Owner and Manager: The 1881 Boston Red Caps, With a Stock Certificate Signed by Arthur Soden and a Scorecard Signed by Harry Wright
Two pieces from the same club in the same year, one from the front office and one from the dugout. The 1881 Boston Red Caps, owned by Arthur Soden and managed by Harry Wright, went 38-45 and finished sixth. Wright managed the Red Caps from 1876 to 1881 before moving to Providence, so this was his last season with the club. The first piece is certificate No. 96 of the Boston Base Ball Association, dated October 27, 1881, certifying that J. B. Billings owned 21 shares of the paid-up capital stock (par value $100). It carries the signatures of Treasurer Alan J. Chase and President A. H. Soden, plus the association's embossed seal. On the back, Billings transferred the 21 shares to W. H. Conant, with the date corrected in ink to December 21, 1881, so the document records both an issue and a handoff of ownership.
Billings, Soden, and Conant were known as the Triumvirs, a name borrowed from ancient Rome. Soden was a roofing supplier and Civil War veteran, Billings owned a shoe factory, and Conant manufactured hoop skirts and rubber goods. Soden first got involved in 1876 by buying three shares at $30 each, back when buying stock in a ball club was done simply to help the game. Between 1881 and 1884, Billings went from a passive investor to an active manager as power consolidated in the hands of Soden, Billings, and Conant, and a 1887 accounting showed Billings and Conant each holding 23 shares and Soden 22, out of 78, so the 21-share block on this certificate was close to a full Triumvir's stake. By 1894, Billings had transferred all but one share to Soden and Conant to pay the creditors of his bankrupt shoe factory, ending the partnership.
The second piece is from the dugout: a 4" x 6.5" scorecard, filled out in pencil and signed by Harry Wright, recording the June 24, 1881 game between the Red Caps and the Cleveland Blues. Hall of Famer Henry Chadwick wrote of Wright, "There is no doubt that Harry Wright is the father of professional base ball playing," and he was the first manager to win four straight pennants, with Boston of the National Association from 1872 to 1875. The lineups include John Morrill, Jack Burdock, Ezra Sutton, Ross Barnes, Joe Hornung, Bobby Mathews, and George Wright for Boston, and Fred Dunlap, Jack Glasscock, and Jim McCormick for Cleveland. George Wright was Harry's brother and a Hall of Famer, elected in 1937, and he played in just seven games for Boston in 1881. Together, the certificate and scorecard show both sides of the franchise that year: the owner's signature on the paper that tracked who held the club, and the manager's signature on a record of one game, from a team that finished sixth
