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First Professional Baseball Team1869 Cincinnati Reds Were the First Team to Pay All of Its PlayersManaged by an English Cricket player named Harry Wright, and owned and operated by members of an Ohio law firm, the Red Stockings were the first true major league team.
The 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings were the first all-professional team in baseball history. They had ten players, all of whom were under contract to play exclusively for Cincinnati from March 15 through November 15. Their center fielder and manager was Harry Wright, an English born cricket player who came to the United States to serve as the club pro for the Cincinnati Cricket Club. But Wright soon fell in love with baseball, the American cousin of Cricket, and began playing the game almost full-time in 1866 for a local club founded by the members of a Cincinnati law firm, Tilden, Sherman and Moulton. That squad was a member of the National Association of Professional Base Ball (NAPBB) clubs, a loosely affiliated group of amateur baseball teams that had an annual convention in New York City to further refine the rules of the game. The Red Stockings played just four games in 1866, posting a 2-2 record. Over the next two seasons, however, they became one of the best teams in the land, posting records of 17-1 and 37-7 in 1867 and 1868, respectively. During its first three seasons, Cincinnati held itself out as a squad made up of exclusively amateur players, although some claim that Wright and a few other players may have been paid secretly. Early Professional PlayersHenry Chadwick, who was an early baseball writer and historian, remarked in an 1868 newspaper article that several of the best players on the Brooklyn Atlantics were being secretly paid. Other teams also paid a few of their players secretly, and there is evidence that in 1868, as many as four of the Red Stockings received nominal pay to play. The First All-Pro Baseball TeamPrior to the 1869 season, club President Harry Champion announced that all of his players would be paid to play baseball, and all would be under exclusive contract with the Red Stockings from March 15 through November 15. Harry Wright, who by that time had become the team's manager, recruited five players from eastern leagues, including his younger brother, George, a superstar shortstop from Boston. Here is the roster and salaries of the first all-professional baseball club.
The 1869 Red Stockings made history not only as the first professional club, but they also compiled the longest winning streak in baseball history. Although there was no fully professional league yet established, there were some 15 teams who were considered in the upper tier of clubs in the National Association of Profesional Base Ball clubs. The Red Stockings defeated all of these teams and they also walloped a number of lesser clubs. Their final official record was 57-0. The team's highest paid player and superstar was George Wright, who hit .519 with 59 home runs in 1869. The club retained all of its players for 1870, and ran its unbeaten streak to 81 games. They were finally defeated by the Brooklyn Atlantics, 8-7 in 11 innings, before 10,000 spectators in New York City. Financial Problems Lead to The Reds' CollapseDespite their success on the field, the Red Stockings lost money at the box office, and the club's officers decided to disband the club. Subsequently, those same owners backed Harry Wright to organize a new professional club in Boston and he signed three Cincinnati teammates to join the 1871 Boston Red Stockings in the new National Association, which consisted of eight clubs and was the first all-professional baseball league in America. The Team's LegacyBecause Cincinnati is the birthplace of professional baseball, the current Cincinnati Reds club and some fans identify the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings with the modern team. They are not the same, however. The current Reds were formed as a major league club in 1882 and had none of the players, owners or management from the old 1869 franchise. _______________________ The History of Every Major League Early History of the Chicago Cubs
The copyright of the article First Professional Baseball Team in Baseball is owned by James Lincoln Ray. Permission to republish First Professional Baseball Team in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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