William Ambrose Hulbert (October 23,1832 –April 10,1882) was an American professional baseball executive who was one of the founders of the National League,considered by many to be baseball's first major league,and was also the president of the Chicago White Stockings franchise.
Born in Burlington Flats,New York,Hulbert moved with his family to Chicago two years later where he lived the rest of his life save for a stint at Beloit College beginning in 1851. When he returned to Chicago from school,he married into the family of a successful grocer and expanded the business into the coal trade. A backer of the Chicago White Stockings baseball club of the National Association from its inception in 1871,Hulbert became an officer of the club in 1874 when it resumed play after being forced to sit out two seasons due to the Great Chicago Fire. He assumed the club presidency the next year.
In his brief tenure as a club president in the National Association,Hulbert soon became fed up with the circuit's lack of definite structure,organization,and integrity. He was particularly disgusted by the Davy Force case in 1874. Force,the shortstop of the White Stockings that year,was a notorious "contract jumper",a common occurrence in the National Association in which players would move from team to team each year selling themselves to the highest bidder. Determined to keep his shortstop,Hulbert signed him to a contract for the 1875 season in September,before the 1874 season had concluded,a violation of league rules. In December,Force signed a second contract with the Philadelphia Athletics,and Hulbert protested. The Association Judiciary committee originally awarded Force to Chicago,but at a second meeting in early 1875,after a Philadelphia man had been elected president of the association,the decision was reversed.
Hulbert became convinced that the Eastern ballclubs were conspiring to keep the Western clubs second-class citizens and plotted to overthrow the might of the Boston Red Stockings,which won each association pennant between 1872 and 1875. To do so,he convinced Illinois native and star Boston pitcher Al Spalding to sign with Chicago for the 1876 season and also signed Boston stars Cal McVey,Deacon White,and Ross Barnes and Philadelphia stars Cap Anson and Ezra Sutton,though Sutton later backed out of his deal. The signings were made while the 1875 season was in progress,but Hulbert decided to anticipate league disciplinary action by establishing his own league.
After enlisting the support of Western clubs including the Cincinnati Red Stockings,the St. Louis Brown Stockings,and the Louisville Grays,Hulbert held a meeting with the Eastern clubs of the Mutual of New York,the Athletic of Philadelphia,the Boston Red Stockings,and the Hartford Dark Blues on February 2,1876,at the Grand Central Hotel in New York City and sold them on his vision for a new league founded on the principles of square dealings,recognition of contracts,and business integrity. He also proposed a more orderly game on the field through prohibitions on drinking,gambling,and Sunday baseball,and more definite organization off it through limiting membership to cities of 75,000 inhabitants or more,giving clubs exclusive territorial rights,and mandating teams to complete a predetermined schedule. The result was the founding of the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs. At the founding meeting,straws were drawn to determine the first president of the circuit,and Hartford president Morgan Bulkeley drew the short straw. He only remained president for one year and took little interest in the affairs of the league,not even bothering to attend the 1877 league meeting. When he did not show up,Hulbert was elected the new president,retaining his presidency of the White Stockings as well.
In his tenure as president from 1877 to his death in 1882,Hulbert ruled with an iron fist and took steps to ensure league integrity and compliance with league rules. His first major act was expelling the New York and Philadelphia clubs from the league for failure to complete their 1876 schedules as required. While losing clubs in the two most populous cities in the United States was a serious blow,the expulsion sent a clear message that the lax adherence to league rules that had plagued the National Association would not be tolerated. Also in response to the New York/Philadelphia scheduling problem,Hulbert ended the practice of clubs determining their schedules through the club secretaries by declaring that the league itself would establish the schedule. Hulbert also instituted the practice of the league hiring of umpires to bolster public perceptions of league integrity.
Perhaps his greatest challenge was dealing with four members of the Louisville ball club who conspired to throw the 1877 pennant. In a move that established a precedent for future handling of dishonest ballplayers,Hulbert banned all four players from the league for life. The banning had a ripple effect across the league that led to the Louisville,St. Louis,and Hartford franchises folding,and the league began to face a crisis as Hulbert was forced to replace these and other teams over the years with clubs from smaller cities such as Providence,Indianapolis,Milwaukee,and Syracuse. In 1879,after the Cincinnati franchise nearly collapsed amid controversy created by having three star players making more money than the rest of the team combined,Hulbert oversaw the imposition of the first reserve rule designed to curb player salaries and prevent players jumping from team to team.
Hulbert's final major act as president also involved the Cincinnati franchise. While it was understood from the league's inception that beer and Sunday baseball were inappropriate,they were not actually prohibited by league rules,and the Cincinnati club,playing in a city with a large German population fond of beer and Sunday entertainment,practiced both activities to boost revenue. This led the league to pass new rules banning both for the 1881 season and then expelling the unapologetic Cincinnati club for violating a rule that would not go into effect for two more months. This final league expulsion brought the National League its greatest challenge yet,as Cincinnati spearheaded the creation of the rival American Association in 1882 that moved into populous areas abandoned by the NL over the years such as New York and Philadelphia. Hulbert did not live to see this rival franchise begin play,however,dying of a heart attack in 1882 at the age of 49 two weeks before the AA made its debut.
For decades,Hulbert was kept out of the Baseball Hall of Fame despite his critical role in founding the first professional league. This was because when American League founder and first president Ban Johnson was elected to the Hall in 1937,it was decided that an early National League executive should be enshrined as well,and apparently not looking into history too closely,the electors chose to elect Morgan Bulkeley because he was the first president of the league. The Veterans Committee finally enshrined Hulbert in 1995.
Hulbert is buried in Graceland Cemetery under a grave marker designed to look like a baseball. In addition to his name and his birth and death dates,the marker includes the names of the cities that were in the National League at the time of his death.
