Just a few years earlier, the Red Stockings name was legendary. After a few bruising seasons in the professional league, the Cincinnati club pulled up to second place in 1874, five games back of the already-perennial champions from Cleveland...close enough to qualify for the (finally!) first-ever Centennial Cup game!
The game was played not in Ohio but at the beautiful new Centennial Park in Philadelphia, home of the Athletic Club, and with enough room for an incredible 20,000 patrons. Interest in the game was such that an estimated 50,000 people flooded the area around the ballpark, looking for tickets -- in the end, an incredible 23,365 people flooded in, making the biggest crowd in base ball history. President Grant was there, too, tossing out the game ball to Forest Citys star Jim Creighton.
After eight and a half innings, it looked like the Red Stox were about to re-ascend the throne of base ball supremacy, leading, 2-1, with Bill Atwater scattering twelve hits but just the one run.
And then...came what cranks all over the country are already calling the last inning of The Greatest Game Ever Played.
Deacon White, the hero, was literally carried off the field by the huge throng, perhaps never to be seen again! (Actually, he was seen late that night at a Philadelphia bar, with the happy patrons picking up the tab.)
An incredible season, and an incredible finale...but as the calendar turned to 1875, there were definite rumblings of discontent...