Expert: Tom Schott - 10/28/2006

Question
in the history of baseball has there ever been a pro team to go undefeated in the regular season?

Answer
Joseph,

A couple I've been able to discover . . . way in the early history of the game. The Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1869 are recognized as the first "professional" baseball team. That is, every player on the team received a salary; the Red Stockings were the first team to publicly acknowledge this and claim to be "professional." In 1869 the team won some 60 games without a defeat.

(They were not the first all-salaried team, nor the first team to go undefeated over a season--a team called the Brooklyn Atlantics did not lose a game during 1864 or 1865, for example--but they toured the country under player-manager Harry Wright, "Father of Professional Baseball," as a self-proclaimed professional team.)

Cheers,
Tom