# 1879 Cincinnati Reds season

The 1879 Cincinnati Reds season was a season in American baseball. The team finished fifth in the National League with a record of 43–37, 14 games behind the Providence Grays.

## Regular season

The Reds were hoping to build off a great 1878 season, in which the team finished in second place in the National League with a 37–23 record. In the off-season, the Reds announced that catcher Deacon White would become the player-manager. Cincinnati signed Ross Barnes to play shortstop. Barnes had missed most of the 1877 season and all of the 1878 season after falling ill. In his last full season in 1876, Barnes played with the Chicago White Stockings, and led the NL with a .429 batting average, 138 hits, 126 runs, 38 doubles, and fourteen triples.
King Kelly had a very solid season, hitting .348 with two home runs and 47 RBI, while another youngster, twenty-year-old Buttercup Dickerson, hit .291 with two home runs and a team high 57 RBI. Deacon White rebounded from a poor 1878 season by his standards, as he hit .330 with a homer and 52 RBI. On the mound, Will White led the NL with 75 starts, as he had a 43–31 record with a 1.99 ERA in his league high 680 innings pitched.

### Season summary

Cincinnati started off hot, as they opened the season with a five-game winning streak. However, the club lost seven of their next eight games to fall under .500. Cincinnati had a mediocre 9–9 record after eighteen games, and player-manager Deacon White turned over his managerial duties to Cal McVey, who had been the Reds' player-manager in 1878. Cincinnati lost the first five games under McVey, however, the team began to play better, and ended the season with a 43–37 record, fifth in the league, and fourteen games behind the first-place Grays.

### Season standings

vteNational League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Providence Grays | 59 | 25 | .702 | — | 34‍–‍8 | 25‍–‍17 |
| Boston Red Caps | 54 | 30 | .643 | 5 | 29‍–‍13 | 25‍–‍17 |
| Buffalo Bisons | 46 | 32 | .590 | 10 | 23‍–‍16 | 23‍–‍16 |
| Chicago White Stockings | 46 | 33 | .582 | 10½ | 29‍–‍13 | 17‍–‍20 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 43 | 37 | .537 | 14 | 21‍–‍16 | 22‍–‍21 |
| Cleveland Blues | 27 | 55 | .329 | 31 | 15‍–‍27 | 12‍–‍28 |
| Syracuse Stars | 22 | 48 | .314 | 30 | 11‍–‍22 | 11‍–‍26 |
| Troy Trojans | 19 | 56 | .253 | 35½ | 12‍–‍27 | 7‍–‍29 |

### Record vs. opponents

1879 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BOS | BUF | CHI | CIN | CLE | PRV | SYR | TRO |
| Boston | — | 9–3 | 4–8 | 7–5 | 10–2 | 4–8 | 9–3 | 11–1 |
| Buffalo | 3–9 | — | 6–6–1 | 7–3 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 5–3 | 11–1 |
| Chicago | 8–4 | 6–6–1 | — | 3–8 | 8–4 | 5–7–1 | 8–1 | 8–3–2 |
| Cincinnati | 5–7 | 3–7 | 8–3 | — | 8–4 | 2–10 | 8–4–1 | 9–2 |
| Cleveland | 2–10 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 4–8 | — | 4–8 | 4–7 | 5–6 |
| Providence | 8–4 | 6–6 | 7–5–1 | 10–2 | 8–4 | — | 10–2 | 10–2 |
| Syracuse | 3–9 | 3–5 | 1–8 | 4–8–1 | 7–4 | 2–10 | — | 2–4 |
| Troy | 1–11 | 1–11 | 3–8–2 | 2–9 | 6–5 | 2–10 | 4–2 | — |

