The Centennial baseball club, or Philadelphia Centennials in modern nomenclature, were a short-lived

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team in the National Association in 1875. They were named the Centennial club during a time when the city of Philadelphia was busy making preparations for the national centennial in 1876. The ball club, however, did not live to see the actual centennial. They won 2 games, lost 12, and with two other Philadelphia professional clubs in the league the Centennials did not finish out the season. Their home games were played at

Centennial Grounds Centennial Grounds or Centennial Park was a baseball ground in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was home to the short-lived Philadelphia Centennials baseball club of the National Association during the 1875 season, so it is considered a major ...

, whose lot was later the footprint for Recreation Park which would be the first home of the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

. The Centennials were managed by

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

Bill Craver William H. Craver (June 1844 – June 17, 1901) was an American Major League Baseball player from Troy, New York who played mainly as a middle infielder, but did play many games at catcher as well during his seven-year career. He played for seven ...

, who was also one of their best hitters (.277).

Pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

George Bechtel George A. Bechtel (September 2, 1848 – April 3, 1921?) was an American right fielder and pitcher in professional baseball's early history. He played in all five seasons of baseball's first all-professional league, the National Association, and ...

(2-12, 3.93) led the team in

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(.279), RBI (7), runs (12), and doubles (5).

External links

Baseball Reference Team Index
Defunct National Association baseball teams Defunct baseball teams in Pennsylvania Centennials Defunct sports teams in Pennsylvania Baseball teams established in 1875 Sports clubs disestablished in 1876 Baseball teams disestablished in 1876 {{Philadelphia-sport-stub

See also

External links