With the debut of the first professional baseball league, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players

National Association of Professional Base Ball Players

The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players , or simply the National Association , was founded in 1871 and continued through the 1875 season...

, the Athletic Baseball Club of Philadelphia was one of the first clubs to join. The Athletics had been around since 1860 as an amateur club. The team went 21-7 and won the first NA title during the 1871 season.

Philadelphia's third baseman, Levi Meyerle

Levi Meyerle

Levi Samuel Meyerle was an American Major League Baseball player who played for eight seasons in organized professional league play...

, led the league with a .492 batting average

Batting average

Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball that measures the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters. The two statistics are related in that baseball averages are directly descended from the concept of cricket averages.- Cricket :...

.

Roster

1871 Philadelphia Athletics
Roster
Pitchers		Catchers Infielders		Outfielders		Manager

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos	Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
C		27	134	46	.343	1	33
1B		28	147	41	.279	0	16
2B		26	133	47	.353	0	34
SS		28	145	44	.303	0	22
3B		26	130	64	.492	4	40
OF		25	127	41	.323	0	23
OF		28	150	37	.247	3	30
OF		17	75	23	.307	0	13

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
	20	94	33	.351	1	21
	1	6	2	.333	0	1
	1	4	0	.000	0	0
	1	4	1	.250	0	0

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	25	222	18	5	4.58	15
	3	26	1	2	7.96	1

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	1	1	0	0	9.00	0