Category: Ballparks - This Game Of Games

1870: The First Match Of The Season

4/7/2016

According to Tobias, the first game played in 1870 was the Empire Club's anniversary game, held on April 24. Sadly, I couldn't find a contemporary reference to that game. However, the second game Tobias mentions was this match between the White Stockings of Chicago and the Unions of St. Louis. It was the first real match of the season and one heck of a way to start off the year.

The one thing I want to point out here is the price of admission, which was fifty cents. For some reason, I've always thought that admission to the Grand Avenue Grounds, during this era, was twenty-five cents but looking through my notes, I see all the advertisements I have state that admission was fifty cents. Now, it could just be that there was an increase in price when a big club came to town and all the advertising I have involves the bigger clubs that came to St. Louis in the late 1860s. It could just be confirmation bias. But, still, all the ads say fifty cents. That's something I'll have to keep an eye out for because, as I said, I always thought it was twenty-five cents to get into the Grand Avenue Grounds.

Already Decided Upon A Plan

3/24/2016

The grand stand and club house at Sportsman's Park will be rebuilt at once, and it is expected that work will be completed by July 4. Architect Wees left last night on a tour of inspection, and is expected to return to St. Louis with some new ideas in the way of grand stand construction. He has already decided upon a plan. Instead of leaving a space under the grand stand for the bar and dressing rooms, as in the past, the new structure will run to the ground level. A tier of boxes just above the level of the ground will be built in front. The three boxes on the roof, used in the past by the directors and reporters, will not be rebuilt. The scribes will have a box of their own in the front of the stand, where they will have have a better chance to jump in case of future necessity. The stairways will be wide and straight, instead of on the winding order as they were before...

The St. Louis players worked all of the night of the fire assisting in erecting seats for Sunday's game. This accounts for their poor playing Sunday last...

Fly, Mr. Von der Ahe's fine, big greyhound, who was such a favorite with all visitors to the Von der Ahe household, was burned to death in the fire at the ball park. He will be sadly missed.

-Sporting Life, April 30, 1898

Just a bit more about the ballpark fire. Again, this doesn't have anything to do with the Baldwin Affair but it gives a sense of the stresses that Von der Ahe was under in 1898.

The Sportsman's Park Fire of 1898

3/23/2016

Just to give you a sense of how bad 1898 was for Chris Von der Ahe, I'm reposting something I wrote years ago about the Sportsman's Park fire of April of that year:

New Sportsman's Park from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 17, 1898

From The Sporting News, April 23, 1898:

Panic Ensued

Fire Destroys Stands At Sportsman’s Park

Ball Players Heroically Snatch Spectators From The Seething Flames

During the last half of the second inning of the Chicago-St. Louis game on Saturday April 16, fire broke out in the grandstand at Sportsman’s Park.

The 1898 season opened with the Browns hosting their Chicago League rivals on Friday, April 15. Coming off the worst season in franchise history, the Browns dropped their opener by a score of 2-1. The next day saw over four thousand people come out for a Saturday afternoon game between the two teams.

Sometime in the second inning, a spectator sitting in the grandstands dropped a lighted cigar. The cigar fell beneath the grandstands onto a pile of canvas bags and a small fire broke out. Those in the immediate vicinity began to move away and the game was halted as the umpire investigated the source of the disturbance. The majority of the spectators at the game were unaware of what was happening and cries of “Sit down” and “Play ball” could be heard. Many believed that the commotion in the grandstands was the result of a fight having broken out.

Once the umpire became aware of what was happening in the grandstands, the game was called. As the players left the field, many began to shout at the fans, trying to inform them that a fire had broken out and that they needed to leave the ballpark. Most of the spectators were still sitting in their seats in “bewildered amusement” and hoping that the game would continue. As they became aware of the fact that the game had been called due to a fire, some of the fans “slowly started for the exits, exchanging opinions as to how soon the fire department would appear to put the ‘damn thing out.’”

