Atlanta Braves History: The Return (1876)

The 1876 season was a bust all the way around. The “four seceders’ had made sure of that. Joseph Borden did not replace Al Spalding. The greatest excitement of the season came on May 30th. The Chicago White Stockings and the “Four Seceders” made their first visit to Boston. They played at the South End Grounds.

The crowd got so excited they tore down the fences to see Spalding pitch against the Braves (then known as the Boston Red Stockings). Spalding showed why he was so good beating the Braves 5-1 that day. The season also showed why the Braves were devasted loosing the “Four Seceders”. With them Chicago beat the Braves nine times out of ten games that season. They went on to win the National League pennant and broke the Braves run of four consecutive championships. The Braves ended up in fourth in 1876.

The Return (1876)

The 1876 season was a bust all the way around. The “four seceders’ had made sure of that. Joseph Borden did not replace Al Spalding. The greatest excitement of the season came on May 30th. The Chicago White Stockings and the “Four Seceders” made their first visit to Boston. They played at the South End Grounds.

The crowd got so excited they tore down the fences to see Spalding pitch against the Braves (then known as the Boston Red Stockings). Spalding showed why he was so good beating the Braves 5-1 that day. The season also showed why the Braves were devasted loosing the “Four Seceders”. With them Chicago beat the Braves nine times out of ten games that season. They went on to win the National League pennant and broke the Braves run of four consecutive championships. The Braves ended up in fourth in 1876.

Harry continues (1877)

Harry Wright continued on in 1877 as the manager. The Braves did very well. They were 42-18 and finished first, 7 games ahead. Not bad for having lost some of the best players in the league.

Al who? Maybe you couldn’t find it in the headlines that year. But time marches on. Al Spalding had been gone a year now. Perhaps the mourning was over. No way to know for sure. The good news is that Tommy Bond was signed to the team. A 21 year-old Irishman (ok, this is Boston) came on the scene. In 1876 he had a pretty good season for Hartford. He was 31-13. Got him noticed in Boston by the Braves.

Al who? How quickly they forget.

Interesting demotion (1876)

Joseph Borden could not replace Al Spalding in 1876. The Braves (then known as the Red Stockings) got pretty frustrated with him. How much? So much so they demoted him. Moved him to the bullpin? Nope. Moved him to the bench? Nope.

They made him a groundskeeper. They didn’t want him to pitch anymore but needed to get something for what they were paying him. OK, this was the first year of the National League and the rules were a little different. OK, they were a lot different.

Two hours

“Two hours is about as long as any American can wait for the close of a baseball game, or anything else for that matter.”

—- Al Spalding

Vim and Vigor

“Baseball is the exponent of American Courage, Confidence, Combativeness, American Dash, Discipline, Determination, American Energy, Eagerness, Enthusiasm, American Pluck, Persistency, Performance, American Spirit, Sagacity, Success, American Vim, Vigor, Virility.”

— Al Spalding

 

Could it be right?

“I was not able to understand how it could be right to pay an actor, or a singer, or an instrumentalist for entertaining the public and wrong to pay a ball player for doing exactly the same thing.”
— Al Spalding

Seceders (1875)

It is 1875. The season is over. The “Four Seceders” come up with a conspiracy that foretells the demise of the National Association. It won’t last long after their plan plays out. Al Spalding, Ross Barnes, Cal McVey, and James White (also known as “Deacon” White) announce that they are leaving the Braves (then known as the Boston Red Stockings) and will play for Chicago. Why? Al Spalding complained that winning pennants in Boston had become monotonous. Really? Winning is monotonous? hahaha I think not!! He was going to a team where he could lose? Come on.

Being know as a “seceder” in the post Civil War era was not a term of endearment I think.

So, how did the clubs respond to this? They formed the National League on February 2, 1876. Seven teams joined with the President of the Chicago White Stockings to form the National League. Weird because this was the team that the “seceders” were jumping to. But it averted a big, big battle. The Braves (then known as the Boston Red Stockings) joined with the new league. It cost a $100 to be a member. Their motivation? I am guessing it was the stricter player contracts that would prevent “seceding”.

Everything new (1876)

It is April. It is 1876. It is a new league. It is a new season. And, with the “Four Seceders” gone from the team, it is a new team as well. Al Spalding and the others had left. The National League is formed. The Red Caps (formerly the Red Stockings and now known as the Braves) continue in the new league.

