Born 1841 in Albany, New York, Brainard played outfield and second base for the mighty Excelsiors of Brooklyn in 1860. Led by the sensational teenage fast pitcher, Jim Creighton, the team toured New York state from Albany to Buffalo, a major event in the base ball boom. The Civil War curtailed that; after playing 21 matches in 1860, the Excelsiors played none in 1861 and only a few in 1862. Following Creighton\'s premature death, Brainard succeeded him as the regular pitcher and remained in that role for four seasons. The Excelsiors played a heavy schedule again in 1866, the first full peacetime season, winning 13 of 20 games—a strong team but no longer a threat to the strongest. Young Candy Cummings, one inventor of the curveball, evidently won the pitcher\'s job by the end of the season.\n', '

In 1867 the National club of Washington completed the first western tour, playing ten games from Ohio to Missouri during three weeks in July. Brainard probably joined the team in the fall, in time for a shorter tour from Troy, New York to Philadelphia, where the strongest teams were based.\n', '

At 27 years old, he moved to Cincinnati for the 1868 season where he shared second base and pitcher with manager Harry Wright. Open professionalism was one year away but the long move suggests that Brainard was somehow compensated by club members if not by the club. Cincinnati fielded a strong team that year, with five of the famous team already in place.\n', '

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