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The following are the baseball events of the years 1845 to 1868 throughout the world.
At its December 1868 annual meeting, the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) permitted professional clubs. Twelve existing members did "go pro" and constitute the professional field for 1869.
Marshall Wright publishes 1868 season records for 98 teams, many of them incomplete ("(inc)" in the table). Bill Ryczek calls 15 of that season's teams "major" (not marked). This table covers all of those "majors" (not marked), all of the 1869 "pros" (*), all 14 member clubs with at least twelve wins on record, and a few others. For the seven listed clubs in Greater New York, no city is named in the first column; the comment gives their locales.
| Club, City | W | L | T | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic | 47 | 7 | * | Brooklyn | |
| Athletic, Philadelphia | 47 | 3 | * | ||
| Union | 37 | 6 | (inc) | Morrisania, New York | |
| Cincinnati "Red Stockings" | 36 | 7 | * | ||
| Mutual | 31 | 10 | * | New York | |
| Eckford | 23 | 12 | * | Brooklyn | |
| Buckeye, Cincinnati | 21 | 5 | (inc) | ||
| Union, Lansingburgh | 15 | 5 | * | the "Troy Haymakers" | |
| Champion | 14 | 7 | Jersey City, New Jersey | ||
| Harvard, Cambridge | 14 | 2 | the college team | ||
| National, Albany | 13 | 8 | |||
| Olympic, Washington | 12 | 11 | 1 | * | |
| Tri-Mountain, Boston | 12 | 9 | (inc) | ||
| Maryland, Baltimore | 12 | 6 | * | ||
| — | |||||
| Forest City, Cleveland | 11 | 11 | 1 | * | |
| Lowell, Boston | 11 | 9 | |||
| Forest City, Rockford | 11 | 4 | |||
| Star | 9 | 10 | Brooklyn | ||
| Excelsior, Chicago | 7 | 8 | 1 | (inc) | |
| National, Washington | 7 | 3 | * | ||
| Keystone, Philadelphia | 5 | 10 | 1 | (inc) * | |
| Irvington | 2 | 6 | (inc) * | Irvington, New Jersey |
At least four Association clubs not listed here would someday try professionalism: Riverside of Portsmouth, Ohio (1870); Kekionga of Fort Wayne, Indiana (1871); Middletown of Mansfield, Connecticut (1872); Resolute of Elizabeth, New Jersey (1873).
Meanwhile, only two brand new professional baseball clubs would be established in the next three years, the Chicago White Stockings for 1870 and the Boston Red Stockings for 1871. Their commercial origins may be related to their survival alone by 1877, and on to 2010, while all of their rivals with older and amateur roots fell away.
Marshall Wright publishes 1867 season records for 89 teams, many of them incomplete ("(inc)" in the table). Bill Ryczek calls 17 of that season's teams "major" (not marked). This table covers all of those "majors", all 13 member clubs with at least fourteen wins on record, and a few others. For the nine listed clubs in Greater New York, no city is named in the first column; the comment gives their locales.
| Club, City | W | L | T | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athletic, Philadelphia | 44 | 3 | * | ||
| National, Washington | 29 | 7 | * | ||
| Quaker City, Philadelphia | 28 | 9 | maybe a one-season club | ||
| Mutual | 23 | 6 | 1 | * | New York |
| Keystone, Philadelphia | 21 | 6 | 1 | * | |
| Union | 21 | 8 | Morrisania, New York | ||
| Atlantic | 19 | 5 | 1 | * | Brooklyn |
| Geary, Philadelphia | 19 | 6 | |||
| Tri-Mountain, Boston | 19 | 3 | |||
| Cincinnati "Red Stockings" | 17 | 1 | * | ||
| Irvington | 16 | 7 | * | Irvington, New Jersey | |
| Oriental | 15 | 3 | Greenpoint, New York | ||
| Union, Lansingburgh | 14 | 7 | * | the "Troy Haymakers" | |
| — | |||||
| Excelsior | 11 | 5 | Brooklyn | ||
| Olympic, Washington | 11 | 5 | * | ||
| Harvard, Cambridge | 11 | 2 | the college team | ||
| Excelsior, Chicago | 10 | 1 | |||
| Lowell, Boston | 8 | 5 | (inc) | ||
| Buckeye, Cincinnati | 7 | 8 | |||
| Eckford | 6 | 16 | 1 | * | Brooklyn |
| Star | 6 | 4 | (inc) | Brooklyn | |
| West Philadelphia, Phila. | 5 | 12 | (inc) | ||
| Eureka | 3 | 8 | (inc) | Newark NJ |
Star (*) marks ten clubs among twelve who would go pro in 1869. Excelsior of Chicago and Buckeye of Cincinnati are listed because they were probably the strongest teams in the west after the Cincinnati Red Stockings.