“The progress of the fire was slow at first,” The Sporting News wrote, “but as it spread, it gained in fury…(and) terrified men and women…sought safety in flight.” Most tried to escape by way of the exits. “As the heat from the burning structure increased in intenseness, the people hastened their efforts to escape. Hundreds rushed up the exit from the grounds between the club and saloon only to find the gate closed.” A frenzy ensued amidst the “furnace like heat and smoke” and the crowd battered the gate down. Many fans were pulled onto the field by the players of both teams, who showed “commendable courage” in helping people to escape the grandstands. The cool demeanor of the players helped to calm a crowd that was beginning to panic “and prevented them from trampling each other to death.”

Within thirty minutes after the discovery of the fire, the grandstands, the left-field bleachers, the other buildings and saloon were all in ruins…Von Der Ahe was desperate in his despair at the culmination of his ill-luck, and had to be restrained by his friends, who feared for his sanity. He lived above the saloon, and all of his personal effects were destroyed.

Over 100 people were injured in the fire. At least three of the injuries were described as “serious,” including a woman “who’s life was feared for”. Another person seriously injured both knees when they jumped from the grandstands. Other people suffered burns and blistering to their hands, back, and neck. Luckily, their were no fatalities.

In the immediate aftermath of the fire, thought was given to transferring the remainder of the series to Chicago but the idea was rejected by Browns manager Tim Hurst. Instead, that night, “a gang of men were set to work…and the fences repaired and temporary stands erected ...” Hurst and his players assisted the workers Saturday night “under electric lights” and enough was accomplished so that a game was played on Sunday as scheduled. Before a crowd of 7,000 people, the weary Browns lost to Chicago by a score of 14-1.

The Sporting News concluded their report of the fire by stating that “(the) grandstands and clubhouse at Sportsman’s Park will be rebuilt at once, and it is expected that work will be completed by July 4.” Von der Ahe used what cash reserves he had to rebuild a scaled down version of Sportsman’s Park. Gone were the saloon and the cycling track and the water ride. The latest version of Sportsman’s Park was a modest creation that sported only a baseball field and a grandstand.

Solari At Work

11/20/2015

The heavy eight ton roller was used all day yesterday on Sportsman's Park. The diamond is now as level as a table. Superintendent Solari has the base lines in fine condition. They will be covered with tarpaulins in wet weather, as will also the battery and batters' squares. The new growth of grass came up very quickly and the grounds are looking in their handsomest form.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, March 30, 1884

I thought this was a rather unique look at the kind of things that August Solari did to get his field in shape for baseball. The infield tarp, according to best evidence, was an invention that Solari came up with for the 1884 season.

The Game Not Played

11/19/2015

The game of base ball advertised to take place yesterday afternoon, at the Grand Avenue park, between the Chicago White Stockings and Philadelphias, did not come off, as neither club put in its appearance. At least twenty thousand people visited the grounds, thinking that they would enjoy a treat, but they were doomed to be disappointed. As to who is to blame, our reporter gained the following from a reliable source: Mr. Williams, secretary of the reds of this city, has been correspounding with the Chicagos for some time, in regard to getting up a game, and at last succeeded so far that he turned the game over to Mr. Solari of the Grand Avenue park, thinking it would be an advantage to the club in drawing a large crowd, on account of its proximity to the Fair grounds. Then Mr. Thos. Bryan, corresponding secretary of the Empires, received from the Philadelphia club, October 1st, a communication stating that the Chicagos and Philadelphias would play a game in this city on October 8th, and that the Philadelphias, after playing a return game in Chicago, would come back and play two games on Sunday, the 11th of October, one in the morning with the Nationals, if so arranged, and the other with the Empires in the afternoon. Mr. Bryan answered the telegram, and told them to come on, as all the arrangements were being made, and the games were advertised. Then came Mr. Williams on the morning of October 8th, the day the game was to come off, and told Mr. Solari of the park that he had received a dispatch from Chicago, signed jointly by the managers of the Chicago and Philadelphia clubs, that it would not be possible for them to play in St. Louis, and that they would write and give the cause. Lastly a dispatch was received at 3:10 P.M., yesterday, by Mr. Solari, signed Jim Woods, stating the Philadlephias refused to play in St. Louis.

To make some amends, there was an impromptu game gotten up between the Empires and a picked nine, to amuse the vast assemblage, who were better satisfied than might have been expected under the circumstances.

