The professional player of those early days and the professional player
of the present time were totally different personages. When
professionalism first crept into the ranks it was generally the custom
to import from abroad some player who had made a name for himself,
playing some certain position, and furnish him with a business situation
so that his services might be called for when needed, and so strong was
the local pride taken in the success of the team that business men were
not averse to furnishing such a man with a position when they were
informed that it would be for the good of the home organization.
Prior to the year 1868 the professional was, comparatively speaking, an
unknown quantity on the ball field, though it may be set down here as a
fact that on more than one occasion previous to that time "the laborer
had been found worthy of his hire," even in base-ball, though that
matter had been kept a secret as far as possible, even in the home
circle.
Up to the year mentioned the rules of the National Association had
prohibited the employment of any paid player in a club nine, but at that
time so strong had the rivalry become between the leading clubs of the
principal cities that the practice of compensating players had become
more honored in the breach than in the observance and the law was
practically a dead letter so far as these clubs were concerned.
The growth of the professional class of players, and the consequent
inequality in strength between these and the amateur players made a
distinction necessary and in 1871 the National Association split up, the
professional clubs forming an association of their own.
The first series of championship games under a regular official code of
rules was then established, and since then the contests for the
professional championship have been the events of each season's play.
The first convention of delegates from avowedly professional clubs was
held March 17th, 1871, in New York City, and a code of rules were then
adopted, the principal clause being the one suggested by the Athletic
Club of Philadelphia, to the effect that the championship should belong
to the club which won the greatest number of games in a series of five
with every other contesting club.
The professional Association thus organized consisted of the following
clubs: Athletics of Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Forest Citys of
Cleveland, Forest Citys of Rockford, Haymakers of Troy, Kekiongas of
Fort Wayne, Mutuals of New York' City, and Olympics of Washington. The
Eckford Club of Brooklyn entered the Association about the middle of the
season, but its games were not counted. The Kekiongas disbanded in July,
but their games were thrown out.
That season marked my advent on the diamond as a professional, I being a
member of the Forest Citys of Rockford; so it can readily be seen that I
was among the first of the men in America who made of base-ball playing
a business.
The additions to the Association in 1872 were the Atlantic and Eckford
of Brooklyn, Baltimore, National of Washington, and Mansfield of
Middletown, Conn., the last mentioned, however, disbanding before the
close of the championship season. The Forest Citys of Rockford did not
enter the arena that year, but I was "still in the ring," having
transferred my services to the Athletics of Philadelphia, where I
remained until the formation of the National League in 1876.
In 1875 the Athletics had a rival in the new Philadelphia club; the
Maryland of Baltimore and the Resolute of Elizabeth, N. J., also
entering the championship arena. The Forest City of Cleveland and the
Eckford of Brooklyn dropped out after 1872, and the two Washington clubs
were consolidated. The Chicago club, which had been broken up by the
great fire of 1871 and had been out of existence in 1872 and 1873, again
entered the Association in 1874, when Hartford was for the first time
represented by a professional club. The Washington, Resolute and the
Maryland Clubs were not members of the Association in that year.
Thirteen professional clubs competed for the championship in 1875, the
St. Louis team being the only one of the new entries that did not
disband before the season closed. This was the last season of the
Professional Association, it being superseded by the National League, an
organization which still exists, though it lacks the brains and power
that carried it on to success in, its earlier days, this being notably
the case in Chicago and New York, where the clubs representing these
cities have gone down the toboggan slide with lightning-like rapidity.
In this connection the names of the teams winning the Professional
Association championships, together with the players composing them are
given:
1871. Athletic, McBride, pitcher; Malone, catcher; Fisler, Reach and
Meyerle on the bases; Radcliffe, shortstop; Cuthbert, Senserderfer and
Heubel in the outfield, and Bechtel and Pratt, substitutes.
1872, Boston, Spalding, pitcher; McVey, catcher; Gould, Barnes and
Schafer on the bases; George Wright, shortstop; Leonard, Harry Wright
and Rogers, in the outfield; and Birdsall and Ryan, substitutes.
