1871 National Association

1871 in baseball
1871 National Association
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The 1871 season of the National Association was the first season of the league.

Season summary

It was a rainy night on March 17, 1871, when delegates from about ten baseball teams met at Collier's Room, an upper-floor saloon located at 13th and Broadway in New York, NY. It was here that the first professional league, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players or National Association was established. It was not the first organization of teams - that honor goes to the National Association of Base Ball Players - but the first to attempt to put together a structured schedule leading to a championship.

The origins of the league came about due to a fiery league meeting the previous November over the direction of the association. Prior to the start of the 1869 season, the association had allowed for teams to start paying their players. By 1870 the association was divided into two camps, those who wished for it to remain professional and those who wanted it to return to its amateur roots. In the end, the two groups would go their separate ways. The new National Association was made up primarily of established teams: the Philadelphia Athletics, New York Mutuals, Washington Olympics, Troy Haymakers, Chicago White Stockings and two clubs sharing a "Forest City" name: the Rockford Forest Citys, and the Cleveland Forest Citys. The Boston Red Stockings and Fort Wayne Kekiongas were the lone newcomers. It was reported that at least two of the owners were stingy with their money, and as a result the Brooklyn Eckfords and Washington Nationals did not join the league for its initial season. Likewise, the Brooklyn Atlantics opted not to join the league.

Due to the lateness of the league's formation, the delegates did not put down a complete set of guidelines, particularly when it came to determining how the teams would be ranked in the standings. It was generally agreed upon that the teams would play each other five times, with the first three matches being considered “championship” games. The unasked question was would the teams be ranked by the number of games won or the number of series won. Because of the league’s failure to address this problem, newspapers across the nation would rank the baseball teams differently from city to city on any given day.

Two teams failed to complete the season, the Fort Wayne Kekiongas and Rockford Forest Citys. Not coincidentally, they represented the two smallest cities in the league.

The fall league meeting took place on Friday, November 3rd at the Girard House in Philadelphia, PA. Among the items discussed were a clearer set of guidelines in determining a championship; scheduling of games and umpires; Championship and exhibition games as well as the fate of the teams that had dropped out, including the White Stockings, whose records and possessions had burned down during the Great Chicago Fire that October. In the end, the issue of the Kekiongas and of the Brooklyn Eckfords, who had taken over Fort Wayne's vacated spot without officially joining the league, as well as the determination of the winner of the league pennant, were referred to a championship committee. A decision and all other unresolved points was to be reached by November 18th, at which point the Athletics were declared the winners of the inaugural pennant. There was talk of Boston and Philadelphia taking a trip to England following year, but nothing would come of it.

Standings

Bold indicates league champion

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS (RS/G)	RA (RA/G)	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	FPCT
1	Philadelphia Athletics	28	21	7	0	.750	-.-	376 (13.43)	266 (9.50)	0.320	0.344	0.435	4.95	0.845
2	Boston Red Stockings	31	20	10	1	.645	2.0	401 (12.94)	303 (9.77)	0.310	0.339	0.422	3.55	0.838
3	Chicago White Stockings	28	19	9	0	.679	2.0	302 (10.79)	241 (8.61)	0.270	0.305	0.374	2.76	0.829
4	New York Mutuals	33	16	17	0	.485	7.5	302 (9.15)	313 (9.48)	0.287	0.303	0.350	3.72	0.839
5	Washington Olympics	32	15	15	2	.469	7.0	310 (9.69)	303 (9.47)	0.277	0.302	0.369	4.37	0.850
6	Troy Haymakers	29	13	15	1	.448	8.0	351 (12.10)	362 (12.48)	0.308	0.334	0.417	5.51	0.845
7	Cleveland Forest Citys	29	10	19	0	.345	11.5	249 (8.59)	341 (11.76)	0.277	0.292	0.391	4.11	0.814
8	Fort Wayne Kekiongas	19	7	12	0	.368	9.5	137 (7.21)	243 (12.79)	0.239	0.271	0.294	5.17	0.803
9	Rockford Forest Citys	25	4	21	0	.160	15.5	231 (9.24)	287 (11.48)	0.264	0.291	0.364	4.30	0.821

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Dave Eggler Bob Ferguson John Hatfield Dickey Pearce Joe Start	New York Mutuals New York Mutuals New York Mutuals New York Mutuals New York Mutuals	33
At Bats	John Hatfield	New York Mutuals	168
Runs Scored	Ross Barnes	Boston Red Stockings	66
Hits	Cal McVey	Boston Red Stockings	66
Doubles	Cap Anson	Rockford Forest Citys	11
Triples	John Bass	Cleveland Forest Citys	10
Home Runs	Levi Meyerle Lip Pike Fred Treacey	Philadelphia Athletics Troy Haymakers Chicago White Stockings	4
Total Bases	Ross Barnes Levi Meyerle	Boston Red Stockings Philadelphia Athletics	91
Runs Batted In	Rynie Wolters	New York Mutuals	44
Stolen Bases	Mike McGeary	Troy Haymakers	20
Caught Stealing	Ross Barnes	Boston Red Stockings	6
Walks	Ed Pinkham	Chicago White Stockings	18
Strikeouts	Rynie Wolters	New York Mutuals	8
Batting Average	Levi Meyerle	Philadelphia Athletics	0.492
On-Base Percentage	Levi Meyerle	Philadelphia Athletics	0.500
Slugging Percentage	Levi Meyerle	Philadelphia Athletics	0.700
On-Base plus Slugging	Levi Meyerle	Philadelphia Athletics	1.200
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Levi Meyerle	Philadelphia Athletics	241

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Al Spalding	Boston Red Stockings	19
Losses	Al Pratt	Cleveland Forest Citys	17
Win-Loss Percentage	Bill Stearns	Washington Olympics	1.000
Appearances	Rynie Wolters	New York Mutuals	32
Games Started	Rynie Wolters	New York Mutuals	32
Complete Games	Rynie Wolters	New York Mutuals	31
Shutouts	Cherokee Fisher Bobby Mathews Al Spalding Rynie Wolters	Rockford Forest Citys Fort Wayne Kekiongas Boston Red Stockings New York Mutuals	1
Saves	Harry Wright	Boston Red Stockings	3
Innings Pitched	Rynie Wolters	New York Mutuals	283.0
Hits Allowed	John McMullin	Troy Haymakers	430
Home Runs Allowed	Al Pratt	Cleveland Forest Citys	9
Base-on-Balls Allowed	John McMullin	Troy Haymakers	75
Strikeouts	Al Pratt	Cleveland Forest Citys	34
Balks	Bobby Mathews	Fort Wayne Kekiongas	2
Runs Allowed	John McMullin	Troy Haymakers	362
Earned Runs Allowed	John McMullin	Troy Haymakers	153
Earned Run Average	George Zettlein	Chicago White Stockings	2.73
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	George Zettlein	Chicago White Stockings	1.342