Major League Demographics: 1871
From a small seed, a mighty trunk may grow. Aeschylus
January 1, 2023
Introduction
Anyone who loves Baseball history owes an enormous debt of gratitude to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). Founded in 1971,* this group has expanded the available knowledge about Baseball in virtually all directions. In one particular area, SABR continued the work of the late great Lee Allen, historian of the Baseball Hall of Fame from 1959 until he died of a heart attack in 1969. Allen had made it his life’s work to collect biographical information about every Major League player. Without this work, started by Lee Allen and then followed up on by SABR, the detailed demographics of the 115 players who played in the 1871 National Association (NA) would not even be available to analyze. But, thankfully, they are. This post will seek to answer the following questions about those 1871 NA players: 1. how old were they in 1871; 2. how long did they live after their careers ended; 3. how tall and heavy were they in 1871; 4. which was their dominant hand when batting or throwing; and 5. where did these men originally come from? Future posts will answer the exact same questions for other Major League seasons. It will then be possible to compare and contrast this information over the entire timeline of Baseball. Hopefully, something interesting about the always changing demographics of the supposed National Pastime will be uncovered. If not, it will just be good fun for the Baseball obsessed (or perhaps just interested).
*Exactly 100 years after the formation of the first Major League, the National Association. Unless otherwise noted, all basic demographic information comes from the website Baseball Reference.
1. How Old Was the Average NA Player in 1871?
Of the 115 players, 81 men have a full birthdate (day/month/year); 15 have a partial birthdate (month/year); 17 have just a birth year; and only two players (Bill Barrett & Bill Kelly) have no birth information at all. For the purposes of this post, the median will be used to determine any averages. The median is the mid point in any data set (exactly 50% of the data points are greater and 50% of the data points are lesser). Other demographic studies like this use the mean, or the weighted mean, to arrive at their conclusions. The mean, of course, is the average of all data points combined (a weighted mean assigns different values to individual data points such as games played or at bats). In this case, the median seems better suited as the mean can be thrown off by an extreme data point. It is also just less complicated. Of the 81 NA players who have full birthdates, the median would be player #41 (William Johnson), born June 1, 1848. In other words, the median NA player was around 23 years old in 1871 (using 7/1/1871, the season mid-point, to determine player’s age). Of course, the obvious question would be: Does including the data from those players without full birthdates make any difference? There are 32 players with partial data. Using the data from all 113 men with any birth data, the median 1871 age rises to 23 years, 6 months, and 4 days (aka #57, John Sensenderfer, aka “Count” Sensenderfer). Basically, the median age of a 1871 NA player was 23 and a half. This is almost surely the lowest average age of the players for any one season in Major League history [which, considering 1871 was the very first season, makes total sense]. In more recent years, Major League players reportedly averaged around 27 years old in the 1960s and 1970s, which rose to about 29 years old in the 2010s, and has currently fallen back to 28 years old or so in the 2020s.
2. How Long Did the Average 1871 NA Player Live?
Of the 115 NA players, 111 of them have been found dead. Four men (Barrett and Kelly again, plus Edward Beavens and Fred Treacey) have left no trace (so far) of when they shuffled off this mortal coil. But they are definitely dead [or approximately 170 years old]. The first and also youngest of the 1871 players to die was Willard White. He died March 3, 1872, at the very young age of 22 years and 101 days of what was then called the “White Plague” (tuberculosis). Seven players did not see the 1880s. The median age of the 1871 NAL players when they passed on was 61 years and 116 days (#56 out of the 111 players, William Johnson, once again). The median date of death was November 28th, 1908 (a different #56, Thomas Pratt). In an odd twist of fate, the 1871 player who lived the longest was Hall of Famer James “Deacon” White, the cousin of the Willard White who had died first. Jim White lived to the ripe old age of 91 years and 217 days, finally passing away on July 7th of 1939. He was one of 4 players from the 1871 NA who made it to 90 years old. One of them, Al Pratt, died just 2 days after turning 90. Yet another was White’s former teammate & fellow Hall of Famer, George Wright. Wright died in 1937 after living 90 years and 205 days. The only other 1871 player to make 90 was George Bird. Bird was also the last player from the first Major League still living. When he died on November 11th of 1940 at the advanced age of 90 years and 139 days, the last player from the 1871 National Association was laid to rest. Compared to modern times, the players of the 1871 NA lived considerably shorter lives. In the year 2020, the average lifespan of an American male was reportedly 74.5* years, more than 12 years longer than the average 1871 NAL player.
*An average modern American women reportedly lives to be 80.2 years, raising the overall American average to 77.3 years old.
