1871 re-imagined

[RMc]

"And, so, I dedicate this great game of base ball to all the people of America! I just hope that some jerk doesn't come around a century and a half from now to f*** it up...!" -- President Ulysses S. Grant at the first Base Ball Opening Day (1871)

I love re-running the entire history of base ball, er, baseball. One thing that's always bugged me, though, was the fact you only had 115 players to use that first year, just barely enough to fill the nine teams. So, I thought, where could I "find" more players? What about players from the early (but professional) teams in 1869-70? Could I find their stats and insert them into the mix? Why can't I have money for nothing and chicks for free...?

Because I'm a sick, sad little man, I took Marshall Wright's excellent book, "The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857-1870" and inputted all of the existing stats for the players and the teams that existed from the years indicated. It really didn't take that long since there's little more than the player's name (sometimes only the last name), position (sometimes not available) and the proto-stats of Games Played, Hands Lost and Runs Scored.

"Hands Lost" comes from cricket: anytime a player made an out at the plate or on the bases, it was a Hand Lost. Generally, a good player would have more Runs than HLs. From this, I fashioned a very rough version of OPS+ -- far from perfect, but at least it gives one an idea of who the good hitters were. (This data is available on request...for God's sake, don't request it! You'll never see the world the same way again!)

So, what does this have to do with 1871? Well, in order to beef up the "real" rosters from that year, I identified 121 players who played on one of the avowedly professional teams of 1869-70 who did NOT (I don't think) ever play in the NA in 1871 or later. (I added one more plyaer: Jim Creighton. Yes, that guy. Yes, he was long dead by 1871. Don't care.)

But that's only the start of it. The famous Cincinnati Red Stockings folded after the 1870 season, and its players were scattered to the four winds -- actually, four of them were scattered to Boston to found the "new" Red Stockings, four wound up on the Olympic club of Washington, DC, and one landed with the Forest City club in Cleveland. But...what if the Cincinnati club didn't fold, and joined the NA in 1871 instead?

In this simulation, the Cincy Reds are intact, and there's a different team in Boston: the Tri Mountain club. The Tri Mountains began in 1857 and vanished when the Red Stockings came to town in 1871. In this simulation, the NA has ten teams:



To make up for the players lost to Cincinnati, both Boston and Washington each got four of the "new" players, while Cleveland got one: that turned out to be Jim Creighton, the Ohtani of the 1860s and 70s.

What about the rest of the "new" players? Well, IRL, when the NA was formed, a separate all-amateur loop was also created. (Nobody much cared about it, and it folded after the 1871 season.) In this universe, I created the American Amateur Association:



These were all real teams, and many of them would join the NA in subsequent seasons. Here, they serve as the NA's "minor" league...and possibly a future second division...?

Thirty games is too short, so I expanded the season to 54 games, six against each opponent. (The AA season is 56 games, eight vs. each opponent.) No playoffs, unless there's a tie. Let's go!

[RMc]

With the Cincinnati Red Stockings reunited, speculation was rife: would the team that was famously undefeated in 1869 and still strong in 1870 dominate the new National Professional Association in 1871?

In a word, no.



The Red Stox played only .500 ball (10-9) through the first three weeks of the season, then promptly fell into a ten-game losing streak (still in progress), tumbling to ninth place...ahead of only the utter disaster in upstate New York.

Even with all the extra players, there's still only 31 pitchers in this 18-team universe. Some teams only have one, including the Troy Haymakers, whose only hurler is John "Lefty" McMullin, who's...not very good. IRL, Lefty was a meh 12-15 with a 89 ERA+ in 1871, then pitched a handful of innings in subsequent years. Now, the whole Haymakers franchise is in danger of crashing down in just one season.

At the other end of the table, Cleveland's Jim Creighton is proving himself to be the loop's best hitter and best pitcher, with a 209 OPS+ and a 242 ERA+...nuff said. The Forest Citys are on top, but by only one game over Boston and New York; indeed, half the league is within three games of the top.


