The 1870’s
With the formation of the National League of
Professional Base Ball Clubs in 1876, the game
took its first serious steps as a commercial
enterprise. The search for viable markets and the
optimum rules for an exciting brand of sporting
entertainment began.
The National League of Professional Base Ball
Clubs (it would not receive its less cumbersome
moniker for another four years) opened with clubs
in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Hartford,
Louisville, New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis.
The 8-team league was not organized into
divisions, but with four clubs on the Eastern
seaboard and the others all west of Lake Erie,
there was already a geographic divide that
affected scheduling and road trips. Not that the
schedule was particularly hectic; no teams played
games on consecutive days, spreading out 70 games
over 23 weeks. As the sport’s popularity continued
to grow, the players’ workload would too, but that
was all in the future.
The Chicago entry took the league’s first pennant
relatively easily, finishing 47-23, seven games
better than second-place Philadelphia. Dubbed the
“Haymakers” by a local newspaperman, Chicago was
led by center fielder Tim Mary, who led the league
in hitting (.355), runs scored (86), and stolen
bases (65), and pitcher George Stonge, who paced
the circuit in ERA (1.87), victories (46), and
strikeouts (80), becoming the first Triple Crown
winner in history.
Season
statistics
The baseball of the pre-League era was marked by
instability, as teams often sprang up and shortly
thereafter disappeared, leaving only the clubs
that were both well-run and a draw at the gate.
The fact that the 1876 NLPBBC season began and
finished with the same eight ballclubs was
considered a monumental achievement at the time,
and when those same eight were still on hand for
Opening Day in 1877, it appeared the young League
stood on firmer ground than even its most
optimistic organizers had envisioned.
Unfortunately, the stability proved illusory;
early in the 1877 season it became apparent that
some clubs were having difficulty meeting their
payrolls, as the reality of baseball as a business
hit hard, especially in Hartford, Louisville, and
St. Louis. Although the latter two clubs managed
to keep a competitive team on the field
(Louisville, in particular, wound up in a tie for
second place) they would join the woeful Hartfords
in declaring bankruptcy after the season. It would
be an oft-repeated pattern throughout the ‘70’s
and ‘80’s.
On the field, Chicago repeated as champions,
again outdistancing their nearest competition, New
York and Louisville, by seven games. Verne
Mackensie of Philadelphia won the batting title
with a .335 average, and Ellis Culpepper of Boston
took the ERA crown with a 1.92 mark, although some
felt Culpepper’s 103.1 IP was an insufficient
qualifier. Among the pitchers who logged the bulk
of their team’s innings, it was once again
Chicago’s George Stonge who posted the best mark,
at 2.26, while also again pacing the loop in
victories (47) and strikeouts (155).
Season
statistics
Seeking to retain an eight-team setup, the NLPBBC
awarded new franchises to Indianapolis, Milwaukee,
and Providence. The league retained its 70-game
schedule, but this still being something of an
experimental era, reduced the amount of time in
which to finish it. The season began on May Day
and ended in mid-September; this was an attempt to
ensure that most games would be played in optimum
weather. The tighter window had an even more
dramatic effect on the rosters: with games on two
or even three consecutive days, it was no longer
possible for a team to use just a single starting
pitcher, as had been the case in previous years. A
team’s second pitcher would start maybe a quarter
of the team’s games, and a third pitcher might
also start a few. This, of course, was a trend
that would continue and intensify in coming years.
The upstart clubs were no match for their
established competition, but the season featured a
thrilling four-team pennant race between New York,
Chicago, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati. With five
games left to play for all four teams, Chicago led
New York by a game, Cincinnati by two, and
Philadelphia by three. The Excelsiors and
Keystones weren’t eliminated until the
second-to-last-game of the season, and the
Knickerbockers and Haymakers went into their final
games tied for first. The Knicks knocked off
Indianapolis 11-5 while the Haymakers were stunned
by Providence 4-3, and Chicago’s two-year hold on
the pennant was broken.
New York’s Frank O’Brien won the batting crown
with a .366 clip, and teammate Tom Sanders paced
the circuit both in ERA (1.88) and victories (35).
The Milwaukee Grays’ eighth-place 25-45 season,
although not significantly worse than
Indianapolis’ or Providence’s, would be their
last. The club officially folded a day after their
final game.
Season
statistics
The departing Milwaukee franchise was replaced by
one in Buffalo, a much more central location that
made for a more convenient destination for most
road teams. The league increased the schedule for
the first time, to 84 games, but only added one
extra week; the three-game series over three days
became the norm, but for now teams still relied
heavily on their number one man; every team had a
pitcher who started between 54 and 56 games.
The pennant race was another thriller.
Philadelphia looked like they had it in the bag,
with a six-game lead over Chicago and a seven-game
lead over Cincinnati with 15 to play, but both the
Haymakers and Excelsiors went on a tear. By Sept.
8, just two weeks later, the Keystones’ lead was
down to one game over Chicago and two games over
Cincinnati; the Haymakers pulled even on Sept. 12.
Philadelphia and Chicago were still tied going
into the first game of their season-ending series
on Sept. 18; The ‘Stones took that contest, 10-3,
to take a one-game lead with two to play, but the
Haymakers won the final two, 6-3 and 7-6, the
final game featuring a thrilling eighth inning
that saw the ‘Stones plate two in the top of the
inning to break a 3-3 tie before the Haymkers
countered with four in the bottom of the frame.
Chicago won the pennant by a game over
Philadelphia, while Cincinnati finished two back.
Jimmy Yates of the Haymakers won the batting
title at .331 while George Stonge won his second
ERA crown with a miserly 1.67 mark. Harry Allison
of Boston threw the league’s first no-hitter on
June 28.
Buffalo survived their first season in the league
and even finished ahead of Boston and Providence
in the standings, but Indianapolis was not so
fortunate. The team, known as the Independents,
improved by eight games over their 1878 showing
but struggled at the gate, and the owners threw in
the towel shortly after the conclusion of the
season.
Season
statistics
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