Friday, March 27, 2009

The History Boys of Summer 2


Origins

Major league baseball began either in 1869 with the founding of the first pro team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, or in 1871 with the establishment of the NABBP, National Association of Base Ball Players, or in 1876 with the establishment of the National League, which replaced the failed NABBP. Some say it really began in 1903 with the "National Agreement" between the NL and the AL (founded 1901).
Giants history begins in 1883 with the New York Gothams, founded by John B. Day and Jim Muthrie. Most of the Gothams players came from the disbanded Troy Trojans, whom the Gothams replaced in the NL.
After a particularly satisfying win against the Phillies, Muthrie, who was also the manager, came into the locker room and exclaimed, "My big fellows! My Giants!" And that was their name henceforth.
The Giants won their first pennant in 1888 then beat the St Louis Browns in an early version of the World Series. They repeated the following year, beating the Brooklyn Bridegrooms.
Bridegrooms?!
(The picture above is NOT the Giants. I have no idea who they are. I just wanted an illustration.)

5 comments:

M.C. O'Connor said...

When you are posting (using the Blogger editor) you have a toolbar that allows you to make bold, italic, change the font, insert a photo, etc. One of the tools looks like a chain. That's the "link" tool. If you are pasting from a website, use the browser's copy command to copy the link ("http:// etc."). Highlight a portion of your text, click the link tool, and a dialog box will open. Paste the link into the box and that highlighted text will become a link.

Alternatively, you can simply copy-and-paste the link itself ("http:// etc.") into your document and say something like "here's the link to the source" and follow it with that copied text.

JC Parsons said...

Great topic, Bro! Keep it up, I'm actually learning something!!

"My big fellows! My Giants" That is so cool.

Robyn knew this already because a student is currently researching the history of the Giants for a term paper. The kid is going to interview me as a source!!

Brother Bob said...

Thanks, Mark, I'll give it a try. And thanks, bro for the appreciation.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Bob, see if you can find the book "If I Never Get Back" by Darryl Brock (link.

A guy goes back in time and plays ball in the 1890s. Very fun book. You learn a lot about the game in those days. Amazingly, it was "fresh-off-the-boat" Irish immigrants who were the stars, like Caribbean players today. Much to the chagrin of the hoity-toity owners, these Micks were loud and rude and ungentlemanly. And their accents made them as incomprehensible as today's Spanish speakers!

Brother Bob said...

I read that years ago. It was good. Also good is "The Glory of Their Times" by Lawrence S. Ritter.