G2G: Notables Sports Challenge: Red Caps and White Stockings - Baseball 1876 (June 2025)

Question

This year marks the 150th anniversary of Major League Baseball’s National League which debuted in 1876. To celebrate, our June Sports Challenge spotlights the rosters of the Chicago White Stockings and the Boston Red Caps—the only two franchises from that inaugural season whose descendants still exist today. The White Stockings are now known as the Chicago Cubs, and the Red Caps are the ancestors of today’s Atlanta Braves.

Our goal is to make each of these profiles a shining star of WikiTree. Some are already pretty close, others not so much. For those who prefer research over profile building, we also want to increase each of our notables' CC7s, and of course, we want to make sure each is connected to the Big Tree. We'll be updating CC7 numbers on a semi-regular basis in the table below.

Remember, no contribution is too small, so jump in wherever you think you'll have the most fun. Just remember to keep us posted on your accomplishments on the G2G thread.

Answer 1

James Laurie White should now be connected through his 2nd wife Alice.

Comments

Off to a great start!

Answer 2

Harry, George, and Samuel Wright are all three now connected to the Big Tree. They were brothers, the sons of Samuel Wright Sr. who has a notable cricket player back before professional baseball was even a thing. 

Harry Wright assembled, managed, and played center field for baseball's first fully professional team, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings. He was also the first to make baseball into a business by paying his players up to seven times the pay of the average working man. Both he and his brother George are in the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

Harry wife was Caroline Mulford, whose father was a doctor who helped established the hospital system during the Civil War, had a sister, Mary, who was married to Darius Davenport, whose sister Serena married Henry Handy, whose profile was already on WikiTree.  

Answer 3

George "Foghorn" Bradley is now connected to the Bog Tree. He only played major league ball for a portion of one season, but later became a well-respected umpire. His nickname came from his boom umpire voice.

His parents were immigrants, and he never married or had children, so tracing his line was a bit of a challenge. He had a younger brother who was married for fourteen days before he passed from consumption at age 25, But that marriage was enough to attach him to his bride. It was through her second husband that the connection was made.

Geoge also had a nephew, Hugh Bradley, who played MLB 1910-1915. and was the first player to hit a homerun at Fenway Park (1912). He too is now connected.

Comments

Thanks David, I was fighting the dead ends...

Answer 4

Player Lew Brown, who played for eight teams over a period eight years, is not connected to the Big Tree. I opted not to tackle him Brown line, but was instead able to connect him to his colonial roots through his mother's Goodwin line. 

Lew died at age 30 in a very odd accident. Retired from baseball, he was working at a saloon when he became engaged in a friendly wrestling match with a customer. When they didn't stop after being asked by the bar owner, she became angry and swung at them with a glass pipe, hitting Brown in the knee. The injury led to the amputation of Brown's leg, and he died of pneumonia during his hospitalization.

Answer 5

Frank Whitney is connected.

Answer 6

Fred Andrus has been connected to his father Truman who was already on WT and connected.

Answer 7

Paul Hines is connected.

Answer 8

John E. Manning will show as connected tomorrow.

Answer 9

Tim Murnane will show as connected tomorrow.

Comments

Great job. So happy to see you've moved on to another team. Let's see if you can match your success with the Dodgers!

Answer 10

John Dickson McBride will show as connected tomorrow.

Answer 11

Timothy Stanislaus McGinley will show as connected tomorrow.

Answer 12

John Francis Morrill will show as connected tomorrow.

Answer 13

John W Glenn and Cal McVey will show as connected tomorrow.

The challenge now appears to be complete.