- Series: Pioneer Portraits I: 1850-1874
- City: Philadelphia
- Team: Athletics (NABBP)
- League: National Association (NAPBBP)
Alfred James Reach (1840-1928) “served baseball with distinction as player, organizer, club owner and provider of the equipment to attain the highest possible skill in the game” per his own Reach’s Official Base Ball Guide upon his death. “A good man, of the kindest impulses, his name will last as long as we have baseball” expressed the legacy of one of the great men of the early era of America’s game. The London-born, Brooklyn-raised Reach joked that he made the gloves he eschewed in the beginnings of the game in which he starred for the Brooklyn Eckfords and Philadelphia Athletics. He also made the AL’s balls while owning the NL Phillies franchise. A genius for marketing equipment and a lifelong love of the game made him one of the most influential figures of baseball’s first half-century.
- Began play in the amateur era, then founded the NL’s Philadelphia club in 1883
- Built the first modern ballpark in ’87, then rebuilt it with steel after a fire in ‘94
- Al's brother Bob Reach was a MLB shortstop for 3 games, 1872-1873
- Was the 88th player to debut in MLB
- Series: Pioneer Portraits I: 1850-1874
- City: Boston
- Team: Red Stockings (NAPBBP)
- League: National Association (NAPBBP)
- Hall: National Baseball Hall of Fame
James Henry O’Rourke (1850-1919) made the National League’s first base hit, and went on to a 21-year, Hall of Fame career. From 1876-92, only Cap Anson played in more games or got more hits. After leaving MLB for the minors, O’Rourke returned for his swan song with his pal John McGraw’s Giants, becoming the oldest player (at 54) to play in the NL and to get a hit.
- Played for 5 pennant winners and was NA HR champ in 1874-75
- One of only 29 to play in MLB in four decades
- One of the first 19th century players to be elected to HOF
- Elected to Hall of Fame: 1945
- Series: Pioneer Portraits I: 1850-1874
- City: Philadelphia
- Team: Athletics (NABBP)
- League: National Association (NAPBBP)
Levi Samuel Meyerle (1849-1921) came up at the inception of the national game, playing in the National Association of Base Ball Players beginning in 1867 in Philadelphia. He made quite a mark in 1871 with the Athletics, hitting an astounding, league-best .492. In ‘73 Levi joined the city’s White Stockings club then went to Chicago’s team of the same name, reconstituted after a two-year hiatus due to the Great Fire. At every stop, Meyerle was a superb hitter. Again in ‘74 he led the league in batting. Over his career in early professional ball, Levi averaged .356 in eight seasons. He was able to play all positions, even pitching a few times, but excelled at first with his 6’1” stature.
- Meyerle was praised in his era not only for his skills with the bat but for “his quiet and gentlemanly deportment”
- Levi’s .492 mark has never been exceeded in any major league
- Series: Pioneer Portraits I: 1850-1874
- City: Boston
- Team: Red Stockings (NAPBBP)
- League: National Association (NAPBBP)
Calvin Alexander McVey (1849-1926) was a key player in the earliest days of pro ball, first with Harry Wright’s seminal Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1869, then moving with Wright to Boston as one of Harry’s select threesome. The young McVey joined the fledgling pro team for a stagecoach trip to Omaha and then became the 1st ball club to use the new transcontinental railroad to SF as part of the Red Stocking’s national tour.
- During his career, McVey played all nine positions and was an outstanding hitter: .346 BA lifetime
- McVey’s move from Boston to Chicago in 1876 with Al Spalding, Ross Barnes & Deacon White (to form the White Stockings with Cap Anson, Paul Hines & Bob Addy) led to the creation of the NL
- Series: Pioneer Portraits I: 1850-1874
- City: Boston
- Team: Red Stockings (NAPBBP)
- League: National Association (NAPBBP)
John E. Manning (1853-1929) must have longed for his glory days on the mound in Boston while he played his last ML season in Baltimore in 1886. He achieved the dubious honor of being the best of the worst, leading or nearly leading the Orioles in most hitting categories during the most miserable offensive year of any team in baseball history. Manning had a fine career by that finale. He had helped the Red Caps to pennants in 1873, ’75 and ’78, hitting .266 in his rookie year and compiling a 35-7 record in the latter two championship years. Sadly, the versatile veteran went out on a sour note on the “Worst Hitting Team Ever.” The team’s BA was a lowly .204, plumbing depths of ineptitude that would never be exceeded by another franchise playing a full season.
- The modern MLB record for low BA was set by the Chicago White Stockings in 1910 (.210)
- On Oct 9, 1884 Manning became the 3rd player to hit 3 HRs in a game for the Quakers
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