Atlantics of Brooklyn 1857 --1869
This team cannot be quantified using Bill James’ system – seasons varied from 5 to 59 games and there was not always a systematically determined champion. However, the Atlantics were the official champions six times from 1859 to 1866 and then again three years later. Their won/loss record over this period was 213-33 with 6 ties. That is an .866 winning percentage.
Key Figures: Joe Start, Dickie Pearce, Charlie Smith, Bob Ferguson
As you might know, the first baseball league was formed in 1857: the National Association of Base Ball Players. That was two years before Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species. All of the 16 original NABBP clubs were based in what is now New York City. By 1860, there were 59 members reaching all the way to Detroit.
A team from Brooklyn called the Atlantics had the best winning percentage in each of the Association’s first three seasons. No official champion was declared until the Association’s third year. Excelsior of Brooklyn had the most wins in both 1859 and 1860, while the Mutuals had the most wins in 1861. However, the Atlantics were the official champion all three seasons.
The star player of the team’s early years was Dickie Pearce. Some say he pioneered the position of shortstop and invented bunting.
The Civil War put a damper on the team and the league, but the Atlantics returned mid-war in 1864 to win all 20 of their games, then all 18 of their games in 1865. In 1866 they had their second run of three consecutive championships. They added one more championship in 1869 with strong seasons in between.
Joe Start was possibly the greatest power hitter of this era. In 1864, he hit 11 home runs in 18 games. Start continued to thrive in professional league baseball and didn’t retire until 1886 at age 43, his 27th season at the top level of baseball. The 5’9" Start was regarded as an outstanding outfielder and a pioneer as a firstbaseman, where some say he was the first to play off the bag – not Charles Comiskey.
Third baseman Bob Ferguson was an outstanding fielder and hitter. Start and Ferguson were close friends and both well respected for integrity in a time of rabid gambling, Ferguson would later become a player, manager, league executive, and umpire all in the same season. He was baseball’s first switch hitter – not because of the pitcher’s handiness, but depending on his opponent’s defense, the runners on base, and his gut instincts. (Geez, that’s what I do playing softball.) In 1876 Ferguson pulled off the first known hidden ball trick. His victim was Adrian Later-Known-As-Cap Anson.
Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia 1864-1972
Over 8 years they won 309 games, lost 53, and tied twice: .854.
Key Figures: Dick McBride, Al Reach, Ned Cuthbert, Levi Meyerle
The Athletic club of Philadelphia emerged as an even stronger team than the Atlantics in the post Civil War years, sporting records of 23-2, 44-3, 47-3, and 45-8. However, neither team compared to the Cincinnati Red Stockings of 1869 (57-0).
Dick McBride was the Athletics’ pitcher and captain. Ned Cuthbert is believed to be the first player to slide into his bases and may have even been the first to steal a base. Reach was probably their star player. He was born in England and came to baseball from cricket. He is better known as a sporting goods retailer and manufacturer – at one time had the largest sporting goods company in the U.S. He also published the Reach Guide baseball annual, which as I recall, was a great inspiration to Bill James.
Reach was a professional baseball player. The pros of the 1860s were paid for fake non-baseball jobs. Finally in 1869, players in the NABBP could openly declare themselves professional. The Athletics continued to win big in 1870 (26-11), but not as impressively as the New York Mutuals (68-17) or the Cincinnati Red Stockings (27-6).\
By 1871 the top teams of the NABBP left to form the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (N.A. for short). Philadelphia dominated the league in it premier season thanks to Levi Meyerle, whose .492 Batting Average and .700 Slugging Percentage towered over the league. The next year, pitchers were allowed to bend their elbows when they pitched – still underhand.
Boston Red Stockings (now Atlanta Braves) 1871-1879
Six 1st place finishes in seven years bookended by two 2nd place finishes. Seasons grew from 31 games to 84.
Key figures: Harry and George Wright, Ross Barnes, Al Spalding, Cal McVey, Deacon White, Jim O’Rourke, Tommy Bond
The Cincinnati Red Stockings of 57-0 fame did not wish to join the world’s first fully professional league. Boston businessman Ivers Whitney Adams did and lured the Cincinnati Red Stockings’ manager Harry Wright away to start his team. Wright came with his old team’s name and his best players: Cal McVey, Andy Leonard, and, of course, his superstar shortstop brother George Wright.
Harry Wright took on Ross Barnes, who was the league’s leading hitter in 1872 and 1873 – aided by his ability to knock a bunt that bounced fair then would squib foul away from any fielder. That rule was finally changed after Barnes led the National League in Runs, Hits, Doubles, Triples, Walks, Batting Average, On-Base Average, and Slugging Average during its first season in 1876. Coincidentally, the next season Barnes had an illness and played in only 22 games with none of the power he possessed earlier. He was only 27. He never regained his strength or usefulness as a major leaguer.
Jim O’Rourke had a much longer career playing regularly until the age of 43 – even coming back at age 54 to catch a game. A sober, well-educated man of grandiose pronouncements, O’Rourke ran against that era’s standard prejudicial view of Irishmen earning the nickname "Orator".
Deacon White was another star with a long career. He caught more games than anyone in the 1870s and played mostly at third base in the 1880s. He finished his major league career at age 42 in 1890. Bill James tells a great story about Deacon White in his Historical Baseball Abstract. The punch line has White declaring: "No man is going to sell my carcass unless I get half".
Man, did they have moustaches in those days: especially O’Rourke and White. O’Rourke – the firstbaseman was 5’8" had a thicker and longer handle bar moustache than I’ve seen on Rollie Fingers. White – the 5’11" catcher – had no hair just above his forehead, but under his nose was a thick straight-down and straight-across Pageboy haircut.
And, Harry Wright hired a young kid named Al Spalding from Rockford, Illinois who had managed to beat his mighty touring Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1870. This is the Spalding who turned out to be Reach’s rival as both a sporting goods magnate and a baseball annual publisher. He also may have had one of the greatest impacts on the game with the way he ran the Chicago White Stockings, and he was a major force in National League politics later in the 19th century and early 20th century. Spalding also led the creation myth of baseball that starred Abner Doubleday and Alexander Cartwright. However, from 1871 to 1876, he was regarded the top pitcher in baseball and led the league in wins each of those years.
By 1875, Boston had Spalding and four of the top five hitters in the league – and the best shortstop. Their record was 71-8 - an .899 percentage - far higher than any W-L pct. to come in the major leagues. They were so good, that it was bad for the league. The league eventually folded.
Most of the team broke up – with Spalding, Barnes, and McVey joining the Chicago White Stockings. George Wright, Jim O’Rourke, and Andy Leonard remained faithful to Harry Wright as Boston joined the new National League. (As a player, Harry was down to one game a year.) The Red Stockings became the Red Caps. Still a better-than-average team, they returned to dominance the next year when Deacon White returned and they found a new pitching ace in Tommy Bond.