1879 Cincinnati Reds season

1879 Cincinnati Reds
Major League affiliations
National League (since 1876)
Location
Avenue Grounds (since 1876) Cincinnati (since 1876)
Other information
Manager(s)	Cal McVey, Deacon White
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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.^[1]

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[]

v t National League	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Providence Grays	59	25	0.702	—	34–8	25–17
Boston Red Caps	54	30	0.643	5	29–13	25–17
Buffalo Bisons	46	32	0.590	10	23–16	23–16
Chicago White Stockings	46	33	0.582	10½	29–13	17–20
Cincinnati Reds	43	37	0.537	14	21–16	22–21
Cleveland Blues	27	55	0.329	31	15–27	12–28
Syracuse Stars	22	48	0.314	30	11–22	11–26
Troy Trojans	19	56	0.253	35½	12–27	7–29

Record vs. opponents[]

1879 National League Records v t Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
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	—

Roster[]

1879 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Will White Catchers Deacon White		Infielders Ross Barnes Mike Burke Will Foley Joe Gerhardt King Kelly Cal McVey		Outfielders Buttercup Dickerson Pete Hotaling John Magner Jack Neagle Blondie Purcell Harry Wheeler		Manager Cal McVey Deacon White

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	43	31	1.99	232
Blondie Purcell	2	18	0	2	4.00	3
Jack Neagle	2	13	0	1	3.46	4
Harry Wheeler	1	1	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	2	8.36	7

References[]