The Mutual Base Ball Club of New York was a leading American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

club almost throughout its 20-year history. It was established during 1857, the year of the first baseball convention, just too late to be a founding member of the National Association of Base Ball Players. It was a charter member of both the first professional league in 1871 and the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

in 1876. The team was initially formed from firefighters of New York's Mutual Hook and Ladder Company Number One.

Boss Tweed William Magear Tweed (April 3, 1823 – April 12, 1878), often erroneously referred to as William "Marcy" Tweed (see below), and widely known as "Boss" Tweed, was an American politician most notable for being the political boss of Tammany ...

operated the team until his arrest in 1871. The Mutual club initially played its home games at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, with the New York Knickerbockers and many other

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

clubs, but moved to the enclosed Union Grounds in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

in 1868. Though historically identified as "New York", they never staged any home games in Manhattan. The Mutuals chose open professionalism in 1869–70 after NABBP liberalization. They joined the first professional league, the

National Association of Professional Base Ball Players The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP), often known simply as the National Association (NA), was the first fully- professional sports league in baseball. The NA was founded in 1871 and continued through the 1875 se ...

, for its

1871 Events January–March * January 3 – Franco-Prussian War – Battle of Bapaume: Prussians win a strategic victory. * January 18 – Proclamation of the German Empire: The member states of the North German Confederation and the sout ...

1875 Events January–March * January 1 – The Midland Railway of England abolishes the Second Class passenger category, leaving First Class and Third Class. Other British railway companies follow Midland's lead during the rest of th ...

duration. In

1876 Events January–March * January 1 ** The Reichsbank opens in Berlin. ** The Bass Brewery Red Triangle becomes the world's first registered trademark symbol. * February 2 – The National League, National League of Professional Ba ...

, the Chicago White Stockings initiated the

and recruited its members from West to East, partly to wrest control of professional baseball from Eastern interests. The Mutuals were one of eight charter members, six of whom were from the National Association. Weak (sixth place at 21–35) and cash-poor, the club refused to complete its playing obligations in the West; and was expelled.Baseball history
Retrieved 2012-01-08 On May 13, 1876, the Mutuals executed the first triple play in major-league history in a game against the Hartford Dark Blues. Union Grounds proprietor William Cammeyer, often listed today as the Mutual club owner, signed the

Hartford Dark Blues The Hartfords (more commonly called the Hartford Dark Blues because of their uniform color) were a 19th-century baseball team. The team was based in Hartford, Connecticut. History In 1874, baseball in Hartford, CT was being played in a fever p ...

to play at his Union Grounds in 1877. The team was effectively a one-year replacement for the defunct Mutuals, and was sometimes called "Hartford of Brooklyn".

Record

Source for season records: Rio (2008).

Franchise leaders

Batting * Hits – Joe Start (387) * Runs – Joe Start (264) *

At bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s – Joe Start (1314) *

Games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (su ...

– Joe Start (273) * Doubles- Joe Start and

Dave Eggler David Daniel Eggler (April 30, 1849 – April 5, 1902) was a Major League Baseball center fielder. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. Eggler's career began in the National Association of Base Ball Players with the New York Mutuals in , and wa ...

(40) *

Home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is ...

s – Joe Start (8) *

RBIs A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the batt ...

– Joe Start (187) * Stolen bases – Dave Eggler (36) Pitching *

Wins WINS may refer to: *WINS (AM), an all-news radio station in New York City *WINS-FM, a radio station in New York City *World Institute for Nuclear Security *Windows Internet Name Service *WINS (solution stack), a set of software subsystems *Wireles ...

– Bobby Mathews (100) * ERA – Bobby Mathews (2.41) * Strikeouts – Bobby Mathews (95) *

Innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is ...

– Bobby Mathews (1,647)

Notable alumni

Lip Pike Lipman Emanuel "Lip" Pike (May 25, 1845 – October 10, 1893) the "Iron Batter", was an American who was one of the stars of 19th-century baseball in the United States. His brother, Israel Pike, played briefly for the Hartford Dark Blues during ...

, major league baseball 4× home run champion * Rynie Wolters, first Dutch professional baseball player

Baseball Hall of Famers

References

*Baseball-Reference
"New York Mutuals Team Index" (1871–1875)
Retrieved 2006-09-17. *Baseball-Reference
"New York Mutuals Team Index" (1876)
Retrieved 2006-09-12. *Retrosheet

Retrieved 2006-09-17. *Wright, Marshall (2000). ''The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857–1870''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co.

External links