View source for New York Mutuals

{{Short description|Baseball club}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox baseball team
| name                  = Mutual Base Ball Club of New York<br />(New York Mutuals)
| location              = [[Hoboken, New Jersey]] (1857–1867)<br />[[Brooklyn, New York]] (1868–1876)
| ballpark              = {{plainlist|
*[[Union Grounds]] (1868–1876)
*[[Elysian Fields, Hoboken, New Jersey|Elysian Fields]] (1857–1867)}}
| founded               = 1857
| folded                = 1876
| league                = {{plainlist|
*[[National League (baseball)|National League]] (1876)
*[[National Association of Professional Base Ball Players|National Association (professional)]] (1871–1875)
*[[National Association of Base Ball Players|National Association (amateur)]] (1858–1870)}}
| league_champ_type     = 
| league_champs         = {{plainlist|
*'''National League pennants:'''  '''0'''
*'''National Association pennants:''' '''0'''
*'''National Association (amateur) pennants:''' '''2''' (1858, 1868)}}
| colors                = Navy, white<br />
{{color box|navy}}  {{color box|white}}
| owner                 = Mutual Hook and Ladder Co Number 1 (1857–1864)
[[William M. Tweed]] (1864–1871)
[[Bill Cammeyer]] (1871–1876)
| manager               = {{plainlist|
* [[Bill Cammeyer]] (1876)
* [[Dick Higham]] & [[Tom Carey (shortstop)|Tom Carey]] (1874–1875)
* [[Joe Start]] (1873)
* [[John Hatfield (baseball)|John Hatfield]] (1872–1873)
* [[Dickey Pearce]] (1872)
* [[Bob Ferguson (infielder)|Bob Ferguson]] (1871)}}
}}

The '''Mutual Base Ball Club of New York''' was an American [[baseball]] club established in 1857, the year of the [[1857 baseball convention|first baseball convention]]. The Mutuals just missed out on being a founding member of the [[National Association of Base Ball Players]] that year, but later became a charter member of both the [[National Association of Professional Base Ball Players]], or "NA", the first professional league, in 1871, and then the [[National League (baseball)|National League]] in 1876.

==History==
[[File:New York Mutual baseball player.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.6|Picture of Mutuals player, likely Edward Ward]]
The team was initially formed from [[firefighters]] of New York's Mutual Hook and Ladder Company Number One. [[Boss Tweed]] took control of the Mutuals in 1864 and operated the team until his arrest following the deadly riots of 1871 and the public exposing of his corruption that followed.<ref name="purdy">{{cite book |last1=Purdy |first1=Dennis |title=Kiss 'Em Goodbye: An ESPN Treasury of Failed, Forgotten, and Departed Teams |date=23 February 2010 |publisher=[[Random House Publishing Group]] |isbn=978-0-345-52047-0 |page=215 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UcQ0P-6P7q4C&pg=PA215 |access-date=5 July 2022 |language=en}}</ref> During Tweed's tenure as owner, he and the Mutuals have been given credit for initiating the concept of [[spring training]] when Tweed sent the team to New Orleans to train for the 1869 season.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Seymour |first1=Harold |last2=Mills |first2=Dorothy Seymour |title=Baseball: The Early Years |year=1989 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-983917-9 |page=183 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K0AzIUSqzd8C&pg=PA183 |access-date=5 July 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Fountain |first1=Charles |title=Under the March Sun: The Story of Spring Training |year=2009 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-974370-4 |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uaAMQY5-4nMC&pg=PA11 |access-date=5 July 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

The Mutual club initially played its home games at [[Elysian Fields, Hoboken, New Jersey|Elysian Fields]] in [[Hoboken, New Jersey|Hoboken]], with the [[Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York|New York Knickerbockers]] and many other [[Manhattan]] clubs, but moved to the enclosed [[Union Grounds]] in [[Brooklyn, New York|Brooklyn]] in 1868. Though historically identified as "New York", they never staged any home games in Manhattan, which before 1898 was considered to be "New York City."

The Mutuals chose open professionalism in 1869–70 after [[NABBP]] liberalization. They joined the NA for its [[1871 in sports|1871]] to [[1875 in sports|1875]] duration. In [[1876 in sports|1876]], the [[Chicago White Stockings (1870–89)|Chicago White Stockings]] initiated the [[National League (baseball)|National League]] and recruited its members from West to East, partly to wrest control of professional baseball from Eastern interests. The Mutuals were one of eight charter members, six of whom were from the National Association. Weak (sixth place at 21–35) and cash-poor, the club refused to complete its playing obligations in the West; and was expelled.<ref>[http://www.19cbaseball.com/leagues.html Baseball history]- Retrieved 2012-01-08</ref>

On May 13, 1876, the Mutuals executed the first [[triple play]] in major-league history in a game against the Hartford Dark Blues.

Union Grounds proprietor [[William Cammeyer]], often listed today as the Mutual club owner, signed the [[Hartford Dark Blues]] to play at his Union Grounds in 1877. The team was effectively a one-year replacement for the defunct Mutuals, and was sometimes called "Hartford of Brooklyn".