In the American Amateur Association (AAA), Elias Cope's 17 wins have put the Resolute club of Elizabeth, NJ in front:



And before you can say, "Where the hell is Morrisania and why do their team suck so bad?", we'll get to that next time!

[jksander]

This looks fun! And pretty sure Morrisania is in New York City ... I've heard the name, but am not familiar with the details.

[RMc]

Morrisania was a separate village, a sort of early "bedroom community" for people who worked in Manhattan. It was absorbed by New York City in 1874 and is now part of the Bronx: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morrisania,_Bronx

[RMc]

Things heated up in late June and early July: the Boston club won their last 12 games to finish 35-19, but that was only good enough for fourth place. Athletic of Philadelphia ended the season on a 15-game streak to wind up 38-16...but that was also out of the money in third place. No, the real race was between Mutual of New York and Forest City of Cleveland, both of whom had superstar batter/pitchers: Jim Creighton of Cleveland and Rynie Wolters of New York. And when the dust settled, both teams wound up 41-13...a tie for the pennant!

So...a 55th game would be needed to settle the championship, and both teams would send league-leading 31-game winners to the mound in Creighton (who also batted .469 on the year) and Wolters (whose average was a hallucinating .502 (!)).

At first it was close, then it wasn't: Cleveland scored single runs in the second, sixth and seventh innings, then put up four in the eighth...and Creighton was brilliant, shutting out Mutual on two hits: 7-0, Forest City. But "Big Jim" tired in the ninth, and so did the Cleveland defense: four hits and four errors later, it was a 7-5 ballgame. Finally, Bob Ferguson (old "Death to Flying Things" himself) grounded out to win the game, and Forest City escaped with the NPA's first-ever pennant.




As far as the rest of the NA went, the "cranks" wondered: would the famous Red Stockings rebound and jump into the pennant race?

In three words, oh hells no:



The Cincinnati club began the season mid-table at 10-9, and then the wheels came off -- along with the doors, seats, trunk and the universal joint -- as the Red Stockings lost 33 of their last 35 games. Why? No pitching:



Asa Brainard was a great pitcher in his day...but his day was firmly over by 1871. Most of the hurling was done by "Bill" Atwater, a reserve on the team in 1869-70 and one of the "new" players inserted into the game. (Atwater, along with "Sam" Dean -- we don't know their real first names -- only played a handful of games in 1869-70, but they did well enough to warrant their inclusion here.) Altogether, Cincy gave up a frightening 1,198 runs and committed 735 errors -- that's in just 54 games, folks -- both worst in the league. The once-famed Red Stockings probably hit their nadir on June 14, when they lost to the last-place Haymakers by an incredible score of 42-41...after giving up 12 runs in the bottom of the ninth. Ouch.

Meanwhile, back at the amateur ranch:



The Resolute club of Elizabeth, NJ (who actually played in nearby Waverly) held off Baltimore to win the AA crown. Elias Cope started all 56 of the club's games and tossed 460 innings, while George Lines' .386 average led the team. And the last-place Unions...well, they only had one pitcher for most of the year, Hicks Hayhurst, who possessed an awful 11.50 ERA. (Jim Britt showed up in late June, when the 1872 players became available, and won a few starts, but it was far too late.)

As we head to the off-season...what teams will remain in 1872, and which ones will vanish? Stay tuned...!

[RMc]

[RMc]

After the wild first season of the National Professional Association and the American Amateur Association, speculation was rife (there's that word again!) about what changes would be made for 1872.

The answer? Not much.

See, if you look at IRL 19th-century baseball, you'd think it was run by raccoons on meth, with teams coming and going and leagues forming and collapsing. I find that annoying, both from an aesthetic standpoint, and the fact that I'm way too old and lazy for such nonsense. So...the 18 teams in the NPA and AAA will remain intact...for now.

A few changes were made, though: from now on, all NPA teams are required to have at least two pitchers on Opening Day, even if it meant I had to raid the amateur ranks (which I did). Speaking of the AA, I ran a fantasy draft to jigger up the squads; in fact, I might make that an annual thing.

