Category: Merritt Griswold

My Best Guess

3/10/2016

St. Louis in 1859

I can go on and on and on about the question of the first St. Louis baseball club and the fact that I've been working on a long-form piece on the subject for well over a year proves that. I haven't even really touched on Ed Bredell and the possibility of his having been exposed to the New York game while he was at Brown University. I haven't touched on the influence of Yankee merchants and the influx of Eastern immigrants into St. Louis in the antebellum era. I haven't mentioned the influence of railroads and newspapers and the new technologies that helped spread the game. I haven't mentioned how protobaseball games spread across the Trans-Appalachian West and how that spread pattern is very similar to settlement patterns and what those patterns tell us about the spread of the New York game. I haven't mentioned the importance of social clubs in antebellum America. It's an endlessly fascinating subject to me and it all ends with the spread of the game into St. Louis and the formation of the best baseball club in the city.

Instead of talking about all of that, I'm going to just put a cap on this and get back to the Baldwin Affair. And towards that end, I'm just going to tell you what I think happened. I think I've given you more than enough evidence to support what I'm going to tell you here and more than enough evidence so that you understand that this is all speculation. It is all speculation but it's also based on an understanding of the cumulative weight of all of the evidence I've gathered over the last decade. It's a guess but it's an educated guess.

The easiest thing to do would be to say that the Unknown Club was the first baseball club in St. Louis history. That's what the contemporary source material tells us. But the fact that I can't tell you for a fact that they were playing the New York game is a problem for me. The fact that they didn't form until August 1, 1859, is another. I can't say that they weren't the first club but the farthest I'm really willing to go with the Unknowns is to say that they are the first St. Louis baseball club I'm aware of to be mentioned in the contemporary source material. That's something but it's not everything.

I have four members of the Cyclone Club who claim that their club was the first baseball club ever formed in St. Louis. I have three members who claim the club formed in the summer of 1859. I have E.H. Tobias, who I have the utmost respect for, not contradicting that statement and, in a different source, stating the Cyclones formed in 1859. The predominance of the secondary source material supports the idea that the Cyclones were the first baseball club in St. Louis history and that they formed in the summer of 1859.

I believe that the weight of evidence supports the Cyclone Thesis. It is not conclusive. I do not have all of the evidence that I would like. I do not have a smoking gun that proves it. But after a decade of researching the subject, the Cyclone Thesis is the best argument I can put forward as to who the first club was and when they were formed.

I really don't have any doubt that the Cyclones formed before the Empires, the Unions, or the Commercials. I really don't have any doubt that the Cyclones were playing the New York game in St. Louis before the Morning Stars were. The only real questions I have - and I take these seriously - concern the type of game the Unknown Club was playing and whether or not the Cyclones formed prior to August 1, 1859. If the Unknowns were playing the local baseball variant then they were not the first St. Louis baseball club in the sense that we're using the term. If the Cyclones formed prior to August 1, 1859, then, again, the Unknowns were not the first club. So, in the end, it comes down to either the Cyclones or the Unknowns and, as I said, I believe the weight of the evidence supports the Cyclones claim to being the first baseball club in St. Louis history.

Given all of that, what do I think happened?

In the late 1850s, you had several clubs in the St. Louis area playing the local baseball variant. You had two clubs in Alton, the Morning Stars in St. Louis, and, possibly, the Unknowns. There may have been more that we're unaware of but the local variant was popular and was being played at various locations around the city.

Ed Bredell, Jr., went to Brown University, at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1855 and was still there in 1856. He may have been there the following year but I can't say that for certain. The important thing is that Bredell was probably exposed to the New York game while at university. Brown University played a significant role in the history of collegiate athletics and, specifically, in the history of collegiate baseball. Providence, itself, had a history of ball-playing that dated back, at least, to the 1820s, a baseball club was formed there in 1857, and Brown had baseball clubs by the early 1860s. I have little doubt that baseball was being played in Providence and at Brown when Bredell was there and it's likely that he first played the game while a university student. At the very least, Bredell most likely saw the New York game being played while a student in Providence.

This is significant because Bredell was the co-founder of the Cyclone Club. Everybody always talks about Merritt Griswold because his connection to the game in Brooklyn prior to his coming to St. Louis is known. Bredell's connection to the game is something that very few people are aware of and is an extremely important data point. He was more than likely exposed to the game and played the game while at university and then returns to St. Louis in the late 1850s with a knowledge and love of the game.

I think it's also important when you consider Bredell and Griswold's relationship. Bredell was Griswold's boss. He was the business manager of the Missouri Glass Company and while I describe the two men as co-workers, the fact is that Griswold worked for Bredell and his father. I like the description of the founding of the Cyclone Club in the 1895 Republic article that states that Griswold put the club together under the "exertions" of Bredell. That makes a lot of sense when you know that Bredell already had a knowledge of the New York game and that he was Griswold's boss.

