 His batting record during those years and thereafter is unusually weak, suggesting that his skills were left behind by competitive improvement in the game or weakened by illness and forced idleness.Sweasy returned to a regular playing role and earned his manager's credit in 1875, when he captained the lesser of two St. Louis clubs that joined the NA; the "Reds" dropped out after 19 games, overmatched.Next year he returned to Cincinnati as the second baseman of a new club that was a charter member of the National League.