1871 Fort Wayne Kekiongas season

The Fort Wayne Kekiongas played their first and only season in 1871 as a charter member of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. They finished seventh in the league with a record of 7−12.

1871 Fort Wayne Kekiongas
LeagueNational Association of Professional Base Ball Players
BallparkKekionga Ball Grounds
CityFort Wayne, Indiana
ManagersBill Lennon, Harry Deane

First game

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The honor of playing the first game of the newly organized National Association of Professional Baseball Players was decided by coin flip.

Bobby Mathews, 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m), 140 lbs, and 20 years old, hurled a 2−0 shutout for the Kekiongas. Deacon White, catcher for the Cleveland Forest Citys got 3 hits in 4 at-bats; the other Cleveland players only shared 2 hits among them. Deacon White scored the first hit, the first extra-base hit (a double) and was the first to hit into a double-play.

The game was rained out in the top of the 9th inning. Attendance was 200.

Bobby Mathews, who went on to play five seasons each in the National Association, National League, and American Association, is the only player ever to pitch 100 games or to win at least 50 in three different major leagues. He is credited with inventing the spitball and the out-curve. Deacon White was another historic player, ending his 22-year career as playing owner of Buffalo's Brotherhood team.

Regular season

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Picture of the 1871 Fort Wayne Kekiongas

Season standings

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Pos Team Pld W L T RF RA RD PCT GB
1 Philadelphia Athletics (C) 28 21 7 0 376 266 +110 .750
2 Chicago White Stockings 28 19 9 0 302 241 +61 .679 2
3 Boston Red Stockings 31 20 10 1 401 303 +98 .661 2
4 Washington Olympics 32 15 15 2 310 303 +7 .500 7
5 New York Mutuals 33 16 17 0 302 313 −11 .485 7.5
6 Troy Haymakers 29 13 15 1 351 362 −11 .466 8
7 Fort Wayne Kekiongas 19 7 12 0 137 243 −106 .368 9.5
8 Cleveland Forest Citys 29 10 19 0 249 341 −92 .345 11.5
9 Rockford Forest Citys 25 4 21 0 231 287 −56 .160 15.5
Source: Baseball Reference
(C) Champions

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
Team BOS CHI CLE FW NY PHI ROC TRO WSH
Boston 1–3 3–1 2–0 2–2 3–1 3–0 3–2 3–1–1
Chicago 3–1 2–1 2–0 3–1 2–3 3–0 1–1 3–2
Cleveland 1–3 1–2 0–3 3–2 0–3 3–1 2–2 0–3
Fort Wayne 0–2 0–2 3–0 1–2 0–2 1–1 1–1 1–2
New York 2–2 1–3 2–3 2–1 2–3 3–1 1–3 3–1
Philadelphia 1–3 3–2 3–0 2–0 3–2 3–0 3–0 3–0
Rockford 0–3 0–3 1–3 1–1 1–3 0–3 1–2 0–3
Troy 2–3 1–1 2–2 1–1 3–1 0–3 2–1 2–3–1
Washington 1–3–1 2–3 3–0 2–1 1–3 0–3 3–0 3–2–1


Roster

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1871 Fort Wayne Kekiongas
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Player stats

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Batting

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Starters by position

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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 Bill Lennon 12 48 11 .229 0 5
1B Jim Foran 19 89 31 .348 1 18
2B Tom Carey 19 87 20 .230 0 10
SS Wally Goldsmith 19 88 18 .205 0 12
3B Frank Sellman 14 65 15 .231 1 10
OF Pete Donnelly 9 34 7 .206 0 3
OF Robert Armstrong 12 49 11 .224 0 5
OF Bill Kelly 18 67 15 .224 0 7

Other batters

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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
Ed Mincher 9 36 8 .222 0 5
Jimmy Hallinan 5 25 5 .200 0 2
Harry Deane 6 22 4 .182 0 2
Paddy Quinn 5 17 4 .235 0 2
Henry Kohler 3 12 2 .167 0 1
Joe McDermott 2 8 2 .250 0 1
Bill Barrett 1 5 1 .200 0 1
Nealy Phelps 1 3 0 .000 0 0
Charles Bierman 1 2 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Bobby Mathews 19 169.0 6 11 5.17 17

References

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