Although the Red Stockings were directly competing against the (nominally) best clubs in the city for the first time, they came in with high expectations.
The new club about which so much speculation had been indulged, threw down the gauntlet at this time and defied the best clubs in the city, its first game being with the Champion Empires on May 25. This new claiment for popular favor and the State championship was composed entirely of St. Louis boys, with perhaps a solitary exception. Its playing nine was composed of some ambitious and brilliant players whose careers in other clubs, St. Louis and Varieties, had been sucessful enough to attract the favorable commendation of competent judges and also that of Mr. Thomas McNeary, the organizer of the Red Stocking Club, and he certainly succeded in launching a very strong aggregation, one that was destined to become an important factor not only in local, but in outside base ball, for in the course of time a number of these players were drafted from his club by out and out professional organizations, where they distinguished themselves in no unworthy manner.
(Written by E.H. Tobias in The Sporting News, January 4, 1896, as part of his series on the development of baseball in St. Louis.)
The starting lineup for that first game against the Empires was as follows:Packy Dillon, catcher, age 20 |
The Red Sockings lost by as score of 16-25. They held a lead through five innings, but gave up 13 runs total in innings six, seven and nine, while scoring only one in that same span. Tobias noted that Moragn played third to start, then short field and then pitched two innings; the contemporary boxscore and game article didn't mention this. Tobias added (nearly 20 years after the fact) that "Dean, at first, acquitted himself well up to the fifth inning, when he was sorely troubled by the sun shining on his face," while "Dillon showed the elements of a great catcher. He faced hot ones unflinchingly, was adept at taking the tips, but was weak on passing balls." Tobias felt the club "suffered for want of practice and when it had that and the players had become more familiar with each other's play, there was great promise of a superior club."
At this point, it should be noted that the core of the club - Dillon, the two Blong's, McSorley (who, after missing the first game, was a regular on the club) and Redmond - had likely been playing together for several years. In 1869, the Eckford Jr. club consisted of Dean at first base, McSorley pitching, Blong in centerfield, and Dillon at second base.(2) The following summer, the St. Louis Jr. club comprised P. Dillon, catcher; J. Blong, center field; J. McSorley, pitcher; Dean, first base; A. Blong, second base; W. Redmond, shortstop.(3) Dillon, both Blongs, and John McSorley (and his brother Charlie) all attended Notre Dame at the same time, where Dillon played on the "Senior" baseball club in the spring of 1872. Zach Mulhall also attended Notree Dame, although it is not clear if his time there overlapped with the others. In some sense, one could think of this group like the kids from the movie The Sandlot. They may have grown up playing ball together. To that end, it is unclear how much more familiar they could be playing ball together. Rust from the off-season, sure, but not a lack of familiarity, one would think.
Game two with the Empire was played on June 8, 1873.
This afternoon, at the Park, on Grand avenue, the St. Louis Red Stockings will play their second game with the Empires. The Red Stockings have the material for a first-class club, and should they work in harmony and as a whole, and not each man for himself, as seems to be the case, they would stand a much better chance to wrest the State championship from the Empires. They should not change their positions so often, as was the case in their first game played with the Empires, two weeks ago.After losing the first game on May 25 they lost the second game by a score of 26-18 as well. The game article the next day in the Missouri Democrat noted "Although the Red Stockings were defeated, they have nothing to be ashamed of, as they made the State champions work hard to beat them... The Reds continually changed positions, which was generally believed to be bad policy, and but for which they might have won."(4) The boxscore again didn't indicate who switched positions when.
(St. Louis Democrat, June 8, 1873, pg. 3)
Game three of the series didn't happen until September 7. "The 'Reds' out-batted the Empires and played a better fielding game too. Hines, of the 'Reds' made a home run in the fifth inning."(5) The Reds won the game by a score of 20 to 11. The loss for the Empires was their first to a home club that season. The lineup was the same as their opening game, except McSorley and Hines were now in the lineup in place of Dean and Mathae. This was the only (known) game Hines played with the Reds in 1873, as Dean was back for the final two games against the Empires.
Game four was scheduled for October 5, but it got pushed back a week to October 12 because of rain. It proved the closest game yet, with the score tied at 15 each going into the ninth. The Reds scored twice, and then held on to win by a final score of 17-16. The game was witnessed by about 1200 fans.
"There was some fine playing done on both sides. Throughout the game was evenly contested, and had the umpire done the fair thing on both sides, the Empires would have won beyond all doubt. The umpiring was satisfactory to the Red Stockings, no less than six errors having been made in their favor, while not one was made in favor for the Empire club. It is a hard thing for the Empires to get an umpire who will act impartially, all hands seeming to be prejudiced against them for some reason or other."