So the Missouri Glass Company opens on May 29, 1859, and Bredell, Jr., is the business manager. Merritt Griswold arrives in St. Louis shortly thereafter and gets a job with the firm. He had been playing baseball in Brooklyn as late as October of 1858 and had been playing with various clubs in Brooklyn for several years. He was a baseball player and someone who loved the game. He comes to a town with a history of ball-playing and that had several clubs playing the local baseball variant. Griswold probably didn't realize it at the time but he had moved from one hotbed of baseball to another.

But Griswold quickly discovers that he had moved to a baseball town. He becomes aware of the Morning Stars and has discussions with them about the proper way to play baseball. I'm sure he quickly found out that the young business manager he worked with was a baseball fan who had played the New York game while at school in the East. Griswold and Bredell strike up a natural friendship through their mutual love of baseball. And the two decide to form a baseball club. This is how the Cyclone Club came about.

The major question is, again, when exactly this happened. It could not have happened prior to May 29, 1859. If we assume that Griswold began work with the Missouri Glass Company when it opened, he and Bredell could have easily formed the club in June of 1859, which fits perfectly with the summer of 1859 founding date given by former members of the club. That's a big assumption and is probably the biggest hole in the Thesis. But I think it makes sense.

My best guess is that Griswold was in St. Louis in May of 1859. My best guess is that he was working at the Missouri Glass Company when it opened. My best guess is that he and Bredell struck up a friendship at that time. Based on all of those assumptions and my understanding of the source material, my best guess is that the Cyclone Base Ball Club of St. Louis formed in June of 1859.

My best guess is that the Cyclones were playing the New York game by June of 1859 and that they were the first baseball club in the city to do so.

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Was The Summer of 1859 Even Possible?

3/9/2016

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In the summer of 1859 a meeting was held in the office of the old Missouri Glass Company, on Fifth street between Pine and Olive. M.W. Griswold, a clerk in the company's store, who had lately moved to St. Louis from Brooklyn, N.Y., an enthusiast on baseball, aided by the exertions of Ed Bredele, had gathered together the nucleus of a club...

-St. Louis Republic, April 21, 1895

One of the things that I don't know is specifically when Merritt Griswold got to St. Louis. I know that he was still living in Brooklyn in 1858. He's listed in the 1859 Brooklyn city directory, which was probably put together in the summer of 1858, and he was still playing with the Hiawathas in October of 1858. He was certainly in St. Louis by April of 1860, when he published the rules of the game in the Missouri Democrat. Also, he's listed in the 1860 St. Louis city directory that came out no later than March of that year. So sometimes between October of 1858 and March of 1860, Merritt Griswold moved to St. Louis. And given that the 1860 St. Louis directory was probably put together in the summer or early fall of 1859, I'm comfortable saying that he moved to St. Louis sometime between October of 1858 and October of 1859.

It's absolutely possible that Griswold was in St. Louis and working at the Missouri Glass Company by the summer of 1859, as the Missouri Glass Company opened for business on May 29 of that year.

The Missouri Glass Company's Works are situated in the First Ward of the city of St. Louis, west of the Arsenal. The Company was incorporated by an act of the Legislature and went into operation under their charter on the 29th day of May, and elected Edward Bredell, President, and Edward Daly, Secretary...

-Missouri Republican, December 26, 1859

The assumption is that Ed Bredell, Jr., and Merritt Griswold met while working together at the Missouri Glass Company. If this is true then the Cyclones could not have been formed before May 29, 1859. That's the earliest possible date that the club could have been formed, if this assumption is true.

In the summer of 1859 a meeting was held in the office of the old Missouri Glass Company, on Fifth street between Pine and Olive. M.W. Griswold, a clerk in the company's store, who had lately moved to St. Louis from Brooklyn, N.Y., an enthusiast on baseball, aided by the exertions of Ed Bredell, had gathered together the nucleus of a club...

-St. Louis Republic, April 21, 1895

So I think I've answered the question I posed in the title of this post. It's absolutely possible that the Cyclones could have formed in the summer of 1859, prior to the formation of the Unknown Club in August of that year. Leaving aside the question of what kind of baseball the Unknown Club was playing, it's possible that the Cyclones formed before they did and, therefore, were the first baseball club in St. Louis history.

What we're really looking at here is a window between the end of May 1859 and April 1860 for the formation of the Cyclone Club. At the moment that's as far as we can narrow this thing. The reality is that they probably formed either in the early or mid summer of 1859 or in the early spring of 1860. Either date allows for you to argue that they were the first club in St. Louis although the first date is really what the best argument is based on.

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The Griswold Letter

3/8/2016

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Alfred H. Spink
Author The National Game
St. Louis, Mo.,

Dear Sir-One of the reporters of "The Standard Union" of Brooklyn, N.Y., showed me a few days ago a book written by you entitled the history of baseball.

