St. Louis Red Stockings

The St. Louis Red Stockings were a professional baseball team in the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (National Association or NA) for the 1875 season.

St. Louis (NA), in the standard short-form identification used for American baseball teams generally (which is "Team City (League)"), would be the standard identification for St. Louis baseball teams in the NA. (NA; full name National Association of Professional Base Ball Players).

There were two such teams, a very short-lived one in 1875 and another which (in the opinion of some sources) was a precursor to the modern St. Louis Cardinals. Because both clubs existed in 1875, and both were members of the National Association, the denotation "St. Louis (NA)" can be ambiguous and is generally avoided, and both contemporary and later records handled this ambiguity in various ways.

One club is now commonly called "Brown Stockings" but that name, though used at the time, was not then clearly or definitely established. The Red Stocking Baseball Club of St. Louis, however, carried that as their official name; they called their field Red Stocking Park and their uniforms bore an image of a red stocking on the chest.^[1]

St. Louis Red Stockings or Reds

• A local amateur team that decided to turn professional
• Spurred to join the NA out of outrage that the professional "Brown Stockings" had not one local player.
• Survived only a partial season in 1875 (18 games) as the club played its final game on July 4
• Played home games at Red Stocking Baseball Park

St. Louis Brown Stockings or Browns

• A true professional team with players recruited nationally
• Played the full 1875 season (68 games)
• Joined the newly formed National League in 1876
• Played home games at Grand Avenue Grounds, later called Sportsman's Park
• Dropped out of National League following 1877 season, due to a gambling scandal
• Played as an independent barnstorming team on a semi-professional basis from 1878 to 1881
• Purchased and reorganized as the professional St. Louis Brown Stockings by Chris von der Ahe in 1882.