And after the newspaper coverage of the one-game playoff between Cleveland and New York, the league owners (namely, me) are looking at possibly making a National Championship Game a regular thing...but not in 1872. (I don't think.)

Play ball!

[RMc]

Jim Creighton (275 OPS+ and 194 ERA+) and his Cleveland club find themselves back at the top of the table, with Chicago, Boston and...yep, Cincinnati in hot pursuit:



In fact, both the Red Stockings and the Haymakers are doing an excellent job of not sucking. The only real problem children are the Athletic Club (ninth place, nine-game losing streak) and Fort Wayne (last place, and just what the heck is a Kekionga...?!)

And, hey, look who's on top in the AAA!



Look for the Union label, as Morrisania has a 2 1/2-game lead over their nearby rivals, Atlantic of Brooklyn. Meanwhile, the defending champions from Elizabeth (despite having breakout stars in 20-year-old Tim Murnane and 21-year-old Jim O'Rourke) have slipped to sixth place, riding a six-game losing skein.

[RMc]

It was another thrilling pennant race in the NPA, with the Cleveland Forest Citys edging out New York and Boston by a single game...and three more clubs finishing within three games of the top:



Such a tight race renewed calls for a post-season "play-off" series involving the top two, three or even four teams. There was also talk of a pre-season "cup" competition involving all the teams in the NA...

Amateur? Our!



The AAA is also talking about a "post-season festival" in which all eight teams would take part...I'd ask you to stay tuned, but radio is still a half-century away...

[RMc]

In honour of America's upcoming Centennial in 1876, the NPA is introducing a post-season "Centennial Cup", in which the first-place team will qualify, as well as all teams that finish within 100 percentage points of the top. With the current 56-game schedule, that means they have to be no more than five games back. (Three teams would've qualified in 1871, and six in 1872!) The games will be played at a new ball field being built in Philadelphia.

Also, the AAA is adding a new post-season tournament, the "Amateur Cup" featuring all eight teams in three knockout rounds, played at Elysian Field in Hoboken, New Jersey.

[RMc]

When the new Centennial Cup was announced, fans wondered how many clubs would qualify for it, by placing within five games of the leader.

As of now, that number is...one.



After a solid 9-4 start, the Olympic club is riding a 16-game winning streak, led by the NA's best offense (Davy Force .424 AVG, Everett Mills 25-for-48 in his last 10 games) and pitching (1871 PoY Dan Kleinfelder12-1 with a 209 ERA+). And if the other clubs don't catch up (Boston is in the runner-up spot, six games back), the panjandrums of base ball may have to re-think this "Cup" idea!

In the AAA:



The near-to-Washington Maryland club of Baltimore is on top, but all eight teams will take part in the post-season festival, so...it's anybody's ballgame!

[RMc]

After winning 39 of their first 44 games, the Olympic Club cruised to the finish line, ending up 43-11, eight games ahead of Boston:



Since nobody finished within the required 100 percentage points of Washington, the Olympics were awarded the inaugural Centennial Cup -- and they promptly refused it, saying they were already National Champions and had nothing more to prove. This did not make the other owners happy, and there was a movement to force Olympic to play in a winner-take-all match with Tri Mountain. Cooler heads prevailed, though, and a new rule was added: any team that won the pennant by 200 points would be declared Cup champions; a second-place team within 100 points would have the right to challenge the first-place club for the Cup; and if multiple clubs are within 100 points, there will be a tournament for the title.

Understand? Good!

In the amateur ranks:



The first-ever Post-Season Festival for the Amateur Cup, was a corker, too.



The third-place Atlantics knocked off Middletown and edged Baltimore, 4-3, to advance to the title game. The National club crushed the Resolutes, 13-8 and edged first-place Newark, 7-5 to make it to the final. National was three innings away from making it a Washington sweep of both the AA and NA, but Brooklyn's Peter Hanna stroked a two-RBI triple to key a four-run rally en route to a 8-3 win, and the Cup:

[RMc]

[RMc]

The NPA season was extended to 72 games, or eight games against each opponent. All rosters are set at 20 in the National (15 active, 5 reserve)* and the American are limited to 15 (all active), so I had to kick some players off. (*For some reason, the minimum reserve roster was bumped from 5 to 10 in OOTP26, so I have to do it by hand.)

