# 1875 Hartford Dark Blues season

In their second season in the National Association, the 1875 Hartford Dark Blues finished in third place. They were managed by starting third baseman Bob "Death to Flying Things" Ferguson.
The Dark Blues, with future Hall of Famer Candy Cummings, had the best pitching staff in baseball. Cummings won 35 games, and the 19-year-old Tommy Bond finished second in league ERA at 1.56.
Following the season, they were one of the NA teams chosen to join the new National League.

## Regular season
### Season standings

| National Association | W | L | T | GB | Pct. |
| Boston Red Stockings | 71 | 8 | 3 | – | .884 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 53 | 20 | 4 | 15.0 | .714 |
| Hartford Dark Blues | 54 | 28 | 3 | 18.5 | .659 |
| St. Louis Brown Stockings | 39 | 29 | 2 | 26.5 | .571 |
| Philadelphia White Stockings | 37 | 31 | 2 | 28.5 | .542 |
| Chicago White Stockings | 30 | 37 | 2 | 35.0 | .449 |
| New York Mutuals | 30 | 38 | 3 | 35.5 | .443 |
| New Haven Elm Citys | 7 | 40 | – | 48.0 | .149 |
| Washington Nationals | 5 | 23 | – | 40.5 | .179 |
| St. Louis Red Stockings | 4 | 15 | – | 37.0 | .211 |
| Philadelphia Centennials | 2 | 12 | – | 36.5 | .143 |
| Brooklyn Atlantics | 2 | 42 | – | 51.5 | .045 |
| Keokuk Westerns | 1 | 12 | – | 37.0 | .077 |

### Record vs. opponents

1875 National Association Recordsvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BR | CHI | HAR | KEO | NH | NY | PHA | PHC | PWS | SLB | SLR | WSH |
| Boston | — | 6–0 | 8–2 | 9–1 | 1–0 | 5–1 | 10–0 | 8–2–2 | 4–0 | 6–0–1 | 7–2 | 1–0 | 6–0 |
| Brooklyn | 0–6 | — | 0–2 | 0–10 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–7 | 0–7 | 0–0 | 0–7 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Chicago | 2–8 | 2–0 | — | 4–6–1 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 1–7–1 | 0–0 | 3–7 | 5–5 | 4–0 | 0–0 |
| Hartford | 1–9 | 10–0 | 6–4–1 | — | 0–0 | 8–1 | 8–2–2 | 4–3–1 | 1–0 | 4–4 | 5–5 | 3–0 | 4–0 |
| Keokuk | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–4 | 0–0 | — | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 0–0 |
| New Haven | 1–5 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–8 | 0–0 | — | 1–5 | 0–7 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–4 |
| New York | 0–10 | 7–0 | 3–3 | 2–8–2 | 1–0 | 5–1 | — | 3–6 | 2–0 | 5–2 | 0–8–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 2–8–2 | 7–0 | 7–1–1 | 3–4–1 | 0–0 | 7–0 | 6–3 | — | 2–1 | 8–2 | 6–1 | 0–0 | 5–0 |
| Philadelphia Centennials | 0–4 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | — | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Philadelphia White Stockings | 0–6–1 | 7–0 | 7–3 | 4–4 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 2–5 | 2–8 | 3–0 | — | 5–5–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| St. Louis Brown Stockings | 2–7 | 2–0 | 5–5 | 5–5 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 8–0–1 | 1–6 | 0–0 | 5–5–1 | — | 2–0 | 3–0 |
| St. Louis Red Stockings | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–4 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | — | 2–1 |
| Washington | 0–6 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–4 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 0–5 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 1–2 | — |

### 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 | Doug Allison | 61 | 269 | 67 | .249 | 0 | 21 |
| 1B | Everett Mills | 80 | 342 | 89 | .260 | 1 | 48 |
| 2B | Jack Burdock | 74 | 350 | 103 | .294 | 0 | 35 |
| 3B | Bob Ferguson | 85 | 366 | 88 | .240 | 0 | 43 |
| SS | Tom Carey | 86 | 382 | 101 | .264 | 0 | 38 |
| OF | Jack Remsen | 86 | 358 | 96 | .268 | 0 | 34 |
| OF | Tom York | 86 | 375 | 111 | .296 | 0 | 37 |
| OF | Art Allison | 40 | 175 | 42 | .240 | 1 | 19 |

### 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 |
| Bill Harbridge | 53 | 208 | 50 | .240 | 0 | 26 |
| Paddy Quinn | 5 | 13 | 3 | .231 | 0 | 1 |
| Steve Brady | 1 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Charley Jones | 1 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 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 |
| Candy Cummings | 48 | 417.0 | 35 | 12 | 1.60 | 8 |
| Tommy Bond | 40 | 352.0 | 19 | 16 | 1.56 | 8 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Bob Ferguson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18.00 | 0 |

## League leaders

Tommy Bond
* #2 in NA in ERA (1.56)
Candy Cummings
* #3 in NA in wins (35)
* #3 in NA in ERA (1.60)