The Olympic Club of Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, or Washington Olympics, was an early professional baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 team.

When the National Association of Base Ball Players

National Association of Base Ball Players

The National Association of Base Ball Players was the first organization governing American baseball. The first, 1857 convention of sixteen New York City clubs...

 permitted openly professional clubs for the 1869 season, the Olympics were one of twelve to go pro. Two years later they were a founding member of the first professional sports 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...

 (NAPBBP or NA, for short). The Olympics played home games at Olympics Grounds

Olympics Grounds

Olympics Grounds was a baseball grounds located in Washington, D.C.. It was home to the Washington Olympics of the National Association in 1871–1872 and home to the short-lived Washington clubs of 1873 and 1875, including the Washington Blue Legs...

 in Washington. They were founded by Nicholas Young

Nicholas Young (executive)

thumb|Nicholas Ephraim Young was an American executive, manager and umpire in professional baseball who served as president of the National League from 1885 to 1902. Born in Amsterdam, New York at Johnson Hall, the estate of Sir William Johnson, he served in the Union Army during the Civil War,...

, an outfielder

Outfielder

Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder...

 who continued as non-playing business and field manager

Manager (baseball)

In baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...

 after 1870.

For 1871 the Olympics hired five players from the famous Cincinnati Red Stockings

Cincinnati Red Stockings

The Cincinnati Red Stockings of were baseball's first fully 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 1867–1870, a time of a transition that ambitious Cincinnati,...

. The new Boston Red Stockings hired the other half including manager Harry Wright

Harry Wright

William Henry "Harry" Wright 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, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings...

and his selection. That contingent lost a close pennant race while the Olympics were mediocre. During their two league seasons they won 17 games and lost 22 for a winning percentage of .436.