1871.16

Chronologies

Prominent Milestones

Ancient - 1700 1701 - 1780 1781 - 1815 1816 - 1830 1831 - 1845 1846 - 1850 1851 - 1855 1856 - 1860 1861 - 1865 1866 - 1876

Misc BB Firsts

Add a Misc BB First

About the Chronology

Tom Altherr Dedication

Add a Chronology Entry

Open Queries

Open Numbers

Most Aged

Professionals Edge Away from NABBP; Modern Standings Begin to Take Shape

Salience	Prominent
Tags	Baseball Professionalism, Business of BaseballBaseball Professionalism, Business of Baseball
Location
City/State/Country:	New York, NY, United States
Modern Address
Game	Base BallBase Ball
Immediacy of Report	Contemporary
Age of Players	AdultAdult
Holiday
Notables
Text	"BASE BALL BOTHER.  National Professional Association. The Championship Question Settled. "A convention of delegates from the professional base ball clubs of the country was held at #840 Broadway last evening.  At the time that the call for the convention was sent out its objects were stated to be the settlement of the manner of achieving the title of champion club of the country, and the arrangement of the routes of the club tours during the season.  But the action of the amateur clubs in withdrawing from the National Association see 1871.14 . . . caused the scope of the Convention's duties to be enlarged, and . . . made necessary the reorganization of the National Association on a professional basis."
Sources	New York Herald,  March 18, 1871
Warning
Comment	Richard Hershberger, FP posting of March 17, 2021: "150 years ago today in baseball: The big day! Yesterday the amateurs met in Brooklyn and formed a new association. See 1871.14.  Today we move across the East River, where the professionals form theirs. It wasn't originally supposed to be this way. The meeting was initially called simply to coordinate travel schedules. From there it expanded to arranging a championship system. With yesterday's event the meeting expanded yet further. The status of the old National Association of Base Ball Players is up in the air. Simpler for the professionals just to start fresh. . . . . "Their championship system is quietly revolutionary. The old unofficial system followed the model of champion and challenger, like in boxing. The new system is not laid out explicitly here, but it is close to the modern system of every club playing a series against every other club. This 'championship season' (which is what the official rules still call what the rest of us refer to as the 'regular season') is the great invention of the NAPBBP. This often is overlooked, as NAPBBP tends to carry the stench of failure today. So let us pause a moment and contemplate the glory that is the regular season. ... Done? Excellent! This is not quite the regular season as we understand it today. It is a series of best-of-five series. If a club won the first three games of the series, there was no need to play the last two. This is why the win-loss records for 1871 are so scattered. Teams did not play the same number of games, but they weren't expected to. This will result in some wackiness in determining the championship. No spoilers! We will get to that in the Fall. Suffice it to say that for 1872 they will switch to every team playing the same number of games, at least in theory."  Edit with form to add a comment
Query	Edit with form to add a query
Source Image	[[Image:|left|thumb]]
External Number
Submitted by	Richard Hershberger
Submission Note	FB Posting of 3/17/2021
Has Supplemental Text

1871.16 Professionals Edge Away from NABBP; Modern Standings Begin to Take Shape"

---

Comments

<comments voting="Plus" />