3. How Big Was the Average 1871 NA Player?
Of the 115 NAL players, 13 do not have their height listed. Of the 102 players that do have it listed, the median is 5 feet 8 inches (the average between #51 and #52, though both men are listed as 5-08). Only 13 of the 102 players are listed as being 6 feet or taller (8 men at exactly 6-00, 3 men at 6-01, and just one man, Robert Armstrong, at 6-02). The shortest man listed, at 5 feet and 3 and a half inches, is Dickey Pearce, the long time shortstop. But Pearce is also listed as having weighed a very stout 161 pounds. The next shortest man on the NA list is David Force, also a shortstop, listed as being 5-04 and weighing only 130 pounds. Three other NA players are listed as 5-05 tall. There are 101 players with their weight listed (the 14 missing this info are the 13 without a listed height, plus William Johnson again). The median of these 101 players (#51) weighed 157 pounds (Thomas Foley or Hall of Famer Harry Wright). The heaviest listed player is another Hall of Famer, Adrian (aka “Cap”) Anson. But his listed weight, 227 pounds, is obviously from much later in his career [Cap was the last 1871 NA player active in the Major leagues, retiring in 1897]. The photographic evidence suggests that the 19-year-old Anson weighed about 180 to 190 pounds in 1871. This would still make Anson heavier than Charles Bierman or Gat Stires, next on the list at reportedly 180 pounds.* The lightest listed player was David Birdsall at 126 pounds. However, he was almost surely heavier than that. Birdsall, listed as 5-09 tall, was a thin man. But 126 pounds on a 5-09 frame is emaciated. He was probably, looking at photos, around at least 145-150 pounds. The smallest man on any NA field was probably always the 5-04 short and 130 pounds light Davy Force. Presently, the average Major League player stands 6-01 and weighs around 205 to 210 pounds in 2020. In other words, the average present Major League player would be comfortably the largest man by far on any 1871 National Association team.
*The fascinating Garret “Gat” Stires, listed as 5-08 and a muscular 180 pounds, was probably the strongest man in the NA. An incredibly powerful batter, Stires reportedly swung a 6 pound bat [i.e. 96 ounces, modern bats are 31 to 33.5 oz]. That is basically a log. Unfortunately, 1871 was his only year in the Majors.
One other interesting question related to the height and weight of the 1871 NA players is: Were the pitchers from 1871 bigger, smaller, or the same size as the other 1871 players? For most of baseball history, pitchers have been taller and heavier than other players. Reportedly, in modern baseball, pitchers are 6 feet and 3 inches tall on average and weigh between 210 and 215 pounds. In other words, two inches taller and 5 to 10 pounds heavier than other players. The advantage of a taller pitcher comes from the downward plane which can be attained throwing a ball overhand. But pitchers in 1871 were not allowed to throw overhand. Modern pitching mounds also accentuate the downward plane effect. But pitchers in 1871 did not throw off a mound. The advantage of a heavier pitcher is that he would be able to supposedly throw harder (i.e. by putting his weight behind the pitch). But there has never been a plethora of fat guys with blazing fastballs pitching in the Major Leagues. In any event, 19 men pitched in the 1871 National Association. But 9 of these men were just players who primarily played other positions. One man, William Stearns was primarily a pitcher during his career but only pitched two games in 1871 (during his career, he played 84 Major League games, every one as a pitcher). Stearns threw right-handed but his batting, height and weight are not listed. This leaves just nine other men who really pitched in the 1871 NA. This may seem low, but the 1871 teams ordinarily used just one pitcher. For what its worth, these 9 men were generally bigger than their teammates. The median height and weight of these 9 pitchers was 5-09 and 162 pounds.* Strangely, the only left-handed pitcher was John McMullen (who was also probably the worst pitcher of the nine). Truthfully, there were simply not enough pitchers hurling in 1871 to draw any definite conclusions about their relative size.
*The mean average height of these 9 pitchers was exactly 5 feet and 9 inches [9 men/621 inches] also; but their mean average weight was a slim 155.67 pounds [9 pitchers/1401 pounds]. Basically, the size differential between the 9 pitchers and the batters in 1871 could just be a rounding error.
4. Which Was the Dominant Hand of the 1871 NA Players?
Of the 115 NA players that played in 1871, whether they batted right-handed or left-handed has been recorded for just 48 of them. The breakdown of the batting data shows that 36 of 48 [75.0%] players batted from the right side and 12 of 48 players batted from the left [25.0%]. Whether NA players threw the ball right-handed or left-handed has been recorded for only 60 of them. The breakdown of the throwing data shows that 48 of 60 players threw right-handed [80.0%] and 12 of 60 players threw left-handed [20.0%]. As the right-left percentages of the general population are usually recorded as 90% right and 10% left, the data seems to suggests that the natural advantage of being left-handed in Baseball, especially while batting, was already evident at the beginning. But this data could actually be skewed. As being left-handed is more unusual than being right-handed, whether a player was left-handed is much more likely to have been recorded. The absence of data is too great to definitely claim that baseball’s bias towards the left-handed existed in 1871. Also it is obvious that positional discrimination was not yet set in stone in the beginning [because of the left-handed disadvantages of playing as a C, 2B, SS, or 3B, these positions eventually would be manned only by the right-handed.] It should be noted that one man, the always eclectic Bob Ferguson, has been listed as a switch-hitter in most Baseball databases. However, for this analysis, Ferguson is simply being considered a right-handed hitter. He did not switch sides at the plate to gain a platoon advantage.* Ferguson was basically just a right-handed hitter, but would sometimes switch-hit to gain what he thought was a tactical advantage. In the most widely reported example, Bob Ferguson shifted from right to left in the batter’s box in an attempt not to hit the ball at shortstop George Wright, probably the greatest fielder at that time.
*The platoon advantage occurs because a right-handed pitcher will appear to release the ball at the body of a righty batter and a left-handed pitcher does the same versus a lefty batter. This element of deception (and fear) makes it harder to hit than opposite side confrontations [lefty-righty or righty-lefty].
5. Where Did the 1871 NA Players Come from?
The simple answer to this question is: The players mostly came from New York State or Pennsylvania. As the game of Baseball was invented in New York City; and then spread outwards from there like a fever, this is hardly surprising. All told, the players in the 1871 NA came from only ten states (and the District of Columbia). Of the 115 NA players in 1871, just one player is listed without a birthplace [Pete Donnelly]. Interestingly, thirteen (13) of the players were not born in the United States at all (England 5, Ireland 4, and one each for Canada, Cuba, Germany and the Netherlands). This may be the highest percentage of foreign players in a Major League until over 100 years later (a robust 11.4% of the players). Of the remaining 101 players, 45 of the players were born in NY; 23 in PA, 9 in MD, 8 in NJ, 5 in IL, 4 in OH, 2 in IA and MA, and just one in CT, DC & IN. There were 79 players born in the Northeast [NY-PA-NJ-MA-CT]; 12 players born in the Midwest [IL-OH-IA-IN]; and another 10 players from the southern borders [basically Baltimore MD & Washington DC]. There were no players in the 1871 from the Southern States or the far Western States. There was no one born in either Texas or California [though seven players from the 1871 NA would eventually pass away in CA]. Interestingly, there was only two players from Massachusetts in the 1871 NA. It seems like the Boston area, all by itself, should have contributed many more players than that. However, the game of baseball, as played in Massachusetts, differed from the game played in New York. The “New York” game took quite awhile to catch fire in the New England area (there were no players from Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, or New Hampshire in the 1871 NA either). Essentially, most players in the 1871 NA came from Northeastern urban centers.
The deeper answer to the question of where the players came from is: They were mostly of English descent. Since baseball evolved out the British game of rounders, this is hardly a revelation. Although the specific ethnicity of every player cannot be exactly determined, the nationality of their surnames can be reviewed. But, [for example] if a player had an Italian or Spanish mother, this process would not pick that fact up. Examining the surnames of the 115 men who played in the 1871 NA, there were 68 players with (presumably) English surnames [59.1%]; there were 24 players with likely Irish (or Gaelic) surnames [20.9%]; there were 13 players with probably German surnames [11.3%], and there were 6 players with seemingly Scottish surnames [5.2%]. There were 2 players of Jewish heritage (Lipman Pike was certainly Jewish but Levi Meyerle was only possibly Jewish). Both of these Jewish men had Germanic last names [interestingly, they were both ferocious hitters and poor fielders]. There was also one surname that was of presumably French origin (Henry Berthrong) & one surname that was definitely Spanish [Esteban Bellan]. Esteban Bellan may actually be the most important historical figure in the 1871 NA. The son of a Cuban father and Irish mother who immigrated to Cuba, Bellan attended St. John’s College (now Fordham University) in New York City from 1866 to 1868. After graduating, Bellan played Baseball in the New York City area from 1868 to 1873. Then he returned home and was one of the founders of the Cuban Baseball Leagues. Finally, there is one group of players that is included only by its absence. There were no players of African-American descent in the NA. They had been banned by the National Association before the first game had even been played.
*Surnames were studied mostly through Google queries and the Surname database on FamilySearch.com [the Mormon Genealogical website].
