The roots of the New York Mutuals go back to the earliest days of the game in 1857, as they were one of several amateur teams that played against the New York Knickerbocker club at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, where baseball was truly invented om June 19, 1846. Several of the original players on the New York Mutuals were employees of a Manhattan based insurance company and the fire company they owned, with a connection to the infamous Boss Tweed.

Eventually the New York Mutuals became a part of the National Association of Base Ball Players as the sport began to grow. When the NABBP began to allow professionalism, the Mutuals began to openly pay their players.