St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War: 1863
Gettysburg
In 1863, the Civil War entered its third year and the fourth baseball season was played in St. Louis. The 1861 season was probably more dramatic, as the war was breaking out as the season began, but the 1863 season may be the more interesting and significant baseball season of the war years in St. Louis. The data that we find in the Missouri Republican presents a picture of what very well may have been the most active baseball season of the war in the city and that contradicts the general historical consensus of the effect of the war on baseball's growth.
I'm not certain if we have a very good handle on how the war effected baseball's growth and evolution. For a long time, we operated under the idea that the war facilitated the growth of the game. However, as more source material became available and historians began to take a serious look at the subject, a consensus developed that the war actually impeded the growth of the game from 1861 to 1865. We know that the game experienced tremendous growth during the antebellum era and had spread as war west as St. Louis prior to the war. The war, we believed, essentially stopped that growth and it was not until the war ended that the game returned to its normal growth pattern. The Civil War was not a positive factor in the post-war baseball boom but had actually suppressed it. If not for the war, we believed, that boom would have occurred several years earlier.
There is a great deal of data to support that conclusion. It appears that, nationally, the number of new clubs formed fell every year from 1860 to 1863. Beginning with a slight increase in 1864, we begin to see exponential growth in the number of new clubs through 1867, which coincides with the post-war outbreak of baseball fever. There was a substantial decline in the number of clubs that joined the National Association of Base Ball Players during the war years, with, again, a substantial increase in the immediate post-war period. Also, during the war, there is a lack of references to baseball in the newspapers of Northern cities where we know that the game had been played in the antebellum period. All of this evidence, taken together, presents a picture of a game that was in decline and there are plenty of reasons to believe that this decline was the result of the war.
But the data that we've discovered in the Republican doesn't fit this pattern. There doesn't appear to have been a decline in baseball activity in St. Louis from 1860 to 1861. We do see a moderate decline in 1862 and, based on that and the general historical consensus, I had expect to see a continued decline in 1863. However, that's not what we find. Not only did baseball activity not decline from 1862 to 1863, there was, during the 1863 season, a return to the historical norms of 1860 and 1861. In fact, it's entirely arguable, based on the data that we see, that the 1863 baseball season in St. Louis was the busiest and most active baseball season in the brief history of the game in the city. There are more references to baseball in the Republican in 1863 than in any previous year. There are references to more clubs and more match games than in any previous year. The only conclusion that I can draw, based on the data I have, is that the game was very healthy in St. Louis during the Civil War, that it had not been negatively impacted by the war, and that it may, in fact, have been growing during the war years.
St. Louis may be an outlier and the conclusions that we reach based on the St. Louis data may not be applicable to the rest of the country. The history of St. Louis is unique and its Civil War experience was uncommon among the largest cities of the Union. So it's entirely possible that the history of baseball in St. Louis may be a product of that uniqueness and, therefore, the patterns we see in St. Louis may not be applicable to baseball in the rest of the nation.
Having said that, I'm leaning towards a rejection of all previous conclusions about how the Civil War effected the growth of baseball. I absolutely reject the idea that the war facilitated the growth of the game in the post-war era. That has never been proven and I see absolutely no evidence to support that conclusion, while, at the same time, seeing ample evidence that contradicts it. But I'm also now open to the idea that the war did not have a negative impact on the growth of the game. So where does that leave us? If the war didn't facilitate the growth of the game and didn't negatively impact it, what kind of impact did the Civil War have on the growth of baseball?
I'll attempt to answer that question once we're through looking at 1864 but there's no doubt that the war did have some effect on the growth of baseball. In St. Louis, we see Union troops occupying two of the three most popular baseball grounds in the city by August of 1861. That, I believe, is one of the reasons we see a decline in baseball activity in 1862. The war shrunk the available player pool throughout the nation, as men of ball-playing age joined the war effort. As a result, in St. Louis, we see a growth in the number of junior clubs. So it's not as if the war had no effect on baseball. The war effected everyone in the nation. It was the singular event of the era and couldn't be avoided. But baseball, especially in St. Louis, was surviving the Civil War and it was doing so in a way that leads one to believe that the popularity of the game was not effected by the war.
I think that's where I'm heading with this. The Civil War effected the evolution of the game. It effected its general growth pattern. But it didn't effect how people felt about the game. People in 1860 were falling in love with baseball and I don't think the war changed that. Baseball was forced to adapt to the war but it seems apparent, at least in St. Louis, that it did so successfully. There was a demand for baseball, for baseball clubs, for games. The war may have tamped down the supply of those things but I don't believe that it effected the demand. When people want something they will find a way to get it, come hell or high water.
