Pro baseball began in Cincinnati in 1869

The scores resemble those of modern-day football games. The opponents have largely faded into the annals of history. The impact of their efforts, however, continues to be felt today. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club, also known as the Cincinnati Red Stockings, fielded the first known openly professional team in 1869 and played its first game against an opposing club on May 4. By 1869, baseball (or base ball, as it was usually written at the time) was still a gentlemanly, mostly amateur sport, having survived the Civil War, which actually enabled the sport to spread across the United States. There had recently been a number of players who were being paid to play, but as yet, no team was openly known to be mostly or entirely composed of professionals.The Cincinnati Base Ball Club was founded in 1866 and joined the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) in 1867. They played their matches at the Union Cricket Club Grounds, which was led by George Ellard, a founding member of the ba...