Albert Spalding – Player Overview (1871-1875)

Tags

1849, 1915, Abner Doubleday, Al Spalding, Boston Red Stockings, September 2, September 9

Imagine that your middle name is “Goodwill” but you are known as one of the succeeders who left the Red Stockings for the Chicago White Stockings in 1875.

Other articles on Al Spalding:

• Tools of Ignorance (1875)
• First 4th of July game played in 1871 – Guest blog by Keith Spalding Robbins
• Everything new — a new league and season for the Braves (1876)

Albert Goodwill Spalding (September 2, 1849 – September 9, 1915) 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. He played major league baseball between 1871 and 1878. Spalding set a trend when he started wearing a baseball glove, and eventually opened his sporting goods store.

After his retirement as a player, Spalding remained active with the Chicago White Stockings as president and part-owner. In the 1880s, he took players on the first world tour of baseball. With William Hulbert, Spalding organized the National League. He later called for the commission that investigated the origins of baseball and credited Abner Doubleday with creating the game. He also wrote the first set of official baseball rules.

Source: Albert Spalding – Wikipedia

Batting Overview

Standard Batting

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB
1871	20	BOS	NA	31	152	144	43	39	10	1	1	31	2
1872	21	BOS	NA	48	240	237	60	84	12	5	0	47	3
1873	22	BOS	NA	60	326	323	83	106	15	1	1	71	9
1874	23	BOS	NA	71	365	362	80	119	13	1	0	54	2
1875	24	BOS	NA	74	346	343	68	107	15	3	0	56	2
1876	25	CHC	NL	66	298	292	54	91	14	2	0	44
1877	26	CHC	NL	60	257	254	29	65	7	6	0	35
1878	27	CHC	NL	1	4	4	0	2	0	0	0	0
8 Yr	8 Yr	8 Yr	8 Yr	411	1988	1959	417	613	86	19	2	338	18
162	162	162	162	162	784	772	164	242	34	7	1	133
BOS	BOS	BOS	BOS	284	1429	1409	334	455	65	11	2	259	18
CHC	CHC	CHC	CHC	127	559	550	83	158	21	8	0	79
NA (	NA (	NA (	NA (	284	1429	1409	334	455	65	11	2	259	18
NL (	NL (	NL (	NL (	127	559	550	83	158	21	8	0	79

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/9/2017.

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Tools of Ignorance (1875)

Tags

1875, Al Spalding, Boston Red Stockings, Fred Thayer

I can’t remember not playing baseball. It seems like I always have. I remember the day I first played on an organized team in Little League. I had been selected for the team. We arrived for our first practice. My dad was the coach.

We all stood in a circle waiting to take the field to practice. My dad asked everyone what positions they would like to play. I was on his left. We started going around the circle starting to his right. I would be last to say.

By the time it got around to me all the positions had really been spoken for several times. There was one position no one seemed to want. I said I would like to be the catcher. My dad said, “Great, then put on the tools of ignorance”. And with that we took the field.

My dad taught me how to catch. I loved it. Fast forward and guess what position my son wanted to play when he started baseball. Yup, he wanted to catch. And I taught him about the tools of ignorance.

The term, “the tools of ignorance”, was coined by Herold “Muddy” Ruel, a lawyer turned backstop who caught for greats like Walter Johnson with the Washington Senators in the 1920s.

So, if you were catching Al Spalding for the Braves (then know as the Boston Red Stockings) from 1872 to 1875, you might have wanted a mask. One didn’t initially exist though. It wasn’t until 1875 that one was “invented”. The founder of the Red Stockings had the catchers use a “mouth protector”. It was a “Harvard guy” (Fred Thayer) that actually invented the mask.

The first to use it was Alexander (Jim) Tying who was playing for the Harvard Nine. It was called a rat-trap. It made it to the Spalding catalog in 1878. Eventually Fred Thayer sued Al Spalding for infringement upon Thayer’s patent rights to the catching mask. Spalding would be forced to pay royalties to Thayer and Wright when the case was settled.

And so … fathers continue to teach their sons to use the “tools of ignorance”.