Below, you'll find all of the posts that contain the 1863 data. Take a look at all of that and see what you think:
Empire City
The Third Anniversary Game
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
The Baltic Base Ball Club
Captain S. Barclay
A Game at the Laclede Ball Grounds
The Young Commercial Base Ball Club Complicates Things
A New Cyclone Club
The Young Adam Wirth
The Commercials Play A Muffin Game
For The Purpose Of Securing Their Clothing
The Infinite Dead
The Rematch
Another Gap In The Records
Extremis Malis Extrema Remedia
Our Chronic Impending Disaster
A Return To Historical Norms In 1863
I'm not certain if we have a very good handle on how the war effected baseball's growth and evolution. For a long time, we operated under the idea that the war facilitated the growth of the game. However, as more source material became available and historians began to take a serious look at the subject, a consensus developed that the war actually impeded the growth of the game from 1861 to 1865. We know that the game experienced tremendous growth during the antebellum era and had spread as war west as St. Louis prior to the war. The war, we believed, essentially stopped that growth and it was not until the war ended that the game returned to its normal growth pattern. The Civil War was not a positive factor in the post-war baseball boom but had actually suppressed it. If not for the war, we believed, that boom would have occurred several years earlier.
There is a great deal of data to support that conclusion. It appears that, nationally, the number of new clubs formed fell every year from 1860 to 1863. Beginning with a slight increase in 1864, we begin to see exponential growth in the number of new clubs through 1867, which coincides with the post-war outbreak of baseball fever. There was a substantial decline in the number of clubs that joined the National Association of Base Ball Players during the war years, with, again, a substantial increase in the immediate post-war period. Also, during the war, there is a lack of references to baseball in the newspapers of Northern cities where we know that the game had been played in the antebellum period. All of this evidence, taken together, presents a picture of a game that was in decline and there are plenty of reasons to believe that this decline was the result of the war.
But the data that we've discovered in the Republican doesn't fit this pattern. There doesn't appear to have been a decline in baseball activity in St. Louis from 1860 to 1861. We do see a moderate decline in 1862 and, based on that and the general historical consensus, I had expect to see a continued decline in 1863. However, that's not what we find. Not only did baseball activity not decline from 1862 to 1863, there was, during the 1863 season, a return to the historical norms of 1860 and 1861. In fact, it's entirely arguable, based on the data that we see, that the 1863 baseball season in St. Louis was the busiest and most active baseball season in the brief history of the game in the city. There are more references to baseball in the Republican in 1863 than in any previous year. There are references to more clubs and more match games than in any previous year. The only conclusion that I can draw, based on the data I have, is that the game was very healthy in St. Louis during the Civil War, that it had not been negatively impacted by the war, and that it may, in fact, have been growing during the war years.
St. Louis may be an outlier and the conclusions that we reach based on the St. Louis data may not be applicable to the rest of the country. The history of St. Louis is unique and its Civil War experience was uncommon among the largest cities of the Union. So it's entirely possible that the history of baseball in St. Louis may be a product of that uniqueness and, therefore, the patterns we see in St. Louis may not be applicable to baseball in the rest of the nation.
Having said that, I'm leaning towards a rejection of all previous conclusions about how the Civil War effected the growth of baseball. I absolutely reject the idea that the war facilitated the growth of the game in the post-war era. That has never been proven and I see absolutely no evidence to support that conclusion, while, at the same time, seeing ample evidence that contradicts it. But I'm also now open to the idea that the war did not have a negative impact on the growth of the game. So where does that leave us? If the war didn't facilitate the growth of the game and didn't negatively impact it, what kind of impact did the Civil War have on the growth of baseball?
I'll attempt to answer that question once we're through looking at 1864 but there's no doubt that the war did have some effect on the growth of baseball. In St. Louis, we see Union troops occupying two of the three most popular baseball grounds in the city by August of 1861. That, I believe, is one of the reasons we see a decline in baseball activity in 1862. The war shrunk the available player pool throughout the nation, as men of ball-playing age joined the war effort. As a result, in St. Louis, we see a growth in the number of junior clubs. So it's not as if the war had no effect on baseball. The war effected everyone in the nation. It was the singular event of the era and couldn't be avoided. But baseball, especially in St. Louis, was surviving the Civil War and it was doing so in a way that leads one to believe that the popularity of the game was not effected by the war.
I think that's where I'm heading with this. The Civil War effected the evolution of the game. It effected its general growth pattern. But it didn't effect how people felt about the game. People in 1860 were falling in love with baseball and I don't think the war changed that. Baseball was forced to adapt to the war but it seems apparent, at least in St. Louis, that it did so successfully. There was a demand for baseball, for baseball clubs, for games. The war may have tamped down the supply of those things but I don't believe that it effected the demand. When people want something they will find a way to get it, come hell or high water.
Below, you'll find all of the posts that contain the 1863 data. Take a look at all of that and see what you think:
Empire City
The Third Anniversary Game
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
The Baltic Base Ball Club
Captain S. Barclay
A Game at the Laclede Ball Grounds
The Young Commercial Base Ball Club Complicates Things
A New Cyclone Club
The Young Adam Wirth
The Commercials Play A Muffin Game
For The Purpose Of Securing Their Clothing
The Infinite Dead
The Rematch
Another Gap In The Records
Extremis Malis Extrema Remedia
Our Chronic Impending Disaster
A Return To Historical Norms In 1863
