1867–1870 Cincinnati Club; aka “Red Stockings” Tour
By Eric Miklich
he Cincinnati Club was organized on July 23, 1866 and produced a fantastic won-loss record for four seasons beginning in 1867. During that time they were 175-15-1. In 1868, they introduced their new uniforms which consisted of white flannel trimmed with red, a red belt, red stockings and had their pants fastened at the knee. They started their incredible two-year run as the first openly professional base ball club on May 4, 1869. That year they would accumulate a record of 70-0. This number included exhibitions but manager Harry Wright only counted games against other more established base ball clubs and only those results make up the season record, but some exhibition matches have been included.
After the 1870 season the Red Stockings disbanded after what was determined an unsuccessful season financially. Harry Wright moved to Boston and became the manager of that cities entry into the newly formed National Association of Professional Base Ball Players league, which was the first professional baseball league in America. He was joined by his brother George, Charley Gould and Cal McVey. The rest of the team dispersed to existing clubs in the NA. The Cincinnati Red Stockings officially disbanded on November 11, 1870.
Much of the information below was taken from the "Cincinnati Red Stockings Score Books 1868 - 1870" from the Albert Spalding Baseball Collection and graciously provided to 19c Base Ball by SABR.
The Teams |
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1867P: Harry Wright (Mgr.)C: John McLean 1B: J. Wayne Neff 2B: Bellemy Storer 3B: Dave Schwartz SS: John Con Howe LF: Moses Grant CF: J. Williams Johnson RF: Gerald Ellard* President: Henry Glassford Vice President: Aaron B. Champion Treasurer: Edward E. Townley Scorer: William Worthington *Made the team's baseballs. |
1868P: Harry Wright (Mgr.) - 40GC: Doug Allison - 27G* 1B: Charley Gould - 43G 2B/P: Asa Brainard - 38G 3B: Fred Waterman - 40G SS: John Con Howe - 38G LF: Johnny V. B. Hatfield - 42G CF: Rufus King - 26G RF: J. Williams Johnson - 42G Sub: Moses Grant - 22G Sub: Kingsley - 13G Sub: Prentiss - 5G Sub: Bellemy Storer - 4G Sub: Kemper - 3G Sub: Hunter - 2G Sub: Silas H. Bascom - 1G Sub: Comegys - 1G Sub: Gerald Ellard - 1G Sub: William H. Hall - 1G Sub: Ringwalt - 1G President: Aaron B. Champion** President: Major A.T. Goshorn Secretary: John P. Joyce Scorer: William Worthington (Home games) Scorer: Silas H. Bascom (Road games)
*Joined during the season. |
1869P: Asa Brainard - G55, (12)C: Douglas Allison - G53, (11) 1B: Charley Gould - G57, (11) 2B: Charles Sweasy - G57, (12) 3B: Fred Waterman - G57, (12) SS: George Wright - G57, (12) LF: Andy Leonard - G54, (12) CF: Harry Wright (Mgr.) - G57, (12) RF: Calvin McVey - G57, (11) Sub: Richard Hurley - G5, (3) Sub: James Fowler - G3, (3) Sub: Oak Taylor - G0, (2) President: Aaron B. Champion Vice President: Thomas G. Smith Secretary: John P. Joyce Treasurer: Edward E. Townley Scorer: James Fowler (Most often) The number in parenthesis represents matches the player participates in that were intra-squad, exhibitions or incomplete. |
1870P: Asa Brainard - G65, (6)C: Douglas Allison - G55, (5) 1B: Charley Gould - G74, (6) 2B: Charles Sweasy - G73, (6) 3B: Fred Waterman - G72, (4) SS: George Wright - G58, (6) LF: Andy Leonard - G74, (6) CF: Harry Wright (Mgr.) - G74, (6) RF: Calvin McVey - G73, (5) Sub: Harry Deane - G32, (3) Sub: Edward P. Atwater - G16, (3) President: Aaron B. Champion.* Vice President: A.P.C. Bonte Secretary: John P. Joyce* Director: Thomas G. Smith* Scorer: Edward P. Atwater (Most often) The number in parenthesis represents matches the player participates in that were intra-squad, exhibitions or incomplete. |
The line-ups above suggest that the players only played those positions and none others. In fact, the members changed positions relatively regularly and the listings shown are the more common arrangements.
1867–1870 Cincinnati Club; aka “Red Stockings” Tour Continiued 
