Who is the oldest baseball team in majors?

Question

Meaning their 1st official year as a MLB team.

The Cubs 1st year in the majors was 1902.

The Reds 1st year in the majors was
1959.

I'm not looking for date of establishment.

Answer 1

The Philadelphia Phillies were established in 1883.

St.Louis and Pittsburgh had AA teams in 1882.

Answer 2

The team now known as the Atlanta Braves began in 1871 as the Boston Red Stockings of the National Association, moving to the National League in 1876. It was founded by half the members of the 1869-70 Cincinnati Red Stockings, so, in a way, the original Red Stockings became today's Braves, although that's not officially recognized.

When the NL was founded, Chicago lured about half the members of the Boston team, including pitcher Al Spalding (soon to found the sporting-goods company), and the team was named the White Stockings. The St. Louis club of the American Association was the Brown Stockings or Browns for a while. Eventually, those teams became, respectively, the Braves, Cubs and Cardinals; and their old names were taken up by American League teams starting in 1901: Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Browns (who became the current Baltimore Orioles in 1954).

So, officially, the Braves and Cubs are tied as the oldest teams. In a more practical sense, the Braves are the oldest continually operating club, even though they left Boston in 1953, making the Cubs the true "oldest team."

Unless you count the Mets, who qualify for AARP coupons.

Answer 3

There are two current MLB teams that have been around since the founding of the National League in 1876:

1) Chicago Cubs (originally known as the White Stockings)
2) Atlanta Braves (originally Boston Red Caps)

The Reds are often recognized as the first pro team, but the current Reds organization didn't begin until 1882.

If you're not looking for date of establishment, or if you're eliminating teams for moving from one city to another or because they changed names, then I guess the Pirates would be the team that has existed in its current state the longest. They have been in Pittsburgh and known as the Pirates since 1891.

The Phils have been around longer, but were known as the Blue Jays for a couple of seasons in the 1940s.

Answer 4

The person who said Yankees is an idiot. They are the relocated Baltimore Orioles (although first they were the NY Highlanders).

The Reds were the first pro baseball team, 1869.

Although really, many teams' original startup isn't necessarily considered the same team they are today, as someone pointed out about the Reds. Basically though, any old team wants to claim something about being first, but no pro team can trace it back earlier than the Reds in 1869.

Although the person who did mention that mentioned that the Cubs and Quakers/Phillies were the only ones left from the founding of the NL, but that's not MLB as we know it today, so if you want to be a real ball-breaker, you could only count teams that were part of the initial founding of MLB.

Answer 5

The Braves are the oldest team in the majors: they were founded in 1871 (as the Boston Red Stockings) as a member of the National Association and joined the National League when it began in 1876.

The Chicago Cubs (then known as the White Stockings) also started in 1871 but didn't play in '72 and '73 because of damage from the Great Chicago Fire. They are the only other original N.L. team still in operation.

Answer 6

Actually, the Cincinnati Reds have been a professional baseball team since the late 1800's. They were the first team to pay all of the players on the roster. They were originally called the Cincinnati Red Stockings, then the Red Legs before being shortened to the Reds in the 1920's.

Answer 7

The Cincinnati Reds Ever Since 1887 When Baseball Started.

Answer 8

Cubs-1876
Braves-1876

Answer 9

The Cincinnati Reds were the first professional team in baseball in 1869. They won every game! Where did you get 1959???

Answer 10

Its Chicago Cubs in 1876