WAR By Decade: 1871-1879

Adam's series looking at each franchises' leaders by Wins Above Replacement (and it's components) is one of my favorite to run on BtB because it combines WAR and baseball history. So I thought it'd be interesting to take a league-wide view but on a decade-by-decade level. Hopefully I'm not stepping on any toes or anything.

Firstly, I was split on whether to divide up the 1800's data available to us by decade or just lump the 1871-1899 years altogether. I decided to break it up solely to give me an opportunity to read and research about players I don't know. If you go 1871-1899, some familiar names pepper the leader board like Cap Anson, but by-decade reveals other names I'm not too familiar with.

Your best position players of the 1870's were...

Answer to the trivia question "Who Was The Best Position Player Before 1880" is Charles Roscoe Barnes. Barnes was a second baseman and a shortstop and allegedly stood just 5-foot-8, 145-pounds. Born in 1850, Barnes accumulated a large chunk of his worth on the defensive side of the ball*. He spent '71-'75 with the Boston Red Stocking before moving on to the Chicago White Stockings in '76-'77.  Apparently he was a pro at "fair-foul hits" which were essentially bunts that hit in fair territory once and then went foul. These, at that time, were still considered to be fair balls before the rule change.

Did You Know: Ross Barnes was the first player to hit a home run in the Major Leagues? He hit one with the Chicago White Stockings in 1876. Interestingly enough, the White Stockings are the ancient cousins to the Chicago Cubs, not the White Sox. Barnes had hit four homers before 1876, topping out with two in 1873. He did not lead the league that year, however, as that honor went to good ol' Lip Pike of the Troy Haymakers.

(They just don't make player and team nicknames like they used to, do they?)

George Wright comes in second on the list and is the only one in the top three currently in the Hall of Fame, inducted in 1937. He was also a star of the National Association and a member of the first All Professional baseball team: the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings. He spent 1871-1875 with the Boston Red Stockings and then '76-78 with the Boston Red Caps before finishing out the decade with the Providence Grays. A New York newspaper once allegedly wrote that no player covers more ground than Wright could. Wright actually was a very influential member of early American sports in the 1900's. Wright was an umpire when baseball was a demonstration sport in the 1912 Olympics.

Did You Know: George Wright is called the Father of American Golf, as well? He was an integral part of the rules establishment in the golfing world in the early 1900's. Two of his sons went on to be golf champions, as well. He also had the coolest hairr of anyone in this post. Like Wolverine before Wolverine existed. I think I'm going to bring that look back. Who is with me?

*Now, I know there's been a lot of talk recently of defensive metrics and their worth -- much of which has also raised red flags in my eyes on quantifying the defensive side of the game. That just increases ten fold when you're looking at baseball that was taking place a decade after the Civil War and trying to quantify defense. If that's not your cup of tea, there's and offensive leader board showing up later, but this is going to be my only time addressing that, yes, there are potentially problems with Sean Smith's TotalZone because of the data we have available. I mean, it was a 130-plus years ago...

1871-1879 Pitching Leaders

As you can see, pitching wasn't pitching the way we know it back then (which you probably already knew). Look how many batters each pitcher faced and compare that to their age range of their career during that time period -- it's astounding.

Thomas Henry Bond was far and away the leader in total WAR for the decade, and there were only 12 pitchers to accrue more than 1 WAR. He also manned right field but as a hitter had one 'good' year (0.8 WAR), so pitching was definitely his best skill. Bond had a 127 ERA+ which wasn't close to the leader (Jim Devlin really moves up the board and I'll get to him later). No one has ever had three consecutive 40 win seasons except for Bond. He started as an 18-year-old in 1874 for the Brooklyn Atlantics who had an average age of nearly 27 years old, allegedly. Bond's best work came in between 1876-1880. After he quit playing baseball in 1884 at age 28, he umpired briefly before coaching baseball at Harvard for a period of time.

Did You Know: Tommy Bond was one of 40 Major League players born in Ireland? He was also the last survivor of players who played in the inaugural season of the National Association in 1876.

WAR as a rate stat

1871-1879 WAR per 700 Plate Appearances (Min 1000 PA's)

James Laurie White -- better known as Deacon -- rounds out the trio of three best position players of the 1870's by averaging 7 WAR per 700 PA's. White hit 11 homers in three different seasons of his career and played a staggering 20 years. If you look at his career totals, he spent more time at third base, but that was at the end of his career. By the time he manned the hot corner, baseball schedules were getting longer and longer, allowing him to get more time at 3rd base. Deacon was a fantastic catcher earlier in his career when his bat did the most damage. Like Ross Barnes, Deacon is not in the Hall of Fame, and appears to just be a forgotten player.

