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1870: A Peerless Victory

4/13/2016

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A spirited game of base ball was played yesterday on the grounds of the Baltic club, between the Peerless and the Atlantic clubs, in which the Peerless were the victors, the score being 33 to 24.

​-Missouri Republican, June 6, 1870

​There's nothing in the Republican regarding St. Louis clubs following the visit by the Chicagos until this squib in early June.  However, Tobias does mention a few other games during that period, specifically a match between the Lone Stars and the St. Louis Club on May 1, a match between the Aetnas and the Atlantics on May 22, and a match between the Aetnas and the Unions on May 26.  So we know that there was baseball being played in St. Louis during May of 1870 but, for some reason, the Republican was not covering it.     
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1868: The Excelsiors Of Chicago Win The Tournament

6/30/2015

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The series of matches between foreign and home base ball clubs, inaugurated on Monday, and which has proved so pleasant a feature in the programme to many persons, closed yesterday noon with the contest between the Excelsior Club of Chicago and the Atlantics of this city.  The crowd in attendance was immense, and the playing, on the part of the Excelsiors especially, was very fine.  The game was opened promptly at 10 o'clock, and resulted in favor of the Chicago club by a score of - Excelsiors 71, Atlantics 7.  The Excelsiors have thus won the premium of $300 and the gold mounted bat given by the Association.  They have come off triumphant in three matches during the week - the first with the Unions, when the score stood 27 to 9; the second with the Resolutes, which closed at 41 runs to 13, and the third with the Resolutes this morning.  On to-morrow afternoon they will leave for home.

-Missouri Republican, October 11, 1868
So not a great showing by the St. Louis clubs against the Excelsiors of Chicago.  At this point, with a series of defeats against outside competition, with no victories at all over outside clubs, and only one game against an outside club that was even competitive, one has to admit that the best St. Louis clubs - specifically the Unions and the Empires - weren't that good.  The game was popular in St. Louis.  There were lots of clubs.  The press was covering the game to a greater extent than they ever had before.  But the baseball being played in St. Louis and the ballplayers the city was producing were not up to the standards of the best clubs and players.  

The interesting thing is that many in the local sporting press, in the local baseball fraternity, and among the St. Louis fans believed that it was.  They believed that they could compete against the best clubs in the nation.  It was a form of parochial delusion and one that St. Louis was (and still is) especially susceptible to in most matters.  The realization that everyone was wrong about St. Louis' place in the baseball world would have a disastrous impact upon the popularity of baseball in the city in the following years.       
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1868: The Tournament

6/19/2015

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The Base Ball Tournament during the week of the great exhibition is expected to be an interesting affair.  Several good clubs from abroad have given assurances of their purpose to be here.  The committee has arranged the order of the playing and have named the Dirigo vs. Etna to begin the games on the morning of the first day.  On Monday evening, the Empires vs. Resolute; Tuesday, A.M., Olympic, of Carondelet, vs. Atlantic; Tuesday, P.M., Union, Jr., vs. St. Louis; Wednesday, A.M., the winning club of Monday A.M., vs. the winning club of Tuesday A.M.; Wednesday, P.M., Excelsior, of Chicago, vs. the Unions; Thursday, A.M., winning club of Wednesday, A.M., vs. winning club of Thursday, P.M.  Thursday, P.M., winning club of Monday, P.M., vs winning club of Wednesday P.M.; Friday, the winning club of Thursday.  The games will commence at 10 o'clock A.M. and 2 o'clock P.M., each day, and any club failing to appear at the time designated the club on the ground will be declared the winning club.   

Col. A.R. Easton, Jno. Young, H.G. Smith, Walter Carr and W.B. Edgar were appointed by the Fair Association to arrange matters connected with the contests.  It is to be regretted that the prizes offered were not published sooner.  Had they been placed in the prize list of the Fair, there would have been many clubs from the East to engage in these games.  It seems that only four or five days ago the news of the proposed tournament found its way to New York, for the papers of that city last Friday had a notice of them for the first time.  It will be quite an interesting time for the clubs near St. Louis, and will afford a rare treat to many visitors of the Fair.


-Missouri Republican, October 2, 1868
I had to read that first paragraph a couple of times and still couldn't make sense out of the tournament schedule.  It's transcribed exactly as it appeared in the Republican but the whole thing gets a bit confused when they start trying to explain the Thursday schedule.  Not a big deal but let's just note that the paper probably messed things up.

The note about New York clubs playing in the tournament if they had gotten more notice is unrealistic and shows some ignorance of how these clubs scheduled games.  They would have needed several weeks notice and certain assurances regarding the amount of money they would receive.  Even with that, it's unlikely they would have made the long trip to St. Louis just to play a couple of games.  The only reason the big Eastern clubs came to St. Louis during this era was because they were on long, multi-city tours that featured ten to twenty stops and twenty to forty games.  They weren't coming to St. Louis just for a tournament.  That's not the way things worked in 1868.  
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1868: A Junior State Association

6/5/2015

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A State Junior Base Ball Association has been formed, which appears likely to become a strong organization.  The Convention at which the organization was effected was well attended, there being the following delegates from the following clubs:

Atlantic, Junior - T. Ryan, E. Mitchell.
Niagara - J. Long, J. Donovan.
Mutual - J. McMahon, B. Keise.
Union - W. Austin, E. Wolf.
Missouri - G. Walters, C. Thornburg.
Aetna - J. Blony, J. Loftus.
Empire - M.J. Virtue, M.J. Kinderick.
Dirego - E. Washburn, R. Avia.
Star - J. McCaffery, P. Reilly.
Stonewall - J. Reider, P. Clifford.
Mystic - A. Jones, H. Hecong.
Excelsior - P. Davis, P. Tucker.

