Shown: END OF SEPTEMBER: More scheduling magic by Boston (dark blue) in hover win over New York (brown).

From July 15th to September 10th Boston's first place lead was exactly 4.5 games for 57 consecutive days. That's because on July 15th the Bostons and second place Philadelphia Athletics sailed for twelve days to England where they played a four week exhibition schedule. It practically made this a Summer without a pennant race.

New York did go 14-1 between those dates and took over first place September 22 when they squeaked by Boston 9-8 on a ninth inning Dick Higham "sacrifice fly". (First place was figured as the team with "most wins" even though New York had significantly more losses. Note how this makes the graph appear that Boston never lost the lead, certainly a failure of this graphing system for pennant races prior to 1883.) New York beat Boston again two days later and held onto first place for twenty-three straight days: September 22 to October 15. The pennant race became so tight that New York third baseman Jack Burdock, married October 4th, canceled his honeymoon to play in New York's key 5-4 win over Boston October 9th. Jack Remsen's 2nd inning 2-rbi double off Al Spalding kept New York in the lead.

The signal event that wiped New York from the race came after the disbandment of the yellow-stockinged Baltimore Canaries on October 15th when Boston and new York were tied at 34 wins apiece (New York with 19 losses to Boston's 14). Boston had twelve games remaining, New York had three remaining. Boston went 9-3 while New York dropped all three and Boston finished with a seven game lead. Rules for 1874 stipulated each team play ten games against every opponent. Notice how Harry Wright scheduled 15 consecutive games - not counting Sundays - October 12 to the 28th.

A number of remarkable games dotted play as shown in the graph. September 26th New York pitcher Bobby Mathews spun the first one-hitter in big league history in a 2-1 win hosting Chicago. The only hit was a Paul Hines single in the seventh inning. An even closer no-hitter came in New York's penultimate game: an October 20th 0-5 loss hosting the 19-32 Brooklyn Atlantics. Brooklyn's rookie fireballer Tommy Bond lost a no-hitter with 2-outs in the ninth inning when Joe Start doubled. Bond finished with a two-hitter. On September 30, with Boston and New York tied at 36 victories, Boston was hosting Brooklyn with New York having an off-day. The chance for Boston to grab the lead in the race looked good when Brooklyn catcher Henry Kessler broke his thumb in the sixth inning. Brooklyn didn't have a substitute and played the rest of the game with eight men. But Boston's hitters couldn't guage their hits through the two outfielders and lost this key game 8-9. Kessler returned to stand in centerfield for the ninth inning.

Chicago returned to the National Association after a two-year absence due to the great fire thanks principally to investor William Hulbert, a Chicago-area coal distributor. This lone Western team started late (May 13th) and visited eastern cities South to North in June and September. Hulbert organized play at a makeshift field at 23rd Street and Dearborn Avenue and outfitted the players of the "Phoenix City" with white stockings: a choice commensurate with the team's rebirth.

Hulbert would, within months, render the National Association extinct and found the National League we know today. It happened after an August effort to have his star shortstop Davy Force signed for 1875 failed as the National Association rejected all contracts signed mid-year. An "end-of-season" contract with Force was then signed in September but still considered mid-year by a committee of National Association delegates who then awarded Force to Philadelphia based on yet a third contract. Hulbert smoldered in the off-season and began a discussion regarding the unfairness of the matter with Boston pitcher Al Spalding who himself Wintered in Illinois, his home state. This discussion began a chain of events that led to the Boston Herald reporting on July 25, 1875 that Al Spalding, Ross Barnes, Deacon White and Cal McVey would all defect from the champion Boston club and play for Chicago in 1876. When National Association opposition again seemed to proselytize Hulbert announced Chicago would play in a new league that did recognize mid-year contract signings. However, by 1880 the NL would make mid-season player negotiations illegal just as the National Association had done. The National League was born February 2, 1876, in New York City, after weeks of planning by Hulbert and Chicago Tribune baseball beat writer Lewis Meacham. During this time Hulbert ascended to the presidency of the Chicago club upon the death of hotel magnate George W. Gage, September 17, 1875.

If you know the Davy Force story, what you might not know is that the Chicago and Philadelphia franchises had a history of animosity. Before sympathizing with Hulbert the discriminating historian should know that Hulbert secretly confided with Philadelphia captain-manager Jimmy Wood after Philadelphia's strong 1873 season and coaxed him into leaving Philadelphia and becoming the manager of the reborn Chicago franchise. Had that been the extent of the tampering all would have been copacetic: Wood had been the captain-manager of Chicago of the 1871 team before the fire suspended all baseball operations there. But it was not the extent of the tampering. Wood raided his own Philadelphia roster of five stars and one substitute and brought them with him: the Zettlein-Malone battery, outfielders Cuthbert and Treacy, utility player Art Devlin, and Long Levi Meyerle, the Babe Ruth of the National Association.

Jimmy Wood himself was acclaimed to be the second greatest second baseman of his time: a ten year veteran of the legendary Brooklyn Atlantics who left his native city for a Chicago captain's salary in 1870. He captained the Troy "Chocolate Creams" in 1872 after Chicago disbanded before signing with the Philadelphias. However late in 1873 Wood noticed an abscess on his right thigh from a baseball injury. He pulled out his pocket knife and cut it out (reportedly at the ballpark). Over the Winter a new infection took hold and in the Spring of 1874 he was unable to play. Gangrene set in and his right leg was amputated July 10, 1874. The Chicagos hosted the Atlantics on July 29th in a benefit game on his behalf.

The peg-legged Wood was bumped by Al Spalding as Chicago captain in 1876 and never participated in the new National League. He spent several years in Florida before managing again for Memphis in an early version of the Southern League in 1888. He announced his intention to "comeback" and manage a major league team in 1889 but Memphis itself disbanded before July. To help run Memphis Wood interested the shortstop of the 1887 Washington Nationals with a captain's bonus and that player joined him at the helm. That player was Davy Force.