Taken at Boston's South End Grounds, this photo shows the top two teams of the National Association in their last year of existence: Boston finished 15 games ahead of the Athletics with a 71-8 record. The league operated from 1871 to 1876, with the Red Stockings winning the pennant every year except 1871.
The National Association was the first professional baseball league, but its status as a major league is highly questionable - it represented the highest level of competition at the time, but the beginning of Major League Baseball as we know it today is generally considered to be 1876, when the NA folded and was replaced by the National League. Both Boston and Philadelphia joined the NL for the 1876 season; the Red Stockings later became the Beaneaters and, eventually, the Braves, and are the same franchise that many years later would move to Atlanta by way of Milwaukee. The Athletics, on the other hand, were expelled from the National League partway through the 1876 season, and are not associated with the modern-day Athletics team, which began play as Philadelphia's American League franchise in 1901.
Player identifications, courtesy of Boston Public Library:
Standing, left to right: George Hall. Athletics, George Bechtel, Athletics, William Craven, Athletics, Adrian "Baby" Anson, Athletics, Ezra Sutton, Athletics, John E. Clapp, Athletics, Jim White, Red Stockings, Al Spalding, Red Stockings, George Wright, Red Stockings, Cal McVey, Red Stockings, Harry Wright, Red Stockings. Seated: Weston Fisler, Athletics, David Force, Athletics, David Eggler, Athletics, Dick McBride, Athletics, Andy Leonard, Red Stockings, Jim O'Rourke, Red Stockings, Ross Barnes, Red Stockings, Harry C. Schafer, Red Stockings.
Photo courtesy of Boston Public Library.
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