First 4th of July game played in 1871 – Guest blog by Keith Spalding Robbins

Tags

1871, Al Spalding, Andy Leonard, Cal McVey, Ft. Bragg, George Wright, July 4, Keith Robbins, Ross Barnes

Boston Red Stockings

As we know, the Braves are the World’s Oldest Continuous professional franchise, so it was fitting that the team played an Independence Day holiday game at Ft. Bragg. Yet this was nothing new for the team, for they might have played in the first 4^th of July Holiday game in organized baseball as well.

After the Old Reds collapsed the team’s players moved to two teams, the defunct Washington Olympics, an existing National Association team, and other players went on to form the Original Red [Stockings] Sox of Boston.

The games in question were a two day event played on the 3^rd and then the 4^th in back Cincinnati as a Holiday event game. It was billed as a reunion game for the “Old Reds” vs a hybrid team comprised of players two National Association clubs, who were not Reds.

The Old Reds team that took the field was neither an old timers team as many players were still active, although some players were no longer in baseball; nor quite an All Star team, as many who took the field that day would be considered All-Stars by current standards. [Andy Leonard, Ross Barnes, AG Spalding, Cal McVey, Harry Wright, Asa Brainard, Harry Schaffer…]

The New York Clipper of July 15, 1871 noted that the game was though entertaining, was not so skillfully played and ended in a 13 to 15 score with the Old Reds taking the loss. Given the lack of losses by the Old Reds, the fans were rather shocked with end result. Reds fans could take solace that if Hall of Fame Shortstop George Wright had played the Old Reds would have won. For those who bet on the Reds only to win would have found themselves on the list of delinquent accounts.

One of the former Reds who was now the star Washington pitcher was Asa Brainard, whose name is the traditional baseball lexicon rational for why we call the best pitcher the “Ace.”

On the fourth the two teams recombined and played another game in front of a full house of adoring baseball fans some 5000 fans including many ladies. Called the “sugar” game, it was played on a cool and breezy summer day. Behind the pitching of baseball’s new ace [AG Spalding] who outpitched baseball’s original ace [Asa Brainard], the final result was 7 to 3. “Braves win, Braves win, Braves win…” as Chip Carey used to say on TBS summers ago. The Clipper noted that the pitching on both sides was good, the catching was simply superb, the fielding was excellent, and the umpiring was of a model description, strict, impartial, and displaying sound judgement.

Thus we can say on games played to honor America and its independence the best baseball team to call on are the baseball’s oldest nine, the team we call the Braves.

 

 

Everything new — a new league and season for the Braves (1876)

Tags

1876, Al Spalding, Four Seceders, Joe Borden

Joe Borden

It is April. It is 1876. It is a new league. It is a new season.

And, with the “Four Seceders” gone from the team, it is a new team as well.

Al Spalding and the others had left. The National League is formed. The Red Caps (formerly the Red Stockings and now known as the Atlanta Braves) continue in the new league.

How do you replace Al Spalding? You probably don’t but you try.

You hire Joe Borden to a three year contract. $2,000 a year. He played under the psuedonym of Joe Josephs. The sportswriters dubbed him “Josephus the Phenomenal”.

They weren’t being kind.He is a bust!! You just can’t compare to Spalding no matter how good you are. They end up asking him to be the groundskeeper so they would get something out of his salary. He is credited with the first no hitter but it has never been officially recognized as such.

The first game of the season was on April 22. Borden won the game. He went 11-12 for the season. Jack Manning was their best pitcher that season. He went 18-5 with a 2.14 ERA.

So, Joe Borden cut grass.

The Red Caps ended the season in fourth place with a record of 39-31. Their four consecutive seasons as the pennant winner was over.

Not an official no-hitter (1876)

Tags

1876, Al Spalding, Boston Red Stockings, Joseph Borden, May 23, No Hitter

Joseph Borden

Joseph Borden is known for something he isn’t known for. He couldn’t really replace Al Spalding on the Boston Red Stockings.

In 1876 he went 11-12. On May 23 he pitched a shut out against Cincinatti, 8-0. Lee Allen who was an historian for the Hall of Fame thinks he should have been credited with a no hitter. It would have been the first in the National League. The research shows that two walks were scored as the games only two hits.

