Charles Harvey Gould (August 21, 1847 – April 9, 1917), nicknamed "The Bushel Basket",Guschov, p. 31 was an American

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player during the 1860s and 1870s. He was the

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

for the original

Cincinnati Red Stockings The Cincinnati Red Stockings of were baseball's first all-professional team, with ten salaried players. The Cincinnati Base Ball Club formed in 1866 and fielded competitive teams in the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) 1867– ...

of 1869 and 1870, the first team consisting entirely of professional players. He was the only native Cincinnatian on the club. Gould was noted as having an affable personality, and for being six feet tall, the only such player on the Red Stockings that tall. His height and long arms were physical traits that factored in his high fielding proficiency. He was rarely noted for making errors, or "muffing" the ball during his career, but it was his throwing error in the eleventh inning of a game between the Red Stockings and the

Brooklyn Atlantics The Atlantic Base Ball Club of Brooklyn ("Atlantic" or the "Brooklyn Atlantics") was baseball's first champion and its first dynasty. The team was also the first baseball club to visit the White House in 1865 at the invitation of President And ...

in 1870, that allowed the winning run to score, ending the Stockings' winning streak, which was at 84 games. He returned home in 1876 to lead the

new club The New Club is a private social club in the New Town area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded in 1787, it is Scotland's oldest club. The club occupied premises on St Andrew Square from 1809 until 1837, when it moved to purpose-built rooms on ...

that was a charter member of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

. In all he played about twelve seasons of "bare hand"

first base A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

for major teams.

Pre-professional baseball

Born 1847 in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, Gould began his organized baseball career for the local Buckeye club in 1863 as their regular first baseman, and was still in that role when the club joined the

National Association of Base Ball Players The National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) was the first organization governing American baseball. (The sport was spelled with two words in the 19th century.) The first convention of sixteen New York City area clubs in 1857 effecti ...

(NABBP) in 1866.Guschov, p. 31Guschov, p. 30Ellard, p. 18-19 During the off-season, he worked as a bookkeeper for his father's butter and eggs business. His lanky frame and long arms were physical traits that assisted him in becoming a well-regarded fielder, and he was known to rarely make errors. He stayed with the Buckeyes through the 1866 season, then he joined the cross-town rivals, the

, for the 1867 season.Guschov, p. 12 The Red Stockings, bolstered by players imported from the east coast, defeated the Buckeyes and other regional rivals that summer and fared well against all but the strongest teams on a tour from Washington to Albany to Cleveland in the fall. In September 1867, at the locally held Great Baseball Tournament, he won the prizes for "farthest throw" and "best second base".Ellard, p. 36-37 Known as a hard-working, affable man, and one of the best humored men in the game, he played every game in 1868, and all but one 1869. His fielding prowess was so well known that fellow players began calling him 'the bushel-basket'.Ellard, p. 90

Cincinnati 1869–70

When the NABBP permitted professionalism for 1869, Red Stockings manager,

Harry Wright William Henry "Harry" Wright (January 10, 1835 – October 3, 1895) was an English-born American professional baseball player, manager, and developer. He assembled, managed, and played center field for baseball's first fully professional team, t ...

, kept Gould and three other players from his 1868 team, then filled the rest with eastern players to complete the team. Gould was the only Cincinnatian, and the only player on the team.

Cal McVey Calvin Alexander McVey (August 30, 1849 – August 20, 1926) was an American professional baseball player during the 1860s and 1870s. McVey's importance to the game stems from his play on two of the earliest professional baseball teams, the origin ...

was the only other player even from the

midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

.Guschov, p. 36 Gould's salary for that season was $800, and offensively, batted third in the line-up.Guschov, p. 42 The Red Stockings toured the continent undefeated in 1869 and may have been the strongest team in 1870, but the club dropped professional baseball after the second season.

National Association 1871–75

Harry Wright was hired to organize a new team in Boston, where he signed Gould and two other Red Stockings for 1871. Wright brought along the nickname, too. Charlie Gould remained two seasons at first base for the new Boston Red Stockings, so he was part of the club's and Boston's first championship team. In 1872, he led the National Association in triples with eight. He was replaced for 1873 by Jim O'Rourke who would be one of the biggest stars in the game for the next twenty years. After four seasons as the regular first baseman on great professional teams, Gould was a marginal player, a regular player only for teams struggling to remain in business, not contend for the championship. Baltimore and New Haven in the last two NA seasons achieved more than some but they were big losers on the field. New Haven made him captain, so he had most of the duties of a modern field manager and he gets manager's credit in the historical record.

National League

Next year the new

excluded New Haven but one charter member was a new club in Cincinnati, the

Reds Reds may refer to: General * Red (political adjective), supporters of Communism or socialism * Reds (January Uprising), a faction of the Polish insurrectionists during the January Uprising in 1863 * USSR (or, to a lesser extent, China) during th ...

, which hired Gould to lead it. The new Cincinnatis were a woefully weak tailender but the club did survive and Gould played another season at first, relieved of his leadership role.

Post-career

His playing career had ended after the 1877 season, but not his association with the club. He later became a

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

in Cincinnati. Gould died at the age of 69 in

Flushing, New York Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the i ...

, and is interred in

Spring Grove Cemetery Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum () is a nonprofit rural cemetery and arboretum located at 4521 Spring Grove Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the third largest cemetery in the United States, after the Calverton National Cemetery and Abraham L ...

in Cincinnati. His gravesite was unmarked until 1951, when

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

President

Warren Giles Warren Crandall Giles (May 28, 1896 – February 7, 1979) was an American professional baseball executive. Giles spent 33 years in high-level posts in Major League Baseball as club president and general manager of the Cincinnati Reds (1937–1951) ...

launched a successful campaign to place a marker, a monument that currently stands.

Notes

Referenced materials

*Ellard, Harry (

908 __NOTOC__ Year 908 ( CMVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * May 15 – The three-year-old Constantine VII, the son of Emperor L ...

2004). ''Base Ball in Cincinnati: A History''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. *Guschov, Stephen D. (1998). ''The Red Stockings of Cincinnati''. McFarland. *Wright, Marshall (2000). ''The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857-1870''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gould, Charlie Major League Baseball first basemen Cincinnati Buckeyes players Cincinnati Red Stockings players Boston Red Stockings players Baltimore Canaries players New Haven Elm Citys players New Haven Elm Citys managers Cincinnati Reds (1876–1879) players Cincinnati Reds (1876–1880) managers Major League Baseball player-managers Burials at Spring Grove Cemetery Baseball players from Cincinnati 19th-century baseball players 1847 births 1917 deaths