Marshall Wright publishes 1866 season records for 58 of 93 association members, said to be complete for games between two member clubs. Bill Ryczek calls 20 of that season's teams "major" including three old New York rivals of the Knickerbockers.
This table covers all of those "majors", all 14 members with at least eight wins on record, and a few others. For the fifteen listed clubs in Greater New York, no city is named in the first column; the comment gives their locales.
| Club, City | W | L | T | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Union | 25 | 3 | Morrisania, New York | ||
| Athletic, Philadelphia | 23 | 2 | * | ||
| Atlantic | 17 | 3 | * | Brooklyn | |
| Excelsior | 13 | 6 | 1 | Brooklyn | |
| Active | 10 | 6 | New York | ||
| National, Washington | 10 | 5 | * | ||
| Mutual | 10 | 2 | * | New York | |
| Eckford | 9 | 8 | * | Brooklyn | |
| Eureka | 9 | 7 | Newark, New Jersey | ||
| Enterprise | 9 | 6 | Brooklyn | ||
| Irvington | 9 | 6 | * | Irvington, New Jersey | |
| Mohawk | 9 | 3 | Brooklyn | ||
| Star | 8 | 6 | Brooklyn | ||
| Americus | 8 | 5 | Newark, New Jersey | ||
| — | |||||
| Keystone, Philadelphia | 5 | 5 | 1 | * | |
| Empire | 4 | 7 | New York | ||
| Gotham | 4 | 4 | New York | ||
| Eagle | 2 | 9 | New York | ||
| Camden, Camden | 2 | 5 | Camden, New Jersey | ||
| Lowell, Boston | 2 | 0 | |||
| Harvard, Cambridge | 1 | 5 | the college team | ||
| Union, Lansingburgh | * | non-member; now in Troy, New York |
Star (*) marks eight clubs among twelve who would go pro in 1869, three seasons later.
For the preceding 1865 season Marshall Wright lists 30 members with supposedly complete records for most of them. Twenty-two of the thirty were in Greater New York. Bill Ryczek calls 19 teams "major" in the first season that he covers: sixteen of the members and three others (Lowell, Harvard, and Camden).
No one traveled much and membership was still depressed by the Civil War. There had been 59 delegates at the March 1860 annual meeting, and 55 at the next annual meeting that December (on a new baseball calendar), who thereby intended to play during the 1861 season that the war curtailed. Nine of 59 and eleven of 55 were from outside Greater New York. [12]
Alexander Joy Cartwright Jr. was a founding member of the New York Knickerbockers Base Ball Club in the 1840s. Although he was an inductee of the Baseball Hall of Fame and he was sometimes referred to as a "father of baseball", the importance of his role in the development of the game has been disputed.
The question of the origins of baseball has been the subject of debate and controversy for more than a century. Baseball and the other modern bat, ball, and running games – stoolball, cricket and rounders – were developed from folk games in early Britain, Ireland, and Continental Europe. Early forms of baseball had a number of names, including "base ball", "goal ball", "round ball", "fetch-catch", "stool ball", and, simply, "base". In at least one version of the game, teams pitched to themselves, runners went around the bases in the opposite direction of today's game, much like in the Nordic brännboll, and players could be put out by being hit with the ball. Just as now, in some versions a batter was called out after three strikes.
William Henry "Harry" Wright was an American professional baseball player, manager, and developer. He assembled, managed, and played center field for baseball's first fully professional team, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings. He is credited with introducing innovations such as backing up infield plays from the outfield and shifting defensive alignments based on hitters' tendencies. For his contributions as a manager and developer of the game, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953 by the Veterans Committee.