How do you replace Al Spalding? You probably don’t but you try. You hire Joe Borden to a three year contract. $2,000 a year. He played under the psuedonym of Joe Josephs. The sportswriters dubbed him “Josephus the Phenomenal”. They weren’t being kind.He is a bust!! You just can’t compare to Spalding no matter how good you are. They end up asking him to be the groundskeeper so they would get something out of his salary. He is credited with the first no hitter but it has never been officially recognized as such. The first game of the season was on April 22. Borden won the game. He went 11-12 for the season. Jack Manning was their best pitcher that season. He went 18-5 with a 2.14 ERA. So, Joe Borden cut grass.

The Red Caps ended the season in fourth place with a record of 39-31. Their four consecutive seasons as the pennant winner was over.

Really???

“Next to Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, the name A.G. Spalding is the most famous in American literature.” – Boston Herald Editorial (1880)

The Deacon (1876)

OK, I want to meet James White (also know as Deacon White) in heaven. Let’s just get that on the table. He won’t be first on my list but with trillions of years to see people, I am going to look him up. And yes, he was one of the four seceders in the 1876 season that brought the National Association to its knees. He played for the Braves (then known as the Boston Red Stockings).

This is about the no “tools of ignorance”. He was a catcher. A pretty good one I would think if he could catch Al Spalding. But he caught without a glove. And no mask. Probably not much of any protection. He just caught.

Yep, you read it right. No glove. A great bare handed catcher. Apparently the best barehanded catcher at that time. Can’t find any of them today. So I guess he was a pretty tough guy. But that was baseball then.

He was a deacon. A certified bible toting one for sure. Didn’t smoke. Didn’t drink. God was beginning to do some great stuff during this time. Some of it was happening in New England.
He also thought the world was flat and was ridiculed for it by team mate after mate. So he was a man of beliefs. Deeply held ones that couldn’t be shaken.

So yes, I want to meet him in heaven. The convergence of baseball appearing on the scene and God’s Spirit moving on the planet in 1876 is amazing. Good stuff for sure.

More on seceding (1876)

Ross Barnes was one of the “four seceders” who played for the Braves (then known as the Boston Red Stockings) in 1876. He played with Al Spalding, Cal McVey, and James White (also known as “Deacon” White). 1876 was to be his last season. He came down with “ague” and lost his strength. Is that similar to what Samson experienced? Ok, I guess not. It was probably malaria. Sounds weird though today. “I have ague”.

While some of the seceders were successful after their departure from the Braves, he was not.
In the early 1870’s, he was the dominant hitter in the National Association. He was so adept at the “fair / foul” bunt that the league changed the rules. He also hit the first home run in the National League.

And so, the Braves were a force to be contended with during this time. And God was moving in amazing ways.

Tools of Ignorance (1875)

I can’t remember not playing baseball. It seems like I always have. I remember the day I first played on an organized team in Little League. I had been selected for the team. We arrived for our first practice. My dad was the coach. We all stood in a circle waiting to take the field to practice. My dad asked everyone what positions they would like to play. I was on his left. We started going around the circle starting to his right. I would be last to say. By the time it got around to me all the positions had really been spoken for several times. Only one position no one seemed to want. I said I would like to be the catcher. My dad said, “Great, then put on the tools of ignorance”. And with that we took the field.

My dad taught me how to catch. I loved it. Fast forward and guess what position my son wanted to play when he started baseball. Yup, he wanted to catch. And I taught him about the tools of ignorance. The term, “the tools of ignorance”, was coined by Herold “Muddy” Ruel, a lawyer turned backstop who caught for greats like Walter Johnson with the Washington Senators in the 1920s.

So, if you were catching Al Spalding for the Braves (then know as the Boston Red Stockings) from 1872 to 1875, you might have wanted a mask. One didn’t initially exist though. It wasn’t until 1875 that one was “invented”. The founder of the Red Stockings had the catchers use a “mouth protector”. It was a “Harvard guy” (Fred Thayer) that actually invented the mask. The first to use it was Alexander (Jim) Tying who was playing for the Harvard Nine. It was called a rat-trap. It made it to the Spalding catalog in 1878. Eventually Fred Thayer sued Al Spalding for infringement upon Thayer’s patent rights to the catching mask. Spalding would be forced to pay royalties to Thayer and Wright when the case was settled.

And so … fathers continue to teach their sons to use the “tools of ignorance”.