The base ball match played at Carondelet between the light and heavy weights was decided in favor of the latter. Three innings were played, the score standing 27 for the heavy weights, and 18 for the light weights.
-Missouri Repbulican, June 14, 1870
While the coverage in newspapers had, since the end of the Civil War, tended to focus on the best clubs and championship matches, it's important to remember that baseball was a game played by many, many people for fun. It wasn't all professionals and tours and championships. Sometimes it was just what used to be called a muffin game - a game played by not particularly good players who were out to have a good time. I'm sure these games were played just about every day, just as they are now, and they weren't, for the most part, reported upon in the papers. This is baseball at its purest and finest. It's the way most baseball games were and are played. Regardless of how the game is covered by the media, baseball is not just the Major Leagues. When we talk about baseball, we talk about "play" and "games." There's a reason for that and I think we tend to forget it.
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