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The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP) of 1871–1875, the NL is sometimes called the Senior Circuit, in contrast to MLB's other league, the American League, which was founded 25 years later and is called the "Junior Circuit". Both leagues currently have 15 teams.
The following is a list of United States Major League Baseball teams that played in the National League during the 19th century. None of these teams, other than Athletic and Mutual, had actual names during this period; sportswriters however often applied creative monickers which are still, mistakenly, used today as "team names" following a convention established in 1951.
Charles Gardner Radbourn, nicknamed "Old Hoss", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for Buffalo (1880), Providence (1881–1885), Boston (1886–1889), Boston (1890), and Cincinnati (1891).
The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from 1878 until 1885. The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National League title twice, in 1879 and 1884. Following the 1884 season, they won the World Series over the New York Metropolitans of the American Association. The team folded after the 1885 season.
The Worcester Worcesters were a 19th-century Major League Baseball team from 1880 to 1882 in the National League. The team is referred to, at times, as the Brown Stockings or the Ruby Legs; however, no contemporary sources from the time exist that support the use of either name. The team played their home games at the Worcester Driving Park Grounds in the Worcester Agricultural Fairgrounds, located south of Highland Street between Sever Street and Russell Street in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Charles Joseph "Curry" Foley was an Irish born professional baseball player who played in the National League (NL) for five seasons from 1879 to 1883. He played as a pitcher, outfielder and first baseman for two teams in the NL; the Boston Red Caps (1879–80) and Buffalo Bisons (1881–83).
William Henry McGunnigle was an American baseball manager for the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, Pittsburgh Pirates and Louisville Colonels. He was nicknamed "Gunner" or "Mac" during his playing days.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1883 throughout the world.
The original Buffalo Bisons baseball club played in the National League between 1879 and 1885. The Bisons played their games at Riverside Park (1879–1883) and Olympic Park (1884–1885) in Buffalo, New York. The NL Bisons are included in the history of the minor-league team of the same name that still plays today; it is thus the only NL team from the 19th century that both still exists and no longer plays in Major League Baseball.
James McCormick was a Scottish right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. A native of Glasgow, he was the first ballplayer born in Scotland to appear in a major league game.
William B. Phillips, also known as "Silver Bill", was a Canadian professional baseball first baseman from the mid-1870s until the late 1880s. From 1879 to 1888, he played for three major league teams; the Cleveland Blues of the National League (NL) from 1879 to 1884, the Brooklyn Grays of the American Association (AA) from 1885 to 1887, and the Kansas City Cowboys of the AA in 1888. A native of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, he has the distinction of being the first Canadian to play in the major leagues.
John Edgar Clapp, nicknamed "Honest John", was an American professional baseball player-manager whose career spanned 12 seasons, 11 of which were spent with the Major League Baseball (MLB) Middletown Mansfields (1872), Philadelphia Athletics (1873–75), St. Louis Brown Stockings (1876–77), Indianapolis Blues (1878), Buffalo Bisons (1879), Cincinnati Stars (1880), Cleveland Blues (1881), and New York Gothams (1883). Clapp, who predominately played as a catcher, also played as an outfielder. Over his career, Clapp compiled a career batting average of .283 with 459 runs scored, 713 hits, 92 doubles, 35 triples, 7 home runs, and 834 runs batted in (RBI). Over 1,188 games played, Clapp struck out 51 times. Although the majority of his career was spent in the major leagues, Clapp also played two seasons of minor league baseball. He made his MLB debut at the age of 21 and was listed as standing 5 feet 7 inches (170 cm) and weighing 194 pounds (88 kg). His brother, Aaron Clapp, also played one season of MLB for the Troy Trojans.
Charles F. "Fatty" Briody, nicknamed "Alderman", was an American professional baseball player whose career spanned from 1877 to 1888. He played eight seasons in Major League Baseball— for the Troy Trojans (1880), Cleveland Blues (1882–1884), Cincinnati Outlaw Reds (1884), St. Louis Maroons (1885), Kansas City Cowboys (NL) (1886), Detroit Wolverines (1887) and Kansas City Cowboys (AA) (1888).
Andrew Bernard "Barney" Gilligan was an American professional baseball player whose career spanned 12 seasons, 11 of which were spent with the Major League Baseball (MLB) Cleveland Blues (1879–1880), Providence Grays (1881–1885), Washington Nationals (1886–1887), and Detroit Wolverines (1888). Gilligan, who predominately played as a catcher, also played as an outfielder and a shortstop. Over his career, Gilligan compiled a career batting average of .207 with 217 runs scored, 388 hits, 68 doubles, 23 triples, three home runs, and 167 runs batted in (RBI) in 523 games played. Although the majority of his career was spent in the major leagues, Gilligan also played in minor league baseball. He was listed as standing 5 feet 6 inches (168 cm) and weighing 130 pounds (59 kg).
The Cleveland Blues were a professional baseball franchise that operated in the National League (NL), a "major" league, from 1879 until 1884. They were organized by businessmen William Hollinger, and J. Ford Evans in 1878 as the Forest Citys, and played a season as an independent team. The NL expanded from six teams to eight before the 1879 season, and the Forest Citys accepted an invitation to join the league. Evans became their president and stayed in that capacity until C. H. Bulkeley assumed the role in 1882. In their six seasons in the NL, the team never finished higher than third place in the standings. They played their home games in League Park.
Charles W. Reipschlager was an American Major League Baseball catcher who played from 1883 to 1887 with the New York Metropolitans and the Cleveland Blues in the American Association. He batted and threw right-handed.
Michael Moynahan was an American professional baseball player from 1879 to 1886. He appeared in 169 games across four seasons in Major League Baseball, principally as a shortstop, for the Buffalo Bisons (1880), Detroit Wolverines (1881), Cleveland Blues, and Philadelphia Athletics (1883-1884). He was the starting shortstop, and with a .310 batting average the leading hitter, for the 1883 Athletics team that won the American Association pennant with a 66-32 record.
John Francis Kelly was a Major League Baseball player. As a player, he was primarily a catcher, but also played 17 games as an outfielder and one game as a first baseman. He played for the Cleveland Blues of the National League in 1879 and 1882, both the National League Philadelphia Quakers and the American Association's Baltimore Orioles in 1883 and the Cincinnati Outlaw Reds and Washington Nationals, both of the Union Association in 1884, so that he played in three different Major Leagues in his four-year career.
References
- ↑ Spink, Alfred Henry. 1911. The National Game. SIU Press. 2nd Edition. ISBN 0809323044
- ↑ "Charles H Byrne Dead" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