The game has never been officially recognized as a no-hitter. This blog will however give him official credit. After all, he was a Brave.

More on seceding and coming down with ague (1876)

Tags

1876, Al Spalding, Boston Red Caps, Cal McVey, Deacon White, National Association, Ross Barnes, Seceders

Ross Barnes

Ross Barnes was one of the “four seceders” who played for the Braves (then known as the Boston Red Caps) in 1876. He played with Al Spalding, Cal McVey, and James White (also known as “Deacon” White). 1876 was to be his last season. He came down with “ague” and lost his strength. Is that similar to what Samson experienced? Ok, I guess not. It was probably malaria. Sounds weird though today. “I have ague”.

While some of the seceders were successful after their departure from the Braves, he was not.

In the early 1870’s, he was the dominant hitter in the National Association. He was so adept at the “fair / foul” bunt that the league changed the rules. He also hit the first home run in the National League.

And so, the Braves were a force to be contended with during this time.

The return of the four seceders (1876)

Tags

1876, Al Spalding, Four Seceders, Joseph Borden, May 30, South End Grounds

Al Spalding

The 1876 season was a bust all the way around. The “four seceders’ had made sure of that. Joseph Borden did not replace Al Spalding. The greatest excitement of the season came on May 30th. The Chicago White Stockings and the “Four Seceders” made their first visit to Boston. They played at the South End Grounds.

The crowd got so excited they tore down the fences to see Spalding pitch against the Braves (then known as the Boston Red Caps). Spalding showed why he was so good beating the Braves 5-1 that day. The season also showed why the Braves were devasted loosing the “Four Seceders”. With them Chicago beat the Braves nine times out of ten games that season. They went on to win the National League pennant and broke the Braves run of four consecutive championships. The Braves ended up in fourth in 1876.

The four seceders – 140 years later – Guest blog article by Keith Spalding Robbins

Tags

1876, 1896, Al Spalding, April 13, Boston Red Caps, February 2, George Wright, Harry Wright, Keith Robbins, Ross Barnes, Rule 21, Will Hulbert

Guest blog article by Keith Spalding Robbins

Al Spalding

While for the Original Boston Red Stockings fan the players as “The Seceders,” little is known why they left.  In leaving the Old National Association the National League was created. And now as spring of 2106 approaches, the MLB will enter its 140^th season with only the Braves and Cubs as its continuous member clubs.  Thus Major League Baseball is the oldest and longest continual professional sports league on the Planet.

What is not mentioned in the 1 November 2015 posting on “The Seceders” is the core reason for the need of the National League to replace the National Association. This fundamental principle is one rule that is still in part of the game of today.  The answer can be found in a speech given on Harry Wright Day (April 13, 1896) at the 20^th Anniversary of the National League.  With George Wright in attendance this speech was given by one of the seeder’s himself, none other than AG Spalding himself.

The First Global Sports Franchise – Guest blog article by Keith Spalding Robbins

Tags

1874, Al Spalding, Andy Leonard, Boston Red Stockings, Deacon White, George Wright, Harry Wright

The First Global Sports Franchise – Guest blog article by Keith Robbins

Al Spalding

With the MLB Stars venturing to Cuba this week for a long awaited Goodwill Tour, baseball shows itself as not just the National Pastime, but as “The World’s Favorite Pastime.”

The Braves lead the International charge for Baseball, both at the team level and at an individual fan level, and with typical Braves flair these international efforts were both an utter failure and glorious success.

Lets first take a look at the teams’ failure. When one goes online looking at the Braves 1874 Championship season, there is a curious gap of no games played in the month of August. Was it a month-long rainout, a financial catastrophe, or something more sinister?

No, it was a month long International Baseball Road Trip. The Bostonians were on the other side of “The Pond,” playing baseball and cricket in the United Kingdom. From July 30 to August 25 the Bostonians played 14 baseball exhibitions and seven cricket matches. The baseball games featured Bostonians of lore:  Deacon White, Ross Barnes, Cal McVey, AG Spalding, Andy Leonard,  George and Harry Wright and Harry “Silk Stockings” Shafer, Their baseball opponents were the old rivals – the Original Athletics of Philadelphia led by AJ Reach “Cap” Anson, and a young Thomas Murnane.

