Cal McVey

Who was Cal McVey?

Calvin Alexander McVey was a professional baseball player during the 1860s and 1870s. McVey's importance to the game stems from his play on two of the earliest professional baseball teams, the original Cincinnati Red Stockings and the National Association Boston Red Stockings. He also played on the inaugural National League pennant-winning team, the 1876 Chicago White Stockings.

He has the NA record for most career RBIs

Cal McVey was born in rural Montrose, Iowa and moved to Indianapolis at eleven, where he learned baseball and soon excelled at the game, playing for the Western and Active clubs in the National Association of Base Ball Players. With McVey usually pitching, the Actives in 1868 defeated local rivals, lost to the three strong Eastern teams that toured the West, and won one game in six against Cincinnati teams. Despite a lopsided 7–54 defeat by the Cincinnati Red Stockings, that club later hired him to play in 1869 for $700 and he served as the regular right fielder for both of its storied seasons.