1871 Boston Red Stockings season

1871 Boston Red Stockings
Major League affiliations
National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (since 1871)
Location
South End Grounds (since 1871)
Boston, Massachusetts (since 1871)
Results
Record	20–10 (.667)
League place	3rd
Other information
Owner(s)	Ivers Whitney Adams
Manager(s)	Harry Wright
Local television	none
Local radio	none
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The Boston Red Stockings were formed in 1871 by Boston businessman and Ashburnham native Ivers Whitney Adams. The team was composed of former players of the defunct Cincinnati Red Stockings franchise, who were brought to Boston and kept the name with them. Led and managed by baseball pioneer Harry Wright, the new Boston team would join the newly formed National Association of Professional Base Ball Players for the 1871 season and finish the year in third place with a record of 20–10.

Pitcher Al Spalding started all 31 of the Red Stockings' games and led the NA with 19 wins. Catcher Cal McVey finished second in the league batting race with a .431 average. From this team, Harry Wright, Al Spalding, and shortstop George Wright have all been elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Regular season

Season standings

National Association	W	L	GB	Pct.
Philadelphia Athletics	21	7	--	.750
Chicago White Stockings	19	9	2.0	.679
Boston Red Stockings	20	10	2.0	.667
Washington Olympics	15	15	7.0	.500
New York Mutuals	16	17	7.5	.485
Troy Haymakers	13	15	8.0	.464
Fort Wayne Kekiongas	7	12	9.5	.368
Cleveland Forest Citys	10	19	11.5	.345
Rockford Forest Citys	4	21	15.5	.160

Record vs. opponents

1871 National Association Records Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
Team	BOS	CHI	CLE	FW	NY	PHI	ROC	TRO	WSH
Boston	—	1–3	3–1	2–0	2–2	3–1	3–0	3–2	3–1–1
Chicago	3–1	—	2–1	2–0	3–1	2–3	3–0	1–1	3–2
Cleveland	1–3	1–2	—	0–3	3–2	0–3	3–1	2–2	0–3
Fort Wayne	0–2	0–2	3–0	—	1–2	0–2	1–1	1–1	1–2
New York	2–2	1–3	2–3	2–1	—	2–3	3–1	1–3	3–1
Philadelphia	1–3	3–2	3–0	2–0	3–2	—	3–0	3–0	3–0
Rockford	0–3	0–3	1–3	1–1	1–3	0–3	—	1–2	0–3
Troy	2–3	1–1	2–2	1–1	3–1	0–3	2–1	—	2–3–1
Washington	1–3–1	2–3	3–0	2–1	1–3	0–3	3–0	3–2–1	—

Roster

1871 Boston Red Stockings
Roster
Pitchers Albert Spalding Harry Wright		Catchers Cal McVey Infielders Ross Barnes Charlie Gould Sam Jackson Harry Schafer George Wright		Outfielders Frank Barrows Dave Birdsall Fred Cone Harry Wright		Manager Harry Wright

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C	Cal McVey	29	153	66	.431	0	43
1B	Charlie Gould	31	151	43	.285	2	32
2B	Ross Barnes	31	157	63	.401	0	34
SS	George Wright	16	80	33	.413	0	11
3B	Harry Schafer	31	149	42	.282	0	28
OF	Fred Cone	19	77	20	.260	0	16
OF	Dave Birdsall	29	152	46	.303	0	24
OF	Harry Wright	31	147	44	.299	0	26

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Frank Barrows	18	86	13	.151	0	11
Sam Jackson	16	76	17	.224	0	11

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Al Spalding	31	257.1	19	10	3.36	23

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Harry Wright	9	18.2	1	0	6.27	0

References

• 1871 Boston Red Stockings season at Baseball Reference