WHEN THE RED STOCKINGS WERE AMATEUR'S

The organization and first meeting of the Cincinnati Base Ball Club was held July 23 1866, in the law offices Tilden, Sherman & Moulton (located at west third street). A suitable constitution and by-laws were adopted and an election of officers took place, resulting in the election of Alfred Goshorn as president, Aaron Champion as vice president, Henry Glassford as secretary and E. Townley as treasurer.The following year William Worthington was chosen as the first scorer and George Ellard as manager. The name given to the club originally was the Resolutes, but it was soon changed to the Cincinnati Base Ball club and eventually evolved into the Red Stockings.

The club at this time was composed mainly of members of the bar, many of whom were Yale and Harvard graduates. The team's ballpark was at the foot of Ninth Street. Which now would be West Ninth Street not to far from the Mill Creek. The name of the ballpark is unfortunately unknown. But it was there where the Cincinnati Reds would be conceived and the first matches were played.

Managing the Cincinnati Base Ball Club was Holmes Hoge. His roster for 1866 consisted of George Ellard, Charles Callahan, C.Calvert, J. William Johnson, Samual Kemper, J. Con How, club vice-president Aaron Champion & pitcher Harry Wright.

The club would play its first game on September 29th against the more established cross town Buckeyes team. Playing for the Buckeyes was future Red Stocking Charlie Gould. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club lost the match up by a final score of 20-18. The club went on to victory on October 18 againts the same Buckeyes team. The 53-21 victory gave the club its first franchise win. The Cincinnati Base Ball club won its second victory over the Copec Club in Covington on October 26th. However, the team would only play four games in its first year and played its last game against the Buckeyes on October 27th. The final game of the season was a loss. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club finished its first year with a record of 2-2. In their first season, the club scored 129 runs and allowed 103.

In 1867 the Cincinnati Base Ball Club would relocate a few blocks down the street for the up and coming base ball season. The park that the club relocated to was called the Union Grounds. It was the same park where the Union Cricket Club played. An organization that pitcher Harry Wright was formerly of. The move helped increase interest in the team and many Union Cricket Club members became members of the Cincinnati Base Ball Club.

Manager Holms Hoge would be replaced by the Cincinnatis pitcher Harry Wright. Wright's line up consisted of John McLean behind the plate, J. Wayne Neff at first, Bellemy Storer at second, Dave Schwartz at third & John C. How at shortstop. Playing in the outfield was J.Williams Johnson, Gerald Ellard & Moses Grant. Manager Harry Wright was the clubs pitcher.

1867 CINCINNATI BASE BALL CLUB ROSTER

( In bold are the players who played for the 1869 team )

The Cincinnati Base Ball Club kicked off its sophomore season on May 25 with a 53-40 win over the Buckeyes club. The team made its first road trip on June 10th by steamboat to Louisville. The Cincinnatis smashed the Kentucky team with a final score of 42-19.

The Cincinnati Base Ball Club returned home to play their first game at Union Grounds against a Louisville team on July 4th. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club charged .25 ¢ to watch a game. This would be the first instance in which a Cincinnati baseball club would do such a thing. Another first for the club was the local newspapers reported the game in detail. Fortunatly, the Cincinnati Base Ball Club did not disapoint their paying spectators or the press. The club hammered the Louisville squad by scoring 60 runs to their 24. It wouln't be the last high scoring game of the season. Despite high scoring games being very common in those days, the Cincinnati Base Ball Club destroyed the Holts of Newport on September 2nd, with a final score of 109-15. 31 of those 109 runs scored were home runs. First baseman J. Con How hit 7 home runs and scored 14 runs in the game.

The 1867 Cincinnati Base Ball Club's season ended on October 25 with a 44-24 victory over the Actives of Indianapolis. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club posted a record of 17-1. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club scored 914 runs and allowed 432 for the season.

For the 1868 season, the Cincinnati Base Ball Club would adopt a new uniforms and indirectly would develope a team nickname. The new uniforms consisted of a white flannel shirts with an old style "C" on the front. A white cap and knickers pants, complete with red stockings. No other club at the time wore knickers and the Cincinnati Base Ball Clubs red stockings became a ghast with fans. Writers for the papers began refering to the club with all sorts of colorful names. Such as the "Scarlet Hoses", the "Flaming Stockings", the "Red Legs" and the "Red Stockings". However, the name Red Stockings is what stuck.

Complete with new uniforms, Harry Wright also had a handful of changes in his line up. Rufus King would replace J. William Johnson in center field. Douglas Allsion would replace John McLean behind the plate. Asa Brainard would replace Bellemy Storer at second base. Fred Waterman would replace Dave Schwartz at third base. John Hatfield would replace Moses Grant in left field. And Charlie Gould would replace J. Wayne Neff at first base. Gould was lured over from the cross town Buckeyes club.