To start at the commencement of the game in its first introduction into Missouri I would refer you to the files of "The Missouri Democrat" for the Winter of 1859 and 1860, where in you will find published "the rules of the game," also a diagram showing the field and the position of each player made from a rough sketch I gave to Mr. McKee and Fishback, the publishers, or to Mr. Houser, at that time their bookkeeper, cashier and confidential office man (and, by the way, a mighty fine young man).

At this same time I was organizing the first baseball club, "The Cyclone," which name was suggested by one of its members, Mr. Whitney, of the Boatman's Savings Bank.

Other members of "The Cyclone" were John Riggin, Wm. Charles and Orvill Mathews (the latter the late Commodore Mathews of the U.S. Navy), John Prather, Fred Benton, (later captain under Gen. Custer), Mr. Fullerton, (later a General, U.S.A.), Mr. Alfred Berenda and his brother, Mr. Ferd Garesche, Mr. Charles Kearney (son of Gen. Kearney), Mr. Edward Bredell, Jr., and a number of other young men of St. Louis.

Soon after the organization of "The Cyclone" several others were started, viz: "Morning Stars," "The Empire," "The Commercial" and later on several others.

The first match game played between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, (if not to the Pacific Coast), was between "The Cyclone" and "The Morning Stars" and was played in 1860, just back of the Old Fair Grounds in North St. Louis, "The Morning Stars" winning the game, the score of the game I now have. It is 50 years old, and the ball used in that first match game was for years used as the championship trophy, it going from one club to the other, and the last the writer ever heard of it, it was in possession of the Empire Club. I personally sent to New York for the ball to be used in this first match, and after the game it was gilded in gold and lettered with the score of the game.

"The Morning Star Club" was a "town ball" club and played from 5 a.m. to 6 a.m. on Tuesday and Friday mornings in Carr's Park, but after considerable urging and coaxing on my part they passed a resolution at one of their meetings that they would try the national rules for one morning if I would coach them, or more properly, teach them, which I consented to do if they would agree to stick to it for the full hour without "kicking," for as I told them they would no like it until after playing it for a sufficient length of time to become familiar with some of its fine points, all of which they agreed to and kept their word like good fellows as they were, but in ten minutes I could see most of them were disgusted, yet they stuck to it for their hour's play. At the breaking up of the game to go home they asked me if I would coach them one more morning as they began to "kindy like it." I was on hand their next play day, or rather play morning at 5. Result they never played "town ball" after that second inning and in their first match, as stated above, "waxed" my own club. I could give you many incidents up to the breaking out of the civil war and the disbanding of "The Cyclone" by its members taking part on one side or the other.

Hoping you will excuse my intruding with these little facts in regard to early ball playing in St. Louis, I am

Yours Respectfully
Merritt W. Griswold.

P.S.-Although I am now in my 77th year, I take just as much interest in that splendid game as when a kid at school in old Chautauqua Co., New York, or when a member of the "Putnams" of Brooklyn in 1857 and the "Hiawathas" of the same place in 1858-59 in which latter year I went to St. Louis.

Above, we find the Griswold letter in its entirety, as it appears in the second edition of The National Game, and the photo at the top of the post is, of course, Griswold's letter to the Missouri Democrat from April 1860.

I link those two together for one simple reason. The one thing - the publication of the rules - helps to verify the other - Griswold's letter to Spink. The one thing I have always liked about the Griswold letter is that there are numerous things in it that are verifiable. Griswold makes statements in the letter that you can prove are true. You can fact check Griswold and that lends support to the statements he makes that you can not verify.

The most important statement that Griswold makes in his letter is that he organized the first baseball club in St. Louis. It's an important statement. While poking holes in the Cyclone Thesis, I said that Griswold's testimony doesn't support the Thesis but I was really just exaggerating for effect. Griswold states that the Cyclones were the first baseball club in St. Louis history and that is exactly half of the Thesis. While his testimony does not support the Thesis' claim as to when the club was formed, it does support the idea that the Cyclones were the first club.

That is extremely important but unverifiable. I can not prove Griswold's statement to be correct. I have plenty of supporting testimony but no contemporary sources. And it's important to state Griswold was writing fifty years after the fact and he may not be remembering things correctly. The memory of man is fallible. But he gets a lot of things right in his letter.

Let's go through the things in Griswold's letter that I can prove:

-Publishing the rules of the game in the Democrat. He was off by a few months but Griswold did publish the rules of baseball in the Missouri Democrat in 1860.

-Mr. McKee and Fishback. William McKee and George Fishback were the publishers of the Missouri Democrat.

-Mr. Houser. Daniel Houser was the bookkeeper and, later, one of the co-owners of the Democrat.

- Mr. Whitney. Robert S. Whitney was a teller for Boatman's Bank.

