1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings

1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings/Franchise: Cincinnati Red Stockings/1869 Team

• Name: Cincinnati Red Stockings
• Record: 57-0 (64-0 including exhibitions); 29-0 against professional teams
• Owner: Cincinnati Base Ball Club
• President: Aaron B. Champion
• Vice President: Thomas G. Smith
• Secretary: John P. Joyce
• Treasurer: Edward E. Townley
• Managed by: Harry Wright
• Ballpark: Lincoln Park

History, Comments, Contributions

The Cincinnati Red Stockings had ended the 1868 season on an eight-game winning streak. During the off-season, manager Harry Wright moved himself to center field and turned the pitching duties over to Asa Brainard. He then proceeded to add five more players to the roster. Replacing Brainard at second base was Charlie Sweasy of the Buckeyes. In addition to the outfield, Wright added Sweasy's teammate Andy Leonard at left field, while Cal McVey from the Actives of Indianapolis played right field. Rounding out the infield were regulars: Charlie Gould at first base, Fred Waterman at third, and Doug Allison as catcher. To play shortstop Wright brought in his kid brother George Wright. George was a member of the Washington Nationals club back in 1867, but had spent the last season playing cricket. Substitutes were Sweasy and Leonard's teammate Dick Hurley, James Fowler and Oak Taylor.

In 1869, the team kicked off the season with a few exhibition games against the Cincinnati Picked Nine. The Red Stockings then officially opened the season on May 4th with a 45-9 win against local team, the Great Western Base Ball Club and a third straight opening day win. After a win over the Fort Wayne Kekiongas, the team then proceeded to travel east to Fort Wayne (IN), Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester (NY), Troy (NY), Albany (NY), Springfield (MA), Boston, Cambridge, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C.

The Red Stockings were back in Cincinnati by July 2nd, and aside from brief ventures to Rockford, Milwaukee, Chicago and Portsmouth (OH), the team pretty much stayed in Cincinnati. During this period, the Red Stockings found themselves in a bit of a controversy against the Troy Haymakers. Both teams were evenly matched throughout the game, and at the end of the 5th inning the game was tied at 17. At the start of the 6th, outfielder Cal McVey stepped up to bat. McVey tipped the ball which bounced three times. The Haymakers catcher, a fellow by the name of Craver, went to get the ball, but grabbed some gravel, by mistake. He then grabbed the ball and held the ball out for a decision. However the umpire, John Brockway of the Live Oak Base Ball Club, declared that McVey was not out. The Haymakers team captain, a fellow named Fisher, ordered the game stopped. This almost caused a riot. In the end the police arrived which prevented any further damage. The next day, August 27th, a meeting was held to discuss what had transpired. President Aaron B. Champion recommended that the Haymakers' gate receipts be withheld until the team apologized for what had transpired. This would take some time on the part of the Haymakers.

Despite what had happened, the Red Stockings put it behind them and continued moving forward. By mid-September the team left Cincinnati and proceeded out west. After a two-game stop in St. Louis, they traveled to California where they took on many of the teams in San Francisco. Following an exhibition game in Sacramento, they began to make their journey home. Along the way the team made stops in Nebraska, Illinois and Indiana. They would be back in Cincinnati by mid-October. The Red Stockings continued to dominate their opponents, winning their games by double-digit figures, except for a rematch against the Philadelphia Athletics, which was a 17-12 win. The team ended its season with a 64-0 record (including exhibition matches), and a 29-0 record against other professional teams. This should have been good enough for the team's first pennant at least in modern terms. According to the rules of the time, in which the team was supposed to have defeated the reigning champion in a final and deciding match, it was not the case.