1873. Boston, Spalding, pitcher; Jas. White, catcher; Jas. O'Rourke,
Barnes and Schafer on the bases; George Wright, shortstop; Leonard,
Harry Wright and Manning in the outfield; and Birdsall and Sweasey,
substitutes. Addy took Manning's place in the latter part of the season.
1874. Boston, Spalding, pitcher; McVey, catcher; White, Barnes and
Schafer on the bases; George Wright, shortstop; Leonard, Hall and Jas.
O'Rourke in the outfield; and Harry Wright and Beal, substitutes.
1875. Boston, Spalding, pitcher; Jas. White, catcher; McVey, Barnes and
Schafer on the Bases; George Wright, shortstop; Leonard, Jas. O'Rourke
and Manning in the outfield, and Harry Wright and Beal, substitutes.
Heifert and Latham each played first base during part of the season.
It will thus be seen that the Boston Club held the championship in those
early days for four successive seasons, and playing against them as I
did I can bear witness to their strength and skill as ball players.
Many of the men, who like myself were among the first to enter the
professional ranks in those days, have achieved distinction in the
business world, the notables among them being A. G. Spalding, now head
of the largest sporting goods house in the world, with headquarters in
Chicago; George Wright, who is the head of a similar establishment at
Boston, and Al Reach, who is engaged in the same line of business at
Philadelphia, while others, not so successful, have managed to earn a
living outside of the arena, and others still, have crossed "the great
divide" leaving behind them little save a memory and a name.
In those early days of the game the rules required a straight arm
delivery, and the old-time pitchers found it a difficult matter to
obtain speed save by means of an underhand throw or jerk of the ball.
Creighton, of the Excelsiors of Brooklyn, however, with his unusually
swift pitching puzzled nearly all of the opposing teams as early as
1860. Sprague developed great speed, according to the early chroniclers
of the game, while with the Eckford Club of the same city in 1863, and
Tom Pratt and McBride of the Athletics were also among the first of the
old-time pitchers to attain speed in their delivery. About 1865, Martin
pitched a slow and deceptive drop ball, it being a style of delivery
peculiarly his own, and one I have never seen used by any one else,
though Cunningham of Louisville uses it to a certain extent.
The greatest change ever made in the National Game was the introduction
of what is known as curve pitching, followed as it was several seasons
afterwards by the removal of all restrictions on the method of
delivering the ball to the batter. Arthur, known under the sobriquet of
"Candy," Cummings of Brooklyn is generally conceded to have been the
first to introduce curve pitching, which he did about 1867 or 1868.
Mount, the pitcher of the Princeton College and Avery of Yale are
accredited with using the curve about 1875, but Mathews of the New York
Mutuals and Nolan of the Indianapolis team were among the first of the
professional pitchers, after Cummings, to become proficient in its use,
which was generally adopted in 1877, and to the skill acquired by both
of these men in handling of the ball I can testify by personal
experience, having had to face them, bat in hand, on more than one
occasion.
Many people, including prominent scientists, were for a long time loth
to believe that a ball could be curved in the air, but they were soon
satisfied by practical tests, publicly made, as to the truth of the
matter.
With the doing away with the restrictions that governed the methods of
the pitcher's delivery of the ball and the introduction of the curve the
running up of large scores in the game became an impossibility, and the
batsman was placed at a decided disadvantage.
Reading over the scores of some of those old-time games in the present
day one becomes lost in wonder when he thinks of the amount of
foot-racing, both around the bases and chasing the ball, that was
indulged in by those players of a past generation. Here are some sample
performances taken from a history of base-ball, compiled by Al Wright
of New York and published in the Clipper Annual of 1891, which go to
illustrate the point in question.
