Thread by @WIBC_EricBerman

A 60-game @MLB season is unusual, of course, but not unprecedented -- and Indianapolis was part of the last one. A #BaseBall geek #thread:

The National League was formed in 1876. The NL played a 70-game schedule in its inaugural season, but, perhaps finding that too much of a stretch for a fledgling league, cut back to 60 in 1877 and 1878. 2/

The early days of #BaseBall were volatile, with teams coming and going. After the 1877 season, half the 6-team league ceased play, with three new cities taking their place: the Providence Grays, Milwaukee Grays, and Indianapolis Blues. Huzzah! Major league ball in Indy! 3/

The Blues began play on May 1, 1878, on the road against the Chicago White Stockings (forerunners of the @Cubs, not the @whitesox). They lost, 5-4. They lost the next game, too. And the next. They moved on to Milwaukee...and didn't lose.

They tied.

4/

After another loss to Milwaukee to fall to 0-4 and last place, the Blues finally notched the first MLB win in Indianapolis history, beating Milwaukee 6-1. It kicked off a four-game winning streak to pull the Blues into third place.

5/

The third game of that streak, against Chicago, was the Blues' home opener, the first MLB game in Indianapolis. The Blues' home field was South Street Park, formerly a cornfield and now the site of @the_alexander Hotel.

6/

After Memorial Day, the Blues capped a road trip with a home-and-home series with first-place Cincinnati. After taking 2 of 3 in Cincy, they returned to Indy and pounded the Red Stockings again to improve to 9-7, and a virtual tie for second, 2 games out of 1st.

7/

Alas, that was the high point of the season. Cincinnati salvaged a split the next day, starting a 6-game Indianapolis losing streak. After rallying back to .500 at 13-13, the Blues won just 1 of their next 11 games, including a 7-game losing streak.

8/

An 8-3 loss on August 14 to the Boston Red Stockings, by now in first place, eliminated the Blues from the pennant race with 13 games to play. They went 6-7 while playing out the string, to finish 5th in the 6-team league at 24-36, 18 games behind pennant-winning Boston.

9/

The Blues' star, by a wide margin, was Orator Shafer, a Jon Jay-type RF in the middle of a 17-year career. Providence's Paul Hines won the Triple Crown, but Shafer hit .338/.369/.455, good numbers for the time; he was 6th in batting, 3rd in OBP and SLG, 7th in runs scored. 10/

Shafer and catcher Silver Flint signed w/Chicago in '79. The book "Baseball: 1845-1881" reports they returned to Indy for an exhibition game, to find arrest warrants awaiting them for the many debts they'd run up the year before. Cap Anson stalled the cops while they fled. 11/

Shafer actually led NL position players in WAR. Unfortunately, Shafer and player-manager John Clapp (.304, 10th in RBI) were about it for the offense. OF Russ McKelvy was 7th in RBI but hit .225. First baseman Art Croft, playing all but 3 games, hit .158/.176/.185. 12/

Pitcher Jim McCormick, who'd win 265 games in the majors, was second in ERA (1.69) behind Hall of Famer John Montgomery Ward but went 5-8. Teams back then loaded most of their starts on one pitcher; the Blues' workhorse was The Only Nolan, who went 13-22 in 38 starts. 13/

In 1879, the NL expanded to 8 teams and 84 games, but Indy and Milwaukee ceased operations after 1 season, replaced by Cleveland and 3 New York teams, in Buffalo, Syracuse and Troy. (MLB didn't come to New York City until 1883 with the team now known as the Giants.) 14/

Indy returned to the NL in 1887 with the Indianapolis Hoosiers, lasting 3 seasons. Another Hoosiers franchise played 1 year in the American Association, and a THIRD Hoosiers team was in the Federal League in 1914. That team moved to Newark in 1915, and MLB hasn't been back. /end