Known for having an eccentric personality, he played under different surnames, such as Josephs and Nedrob, so as to disguise his involvement in baseball; his prominent family would have disapproved had they known.

Joseph Emley Borden was born on May 9, 1854, in Jacobstown in North Hanover Township, New Jersey into a wealthy family.

[2] The Philadelphia White Stockings, of the NA, had recently dismissed pitcher Cherokee Fisher in July 1875 due to his clashing with team captain, Mike McGeary, and were in need of a replacement.

[4][5] Borden lost the next three games he started before defeating the St. Louis Brown Stockings, and future Hall of Fame pitcher Pud Galvin, 16–0 on August 9.

[7] The club had high expectations that he could adequately replace Albert Spalding who had recently departed for the Chicago White Stockings.

[9] According to Lee Allen, baseball historian and writer, the scorecard shows that Borden gave up two bases on balls, which were counted as hits in the final score.

[9] The official scorekeeper for the game was O. P. Caylor, a writer for The Cincinnati Enquirer, who believed, unlike his contemporaries, that bases on balls should be scored as hits.

[10] Consequently, the first official no-hitter in Major League history was pitched by George Bradley, of the St. Louis Brown Stockings on July 15, 1876.

[10] Unfortunately for Borden, his pitching effectiveness declined rapidly after this, and at one point he reportedly lost his temper during a game in response to his own ineffectiveness, admonishing his teammates, even the well-liked and good-natured future Hall of famer George Wright.

Additionally, he had an 11–12 win–loss record, a 2.89 earned run average in 218⅓ innings pitched, and led the league in allowing 51 bases on balls.

[3] It was mistakenly claimed that he died in May 1889 during the Johnstown Flood, the same disaster that had stranded the entire Louisville Colonels team.

[14] The Sporting Life magazine corrected the error in its June 19 issue, stating he was alive and living in Philadelphia.