Twenty-two years into the National Association, no team from the New York area had won a pennant or a Centennial Cup; the Mutuals came the closest, losing the very first NA pennant back in 1871 in a one-game playoff to...Cleveland, of course. The state of Ohio has been the state of baseball, with 16 National pennants and 12 Cen Cups...and zero and zero for New York.
But nearby Brooklyn has shown ability in the American Association, as both the Eckford (1879) and Atlantic (1882) clubs have taken American Cups; now, both teams from the City of Churches are pennant-winners!
The Atlantics needed a win over second-place Toronto on the last day of the season to clinch the NA pennant, while the Eckfords had
two clubs to fight off, winning eight of their last ten to edge out St. Louis and Washington:
And in the Union, the Toledo Blue Sox held off a late charge from the posse from Kansas City to take their first pennant:
