On May 4, 1869, the Cincinnati Redstockings defeated the Great Western Base Ball Club, 45-9. It was the Redstockings’ first game as an all-professional team. They went on to a perfect season in 1869, going 57-0. Baseball was America’s game, and the Redstockings, for a brief time, were America’s team.

Professional baseball clubs would become the norm, with a history stretching from the opening months of President Ulysses S. Grant’s first term through the creation of the National and American leagues to today’s Major League Baseball.