Charles Roscoe Barnes
(May 8, 1850 in Mount Morris, New York – February 5, 1915 in Chicago,
Illinois
) was one of
the stars of baseball's National
Association (1871-1875) and the early National League (1876-1881), playing
second base and shortstop. He played for the dominant
Boston Red Stockings teams of the
early 1870s, along with
Albert
Spalding,
Cal McVey,
George Wright,
Harry Wright,
Jim O'Rourke, and
Deacon White. Despite playing for these
star-studded teams, many claim that Ross was the most valuable to
his teams.
From 1868 to 1870, Ross starred for the
Rockford Forest Citys, along with
Albert Spalding, attaining
professional status in the second year. When the National
Association was formed in 1871, Harry Wright signed both men to his
new team in Boston. Barnes' major league career thus started when
he was 21. He split time between second base and shortstop for the
Boston Red Stockings of the new National Association. Barnes led
the league with 66
runs
scored and 91
total bases, finishing
second in
batting average at
.401.
In 1872 he led the Association with a .432 batting average, a .585
slugging percentage, 99
base hits, 134 total bases, and 28
doubles. The Red Stockings began a four-year dominance of the
Association, with Barnes a key player each year.
Barnes again led the Association in 1873, hitting .425, as well as
leading in
on base percentage
(.456), slugging percentage (.584), base hits (137), runs scored
(125), total bases (188), doubles (29), bases on balls (28), and
stolen bases (13).
His .340 BA in 1874 was only good enough for eighth in the league,
while his .364 was good for second in 1875, while leading again in
runs scored (115), base hits (143) and on base percentage
(.375).
Before the 1875 season ended, Barnes and four other Boston players
signed contracts with the
Chicago White
Stockings. When word leaked out in Boston before the end of the
season, Barnes and his teammates were reviled by Boston fans, being
called "seceders", a strong epithet just a decade after the Civil
War. It was likely that the National Association would void the
signing, but Chicago owner
William
Hulbert preempted the move by forming the National League, and
causing the NA to disband.
Ross Barnes has the career NA records in
Runs (459),
Hits (530),
Doubles (99),
Walks
(55),
Steals (73),
Total bases (695),
Times on base (585),
Runs produced (694),
Batting avg, (.390)
on base percentage (.413), and
slugging percentage (.511).
Barnes' new team finished first in the NL's first season with a
55-12 record, while Boston fell to fourth. Ross led the National
League batting (.429), on base percentage (.462), slugging (.562),
runs (126), hits (138), bases (190), doubles (21), triples (14),
and walks (20). In the 1876 season, Barnes also established the
single-season record for runs per game (1.91), a mark which still
stands.
For those first six years of major league play, Barnes had hit
.397. However, 1876 was to be his last dominant season.
In 1877, he fell ill with what was then only described as an "ague"
(fever), played only 22 games, and did not play well when he was in
the lineup. The illness robbed Barnes of much of his strength and
agility, and shortened his career. While many baseball histories
originally blamed the change in rules that outlawed the "fair-foul"
hit, of which Barnes was an acknowledged master, his illness has
become a more widely accepted explanation for his loss of
productivity.
The remainder of his career was an effort to return to glory ending
in mediocrity. He played for the Tecumseh team in the International
Association (arguably baseball's first
minor league) in 1878, returned to the National
League with the
Cincinnati club in 1879, sat out
all of 1880, and finished his professional career in 1881, playing
his last season in Boston, site of his former glory. After 1876, he
never hit better than .272, and his other totals were barely half
of those from his glory days. He retired at age 31. He finished his
career with 859 hits, 698 runs, and a .359 average, in only 499
games played and 2392
at bats. His 1.4 runs per game played remains the
best of all time.
Barnes has been rated as the best player of the National
Association, and during his peak, from 1871 to 1876, he was a
dominant offensive force. His skill at the fair-foul bunt caused
rule changes, and his defensive abilities were highly regarded.
A teammate
of multiple members of the Baseball Hall of Fame
, he was the most valuable batter. He also
has the distinction of having hit the first
home run in National League history, on
May 2,
1876.
A lifelong bachelor, Barnes held a variety of white-collar jobs in
the Chicago area after his baseball career ended until his death
from heart disease in 1915.
See also
References
- Baseball-Reference.Com data on Ross Barnes
- The Chronology - 1876 |
BaseballLibrary.com
- "The National League's First Batting Champ", Baseball
Research Journal, John Duxbury, Society for American Baseball
Research (SABR) (1976)
- "Roscoe Conkling Barnes", Nineteenth Century Stars,
Frank V. Phelps, SABR (1989) ISBN 0-910137-35-8
- Blackguards and Red Stockings, William J. Ryczek,
Colebrook Press (1992) ISBN 0-9673718-0-5
- National Association of Base Ball Players, Marshall D.
Wright, McFarland Publishing (2000) ISBN 0-7864-0779-4
- "The Lost Art of Fair-Foul Hitting", The National
Pastime, Robert H. Schaefer, SABR (2000)
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