Seasons 1868 (Previous) (Unavailable) 1870 (Next)

1869 Baseball Season

By Patrick Mondout

The 1869 season will forever be remembered for the undefeated season for the first openly, all-professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings. But the season was about more than the Red Stockings, who failed to win the championship due to an unusual way of determining the champs (by today's standards).

At a glance... 1869 NABBP SEASON Standings (Pro Games Only) Team W L T % Red Stocking (Cincinnati) 19 0 0 1.000 Atlantic (Brooklyn) 15 6 1 .705 Athletic (Philadelphia) 15 7 0 .682 Eckford (Brooklyn) 15 8 0 .652 Union (Troy) 12 8 1 .595 Mutual (New York) 11 15 0 .423 Olympic (Washington) 9 12 0 .429 Maryland (Baltimore) 7 12 0 .368 National (Washington) 4 12 0 .250 Keystone (Philadelphia) 3 17 0 .150 Forest City (Cleveland) 1 6 0 .143 Irvington (New Jersey) 0 8 0 .000 1869 SEASON Champion Brooklyn Atlantics

After years of under-the-table payments to some of the better players and even whole teams (who were sharing gate receipts) - all of which were against the rules of the National Association of Base Ball Players, the group finally decided to allow a special classification of professional teams within its ranks.

The 1869 season was therefore the first openly professional season with teams openly paying the best players they could find. Regular schedules, reserve clauses, gloves, and even "at bats" as a statistic were years away, but this was the season that transformed baseball from mere national pastime to the true professional sport we all know and love.

I would love to give you league leaders and batting averages, but as no one kept at bats, we have no batting averages (and never will).¹

It is tempting to think of this era as somehow more pure than today. But take a look at the rosters below and compare them with the 1870 rosters. There was far more turnover back then than there is today. And if you are wondering how the undefeated 1869 Red Stockings were built, it was the same way George Steinbrenner built his teams: they outbid everyone else. Cincy signed George Wright from Morrisania, Fred Waterman from the Mutuals, Charlie Sweasy and Andy Leonard from Irvington, Charlie Gould from the Buckeyes, and Asa Brainard from the Nationals. Gould and Hooiser Cal McVey were the only non-Easterners on the Queen City's nine. George convinced his brother Harry Wright to sign on for $1,400, making him the highest paid player in baseball history and the A-Rod of his day. It was the best team money could buy, but it proved a drain on its investors and the team folded following the 1870 season. Thus the first professional team in Cincinnati did not even last long enough to participate in the National Association. Indeed no team from the Queen City participated in the first major league.

NOTES:
1. At Bats were only kept by a pair of teams for the first time in 1870. While that makes it somewhat difficult to assess players of the 1857-1870 era, we are very fortunate that this practice became the norm in time for the 1871 National Association season!

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.