### Game log

Legend :
| Reds Win | Reds Loss | Game Tied/Postponed |
1879 Game Log: 43–37 (Home: 21–16; Away: 22–21) :
May: 8–7 (Home: 6–6; Away: 2–1)
#DateOpponentScoreStadiumAttendanceRecordStreak
1May 1Trojans7–5Avenue GroundsN/A1–0W1
2May 2Trojans10–1Avenue GroundsN/A2–0W2
3May 3Trojans13–12Avenue GroundsN/A3–0W3
4May 6Stars7–6Avenue GroundsN/A4–0W4
5May 8Stars5–2Avenue GroundsN/A5–0W5
6May 10Stars6–7Avenue GroundsN/A5–1L1
7May 13Red Caps2–3Avenue GroundsN/A5–2L2
8May 15Red Caps2–13Avenue GroundsN/A5–3L3
9May 17Red Caps7–4Avenue GroundsN/A6–3W1
10May 20Grays5–11Avenue GroundsN/A6–4L1
11May 22Grays9–10Avenue GroundsN/A6–5L2
12May 24Grays1–17Avenue GroundsN/A6–6L3
13May 28@ Trojans6–20Putnam GroundsN/A6–7L4
14May 30@ Trojans4–2Putnam GroundsN/A7–7W1
15May 31@ Trojans6–2Putnam GroundsN/A8–7W2 :
June: 2–10 (Home: 1–1; Away: 1–9)
#DateOpponentScoreStadiumAttendanceRecordStreak
–June 3@ StarsPostponed (rain); Makeup: June 4
16June 4@ Stars6–5Newell ParkN/A9–7W3
17June 5@ Stars1–10Newell ParkN/A9–8L1
18June 7@ Stars3–9Newell ParkN/A9–9L2
19June 10@ Grays1–6Messer Street GroundsN/A9–10L3
–June 12@ GraysPostponed (rain); Makeup: June 13
20June 13@ Grays6–19Messer Street GroundsN/A9–11L4
21June 14@ Grays3–4Messer Street GroundsN/A9–12L5
22June 17@ Red Caps6–9South End GroundsN/A9–13L6
23June 19@ Red Caps0–6South End GroundsN/A9–14L7
24June 21@ Red Caps15–13South End GroundsN/A10–14W1
25June 24White Stockings4–1Avenue GroundsN/A11–14W2
26June 25White Stockings3–7Avenue GroundsN/A11–15L1
27June 28@ White Stockings1–5Lakefront ParkN/A11–16L2
–June 30@ White StockingsPostponed (unknown reason); Makeup: July 1 :
July: 11–7 (Home: 7–6; Away: 4–1)
#DateOpponentScoreStadiumAttendanceRecordStreak
28July 1@ White Stockings7–5Lakefront ParkN/A12–16W1
29July 2@ White Stockings9–8Lakefront ParkN/A13–16W2
30July 4Stars9–1Avenue GroundsN/A14–16W3
31July 5Stars9–5Avenue GroundsN/A15–16W4
32July 8Stars1–6Avenue GroundsN/A15–17L1
–July 10Red CapsPostponed (rain); Makeup: July 14
33July 11Red Caps2–11Avenue GroundsN/A15–18L2
34July 12Red Caps4–3Avenue GroundsN/A16–18W1
35July 14Red Caps4–8Avenue GroundsN/A16–19L1
36July 15Grays9–0Avenue GroundsN/A17–19W1
37July 16Grays3–5Avenue GroundsN/A17–20L1
38July 17Grays8–4Avenue GroundsN/A18–20W1
39July 19Trojans7–6Avenue GroundsN/A19–20W2
40July 21Trojans10–0Avenue GroundsN/A20–20W3
–July 24@ White StockingsPostponed (unknown reason); Makeup: July 25
41July 25@ White Stockings3–6Lakefront ParkN/A20–21L1
42July 26@ White Stockings11–8Lakefront ParkN/A21–21W1
43July 28@ White Stockings5–2Lakefront ParkN/A22–21W2
44July 30Bisons5–7Avenue GroundsN/A22–22L1
45July 31Bisons3–5Avenue GroundsN/A22–23L2 :
August: 8–6 (Home: 7–3; Away: 1–3)
#DateOpponentScoreStadiumAttendanceRecordStreak
46August 2Bisons5–9Avenue GroundsN/A22–24L3
–August 5BluesPostponed (rain); Makeup: August 22
–August 6BluesPostponed (rain); Makeup: August 29 (site change)
–August 7BluesPostponed (rain); Makeup: September 30 (site change)
47August 9White Stockings11–6Avenue GroundsN/A23–24W1
48August 11White Stockings5–1Avenue GroundsN/A24–24W2
49August 12White Stockings5–0Avenue GroundsN/A25–24W3
–August 14@ BisonsPostponed (unknown reason); Makeup: September 22
50August 15@ Bisons9–10Riverside ParkN/A25–25L1
51August 19Blues2–1Avenue GroundsN/A26–25W1
52August 20Blues9–5Avenue GroundsN/A27–25W2
53August 21Blues3–7Avenue GroundsN/A27–26L1
54August 22Blues15–1Avenue GroundsN/A28–26W1
–August 23BisonsPostponed (rain); Makeup: August 27
55August 26Bisons0–4Avenue GroundsN/A28–27L1
56August 27Bisons5–2Avenue GroundsN/A29–27W1
57August 28@ Blues6–7Kennard Street ParkN/A29–28L1
58August 29@ Blues9–3Kennard Street ParkN/A30–28W1
59August 30@ Blues3–10Kennard Street ParkN/A30–29L1 :
September: 13–8 (Home: 0–0; Away: 13–8)
#DateOpponentScoreStadiumAttendanceRecordStreak
60September 1@ Blues4–2Kennard Street ParkN/A31–29W1
61September 3@ Stars2–2Newell ParkN/A31–29W1
62September 4@ Stars6–2Newell ParkN/A32–29W2
63September 5@ Stars18–2Newell ParkN/A33–29W3
64September 6@ Stars6–0Newell ParkN/A34–29W4
65September 8@ Trojans11–5Putnam GroundsN/A35–29W5
–September 9@ TrojansPostponed (rain); Makeup: September 11
66September 10@ Trojans4–9Putnam GroundsN/A35–30L1
67September 11@ Trojans11–5Putnam GroundsN/A36–30W5
68September 12@ Red Caps1–4South End GroundsN/A36–31L1
69September 13@ Red Caps7–5South End GroundsN/A37–31W1
70September 15@ Red Caps5–3South End GroundsN/A38–31W2
71September 17@ Grays2–6Messer Street GroundsN/A38–32L1
72September 18@ Grays4–5Messer Street GroundsN/A38–33L2
73September 19@ Grays5–15Messer Street GroundsN/A38–34L3
74September 22@ Bisons0–3Riverside ParkN/A38–35L4
75September 23@ Bisons7–12Riverside ParkN/A38–36L5
76September 24@ Bisons8–5Riverside ParkN/A39–36W1
77September 25@ Bisons10–2Riverside ParkN/A40–36W2
78September 26@ Blues6–2Kennard Street ParkN/A41–36W3
79September 27@ Blues15–4Kennard Street ParkN/A42–36W4
80September 29@ Blues13–1Kennard Street ParkN/A43–36W5
81September 30@ Blues6–9Kennard Street ParkN/A43–37L1 :

