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DETAILS |
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Names |
Cincinnati
Resolutes (1866) |
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Cincinnati
Base Ball Club (1866-1867) |
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Cincinnati
Red Stockings (1868-1870) |
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Operated |
1866 to 1870 |
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Leagues |
Amateur
(1866-68) |
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None
(1869-70) |
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Ballparks |
Live Oaks
Base Ball Grounds (1866) |
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Union
Grounds (1867-70) |
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Championships |
None |
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STATISTICS |
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SEASON |
LEAGUE |
GP |
W |
L |
T |
WP |
RANK |
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1866 |
Amateur |
4 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
.500 |
- |
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1867 |
Amateur |
18 |
17 |
1 |
0 |
.944 |
- |
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1868 |
Amateur |
45 |
37 |
7 |
1 |
.841 |
- |
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1869 |
None |
57 |
57 |
0 |
0 |
1.000 |
- |
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1870 |
None |
74 |
67 |
6 |
1 |
.905 |
- |
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None |
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The Cincinnati Base Ball Club, who began as the
Resolutes and later the Red Stockings,
was established on July 23, 1866 in the law
offices of Tilden, Sherman & Moulton in downtown
Cincinnati. The C.B.B.C's first president was
local businessman Alfred T. Goshorn,
who held the position until April of 1869. The
pitcher for Goshorn's first club was cricket
player Harry Wright while the rest of his team
was comprised mostly of members of the
bar. During their first season, the C.B.B.C
played all of their home games at Live Oaks Base
Ball Grounds and played a total of 4 games over
the course of the season, going 2-2.
The club joined the National Association of Base
Ball Players in 1867 and concluded an agreement
to move to the Union Cricket Club's grounds
located at Lincoln Park. The move triggered
interest in the baseball club by many of the
cricket players who went on to play the new game
themselves. The club finished 17-1 in their
second season and had established a regular
starting nine by season's end.
Harry Wright was the star of the team. He was a
former bowler for the New York Cricket Club and,
in August 1865, Wright was offered $1,200 a year
to play cricket with the Union Cricket Club in
Cincinnati. Harry accepted the offer and moved
to Cincinnati. Following the 1867 season, Wright
agreed to terms to be paid by the Cincinnati
Base Ball Club for the same amount, and
therefore left the Union Cricket Club to focus
on baseball.
By 1868, the club's third season, the lineup
featured five professional players: Wright,
third baseman Fred Waterman, second baseman Asa
Brainard, catcher Doug Allison and left fielder
John Hatfield. Fans of the team, or "cranks" as
they were called, also noticed a difference in
the club's looks. The C.B.B.C was now donning
new white uniforms, complete with a crimson
old-English "C" stitched onto the middle of the
chest. Shockingly bright red hosiery was also
from the ankles to the knees. From this, the
nickname "Red Stockings" was born.
The newly dubbed Cincinnati Red Stockings
played forty-eight games in 1868 and won
forty-one of those contests.
By April of 1869, club president Alfred Goshern
was replaced by Aaron B. Champion. Champion, who
had been vice president of the club, dreamed of
developing a team that could compete with any of
the top Eastern teams and was weighing one of
Harry Wright's proposals from the 1868 season:
dropping the amateur element of the club and
hiring the best available skilled players
throughout the country at every position. At the
time, all Eastern clubs were paying their star
players. Wright and club secretary John Joyce
persuaded Champion to move on the proposal,
and he did. However, Champion insisted he would
not permit under-the-table payouts. Instead,
Champion said the club would openly pay all the
players and, in return, the players would agree
to abide by higher standards set both on the
field and off.
Harry's first move was to acquire the services
of his younger brother George, who was one of
the best shortstops in the game. Harry then
lured second baseman Charlie Sweasy and
outfielders Andy Leonard & Dick Hurley from the
Cincinnati Buckeyes. Harry also added outfielder
Cal McVey, a stocky piano player from Iowa who
played in Indianapolis in 1868.
The Red Stockings tore through the 1869 baseball
season, going undefeated with a record of
57-0. Since there was no league, the Red
Stockings played amateur clubs, traveling
through the east coast defeating all of the top
talented teams with relative ease.
Without a single defeat, Joyce and Champion’s
experiment had worked; the all-professional team
from Cincinnati had knocked off all their
opponents, mostly in convincingly invincible
fashion. The club was so well-known across the
nation that other cities were clamoring for
their local clubs to follow Cincinnati’s lead
and recruit top talented players.
For the 1870 season, the team continued its
winning trend from where it left all from the
season before. The season officially kicked off
against the Eagle Club of Louisville, which the
Red Stockings won 94-7. By mid-June, the winning
streak had officially reached 84 games. The Red
Stockings met the Atlantics in Brooklyn, and
lost their first match, 8-7 in 11 innings.
Cincinnati fans were deflated. Many continued
going to the games that season, but the
enthusiasm for the team suffered a setback from
the Brooklyn loss.
In August, club president Aaron B. Champion,
vice president Thomas G. Smith, and club
secretary John P. Joyce all resigned. A.P.C.
Bonte was appointed as the new club president
shortly after. Cincinnati lost five more games
that season, and because the White Stockings had
defeated Cincinnati twice, Chicago was declared
the national champion despite Cincinnati having
a much better win-loss record. The Red Stockings
played their last game on November 5, 1870 at
home against the Forest Citys of Cleveland and
won 28-5. The team officially finished the
season at 86-6-1.
The gate receipts from the 1870 season suffered.
With each loss, Red Stockings fans’ interest
waned more and more. At the same time, other
teams sensed the club’s financial issues and
approached Red Stockings players with offers to
join their teams for the 1871 season. With
financial burdens everywhere, club president
Bonte released the following circular on
November 21, 1870:
“…we have arrived at the conclusion that to
employ a nine for the coming season, at the
enormous salaries now demanded by professional
players, would plunge our club deeply into debt
at the end of the year…We believe that there
will be a development of the amateur talent of
our club, such as has not been displayed since
we employed professionals, and that we will
still enjoy the pleasure of witnessing many
exciting contests on our grounds.”
In
late November, Harry Wright headed east to meet
with organizers of a new team in Boston. He
accepted an offer to become the new manager,
captain and secretary of the club. Charlie
Gould, Cal McVey, his brother George and the
club nickname would follow. The Wright's
departure spelled the end for any hope of
maintaining a professional club in Cincinnati,
and the club was fully dissolved. The Queen City
wouldn't see the return of professional ball
until a new Red Stockings club was organized in
1875. That club became a charter member of the
National League in 1876. |
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