Four players returned from the 1867 team. Harry Wright, who would continue to be the pitcher. John C. How who remained at shortstop. J. William Johnson would switch to right field. And Moses Grant who was now a substitute for an injuried player.

Brainard came over from the Nationals of Washington. While Fred Waterman & John Hatfield came over from the Mutual Club of New York City. All three players (including Harry Wright) were paid a set amount of money to play the season. While this practice occured regularly under the table for years. It was in direct violation of the rules established by National Association of Base Ball Players. However, the Cincinnati Base Ball Club made it public what they were doing.

1868 CINCINNATI BASE BALL CLUB ROSTER

(In bold are the players who played for the 1869 team )

The Red Stockings of Cincinnati began the 1868 season on May 6th against the Great Western Club of Cincinnati. The Red Stockings pummeled the Great Westerns by a final score of 41-7. Cincinnati went on to defeat their cross town rival Buckeyes on May 23rd with a final score of 28-10. Despite a handful of losses, the Red Stockings plowed through the season. Cincinnati would finish its 1868 base ball year with a record of 37-7. Over the course of the season, Cincinnati scored 1,589 runs and allowed 827. Little did Harry Wright and the base ball world realize that base ball would be forever changed after the 1868 season.

BEGINNINGS OF PROFESSIONAL BASE BALL 

By the late 1860s baseball was becoming more of a business, and playing competitive baseball was becoming a recognized career. As baseball writer Henry Chadwick observed in 1868, a new rank ordering among ball players was evidenced by the makeup of the Brooklyn Atlantics club. At the top was the club's elite professional team, followed by the club's amateur nine, with the lowly "muffins," or third-rate players, at the bottom. As baseball clubs came to be dominated by professional interests, some clubs financed their operations by selling stock shares and becoming joint stock companies, while others, which depended on shared gate receipts, operated as "cooperative nines."

Until 1869 the professional movement in baseball was mainly a covert trend, but in that year the Cincinnati Red Stocking club (an amateur club since 1866) boldly announced its intention of fielding an all-salaried team which would compete against the top teams in the land. This bold move was the brainchild of club president Aaron B. Champion, a Cincinnati businessman and local booster.

The Reds, led by player-manager Harry Wright, who became known as the "Father of Professional Baseball," toured the country in 1869. The Red Stockings played there home games (after 1867) at the Union Grounds.The 1869 Red Stockings made history not only as the first professional club, but they also ran off the longest winning streak in baseball history. Although there was no league yet established, there were some 15 teams in the upper tier of clubs. The Red Stockings defeated all of these teams and they also walloped a number of lesser clubs. Their final official record was 57-0. (The Red Stockings played and won many more games than this, but these games would be considered exhibition games today. Harry Wright counted only those games against other sanctioned clubs as official. Thus, some record books list a much higher number of games won by the Red Stockings.) The club retained all of its players for 1870, and the club ran its unbeaten streak to 81 games. The Reds were finally defeated by the Brooklyn Atlantics, 8-7 in 11 innings, before 10,000 spectators in New York.

Although the Reds' effort was financially unremunerative to its stockholders, who voted to fold the professional Red Stockings and return to the amateur ranks after the 1870 season, the experiment inspired an enduring myth that professional baseball in America arose out of this episode. In truth the professional movement was already strongly entrenched. But the Reds' example inspired imitators and brought the smoldering amateur-professional controversy to a head.

Thus when the National Association, at its annual meeting in 1870, sought to curb the professional movement, the professional delegates withdrew and formed their own organization in March 1871. This successful coup stunned the amateur National Association, which never recovered and died in 1875. It also marked the beginning of major league baseball in America. From 1871 to the present day, most changes in American baseball rules and style of play would be inspired by the professional major leagues.

Even though Cincinnati chose to field and amateur team and were not members of the National Association. They played a game in the summer of 1871 against N.A. teams composed of former Red Stocking greats. The Boston Red Stockings (Braves), who's roster consisted of Harry and George Wright, Charlie Gould, and Cal Mcvey. And the Washington Olympics who's roster consisted of Fred Waterman, Asa Brainard, Doug Allison, Charlie Sweeny and Andy Leanard. The Cincinnati amateur lost 15 - 13 before a crowd of 3,000.

John Joyce who was one of the organizers of the 1869 club, spear headed efforts in July of 1875  to re-establish professional baseball in Cincinnati. Joyce announced plans to travel East to sign new players. One of the players he would sign was former first basemen Charlie Gould as player/manager. Many players were available because several franchises (of the National Association) folded during the 1875 season. However, the new  "pro" Red Stockings did not join the N.A. Instead the club played amateur teams in the Cincinnati area as well as exhibition games against N.A. teams. In August of 1875 the Cincinnati Red Stockings would play the Chicago White Stockings of the N.A in its first match. The Red Stockings beat Chicago 13 - 5.