-Members of the Cyclone Club. Members mentioned by Griswold who are also mentioned by other sources include Ed Bredell, John Riggin, Ferdinand Garesche, William Matthews, Orville Matthews, Griff Prather, and Joseph Fullerton. Griswold, himself, is mentioned as a member, officer, and co-founder of the club by several other sources.

-Other pioneer-era clubs.  Griswold mentions the Morning Stars, Empires, and Commercials by name and there is plenty of contemporary source material proving their existence. He also mentions that there were other clubs at this time and that is also provable.

-The first match game.  Griswold mentions that the match game between the Cyclones and the Morning Stars was the first in St. Louis history. There are contemporary sources that verify this claim.

-The gilded trophy ball.  There are actually a few sources that mention that the ball used in the first match game was gilded, engraved, and given as a trophy to the championship baseball club of St. Louis and Missouri.

-The Morning Stars. Richard Perry confirms that the Morning Stars played the local baseball variant prior to playing the New York game.

-The Civil War.  There is plenty of evidence showing that the members of the club were divided by the war, with members joining both sides. There is also no record of the club after April 28, 1861, and we know that several members of the club were in uniform at that time or shortly thereafter so I have no doubt the club broke up due to the outbreak of the war. It's really one of the most fascinating things about the club.

-Chautauqua Co., New York. It's a provable fact that Griswold was born in Chautauqua County on May 12, 1835.
-Playing baseball in Brooklyn.  I have box scores from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle showing Griswold playing with the Hiawathas in 1858. Bill Ryczek has a source, noted in Base Ball Founders, showing he was also a member of the Putnams.

That's a lot of stuff that I can prove. There are just a lot of things in Griswold's letter that are true and this lends credence to his testimony. Why do I believe Griswold when he says that the Cyclones were the first baseball club in St. Louis history? Because just about everything else he said was true.

There is really nothing in his letter that I can state is absolutely false. His testimony about how the Morning Stars came to play the New York game is contradicted by Richard Perry but I can't prove that it's not true. There is probably some truth to both of their versions of the story. I don't know. But my point is that there is a lot in the letter that is provable and that makes Griswold a great source.

The only thing Griswold gets wrong in the entire letter that I can point to is the dating of the founding of the club. He says the club was founded in the winter of 1859/1860 but his own statements place it in the spring of 1860 - sometime in late April of 1860, to be specific. Now, can you tell me what you were doing in April of 2006 - just ten years ago? What about April of 1996? April 1986? April 1976? Etc. Griswold was talking about events fifty years in the past and, more than likely, he got the dates wrong. Tobias, in some circumstances, did the same thing when he was dealing with the era but was writing a decade earlier and he had club records to look at. Griswold, off the top of his head and working from memory, got most of the facts correct. I just think he got the dates wrong. I think he just confused two events - the founding of the club and the publication of the rules of the game - and mixed them together.

Tomorrow, we'll look at the timeline and see if it was possible for the Cyclones to have been playing baseball in the summer of 1859.

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Questioning The Cyclone Thesis

3/7/2016

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To restate:

The Cyclone Thesis posits the following: The Cyclone Base Ball Club of St. Louis was the first baseball club in St. Louis history and they began playing in the summer of 1859.

All of this is based on the weight of and my understanding of the source material. It is an argument rather than a statement of fact. It is what I believe the evidence suggests rather than something that I can prove conclusively.

While I believe the Cyclone Thesis to be true, it disturbs me to no end that I have been unable to find contemporary source material in support of it. And it's not from a lack of trying. An 1859 source mentioning the Cyclones is something I've been looking for going on a decade now. There were times when I felt I had the right source and was close to finding it only to come up empty. And, as I said, it disturbs me. It bothers me. It makes me question my assumptions about what was happening in St. Louis in 1859. The lack of contemporary source material supporting it makes me question the Cyclone Thesis.

If we base everything on just the contemporary source material, we would have to argue that either the Unknown Club of 1859 or the Morning Star Club of 1860 was the first baseball club in St. Louis history. The Unknown Club was in existence by September 3, 1859, but I can't prove that they played the New York game. The Morning Stars were in existence by June 6, 1860, and I'm comfortable with the idea that they were playing the New York game that season. And those are the two earliest references I have to a St. Louis baseball club.

The earliest reference I have to the Cyclones comes from the Missouri Republican of July 8, 1860:

The First Base Ball Match In St. Louis - The first regular game of base ball played in our city will come off between the members of the "Cyclone" and "Morning Star" Base Ball Clubs, on Monday, the 9th inst., at 4 o'clock, P.M., in the field immediately west of the Fair Grounds. The game, we understand is to be played according to the rules of the National Convention of Ball Players. As the clerk of the weather has been consulted, everybody interested is anticipating a good afternoon's sport. We rejoice to see the national game coming into such high favor with our young men.

That certainly doesn't support the idea that the Cyclones were the first club in St. Louis history. Again, there is just nothing in the contemporary source material to support the Thesis.

