The National League was founded in February 1876, and Chicago provided one of the charter franchises, coming over from the National Association of Base Ball Players which had provided a very loose organizational structure for the preceding five years.
It was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Ulysses S. Grant was the president of the United States. It was the nation's centennial. It was also an election year. Out west, army columns under the command of Alfred Terry were searching for the wild Lakota. After refusing to sell the Black Hills to the US government, they had been ordered to report to a reservation.