj55409]

Turnover remained high for 1873, as Middletown, Troy, one of the Brooklyn clubs, and both Washington entries all left the Association. They were replaced by another club in Baltimore (perhaps emboldened by the Canaries' success in 1872), another club in Philadelphia, yet another attempt in Washington, and a small and very under-financed club from Elizabeth, New Jersey.



The New York club found an amateur pitcher named Virgil Grimes (1.07 ERA) and brought in Hardy McGowan (.349, 31 rbi) from Troy. That was enough to put them over the top and bring the "whip pennant" to Manhattan (although the Mutual actually played their games at Union Grounds in Brooklyn).

Isiah Kershaw was a catcher who had played for folded teams in 1871 (Rockford) and 1872 (Washington). Kershaw signed with Boston in 1873 and rewarded them with a very fine season (.322, 16 doubles, 54 runs, 59 rbi), quickly becoming a fan favorite. But with so many players switching clubs each year, the Association was in danger of losing the fans interest.


l-to-r, Hardy McGowan, Virgil Grimes, Isiah Kershaw

[mjj55409]

Originally Posted by ashantewarrier

Welcome Back! I enjoy your work!

Thanks! I'm glad you are still reading.

I've changed up the style of posting a little. I like the newspaper article format, but that takes a lot of time, and I want to get through these early years quickly.

[mjj55409]

Of course, the Winter of 1873-1874 saw even more turnover for the Association. The 2nd Baltimore club, the Washington club, and the Elizabeth club all folded. The were replaced by the Hartford club and the return of the White Stockings of Chicago. 1874 also saw the attempt to have a formal schedule for the Association. That didn't pan out, as there was no incentive for clubs to play out the schedule and no penalty for those that refused.



After a second place finish in 1873, Brooklyn once again finished just behind the champions, this time losing to the newly re-formed Chicago White Stockings. Chicago was led my pitcher Mose Blanton (1.86 ERA), who had played for the club in 1871 and had bounced around the Association since then (Washington and Elizabeth). Of course, as was becoming custom for the time, Chicago would not be able to retain Mose's service beyond this season.

Boston was the best hitting team, led by Isiah Kershaw (.349, 17 doubles, 79 runs) and Earl McClure (.369, 83 runs, 44 stolen bases). And Boston also won the highest number of Association games, although they lost as nearly as many as they won. But there were a lot of fans in Boston who thought they should have been awarded the championship.

New York had a spectacular fall from grace, as they could not stop any club from scoring.


l-to-r, Mose Blanton, Earl McClure

[mjj55409]

The 1875 season turned out to be the death knell for the National Association. The low entry fee meant that 13 teams signed up for the 1875 season. However most of them didn't finish the schedule. These problems --the volatility, the clubs bickering over gate receipts, the high amount of player movement--all would need to be fixed if base ball was to continue as a professional sport.



Even though Chicago was not able to retain Mose Blanton, they replaced Blanton with a young pitching talent that they had plucked from the Baltimore Marylands after the the 1873 season, Duncan Hinkley (37-8, .82 ERA in 48 starts). They were also utilizing long time Canaries starter Ben Osgood (15-8, 1.05 ERA in 21 starts). Hartford almost was able to close the gap with Chicago by relying on the bat of Rube Dietrich (.314, 14 doubles, 7 triples, 84 runs, 41 stolen bases).


l-to-r, Duncan Hinkley, Ben Osgood

[mjj55409]

Here are the leaders from the 5 year run of the National Association.

Hits
Franklin Vail.....445
Abe Shade.......390
Rube Dietrich....379
Frank Spence...371
Isiah Kerhsaw...367

Hitting VORP
Rube Dietrich.......79.62
Slats Mathis........72.68
Franklin Vail.........67.61
Isiah Kershaw......57.63
Hardy McGowan...56.73


Rube Dietrich

Pitching Wins
Blackie Stowe.....109
Silas Todd............86
Ben Osgood..........81
Baldy Marley.........72
Whip Ogle............66

Pitching VORP
Ben Osgood..........232.30
Blackie Stowe.......183.92
Silas Todd............169.39
Raymond Sheets....138.30
Whip Ogle.............136.33


l-to-r, Silas Todd, Blackie Stowe

[HGVoyager]

Very good work.