And then there is Merritt Griswold. Griswold is, by all accounts, one of the co-founders of the club. His letter to Al Spink, which first appeared in the second edition of The National Game, is an extremely important source when it comes to our knowledge of the pioneer era in St. Louis. Griswold, in his letter, dates the founding of the club to the winter of 1859/1860:

To start at the commencement of the game in its first introduction into Missouri I would refer you to the files of "The Missouri Democrat" for the Winter of 1859 and 1860, where in you will find published "the rules of the game," also a diagram showing the field and the position of each player made from a rough sketch I gave to Mr. McKee and Fishback, the publishers, or to Mr. Houser, at that time their bookkeeper, cashier and confidential office man (and, by the way, a mighty fine young man).

At this same time I was organizing the first baseball club, "The Cyclone," which name was suggested by one of its members, Mr. Whitney, of the Boatman's Savings Bank.

Yesterday, I quoted this letter but purposefully left out the first part, where Griswold dates the founding of the club, because it does not support a founding date of summer of 1859. The Griswold letter does not support the Cyclone Thesis. Talking about things that disturb me, this is, without a doubt, very disturbing. At best, it supports a late 1859 date for the founding of the Cyclones but, if we gloss Griswold's testimony a bit, even that doesn't stand up.

Griswold states that the Cyclones were "organizing" at the "same time" as he was publishing the rules of the game in the Missouri Democrat. And we know specifically when that took place.

Gentlemen - In addition to the rules and regulations for playing base ball, as adopted by the "United States Convention of Base Ball Players," I send you a diagram of the field, with the position of each man when engaged in a match. As you expressed yourself desirous of publishing the latest rules of our national game, I thought a diagram of the field would be quite necessary to those unaccustomed to play according to the rules. And I would further state that the Unites States Convention recognize no playing unless in strict conformity to those rules and regulations.

Yours respectfully,
M.W. Griswold.

-Missouri Democrat, April 26, 1860

The diagram that appeared with Griswold's letter and the rules of baseball in the Missouri Democrat in April of 1860

If Griswold was correct and the Cyclones formed at the same time as he published the rules of the game in the Missouri Republican then the club didn't form until April of 1860. The club may not have formed until late April of that year which means they may not have formed until after the Empire Club, which likely formed on April 16, 1860. Griswold is really not much help in arguing for the Cyclone Thesis and, in fact, his testimony supports the idea that other clubs formed before his did.

So neither the contemporary source material nor the co-founder of the club supports the argument that the Cyclones were the first baseball club and that they formed in the summer of 1859. Did I mention how disturbed this all makes me feel?

Yet, despite all of this, I still believe in the Cyclone Thesis. I still believe that it is the best explanation for how the New York game came to St. Louis. Why is that? Well, I think I'm going to have to spend a couple of days talking about that and I'll start with a full gloss of Griswold's letter.

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That Was The First Club Organized

2/24/2016

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Several of the boys on the floor have laughed at me because I played ball with the flour men's nine, but I want it understood that there is no older ball player in the city than I, and there are very few who have played the game as long as I have. About two years before the war there was a town-ball club that played every morning on the Carr square. I could not call the names of any of the others except Joe Franklin, but he and I were both members of the club. It was called the Morning Star, and we played from 5:30 o'clock until 7 o'clock every morning. Nearly all of us moved to the neighborhood of Twenty-second and the Pacific Railroad, and we continued our game there. Then base-ball was started in the East, and our secretary wrote on for the rules of the game. We received a little book that told how it was played, and we changed our name to the Morning Star Base-Ball Club, and that was the first club organized, and we played the first game of base-ball west of the Mississippi River.

-Richard Perry, quoted in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 24, 1887

So let me say that I'm not arguing that the Morning Stars were the first baseball club in St. Louis history. There is no doubt that they were one of the first clubs in the city but I've never argued that they were the first.

Interestingly, I can argue that they may have been the first organized "base ball" club in St. Louis. If they were playing in 1858, as Perry insinuates, they very well may have been the first organized ball club in the city. We know that there were two ball clubs in Alton in 1858 but we have no contemporary evidence of any other ball clubs in the area until September of 1859.

Now, I'm not talking about the New York game here but, rather, the local baseball variant. If you want to call that town ball, fine. There is evidence of the local St. Louis baseball variant being called both town ball and base ball. But the Morning Stars weren't playing the New York game in 1858 or 1859. They weren't playing what we think of when we think of baseball and Perry does a good job of explaining that.

Now, as great as this source is, there is one major problem with it and that is that it's not a contemporary reference. It's talking about events that took place almost thirty years in the past and the memory of man is fallible. It's entirely possible that Richard Perry is not remembering things correctly. He has a lot of things right. There is plenty of stuff that he says that others have said. We have other sources that state that the Morning Stars started as a town ball club. We have other sources that state they played at Carr Park. We have other sources that state that Joe Franklin was a member of the club. We have other sources that state they played in the first match game in St. Louis history. But this is the only source that states that the Morning Stars were the first baseball club in St. Louis. Also, Perry's account of how the club learned of the New York game and began playing it conflicts with Merritt Griswold's account.

