Professional Matches
Ten of the twelve professional clubs from 1869 remained in that field for 1870, all except Keystone of Philadelphia and Irvington, New Jersey, from Greater New York. The five newcomers were Union of Morrisania, now in New York City; Tri-Mountain of Boston; Riverside of Portsmouth, Ohio, near Cincinnati; Forest City of Rockford, Illinois, near Chicago; and Chicago or the Chicago White Stockings, the only brand new club. Union was a founding member from the 1857 convention and Forest City had been one of the strongest amateurs remaining in 1869.
The records of the teams in professional matches, ranked by wins (see table), reveal three groups of five with sharp outlines. A big group of thirteen and a little of group of two are equally clear, considering the numbers of defeats, pro matches, and all matches (not shown), and are supported by the subsequent history.
| Club | W | L | T | comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mutual, New York | 29 | 15 | 3 | |
| Cincinnati Red Stockings | 27 | 6 | 1 | |
| Athletic, Philadelphia | 26 | 11 | 1 | |
| Chicago White Stockings | 22 | 7 | a brand new base ball club | |
| Atlantic, Brooklyn | 20 | 16 | ||
| Troy Haymakers | 11 | 13 | 1 | Union of Lansingburgh, New York |
| Olympic, Washington | 10 | 18 | ||
| Forest City, Rockford | 10 | 13 | 1 | |
| Forest City, Cleveland | 9 | 15 | ||
| Union, Morrisania | 7 | 18 | Union of Morrisania, Bronx | |
| Eckford, Brooklyn | 2 | 12 | 1 | |
| Maryland, Baltimore | 2 | 14 | ||
| National, Washington | 2 | 9 | ||
| Riverside, Portsmouth | 0 | 6 | ||
| Tri-Mountain, Boston | 0 | 4 |
The two more ambitious newcomers played only a few pro matches and never returned to the professional field. Mighty Cincinnati and venerable Union also shut down after this season. All the others joined the new professional association established that winter (NAPBBP), seven as founding members and four in 1872 or 1873.
The Mutuals, Athletics, and Chicago White Stockings survived to found the National League in 1875/76.
Read more about this topic: 1870 In Baseball
Famous quotes containing the words professional and/or matches:
“I sometimes wonder whether, in the still, sleepless hours of the night, the consciences of ... professional gossips do not stalk them. I myself believe in a final reckoning, when we shall be held accountable for our misdeeds. Do they? If so, they have cause to worry over many scoops that brought them a day’s dubious laurels and perhaps destroyed someone’s peace forever.”
—Mary Pickford (1893–1979)
“That matches are made in heaven, may be, but my wife would have been just the wife for Peter the Great, or Peter Piper. How would she have set in order that huge littered empire of the one, and with indefatigable painstaking picked the peck of pickled peppers for the other.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)