To put Deacon's offensive value in perspective, he posted a 127 OPS+ which was slightly better than Johnny Bench's 126 OPS+. Like Bench, White played other positions besides catcher and moved off the position later in his career. Deacon did put up a 140 OPS+ as a catcher, however. And given he was one of the best position players of his era, it's hard to see why (from my point of view) he wasn't inducted like George White was in the early half of the 1900's.

Did You Know: teammates started calling James White "Deacon" because he always carried a bible. Deacon lived to be 92 years old and witnessed the entire career of Babe Ruth, almost all of Lou Gerhig's career and was alive when Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio took a Major League field for the first time. One of the most under appreciated players ever (mostly just due to his era), I hope The Deacon is satisfied with his Hall of Merit induction.

1871-1879 WAR per 200 IP (Min. 200 Innings)

Once you use WAR as a rate stat, it really, really drives home the fact that the point to pitching in the 1870's was to let the hitter put the ball in play. Plus, large amounts of usage led to lower WAR/200 totals.

I mentioned Jim Devlin earlier. He was second in total WAR for pitchers in the 1870's, but moves to second when looked at as a rate stat. Devlin was really remarkable as he pitched in all but one of his teams games in the 1876 season -- missing the final game with an injury. In 1877, however, Devlin became the first -- and only -- player in the game to throw 100% of his teams innings. He's only got three seasons on record from 1871-1879 because of a fascinating back story.

Devlin was having a stellar 1876 campaign, when he showed a telegram from his right fielder George Bechtel to Devlin saying they could make $100 if they threw the game that day on June 10th. Devlin showed it to manager Harry Wright (brother of George Wright) and Bechtel -- who had been suspended for "crookedness" (even their freakin' suspension names are cool back then) -- fell into more trouble.

By the time 1877 rolled around, Devlin and fellow teammates were growing tired of the penny-pinching ways of the Louisville owners. Devlin was easily one of the best pitchers in the league, but rumors of throwing games for money circulated around the Louisville club. The Grays were in first place on August 16th when the Boston Red Caps beat Louisville 6-1. Devlin struck out all four times he was at the dish and the game ended when Grays shortstop Bill Craver  took a called third strike. It was confirmed that on September 5th, Devlin and George Hall agreed to throw the next day's game for $25 apiece. They did so, losing the first left-handed pitcher in the National League Bobby Mitchell, 1-0. The Grays went on to lose 7 in a row and finished 7 games back of the Red Caps in the standings. Through this time, though, many Grays were allegedly seen sporting some new jewelery increasing the rumors of throwing games for gambling purposes. Charles Chase, Vice President of the club, finally started to investigate the issue after dismissing numerous telegrams that warned of the team throwing games for gamblers and demanded to see his players papers (financial records). Only Bill Craver declined. The Louisville-Courier Journal had reported that Al Nichols had received a spike in telegrams, and Chase confirmed he was organizing the throwing of the games. Craver, due to his past, was guilty immediately by association, though to this day there's no evidence of his cheating in 1877.

Devlin and teammate George Hall both admitted to throwing games in August and September, with Devlin citing his low pay, implicating fellow teammates in their confessions. William Hulbert, President of the National League, immediately banned Devlin, Hall, NIchols and Craver for life from baseball. Devlin wrote a letter asking for reinstatement for every year of the rest of his life, even asking for help from friend and former manager Harry Wright, but to no avail. None of the four ever played baseball again.

Devlin's life went into steady decline afterward. He worked as a policeman (ironically), but wound up dying just six years after he finished playing baseball. He was reportedly completely broke due to gambling debts.

Did You Know: Jim Devlin used a "down shoot" which was the modern-day equivalent of the sinker. Because pitchers didn't really throw multiple types of pitches back then, a sinker with big movement was a very tough pitch to hit.

WAR Components (Position Players)

1871-1879 Batting Runs Leaders

Ross Barnes was dominant. Cal McVey showed a strong bat as well. Cap Anson's best years came in the following decade, which is why I haven't talked about his greatness.

1871-1879 Baserunning Leaders

George Wright also adding to his value on the base paths. Ned Cuthbert had just 3.3 total war for the 1870's.

1871-1879 Fielding Leaders

Think of George Wright as an Arky Vaughan of his day.

WAR in a Single Season

1871-1879 Best Seasons by WAR

Ross Barnes shows just how underrated he was for the era: 4 of the top 8 single season WAR's.

1871-1879 Single Season Pitching WAR

Tommy Bond with four of the top eight best single season WAR's. Jim Devlin's two fantastic seasons show up here, as well. You can see how dominant he was at the time of his banishment. Unfortunately for Bond, his four great years were his only four productive years.

I find 19th century baseball to be completely fascinating, and I thought this would be a good way to maybe drum up some discussion on it, as well, as teach myself a bit more on the best of the best from the era. Thanks to Adam for me stealing his format, completely unbeknownst to him.