So this is a great source. It's an important source. But it has to be balanced against other sources. In the end, you trust some sources more than others and I've always had the utmost trust in Griswold as a source while having doubts about Perry. I really can't say why that it is. It may come down to something as simple as tone of voice. Griswold comes across as a more serious man than Perry and, therefore, more deserving of trust.

That's a really interesting question that I've never considered before. Why do I trust Griswold more than Perry? I've always considered Griswold's letter to Al Spink to be the most important source when it comes to constructing an account of early baseball in St. Louis and one of the reasons I think that is that Griswold's account of events stands up to fact-checking. There are a lot of things in his letter that I can prove and I always considered that to be evidence of Griswold's veracity. But, really, the same applies to Perry. I just gave you a list of things in the Perry source that I believe to be true based on the fact that other sources confirm them. The Perry source stands up to fact-checking just as well as the Griswold source.

Most of my efforts now, when it comes to constructing an argument about who was the first baseball club in St. Louis history, has to do with questioning my assumptions regarding the Cyclone Club. I believe that the Cyclone Club was the first club in St. Louis but I can't prove it. I can put together a good argument in support of the thesis but I just don't have the sources to prove it. But I can also construct an argument for the Morning Stars. Or the Empires. Or the Commercials. Or the Unions. Some of those arguments would be stronger than others and I think that the argument for the Morning Stars, based on the Perry source, has to be considered.

In the end, we have to be honest about what we know and what we don't know. We have to be honest about what we can argue, based on contemporary evidence, and what we can argue, based simply on deductive reasoning. What I want you to take from all of this is the fact that any conclusions about who the first baseball club in St. Louis was are based on either deductive reasoning or ignorance. No one knows who the first baseball club in St. Louis was. No one can prove who it was. Any statements that I make on the subject are, at this point, heavily qualified.

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St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War: Base Ball Interrupted

7/9/2014

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The Match Game of Base Ball Interrupted—The match game of base ball, on Gamble avenue, yesterday, was brought to a somewhat abrupt termination. While the game was in progress a German Home Guard came upon the field and persisted in remaining in the way of the players. After having been asked two or three times to retire behind the line he was then taken by the arm by the person appointed to keep the field clear, when he (the Home Guard) attempted to strike him. The blow was returned, the German going down. He then went away, and in about half an hour afterwards a detachment of Home Guards came and surrounded the whole field, creating quite a panic among a number of ladies and gentlemen who were assembled to witness the game. The order was given to take all the players to Turners’ Hall as prisoners, but Mr. Griswold (formerly a captain in the Home Guards) and a few others persuaded the acting captain of the Home Guards to withdraw his men from the field. The Guards were withdrawn.

-Missouri Republican, August 23, 1861

I can be pretty thick some times.

This is one of my favorite games in 19th century, St. Louis baseball history. I absolutely love this game and the legend that grew up around it. However, I never realized until I started doing this series that this was the Empires' challenge match.

For those who haven't been following, the Empire Club issued a challenge for a "friendly match" to any nine players in St. Louis on August 12, 1861. In the August 21, 1861 issue of the Republican, it was reported that a picked nine, made up of players from St. Louis, had accepted the challenge and the match was to be played on August 22 at Gamble Lawn. This is obviously that game and I can't believe that it took me until now to figure that out.

E.H. Tobias has the best version of the story of this game. It's not an accurate version but it includes some wonderful details that make me believe that Tobias was at this game. It's entirely possible that he could have been playing with the picked nine but there is no evidence to support that except for the fact that he had played with a picked nine on July 4, 1861.

Tobias' version appeared in The Sporting News on October 29, 1895:

