Category: Reds - This Game Of Games

Thomas McNeary's 1875 Letter to the Clipper

8/28/2015

Blong and McSorley of the St. Louis Red Stocking nine have been expelled from that club, as will be seen from the appended letter:

Editor New York Clipper. - Last week the St. Louis "Reds" got ready to go to Quincy, Ill., to play a couple of games, and they went; but the third-baseman, John McSorley, failed to be on hand to accompany the club. And since returning from Quincy, I have learned that McSorley, like Blong, had jumped from St. Louis to the Stars of Covington; and, as both of the players mentioned have been expelled from the St. Louis "Reds." This is to notify other clubs that neither of the players can be engaged next year, unless reinstated by the Judiciary Committee of the Professional Association. The St. Louis "Reds" will remain in existence until the close of the season, and next year they will be in the field again. Very Respectfully,

Thomas McNeary, Prest. St. Louis "Reds."

-New York Clipper, September 11, 1875

This is just fantastic. There is nothing in this letter that's new and I've seen all of this information in the contemporary source material before. However, I don't think I've ever seen this specific letter before and I can't remember seeing anything like this from McNeary.

The context of the letter is that Joe Blong, Trick McSorely and Packy Dillon had all left the Reds, in the middle of the 1875 season, for the Covington Stars. Charlie Sweasy, the captain, would also leave the club in September. The Reds just didn't make any money in 1875 and the players were being paid a percentage of the gate. The team wasn't winning; they weren't drawing fans; and the players weren't making any money. So a lot of them left. The entire thing had fallen apart by the first week of July, when Blong left. The Reds were unable to schedule any more games against clubs in the National Association and were forced to play lesser clubs, such as Quincy.

The whole thing was a bit of a disaster and here we have Tom McNeary trying to see that some form of justice was enacted against his former players. Nothing ever really came of that but I think McNeary was certainly within his rights to see the National Association punish the jumpers.

The Restoration of 1881: A Novel Contest

1/26/2015

A Novel Contest took place Oct. 16 in St. Louis, Mo., between nine of the Reds and eighteen of the Reinecke and White Horse Clubs. The eighteen were blanked, making only two safe hits. The Reds made ten hits, notwithstanding eighteen good fielders were opposed to them. The figures at the finish stood 9 to 0 in favor of the Reds.

-New York Clipper, October 29, 1881

This is a rather interesting game. I'm not aware of anything like it, although I'd imagine that games like this must have happened prior to this. It was a muffin-type game, played for fun, and it must have been something to see. It reminds me of a chess grand master playing a roomful of lesser opponents.

The Clipper also mentioned that the Eclipse of Louisville were in town, playing the Brown Stockings. They didn't say which Brown Stocking club was involved nor did they say where the game was played (which would have properly identified the Brown Stockings).

The Restoration of 1881: Ravens

11/24/2014

At Compton Avenue Park this afternoon the Ravens, of Cincinnati, will be the guests of the St. Louis Red Stockings. The visiting club has been in existence for ten years, and has always been regarded as the strongest organization ever had in Cincinnati, with the exception of the League teams. Their black uniforms with white trimmings are oddly attractive. The Ravens have scored numerous victories in Louisville and adjacent villages, as well as being at the top of the heap at home…

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 17, 1881

I just want to say that the Ravens of Cincinnati is a great name for a baseball team. Also, I think that the "strongest organization" that Cincinnati had produced by 1881 was the 1869 Red Stockings. But what do I know?

The Restoration of 1881: A Raid On St. Louis

11/19/2014

Two teams from abroad have made a raid on St. Louis and will both appear before the base ball public this afternoon. At the Grand Avenue Park the Eckfords, of Chicago, will play the Browns to-day, to-morrow and Monday while at the Compton Avenue Park a very strong nine from Cincinnati will be entertained by Manager McNeary’s reorganized Red Stockings. The Porkopolitan team is made up as follows: Miller, c.; Will White, p.; Reilly, 1st b.; Pierce, 2d b.; Mernie, 3d b.; Booth, s.s.; Jones, l.f.; French, c.f.; and Eden, r.f. The Reds will present Decker, Blong, Levis, Morgan, Overbeck, Schenk, Cunningham, Houtz and Croft in their home positions. The Browns will be out in full force, and their antagonists will occupy the following positions: Featherstone, c.; Sullivan, p.; McQuaid, 1st b.; Sautry, 2d b.; Haley, 3d b.; Roche, s.s.; Kantlin, l.f.; Normile, c.f., and Gillegan, r.f. It will be observed that both the Chicago and Cincinnati clubs present much stronger teams than on their previous visits, and the contests will undoubtedly be close and exciting.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 2, 1881

This looks like a big Fourth of July baseball extravaganza. You have clubs in town from both Chicago and Cincinnati to play the Brown Stockings and the Reds, respectively. This was the kind of thing that hadn't happened in St. Louis over the previous years since 1877. It's evidence that the market had recovered very well and to the point where it could support two major series going on at the same time. That's a big step forward in the recovery of the St. Louis baseball market.

