# 1875 Boston Red Stockings season

The 1875 Boston Red Stockings season was the fifth season of the Boston Red Stockings franchise. They won their fourth consecutive National Association championship.
Managed by Harry Wright, Boston finished with a record of 71–8 to win the pennant by 15 games. Pitcher Al Spalding started 62 of the Red Stockings' games and led the NA with 54 wins. Catcher Deacon White (.367), second baseman Ross Barnes (.364), and first baseman Cal McVey (.355) finished 1–2–3 in the league's batting race. McVey paced the circuit with 87 runs batted in, and outfielder Jim O'Rourke had the most home runs, with 6. The Boston offense scored more runs than any other team in the NA. According to the FiveThirtyEight ELO rating system, they are the greatest team of all time.
Harry Wright, Al Spalding, Jim O'Rourke, and shortstop George Wright have all been elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
This was the last season of the Association, which dissolved at the end of the year. The Red Stockings club would join the new National League in 1876.

## Regular season
### Season standings

| National Association | W | L | T | Pct. | GB |
| Boston Red Stockings | 71 | 8 | 3 | .884 | — |
| Philadelphia Athletics | 53 | 20 | 4 | .714 | 15 |
| Hartford Dark Blues | 54 | 28 | 3 | .653 | 18½ |
| St. Louis Brown Stockings | 39 | 29 | 2 | .571 | 26½ |
| Philadelphia White Stockings | 37 | 31 | 2 | .543 | 28½ |
| Chicago White Stockings | 30 | 37 | 2 | .449 | 35 |
| New York Mutuals | 30 | 38 | 3 | .444 | 35½ |
| New Haven Elm Citys | 7 | 40 | — | .149 | 48 |
| Washington Nationals | 5 | 23 | — | .179 | 40½ |
| St. Louis Red Stockings | 4 | 15 | — | .211 | 37 |
| Philadelphia Centennials | 2 | 12 | — | .143 | 36½ |
| Brooklyn Atlantics | 2 | 42 | — | .045 | 51½ |
| Keokuk Westerns | 1 | 12 | — | .077 | 37 |

### 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 | Deacon White | 80 | 371 | 136 | .367 | 1 | 60 |
| 1B | Cal McVey | 82 | 389 | 138 | .355 | 3 | 87 |
| 2B | Ross Barnes | 78 | 393 | 143 | .364 | 1 | 58 |
| SS | George Wright | 79 | 408 | 136 | .333 | 2 | 61 |
| 3B | Harry Schafer | 52 | 222 | 64 | .288 | 0 | 17 |
| OF | Jack Manning | 77 | 348 | 94 | .270 | 1 | 46 |
| OF | Jim O'Rourke | 75 | 358 | 106 | .296 | 6 | 72 |
| OF | Andy Leonard | 80 | 396 | 127 | .321 | 1 | 74 |

#### 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 |
| Tommy Beals | 35 | 155 | 41 | .265 | 0 | 16 |
| Juice Latham | 16 | 78 | 21 | .269 | 0 | 13 |
| Frank Heifer | 11 | 50 | 14 | .280 | 0 | 5 |
| Harry Wright | 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 | 72 | 570.2 | 54 | 5 | 1.59 | 75 |
| Jack Manning | 27 | 144.0 | 16 | 2 | 2.38 | 34 |

#### 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 |
| Cal McVey | 3 | 11.0 | 1 | 0 | 4.91 | 1 |
| George Wright | 2 | 4.0 | 0 | 1 | 6.75 | 0 |
| Frank Heifer | 2 | 2.1 | 0 | 0 | 15.43 | 0 |