This was the first step toward the reserve rule that followed later. It also provided for the expelling of players who were guilty of breaking their contracts or of dishonesty, and such players were to be debarred forever afterwards from playing on the league teams. Gambling and liquor selling on club grounds were prohibited and players interested in a bet on the result of games or purchasing a pool ticket were liable to expulsion. The make-up of the Chicago team in full for the National League's initial season was as follows; A. G. Spalding, pitcher, captain and manager; James White, catcher; A. C. Anson, third base; Ross Barnes, second base; Cal A. McVey, first base; J. P. Peters, shortstop; J. W. Glenn, left field; Paul A. Hines, center field; Robert Addy, right field; and J. F. Cone, Oscar Bielaski, and F. H. Andrus, substitutes. All through the season of 1876 the most intense rivalry existed between the Chicago and Boston Clubs. The management of the latter organization, smarting under the fact that the "big four" had been hired away from them by the Western Metropolis, had gotten together as strong a team as was possible under the circumstances, the list including Harry Wright, manager; J. E. Borden ("Josephs"), T. H. Murnane, F. L. Beals, H. C. Schafer, A. J. Leonard, J. H. O'Rourke, J. F. Manning, F. T. Whitney, George Wright, John F. Morrill, Lewis Brown, T. McGinley, and W. R. Parks. Our strongest opponents, however, proved to be the Hartford Club, of which Robert Ferguson was captain and manager, and which numbered among its players Allison, Cummings, Bond, Mills, Burdock, Cary, York, Remsen, Cassidy, Higham, and Harbidge. As I have said before, it was anything to beat Chicago, so far as the Bostons were concerned, but this feat they were unable to accomplish until the very tail end of the season, and after we had beaten them in nine straight games. The first game that we played on the Boston grounds that season I remember well, because of the enormous crowd that turned out to witness the contest. The advent of the "Big Four" in a new uniform was of course the attraction, and long before the hour set for calling the game had arrived the people were wending their way in steady streams toward the scene of action. Every kind of a conveyance that could be used was pressed into service, from the lumbering stage coach that had been retired from active service, to the coach-and-four of the millionaire. Street cars were jammed to suffocation, and even seats in an express wagon were sold at a premium.