### 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 | 78 | 333 | 110 | .330 | 1 | 52 |
| 1B | Cal McVey | 81 | 354 | 105 | .297 | 0 | 55 |
| 2B | Joe Gerhardt | 79 | 313 | 62 | .198 | 1 | 39 |
| 3B | King Kelly | 77 | 345 | 120 | .348 | 2 | 47 |
| SS | Ross Barnes | 77 | 323 | 86 | .266 | 1 | 30 |
| OF | Buttercup Dickerson | 81 | 350 | 102 | .291 | 2 | 57 |
| OF | Pete Hotaling | 81 | 369 | 103 | .279 | 1 | 27 |
| OF | Will Foley | 56 | 218 | 46 | .211 | 0 | 25 |

#### 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 |
| Mike Burke | 28 | 117 | 26 | .222 | 0 | 8 |
| Blondie Purcell | 12 | 50 | 11 | .220 | 0 | 4 |
| Jack Neagle | 3 | 12 | 2 | .167 | 0 | 2 |
| John Magner | 1 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 1 |
| Harry Wheeler | 1 | 3 | 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 |
| Will White | 76 | 680.0 | 43 | 31 | 1.99 | 232 |
| Blondie Purcell | 2 | 18.0 | 0 | 2 | 4.00 | 3 |
| Jack Neagle | 2 | 13.0 | 0 | 1 | 3.46 | 4 |
| Harry Wheeler | 1 | 1.0 | 0 | 1 | 81.00 | 0 |

#### Other 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 |
| Cal McVey | 3 | 14.0 | 0 | 2 | 8.36 | 7 |