(St. Louis Democrat, October 13, 1873, pg. 4)
Not many other details were provided about the game itself. However, the Democrat also noted "By the way, we wish to state right here that if the base ball clubs wish to be patronized liberally, they have got to use respectful language. Yesterday the right fielder of the Red Stockings [McSorley] is said to have used such filthy language that the ladies in attendance had to leave the grounds."
With the series tied at two game each, 3000 spectators showed up a week later, on October 19, for the fifth and deciding game. "The game throughout was undoubtedly the most brilliant overplayed in St. Louis, and the fielding would have done credit to any professional organization in the country... Victory perched on the banners of the Empires more from good luck and superior generalship than from skill. The skill was about equal, and the errors few and far between, but when they did come the Reds suffered most." The Reds lost 10-4, with only one run being earned for both sides. Both sides made only six hits. With the win, the Empires held onto the State championship. Over the five games, the Empires outsocred the Reds 88-75, a difference of fewer than 3 runs per game.
Records have been found of twelve games played or scheduled by the Red Stockings, with scores for ten games, and box scores for eight games. The Reds were 6-4 in the games with known scores. Three of the losses came to the Empire. Of the other known championship games, the Reds were 1-1 against the Turners, 1-0 against the Rowenas, and 2-0 against the Rivals. It seems clear that additional games were played, as in January 1874 "a flag won by the Turners from the St. Louis Red Stockings last season was placed in the most conspicuous part of [their] hall."(6) This would suggest the Turners won at least one more game against the Reds in the 1874 season.
Here are the twelve games noted in the local papers for the Red Stockings in 1873. With a gap in August, chances are there are still games to be learned about.
| Game No. | Date | Opponent | Outcome | Notes |
| 1 | May 4, 1873 | Pastimes | The St. Louis Democrat advertised a game between the Singer Red Stockings and the Pastimes on May 3, 1873 | |
| 2 | May 25, 1873 | Empires | L 16-12 | Played at the "Base Ball Park" on Grand Aveneue |
| 3 | June 1, 1873 | Rivals | W 47-5 | Played on the Rival's grounds at Lowell |
| 4 | June 8, 1873 | Empires | L 18-26 | Played at Grand Aveneue Park |
| 5 | June 14, 1873 | Athletes | Advertised to be at Christian Brothers College | |
| June 29, 1873 | Turners | Postponed | Interrupted by a storm | |
| 6 | July 5, 1873 | Turners | L 17-19 | Played at Grand Aveneue Park |
| 7 | July 19, 1873 | Turners | W 16-5 | Played at Grand Aveneue Park |
| 8 | July 20, 1873 | Rivals | W 20-17 | Lone Star grounds of Lafayette Park |
| 9 | September 7, 1873 | Empires | W 20-11 | |
| 10 | September 14, 1873 | Rowenas | W 16-9 | Played at the Rowena's park |
| October 5, 1873 | Empires | Postponed | Rained out | |
| 11 | October 12, 1873 | Empires | W 17-16 | |
| 12 | October 19, 1873 | Empires | L 4-10 | Played at Grand Aveneue Park |
Record in known championship games:
vs. Empires: 2 W, 3 L
vs. Turners: 1 W, 1 L
vs. Rivals: 2 W, 0 L
vs. Rowenas: 1 W, 0 L
Fourteen different players appeared in the eight box scores found for the Red Stockings from 1873. Packy Dillon, Dan Morgan, and John Peters played in all eight of these games. Joe Blong, P. Dean, Zach Mulhall and John McSorley appeared in seven, and Andy Blong and Billy Redmond played in six.
| Player | # games | First game | Last game | |
| Packy Dillon | 8 | May 25 | October 19 | Dillon caught for the Reds in all known games in 1873 |
| Dan Morgan | 8 | May 25 | October 19 | Pitched in six games, played third base in two others |
| John Peters | 8 | May 25 | October 19 | Started at shortstop, then switched to second base |
| Joe Blong | 7 | May 25 | October 19 | Pitched at the start of the season, then switched to first base |
| P. Dean | 7 | May 25 | October 19 | Bounced between first base and the outfield |
| John McSorley | 7 | June 8 | October 19 | Played all positions in the outfield |
| Zach Mulhall | 7 | May 25 | October 19 | Settled at third base in the second half of the season |
| Andy Blong | 6 | May 25 | October 19 | Started at second base before moving to center field |
| Billy Redmond | 6 | May 25 | October 19 | Missed most of the first part of the season before taking over shortstop |
| Mathae | 4 | May 25 | July 20 | G. Mathae appears in a box score with the Defiance club in 1867; probably George Mathae |
| Corneillier | 1 | July 5 | This name appears nowhere else in St. Louis reords | |
| Hines | 1 | September 7 | Appeared in one game in 1873 and four games in 1874 | |
| Smith | 1 | July 20 | Smith caught for the Turners in a game against the Reds on July 19 | |
| Spencer | 1 | July 20 | Mr. W.B. Spencer of the Red Stockings was the umpire for the game against the Empire on May 25 | |
E.H. Tobias wrote a whole series on the history of baseball in St. Louis, technically as Letters to the Editor, in The Sporting News in late 1895 into early 1896. As a young man, he played baseball in St. Louis in the 1860s, both during and after the Civil War. On July 4, 1861, as a member of the Commercial Club, he pitched for the "Married Men" against the "Single Men" of the St. Louis baseball scene. The married men won by a score of 55-32.(9) He later played for the Empire Club, one of the top clubs in the city in the 1860s and 1870s. While originally in business, he transitioned to reporting, working for numerous papers in St. Louis, including the Globe, Times, Evening Dispatch, Morning Journal, Daily News, and Star.(8) The articles from The Sporting News combined recollections of the time with text and box scores lifted from contemporary papers about the games being discussed.Tobias' own account states he started playing with the Commercial club before resigning to join the Empires. The Commercial Club collapsed after its president took a commission as captain in the army. (It was not specified which army.) In the spring of 1865, the Empires arranged to play a game at Freeport, IL on July 4th against that club.