The New York Knickerbockers were one of the first organized baseball teams which played under a set of rules similar to the game today. Founded as the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club by Alexander Cartwright in 1845, the team remained active until the early 1870s.
The Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn was baseball's first champion and its first dynasty. The team was also the first baseball club to visit the White House in 1865 at the invitation of President Andrew Johnson.
The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) was the first organization governing American baseball.
The Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey, was recreational parkland located on the city's northern riverfront in the 19th century. The area was a popular getaway destination for New Yorkers in the 19th century, much in the tradition of the pleasure garden, offering open space for a variety of sports, public spectacles, and amusements. The lavish grounds hosted the Colonnade Hotel and tavern, and offered picnic areas, a spa known as Sybil's Cave, river walks, nature paths, fishing, a miniature railroad, rides and races, and a ferry landing, which also served as a launch for boating competitions.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1872 throughout the world.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1869 throughout the world.
Knickerbockers, or knickers in the United States (US), are a form of baggy-kneed breeches, particularly popular in the early 20th-century United States. Golfers' plus twos and plus fours are similar. Until after World War I, in many English-speaking countries, boys customarily wore short pants in summer and "knee pants" similar to knickers in winter. At the onset of puberty or sometime in their teens, they graduated to long trousers. In that era, the transition to "long pants" was a major rite of passage. Men continued to wear knickerbockers for athletics, outdoor work, and other informal activities for which they were practical. During the early 20th century, knickerbockers were also increasingly worn by women.
Eckford of Brooklyn, or simply Eckford, was an American baseball club from 1855 to 1872. When the Union Grounds opened on May 15, 1862 for baseball in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, it became the first enclosed baseball grounds in America. Three clubs called the field on the corner of Marcy Avenue and Rutledge Street home; however, the Eckford of Brooklyn were the most famous tenant. They played more games than any other club that year (7) and won the "national" championship, repeating the feat in 1863. During that two year period, the Eckfords won 22 straight matches which was the longest undefeated and untied streak to date. In the late 1860s, they were one of the pioneering professional clubs, although probably second to Mutual of New York at the home park. In its final season, Eckford entered the second championship of the National Association, the first professional baseball league in America, so it is considered a major league club by those who count the NA as a major league.
Brooklyn has an active sports scene that spans over a hundred years. The borough is home of the Barclays Center and the National Basketball Association's Brooklyn Nets, and for many decades was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers of Major League Baseball before they moved to Los Angeles in 1957.
The Enterprise Base Ball Club of Brooklyn was an American baseball club in the 1850s and 1860s.
Daniel Lucius "Doc" Adams was an American baseball player and executive who is regarded by historians as an important figure in the sport's early years. For most of his career he was a member of the New York Knickerbockers. He first played for the New York Base Ball Club in 1840 and started his Knickerbockers career five years later, continuing to play for the club into his forties and to take part in inter-squad practice games and matches against opposing teams. Researchers have called Adams the creator of the shortstop position, which he used to field short throws from outfielders. In addition to his playing career, Adams manufactured baseballs and oversaw bat production; he also occasionally acted as an umpire.
William Rufus Wheaton was an American lawyer and politician. He was also a baseball pioneer.
Duncan Fraser Curry was an American baseball pioneer and insurance executive.
Francis Pidgeon Sr. was an American baseball pitcher. He played for Eckford of Brooklyn from 1855 to 1862, and was one of the club's founders. Pidgeon has been called one of the top pitchers of the era, and participated in New York-area all-star games in 1858. Playing as an amateur, Pidgeon vigorously opposed payments to baseball players and authored a law banning them in the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP). After professionalism began spreading, he left the Eckford club before sponsoring an unsuccessful resolution opposing player pay in 1870. Pidgeon worked as a contractor before being hit by a train and killed in 1884.
The 1857 baseball convention was a meeting of members from 16 New York City-area baseball clubs that took place over multiple sessions in early 1857. It passed numerous clarifications of the pre-existing Knickerbocker Rules and modifications that helped lead to the modern format of baseball games. Among the items formalized were the length of games and the distance between bases.