Bid McPhee was the greatest second baseman of the 19th century. That covers the era from 1869 (when the Cincinnati Red Stockings became baseball's first all-professional team) to 1899, his last season as a player. But he was more.

        He was a tremendously exciting player, a great producer of the most thrilling offensive play in baseball — the triple. He led the league in triples once, was second once and third twice.

        In 1890, he tripled three times in one game against the great Amos Rusie (future Hall of Famer) of New York.

        He also led the league in homers (seven in 1886), back when homers were largely inside-the-park jobs that were the result of fast feet. It was the dead-ball era and parks were spacious.

        Those seven homers helped McPhee get a raise and draw a salary of $2,300 in 1887.

        Beginning with today, when McPhee's plaque will be hung in the Hall of Fame, McPhee's legacy is public and secure.

        Until now, many Reds fans thought the first great Red was center fielder Edd Roush, 1917-1927. It's obvious now that the first great Red — we except Hall of Famer George Wright because he played only two seasons in Cincinnati, 1869 and 1870 — was Bid McPhee.

The Hall of Fame vote
        In 1995, Major League Baseball set out to right a wrong: there were few players in the Hall of Fame from the 19th century, except for the absolute greatest.

        So the job was assigned to the Veterans' Committee to begin examining the careers of 19th century players. The committee elected McPhee in March.

        Now there is at least one 19th century player from each position represented in the Hall of Fame.

        McPhee is the lone 19th century second baseman in the Hall of Fame.

Survival of the fittest
        What's amazing about McPhee's playing career is how much change the game underwent during his 18 years as a player.

        When he broke into the major leagues (the American Association) in 1882, he was 22 years old. The pitchers weren't allowed to pitch overhanded, but they were submarining the ball from 50 feet like fast-pitch softball pitchers do today.

        Beginning in 1893, for the last seven years of his career, Bid was facing overhanded hurlers from 60-feet 6-inches just like today. (Including the great Cy Young, who no-hit Bid and the Reds in 1897.)

        What's also amazing is how McPhee — a total gentleman, “sober and sedate” is the phrase that keeps popping up in newspaper stories — kept his cool during his 18 years. There were a lot of rough characters in the game during McPhee's career and fistfights between players and umpires were common. It generally wasn't a game played by gentlemen.

        McPhee's statement upon his retirement in March 1900 — he was with the team in spring training in New Orleans when he decided he'd had enough — was telling.

        “I still have a touch of rheumatism in my throwing arm, and I am fearful as to my ability to get into playing form before the season opens. I do not want the club to carry me as dead timber,” McPhee said.

Oh the places Bid's been
        Off the field, McPhee witnessed tremendous change: the coming of electricity, telephones and the automobile.

        Historically, the breadth of the man's life was amazing.

        He would have been old enough (5¹/₂) to remember the day Abraham Lincoln was shot, and yet was still alive and kicking (80) when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. (He also was alive when his own obituary appeared in 1932 in The Sporting News. Wrote Bid to TSN: “I assure you I am very much alive.”

        As a ballplayer, his 18-year career involved many of the most interesting moments in early Reds history.

        In 1882, his rookie season, he played for the Cincinnati Reds, who won the American Association championship — a rival big league of the National League — that produced the Reds' first championship. The 1882 Reds split a two- game series with the NL's Chicago White Sox in the first postseason competition between the two major leagues. McPhee tripled in two runs as the Reds won the first game 4-0 in Cincinnati.

        On May 13, 1884, McPhee and his teammates — and the members of the Indianapolis team they were playing — were arrested by the police in Indy for violating the “no baseball on the Sabbath” policies of the city. They were held briefly and released, but it did make for interesting conversation.

        On May 6, 1892, McPhee was part of the infamous game at League Park (ultimately the site of Crosley Field) that was called on account of sun. No lie. The sun was so bright that day it was blinding the batters.

        On June 30, 1892, he and his teammates played in the then-longest game in Cincinnati history, a 20-inning job.

        On April 11, 1895, he played in a game at League Park against the “Colored Giants,” an African-American team. The Reds won 11-7.

        On Sept. 18, 1897, McPhee and the Reds were no-hit by Cy Young.

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