# 1871 Boston Red Stockings season

The 1871 season was the first season of the Boston Red Stockings franchise, now known as the Atlanta Braves. They were formed in 1871 by Boston businessman and Ashburnham native Ivers Whitney Adams. The team was composed of former players of the defunct Cincinnati Red Stockings franchise, who were brought to Boston and kept the name with them. Led and managed by baseball pioneer Harry Wright, the new Boston team would join the newly formed National Association of Professional Base Ball Players for the 1871 season and finish the year in third place with a record of 20–10.
Pitcher Al Spalding started all 31 of the Red Stockings' games and led the NA with 19 wins. Catcher Cal McVey finished second in the league batting race with a .431 average. From this team, Harry Wright, Al Spalding, and shortstop George Wright have all been elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

## Regular season
### Season standings

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | T | RF | RA | RD | PCT | GB |
| 1 | Philadelphia Athletics (C) | 28 | 21 | 7 | 0 | 376 | 266 | +110 | .750 | — |
| 2 | Chicago White Stockings | 28 | 19 | 9 | 0 | 302 | 241 | +61 | .679 | 2 |
| 3 | Boston Red Stockings | 31 | 20 | 10 | 1 | 401 | 303 | +98 | .661 | 2 |
| 4 | Washington Olympics | 32 | 15 | 15 | 2 | 310 | 303 | +7 | .500 | 7 |
| 5 | New York Mutuals | 33 | 16 | 17 | 0 | 302 | 313 | −11 | .485 | 7.5 |
| 6 | Troy Haymakers | 29 | 13 | 15 | 1 | 351 | 362 | −11 | .466 | 8 |
| 7 | Fort Wayne Kekiongas | 19 | 7 | 12 | 0 | 137 | 243 | −106 | .368 | 9.5 |
| 8 | Cleveland Forest Citys | 29 | 10 | 19 | 0 | 249 | 341 | −92 | .345 | 11.5 |
| 9 | Rockford Forest Citys | 25 | 4 | 21 | 0 | 231 | 287 | −56 | .160 | 15.5 |

### Record vs. opponents

1871 National Association Recordsvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | CHI | CLE | FW | NY | PHI | ROC | TRO | WSH |
| Boston | — | 1–3 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 3–1–1 |
| Chicago | 3–1 | — | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–3 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 |
| Cleveland | 1–3 | 1–2 | — | 0–3 | 3–2 | 0–3 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 0–3 |
| Fort Wayne | 0–2 | 0–2 | 3–0 | — | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 |
| New York | 2–2 | 1–3 | 2–3 | 2–1 | — | 2–3 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 3–1 |
| Philadelphia | 1–3 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 3–2 | — | 3–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 |
| Rockford | 0–3 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 0–3 | — | 1–2 | 0–3 |
| Troy | 2–3 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 2–1 | — | 2–3–1 |
| Washington | 1–3–1 | 2–3 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 0–3 | 3–0 | 3–2–1 | — |

### 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 | Cal McVey | 29 | 153 | 66 | .431 | 0 | 43 |
| 1B | Charlie Gould | 31 | 151 | 43 | .285 | 2 | 32 |
| 2B | Ross Barnes | 31 | 157 | 63 | .401 | 0 | 34 |
| SS | George Wright | 16 | 80 | 33 | .413 | 0 | 11 |
| 3B | Harry Schafer | 31 | 149 | 42 | .282 | 0 | 28 |
| OF | Fred Cone | 19 | 77 | 20 | .260 | 0 | 16 |
| OF | Dave Birdsall | 29 | 152 | 46 | .303 | 0 | 24 |
| OF | Harry Wright | 31 | 147 | 44 | .299 | 0 | 26 |

#### 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 |
| Frank Barrows | 18 | 86 | 13 | .151 | 0 | 11 |
| Sam Jackson | 16 | 76 | 17 | .224 | 0 | 11 |

### 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 | 31 | 257.1 | 19 | 10 | 3.36 | 23 |

#### 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 | 9 | 18.2 | 1 | 0 | 6.27 | 0 |