[mjj55409]

The 1875 season demonstrated that the National Association could not survive as is, and if it was intended for base ball to survive, something needed to be done. Allowing the players to run the league was not a good idea. A more businesslike approach was needed. This, of course, meant putting the authority into the hands of the men that ran the clubs. So in 1876, the National Association of Professional Baseball Players gave way to the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs.

The National League was the idea of Chicago businessman, and White Stockings stakeholder, Alphonse Roller. Roller's vision was for a new league founded on the principles of square dealings, recognition of contracts, and business integrity along with a more orderly game on the field through prohibitions on drinking, gambling, and Sunday baseball and more definite organization off it through limiting membership to cities of 75,000 inhabitants or more, giving clubs exclusive territorial rights, and mandating teams to complete a predetermined schedule. As Roller worked on getting the other club presidents to buy into his plan, Chicago pitcher Ben Osgood (who had business plans of his own beyond his baseball career) convinced his fellow players that the new league was for the best.


l-to-r, Alphonse Roller, Ben Osgood

After securing the agreement of the Western clubs, Roller presented his idea at an Association meeting in New York on February 2, 1876. The Eastern clubs were a little rankled that the new league was being formed by someone out of Chicago, but Roller finally secured their agreement by naming as first president of the League Ambrose Gardner, president of the Hartford club (who had finished second to the White Stockings in 1875).


Ambrose Gardner

The 1876 season thus began with Boston, Hartford, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cincinnati, Louisville and St. Louis as the eight-club membership of the National League. A 70-game balanced schedule was produced with all teams playing three games per week and all clubs were required to adhere to it



Boston teammates Wallace Colvin (36-21, 1.11 ERA) and Isiah Kershaw (.304, 17 doubles, 57 runs, 50 rbi) led the way for the first National League championship. New league club Cincinnati made things very close at the end. They signed 25 year old CF Rube Dietrich (league leading .315 with 27 stolen bases) to anchor their lineup.


Rube Dietrich

In the first test of the new league's authority, both Philadelphia and New York, citing financial difficulties, refused to play out the entire schedule. In response, Roller convinced league president Gardner to expel both clubs. Roller also got himself named league president for 1877, further consolidating his power. But now without clubs in the two largest US markets (Philadelphia and New York), the future of the fledgling league is certainly cloudy.

[NYY #23]

It's good to see this back. I enjoyed the original and like your style.

[mjj55409]

x

[mjj55409]

For those interested in following along a little more closely, I've now publishing the league files here: Major League Baseball Home

I'll update the pages at least on Opening Day and the beginning of the off season.

Note that the transition from the NA to the NL left the NA history pages a little borked, so you might get some 404 errors, but they should all mostly work.

Any maybe someone can tell me why a good portion of my Facegen images are not auto updating?

[mjj55409]

Some would call the 1877 competitive, others would call it boring. Only five games separated the top from the bottom of the league. Boston held off a late White Stockings charge to take home its second consecutive league championship.



Boston's Wallace Colvin (26-21, 1.61) was the league's top pitcher. They also had the league's leading hitter in Mustard Jackman (.351, 15 doubles, 47 runs, 39 rbi).


l-to-r, Wallace Colvin, Mustard Jackman

Ben Osgood retired as a player and was named the Chicago manager. But Duncan Hinkley continued to lose effectiveness after his 37 win season two years ago. Louisville had a good offense, but not nearly enough pitching. They feature young infielder Johan Moody (.328, 17 doubles, 47 runs, 36 rbi).


Johan Moody

[mjj55409]

Pitching Curved Balls--Some Experiments at Cincinnati
Special Dispatch to the New York Times
Cincinnati, Ohio. Oct. 20, 1877

