After an 8-20 season in 1871, Troy is back with a very similar squad in 1872. The Albany area had several high-level amateur clubs in the 1860s, and they would be back again to try professional base ball in Troy in a few years, but this club would be the first professional base ball club to learn that the area was simply not large enough to support a professional squad.
P - Bobby Mathews - Signed from the Kekionga club, where he had some moderate success. Historically, he played for the Baltimore club in 1872.
C - Bill Craver - A .292 hitter for Troy in 1872, and a fairly good defender at catcher.
1B - Clipper Flynn - A solid .286 hitter and decent first baseman. Historically, this was his last season and he played it with the Olympic club.
2B - Candy Nelson - This was his first year in the big leagues, and he would last until 1890 as a professional player. Surprisingly, there's not much written about him that I can find. He may be the most accomplished anonymous player of the era I've been able to find.
3B - Charlie Smith - He came over in the Steve King player trade in 1871, and while there was a certain logic to the trade - Troy had four good outfielders and not enough infielders - he's a far inferior talent to King and hit just .200 after the deal. He's hoping to justify the swap this season.
SS - Dickie Flowers - A .306 hitter whose historical career ended with three games in 1872. He could end up playing much longer in this version of history, although he is a pretty weak fielder at short.
LF - Tom York - A very solid big leaguer through the mid-1880s, York took over the left field job after the Steve King trade and batted .337.
CF - Count Gedney - A pretty mediocre player who played for the Morrisania Unions in 1870, then caught on with Troy and bounced around several NA teams from 1872-75.
RF - Lip Pike - Pike was the star right fielder of the NA last season, hitting .321 for Troy. Historically he played for Baltimore in 1872-73.
This is a team on the way out, yet they still should be better than most of the new clubs.
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