The rise of professionalism in St. Louis
Discussions about whether or not St. Louis would have a professional club started shortly after Chicago announced it would be sponsoring a club in the National Association for the 1874 season. While no club was formed that season, the die was cast on September 22, 1874. "Last evening about fifty prominent, and some of them wealthy young men of the city, assembled in parlor No. 2 of the Southern Hotel for the purpose of organizing a St. Louis Professional Base Ball Club for next season."(1) The assembly selected Mr. Joseph P. Carr as chairman and W.C. Steigers as the secretary. Mr. Tobias put forth a resolution that a professional club be organized and stock sold to raise the money for the club. Mr. Overbeck amended that the initial capital stock be worth $10,000, in shares of $50 each, with no person owning more than ten shares. Both proposals were adopted. The Committee to solicit shares was composed of Mr. F. Williams, Mr. E.H. Tobias, Mr. Chris Overbeck, Mr. Wayman McCreery, Mr. Charles Bragg and Mr. Charles Fowle, with Carr and Steigers as ex-officio members. Articles of incorporation were to be drafted by Tobias, Williams and Col. O.F. Rice. By the end of the evening, $5,800 worth of shares had been sold.A week later, the group met again. J.B.C. Lucas, C.O. Bishop, W.C. Bragg, C.A. Fowl, and W. Darrow were appointed to draft articles of incorporation for the St. Louis Base Ball Association. The target was set at 400 shares, at $50 per share. Seven directors were elected for an intial one-year term, although the newpaper only identified six: Joe P. Carr, J.B.C. Lucas, William Medart, Charles H. Turner, W.C. Steigers and C.O. Bishop.(2) Tobias reported in his account of this meeting in 1896 that Thomas McNeary was among the attendees, although his presence was not indicated in the local papers at the time.
From these meetings came the professional St. Louis Brown Stockings, composed of imported professionals. By the middle of January 1875, the roster was set as George Bradley (p), Tom Miller (c), Herman Dehlman (1b), Joe Battin (2b), Bill Hague (3b), Dickey Pearce (ss), Ned Cuthbert (lf), Lip Pike (cf), Jack Chapman (rf), Frank Fleet (UT), and Charlie Waitt (UT). S. Mason Graffen, of the Olympics of Philadelphia, was signed as the manager of the club. None of these players had any prior connection with St. Louis. The lack of local players on the club has long been cited as one reason why the Red Stockings decided to join the professional ranks. However, the Brown Stockings may have pushed the club in a second manner as well. By the end of January, the Browns had targeted a location for their park for 1875 - a field behind the Franklin Avenue car stables.(4) If McNeary was involved as an investor in the club, he may have been hoping the team would choose to use Red Stockings Park. When they didn't, taking the Reds professional would provide the same revenue brought in by playing the other professional clubs as they came to St. Louis. From the perspective of the existing National Association clubs, having two professional clubs in St. Louis (plus the club in Chicago and the Keokuk Westerns, who wished to join the National Association in 1875) made trips west more lucrative for the Eastern clubs.
All of this made circumstances perfect for the Reds to go professional in the winter of 1875. After months of speculation, the club incorporated as a professional club in February with Thomas McNeary as president, Andy Blong as vice-president, and John McNeary as secretary.(4) The Red Stockings were admitted to the professional National Assocition on March 1, 1875, at the Association meeting in Philadelphia. Andy Blong represented the Reds at the meeting. The core players of the 1875 club were all from St. Louis except for one - Charlie Sweazy. Sweazy was signed in early April to play second base and be the team captain. He replaced Mulhall, who was widely reported to be the second baseman in previews of the club. Sweazy arrived in St. Louis in mid-April. Joe Blong, Packy Dillon, Dan Morgan, Billy Redmond and Trick McSorley remained from the original 1873 club, while Tom Oran and Art Croft joined the club in 1874. The final regular was Charlie Houtz, who was the first baseman with the Empire club in 1874. He was considered one of the rising stars in the St. Louis baseball scene. The tenth man was John Dillon, brother of Packy.
The Reds pre-season lasted approximately one month, from their first game as a club on April 4 until their first scheduled Association game on May 1. There are box scores for four games during this month against amateur clubs in St. Louis, all four of which the Reds won. Opening Day was scheduled for May 1 against the Browns, but that game was rained out, as was one scheduled on May 3. The first game was ultimately played on May 4 against the St. Louis Brown Stockings.
