Category: Commercial Juniors - This Game Of Games

St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War: The Young Adam Wirth

8/22/2014

A very interesting game of base ball was played Saturday afternoon, on Gamble Lawn, between the Commercial, Junior, and Empire, Junior, Ball Clubs, which resulted in favor of the former.

-Missouri Republican, June 9, 1863

I have mentioned in the past that Tom Oran, over the course of his career, played for pretty much everybody. However, I think I failed to mention the other day, when we saw the first reference to him playing with the Commercial Juniors, that he had played with the Empire Juniors in 1862. The guy had no problem with jumping from club to club. It's one of the reasons we love him.

Anyway, this is, I believe, the first reference we have to Adam Wirth. Wirth was the longtime first baseman for the Empire Club and a mainstay on their great post-war championship clubs. He was, in my opinion, the best St. Louis baseball player of his generation. The fact that he served as an umpire for this game is some kind of evidence that he was playing baseball in St. Louis in 1863. It's not particularly strong evidence but there was a tradition of players serving as an umpire for matches their club wasn't involved in. So I would argue that Wirth was playing baseball in St. Louis by the early 1860s and I know that he was still playing with the Empires in 1876. That's a rather long career for a pioneer-era player and I think it speaks to the level of his talent. Great players have longer careers. Wirth, in 1863, was about 16 or 17 years old and at the beginning of a great career.

Also, on June 9, 1863, the Battle of Brandy Station was fought. Brandy Station was the largest cavalry battle ever fought in North America and you have to think that it's going to hold that distinction for some time. It's like Cy Young's 511 wins. Times change, nobody is going to win 512 big league games, and you're not going to have a cavalry battle that big again.

That's a lot of horses

St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War: A New Cyclone Club

8/21/2014

A match game of Base Ball was played yesterday afternoon, on Gamble's Lawn, between the Commercial, Jr., and Cyclone clubs...

-Missouri Republican, June 2, 1863

I want to call these guys the Fake Cyclones or the Not-Really-The-Cyclones but that's not particularly nice. It's not their fault that they're not the Cyclones that you're thinking of and it's kind of nice that they picked up the Cyclone banner. They were honoring one of the pioneer clubs of St. Louis by using the name so let's not make fun of them.

And we should also point out that the Second Cyclones were playing the Not The Young Commercials and our old friend Tom Oran. Also, the day after this squib appeared in the Republican, the Army of Northern Virginia was on the move and heading for Pennsylvania.

St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War: The Young Commercial Base Ball Club Complicates Things

8/20/2014

A match game of base ball was played at Gamble's Lawn on Saturday morning, between the Union Junir and Young Commercial Base Ball Clubs, which was decided in favor of the latter.

-Missouri Republican, May 24, 1863

Now this is interesting.

If you had asked me yesterday if the Young Commercials and the Commercial Juniors were the same club, I would have said that it was likely that they were. However, looking at yesterday's post, which was about a game involving the Commercial Juniors, and this game, involving the Young Commercials, it is obvious that they were two different clubs. The Commercial Juniors were most likely affiliated with the Commercial Base Ball Club and I can't tell you what the deal is with the Young Commercials. Is it possible that the Commercials had two junior clubs? It's possible but I don't think I've ever heard of such a thing. But it's absolutely certain that the Young Commercials was not the Commercial Juniors.
This also brings up the question of the Union Juniors of 1863 and the Young Union Juniors of 1862. Where they both affiliated with the Union Base Ball Club? At this point, I don't know. You have to assume that if you have a baseball club named the Unions, for the sake of example, and you have another named the Union Juniors then the latter is the junior club affiliated with the former. But now with all of this "Young" club stuff, I just don't know. I've always known about junior clubs and I assumed that the "Young" thing was just a euphemism for a junior club. But the Young Unions of 1862 and the Union Juniors of 1863 do not have any players in common and I just established that the Commercial Juniors and the Young Commercials were two different clubs.

At this point, I'm not very comfortable assuming any relationship between clubs. I really don't know what the relationship was between the Commercials, the Commercial Juniors, and the Young Commercials. I really don't know what the relationship was between the Unions, the Union Juniors, and the Young Union Juniors. There may have been no relationship. Or these clubs, because of the lack of adult players, may have had multiple junior clubs. I just don't know.

St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War: A Game at the Laclede Ball Grounds

8/19/2014

A game of base ball came off yesterday morning on the Laclede Ball Grounds, between the Commercial, Jr., and the Baltic Base Ball Clubs, which resulted in favor of the former.

-Missouri Republican, May 24, 1863

According to Tobias, the Laclede Grounds were "on a lot one block north of Easton Avenue between Jefferson and Garrison."