==Record==
[[File:1870 New York Mutuals.jpg|thumb|right|1870 New York Mutuals team photograph]]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Won !! Lost !! Tied !! Games !! Rank in games (or in wins)
|-
| 1858 || 11 || 1 || — || 12 || 2 (1st in wins)
|-
| 1859 || 3 || 5 || — || 8 || 6
|-
| 1860 || 1 || 8 || 2 || 11 || 5
|-
| 1861 || 8 || 2 || — || 10 || 2 (tie 1st in wins)
|-
| 1862 || 8 || 5 || — || 13 || 2 (2nd in wins)
|-
| 1863 || 10 || 4 || — || 14 || 1 (tie 1st in wins)
|-
| 1864 || 21 || 3 || — || 24 || 1 (1st in wins)
|-
| 1865 || 12 || 4 || — || 16 || 5 (tie 4th in wins)
|-
| 1866 || 10 || 2 || — || 12 || 15 (tie 5th in wins)
|-
| 1867 || 23 || 6 || 1 || 30 || 4 (4th in wins)
|-
| 1868 || 31 || 10 || — || 41 || 5 (5th in wins)
|-
| 1869 || 37 || 16 || — || 53 || 3 (5th in wins)
|-
| 1870 || 68 || 17 || 3 || 88 || 1 (1st in wins)
|-  style="background:#bbb;"
|colspan=6| '''Championship matches with professional teams, 1869–1870'''
|-
| 1869 || 11 || 15 || — || 26 || 1 (5th in wins)
|-
| 1870 || 29 || 15 || 3 || 47 || 1 (1st in wins)
|-  style="background:#bbb;"
|colspan=6| '''League record'''
|-
| 1871 || 16 || 17 || — || 33 || 1 (4th place)
|-
| 1872 || 34 || 20 || 2 || 56 || 2 (3rd place)
|-
| 1873 || 29 || 24 || — || 53 || 4 (4th place)
|-
| 1874 || 42 || 23 || — || 65 || 2 (2nd place)
|-
| 1875 || 30 || 38 || 3 || 71 || 4 (7th place)
|-
| 1876 || 21 || 35 || 1 || 57 || 8 (6th place)
|}
Source for season records: Rio (2008).

==Franchise leaders==

'''Batting'''

*[[Hit (baseball)|Hits]] – [[Joe Start]] (387)
*[[Run (baseball)|Runs]] – Joe Start (264)
*[[At bat]]s – Joe Start (1314)
*[[Games played|Games]] – Joe Start (273)
*[[Double (baseball)|Doubles]] – Joe Start and [[Dave Eggler]] (40)
*[[Home run]]s – Joe Start (8)
*[[Run batted in|RBIs]] – Joe Start (187)
*[[Stolen base]]s – Dave Eggler (36)

'''Pitching'''

*[[Win (baseball)|Wins]] – [[Bobby Mathews]] (100)
*[[Earned run average|ERA]] – Bobby Mathews (2.41)
*[[Strikeout]]s – Bobby Mathews (95)
*[[Innings pitched|Innings]] – Bobby Mathews (1,647{{fraction|2|3}})

==Notable alumni==
[[File:Lip Pike Baseball.jpg|thumb|[[Lip Pike]]]]
*[[Lip Pike]], major league baseball 4× home run champion
*[[Rynie Wolters]], first [[Dutch people|Dutch]] professional baseball player

==Baseball Hall of Famers==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan=4 style="background:navy; color:white;"|New York Mutuals Hall of Famers
|-
! style="background:white; color:navy;"|Inductee
! style="background:white; color:navy;"|Position
! style="background:white; color:navy;"|Tenure
! style="background:white; color:navy;"|Inducted
|-
| [[Candy Cummings]] || [[Pitcher|P]] || 1872 || 1939
|}

==See also==
*[[New York Mutuals all-time roster]]
*[[1871 New York Mutuals season]]
*[[1872 New York Mutuals season]]
*[[1873 New York Mutuals season]]
*[[1874 New York Mutuals season]]
*[[1875 New York Mutuals season]]
*[[1876 New York Mutuals season]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
*Baseball-Reference. [https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NNA/ "New York Mutuals Team Index" (1871–1875)]. Retrieved 2006-09-17.
*Baseball-Reference. [http://baseball-reference.com/teams/NYU/ "New York Mutuals Team Index" (1876)]. Retrieved 2006-09-12.
*Retrosheet. [http://retrosheet.org/boxesetc/FR_NY3.htm "New York Mutuals (1871–1876)"]{{Dead link|date=October 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}. Retrieved 2006-09-17.
*Wright, Marshall (2000). ''The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857–1870''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co. {{ISBN|0-7864-0779-4}}

==External links==
*[http://nymutuals.com/ New York Mutuals reenactors]
*[https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYU/1876.shtml 1876 Mutuals] at Baseball Reference

{{MLBHistory}}
{{National Association}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:New York Mutuals| ]]
[[Category:Defunct Major League Baseball teams]]
[[Category:National Association of Professional Base Ball Players teams]]
[[Category:National Association of Base Ball Players teams]]
[[Category:Baseball teams established in 1857]]
[[Category:Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 1876]]
[[Category:1857 establishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Defunct baseball teams in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Defunct baseball teams in New York City]]
[[Category:Baseball teams disestablished in 1876]]