During May and June, the club played predominantly Association games, mixing in some games on Sundays against St. Louis clubs, and even taking a short trip to Cincinnati and Covington for two games. They lost their first non-Association game on May 30 to the Empire club by a score of 12-15. They got their revenge the following weekend, beating them on June 6 by a score of 4-2. By the end of June, whille they were only 3-14 against Association clubs, they were 11-1 outside of the Association, as best as can be determined from newspaper accounts of the time. This record includes an exhibition game against the Keokuk Westerns which was played on a Sunday, where each club had 10 men, and the game ran 10 innings. Mulhall was the tenth player for the Reds, playing under the name Fox in the boxscore (although Mulhall was used in the article at various places).
The Red Stockings won two of their final three Association games against Washington, beating them on June 27 and July 3 and losing on July 4. (The July 4 game was also Washingtons final game, as they dropped out shortly thereafter.) They played in Quincy, IL on July 5, winning by a score of 21-2. They then went on a three week trip to Cincinnati and Louisville to play against some of the top clubs there. In the ten games for which there are records, they won 6 and lost 4. Several more were rained out. At the end of July, they won a game against in Nashville; the return game in St. Louis was rained out. Their record at this point outside of the Association was 17-5.
As their road trip ended, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reported that the trip had been a financial success, and that the club was planning a trip east after its return to St. Louis (July 21, 1875, pg. 8). It is not clear when (or if) the club formally dropped from the National Association. The Globe-Democrat noted that the Boston club (in St. Louis playing the Brown Stockings) declined a match against the Red Stockings for August 20 unless a $200 guarantee was given (August 20, 1875, pg. 8). The club was still included in the standings for the National Association published in the Brooklyn Eagle on August 25, with a record of 1-13. Keokuk and Washington, which had both formally withdrawn by that point, were not included, nor were games they had played included in the standings. Thus, the four wins the Reds had earned against those two clubs were omitted. The one win the club was credited with was a forfeit win against the Philadephia Whites from June 19. The next day, that same paper reported that "The St. Louis Red Stockings have been travelling in the Southwest recently, raising funds to make their Eastern tour in September (August 26, 1875, pg. 3). They may have been referring to a three-game trip to St. Joseph (MO) and Topekea (KS) a few weeks prior. By August 30, they were no longer included in the standings in the Brooklyn Eagle. There is some indication that the Eastern clubs did not wish to play the Red Stockings, presumably because there was no money to be made.
The record of game for the Red Stockings in August is sparse, with details for only six games found to date. The Red Stockings won all six to improve their record outside the Association to 23-5.
At the start of September, the Red Stockings embarked on another trip to the Cincinnati and Louisville. There are scores for seven games in the newspapers of the time, in which the team's record was 4-3. By this point, the club was changed up significantly from the start of the season. Joe Blong left in late June, replaced by Dan Collins. Charlie Sweasy was released at his own request in late-August, going to Cincinnati to join the revived Red Stockings club, for whom he had played in their famous 1869 campaign. Trick McSorley and Joe Ellick also left the club at the end of August, jumping to the Covington Stars. Their positions were filled by John Magner and Martin Welch, both prominent St. Louis amateur players. After that trip, the record thins out again. The club played Sunday games against local St. Louis clubs in September, and finished the season with two games against the Little Rock Accidentals in Little Rock on November 3 and November 5. They finished the season with a record of 34-12 outside of the National Association (including the preseason games), from the records found to date.