The Empire Club was celebrating the anniversary of its organization by a match game between the married and single men on Gamble Lawn and as usual had erected their tent at a convenient spot for the safe keeping and change of clothing, ice water and other refreshments. From the tent pole was suspended a blue and gilt banner that originally had been presented by Col. John McNeil to one of the old volunteer fire companies, from whom it was inherited by the Empire Club. About the middle of the game when the large attendance, composed mostly of ladies and children, was getting at fever heat interest, it was suddenly discovered that the grounds were almost completely surrounded by detachments of Home Guards, a squad of whom marched straight to the middle of the field surprising the players and causing such consternation among the audience that it quickly dispersed amid the shrieks and cries of the terrorized women and children, and to the deep indignation of the members of the club, some few of whom giving way to their anger seized on bats, bases (they were movable in those days) and anything with which they could make a fight. Fruin sprung to the front of the soldiers, ordered the ball players back and caused a suspension of hostilities. Among the players, as an invited guest, was Capt. Griswold, an officer of in the Home Guards and a member of the Cyclone Club, who seconded Fruin’s peace-preserving efforts by addressing himself to the officer of the intruders, a somewhat fresh importation, from whom it was soon learned that they had been informed and so believed that the banner was a secession flag and the gathering was one of rebels. It was impossible to make the officer understand the truth of the situation. His “Dutch was up” owing to the imprecations and jeers that had been hurled upon him and his men and he would not be appeased without taking several players as prisoners to headquarters at Turner Hall on Tenth street just South of Market. As further proof of his prowess the officer also took along that much despised and fear provoking “Secesh” banner. At Turner Hall, Col. John McNeil was in command. He quickly recognized his own old banner and understood the situation by at once liberating the prisoners. It was owing mainly to Fruin’s ready action and control of his men that no actual conflict took place on the ball field, for one over-act on the part of a ball player would have doubtless caused an indiscriminate firing from the Home Guards, wherein the women and children would have suffered and perhaps another chapter of the “Slaughter of the Innocents” added to the history of those dark and troubled days.

Tobias obviously had the date wrong and confused the game with the Empires first anniversary game. He placed the game in the context of the opening of the war and the tensions in St. Louis at the time, specifically Basil Duke and the Minute Men's raising of a pro-secession banner over the courthouse. But I think the truth is actually more interesting than Tobias' version because the game and the conflict with members of the Home Guard takes place just a week after martial law was imposed in St. Louis.

The significance of this game has to do with the fact that the Civil War had an impact on baseball in St. Louis. As I always say, you can't separate the origins of the game in St. Louis from the Civil War. Just as the game was developing in the city, the war broke out. Players left to go off and fight. Clubs broke up because of political tensions and because men of ball-playing age were joining the war effort. There were probably clubs that would have formed but didn't. There were probably matches that would have been played but weren't. The natural evolution of the game in St. Louis was distorted because of the war.

Throughout the war, St. Louis was a city under martial law. While Provost Marshall was saying that everything was normal, it wasn't. If things were normal, you wouldn't have had the military interfering with and breaking up baseball games. That's not normal and it may very well have had a chilling effect on baseball activities in the city. I really don't know and I'm just speculating but I think that's something we should consider.

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St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War: Camp Jackson

6/18/2014

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Troops at Camp Jackson in May 1861

I don't want to spend a lot of time here talking about the events of Camp Jackson, soI'll just direct you to the Missouri Civil War Museum and their excellent page on the subject. Also, here's a nice little video that I found at a website called Missouri's Civil War:

I also recommend this video:

The Aftermath of Camp Jackson

The one thing I'd like to note about Camp Jackson is how it relates to the history of St. Louis baseball. In this confrontation between Union forces and the Missouri militia, we find a few of the most significant pioneer baseball players in St. Louis history. Merritt Griswold, who was one of the founders of the Cyclone Club and helped popularize the New York game in St. Louis, was an officer serving with Union forces at Camp Jackson. His clubmate, Willis Walker, also was serving with the Union side. Captured at Camp Jackson was another member of the Cyclone Club, Ferdinand Garesche, a left-handed hitting shortstop who turned the first known triple-play in St. Louis baseball history. Also captured that day was Martin Burke, a pitcher with the Morning Stars who would go on to fight in the war as an officer in the Confederate army.

Martin Burke

So we had not only a city and state divided but the baseball community in St. Louis was divided as well. Members of the baseball fraternity would go on to serve on both sides in the war. Some would be killed in action. Some would be taken prisoner. Some would become generals. But in May of 1861, these men were pointing guns at each other in St. Louis. Men who the previous year had taken part in some of the earliest baseball games ever played in the city were now willing to fight and kill each other. People - men, women and children - died in St. Louis on May 10, 1861, and some of our pioneer ballplayers were in the middle of all of that.

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St. Louis Baseball and the Civil War: Edward Bredell and Merritt Griswold

6/4/2014

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The game of base ball now so popular in this as in Eastern cities, was ushered in yesterday afternoon, by the Cyclone Base Ball Club, on their old grounds in Lafayette Park, on which occasion they had the pleasure of having united with them in the game, representatives of the Morning Star, Empire and Commercial Clubs. As was the case last season, a jolly time was had, especially when a member in his eager endeavors to catch the ball would step into some sunken hole, (left to ornament the park,) thereby changing his movement into that of the Zouave drill, or more properly speaking, lofty tumbling of a gymnast. But we are happy to say this is soon to be remedied, as the clubs have petitioned the Common Council for the privilege of leveling the same at their own expense, which petition has been referred to the Park commissioners, and only awaits their action, when the improvements will be immediately commenced, provided the Commissioners do not delay the matter until it is too late in the season for starting the grass on places that are to be filled. We notice the Club is composed of the same members as last year, but a slight change has been made in the officers, caused by Mr. M.W. Griswold resigning the Presidency, which is now filled by the promotion of the Vice President, Mr. Leonard Matthews, and the election of Mr. Benteen as Vice President, Mr. M.W. Alexander, Secretary, Mr. F.L. Garesche, Treasurer, and Messrs. Wm. Matthews, J. Riggin, Jr. and E. Bredell, Jr., Trustees. The Cyclones play every Wednesday and Saturday afternoon.