I also have something in my notes about two Chicago clubs - the Dreadnaughts and the Athletics - coming to St. Louis at the end of June. The Dreadnaughts were supposed to play the Brown Stockings around the 26th but were "unavoidably detained at home" and didn't make the trip. The Athletics were supposed to play the Reds and I don't know if that game was played or not. But, again, it looks as if the baseball market, in general, had recovered to the point where it was profitable for these clubs to be making road trips.

The Restoration of 1881: Beaten By The Cincinnatis

11/18/2014

The St. Louis Red Stockings were beaten [in Cincinnati] by the Cincinnatis. They were minus the services of their regular pitcher and first and second basemen. In the fourth inning the Cincinnatis sent twelve men to bat, making eight hits and eight runs. In the next inning ten men went to bat, making six hits and four runs. Then Oberbeck came in to pitch, and in the last four innings only four hits were made off him. White was almost invincible. The fielding on both sides was superb. Mitchell, of Cincinnati, played with the Reds. There was a good crowd in attendance despite the threatening weather.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 21, 1881

This is the only box score I have in my notes for a Reds game in 1881. You can see that Charlie Hautz and Billy Redmond, who had played with the 1875 Reds, were still playing with the club. Interestingly, several of their teammates from that 1875 team, including Pidge Morgan, Trick McSorley, and Joe Blong, were playing with the rival Brown Stockings but would also get in some games with the Reds.

I love those 1873-1876 Red Stockings teams and the 1875 Reds are probably my favorite 19th century baseball team. They're not much more than a footnote in the history of the game but it was a good group of players. The 1881 team were really a different club than that group but I have a soft spot in my heart for that Red Stocking moniker. They also don't have much to do with the restoration of major league baseball in St. Louis but I usually don't pass up a chance to talk about the Reds.

The Restoration of 1881: The Reds Lose In Louisville

11/13/2014

The St. Louis Red Stockings were defeated to-day [June 18] in the last inning after a prettily played game with the Kentucky champions [the Eclipse], the score being [6-4]…

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 19, 1881

I would really be interested in what kind of crowd the Reds were able to draw in Louisville. Louisville, I would imagine, had experienced the same kind of difficulties that St. Louis did following the events of the 1877 season. I have no idea what was happening in Louisville in this era but the similarities with St. Louis are interesting. A couple of years in the NL, a gambling scandal, a few years in the wilderness, joining the AA in 1882 - that description fits both St. Louis and Louisville. I'm just wondering how bad the economic conditions were for baseball in Louisville in the late 1870s and early 1880s. Things must have been rebounding in 1881, however, if the Reds were making a trip there.

And that may be what this series of posts is all about, in the end. Yes, we're going to be talking about how the AA came about and how Von der Ahe got control of the Brown Stockings. That all goes to the return of major league baseball to St. Louis in 1882. That's what I mean when I call this the Restoration. But none of that happens if the economics of the game hadn't improved. If clubs in St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Louisville couldn't draw a crowd and make money on the road then the AA doesn't happen. There was a demand for baseball in 1881 that wasn't there in 1878 or 1879. I have no idea how to quantify that or show you that other than to point out that clubs like the Reds and the Brown Stockings weren't visiting Louisville in 1878. The Chicago clubs weren't coming to St. Louis in 1879 and 1880. The country was struggling to overcome the effects of the Long Depression and you weren't getting big enough crowds at the ballpark. Teams weren't making money and, therefore, weren't making the road trips that they had in the past.

But things were changing in 1881 and there is some evidence that they had begun to change in 1880. By the end of the 1881 season, it was evident that the baseball economy was growing and that the market could bear another league. Things like the Reds going on the road to Louisville and Cincinnati was a sign of a healthy baseball economy.

