150 Years — Baseball Bench Coach

Every baseball fan has that moment when the love of the game enters your life. Sometimes it is seeing a game at the ballpark for the first time, maybe your first game you view on television, or for me as a little boy listening to a game late at night on the radio. You soon become a passionate fan of your favorite team. As we enter the final two weeks of the 2019 regular season, I thought it would be fun to look back not on the year just yet but rather to when this great game began and how it has touched us.

I met someone a few weeks ago who is British and the discussion quickly turned to baseball. He remarked in his first year in Chicago he kept hearing the question, are you a Cubs fan or a White Sox fan? Feeling forced to choose a team, he opted for the National League Cubs because in cricket, a player needs to play all the positions. You can’t be just a designated hitter like in the American League! While cricket certainly has some similar equipment, such as a bat, ball, batting gloves and even a cap, it’s difficult to tie baseball to this English sport that dates back to the 13th century.

Where did American baseball find its beginnings? In 1905 the president of the National League, Abraham Mills, chaired a group to answer the question. The Mills Commission Report, issued in late 1907, concluded that baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday at Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. Most baseball historians have depicted the Report’s conclusion as a myth. Indeed, Doubleday, a Union general in the Civil War, never made the claim in his lifetime nor do his memoirs even mention baseball. While baseball’s origins can indeed be traced to New York state in the 1800s, the better conclusion is that it is based on a game British children played called “rounders”, involving a pitcher, batter, and four bases. By the time of the Civil War, there were about 50 baseball clubs in the National Association of Base Ball Players, an amateur league that specifically prohibited paying the players.

For me baseball began 150 years ago in my hometown, Cincinnati, with the Red Stockings, the first professional baseball team. The best player around at that time, Harry Wright, was asked by a group of civic leaders to put together a team and was given a bankroll to do so. The team traveled around the country and won 60 games without a loss. In 1871, the first professional baseball organization, the National Association of Professional Base Players, became the governing body of baseball. Then, in 1876, a Chicago businessman, William Hulbert, took his team, the White Stockings, and three other teams, out of the Association, and formed the National League.

There were many renegade leagues, including the Eastern, Pacific Coast, and International leagues in the late 1800s, challenging the National League. Indeed, another challenge to the NL’s existence was the play on the field, where players often engaged in fights. The Baltimore Orioles were the leaders of what writers described as “rowdyism”. Another threat to the NL was that several teams were owned in syndicates, more than one team was owned by the same owner. This allowed the owners to move talent among their teams, creating an imbalance in play. For example, the 1899 Cleveland Spiders finished 20-134! In 1901 a group of NL players, including Cy Young, was enticed to jump leagues, and the American League was founded. The NL welcomed the American League as an equal partner in 1903, and the first World Series was played in 1905. There were outlier leagues after that (Federal League in mid-1910s), but the NL and AL teams were the ones that thrived.

The Cincinnati Reds this season have celebrated their 150 years of existence in style. Throughout the year today’s 2019 Reds have worn the many uniforms of their past Red Stockings, Redlegs, and Reds teams, including the numerous baseball caps of those times. Baseball caps actually go as far back as 1860 when the Brooklyn Excelsiors wore what was the ancestor of the modern day cap. I, for one, love to collect caps and enjoy sporting a baseball cap of the home town team in MLB parks that I visit. While I must admit owning 4 or 5 caps of both the Cubs and the Reds, my baseball wardrobe also includes caps of the Royals, Cardinals, Rockies, Indians, and my most recent purchase, a White Sox cap.

One’s love of baseball and the hometown team is bolstered by the colorful play by play description of the local broadcast team. The Reds are celebrating another special moment in their history this season, the retirement of Marty Brennaman, their radio voice for the last 46 years. I grew up listening to “Marty and Joe” on the radio on WLW in Cincinnati. Marty’s broadcast partner for much of his career was Joe Nuxhall, a former Reds pitcher. Through their broadcasts I learned how the game was supposed to be played, reveled in the stories of baseball’s past, and experienced an easy enjoyment to life. Marty’s trademark call “And this one belongs to the Reds!” immediately after a Reds victory was the perfect ending to my day.

Brennaman’s career also had some controversies worth noting. During the height of the inquiry into Pete Rose’s betting allegations, Brennaman steadfastly supported then player-manager Rose, in the face of growing evidence against him. If I could change one piece of baseball history, it would be an early admission by Rose of his misconduct, perhaps paving his path to the Hall of Fame. Brennaman’s adamant support of his Reds also led to a conflict with fans of the Chicago Cubs. When Adam Dunn of the Reds hit a home run into the right field bleachers at Wrigley in 2008, the bleacher bums threw multiple balls back onto the field, upping their tradition of throwing an opponent’s home run ball back onto the playing field. Brennaman responded angrily on the air, stating that it displayed another example of why it is “tough to root for the Cubs”, perhaps a little overstated for what was just a little fun.

The Cubs are in the final days of why it has been actually easy to root for the Cubs, as the 72 year television broadcasting of Cubs games on WGN-TV will soon come to an end. WGN in Chicago and WTBS in Atlanta were the first cable television stations to broadcast baseball, and the nation responded by adopting the Cubs and Braves as “America’s Teams”. WGN-TV has had some great broadcasters in its time, most notably Jack Brickhouse and his home run call “Hey Hey”, and of course the legendary Harry Caray. The singing of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” by Caray (and now guest singers) during the seventh inning stretch at Wrigley Field is a great tradition in the game. WGN broadcasts of the Cubs will be replaced next year by the Marquee Sports Network, which will include 24/7 coverage of the Cubs.

150 years, wow! There’s a lot to look back on, so much to see in the next two weeks and in the playoffs, and so much more to experience in coming years. Whether it’s at the park, on television, via radio, or streaming on my phone, you can take me out to the ballgame any day of the week!

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach