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1869-1870: THE NBBO'S "SHAMATEURISM" CRISIS

During the 1870 season, "Shamateurism" brought the NBBO into a full-blown crisis. During the organization's previous thirteen seasons there were always a few teams who were a step above the rest, but in '70 each of the six championships were defined by teams who were clearly better than the rest of the competition. In Brooklyn, Kings County went 49-21 and were about five games clear of any other team. In NYC, the Knickerbocker Club finished 52-18 & Orange went 48-22 while Harlem finished in last place at 22-48. In the Upstate NY championship, the Victory Club won 47/70 games while last-place Binghamton went 20-50. The Northeastern League was more of the same. In the normally cutthroat Coastal championship, Shamrock went 47-23 while the Olympic Club was a shocking 10-60, the worst record in the history of the NBBO. In the Inland championship, Reading was 53-17 - a full eight games better than 2nd place - while last-place Pioneer was 21-49. Finally, in the New England championship Green Mountain was four games in the clear at 44-26 while Granite was the caboose of the train at 25-45.

During the 1870 season it was clear that the usual order of the six championship divisions of the NBBO - mostly tight competitions at the top that sometimes had to be decided with one-game playoffs - had been completely upended by clubs hoarding quality players with under-the-table payments. In particular, Kings County raised eyebrows as they managed to recruit seven-time All Star 2B James Rousey, eight-time All Star CF Herman Farris, and 13-time Orange Club All Star 3B/SS Edward Huntley in a matter of weeks. Kings County GM Alfred Carraway managed to add the trio even though he already had a team containing multiple-time All Stars George Drew (OF), Frederick Madsen (C), and two-way player Delbert Hodges (3B & SP). A club with half a dozen All Stars in a 24-team league looked mighty suspicious, and other clubs who employed the "under-the-table" method were fuming at the brazenness of it while fans of baseball were left wondering if Kings County had bigger plans for the sport itself. It all certainly worked out well, as KC took the Tucker Wheaton Cup in an easy sweep against Green Mountain.

Meanwhile, the Excelsior Club had an issue of its own that was raising eyebrows: that of superstar Konrad Jensen. Continental itself had experienced plenty of success, winning the Brooklyn championship five times and the NYL once, but Providence, RI native Jensen had been recruited by Excelsior in 1858 straight out of high school and was perfectly happy to remain with them even though there were other NYC-area clubs with better facilities, while Providence-based St. John's offered the same. In the 1870 season, Jensen was busy doing just what he'd done in each of the previous three seasons: leading all of the 48-team NBBO in batting average (.422), on-base percentage (.458), slugging percentage (.649), OPS (1.107), OPS+ (222), and total bases (209). He'd become so dominant in his late-20s that fans wondered if he was too good for the league itself.



The real issue with regards to Jensen was an open secret among the other clubs in the NBBO: as Jensen became more and more talented in his mid-20s, Excelsior owner Jeremiah Nelson Tappan secured the funds to pay him no less than $780 in cash each season to stay with Excelsior. This meant that Jensen could focus full-time on honing his already considerable batting skills, and as he became unstoppable his under-the-table pay rose to well over $800 for just three months of baseball each year. Manual laborers averaged a bit over $500 for an entire year's work at the time, so Jensen could easily spend the rest of the nice-weather months perfecting his craft and then work a bit during the winter for some extra spending money.

There was now a clear split between the under-the-table, pay-for-play teams and those who either stuck to amateurism or didn't have the means to slide cash to high quality players. Something had to give, and it did about six weeks after the end of the season.

Next, a pro league is formed...