-St. Louis Republican, October 9, 1874

What's of interest here is the fact that this game was being advertised as the first game played in St. Louis between two professional clubs and it certainly would have been the first game played between two openly professional teams. Also, the reason given for moving the game from the Compton Avenue Grounds to the Grand Avenue Grounds is interesting and it's the first contemporary reference I've ever seen suggesting why the Grand Avenue Grounds was considered a better park than the Compton Avenue Grounds.

Regardless, it's kind of odd that this game wasn't played. Chicago played a lot of games in St. Louis in 1874 and it's kind of surprising that they weren't able to get Philadelphia to go along with playing it. There's probably something else going on here that we don't know because the reason given for not playing the game is not very satisfying.

An 1858 Reference To The Abbey Grounds

8/25/2015

Trotting Challenge.

The undersigned will bet $250 to $1,000 that the Stallion Wide Awake can beat the Stallion known as Roadhouse's St. Lawrence, a trotting race, mile heats, best 3 in 5, in harness; said race to come off over the Abbey Course, St. Louis, Missouri, any time in the month of October, 1858, or within thirty days after the bet is taken; good day and track.

Chas. M. Ellhard.

-New York Clipper, October 2, 1858

Horse racing was huge in St. Louis, going back to the French Colonial era, and it was probably the first pastime in the United States that evolved into a modern sport. I can give you references to horse racing in St. Louis from newspapers going back to beginning of the 1850s and show you references from histories that date the sport in the city much earlier than that. But that's not what interests me here.

What we find in this Clipper squib is a reference to the Abbey Race Track Grounds in St. Louis, which would be used as a baseball grounds by, at the latest, May of 1865. To the best of my understanding, the grounds were located around the intersection of Page and Whittier and, more likely, it was in that area but between Page and Martin Luther King. The area is west of Grand and about halfway between Fairground Park and St. Louis University. If that makes any sense. Regardless, I'm pretty sure that this is the earliest reference to the Abbey Grounds that I've seen.
It appears that there was horse racing in the area going back to the 1830s and there is evidence of a jockey club in 1828. Another jockey club was formed in 1848 and it was probably around this time that the Abbey grounds were built. It wasn't the most popular baseball grounds in the city but it was located in the general area where we find a lot of the early baseball grounds in the city. Also, it appears that the Atlantics used the site in 1870 as their home grounds.

1868: The New Grounds

3/2/2015

The ball, in this art, was formally opened for the season yesterday, by the Union Club, at their new grounds on Grand avenue, near the Fair Grounds. The attendance was not particularly large. The first nine played a match game with the strongest nine on the field. The new grounds of the club are 525x500. They are not very level nor, as it seems to us well adapted, in this and other respects, to the game. A stand has been erected for the accommodation of visitors, underneath which there is an interesting cave.

It is said by those who claim to be au fait on base ball matches that an interesting season of the game is coming, and that this interest will be awakened by the arrival of clubs from New York, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. The understanding is, as it is reported, that the clubs will play fair-test matches. It was said yesterday among those who discussed the subject that the game could well receive the best of attention this season, as the young men interested in it had not any pressing degree of any other occupation to engross their time and attention.

-Missouri Republican, May 3, 1868

As I mentioned Friday, I'm going over some of this 1868 material that I've already covered recently just so I'll have all of it grouped together in chronological order. Therefore, what we have here is, once again, the opening of the Grand Avenue Grounds. This is significant, of course, because the best St. Louis baseball clubs would play at this site for the next hundred years.

The New Grounds

2/11/2015

The ball, in this art, was formally opened for the season yesterday, by the Union Club, at their new grounds on Grand avenue, near the Fair Grounds. The attendance was not particularly large. The first nine played a match game with the strongest nine on the field. The new grounds of the club are 525x500. They are not very level nor, as it seems to us well adapted, in this and other respects, to the game. A stand has been erected for the accommodation of visitors, underneath which there is an interesting cave.

It is said by those who claim to be au fait on base ball matches that an interesting season of the game is coming, and that this interest will be awakened by the arrival of clubs from New York, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. The understanding is, as it is reported, that the clubs will play fair-test matches. It was said yesterday among those who discussed the subject that the game could well receive the best of attention this season, as the young men interested in it had not any pressing degree of any other occupation to engross their time and attention.