Conclusion: A League of Young Altuves
The average [median] 1871 National Association [Major League*] player was around 23 and a half years old, stood 5 feet 8 inches tall, and weighed about 157 pounds.* He batted and threw right-handed. The player was most likely born in New York State (if not in New York City itself). He was a white male of northern European ancestry. His parents were probably of English stock. He would live to be 61 and a half years old and died in 1908 or so. Every person that he knew has been dead for over a century. In the current Major Leagues, Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros [2011 to present] is celebrated for his small size. Altuve is listed as 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing around 166 pounds. Although he is older [presently 32 years of age] and also both slightly shorter and a little bit heavier than the average 1871 NA player, Altuve is basically the exact same size. As players usually gain weight as they age, there is actually a good chance that the average weight of those 1871 NA players was around 165 to 170 pounds when they were 32 too. Another thing that Altuve and the 1871 NA players have in common is that they don’t appear to have any fat on them at all. Pictures of the players in 1871 convey that they were either wiry and muscular or stocky and muscular. Very few of the players appear to have been in need of a diet. Perhaps, the best way to think of the 1871 National Association players is a League of young Jose Altuves (minus the tattoos).
**For those who would rather not use the median, the mean average height of an 1871 NA player was: 5 feet 8.52 inches tall [102 players/6989 inches]; and average weight was: 158.53 pounds [101 players/16012 pounds]. Basically the same statistics.
Addendum #1
Some Baseball historians do not consider the old National Association, which operated from 1871 through 1875, to be a Major League. One reason that they believe the Association should not be considered the Majors is that it let any team that could pay the initiation fees join. Another reason that they cite is one of problematic game scheduling. The Association clubs did not play a balanced schedule (an equal number of games against each opponent). But, in the final analysis, the main problem these historians have with the National Association is that they just don’t think that it was of Major League Caliber. It was an inferior League. However, the National League which followed the NA was basically just a continuation of the NA with different organizational rules. The NA was almost certainly as good as the 1876-1880 NL. The other side of this argument is the assumption that the game of Baseball was [and probably still is] evolving so rapidly that the game improves steadily decade by decade. In other words, Baseball in the 2000s was better than in the 1900s was better than the 1880s which was way better than the 1870s. In other words, the NA was simply inferior due to this evolution. Perhaps the game of Baseball does steadily improve. But the slope of that improvement is probably so gradual that it is almost imperceptible. Adrian Anson played in the Majors from 1871 to 1897. His career path is completely normal, as if the quality of the Leagues did not change over the years, even a little bit. The NA was the top League in the United States from 1871 to 1875, ipso facto it was a Major League.
Coming Attractions: Future Posts in [Hopefully] 2023
1. Short post on the upcoming January 2023 BBWAA Hall of Fame Election. Nothing to see here, move along.
2. Thirty different brief team capsules for every Major League club [including one very long one about aging for the San Francisco Giants, now well over a year in production].
3. The Problem with Major League Player’s Height and Weight Information and a solution that will not be adopted.
4. My personal and provisional All-Time Major League Baseball Top 100 List with WAR modifications and Negro League players included.
5. The tentative 100 Greatest Players from the Negro Leagues List.
6. The Major League Demographics of the 1880, 1900, 1920, 1940, 1960, 1980, 2000 and 2020 seasons. Not necessarily in that order.
7. The history of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Negro League Players; or how to screw up the process and progress of glory.
8. Where’s Winston: Negro League Demographics, Part 1 to start. Adventures in the last frontier of Major League Demographics
9. The Mysterious Career of Will Jackman [Negro League Legend] Revisited.
10. The Biography of Big Bill Smith [forgotten Negro League Legend].
11. The Legendary 1894 season of Grant (Home Run) Johnson: 60 home runs?
12. Career Paths and Injury Cascades (aka Luck of the Draw), Part 1 to start: Probably Pete Reiser or maybe Bob Feller.
13. Little fast fat men: An examination of the worst player in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Tommy McCarthy, and several of his contemporaries.
14. The True Power stat and 500 at bats: How to waste your time with baseball statistics when wondering how many home runs Ty Cobb would have hit if the Major Leagues were using a lively ball during his career.
15. Baby You’re a Rich Man: Modern players and Generational Wealth [with many thanks to Roger Clemens for saying that phrase out loud].
16. An examination of Barry Bonds career path: What if Barry Bonds hadn’t taken any Steroids?
17. Today’s Pitchers: Modern Medical Marvels [or why exactly are so many guys throwing 100 mph].
18. Any other strange topic of Baseball that may consume my time.