Albert Goodwill Spalding was an American pitcher,manager,and executive in the early years of professional baseball,and the co-founder of A.G. Spalding sporting goods company. He was born and raised in Byron,Illinois,yet graduated from Rockford Central High School in Rockford,Illinois. He played major league baseball between 1871 and 1878. Spalding set a trend when he started wearing a baseball glove.
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.
The St. Louis Brown Stockings were a professional baseball club based in St. Louis,Missouri,from 1875 to 1877,which competed on the cusps of the existences of two all-professional leagues—the National Association (NA) and the National League (NL). The team is the forerunner of,but not directly connected with,the current St. Louis Cardinals Major League Baseball team. After the conclusion of the 1877 season,a game-fixing scandal involving two players the Brown Stockings had acquired led the team to resign its membership in the NL. The club then declared bankruptcy and folded.
The American Association of Base Ball Clubs (AA) was a professional baseball league that existed for 10 seasons from 1882 to 1891. Together with the National League (NL),founded in 1876,the AA participated in an early version of the World Series seven times versus the champion of the NL in an interleague championship playoff tournament. At the end of its run,several AA franchises joined the NL. After 1891,the NL existed alone,with each season's champions being awarded the Temple Cup (1894–1897).
The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP),often known simply as the National Association (NA),was the first fully-professional sports league in baseball. The NA was founded in 1871 and continued through the 1875 season. It succeeded and incorporated several professional clubs from the previous National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) of 1857–1870,sometimes called "the amateur Association". In turn,several NA clubs created the succeeding National League of Professional Baseball Clubs,which joined with the American League of Professional Base Ball Clubs to form Major League Baseball (MLB) in 1903.
Morgan Gardner Bulkeley was an American politician of the Republican Party,businessman,and insurance executive. In 1876,he served as the first president of baseball's National League and because of that,was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937,a choice that remains controversial,since his time as a baseball executive was short.
The Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia was a prominent National Association,and later National League,professional baseball team that played in the second half of the 19th century.
James Alexander Devlin was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player who played mainly as a first baseman early in his career,then later as a pitcher. Devlin played for three teams during his five-year career;the Philadelphia White Stockings and the Chicago White Stockings of the National Association (NA),and the Louisville Grays of the National League (NL). However,after admitting to throwing games and costing the Grays the pennant in the 1877 Louisville Grays scandal,he and three of his teammates were banished permanently from MLB.
George William Hall was a professional baseball player who played in the National Association and later the National League. Born in Stepney,England,Hall later immigrated to the U.S. He made his professional debut on May 5,1871. While playing for the Louisville Grays,he was banned from Major League Baseball after an 1877 gambling scandal.
Robert Vavasour Ferguson was an American infielder,league official,manager and umpire in the early days of baseball,playing both before and after baseball became a professional sport. In addition to playing and managing,he served as president of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players from 1872 through 1875,the sport's first entirely professional league. His character and unquestioned honesty were highly regarded during a period in baseball history where the game's reputation was badly damaged by gamblers and rowdy behavior by players and fans. However,his bad temper and stubbornness were traits that created trouble for him at times during his career,and caused him to be disliked by many. His nickname,"Death to Flying Things",was derived from his greatness as a defensive player.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1882 throughout the world.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1881 throughout the world.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1877 throughout the world.
The following are the baseball events of the year 1875 throughout the world.
The Cincinnati Reds,also known as the Cincinnati Red Stockings,were a professional baseball team based in Cincinnati,Ohio that played from 1875–1879. The club predated the National League of which it became a charter member.
Winfield Scott Hastings was a Major League Baseball player and manager in the late 19th century. Primarily a catcher and outfielder,Hastings also appeared as a first baseman,second baseman,and shortstop over the course of his career.
The following is a timeline of franchise evolution in Major League Baseball. The histories of franchises in the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP),National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NA),Union Association (UA),and American Association (AA) before they joined the National League (NL) are also included. In 1900 the minor league Western League renamed itself the American League (AL). All of the 1899 Western League teams were a part of the transformation with the Saint Paul Apostles moving to Chicago and to play as the White Stockings. In 1901 the AL declared itself a Major League. For its inaugural major league season the AL dropped its teams in Indianapolis,Buffalo and Minneapolis and replaced them with franchises in Boston,Philadelphia,and Baltimore and the Kansas City Blues moved to Washington to play as the Senators.
Harry Luff was an American Major League Baseball player from Philadelphia,Pennsylvania who played for six teams in four different major leagues from 1875 to 1885. He played for the New Haven Elm Citys in the National Association;the Cincinnati Red Stockings and the Louisville Eclipse in the American Association;the Detroit Wolverines in the National League;and the Philadelphia Keystones and the Kansas City Cowboys in the Union Association. He also played on several minor league teams in various leagues. He played at every position except catcher.
The St. Louis Cardinals,a professional baseball franchise based in St. Louis,Missouri,compete in the National League (NL) of Major League Baseball (MLB). As the game of baseball garnered interest in the United States in the 19th century,professional baseball in St. Louis became rooted chiefly in one disestablished Major League club –named the Brown Stockings,the same as the Cardinals' earliest name –which is loosely connected,but does not fall within the scope of,today's Cardinals. The Brown Stockings became St. Louis' first fully professional baseball club when they gained accession in the National Association (NA) in 1875. However,the NA folded after that season. That winter,with five other former NA teams,St. Louis established a new,eight-team league called the National League (NL) and began play the next season. Despite early success,Brown Stocking players were found to be connected to game fixing scandals,which forced bankruptcy and the club's expulsion from the NL. This scandal also abrogated their professional status but some members maintained play as a semi-professional team,primarily operated by outfielder Ned Cuthbert,until 1881.