Occidental (Juniors) Club of Quincy v Red Stockings Club of Cincinnati on 13 October 1869
| Date of Game | Wednesday, October 13, 1869 |
|---|---|
| Location | Quincy, IL, United States |
| Modern Address | |
| Field | Baldwin Park |
| Home Team | Occidental (Juniors) Club of Quincy |
| Away Team | Red Stockings Club of Cincinnati |
| Score | 7 - 51 |
| Game Number | |
| Innings | 9 |
| Number of Players | |
| Game Officials | |
| NY Rules | Yes |
| Tags | |
| Description | "The Cincinnati Red Stockings posted the only perfect season in professional baseball history in 1869 when they won all 65 games they played. The Red Stockings were baseball's first openly all paid professionals team with 10 salaried players. Their center fielder and captain was Harry Wright, who is enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He was paid $1,200 that season. One of their games that season was played in Quincy. The Red Stockings played against the Occidental Juniors of Quincy at Baldwin Park on Oct. 13, 1869. The final score of the game was 51-7. How good were the Red Stockings? A listing of all the games they played that season in a book by Alfred Henry Spink, "The National Game: A History of Baseball," shows that they scored at least 20 runs in all but 10 games. They played on both coasts and throughout the Midwest. They scored a season-high 103 runs against a team called the Buckeyes. The Cincinnati team played the night before in Omaha, Neb., before making the trip to Quincy. The Quincy Daily Herald reported in a 1919 story looking back at the game that the event was extensively advertised as the greatest sporting event in the city's history. The Occidental Juniors welcomed the team and took them to a home in Quincy where a reception was held. During the morning and before the game in the afternoon, the visitors were taken about the city in carriages so that "they might get an idea of what a hustling western city looked like." The Quincy team featured Seymour Castle in left field, Charles McCann in center field and Alfred Castle in right field. William Whitmore played third base. A man named Meeker (who went on to become a doctor in Kansas City) played first base. John Richardson was the pitcher, and Charles Comstock was the catcher. Sheik, the shortstop, and McNally, the second basemen, were the only "ringers" on the team. Sheik was a conductor on the CB&Q Railroad and played for a team in Galesburg. McNally was a member of the Chicago Excelsiors, and his excuse for playing on the Quincy team was that he had a sister in the millinery business in Quincy. Most of the Occidental Juniors were 15 or 16 years old, while most of the Red Stockings were more than 30 years old. The Quincy players wore long blue flannel trousers and white flannel shirts. The Cincinnati team won trousers to the knees and then "displayed their shapely muscles in screaming red socks," the Daily Herald reported. The new dress created a sensation throughout the country, and in a few years, almost every team in the country followed the Red Stockings' example. The Daily Herald reported that no one expected the home team to win, and the Red Stockings scored at least three runs in every inning, including eight in the second and 10 in the third. However, the Quincy players received praises for their good showing. One moment that startled the fans in attendance was when a ball off the bat of Cal McVey with the Red Stockings hit a woman in the crowd. "I drove out a terrific line drive early in the game that struck a young girl sitting in a buggy with her escort," McVey told the Daily Herald in 1919. "The young man with her, instead of shielding his sweetheart, ducked when the ball came in his direction, and the sphere hit the girl on the side of the head. "I ran from the field to assist her, but I was so angry at her escort that I could hardly control myself. The young fellow beat it during the excitement, so I waited on the girl and saw to it that she was taken care of. Afterward, we took up correspondence and were friends for years." The Whig reported that Red Stockings remained in Quincy overnight, and the two teams attended the opera house that night to see Katie Putnam in "Female Detective" and "A Kiss in the Dark." " |
| Sources | Quincy Herald Whig, Jan. 30, 2017 |
| Source Image | [[Image:|left|thumb]] |
| Source Image | [[Image:|left|thumb]] |
| Source Image | [[Image:|left|thumb]] |
| Source Image | [[Image:|left|thumb]] |
| Source Image | [[Image:|left|thumb]] |
| Has Source On Hand | No |
| Comment | Edit with form to add a comment |
| Query | Edit with form to add a query |
| Found by | Bruce Allardice |
| Submission Note | |
| Entered by | Bruce Allardice |
| First in Location | |
| Players Locality | |
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