New York Mutuals

The Mutual baseball club of New York City was a 19th century ball club. The team began as an "amateur" club in the National Association of Base Ball Players in the 1850s. The club joined several other NABBP clubs by turned opening professional during 1869-70, and played in the first professional league, the National Association, for its duration of 1871 to 1875. They were one of several NA clubs that joined the newly-formed major circuit, the National League, in 1876, finishing sixth with a 21-35 record. The cash-poor team was expelled from the NL for refusing to play the last part of its 1876 schedule, and was never heard from again.

Related Topics:
Baseball - New York City - National Association of Base Ball Players - National Association - 1871 - 1875 - National League - 1876

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Historical revisionists want to call this club the New York Mutuals, but "Mutual" was the club's actual name, not its nickname. They were only called the "Mutuals" in newspapers in the way that teams like the Chicago White Stockings were the "Chicagos". To illustrate this fine point, the team sported green hosiery during one season, and papers referred to that year's team as the "Mutual Green Stockings". A more modern analogy would be the Mission club of San Francisco, which co-existed with the San Francisco Seals for awhile in the Pacific Coast League. The club was shown as "Mission" in the standings. They were also called "the Missions" frequently. But their official nickname was the "Reds", so they were actually the "Mission Reds".

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