Opening pitch : professional baseball's inaugural season, 1871 / Warren N. Wilbert.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wilbert, Warren N.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Baseball--History--19th century.

Baseball.

Baseball--United States--History--19th century.

History.

United States.

Physical Description:

xiii, 161 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2008.

Summary:

By the start of the 1870s, the game of "base ball" had been building momentum for a couple of decades as the new national pastime. From the first game to be reported in a newspaper in 1853 to the first all-star game in 1858 to the first fully professional baseball team in 1869, minor and major milestones ultimately led to the formation of the first professional baseball league.

In Opening Pitch: Professional Baseball's Inaugural Season, 1871, Warren N. Wilbert chronicles the events leading up to the sport's official first season. Highlighting key players both on and off the field, Wilbert provides a fascinating history of the sport's highs and lows, culminating in the historic season when it officially evolved from amateur athletics to the professional sport embraced by all of America. Opening Pitch provides a close look at the teams that participated in league play, including the New York Knickerbockers, Cincinnati Red Stockings, Chicago White Stockings, Troy Haymakers, New York Mutuals, Fort Wayne Kekiongas, Cleveland Forest Citys, Washington Olympics, and the Philadelphia Athletics.

Wilbert also pays tribute to the sport's early stars who made the first season memorable, such as Dave Eggler, Bob Ferguson, Cal McVey, Levi Meyerle, Joe Start, Ezra Sutton, Fred Treacey, James "Deacon" White, George Zettlein, and future Hall of Famers Adrian "Cap" Anson, George Wright, Harry Wright, and Al Spalding. Several appendixes include individual stats for all of the key players, as well as the season record for all the teams who participated in league play. Opening Pitch offers a fascinating glimpse into this historic era of professional sports for baseball enthusiasts as well as those interested in athletics in America.

Contents:

Chapter 1 The Eckfords: Link to the Past 1

Chapter 2 Boss Tweed's Mutes 7

Chapter 3 Base Ball in the Hinterlands: The Kekiongas 19

Opening Pitches I Base Ball 1871

Chapter 4 Base Ball on the Shores of Lake Erie 33

Chapter 5 Chicago's White Stockings 40

Opening Pitches II Sorting Out the Leaders

Chapter 6 Base Ball at the Agricultural Society Fairgrounds 55

Chapter 7 Troy's Haymakers 66

Opening Pitches III The Brothers Wright

Chapter 8 Red Stockings in Boston 79

Chapter 9 The Capital's Olympians 88

Chapter 10 A Whip Flag for the City of Brotherly Love 95

Appendix A 1871: The Ball Players' Who's Who 105

Appendix B The Championship Game 141

Appendix C 1871 National Association Standings and Team Statistics 143.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 147-149) and index.

ISBN:

9780810860209

0810860201

OCLC:

138341527