The St. Louis Brown Stockings joined the newly formed National League as a charter member in 1876. Although both St. Louis and Hartford finished the season 6 games behind the pennant-winning Chicago White Stockings, the Brown Stockings were officially the third place team as, in 1877, the standings were determined by number of wins, not games behind. As Hartford had 47 wins and St. Louis only had 45, Hartford finished in second and St. Louis finished in third. Nonetheless, St. Louis had won its season series against Chicago 6 games to 4 – winning all of its season series against all National League opponents. Due to the politics between the teams at the time, an unofficial five-game post-season was created between those two teams to determine the "Championship of the West." St. Louis won the series 4 games to 1. According to Stathead, the 1876 Brown Stockings hold the lowest single-season team earned run average (ERA) in MLB history (1.22).
Regular season
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Roster
1876 St. Louis Brown Stockings Roster Pitchers
Catchers Infielders Outfielders Manager
Player stats
Batting
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 64 298 91 .305 0 29 1B 64 245 45 .184 0 9 2B 61 276 72 .261 0 30 3B 64 283 85 .300 0 46 SS 48 180 39 .217 1 7 OF 63 283 70 .247 0 25 OF 62 264 62 .235 0 30 OF 63 282 91 .323 1 50
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 25 102 21 .206 0 10
Pitching
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 64 573.0 45 19 1.23 103
Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO 1 0 0 0 0.00 0
References 1876 St. Louis Brown Stockings season at Baseball Reference