The season climaxed with a road trip west on the new transcontinental railroad, which had just opened in May. The players, armed with rifles, shot out windows at bison, antelope and even prairie dogs and slept in wooden Coleman cars lighted with whale oil. More than 2,000 excited baseball fans greeted the team in San Francisco, where admission to games was one dollar in gold. Cincinnati ended its season with an undefeated record: 57 wins, 0 losses. The nation’s most prominent sports writer of the day, Henry Chadwick, declared them “champion club of the United States.” Despite fears that other clubs would outbid Cincinnati for their players, every Red Stockings player demonstrated his loyalty by signing contracts to return for the 1870 season. THE DEMISE BEGINS The winning streak continued into the next season – up until a June 14, 1870, game against the Brooklyn Atlantics. After nine innings, the teams were tied at 5. Under the era’s rules, the game could have been declared a draw, leaving the streak intact.
“It made baseball from something of a provincial fare to a national game.”
Instead Harry Wright opted to continue, and the Red Stockings ended up losing in extra innings after an error by the second baseman, Charlie Sweasy. The 81-game win streak had ended. The Red Stockings did not return in 1871. Ticket sales had fallen after their first loss, and other teams began to outbid the Red Stockings for their star players. Ultimately the cost of retaining all of its players was more than the Cincinnati club could afford. Yet the team had made its mark. “It made baseball from something of a provincial fare to a national game,” Thorn explained. A few years later, in 1876, the National League was founded and still exists today. The Cincinnati Reds were a charter member. And not surprisingly, some of the biggest 150-year celebrations of the first professional baseball team are occurring in the town they once called Porkopolis. Originally published at The Conversation.
Robert Wyss is a journalism professor at the University of Connecticut. He was an award-winning writer and editor for the Providence Journal for 28 years, covering the environment, energy, and business issues. He has also contributed award-winning work to publications such as the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, Yankee, and Rhode Island Monthly. Born and raised in California, he is a graduate of California State University Long Beach and Kansas State University.
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