The St. Louis Red Stockings 1875 season

The 1874 season

The 1876 season

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 Red Stockings go professional

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 McNeary 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 his park, Red Stockings Park, bring with it the revenue from games with the visiing professinal clubs, such as the Boston Red Stockings. Taking the Reds professional would generate that same revenue. 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 intended 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 Sweasy. 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.

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. There is some indication that the Eastern clubs did not wish to play the Red Stockings by this point, presumably because there was no money to be made. Boston visited St. Louis in August to play the Browns, but refused to play the Reds unless a $200 guarantee was provided. McNeary declined to do so.(5)

By this point, the club was changed up significantly from the start of the season. Joe Blong jumped the club in late June to join the Covington Stars. Dan Morgan took over the pitching duties, while Dan Collins ultimately joined the club filling the open spot on the roster. 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 and Louisville Eagles, respectively.(6)

At the start of September, the Red Stockings embarked on another trip to the Cincinnati and Louisville. McSorley and Ellick's positions were filled by John Magner and Martin Welch, both prominent St. Louis amateur players.(7) There are scores for seven games in the newspapers of the time, in which the team's record was 4-3. After that trip, the record thins out again. The club played Sunday games against local St. Louis clubs in September, and played two games against the Little Rock Accidentals in Little Rock on November 3 and November 5.

The day the club returned from Little Rock, they played a "Picked Nine" at Red Stockings Park. Their train, sceduled to arrive at 6 AM, instead arrived 7 hours late, so the team came directly from the station to the park. The article in the Globe-Democrat about the game noted "After the long ride of 400 miles, and suffering for want of sleep, they did not feel like going into the contests at all."(8) The picked players included both Blong and McSorely (who pitched). (Dillon was also advertised as playing, but he does not show up in the boxscore for the game.) Joe Battin and Lip Pike of the Browns also played for the "nines", as did Denny Mack, who played with the Empires in 1875 before joining the Covington club with Blong and McSorley. The Reds lost the game by a score of 10-8 in ten innings after the Nines scored three runs in the eighth to tie the score.

A rematch with the "Picked Nine" was scheduled for the following weekend, but manager McNeary refused the game unless it was held at the Red Stocking's park. Two other games were advertised against the Stocks, on November 14 and November 21, but no record of their being played is available.

The Reds finished the season with a record of 34-12 outside of the National Association (including preseason games), per the records found to date.

Games identified to date for 1875

Breakdown of record in known games:

Opponent	Wins	Losses
National Association	4	15	One additional win claimed over Philadelphis by forfeit
Non NA clubs	34	12
Brown Stockings	0	2
St. Louis amateur clubs	11	5
Non St. Louis amateur clubs	23	7
St. Louis Stocks	2	2
St. Louis Empire	1	1
The Ludlows	3	4
Covington Stars	2	2
Overall record	38	27

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 and McSorley	L 7-9	Red Stockings Park
		Nov 11, 1875	Picked nine	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	NA games	# games	Years with Reds
Charlie Houtz	19	62	1874-1875	Played with Reds the full season
Tom Oran	19	62	1874-1876	Played with Reds the full season
Dan Morgan	19	60	1873-1877	Played in more than 180 games from 1873-1877
Billy Redmond	19	60	1873-1877	Played in more than 180 games from 1873-1877
Art Croft	19	59	1874-1876	After joining the club late in 1874, was with the club the entirety of 1875 and 1876.
Frank Flint	17	54	1875	Turned down an offer from the Stars in September
Charlie Sweasy	19	44	1875	Member of the 1969 Cincinnati Red Stockings brought on to be the club Captain; released to re-join the Cincinnati club in late August
John McSorley	15	40	1873-1875	Jumped to the Covington Stars in August 1875
Joe Blong	16	26	1873-1875	Jumped to the Covington Stars in June 1875
Dan Collins		22	1875-1876	Signed to replace Blong but did not join the club until late July
Joe Ellick	7	21	1875	Joined the club early in the season as the tenth man; jumped to the Louisville Eagles in September
John Magner		13	1875-1876	Joined the club after McSorley and Ellick jumped
Martin Welsh		8	1875	Joined the club after McSorley and Ellick jumped; previously with the Elephants and Stocks in 1875. With the Atlantics in 1877.
Packy Dillon	3	6	1873-1877	After being injured at the start of 1875, Dillon played with the Covington Stars in the second half of the season
John Dillon	1	5	1874-1875	Played in one NA game, replacing brother Packy after the later suffered an injury
Zach Mulhall		2	1873-1875	Appeared in just two games in 1875, playing one under the alias Fox
Rowe		2	1875	D. Rowe and T. Rowe were with the Mutuals in August; Mr. Rowe of the Mutuals umpired the Reds game against the Rowenas on September 26
Williams		1	1875	May be the same Williams who played in one game in 1874
Burt		1	1875	Played in one game in Louisville after Ellick and McSorley left
Dan Devanney		1	1875	Played in one game in Louisville after Ellick and McSorley left
Tom Dolan		1	1875	Played in one game in Louisville after Ellick and McSorley left; was with the Louisville Olympics at the time
Billy Riley		1	1875	Played in one game in Louisville after Ellick and McSorley left; was with the Louisville Olympics at the time
McBride		1	1874, 1875(?)	May have played for the Reds in the first game of the preseason

(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. John McNeary was the younger brother of Thomas.

(5) "Local Gossip," St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 20, 1875, pg. 8.

(6) McNeary attempted to have Blong and McSoerley barred from playing for other clubs unless they were reinstated formally by the Judiciary Committee of the Professional Association, but despite this, Blong signed with the Browns in late 1875 and played for them in 1876.

(7) "Local Gossip," St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 11, 1875, pg. 3. Loftus was originally engaged with Magner, but was unable to go due to an injury.

(8) "Pretty Work," St. Louis Globe-Democrat, November 8, 1875.