A game was played in Freeport, Ill., on the 4th of July, for the Championship of the West, between the Empire, of St. Louis, and the Empire, of Freeport, Ill. The Empire won, by a score of 27-20. E.H. Tobias was the shortstp for that club. Tobias was born in New York around 1830. (In 1863, his age was given as 36 in a Civil War draft registration list for the Second Congressional District of Missouri. However, in the 1860 Census, his age is given as 28.) It is not clear when he came to St. Louis, but in 1857, the Daily Missouri Democrat reported the death of his infant daughter, aged 7 months, 23 days.(7) He was prominent in St. Louis in social circles and political affairs of the time. In December, 1897, he fell into the Mississippi while waiting for a ferry to cross over to East St. Louis. He was rescued and recovered from the immediate effects of the dunking, but he died two weeks later from asthma, on January 12, 1898. He is burried in Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis. His wife, Laura, died in 1914 and is buried with him.
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While not every game of the time was written up in the papers they way they are today, the games between the Red Stockings and Empires were deemed significant enough that full box scores, with a brief writeup, were provided in the St. Louis Democrat for all five games the day after the game. The St. Louis Democrat later because the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, which is how it is more commonly identified in online newspaper archives. The details published by Tobias in 1895 and 1896 clearly came from a different paper. Games played by the Empire club seem more likely to have box scores published than the other clubs of the period in 1873. By 1874, coverage of games expanded. The expansion of coverage suggest an expanding interest in baseball in St. Louis.
(1) "State Base-Ball Association," St. Louis Democrat, May 15, 1873, pg. 1. Just two weeks earlier, the St. Louis Democrat advertised an upcoming game between the Singer Red Stockings and the Pastimes on the lot at Geyer and Jefferson, back of Lafayette Park (May 3, 1873, pg. 4). An article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in March, 1874, noted that Peters, Blong and Morgan recently lost their jobs at the Singer Sewing Machine company, so it seems like that this company originally sponsored the Singer baseball club (March 5, 1874, pg. 4).
(2) "Empire Junior vs. Eckford Junior," Missouri Democrat, July 16, 1869, pg. 4. Brothers John and James both played for the Eckfords (as opposed to the Eckford Junior) in 1869, as did Dan (Pidgey) Morgan.
(3) "St. Louis Junior vs. Aetna Junior," Missouri Democrat, August 16, 1870, pg. 4, and "St. Louis Junior vs. Aetna," Missouri Democrat, September 30, 1870, pg. 4. "P. Dean", St. Louis Red Stockings, umpired several games for other clubs in 1873. It is reasonable to assume he was the same player from the Eckford Jr. and St. Louis Jr. clubs.
(4) "A Fine Game Betweem the Empires and the Red Stocking," St. Louis Democrat, June 9, 1873, pg. 4.
(5) "The Empires Defeated at Last," St. Louis Democrat, September 8, 1873, pg. 1.
(6) "The Turner Base Ball Club Ball," St. Louis Democrat, January 22, 1874, pg. 4.
(7) "Base Ball - Married vs. Single," Missouri Republican, July 7, 1861, pg. 3.
(8) "Death of E.H. Tobias," St. Louis Globe-Democrat, January 13, 1898, pg. 11. "Edmund H. Tobias is Dead," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 12, 1898, pg. 2.
(9) "Died," Daily Missouri Democrat, December 3, 1857, pg. 2. In the 1900 Census, Edmund's widow Laura stated she had 11 children, five of whom were still alive. In the 1880 Census, they have five children, the oldest being Kate, born in 1859. Family trees on Ancestry.com identify up to seven children, with the youngest born in 1874.
