Cincinnati Reds (1876–1879)

Two players from the 1870 season returned as part of a new professional nine which played local amateur clubs.

[1] Joyce then sold the Reds to wealthy Cincinnati meat packer Josiah "Si" Keck during the winter.

When the National League was formed on February 2, 1876 at the Grand Central Hotel in New York City, eight cities were selected to compete in the new major league: St. Louis, Hartford, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston and Keck's Cincinnati club.

The 1876 team finished a dismal 9–56, last in the new eight-team National League; its winning percentage was the lowest in major-league history until the 1899 Cleveland Spiders surpassed it with a 20-134 record (.130).

In 1877, helmed by the managing trio of Lip Pike, Bob Addy, and Jack Manning, the Reds finished 6th in the National League.