Editing Joe Start (section)

==Amateur era==

[[File:Joe_Start_from_a_woodcut_depicting_the_"Champion_Nine"_Brooklyn_Atlantics,_Harper's_Weekly,_November_25,_1865.jpg|left|200px|thumb|Joe Start, detail of [[woodcut]] depicting the 1865 Brooklyn Atlantics, published in ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'']]The New York City-born Start played first base and third base for the amateur [[Brooklyn Enterprise|Enterprise Club of Brooklyn]] from 1859 to 1861,<ref name="Chusid">[https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/joe-start/ Chusid, Irwin, Joe Start biographical profile] at the [[Society for American Baseball Research]]'s BioProject</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1860/08/28/archives/base-ball-eureka-of-newark-vs-enterprise-of-brooklyn.html "Base Ball.; Eureka, of Newark, vs. Enterprise, of Brooklyn"], ''The New York Times'', August 28, 1860, p. 5</ref> before the advent of salaried ballplaying.<ref name="Miklich">[http://www.19cbaseball.com/players-joe-start.html Miklich, Eric, "Joe Start, 1842-1927"], 19cBaseball.com, 2016</ref> After the 1861 season,<ref>Ryzcek, William, and Peter Morris, "Atlantic Base Ball Club," ''Base Ball Pioneers, 1850–1870: The Clubs and Players Who Spread the Sport Nationwide'', McFarland & Co. Inc., 2012, p. 123. "[T]he [1862] season marked the first appearance of first baseman Joe Start ... in the Brooklyn [Atlantic] nine."</ref> he joined the powerful [[Brooklyn Atlantics|Atlantic Club of Brooklyn]], with whom he would remain through the 1870 season. The Atlantics were undefeated in 1864 and 1865.<ref name="Chusid" /> During this decade, unofficial payment for exceptional players became common and the practice was eventually legitimized.

Start made a pivotal contribution to one of the most celebrated games of the late Amateur Era. The all-salaried [[Cincinnati Red Stockings]] had 81 consecutive wins across two seasons when they faced off against the Atlantics on June 14, 1870, at Brooklyn's [[Capitoline Grounds]]. After nine innings, the game was even at 5-5, and the Atlantics left the field in the apparent acceptance of a tie outcome. However, the umpire ordered the teams to continue playing until the game was decided. In the top of the 11th, Cincinnati scored twice to take the lead, 7-5. In the bottom of the 11th, Atlantics third baseman Charlie Smith singled. Start then hit a booming triple, driving in Smith. Catcher [[Bob Ferguson (infielder)|Bob Ferguson]] drove in Start with a single to tie the game 7-7. Ferguson scored the winning run on a throwing error by Cincinnati shortstop [[George Wright (sportsman)|George Wright]] on a hard-hit grounder by [[George Hall (baseball)|George Hall]], ending the Red Stockings' legendary winning streak.<ref>Gilbert, Thomas W., ''How Baseball Happened'' (David R. Godine Publisher, 2020)</ref>

In an 1895 post-retirement interview with sportswriter [[Tim Murnane]], Start revealed a little-known secret: “We wanted to stop playing when the score was five each, but [Cincinnati team leader] [[Harry Wright]] wouldn’t have it. You see, the Atlantics were playing on the co-operative plan, and another game meant $300 or $400 for each man.” Murnane confessed: “This was the first time I ever knew why the Brooklyn men left the field after the ninth inning, and I was present at the game.”<ref name="Chusid" /><ref>Murnane, Tim, “Joe Start’s Ideas: Interesting Chat on Base Ball in the Early Days,” ''[[Sporting Life (American newspaper)|Sporting Life]]'', November 16, 1895:</ref>