The game of base-ball between the Bostons and the Cincinnatis here to-day was marked by an experiment of extraordinary interest in pitching a curved ball. A line running parallel with the line from home plate to the first base bag was taken as a straight line for the trial. On the Cincinnati Grounds it runs north and south. The pitcher was placed at the south end of it, opposite the home-plate. Midway between the home-plate and first base was placed a section of a paling fence, one end resting on the line and the other point to the infield, at right angles. This, of course, formed a barrier to the ball started on the west side of the line, unless it should cross over to the east side. Another section of the fence was placed at right angles to the line opposite the first base, but being on the east side of the line. Then at the south end a board was placed on the end of the line. Colvin, the pitcher of the Bostons, was placed on the west side of the board, and a little behind it, so that he was obliged to deliver the ball from the west side of the line. It was for him to demonstrate that the ball could be made to leave his hand on the west side of the line, cross over to the east side so as to avoid the fence on the west side, and recross to the west side to avoid the other fence. Doll at first sent the ball against the edge of the board, but after several trials he was able to clear that and sending the ball fairly around the middle barrier landed it on the same side it started from at the other end of the line. The curve was not only visible to the eye but it was shown beyond possibility of dispute. The demonstration was greeted with shouts of applause.


Wallace Colvin

[mjj55409]

New York Times
Cleveland, December 6, 1877

This was the second day's session of the Base-ball League. The League disposed of the Sunday question by deciding that no League club shall be allowed to play on Sunday, nor shall any member be allowed to play with any other clubs on that day. Violation of this rule subject the club or the member to expulsion. The championship season was fixed at six months, commencing May 1 and ending Nov. 1. The League confirmed unanimously the expulsion of Louisville club, the players of which were found to be guilty of fixing games. The League also rejected the franchises of the Hartford and St Louis clubs, those clubs being declared not financially solvent enough to continue. The League also rejected the applications for re-admission of the Philadelphia and New York clubs. Meanwhile the League has accepted the applications of the Providence, Indianapolis, and Milwaukee clubs.

The organization of the nines for 1878:

• Boston Red Caps
• Chicago White Stockings
• Cincinnati Red Stockings
• Indianapolis Blues
• Milwaukee Grays
• Providence Grays

The examination of the players of the Louisville Base-ball Club for alleged "crookedness" was conducted by an able lawyer, and has resulted in the expulsion of Pierce Dyer, Mike Mosely, Zacariah Rounds, and Bump Manuel. Dyer, Mosely, and Manuel confessed to having received bribes for selling games. The first two told the whole story and begged for mercy at the hands of the Directors. Dyer gave the information which led to the discovery of the nefarious practice. Rounds proclaimed his innocence. He was expelled for general misconduct. Manuel acknowledges having "stood in" with Mosely, and in his statement of "crooked" transactions relates how he swindled the latter out of the proceeds of their dishonesty. McCloud, a New York gambler or pool seller, is the name of the party who is known to have paid them for "throwing" games.


l-to-r, Pierce Dyer, Mike Mosely, Zacariah Rounds, Bump Manuel

[mjj55409]

The League will now issue seasonal awards to those players best exemplifying the grand game. The Cartwright Award to the best pitcher, the Chadwick Award to the best batsman, and the Amateur Award to the best new player. For 1877, the winners were announced as Wallace Colvin, Johan Moody, and Egbert Robin.

In commemoration, Allen & Ginter's Cigarette Company will release special cigarette packages each containing a "card" representing one of the award winners.

[mjj55409]

After the Lousiville club folded, Boston moved quickly to sign young Johan Moody. With the addition of Moody to batsmen Isiah Kershaw (.351, 15 doubles, 51 runs), Mustard Jackman (.310, 15 doubles, 24 stolen bases, 47 runs), and Jay Cason (.337, 49 runs), the Bostons easily scored the most runs in the league. And after winning their first six games, they appeared set to run away with the championship.


l-to-r, Mustard Jackman, Jay Cason



But ultimately, it came down a very close race between the Chicagos and the new Milwaukee club. Chicago pitched the ball so much better than any other league club. Both Chicago and Milwaukee evenly split the pitching duties between two pitchers--Duncan Hinkley (17-14, 2.01 in 33 starts) and Fuzzy Bradfield (16-8, 1.69 in 24 starts) for Chicago and Virgil Grimes (18-14, 1.80 in 31 starts) and Egbert Robin (19-10, 1.57 in 30 starts) for Milwaukee. This at a time when the other league clubs were still relying on one primary pitcher. It will remain to be seen whether this two man "pitching rotation" will become the standard.


l-to-r, Fuzzy Bradfield, Virgil Grimes

[mjj55409]

Boston's Wallace Colvin takes home his 2nd consecutive Cartwright Award while team mate Isiah Kershaw is given the Chadwick Award. The best amateur was Major Guthrie of the Cincinnati club.