Hartford Dark Blues

As talk of forming a national professional league was going on, Morgan Bulkeley, Gershon Hubbell and Middletown native Ben Douglas Jr. leased land from Elizabeth Colt to build a base ball field and stadium with a covered grandstand, and set about forming a team, The Hartfords.

Located on the corner of Wyllys and Hendrixsen Streets next to the Church of the Good Shepherd, the Hartford Ball Club Grounds was the finest in the country and saw the team come in second to Chicago in the National League's first professional year, 1876.

That team that was led by Captain Bob Ferguson and was rounded out by pitchers Candy Cummings (purported inventor of the curve ball), Tommy Bond (the only pitcher in baseball history to have three 40-game winning years in a row), Tom Carey, Everett Mills, Bill Harbridge, Tom York, Dick Higham, Jack Burdock, Jack Remsen and Doug Allison.

[1] The team's strong suit was pitching, with both Tommy Bond and future Hall of Famer Candy Cummings finishing with an earned run average under 2.00.

The pitching staff recorded the most complete games (69) and allowed the lowest number of home runs throughout the 70-game 1876 campaign (the Philadelphia Athletics also accomplished this feat that season).