Doug Allison

Not quite 22 years old, he moved to Cincinnati for the 1868 season and played for the Cincinnati Red Stockings managed by Harry Wright. Open professionalism was one year away but the long move from Philadelphia, where he worked as a bricklayer, suggests that Allison 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. Allison was a defensive specialist, his job was simply to catch the ball. First, he caught for Asa Brainard plus he had to contend with pop ups and tips off the bat, a fielder could put the batter out by a catch on the first bounce at that time. Most catchers of his era stood twenty to twenty-five feet behind the batter. His technique of moving closer to the batter proved effective in curtailing baserunners from stealing bases. In the 1860s, it was common for teams to score fi…