Returning to Cincinnati, the Red Stockings were visited by the Olympics, of Washington, which nine they defeated in three straight games, the score of one being 71 to 15. They then played visiting nines from the West for over a month, being victorious in every contest.
Next, they received the Haymakers, of Troy, New York, which club they had previously defeated, but which, on this occasion, played them to their first tie game, 17 to 17. About this time they won a close game from the Forest City Club, of Rockford. The score was 14 to 13 in their favor, the Red Stockings making three runs and winning the game in the ninth inning.
Having met every club in the East without a reverse, and having conquered every team in the Middle West, the Red Stockings now conceived the idea of visiting the Pacific Coast, stopping at St. Louis en route. At San Francisco they defeated the Eagles, Pacific and Atlantic nines of that city, every score but one being marked by fifty runs to single figures. Returning, they defeated clubs at Omaha and Nebraska City, and completed their triumphant record on their own home grounds by victories over the Philadelphia Athletics and the Mutuals.
This sensational record, without a parallel then, has never been equalled. Aside from its spectacular effect, in calling attention to the great players of a great club and their wonderful achievements, it exerted a tremendous influence, afterwards to be felt in the game itself, for it portended the birth of a new era in which professional ball should become thoroughly established, though not without its serious vicissitudes.
