150 Years Ago Today - The Cincinnati Red Stockings Visit New Jersey

Brooklyn Union - June 19, 1869

Although it was far from intentional, the Morven Museum exhibit coincides with an important baseball anniversary - a sesquicentennial observation.  Anyone watching major league baseball this season, in person or on television, can see the numbers 150 on the uniform sleeve of every player.  The patch is in honor of the 150th anniversary of professional baseball or more specifically, the Cincinnati Red Stockings' legendary 1869 season.  1869 was the first season, teams could openly pay players and the Red Stockings wasted little time in putting together a very talented team.  As noted in an earlier post, the Red Stockings were not the first all-professional team, they are better remembered, as John Thorn suggested, as the team that made baseball popular nationwide.  They did so by virtue of a transcontinental tour that enabled baseball fans on the East Coast and the West Coast to see the best team in the country in person.  That the Red Stockings were the country's best team is pretty much inarguable since they went 57-0 over the course of the season.

1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings 

Before their epic 1869 season, the Red Stockings were a good, but hardly a great team.  The prior year Cincinnati finished 36-7, losing twice to eastern powerhouses, the Athletics of Philadelphia and the Atlantics of Brooklyn.  No shame in that, much harder to explain, however, was a loss to the Keystone Club of Philadelphia which finished 5-10-1.  Of course, the 1868 version of the Red Stockings was only partially professional, but for 1869, Cincinnati management quickly upgraded their roster beginning with future Hall of Famer George Wright, brother of Red Stockings manager, Harry Wright.  Also signing up were Charles Sweasy and Andy Leonard, originally from Newark and members of the upstart Irvington Club that wreaked havoc with the baseball establishment in 1866 and 1867.  New Jersey came close to providing a third member of the Red Stockings first nine in the person of John Radcliff of Camden, the leading run scorer of the 1868 season.  Radcliff, who was constantly mired in some type of controversy, actually signed a Red Stocking contract which the club voided when they learned he was already under contract to the Athletic Club of Philadelphia.

John Radcliff, almost a Red Stocking, is on the far right of this picture

As impressive as their lineup may have seemed on paper, the Red Stockings still had to prove their worth on the field, especially in a three-day visit to New York City to take on the Mutual, Atlantic, and Eckford Clubs.  The June 15th match with the Mutuals was an unusually low scoring affair and one of the great games of the nineteenth century.  Tied 2-2, headed to the bottom of the ninth, Cincinnati scored twice for a dramatic 4-2 victory (it was customary to finish the bottom of the ninth even when the game was decided.)  Next up was the Atlantics, who proved no match for the Red Stockings.  Cincinnati scored 18 times in their first two at-bats and coasted to a 32-10 victory.  The Eckford fared little better the following day, falling behind 13-0 in route to a 24-5 loss.  Having now become what the Brooklyn Union called "the now justly celebrated Cincinnati Club," the Red Stockings were supposed to take a day off for the relatively short train ride to Philadelphia.   Instead, however, the team's management decided not just to travel through New Jersey, but to play a game there, against Sweasy and Leonard's old team, the Irvington Club.

Andy Jackson Leonard

Although there is no mention in the contemporary media of admission being charged, that was probably the primary motivation for playing the additional game.  Somewhat unkindly, the Brooklyn Union suggested the game was played to show "the villagers" how Sweasy and Leonard "had improved in their play by training out west."  Regardless of the reason, local baseball fans were thrilled by the opportunity as the Newark Evening Courier noted that there had seldom been"a more severe attack [of baseball fever] than that of yesterday."  It is somewhat surprising the game was played in Irvington rather than a Newark ball grounds closer to the railroad station since it took an arduous four-mile journey by foot or horse-drawn conveyance to reach the Irvington field.  The presence of "the suddenly famous Cincinnati Club" was apparently more than sufficient motivation as the Centinel of Freedom reported that "horse cars, omnibuses, carriages, carts, and all manner of conveyances filled up the avenues leading to the grounds."

According to one estimate, there was a crowd of at least 3,000, such a large number, the Newark Morning Register reported that "even the skirts of the field were filled with onlookers."  The paper also took notice of the Red Stockings uniforms which it praised as "the neatest and most appropriate that could be devised."  The club's knickers with long red socks or stockings would quickly become the standard baseball uniform.  Having won the toss, Irvington sent Cincinnati to the striker's line and were probably ecstatic to limit the visitors to one tally.  Irvington went out in order in their turn, however, and the Red Stockings tallied three times in the second and third.  Still, it was only 7-2 after three innings and perhaps mindful of the trouncings handed the Atlantics and Eckford, the Union warmed to the local team, praising their "close work."  Even when the Red Stockings pounded Irvington pitcher Hugh Campbell for eight runs in the fourth and fifth, the Brooklyn paper noted the local team "did not flinch from their guns, but went into the fight again pluckily intent on doing their best to the very end."

Doug Allison 

Since the Red Stockings had to catch the 6:30 train from Newark, the game was halted after seven innings with Cincinnati on top 20-4.  Understandably, the local media praised the Irvington team for keeping the score somewhat respectable, but the New York Clipper also joined the chorus claiming the game "was one of the most interesting that the 'Red Stockings' have played in this vicinity."  One New Jersey paper took special note of the play of Red Stocking catcher, Doug Allison.  In one inning, Irvington had runners on first and second with one out when Mahlon Stockman struck out.  Allison instead of catching the ball, "hit it down and took it on the second bound" thereby forcing Stockman and both runners to advance.  The Cincinnati catcher then stood "with his hands on his hips" and "coolly gazed on the perplexed Jerseymen."  Although "obliged to move" no one did so and the Red Stockings quickly completed an inning-ending double play (1887 rules changes eliminated this possibility).  Reportedly "When the crowd finally came to understand the point they laughed and applauded to their heart's content."  It was a memorable moment on a memorable day and it is safe to say those present regaled their children and even their grandchildren about a June day when they saw the country's best baseball team right here in New Jersey.