Starting a new league

Representatives from eight cities meet 148 years ago today and come away with a new league – the National League – that will become the template for every professional sports league that follows.

The newly formed National League begins play in 1876 with the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Stockings, Boston Reds, Philadelphia Athletics, New York Mutuals, Hartford Dark Blues, Louisville Grays and St. Louis Brown Stockings.

Philadelphia and New York are one-and-done after the National League’s inaugural season in 1876 with Hartford, Louisville and St. Louis each lasting two summers before folding after the 1877 season.

As for Cincinnati, Chicago and Boston, well, they hang around and still are part of today’s National League.

The Reds, of course, remain the same Reds they have been since 1876.

The White Stockings of Chicago would change their names a few times before settling in 1904 to be known as the Chicago Cubs.

The Reds – the ones from Boston, not Cincinnati – also stick around, eventually changing their name to the Braves before moving in 1953 from Boston to Milwaukee and then again in 1966 from Milwaukee to Atlanta.