History
Joining the National Association (NA) in the final season of that league, the Brown Stockings were the first team to represent St. Louis in a professional baseball association (Spink 1911). The original Brown Stockings, or Browns (different from the St. Louis Browns or future Orioles), were a charter member of the National League in 1876 and completed the first two NL seasons.
Like the White Stockings in Chicago (est. 1870), the Brown Stockings in St. Louis (est. 1875) adopted uniforms and acquired a nickname by descent with variation from the famous Red Stockings of Cincinnati (est. 1869), the first professional baseball team, which garnered much public interest due to an undefeated streak during a barnstorming tour in 1869-1870.
The Brown Stockings played their games at Grand Avenue Grounds, which later would be the site of Sportsman's Park. Brown Stocking George Bradley pitched the very first no-hitter in major league history, on July 15, 1876.
The Brown Stockings slipped to 28-32 in 1877 after going 45-19 and finishing third in 1876. The team signed stars Jim Devlin and George Hall from the Louisville Grays, only to become embroiled in a game-fixing scandal that resulted in the permanent expulsion of Devlin and Hall (and two other Grays players) from the league. The Grays and Brown Stockings both filed for bankruptcy in the aftermath of the scandal. However, the Brown Stockings continued to play as an independent barnstorming team on a semi-professional basis from 1878-1881. Prior to the 1882 season, Chris Von der Ahe purchased the troubled team and placed them in the new American Association . The new Brown Stockings, whose name Von der Ahe soon shortened to Browns, survive today as the National League St. Louis Cardinals.
Read more about this topic: St. Louis Brown Stockings
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