National Association

Brooklyn Atlantics History

The Eckford Base Ball Club of Brooklyn ("Eckford" or the "Brooklyn Eckfords") was a two-time National Association of Base Ball Players champion and one of the great early amateur baseball clubs.

At a glance... BROOKLYN ATLANTICS Franchise Facts Established (amateur) 1855 Established 1872 Disbanded  1872 Located Brooklyn Executives William Ray Year by Year Results W L % 1872  3 26 .103 Affiliations NABBP (1857-1870) National Association (1871-1872) Postseason/Titles NABBP Titles (2) 1862, 1863 NA Titles (0) Nicknames Eckford of Brooklyn (1855-1872) Ballparks Union Grounds (1862-1872) Top Performances Single-Season Career

Established in 1855, Eckford was a founding member of the National Association of Base Ball Players in 1857. Eckford defeated their chief rivals, the Atlantic of Brooklyn, for the title in 1862 and kept it through the 1863 season, becoming at the time the only other team to win the NABBP title.

The Eckford's still had a respectable professional team in 1871 and played all the best professional teams of the National Association (NA) throughout the season. They did not, however, pay their NA fee (a mere $10) by May 1st as required and their subsequent arguments that their games should count and that they should be eligible for the championship were rejected. Thus, you will not see their records here nor any in any official accounting of the 1871 NA season.

The team had been hemorrhaging quality players for years and fielded a lousy team in 1872 which finished a miserable 3-26. Even George Zettlein, who would go 36-15 for Philadelphia the following season was of little help going 1-8 in his brief time with the Atlantics.

National Association sources/bibliography:
Baseball: The Early Years by Harold Seymour.
Baseball Before We Knew It: A Search For The Roots Of The Game by David Block.
Baseball in Blue and Gray: The National Pastime during the Civil War by George B. Kirsch.
Blackguards and Red Stockings by William J. Ryczek
The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857-1870 by Marshall D. Wright.
Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball by Warren Goldstein.
When Johnny Came Sliding Home: The Post-Civil War Baseball Boom, 1865-1870 by William J. Ryczek

David Nemec, the tireless 19th Century Baseball researcher, has also written a novel called Early Dreams, which takes place during this era and features real-life characters such as Cap Anson, George Wright, and Henry Lucas.

General Baseball History sources/bibliography:
Baseball: A History of America's Game by Benjamin G. Rader.
Baseball: A Film By Ken Burns (PBS DVD)
The Formation, Sometimes Absorption and Mostly Inevitable Demise of 18 Professional Baseball Organizations, 1871 to Present by David Pietrusza.
The Great 19th Century Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball, 2nd Edition by David Nemec.
Early Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1825-1908 by Dean A. Sullivan.
Middle Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1900-1948 by Dean A. Sullivan.
Late Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball 1945-1972 by Dean A. Sullivan
Past Time: Baseball as History by Jules Tygiel
America's National Game: Historic Facts Concerning the Beginning, Evolution, Development and Popularity of Baseball by Albert Spalding
Total Baseball: The Ultimate Baseball Encyclopedia by John Thorn, et al.