The Cincinnati Red Stockings are the best-remembered club of the Amateur Era. Baseball fans who know little else about 19th century baseball can tell you who Harry and George Wright were, and many more remember the Red Stockings’ undefeated streak and their cross-country tours. They are also considered the first professional club by MLB, which celebrated them every Opening Day for more than one hundred years. Last season, every major leaguer wore a patch commemorating the 150th anniversary of the 1869 Red Stockings’ undefeated season. The Red Stockings had a lot of weapons. They had the best pitcher in the country, Asa Brainard; George Wright, the greatest shortstop of his time; and a powerful lineup of players hired away from clubs across the country. But the Red Stockings had another weapon that has been largely forgotten — youth.

In modern baseball terminology Harry Wright served the Cincinnati Red Stockings as Assistant GM, manager, scout, VP of Marketing, head of Media Relations, strength coach, pitching coach, batting coach, traveling secretary, head of analytics, centerf… — In modern baseball terminology Harry Wright served the Cincinnati Red Stockings as Assistant GM, manager, scout, VP of Marketing, head of Media Relations, strength coach, pitching coach, batting coach, traveling secretary, head of analytics, centerfielder — and their entire bullpen.

The Red Stockings were young by design. Before the first professional leagues, the great East Coast baseball clubs barnstormed, scheduling their own cross-country tours and paying for them by charging admission to games against local opponents (as well as by betting on themselves — usually to win, but that is another topic). The late 1860s Cincinnati Red Stockings were the first club from what was then considered the West to turn the tables by touring the baseball strongholds of the East. They were built for the road, which meant exhausting and often dangerous trips by steamboat and rail. The 1869 Red Stockings were the first club to play on both coasts in the same season; they also traveled to the South and throughout the Midwest. Their 1869 trips alone totaled over 12,000 miles.

The Red Stockings prepared themselves for their odyssey by following a pre-season workout regimen designed by Harry Wright, the son of a famous cricket pro, who was on the cutting edge of the science of physical training. Stamina was paramount in the days before gloves, facemasks, elbow guards, 25-man rosters, modern pharmaceuticals, and Tommy John surgery. Playing captain (the job of manager did not yet exist) Harry Wright also made sure to have youth on his side. How young were Wright’s Red Stockings? A comparable club in terms of competitive level, the Brooklyn Atlantics of 1869 had a 33-year-old shortstop, a 29-year-old third baseman, a 27-year-old and two 26-year-olds. The Atlantics’ youngest regular player was 24. The 1869 Red Stockings had seven starting players younger than that — a 21-year-old, two 22-year-olds, two 23-year-olds, a 20-year-old and a 19-year-old. 27-year-old pitcher Asa Brainard was the oldest man on the club other than Wright himself, who was 34. Harry Wright occasionally pitched in relief of Brainard; other than that, the Red Stockings’ lineup was virtually the same, day in and day out, for months on end. In October 1868 the club lost to the Atlantics. Their next loss came to the same club in June 1870 — 84 games later.