Five days before this game was played, the Siege of Vicksburg began and Edward Bredell, co-founder of the Cyclone Club, was there, serving as aide-de-camp to Confederate General John Bowen. Also there, serving as aide-de-camp to Union General U.S. Grant, was Bredell's former club-mate, John Riggin. I have no idea if either of the two men was aware that the other was there.

Vicksburg under siege

St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War: The Baltic Base Ball Club

8/15/2014

A match game of base ball was played at Gamble Lawn, Saturday evening, between the "Baltic" and "Young Commercial" base ball clubs, which was decided in favor of the latter.

-Missouri Republican, May 10, 1863

This is the first mention of the Baltic Club that I have in my notes and it must be taken as a positive sign that we have a new club in 1863. The war had really slowed the momentum of baseball's growth and evolution in St. Louis but it didn't kill the game in the city. Even at the height of the war, we still had new clubs forming. Older clubs, like the Commercials, soldiered on. Matches were being played. It was subtle but there was still some growth.

The one thing I always like to point out about this particular game is that the Battle of Chancellorsville ended three days before it was played and that Stonewall Jackson died the day after. For some reason, the juxtaposition of this game and Jackson's death put everything into context for me. It flipped a switch in my head that allowed me to look at baseball during this era in a new way. Before, the war and the baseball of the war-era were two separate things. But it was discovering things like the fact that a game in St. Louis was played the day before Jackson died or the day after Gettysburg ended and the day Vicksburg surrendered that allowed me to place St. Louis Civil War-era baseball within the context of the war itself - at least in my mind. For some reason, that just made it all very real to me and made me think about the fact that this was the world in which these people lived.

The war was the reality for our baseball players in 1863. It was a huge part of their lives and, in many ways, it defines them. I can't think of E.H. Tobias or Edward Bredell without thinking about the war. I can't think about the Cyclones or the Commercials without thinking about the war. You can't understand baseball in this era without understanding the war. And that's what this series is about. It's about 19th century St. Louis baseball in the context of the American Civil War. If you want to learn about early St. Louis baseball and understand the history of the game in St. Louis, you're going to have to learn about the Civil War. There is no other way.

St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War: The Young Union Juniors

7/25/2014

A match game of Base Ball was played yesterday, between the Commercial Junior and the Young Union Junior, which resulted in the defeat of the latter. The score was as follows: [Commercial, Jrs., 46, Union, Jrs., 40.]

-Missouri Republican, June 11, 1862

I can't say for certain but I have to think that the Young Union Juniors were the Union Club's junior affiliate. It's tough to say because the Union Club itself was made up of very young players but I have to think that this is a sign that the club is growing and evolving beyond their origins as a schoolboy ball club. Regardless, this is our second new club in 1862.

Two days after this game was played, J.E.B. Stuart started his ride around the Union army.

St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War: My Favorite Civil War-Era Box Score

7/11/2014

A match of base ball was played on Gamble Lawn, Saturday morning, between the Commercial, Jr., and the second nine of the Union Club, and was handsomely won by the Commercial...

-Missouri Republican, September 29, 1861

I love this box score.

First thing you should note is the fact that Tom Oran was playing with the Commercial, Jr., in 1861. Oran is widely - and rightly - recognized as the first Native American major league baseball player and gained that distinction by playing in the NA with the Reds in 1875. He was probably only about fourteen or fifteen years old in 1861 and just beginning what would be a rather interesting baseball career. This is the first record we have of Oran playing baseball and, therefore, is of some historical significance.

The other thing you should note is the guys playing for what is described as the Union Club's second nine. Asa Smith, Charles Cabanne, Willy Freeman, Joseph Carr, with Frank Billon keeping score. All of these guys would go on to make names for themselves as ballplayers in the post-war, amateur era. The Union had themselves a pretty nice second nine that would develop a lot of the talent that would go on to win the championship in 1867.

St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War: This Means War

6/30/2014

A match game of base ball was played on Thursday afternoon at Gamble Lawn, between the Excelsior Junior and Commercial Junior, which resulted in the defeat of the former - the score being, Excelsrior Junior, 12; Commercial Junior, 24. David Tatum, umpire.