The Restoration of 1881: The Reds Hit The Road

11/11/2014

The grand stand at the Grand Avenue Park has been whitewashed. Part of the stand has been cushioned and reserved…

The St. Louis Red Stockings left for Louisville last night. They play in that city to-day and to-morrow, and in Cincinnati on Monday, returning home Tuesday morning.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 18, 1881

The Reds were probably the second best team in StL and the Browns’ main rival in town. They had already played each other four times by the middle of June. But this is not the 1874-1876 Thomas McNeary Red Stockings that played in the NA in 1875. That club broke up and was reformed a few years later, although there are a few players from the earlier version playing with this club. They also still played at the Compton Avenue Grounds but were managed by Frank McNeary, Thomas’ brother.

Their trip to Louisville and Cincinnati was a nice road trip for a club like the Reds and I think it speaks to the economic recovery that was taking place. Baseball had suffered some lean years and there was a bit of a retrenchment during the late 1870s and early 1880s. But here we're seeing the markets of St. Louis, Louisville, and Cincinnati reaching out to each other and scheduling games between clubs and that wasn't something that was happening in the late 1870s.

1875: How They Stand

2/21/2014

Taking a quick look at the NA standings, as of May 15, 1875 and published in the Republican on May 16, we find that the Brown Stockings were 5-0 and the Reds were 1-4. The Browns were heading to Chicago for a couple of games, starting on May 19, while the Reds wouldn't play another NA game until the 21st, at home against Keokuk, before they, too, headed off to Chicago for a couple of games against the Whites.

1875: An Increased Excitement In The Fraternity

2/14/2014

The return game of the Western with our Browns yesterday, proving a much closer one than that of the day previous, was the cause of an increased excitement in the fraternity in St. Louis. When at the end of the sixth inning the city bulletin-board showed a tie of two runs, the excitement reached its climax. The final score of 4 to 2 in favor of St. Louis...is the best that Keokuk has yet produced and is withal one of the best games of the season. All attempts to sell pools yesterday either on the Red-White game or the Brown-Western, proved unavailing. Men with change in their pockets are beginning to understand that it is risky staking it on base ball. On Saturday night pools will be sold for the next Chicago-St. Louis match, which takes place in Chicago next Wednesday.

On Saturday the Browns and Reds will play their second game at the Grand Avenue park. Bradley is recovering, and will probably be well enough for the game, but Fleet will probably pitch for practice. The boys will be home to-night.

-St. Louis Republican, May 14, 1875

The May 15th game between the Brown Stockings and Reds, mentioned by the Republican, never came off and I look forward to discovering the reason why. It was probably a result of weather but it's possible that, even at this early date, the Reds were finding it difficult to schedule other NA clubs. We'll see.

1875: Folly

2/11/2014

Our St. Louis Reds could not have asked for a better day than yesterday in which to beat the Chicago Whites at a game of base ball. The good game played by them on Tuesday had, it was supposed, imparted to them the necessary confidence to play another good game yesterday. Somehow this kind of philosophy didn't work, and the game as played proved a walk away for Chicago. For the first time in St. Louis the Whites handle the bat as though they knew what it was for, and batted Blong for twenty-one base hits. They went to work in the first inning, and it was by hard, safe hitting that they put away fifteen runs, and not by poor fielding of the Reds, although errors were not wanting in both fields. The Reds secured eight base hits off Zettlein, Redmon getting two of them and Houtz two, but both failing to score. Oran made the best hit of the season so far, but after reaching third, was caught napping between third and home and put out by Warren. Joe Ellick, who played with the Reds for the first time yesterday, received a bad finger while playing third base in the fourth inning and had to retire. Morgan then came in from the field and took Ellick's place and McSorely dressed and went to the field. Morgan in the last inning relieved Blong in the pitching department.

About four hundred people witnessed the game, which, though a very one-sided, was not an uninteresting one. It was just about such a game as the same Reds have played visiting professionals in former years. It was a very bod thing for the Reds, boys and amateurs as they were, to offer themselves for professionals this year, and much as St. Louis would have liked to see them make a good record no one familiar with the game has dared to expect that they would. The boys are plucky, but we knew they would have up-hill work competing with veterans. The game of Tuesday was a remarkable one, but in it fortune favored both sides by keeping down the score. In the five games played with professionals so far, the Reds have played three good games, and should not feel discouraged at their two bad defeats. They must expect to have defeats piled upon them this year, and by defeat to so improve their play that next season they may deal more largely in victory. It is folly to pat the Reds on the back and tell them that they can play against anything in the country.

-St. Louis Republican, May 14, 1875

I think folly is the perfect word to describe the decision to put the Reds in the NA in 1875. There were plenty of reasons why Thomas McNeary made the decision but, in the end, it proved to be a bad one, as the club was simply not a championship-level baseball team. They just were not good enough to compete at that level and the Republican, in May of 1875, stated as much.