Games identified to date for 1875
| Game No. | MLB Game No. | Date | Opponent | Outcome | Notes |
| 1 | April 4, 1875 | St. Louis Atlantics | W 32-4 | Red Stockings Park | |
| 2 | April 15, 1875 | St. Louis Elephants | W 14-8 | Red Stockings Park | |
| 3 | April 18, 1875 | St. Louis Niagras | W 14-6 | Red Stockings Park | |
| 4 | April 24, 1875 | St. Louis Nationals | W 35-14 | Red Stockings Park | |
| May 1, 1875 | St. Louis Brown Stockings | Rained out | Red Stockings Park | ||
| 5 | May 2, 1875 | St. Louis Elephants | W 13-5 | Red Stockings Park | |
| May 3, 1875 | St. Louis Brown Stockings | Rained out | Grand Avenue Grounds | ||
| 6 | 1 | May 4, 1875 | St. Louis Brown Stockings | L 9-15 | Red Stockings Park |
| 7 | 2 | May 6, 1875 | Keokuk Westerns | L 2-15 | Keokuk, IA |
| 8 | 3 | May 8, 1875 | Keokuk Westerns | W 6-1 | Keokuk, IA |
| 9 | 4 | May 11, 1875 | Chicago White Stockings | L 0-1 | Red Stockings Park |
| 10 | 5 | May 13, 1875 | Chicago White Stockings | L 2-15 | Red Stockings Park |
| 11 | May 16, 1875 | St. Louis Elephants | W 18-10 | Red Stockings Park | |
| May 20, 1875 | Keokuk Westerns | Rained out | Red Stockings Park | ||
| 12 | 6 | May 21, 1875 | Keokuk Westerns | W 3-1 | Red Stockings Park |
| May 22, 1875 | Keokuk Westerns | Rained out | Red Stockings Park | ||
| 13 | May 23, 1875 | Keokuk Westerns | W 7-1 | Red Stockings Park (10 men, 10 innings, not an official game) | |
| 14 | 7 | May 25, 1875 | Chicago White Stockings | L 2-16 | Chicago, IL |
| 15 | 8 | May 27, 1875 | Chicago White Stockings | L 0-15 | Chicago, IL |
| 16 | 9 | May 29, 1875 | St. Louis Brown Stockings | L 0-6 | Grand Avenue Grounds |
| 17 | May 30, 1875 | St. Louis Empire | L 12-15 | Red Stockings Park | |
| 18 | 10 | June 3, 1875 | Boston Red Stockings | L 5-10 | Red Stockings Park |
| June 5, 1875 | Boston Red Stockings | Rained out | Red Stockings Park | ||
| 19 | June 6, 1875 | St. Louis Empire | W 4-2 | Grand Avenue Grounds | |
| 20 | 11 | June 10, 1875 | New York Mutuals | L 4-18 | Red Stockings Park |
| 21 | June 12, 1875 | Ludlows | W 13-4 | Ludlow Grounds (Ludlow, KY) | |
| 22 | June 14, 1875 | Covington Stars | W 19-0 | Star Base Ball Grounds (Covington, KY) | |
| 23 | 12 | June 15, 1875 | Philadephia Whites | L 3-4 | Red Stockings Park |
| 24 | 13 | June 17, 1875 | New York Mutuals | L 1-4 | Red Stockings Park |
| 25 | 14 | June 20, 1875 | Philadelphia Whites | Forfeit win | Red Stockings Park |
| 26 | June 20, 1875 | St. Louis Atlantics | W 36-4 | Red Stockings Park | |
| 27 | 15 | June 22, 1875 | Hartford Dark Blues | L 1-8 | Red Stockings Park |
| 28 | 16 | June 24, 1875 | Hartford Dark Blues | L 6-11 | Red Stockings Park |
| 29 | 17 | June 26, 1875 | Hartford Dark Blues | L 0-9 | Red Stockings Park |
| 30 | 18 | June 27, 1875 | Washington Nationals | W 3-0 | Red Stockings Park |
| 31 | 19 | July 3, 1875 | Washington Nationals | W 8-0 | Red Stockings Park |
| 32 | 20 | July 4, 1875 | Washington Nationals | L 5-12 | Red Stockings Park |
| 33 | July 5, 1875 | Quincy | W 21-2 | Quincy, IL | |
| July 7, 1875 | Louisvile Olympics | The Reds did not arrive in time for the game | Olympic Park (Louisville, KY) | ||
| 34 | July 8, 1875 | Louisvile Eagles | W 5-0 | Eagle Park (Louisville, KY) | |
| 35 | July 9, 1875 | Louisville Olympics | W 16-0 | Olympic Park (Louisville, KY) | |
| 36 | July 10, 1875 | Louisvile Eagles | W 7-2 | Eagle Park (Louisville, KY) | |
| 37 | July 13, 1875 | Covington Stars | W 7-0 | Star Base Ball Grounds (Covington, KY) | |
| 38 | July 14, 1875 | Ludlows | L 5-7 | Ludlow Grounds (Ludlow, KY) | |
| 39 | July 15, 1875 | Covington Stars | L 3-5 | Star Base Ball Grounds (Covington, KY) | |