-Missouri Republican, June 15, 1861

As the 1861 baseball season continued in St. Louis, things were falling apart in Missouri. After Camp Jackson, a sort of truce had been established between the Union forces in St. Louis, led by Nathaniel Lyon, and the pro-Confederate forces in Missouri, led by Gov. Jackson and Sterling Price. On June 11, a meeting was held in St. Louis at the Planter's Hotel, between Jackson, Price, Lyon and Frank Blair. At the meeting, Jackson demanded that Federal forces remain in St. Louis and all other pro-Union forces in the state be disbanded. Lyon's reaction to this was recorded in Thomas Snead's The Fight for Missouri:

"Rather," said [Lyon,] (he was still seated, and spoke deliberately, slowly, and with a peculiar emphasis) "rather than concede to the State of Missouri the right to demand that my Government shall not enlist troops within her limits, or bring troops into the State whenever it pleases, or move its troops at its own will into, our of, or through the State; rather than concede to the State of Missouri for one single instant the right to dictate to my Government in any matter however unimportant, I would" (rising as he said this, and pointing in turn to every one in the room) "see you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and every man, woman, and child in the State, dead and buried." Then turning to the Governor, he said: "This means war. In an hour one of my officers will call for you and conduct you out of my lines."

Lyons promised war and war he would give them. Jackson and Price returned to Jefferson City, only to abandon the state capitol when they decided that they could not hold it. Lyons followed with Union forces and met them at Boonville, Missouri. The First Battle of Boonville was fought on June 17 and resulted in a clear victory for Lyon and the Union forces. As a result of this victory, the Union gained control of the state capitol and, more importantly, the Missouri River.

Lyon's actions in May and June stopped Missouri from joining the Confederacy. The state would continue to be a battleground throughout the war but Lyon had saved St. Louis and Missouri for the Union.

St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War: A Rematch Between Junior Clubs

6/26/2014

Base Ball.—A match game of base ball between the Commercial and Excelsior Juniors, was played on the grounds of the Empire Club yesterday. The score stood as follows: Excelsior, 19; Commercial, 13.

-Missouri Republican, June 4, 1861

This was the second match played between these two junior clubs in 1861, with the first being played on May 25.

St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War: The Excelsior Base Ball Club of St. Louis

6/20/2014

A Match Game of Base Ball, between Excelsior and Commercial Juniors, will take place THIS DAY, at 2 o'clock, p.m., on Empire's ground.

-Missouri Republican, May 25, 1861

The day before this game was played Federal forces seized Alexandria, Virginia.

The Excelsior Club was active in 1860 and I have a reference to a match game they played against the Lone Star Club in August of that year. Tobias mentioned them in his history:

In a previous communication mention was made of the Excelsior Club as being one of the ante-bellum organizations that met with an early dissolution. Through the kindness of one of its surviving members, John McKernou, Esq., of Washington avenue and Twenty-First street, the following additional and interesting data has been obtained: The club was orgainized by the election of Jas. Fitzwilliams, president; Patrick Keenan, a whitener, was treasurer; W. Sullivan, a drummer, who taught the comedian, Jos. K. Emmett, how to handle the stick, was secretary and among its active members were Peter Fitzwilliams, who was killed in the rebel army; John Hogan, a bookbinder; Joseph Champine and my informant, whose memory fails him as to the others. The club found birth and home in two old omnibusses placed end to end at Sloan's Carriage Factory, Eighth and St. Charles streets where now stands N.O. Nelson & Co.'s building. When the club membership became too large for its original quarters, its meetings were held on the east side of Sixth street between Morgan and Franklin avenue back of what was known as Beckner's Garden and in front of the Sans Souci Garden, both being places of public resort. The club played on Gamble Lawn during its brief existence of one season, that period of time being long enough to tire the boys out in carrying the old style sand bag bases back and forth the long distance to the grounds. Another feature of the game that added to the disheartening of this mis-named club was the round shape of the bats, whereby they were unable to hit the ball so frequently as with the old paddle.

-E.H. Tobias, writing in The Sporting News, November 16, 1895

First, in the squib from the Republican, it is mentioned that the match was being played at the Empire Club's home ground and, at the time, this was Gamble Lawn. Tobias also notes, above, that the Excelsiors played at Gamble Lawn grounds.

However, the most fascinating thing in Tobias' notes on the club is that, in the past, they had used flat bats. This is evidence of the possibility that the Excelsiors had formed originally as what one might call a "town ball" club. To be more specific, it is possible that the club was active prior to 1860, when they were playing the baseball according to the national rules, and likely were playing the local, St. Louis version of baseball.

We have precious little information about the old St. Louis baseball variant. We know that, in Alton, there was a local variant that involved thirteen men per side and a five inning game. However, it's impossible to say if that variant was also played in St. Louis, although I am of the belief that it was. Tobias' notes give us the possibility that the St. Louis game involved a flat bat and that's just fascinating.

I should also point out that this appears to be the Excelsiors' junior club rather than the Excelsiors proper.