The number of players available will increase steadily in the 1870s, and then explode in the 1880s...so, can expansion (or even another league) be far behind...?

[RMc]

The Forest City club of Cleveland is angling to get back the National Championship, which would be their third in four years:



Jim Creighton could become the first player to win MVP (241 OPS+) and Pitcher of the Year (197 ERA+)...in the same year!

In the AA:

[RMc]

Jim Creighton and Cleveland is certainly in control in the NA pennant race, but Cincinnati is threatening to make a run...

Meanwhile, in the AA:



The American Amateur Association was initially intended as an independent, amateur league, but the "big brother" NPA has had no qualms about raiding its ranks, and even "scrambling" the loop every year to make things more equal. But the AA clubs are growing dissatisfied, saying it's tough to create fan loyalty that way: already, unofficial attendance numbers are down in the amateur loop, even as they skyrocket in the professional league. Now what?

[RMc]

In the Amateur Cup playoffs...



The Cup Final turned out to be a scorcher, as Newark, trailing at one point by three, forced a nine-inning deadlock...then scored seven times in the top of the tenth to win going away, 13-6.



After the game, Newark's series MVP (and co-owner) announced that there would be some "fundamental changes" in the AAA in 1875, but declined to be specific...

[RMc]

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...

[RMc]

Both the NPA and the AAA added two teams in 1875: in the National, it was the Hartford Dark Blues and the St. Louis Brown Stockings. Both towns had been clamoring for a seat at the table, especially St. Louis, whose "Browns" had been dominating the Western amateur circuit for years, and had just built a new ballpark called Sportsman's Park. Back east, Connecticut got its first NA team when the Dark Blues club of Hartford was admitted.



The Nutmeg State also received a new American club, as the AA added the Elm City club of New Haven, joining Middletown as Amateur loop members from the great state of Connecticut. The other new AA team, however, was a bit of a mystery: the Philadelphia Centennials, which would play in brand-new Centennial Park when the Athletics were out of town. Investigative reporters have tried, and failed, to discover who exactly is behind the club: a representative states that they are merely a group of "base ball-mad" businessmen who prefer to remain anonymous...



The NA has also extended their schedule to 88 games, or eight against each opponent, and set up a new Centennial Cup tournament: starting this year, there will be five clubs (regardless of record) vying for the Cup, with the second through fifth-best teams in two knockout rounds in Centennial Park, followed by a best-of-three against the National Champion. (Not to be outdone, the AA expanding its schedule to 72 games and will use a similar playoff structure.)

[RMc]

A month into the National Association season, it's no surprise that the Forest City club is on top of the table. What is surprising is which Forest City club it is...not Jim Creighton's hallowed champions, but the upstarts from Rockford, Illinois!



Led by Adrian "Cap" Anson -- a five-year veteran in the NA at the tender age of 23 -- and pitcher Frank Buttery (14-1, 151 ERA+), the Rockfords hold a three-game advantage over the Red Stockings, Tri Mountain...and that other Forest City club!

In the Amateur loop, the defending champions from Newark -- with expansion, there was no "scrambling" of players this year -- was in first, but the new teams in Philly and New Haven are having disastrous first campaigns:



For their part, the Cents owners -- whoever they are -- seem unconcerned with their club losing ballgames in bunches. "We don't care," said a club representative. "We're just developing players for the big team." When asked who the "big team" was, the representative promptly terminated the debate.

This has led to questions. Although NA teams have not been shy to poach a promising player or two from the amateur ranks, it is against National Association policy for its clubs to have entire "farm" teams -- clubs that exist only to "grow" players. When asked if the Centennials were in servitude to his club, the Athletics owner hotly denied it.