Date	Score	Opponent	Record
4/23	24-15	Cincinnati Picked Nine	0-0	1-0
4/24	50-7	Cincinnati Picked Nine	0-0	2-0
5/4	45-9	Great Western of Cincinnati BBC	1-0	3-0
5/10	86-8	Kekionga of Fort Wayne	2-0	4-0
5/15	41-7	at Antioch College	3-0	5-0
5/22	41-7	at Kekionga of Fort Wayne	4-0	6-0
5/29	35-5	Great Western of Cincinnati BBC	4-0	6-0
6/1	48-14	at Independent BBC	5-0	7-0
6/2	25-6	at Forest City of Cleveland	6-0	8-0
6/3	42-6	at Niagara of Buffalo	7-0	9-0
6/4	18-9	at Alert of Rochester BBC	8-0	10-0
6/7	37-31	at Union of Lansingburgh (Haymakers)	9-0	11-0
6/8	49-8	at National of Albany BBC	10-0	12-0
6/9	80-5	at Mutual Club of Springfield, MA	11-0	13-0
6/10	29-9	at Lowell BBC of Boston	12-0	14-0
6/11	40-12	at Tri-Mountain BBC of Boston	13-0	15-0
6/12	30-11	at Harvard College Crimson BBC	14-0	16-0
6/15	4-2	at Mutual of New York BBC	15-0	17-0
6/16	32-10	at Atlantic of Brooklyn BBC	16-0	18-0
6/17	24-5	at Eckford of Brooklyn BBC	17-0	19-0
6/18	20-4	at Irvington of New Jersey BBC	18-0	20-0
6/19	22-11	at Olympic Club of Philadelphia	19-0	21-0
6/21	27-18	at Athletic of Philadelphia BBC	20-0	22-0
6/22	45-30	at Keystone of Philadelphia BBC	21-0	23-0
6/24	30-8	at Pastime BBC of Baltimore	22-0	24-0
6/25	30-13	at Maryland of Baltimore	23-0	25-0
6/26	4-3	at Olympic of Washington BBC	23-0	25-0
6/28	16-5	at Olympic of Washington BBC	24-0	26-0
7/1	53-0	at Baltic of Wheeling BBC	24-0	26-0
7/2	53-11	Cincinnati Picked Nine	24-0	27-0
7/3	25-14	Olympic of Washington BBC	25-0	28-0
7/5	32-10	Olympic of Washington BBC	26-0	29-0
7/10	34-13	at Forest City of Rockford	27-0	30-0
7/13	19-7	Olympic of Washington BBC	28-0	31-0
7/22	71-15	Buckeye of Cincinnati BBC	29-0	32-0
7/24	15-14	Forest City of Rockford	30-0	33-0
7/28	17-0	Empire of St. Louis BBC	30-0	33-0
7/30	85-7	at Cream City of Milwaukee	31-0	34-0
7/31	53-32	at Forest City of Rockford	32-0	35-0
8/2	28-7	at Forest City of Rockford	33-0	36-0
8/4	37-9	Central City Club of Syracuse (NY)	34-0	37-0
8/5	36-22	Central City Club of Syracuse	35-0	38-0
8/6	43-20	Forest City of Cleveland	36-0	39-0
8/11	40-0	at Riverside of Portsmouth BBC	37-0	40-0
8/16	45-18	Eckford of Brooklyn BBC	38-0	41-0
8/23	35-3	Southern BBC of New Orleans	39-0	42-0
8/26	17-17*	Union of Lansingburgh (Haymakers)	40-0	43-0
8/31	103-8	Buckeye of Cincinnati	41-0	44-0
9/2	32-19	Alerts of Rochester (NY)	42-0	45-0
9/9	54-2	Olympic of Pittsburgh BBC	43-0	46-0
9/15	70-9	at Union Club of St. Louis	44-0	47-0
9/16	31-14	Empire Club of St. Louis	45-0	48-0
9/25	35-4	at Eagle of San Francisco BBC	46-0	49-0
9/27	58-4	at Eagle of San Francisco BBC	47-0	50-0
9/29	66-4	at Pacific BBC	48-0	51-0
9/30	54-5	at Pacific BBC	49-0	52-0
10/1	76-5	at Atlantic BBC	50-0	53-0
10/2	20-7	an exhibition game	50-0	53-0
10/4	46-14	at San Francisco Picked Nine	50-0	54-0
10/5	50-6	at San Francisco Picked Nine	50-0	55-0
10/11	65-1	at Omaha BBC	51-0	56-0
10/12	56-3	at Otoes (NE) BBC	52-0	57-0
10/13	51-7	at Occidental BBC	53-0	58-0
10/15	63-4	at Marion (IN) BBC	54-0	59-0
10/18	17-12	Athletic of Philadelphia BBC	55-0	60-0
11/3	59-8	at Kentucky of Louisville BBC	56-0	61-0
11/4	40-10	at Kentucky Picked Nine	56-0	62-0
11/6	17-8	Mutual of New York	57-0	63-0
11/8	34-5	Cincinnati Picked Nine	57-0	64-0
*5 inning forfeit.

Roster
Position	Name	Salary
P/OF	Asa Brainard	$1,100
C	Doug Allison	$800
1B	Charlie Gould	$800
2B	Charlie Sweasy	$800
3B	Fred Waterman	$1,000
SS	George Wright	$1,400
LF	Andy Leonard	$800
CF/P	Harry Wright (Mgr.)	$1,200
RF	Cal McVey	$800
Sub	Dick Hurley	$600
Sub	James Fowler	N/A
Sub	Live Oak Taylor	N/A

Source

• Harry Ellard: Baseball in Cincinnati, 1907.

Further Reading

• Carol Motsinger: "150 years ago, 12 men in Cincinnati took a chance on baseball and changed the world", Cincinnati Enquirer, May 3, 2019. [1]
• Greg Rhodes, John Erardi and Greg Gajus: Baseball Revolutionaries: How the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings Rocked the Country and Made Baseball Famous, Independently Published, 2019. ISBN 978-1798058046

Related Sites

• 1869