For the record, on the field the Bostonians were successful winning 8 of the 14 games played. On the cricket grounds, the combined team lead by the old Cricketers of the Wright brothers and AJ Reach. and went undefeated according the 1889 Spalidng Guide.

However, at the box office and in hearts of the British viewers, the trip was a total failure; as the 1889 Spalding Guide reported, “In fact, the Britishers did not take to the game kindly at all.”

Yet in baseball there is the other side of the box score, and in this the Braves are esponsible for an international baseball success.

The Braves are part of the foundation of Baseball becoming the National Pastime of Japan.

During the dynasty years of the Red Stockings, the Japanese baseball tradition begins with avid Japanese born Braves fan and railroad engineer Hiraoka Hiroshi. When he returned to Japan he brought with him  a love of the game and a set of baseball equipment. After business hours Hiroshi enthusiastically taught his fellow railroad staff the game and soon established the Shinbashi Athletic Club (SAC), the first private baseball club in Japan. As noted by Sayuri Guthrie-Shimizu in her book, “Transpacific Field of Dreams,” Hiroshi sent his favourite Boston baseball pitcher and now baseball equipment mogul a letter in in early 1884 bemoaning the sacristy of baseball equipment in Japan. Soon before the start of the 1884 baseball practices in Japan, the SAC received a gift box worth $500 to $600 in 1880s dollars worth of baseballs, bats, gloves, and catchers masks. (in 1880, $500 dollars could buy you a nice house in Boston). Along with this care package a hopeful letter that baseball in Japan would “rise like the sun.”

Thus we can glean three International strikes from the history of  Braves Baseball:

1. Why did AG Spalding and World Baseball Tourists not go to Japan in 1888-89? Because baseball was already there courtesy of the Original Red Stockings and the first Japanese super fan Hiraoka Hiroshi.
2. Feeling sad that an Asian born player scored the winning run or pitched a shutout against your hometown favorite Braves? Take heart and show respect to that player for it was the Braves that played a significant role in bringing baseball to Asia over a century ago.
3. The next time you hear baseball referred to as the National Pastime, say its a myth, Baseball is the actually “The World’s Favorite Pastime;” and, it was the Braves that played a vital role in beginning baseball’s international Goodwill mission.

Sources:

N/A (2012-05-12). Spalding’s Baseball Guide and Official League Book for 1889 (Kindle Locations 1713-1780).  Kindle Edition.

Guthurie-Shimizu, Sayuri, Transpacific Field of Dreams: How Baseball Liked the United States and Japan in Peace and War. University of North Carolina Press, 2012. pp 20-31.

Four Seceders (1875 and 1876)

Tags

1875, 1876, Al Spalding, Boston Red Caps, Cal McVey, February 2, Four Seceders, James White, Ross Barnes

Seceders

It is 1875. The season is over. The “Four Seceders” come up with a conspiracy that foretells the demise of the National Association. It won’t last long after their plan plays out. Al Spalding, Ross Barnes, Cal McVey, and James White (also known as “Deacon” White) announce that they are leaving the Braves (then known as the Boston Red Stockings) and will play for Chicago.

Why did they do this? Al Spalding complained that winning pennants in Boston had become monotonous. Really? Winning is monotonous? hahaha I think not!! He was going to a team where he could lose? Come on.

Being know as a “seceder” in the post Civil War era was not a term of endearment I think.

So, how did the clubs respond to this? They formed the National League on February 2, 1876. Seven teams joined with the President of the Chicago White Stockings to form the National League. Weird because this was the team that the “seceders” were jumping to. But it averted a big, big battle. The Braves (then known as the Boston Red Stockings) joined with the new league. It cost a $100 to be a member. Their motivation? I am guessing it was the stricter player contracts that would prevent “seceding”.