An election of officers ensued with the following results:

President - James Ryan.
Vice Presidents - Jas. Donovan, Jas. McCaffery, George Walters.
Treasurer - E. Washburn.
Secretaries - M.J. Virtue, M.J. Kinefick and R. Greenhouse.

-Missouri Republican, August 27, 1868
I think this a great example of what I was talking about yesterday.  There were a lot of clubs in St. Louis and a lot of games being played that weren't being covered in the press.  The game was very healthy and rather popular in the city in 1868 and I think the formation of an association of junior clubs is proof of that.  
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1868: And The Season Finally Gets Started

3/5/2015

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The opening Base Ball match of the season will take place to-day at St. Louis Base Ball Park on Grand avenue, near the Fair grounds, the contestants being the Union and the Atlantic Clubs.  The grounds are reported in excellent order, and an animated contest may be expected.  The Atlantic nine includes some fine players, and their friends confidently anticipate a gratifying victory.  On the 11th of June the Athletics, of Philadelphia, will arrive in the city, and on the following day will try their strength with the Union players.  The opening season promises to be a lively one among the base ballers.

-Missouri Republican, May 27, 1868
So the season was finally getting started at the end of May, which seems awfully late to start but it wasn't really the start of the season.  Obviously, the clubs had been playing through all of May but they just hadn't been playing each other.  What we had, here at the end of May, was the first match game of the season.  
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1875: Who Knew That Lip Pike Was Nobby?

11/6/2013

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Picture
The definition of nobby
The pleasant weather and the attraction of a match game between [the Empire and Atlantic] clubs drew several hundred lovers of our national game to the Grand avenue park yesterday afternoon.  The game was, we understand, for practice only, and will not count in the games for the amateur championship of the state of Missouri.

Both clubs were out in full force, the Atlantics appearing in an entire new rig, consisting of blue and white caps, flesh-colored shirts, trimmed with blue, white knee-breeches and blue stockings, the costume presenting a very handsome appearance and reflecting credit upon the makers.

The nobby centre fielder of the Brown Stockings having been selected as umpire, called game at quarter past three o'clock, the Atlantics handling the ash and the Empires distributing themselves over the green turf preparatory to hunting the leather.

Up to the close of the sixth innings the game was very close and exciting.  The Empires playing very steadily in the field, "Shorty" and Zimmerman doing excellent pitching of Daniels, who, if he had been supported by a good catcher, would have carried his side through the game with a score much less one-sided.  All doubts as to the ultimate result were dispelled in the seventh innings, as the Empires, after disposing of their adversaries for two runs, went in with a vim and by some very fine batting scored seven runs, two of which were earned, thus placing their totals at thirteen to seven for the Atlantics.  The champions still further increased their lead in the ninth innings five tallies.  The Atlantics had apparantly lost heart and failed to add anything to their score, leaving the totals at eighteen to seven in favor of the Empires.

-St. Louis Republican, May 3, 1875
I love the description of Lipman Pike as "the nobby centre fielder of the Brown Stockings."  I'm going to steal that and add it to my collection of rhetorical tics.  From this point forward, Lip PIke is Lipman Pike, the nobby centre fielder.  
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1875: Negotiations Are Pending

9/26/2013

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Picture
The [Reds and Atlantics] played a game yesterday afternoon on the grounds of the former.  The Reds presented their full nine as it is at present made up, though we believe negotiations are pending for one or two Eastern players.  The Atlantics were short several of their players, their regular pitcher and catcher being among the number.

The new professionals opened the game with several of their men out of position, which is one of the very worst things any club can do, particularly a new one, organizing, as they are, for a campaign requiring unusual endurance and steadiness.  The evil effects of such a policy were fully demonstrated in the game yesterday, almost every inning witnessing a change in their field - good, players, when out of their home positions, making glaring errors.  Blong and Redmond pitched and caught in the first few innings.  Houtz played first for one inning and then retired sick, his place being supplied by Mulhall.  Morgan and P. Dillon exchanged positions with Blong and Redmond from the fourth to the seventh innings, and so the changing was kept up.  In the Atlantic nine the same destructive, demoralizing policy was pursued to a greater extent than in the professional nines.  Club managers and captains should recollect it is less damaging to have one man out of position or playing poorly than two or three - one weak spot is bad enough, don't try to cure it by making more.  

The playing was below medicore, the Atlantics doing some very tall muffing and seemed to be totally unable to "get on" to Morgan's pitching at all; one and all seemed to be "off."  On the part of the Reds, Morgan's pitching and fielding in that position were the most commendable feature of his side playing.  Croft at first base played well while in that position, and ran the bases with speed and judgment.  Their batting was very weak, except in the ninth innings, when they earned their only run, and after chances had been offered for their retiring with that one they batted free and hard for seven additional tallies.  The Reds have some splendid material in their nine, but apparently need discipline and practice to bring them up to the steadiness necessary in professional ball players.

-St. Louis Republican, April 5, 1875
The most important piece of information here is that the Reds had not signed Charlie Sweasy by April 4 but were looking to sign an experienced Eastern player.  When the Republican says that "negotiations are pending," one has to assume that the Reds were talking to Sweasy at this time, given that he would be signed and in St. Louis within a week.  
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