-Missouri Republican, May 3, 1868

I've been reading through the Republican's coverage of the 1868 season because that's the kind of thing that I do and, also, I'm looking to see if there's enough there to do a series of posts on what was a rather important season in the history of St. Louis baseball. I haven't made up my mind on that yet but I did find a couple of things I wanted to pass along.

What we have today is the first game ever played at the Grand Avenue Grounds. This is a rather significant event and I'm surprised I never bothered to dig it up before. The top clubs in St. Louis would play baseball at this site for the next hundred years.

The other interesting thing in this article is the mention of the fact that the players "had not any pressing degree of any other occupation..." This lends some support to my idea that players for the top St. Louis clubs were being compensated in some form by 1868.

The Grand Avenue Grounds in 1875

The Restoration of 1881: The Park Has Been Improved

12/4/2014

…The Akrons and the Browns are to play a series of three games, the first to-day, the next to-morrow and the final on Monday. It will undoubtedly be one of the most interesting series of the season. The park has been improved for the occasion, an immense row of open seats extending from the north end of the grand stand north for over 100 feet has been erected, a new fence has been put up where once the wire fence stood, and other conveniences have been arranged.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 27, 1881

I think that the fact that SPCA was putting money into the park in August of 1881 speaks to how profitable the season had been to that point. Von der Ahe and the SPCA had gotten control of the club when August Solari had given up the lease on the grounds and the park, at the point, was rather dilapidated and rundown. The SPCA had spent money at the beginning of the season to fix up the ballpark and it looks like they were reinvesting some of their profits to do so again in August.

St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War: Benton Barracks

8/4/2014

2nd Wisconsin Cavalry at Benton Barracks

Before we finish up 1862, I need to take a step back and talk about Benton Barracks. To save us (and by us, I mean me) a little bit of time, I'll just quote from the Trans-Mississippi Theater Photo Archive website:

Located on the north side of St. Louis, Benton Barracks was one of the most important Union Army training camps in Missouri during the Civil War. The 150-acre complex was established in 1861, and contained barracks, warehouses, and numerous other buildings. A number of Missouri Union regiments were organized there, including some of the state’s African-American units. Soon after the war, the camp was closed and nothing remains of the wartime home of thousands of Federal soldiers.

So that's interesting but what does it have to do with St. Louis Civil War baseball? Well, the location of Benton Barracks was significant.

The collection of troops and war material in the neighborhood of St. Louis in August [1861] was of the most formidable character. At Camp Benton, immediately west of the Fair Grounds, extensive preparations were being made for the accommodation of a large body of troops, but only two regiments had taken post in this vicinity on the 21st.

-History of Saint Louis City and County: From the Earliest Periods to the Present Day

According to John Thomas Scharf's history, Benton Barracks was located west of the St. Louis Fairgrounds, which just so happened to have been one of the primary antebellum baseball grounds in the city and the location of the first match game ever played in St. Louis. Combine this with the fact that Union troops were also using Lafayette Park as a camp and we now know that by August of 1861, Union troops had occupied two of the three most used baseball grounds in St. Louis.

If we're looking for specific reasons why the war stunted the growth of baseball in St. Louis and across the nation, we find in this information something that I don't think has ever really been considered. Peter Morris, in But Didn't We Have Fun?, talks about how the availability of open field space in antebellum America was a significant contributing factor in the spread of baseball in the late 1850s. Here, early in the Civil War, we find that availability being curtailed. The land that would have been used to play baseball was being used as camp grounds by the Union army. In the specific case of St. Louis, we find the Union army using some of the very best and most popular pieces of land.

We see the impact of this in the contemporary source material. You don't see Lafayette Park and the Fairgrounds being used as baseball grounds after the summer of 1861. We now know that they were not available for use as baseball grounds because they were being used by the Union army. By August of 1861, baseball clubs were severely limited in their choice of grounds. The only decent grounds left was Gamble Lawn. There were other grounds being used in the city, such as Carr Park, the Laclede Grounds, and the Veto Grounds, but it appears that the best clubs, that had played at Lafayette Park and the Fairgrounds in the past, were pretty much limited to Gamble Lawn if they wanted to bring in a crowd. I would argue that this limitation in choice of grounds had a depressing effect on the growth of the game in St. Louis and I would imagine that we would see the same thing across the North in 1861.