# 1872 Boston Red Stockings season

The 1872 Boston Red Stockings season was the second season of the franchise. They won the National Association championship.
Managed by Harry Wright, Boston finished with a record of 39–8 to win the pennant by 7.5 games. Pitcher Al Spalding started all 48 of the Red Stockings' games and led the NA with 38 wins. Second baseman Ross Barnes won the league batting title with a .430 batting average. 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 | GB |
| 1 | Boston Red Stockings (C) | 48 | 39 | 8 | 1 | 521 | 236 | +285 | — |
| 2 | Baltimore Canaries | 58 | 35 | 19 | 4 | 617 | 434 | +183 | 7.5 |
| 3 | New York Mutuals | 56 | 34 | 20 | 2 | 523 | 362 | +161 | 8.5 |
| 4 | Philadelphia Athletics | 47 | 30 | 14 | 3 | 539 | 349 | +190 | 7.5 |
| 5 | Troy Haymakers | 25 | 15 | 10 | 0 | 273 | 191 | +82 | 13 |
| 6 | Brooklyn Atlantics | 37 | 9 | 28 | 0 | 237 | 473 | −236 | 25 |
| 7 | Cleveland Forest Citys | 22 | 6 | 16 | 0 | 174 | 254 | −80 | 20.5 |
| 8 | Middletown Mansfields | 24 | 5 | 19 | 0 | 220 | 348 | −128 | 22.5 |
| 9 | Brooklyn Eckfords | 29 | 3 | 26 | 0 | 152 | 413 | −261 | 27 |
| 10 | Washington Olympics | 9 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 54 | 140 | −86 | 18 |
| 11 | Washington Nationals | 11 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 80 | 190 | −110 | 21 |

### Record vs. opponents

1872 National Association Recordsvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | BRA | BRE | CLE | MID | NY | PHI | TRO | WSN | WSO |
| Baltimore | — | 0–7 | 5–1 | 5–1 | 4–1 | 4–0 | 5–4–2 | 4–5–2 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 |
| Boston | 7–0 | — | 7–1 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 7–2 | 4–4–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Brooklyn Atlantics | 1–5 | 1–7 | — | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–6 | 0–4 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Brooklyn Eckfords | 1–5 | 0–3 | 2–2 | — | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–5 | 0–5 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Cleveland | 1–4 | 0–4 | 1–1 | 1–0 | — | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Middletown | 0–4 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | — | 0–4 | 0–2 | 0–4 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| New York | 4–5–2 | 2–7 | 6–2 | 5–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | — | 6–3 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Philadelphia | 5–4–2 | 4–4–1 | 4–0 | 5–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 3–6 | — | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Troy | 0–3 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2–3 | 0–2 | — | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Washington Nationals | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | — | 0–2 |
| Washington Olympics | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | — |

### 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 | 46 | 237 | 76 | .321 | 0 | 41 |
| 1B | Charlie Gould | 45 | 212 | 54 | .255 | 0 | 32 |
| 2B | Ross Barnes | 45 | 230 | 99 | .430 | 1 | 44 |
| SS | George Wright | 48 | 255 | 86 | .337 | 2 | 35 |
| 3B | Harry Schafer | 48 | 226 | 65 | .288 | 1 | 35 |
| OF | Harry Wright | 48 | 208 | 53 | .255 | 0 | 24 |
| OF | Fraley Rogers | 45 | 204 | 56 | .275 | 1 | 28 |
| OF | Andy Leonard | 46 | 241 | 84 | .349 | 2 | 42 |

#### 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 |
| Dave Birdsall | 16 | 76 | 16 | .211 | 1 | 15 |

### 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 | 48 | 404.2 | 38 | 8 | 1.85 | 28 |

#### 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 | 7 | 25.2 | 1 | 0 | 2.10 | 1 |