Aliens, Old Timers, Magnates, and “the Gun.” (June 21, 1897) – Guest blog by Keith Robbins

Tags

1897, Al Spalding, Andy Leonard, Boston Beaneaters, George Wright, Jack Manning, John Morrill, June 21, Old Timers, Pitching Gun, Tommy Bond

Guest blog article by Keith Robbins

Box Score June 21 1897

This day in Braves history is a day of baseball superlatives of the intercontinental and scientific type. It was the unequivocally the most unique game ever played was seen by a countless number of fans at the old baseball grounds. (Box score courtesy of Sporting Life, Volume 29, Number 14.)

As for Aliens, we look to the IRS definition of the term, in which we in today’s terminology would classify the Braves opponent that day as a non-resident aliens: the Australian Baseball Tourists of 1897.

As for the Old Timers, the box score shows many of the best of the 19^th Century Braves. While all baseball fans know of George Wright, and AG Spalding, and former Braves players Tommy Bond, Jack Manning and Harry “Silk Stockings” Schafer and Andy Leonard were once household names.  Others were not, such as Harry Ayer who remains unknown to baseball-reference.com to this day, and others lost to history, such as the third Wright Brother of baseball, Sam Wright, a career .168 average no doubt helps.

As for the Magnates, the superlatives associated with this game continue beyond the players. The official scorer was the inventor of the Box Score, Hall of Famer Henry Chadwick. The umpires were team owners: the infamous magnate. Tammany Hall operative and team wrecker of the Orioles and Giants, Andrew Freedman, and former Braves owner George Appleton who called the bases.  What would be today’s equivalent? The Boss behind the plate, Ted Turner calling the bases?

Pitching Gun

As for “the Gun,” this game was a live test of a horribly bad experimental piece baseball equipment known as either Prof. Hinton’s Pitching Cannon or the Princeton Pitching Gun.  It was developed by Oxford educated and Princeton Mathematics and baseball fan, Professor Charles W. Hinton. This contraption was part cannon, part rifle, electric battery, and thoroughly and completely terrifying. Powered by a .38 caliber cartridge, it shot baseballs in the general direction of helmetless batsmen. The muzzle length was adjustable, allowing for fast balls or change ups, and the ball could be made to curve, drop or slide by adjusting its “leather” fingers.

The box score indicates that one major issue was control, as “the Gun” was credited for one wild pitch, and one walk, and allowed four runs in two innings of game finishing relief work.  We also have three passed balls by a typically sure handed Honest John Morrill.

The 1897 Australian baseball tourist team had more courage than baseball skills.  The team was oversold by their manager and promoter as being “cleaver batsman” and “play excellent ball” as noted by the San Francisco Call, but in fact, some of the players did not know how to wear a baseball glove nor how to field. They were mercilessly ridiculed by the American media wherever they played and yet were supported by baseball’s leadership in arranging games, finding viable competition, and offering generous hospitality, in the form of free tickets and after game banquets to honor the foreign baseball tourists. The Spalding Guide of 1898 graciously described the baseball tourists from down under as having much to learn, and were “simply not in it.”

These old Red Stockings – Beaneaters were exemplary nineteenth century gentlemen of the highest order, as their ten recorded errors enabled a 27-13 Aussie Victory. It was one of just a handful for the tourists.  Nevertheless, the Sydney Morning Herald called the trip “A Total Failure” and this day has been lost and forgotten. Australian baseball is still recovering from the aftershocks of the trip.

While taking the field armed with pitching cannon, might redefine the term international friendly; due to their generosity and hospitality, both on the field and off, these old Braves understood the game of international baseball.

Interesting demotion to groundskeeper (1876)

Tags

1875, 1876, Al Spalding, Boston Red Caps, Joseph Borden

Joseph Borden

Joseph Borden could not replace Al Spalding in 1876. The Braves (then known as the Red Caps) got pretty frustrated with him. How much? So much so they demoted him. Moved him to the bullpin? Nope. Moved him to the bench? Nope.

They made him a groundskeeper. Sometimes he was also a ticket taker. They didn’t want him to pitch anymore but needed to get something for what they were paying him. OK, this was the first year of the National League and the rules were a little different. Well, they were a lot different.

