Eligible: 1877
Contributions: A teenage phenom in the early 1860s and a hero at the height of the amateur era, McBride's dominance lasted well into the professional game. By the time he turned professional he was already one of the best pitchers of all time, and retired in 1876 second only to Al Spalding himself in fWAR (25.0). Probably the best pitcher outside of Spalding from the Civil War (in which McBride served) through the death of the National Association (1875).
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We don't know much of his very early life, but we do know that as a boy he was already an accomplished cricketer with the Chippewa Club, and that the Athletic lured him away to their new baseball club in either their 1860 inception or 1861, at the ripe age of 15 (some sources say he was 16 at the time). He was initially a talented utility man and fielder, but assumed pitching duties in 1863 when ace Tom Pratt (one of the finest pitchers of the 1860s) left the club for Brooklyn. The Athletics of the early 1860s had the reputation of a rough-and-tumble group. They typically sported heavy facial hair. They had a reputation for hyper-competitiveness, and would walk off the field late in a game they were losing. They were known to pick fights on and off the field. For his part, McBride, according to William Ryczek, "...was the blowtorch... He was a bit of a hothead with a sarcastic streak, who sometimes lost his temper on the field."
When McBride took over pitching duties in 1863 he became a star, and the Athletic became one of the dominant clubs of the 1860s. We know that Philadelphia clubs had some competitive showings against many other clubs of the era, including the best teams from New York, although the Brooklyn Atlantic club was always the best team of the time. We also know that in 1864, while serving the Union army, McBride was allowed a three-day furlough to play for Philadelphia in a series of games against Brooklyn clubs. Allegedly, Brooklyn scheduled the games when most of Philadelphia's best players were fighting in the war, and while McBride was allowed to return, to Brooklyn's dismay, most Philly players were not, and Brooklyn won all three games.
Not much is known of McBride's war record, though I believe he was a private in the 1st Regiment of the Pennsylvania Light Infantry (14th Reserves) based on the records I can find. He wouldn't have turned 18 until June 1865, after the end of the war, and we know he was playing baseball in 1863. My best guess is that he probably served from early 1864 until his regiment was discharged in July 1865. I do not mean to diminish his service record but I don't think he saw too much action, and was back playing baseball that summer.
Again, specifics are hard to come by, but with McBride as their starting pitcher the Athletics went 178-11 from 1864-1868, the second best record of the amateur era (after the Brooklyn Atlantic). By the late 1860s McBride was the team's most veteran player and was also the club's manager, a post he would hold well after they went pro. By the time the National Association turned officially professional, and the Athletic Club with them, McBride was established as one of the best pitchers in baseball, and certainly one of the hardest throwers. He was also a steady workhorse. In 1870, the last year of amateur play, the Athletics had McBride throw 625 innings.
Though he had ten years of experience at the highest competitive levels, he was 24 in 1871, the first year of professional play. He actually struggled for the first time in his life, putting up a 4.58 ERA (90 ERA+) in 222 innings. Ryczek writes that he pitched injured much of the year (the A's did strangely let other pitchers throw 27 innings over the season). Still, he was dependable and the mighty Athletics offense carried them to a 21-7 record and the inaugural NA pennant. As he still served as the A's manager, he is still the first manager to win a professional league pennant.
1872 saw a return to form for McBride, as he went 30-14 with a 2.85 ERA (123+), finishing in the top-five in IP, K/9, and BB/9. He won several duels with the legendary Al Spalding and the Red Stockings, though Boston would pull away and win the NA's second pennant. He continued pitching brilliantly over the next few years, posting a league-best 1.64 ERA in 1874 and winning 44 games in 1875. McBride was the toast of baseball in 1874, and was one of the main features of the Athletics-Red Stockings rivalry that Al Spalding and Harry Wright took on an international tour in July of that year. McBride was shelled in two games in London and, when a trip to Paris failed to materialize, McBride and some teammates simply left the tour to visit France without permission.
By 1875 the years and countless innings had added up - from 1871-75 he averaged 410 innings, including a pro-career-high 538 in '75, and generally pitched at least 500 per year for most of the 1860s, starting as a boy. When the Athletics folded and the National Association collapsed following the 1875 season McBride's longtime nemesis Harry Wright hired him to pitch in relief of a very young and inexperienced set of pitchers for his Boston club. Joe Bordon and Jack Manning, both 22, pitched well enough, though McBride started just four games, lost all four, and retired early in the season.
McBride never led the league in anything aside from his 1874 ERA, and didn't leave a lasting legacy in the sport, but it's a result of a few factors: He split his career between the amateur and National Association eras, and was never really the best pitcher of either as a result. There was a Candy Cummings or an Al Spalding, a Jim Creighton or a Tommy Bond. Still, his longevity is astounding - he was playing at the heights of the game from its earliest days outside of the New York area until after William Hulbert founded the National League. He was one of the best players in baseball when Spalding threw his first competitive pitch, and lasted in pro ball almost as long as Spalding did.
Consider that when the NA was founded in 1871 McBride had already pitched for nearly a decade, a full career, and had served in the Civil War, and yet had enough in the tank that in the entire history of the Association, only Spalding put up more wins, and barely beat McBride in fWAR (25.4 to 24.9 - old George Zettlein came third at 22.0). He threw hard, didn't walk anybody, and was tough to hit hard. Simply, he was a star for almost 15 years, and the fact that he has gone unrecognised does not change that. He was also a successful manager, with a record of 161-84 (.657), to say nothing of Philadelphia's stellar record through the 1860s, for which he was also manager. McBride won the NA's first pennant, and despite pitching every day as well continued managing the club until late in the 1875 season, when he was relieved for budding legend Cap Anson. In fact, by the time of his dismissal in 1875 he was probably organized baseball's winningest manager outside of Harry Wright.
McBride basically disappears from the history books after 1876. He died in Philadelphia in 1916, aged 70.
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