| 40 | July 16, 1875 | Cumminsville Blue Stockings | W 6-1 | Blue Stockings Park (Cincinnati, OH) | |
| 41 | July 17, 1875 | Ludlows | L 2-9 | Ludlow Grounds (Ludlow, KY) | |
| July 20, 1875 | Covington Stars | Rained out | Star Base Ball Grounds (Covington, KY) | ||
| 42 | July 21, 1875 | Ludlows | L 6-14 | Ludlow Grounds (Ludlow, KY) | |
| July 22, 1875 | Covington Stars | Rained out | Star Base Ball Grounds (Covington, KY) | ||
| July 23, 1875 | Louisville Olympics | Rained out | Olympic Park (Louisville, KY) | ||
| 43 | July 24, 1875 | Louisvile Eagles | W 10-1 | Eagle Grounds (Louisville, KY) | |
| 44 | July 30, 1875 | Nashville Lincks | W 14-6 | Fair Grounds (Nashville, TN) | |
| August 1, 1875 | Nashville Lincks | Rained out | Red Stockings Park | ||
| 45 | Aug 3, 1875 | Ludlows | W 8-6 | Red Stockings Park | |
| 46 | Aug 4, 1875 | Ludlows | W 12-9 | Red Stockings Park | |
| 47 | Aug 12, 1875 | St. Joseph Pastimes | W 13-3 | Exposition Park (St. Joseph, MO) | |
| 48 | Aug 13, 1875 | Topeka Westerns | W 27-3 | Topeka, KS | |
| 49 | Aug 14, 1875 | St. Joseph Pastimes | W 20-11 | Exposition Park (St. Joseph, MO) | |
| 50 | Aug 27, 1875 | Quincys | W 29-14 | Quincy, IL | |
| Sep 3, 1875 | Louisville Olympics | Rained out | Olympic Park (Louisville, KY) | ||
| 51 | Sep 6, 1875 | Lexington | W 18-5 | City Park (Lexington, KY) | |
| 52 | Sep 7, 1875 | Louisville Olympics | W 7-4 | Olympic Park (Louisville, KY) | |
| 53 | Sep 9, 1875 | Ludlows | L 1-4 | Eagle Park (Louisville, KY) | |
| 54 | Sep 11, 1875 | Louisville Eagles | L 7-4 | Eagle Park (Louisville, KY) | |
| 55 | Sep 13, 1875 | Ludlows | W 8-1 | Ludlow Grounds (Ludlow, KY) | |
| 56 | Sep 14, 1875 | Covington Stars | L 5-8 | Star Base Ball Grounds (Covington, KY) | |
| 57 | Sep 15, 1875 | Cumminsville Blue Stockings | W 6-4 | Blue Stockings Park (Cincinnati, OH) | |
| 58 | Sep 26, 1875 | St. Louis Rowenas | W 27-8 | Red Stockings Park | |
| 59 | Oct 2, 1875 | St. Louis Nationals | L 10-13 | Red Stockings Park | |
| 60 | Oct 3, 1875 | St. Louis Stocks | L 16-15 | Red Stockings Park | |
| 61 | Oct 17, 1875 | St. Louis Stocks | L 5-7 | Red Stockings Park | |
| 62 | Oct 24, 1875 | St. Louis Stocks | W 12-2 | Red Stockings Park | |
| 63 | Oct 31, 1875 | St. Louis Stocks | W 13-9 | Red Stockings Park | |
| 64 | Nov 3, 1875 | Little Rock Occidentals | W 19-7 | Little Rock | |
| 65 | Nov 5, 1875 | Little Rock Occidentals | W 24-3 | Little Rock | |
| 66 | Nov 7, 1875 | Picked nine including former Reds Blong, Dillon, McSorley | L 7-9 | Red Stockings Park | |
| Nov 11, 1875 | Picked nine including former Reds Blong, Dillon, McSorley | Not played | McNeary declined to play game at Grand Avenue Grounds | ||
| Nov 14, 1875 | St. Louis Stocks | Advertised | |||
| Nov 21, 1875 | St. Louis Stocks | Advertised |
| Player | # games | Years with Reds |
(1) "Base Ball. A Professional Club Formed Last Night - $5,800 subscribed," St. Louis Democrat, September 23, 1874, pg. 4.
(2) "Base Ball. St. Louis to Have a Professional Club Next Season - Organization Perfected," St. Louis Democrat, September 30, 1874, pg. 4.
(3) "The Ball Field," St. Louis Democrat, February 1, 1875, pg. 1. The St. Louis Stocks built a park at this location the following spring, near Easton (now Martin Luther King) and Vandeventer. It was reportedly under consideration to be the home of the Maroons in the Union Associatin in 1884. The Brown Stockings ended up using the Grand Avenue Grounds for their home field after final arrangements couldn't be reached to use the Franklin property.
(4) The Sporting News, February 8, 1896, pg. 5.
