THE GOOD

Cincinnati is a conservative midwestern river town located on the mighty Ohio in the southwest corner of the Buckeye state, known for, as much as anything else, the game of baseball. In fact, it is difficult to think of Cincinnati without associating with it the city's most famous progeny, the Cincinnati Reds of the National League, who are direct descendants of the very first "base ballists" to ever play professionally. Oh, sure, the city has other claims to fame — including its delicious Skyline Chili, the mighty Procter & Gamble Company, and the Delta Queen paddle wheeler — but the conversation always comes around sooner or later to those red-and-white-clad boys of spring, summer, and (sometimes) fall, who give the city so much of its identity.

Like every city more than a few decades old, Cincinnati has seen its share of troubles. Its good citizens have endured disease, natural disasters, wars, economic downturns, and social unrest. Through it all the people have persevered, in large part because the Almighty programmed that sort of spirit into mankind, but also because the people of Cincinnati, as well as Reds fans everywhere, have had for almost a century and a half a ballteam of their own to follow religiously and to find comfort in. It is comforting that the Reds are there, playing almost daily in the spring and throughout the summer, and even when they fail to win the laurels, Reds fans stay loyal to the colors and the fellows because they know that if they canmake it through the winter they will see the Reds begin again when the calendar brings a new season.

Like the Queen City itself, the Reds have had their ups and downs, their Good, their Bad, and their Ugly. Ask any Reds fan, though: they've had much more Good than anything else.

YOU CAN'T DO BETTER THAN PERFECT!

The invention of baseball, like that of many other great things in this world, was for many years misattributed — to General Abner Doubleday, who had nothing whatsoever to do with the founding of the game. For his codifying of baseball's most elemental parameters and rules, Henry Chadwick is now recognized by historians as "The Father of Baseball," even as the search for the game's earliest precursors and appearances takes us further and further back in time. The most important thing about the game's early history that is not unknown or in dispute is the origin of professional baseball. Every American schoolchild knows, or should know, that the first baseball team in the world to play professionally was formed in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1869, and that that team was known as the Cincinnati Red Stockings. That honor, my friend, is about as Good as it gets in baseball.

The honor is not merely academic — it means something to the fans, and players who pull on a Reds jersey feel a sense of pride and tradition that is inspired by few other teams. Reds players are also often quite demonstrative about revealing their pride in the franchise's heritage. I remember standing around the batting cage one day while the Reds were taking BP in Riverfront Stadium before a game with the San Francisco Giants. The Giants' general manager, Al Rosen, and his adolescent son were also standing nearby when Pete Rose stepped into the cage to hit. In between two of the line drives he was spraying all over the park, Rose turned toward Rosen's son and said with a big knowing grin, "How do you like being in Cincinnati, the birthplace of professional baseball?"

On the other hand, comedian George Carlin has asked, "If the Cincinnati Reds were the first professional baseball team, who did they play?" Carlin's joke hinges on the zanily logical assumption that since pro teams play pro teams today, whoever the Red Stockings played in that initial contest of the 1869 season must have been a professional team, too, thus making Cincinnati's opponent an equally "first" professional team!

Carlin obviously was not trying to dis the Red Stockings; he just wanted to make a funny. All joking aside, though, Carlin raises an interesting point, which many fans have not thought about. Who did the Red Stockings play? Other pro teams or amateur teams? If they only played amateur teams, what was the big deal about them winning all the time? And what league were they in?

To begin with, at the time there were no leagues for the Red Stockings to join, as the first professional baseball league, the National Association, was not formed until 1871. All teams were amateur and independent, which means they made their schedules themselves, usually on a home-and-away two-game basis with other clubs. Furthermore, the Red Stockings were the first overtly professional team that paid every player on the club a salary and then expected the players to take their participation seriously in all respects, as if playing ball were their job. Finally, as Greg Rhodes and John Erardi have pointed out in their wonderful book, The First Boys of Summer, the Red Stockings did play some strictly amateur outfits in 1869, who were invariably overwhelmed, but the top clubs that went up against the Red Stockings had their own professionals in uniform. The difference was that the Red Stockings' opponents did not pay all their players, nor did they pay them openly. The Red Stockings in essence took an occupation that was being practiced partially and in secret and transformed it into a legitimate and public profession.

The Red Stockings also proved the superiority of professional teams over amateur ones. This is something we take for granted, but in 1869 the concept was not the truism it is today. Once the 1869 Red Stockings got off to their fast start and began to gain a national reputation, the best clubs in the country, all technically amateur ones, looked forward to challenging, and defeating, these new professionals, the Cincinnati Base Ball Club (as the Red Stockings were officially called).

Led by former cricket pros Harry and George Wright, the Red Stockings opened their 1869 season in Cincinnati with a 45–9 victory over another local club, the Great Westerns. The date of the game, little remembered even in Cincinnati, was May 4, 1869. On May 31 the team embarked on a monthlong tour of the East that would thrust them into the national sporting spotlight and send the baseball fans of Cincinnati into a rooting frenzy. The Red Stockings went 20–0 on the road trip, defeating a number of well-known top clubs, including the Troy (NY) Haymakers, Harvard College, New York Mutuals, Brooklyn Atlantics, New York Eckfords, Philadelphia Atlantics, Washington Nationals, and National Olympics. Back in Cincinnati on July 1 the Red Stockings were hailed as heroes. They enjoyed a parade and a luncheon in their honor, and after easily winning an exhibition match they were awarded a 28-foot-long trophy bat, inscribed with their names. On July 25, the team's winning streak reached 30 games — barely. It took a three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth to defeat the Forest Citys of Rockford, Illinois, 15–14.

The Red Stockings became so famous so quickly...