-Missouri Republican, March 7, 1861

The first baseball game of the 1861 season in St. Louis was played on March 6. It took place at Lafayette Park, the home grounds of the Cyclones, and was a friendly match played between teams made up of members of the Cyclone, Empire, Morning Star and Commercial Clubs. These clubs were four of the five most prominent antebellum clubs in St. Louis and I can't say why the Union Club was not represented that day.

Mentioned in the article are the two founders of the Cyclone Club, Edward Bredell, Jr., and Merritt Griswold, and I think it's appropriate to begin the story of St. Louis baseball during the Civil War with those two gentlemen. Bredell and Griswold - friends, co-workers, and clubmates - symbolize what this story is all about. They were baseball pioneers and co-founded what was most likely the first baseball club in St. Louis that played according to the rules of the National Association. They helped to establish and grow the game in St. Louis and there are very few men involved in 19th century St. Louis baseball more significant than Bredell and Griswold.

While they are linked together in baseball history and shared a common occupation as engineers, they were two very different men. Bredell, who was born in St. Louis in 1839, was the only child of a wealthy family. His father, Edward Bredell, Sr., was an attorney and one of the founders of the firm of Bredell & Bro., one of the first wholesale dry goods houses in St. Louis. Bredell, Sr., also founded and was president of the Missouri Glass Company where his son was the business manager. The Bredel family owned slaves, had strong Southern sympathies, supported the Confederacy, and were in favor of Missouri's succession from the Union. In June of 1862, Bredell would join the Confederate army and he would be killed in action in November of 1864.

While I will certainly be talking about Edward Bredell, his family and his service during the war at some length during the course of this series, one important fact that I'd like to point out right now is that Bredell attended Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1855, 1856 and, possibly, 1857, studying engineering. It is likely that he was exposed to the New York game of baseball while attending Brown University and, upon his return to St. Louis in either 1856 or 1857, was probably one of the few people in the city with direct knowledge of the game. In 1859, Bredell would meet someone who also had a great deal of knowledge about the new game of baseball.

Merritt W. Griswold was born in New York in 1835 and played baseball with the Putnam Club of Brooklyn in 1857 and the Hiawatha Club of Brooklyn in 1858 and 1859. He moved to St. Louis, where his mother had family, in 1859 and, an engineer by trade, found employment with the Missouri Glass Company. The exact date of his arrival in St. Louis and his hiring on at the Missouri Glass Company are unknown but we know that Griswold was playing baseball with the Hiawathas in the spring of 1859 and that the Missouri Glass Company didn't open until late May of that year so it's possible that he didn't get to St. Louis until very late in the spring or early in the summer of 1859.

While living in St. Louis, Griswold served as an officer with the 3rd Regiment of the United States Reserve Corp. While that sounds rather proper, in reality Griswold was a member of a pro-Union militia called the Home Guards that were federalized in 1861, when the war broke out, and was most likely a member of the Wide Awakes, a group which is often described as the paramilitary arm of the Republican party. Griswold, a Yankee by birth, was, without a doubt, a staunch pro-Union Republican. In May of 1861, Griswold's unit was involved in the capture of Camp Jackson, an engagement that helped secure St. Louis for the Union at the beginning of the Civil War.

By July of 1863, Griswold had moved back to New York and I've always believed that one of the reasons he moved back home was because he wanted to escape the chaotic political and military situation in St. Louis and return to a more familiar and normal setting. Pro-Republican and unconditional Unionist sentiment were not particularly popular in St. Louis and I think it's understandable if Griswold wanted to get out of town.

The bottom line is that the Cyclone Base Ball Club of St. Louis was founded by two men who were friends and co-workers. One was the pro-secessionist son of a slave owner who died fighting with the Confederate army. The other was a Yankee and a Republican who fought to keep St. Louis and Missouri in the Union.

Griswold wrote that the Cyclone Club did not long survive the out break of the war and that it disbanded as a direct result of its members going off to fight. By the time of Camp Jackson in May of 1861, the club must have been tearing itself apart, much like Missouri and the country as a whole. And I think we see a little bit of that in the above article, with Griswold resigning the presidency of the club.

As I've stated, Edward Bredell and Merritt Griswold are two of the most significant figures in the history of St. Louis baseball and were pioneers of the game in the city. They are also symbols of the Civil War in St. Louis, a city with divided loyalties. Their friendship, which began in the offices of the Missouri Glass Company and was cemented on the baseball grounds at Lafayette Park, did not survive the outbreak of war.

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