Joe had a short career. He only played 2 seasons as a pitcher. He played in a total of 39 games. His 13-16 record wasn’t overwhelming including a 2.56 ERA. He did have some notable games and a few firsts. He pitched baseball’s first no hitter in 1875. He also won the National League’s first game in 1876.

“Two hours is about as long as any American can wait for the close of a baseball game, or anything else for that matter.” ~~Al Spalding

Tags

Al Spalding, Boston Red Stockings, Rules

Al Spalding

And this from a pitcher. But then again, not just any pitcher. Of course, he wrote the first rules for baseball so he had a sense of things.

Al played for the Boston Red Stockings from 1871 to 1875.

 

“Two hours is about as long as any American can wait for the close of a baseball game, or anything else for that matter.”  ~~Al Spalding

1871 Season Overview (Boston Red Stockings)

Tags

1871, Al Spalding, Boston Red Stockings, Cal McVey, Charlie Gould, Dave Birdsall, Frank Barrows, Fred Cone, George Wright, Harry Schafer, Harry Wright, Ross Barnes, Sam Jackson

Imagine only playing 30 games. Compared to our 162 now it is hard to imagine. But that is what it came to in 1871 for the Boston Red Stockings.

We ended up in 2^nd place (tied with the Chicago White Stockings) behind the Philadelphia Athletics. This was the first year for the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players.

Source: Wikipedia

Here is what the roster looked like that year.

Pitchers

• Albert Spalding
• Harry Wright

Catchers

• Cal McVey

Infielders

• Ross Barnes
• Charlie Gould
• Sam Jackson
• Harry Schafer
• George Wright

Outfielders

• Frank Barrows
• Dave Birdsall
• Fred Cone
• Harry Wright

Manager

• Harry Wright

 

Harry continues (1877)

Tags

1877, Al Spalding, Boston Red Caps, Harry Wright, Tommy Bond

Harry Wright – Boston Red Cap manager

Harry Wright continued on in 1877 as the manager of the Boston Redcaps. The Redcaps did very well. They were 42-18 and finished first, 7 games ahead. Not bad for having lost some of the best players in the league.

Al who? Maybe you couldn’t find it in the headlines that year. But time marches on. Al Spalding had been gone a year now. Perhaps the mourning was over. No way to know for sure.

The good news is that Tommy Bond was signed to the team. A 21 year-old Irishman (ok, this is Boston) came on the scene. In 1876 he had a pretty good season for Hartford. He was 31-13. Got him noticed in Boston by the Braves.

Al who? How quickly they forget.

Tommy Bonds wins 40 games (1877)

Tags

1877, Al Spalding, Boston Red Caps, Tommy Bond

Tommy Bond – Boston Red Caps

Tommy Bond was the man in 1877. This is the second year for Major League Baseball. Tommy definitely eased the pain of Al Spalding leaving the Red Caps (now the Atlanta Braves).

Tommy had 40 wins that season. Yes, that is right. 40!! And this was his first season.

Boston responded by winning the National League pennant that year. Hands down 7 games ahead.

Consider the Ball (1871)

Tags

1871, 1875, Al Spalding, Boston Red Stockings, National Association

When I was 10, there was THE ball. Of course we had other balls. But THE ball was the Spalding ball.

I usually only had one or two at a time. The other balls were sometimes things I made myself. For example, there was the sock ball. It was made out of several white socks. We used it at night to play home run derby in the back yard. There was the “masking tape” ball. Yes, it was made out of masking tape. Other balls were just worn out and ragged, covers almost off.

But THE ball was the Spalding. Bought and paid for but only used on rare occasions and never used on the gravel field at the church.

The dominant pitcher from 1871 to 1876 in the National Association for the Braves (then known as the Boston Red Stockings) was Al Spalding. Yes, he later formed Spalding Sporting Goods and made a fortune. From 1872 to 1875 they were a combined 205-50 (.804). Al Spalding won 186 of those 205 games.

In 1875 Spalding went 55-5 including a 24 game winning streak. It would be an understatement to say Spalding appreciated the value of THE ball. He would later make them like no other could. But only AFTER he learned how to throw it.