The largest number of runs ever made by a club in a game was by the
Niagara Club of Buffalo, N. Y., June 8th, 1869, when they defeated the
Columbias of that city by the remarkable score of 209 to 10, two of the
Niagaras scoring twenty-five runs each, and the least number of runs,
scored by any one batsman amounted to twenty. Fifty-eight runs were made
in the eighth inning and only three hours were occupied in amassing this
mammoth total. Just think of it! Such a performance as that in these
days would be a sheer impossibility, and that such is the case the
base-ball players should be devoutly thankful, and, mind you, this
performance was made by an amateur team and not by a team of
professionals.
One hundred runs and upward have been scored in a game no less than
twenty-five times, the Athletics of Philadelphia accomplishing this feat
nine times in 1865 and 1866, and altogether being credited with scores
of 162, 131, 119, 118, 114, 114, 110, 107, 106, 104, 101, and 101. On
October 20th, 1865, the Athletics defeated the Williamsport Club by 101
to 8 in the morning, and the Alerts of Danville, Pa., by 162 to 11 in
the afternoon. Al Reach in these two games alone scored thirty-four
runs.
It strikes me that the ball players of those days earned their salaries
even if they did not get them, no matter what other folks may think
about it.
In 1867, a game was played in which, the losers made 91 runs and the
winning club 123, of which 51 were made in the last inning. The Chicagos
defeated the Memphis team May 13th, 1870, by a score of 157 to 1, and
the Forest City Club of Cleveland four days later beat a local team 132
to 1, only five innings being played. The Forest Citys made in these
five innings no fewer than 101 safe hits, with a total of 180 bases,
this being an unequalled record. The Unions of Morrisiania were credited
with 100 safe hits in a nine-inning game in 1866.
The largest score on record by professional clubs was made by the
Atlantics of Brooklyn and the Athletics of Philadelphia July 5th, 1869,
when the former won by 51 to 48. Fifteen thousand people paid admission
to the Capitoline Grounds, Brooklyn, where the game was played, and the
Atlantics made six home runs and the Athletics three during its
progress. The greatest number of runs in an inning in a first-class game
was scored by the Atlantics of Brooklyn in a match with the New York
Mutuals, October 16th, 1861, when they scored 26 runs in their third
inning. George Wright umpired a game between amateur clubs in
Washington, D. C., in 1867, in which the winners made 68 runs in an
inning, the largest total ever made.
The most one-sided contest between first class clubs was that between
the Mutuals and Chicagos June 14th, 1874, when the former won by 38 to
1, the Chicagos making only two safe hits. The greatest number of home
runs in any one game was credited to the Athletics of Philadelphia,
September 30th, 1865, when they made twenty-five against the National
Club of Jersey City, Reach, Kleinfelder and Potter each having five home
runs to their credit on this occasion. The same club was credited with
nineteen home runs May 9th, 1866, while playing an amateur club at New
Castle, Delaware. Harry Wright, while playing with the Cincinnatis
against the Holt Club June 22d, 1867, at Newport, Ky., made seven home
runs, the largest number ever scored by any individual player in a game,
though "Lip" Pike followed closely, he making six home runs, five in
succession, for the Athletics against the Alerts, July 16th, 1866, in
Philadelphia.
These were, as a matter of course, exceptional performances, and ones
that would be impossible in these days of great speed and curve
pitching, but serve to show that there were ball players, and good ones,
even in those days when the National Game was as yet, comparatively
speaking, in its infancy, and the National League, of the formation and
progress of which I will speak later on as yet unheard of.
It must be remembered that, the greater number of these old-time games
were not played upon enclosed grounds and that the batter in many cases
had no fences to prevent him from lining them out, while the pitcher was
so hampered by rules and regulations as to give the batsman every
advantage, while now it is the pitcher that enjoys a wide latitude and
the batsman who is hampered.
It was a much easier matter to hit the old underhand delivery, with its
straight ball, and to send the pigskin screaming through the air and
over a low picket fence, than to hit the swift curved ball of to-day and
lift it over the high board fences that surround the professional
grounds, as any old-time player can testify.