OLDEST MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM

For those of you who have been with us right from the beginning, you will remember that this subject was one of my first posts. Since then, I have learned more about the subject so I have re-written it and posted it on "Viva el Birdos" BLOG site. I am also reposting it here.

If by oldest you mean the first, the honors would have to go to the Cincinnati Red Stockings. Not the Reds of today, but a team that was formed in 1869.

Back in the 1840s baseball or "base ball" as it was called at the time, had many different sets of rules. It was often called "town ball" as many towns had their own variation. Alexander Cartwright and his New York Knickerbockers had written a set of rules in 1845. The "New York" game went on to become the most popular game as "base ball" spread across the country during the civil war. In 1859, a group of baseball clubs got together to form the "National Association of Baseball Players. The NABP became the governing body of baseball and worked out a unified set of rules that all member clubs would use. It was basically a national organization that anyone could join. Each team would schedule its own games and many teams would recruit players from other towns to bolster there chances of winning. Some would entice players with good paying local jobs, and some clubs would even pay some really good players enough money so they wouldn't have to work during baseball season. In 1896, Cincinnati put together a baseball team that was 100% "professional". This group, lead by Harry Wright, was named the Red Stockings. Each man was paid a salary, the highest going to Harry's brother George, the star shortstop, who made $1400. As was the practice, Harry would schedule games with other towns then the team traveled throughout the eastern US playing games. At the end of 1869 they were 65-0.

The next year they started a winning streak that took them into Brooklyn 27-0. The Brooklyn Atlantics had been one of the premier teams of the amateur era and at the end of 9 innings the two teams were tied 5-5. At the time the game was considered over with a tied score, but Harry appealed to Brooklyn to continue on into unprecedented extra innings. At the end of the 11th inning, Brooklyn had won 8-7. The luster had gone from the Reds and they folded as a team by the end of the year. The next year Harry, George and a few others moved to Boston and regrouped as the Boston Red Stockings (Ever wonder why both Boston and Cincinnati have similar names?).

If by oldest, you mean longest running, then the answer is either the Chicago Cubs or Atlanta Braves. Both of those teams can be traced back to 1871. At the time, the Cubs were known as the White Stockings and the Braves are direct descendants of Harry Wrights Boston Red Stockings. Harry got together with some other teams and built a new league comprised of all professional teams. That new league was the National Association of Professional Baseball Players. The NAPBP lasted only 4 years, and at the end of 1875, Boston and Chicago were the only two original members left. Unfortunately, near the end of the first year, on October 9, 1871, Chicago was enveloped in the great Chicago fire. With the town in disarray, Chicago could not field a team in the years of 1872 or 1873, but they were back in business for the '74 season. In 1876, the National League was started. Both Boston and Chicago transferred to the new league and have been playing ever since

So some people consider the Braves to be the oldest team in baseball because of Chicago's two lost seasons. You could also make a case that the braves are direct descendants of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings. The Braves are in fact, the longest continually running major league baseball team. But can it be considered the oldest team if it has moved from Cincinnati to Boston to Milwaukee, to Atlanta? If not, the Cubs have run continuously, in the same town since 1874, making it the oldest team in baseball.