During the summer of 1870 the Harvard College nine visited Cincinnati, and nearly scored a victory. They led the professionals 17-11 in seven innings, the Cincinnatis having their strongest nine in the field. In the ninth inning Pitcher Goodwin was hit by a hot liner and was injured. This resulted in the scoring of eight runs by the professionals, who won the game 20-17, the Cincinnatis making seven runs after two men were out.
The success of the Cincinnatis placed professional ball on a sure footing.
Among the clubs in the field in 1870 were the Cincinnatis, Athletics, Atlantics, with such well-known players as Ferguson, Zettlein, Start, Pike, Pearce, Chapman, and George Hall; Chicago, with Wood, Meyerle, Tracey, Cuthbert; Forest Citys, of Rockford; A.G. Spaulding, Anson, and Barnes; Forest Citys, of Cleveland, with James White, catcher; Pratt, pitcher; Sutton, third base, and Allinson, center field; the Haymakers, of Troy, with McGeary, catcher; McMullen, pitcher; Fisher, first base, and York, center field; the Mutuals, with Charles Mills, catcher; E. Mills, pitcher; Jack Nelson, third base; John Hatfield, short-stop; Eggler, center field; Marylands, with Bobby Matthews, pitcher, and Carey, short-stop; Nationals, with Hicks, catcher; Glenn, left field; Hollingshead, second base; Olympics, with Davy Force, short-stop, and Harry Berthrong, right field; Unions, with Birdsall, catcher; Pabor, pitcher; Hingham, second base; Holdsworth, third base, and Gedney, left field. The Athletics, Cincinnatis, Chicagos, Clevelands, Haymakers, Mutuals, and Marylands were paid regular salaries; the others were cooperative nines, who played for gate money.
Birth of the National Association.
On March 17, 1871, the first convention of delegates from representative professional clubs was held in Collier's saloon, corner of Broadway and Thirteenth Street, New York, when the National Association was formed. A series of the best three out of five games was arranged. The contesting nines were the Athletics, of Philadelphia; Chicago; Boston; Mutuals, of New York; Olympics, of Washington; Haymakers, of Troy; Kekionigas, of Fort Wayne, Ind.; Cleveland, and Rockford.
The championship was won by the Athletics, which won twenty-two games and lost seven; Boston was second, with twenty-two victories and ten defeats. Two victories of the Rockfords over the Athletics were adjudged forfeited for the reason that a Rockford player was ineligible; yet a game won by the Olympics from the Bostons was adjudged legal, though the same point was raised.
In 1872 eleven clubs entered the lists. These were Boston, Baltimore, Mutual, Athletics, Troy, Atlantic, Cleveland, Mansfield, Connecticut; Eckfords, of Brooklyn; Olympic, and National, of Washington. The series now consisted of five games. Boston had McVey, catcher; Spalding, pitcher; Gould, Barnes, Shafer, basemen; George Wright, short-stop; Leonard H. Wright, Rogers, fielders; Birdsall, substitute.
The Bostons, with thirty-nine victories and eight defeats, won easily in this campaign, as indeed they did in every season up to the forming of the National League in 1876.
In August, 1872, the Bostons took a Michigan and Canadian trip, defeating the Ypsilantis, Empires, of Detroit; Athletics, of London; Maple Leafs, of Guelph; Dauntless, of Toronto; Independents, of Dundas; Ottawas, Montreals, and Pastimes at Ogdensburg, New York.
One of the most important amendments to the rules in 1872 was that doing away with the prohibition of delivering the ball to the bat by an underhand throw, which had long been a dead letter. Creighton, one of the Excelsiors, of Brooklyn, introduced this kind of delivery.