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New York Mutuals

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Mutual Base Ball Club of New York
(New York Mutuals)
Information
League
LocationHoboken, New Jersey (1857–1867)
Brooklyn, New York (1868–1876)
Ballpark
Founded1857
Folded1876
League championships
  • National League pennants: 0
  • National Association pennants: 0
  • National Association (amateur) pennants: 2 (1858, 1868)
ColorsNavy, white
   
OwnershipMutual Hook and Ladder Co Number 1 (1857-1864)

William M. Tweed (1864-1871)

Bill Cammeyer (1871–1876)
Manager

The Mutual Base Ball Club of New York was an American baseball club established in 1857, the year of the first baseball convention. The Mutuals just missed out on being a founding member of the National Association of Base Ball Players that year, but later became a charter member of both the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, or "NA", the first professional league, in 1871, and then the National League in 1876.

Picture of Mutuals player, likely Edward Ward

The team was initially formed from firefighters of New York's Mutual Hook and Ladder Company Number One. Boss Tweed took control of the Mutuals in 1864 and operated the team until his arrest following the deadly riots of 1871 and the public exposing of his corruption that followed.[1] During Tweed's tenure as owner, he and the Mutuals have been given credit for initiating the concept of spring training when Tweed sent the team to New Orleans to train for the 1869 season.[2][3]

The Mutual club initially played its home games at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, with the New York Knickerbockers and many other Manhattan clubs, but moved to the enclosed Union Grounds in Brooklyn in 1868. Though historically identified as "New York", they never staged any home games in Manhattan, which before 1898 was considered to be "New York City."

The Mutuals chose open professionalism in 1869–70 after NABBP liberalization. They joined the NA for its 1871 to 1875 duration. In 1876, the Chicago White Stockings initiated the National League and recruited its members from West to East, partly to wrest control of professional baseball from Eastern interests. The Mutuals were one of eight charter members, six of whom were from the National Association. Weak (sixth place at 21–35) and cash-poor, the club refused to complete its playing obligations in the West; and was expelled.[4]

On May 13, 1876, the Mutuals executed the first triple play in major-league history in a game against the Hartford Dark Blues.

Union Grounds proprietor William Cammeyer, often listed today as the Mutual club owner, signed the Hartford Dark Blues to play at his Union Grounds in 1877. The team was effectively a one-year replacement for the defunct Mutuals, and was sometimes called "Hartford of Brooklyn".

Record

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1870 New York Mutuals team photograph
Year Won Lost Tied Games Rank in games (or in wins)
1858 11 1 12 2 (1st in wins)
1859 3 5 8 6
1860 1 8 2 11 5
1861 8 2 10 2 (tie 1st in wins)
1862 8 5 13 2 (2nd in wins)
1863 10 4 14 1 (tie 1st in wins)
1864 21 3 24 1 (1st in wins)
1865 12 4 16 5 (tie 4th in wins)
1866 10 2 12 15 (tie 5th in wins)
1867 23 6 1 30 4 (4th in wins)
1868 31 10 41 5 (5th in wins)
1869 37 16 53 3 (5th in wins)
1870 68 17 3 88 1 (1st in wins)
Championship matches with professional teams, 1869–1870
1869 11 15 26 1 (5th in wins)
1870 29 15 3 47 1 (1st in wins)
League record
1871 16 17 33 1 (4th place)
1872 34 20 2 56 2 (3rd place)
1873 29 24 53 4 (4th place)
1874 42 23 65 2 (2nd place)
1875 30 38 3 71 4 (7th place)
1876 21 35 1 57 8 (6th place)

Source for season records: Rio (2008).

Franchise leaders

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Batting

Pitching

  • WinsBobby Mathews (100)
  • ERA – Bobby Mathews (2.41)
  • Strikeouts – Bobby Mathews (95)
  • Innings – Bobby Mathews (1,64723)

Notable alumni

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Lip Pike

Baseball Hall of Famers

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New York Mutuals Hall of Famers
Inductee Position Tenure Inducted
Candy Cummings P 1872 1939

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Purdy, Dennis (23 February 2010). Kiss 'Em Goodbye: An ESPN Treasury of Failed, Forgotten, and Departed Teams. Random House Publishing Group. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-345-52047-0. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  2. ^ Seymour, Harold; Mills, Dorothy Seymour (1989). Baseball: The Early Years. Oxford University Press. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-19-983917-9. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  3. ^ Fountain, Charles (2009). Under the March Sun: The Story of Spring Training. Oxford University Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-19-974370-4. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  4. ^ Baseball history- Retrieved 2012-01-08
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