# 1873 Boston Red Stockings season

The 1873 Boston Red Stockings season was the third season of the franchise. They won their second consecutive National Association championship.
Managed by Harry Wright, Boston finished with a record of 43–16 to win the pennant by 4 games. Pitcher Al Spalding started 54 of the Red Stockings' games and led the NA with 41 wins. Second baseman Ross Barnes won the league batting title with a .431 batting average, and catcher Deacon White topped the circuit with 77 runs batted in.
Harry Wright, Al Spalding, first baseman Jim O'Rourke, and shortstop George Wright have all been elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

## Regular season
### Season standings

| National Association | W | L | GB | Pct. |
| Boston Red Stockings | 43 | 16 | – | .729 |
| Philadelphia White Stockings | 36 | 17 | 4.0 | .679 |
| Baltimore Canaries | 34 | 22 | 7.5 | .607 |
| New York Mutuals | 29 | 24 | 11.0 | .547 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 28 | 23 | 11.0 | .549 |
| Brooklyn Atlantics | 17 | 37 | 23.5 | .205 |
| Washington Blue Legs | 8 | 31 | 25.0 | .205 |
| Elizabeth Resolutes | 2 | 21 | 23.0 | .087 |
| Baltimore Marylands | 0 | 6 | 16.5 | .000 |

### Record vs. opponents

1873 National Association Recordsvte Sources: :
| Team | BC | BM | BOS | BR | EL | NY | PHA | PWS | WSH |
| Baltimore Canaries | — | 4–0 | 2–7–1 | 7–2 | 3–0 | 6–3 | 3–4 | 3–6 | 6–0 |
| Baltimore Marylands | 0–4 | — | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Boston | 7–2–1 | 0–0 | — | 8–1 | 4–1 | 6–3 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 9–0 |
| Brooklyn | 2–7 | 0–0 | 1–8 | — | 3–1 | 2–7 | 4–5–1 | 2–7 | 3–2 |
| Elizabeth | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–4 | 1–3 | — | 0–4 | 0–2 | 0–4 | 0–1 |
| New York | 3–6 | 0–0 | 3–6 | 7–2 | 4–0 | — | 4–5 | 4–4 | 4–1 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 4–3 | 0–0 | 5–4 | 5–4–1 | 2–0 | 5–4 | — | 1–8 | 6–0 |
| Philadelphia White Stockings | 6–3 | 0–0 | 4–5 | 7–2 | 4–0 | 4–4 | 8–1 | — | 3–2 |
| Washington | 0–6 | 2–0 | 0–9 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 0–6 | 2–3 | — |

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Deacon White | 60 | 311 | 122 | .392 | 1 | 77 |
| 1B | Jim O'Rourke | 57 | 280 | 98 | .350 | 1 | 49 |
| 2B | Ross Barnes | 60 | 320 | 138 | .431 | 2 | 60 |
| SS | George Wright | 59 | 323 | 125 | .387 | 3 | 43 |
| 3B | Harry Schafer | 60 | 296 | 79 | .267 | 2 | 42 |
| OF | Bob Addy | 31 | 152 | 54 | .355 | 1 | 32 |
| OF | Harry Wright | 58 | 263 | 38 | .259 | 2 | 36 |
| OF | Andy Leonard | 58 | 300 | 96 | .320 | 0 | 60 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Jack Manning | 31 | 154 | 41 | .266 | 0 | 21 |
| Dave Birdsall | 3 | 11 | 1 | .091 | 0 | 0 |
| Fraley Rogers | 2 | 11 | 4 | .364 | 0 | 3 |
| Charlie Sweasy | 1 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Al Spalding | 60 | 496.2 | 41 | 14 | 2.99 | 50 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Harry Wright | 14 | 39.1 | 2 | 2 | 4.12 | 5 |