Just at what particular time the base-ball fever became epidemic in
Marshalltown it is difficult to say, for the reason that, unfortunately,
all of the records of the game there, together with the trophies
accumulated, were destroyed by a fire that swept the place in 1897, and
that also destroyed all of the files of the newspapers then published
there.
The fever had been raging in the East many years previous to that time,
however, and had gradually worked its way over the mountains and across
the broad prairies until the sport had obtained a foothold in every
little village and hamlet in the land. Before entering further on my
experience it may be well to give here and now a brief history of the
game and its origin.
When and where the game first made its appearance is a matter of great
uncertainty, but the general opinion of the historians seems to be that
by some mysterious process of evolution it developed from the boys' game
of more than a century ago, then known as "one old cat," in which there
was a pitcher, a catcher, and a batter. John M. Ward, a famous base-ball
player in his day, and now a prosperous lawyer in the city of Brooklyn,
and the late Professor Proctor, carried on a controversy through the
columns of the New York newspapers in 1888, the latter claiming that
base-ball was taken from the old English game of "rounders," while Ward
argued that base-ball was evolved from the boys' game, as above stated,
and was distinctly an American game, he plainly proving that it had no
connection whatever with "rounders."
The game of base-ball probably owed its name to the fact that bases were
used in making its runs, and were one of its prominent features.
There seems to be no doubt that the game was played in the United States
as early at least as the beginning of the present century, for Dr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes declared a few years ago that base-ball was one of
the sports of his college days, and the autocrat of the breakfast table
graduated at Harvard in 1829. Along in 1842 a number of gentlemen,
residents of New York City, were in the habit of playing the game as a
means of exercise on the vacant lot at the corner of Fourth Avenue and
Twenty-sixth Street, where Madison Square Garden now stands. In 1845
they formed themselves into a permanent organization known as the
Knickerbocker Club, and drew up the first code of playing rules of the
game, which were very simple as compared with the complex rules which
govern the game of the present time, and which are certainly changed in
such a way as to keep one busy in keeping track of them.
The grounds of this parent organization were soon transferred to the
Elysian Fields, at Hoboken, N. J., where the Knickerbockers played their
first match game on June 19th, 1846, their opponents not being an
organized club, but merely a party of gentlemen who played together
frequently, and styled themselves the New York Club. The New Yorks won
easily in four innings, the game in those days being won by the club
first making twenty-one runs on even innings. The Knickerbockers played
at Hoboken for many years, passing out of existence only in 1882. In
1853 the Olympic Club of Philadelphia was organized for the purpose of
playing town-ball, a game which had some slight resemblance to
base-ball. The Olympic Club, however, did not adopt the game of
base-ball until 1860, and consequently cannot claim priority over the
Knickerbockers, although it was one of the oldest ball-playing
organizations in existence, and was disbanded only a few years ago.
In New England a game of base-ball known by the distinctive title of
"The New England game" was in vogue about fifty years ago. It was played
with a small, light ball, which was thrown over-hand to the bat, and was
different from the "New York game" as practiced by the Knickerbockers,
Gotham, Eagle, and Empire Clubs of that city. The first regularly
organized club in Massachusetts playing the present style of base-ball
was the Olympic Club of Boston, which was established in 1854, and in
the following year participated in the first match game played in that
locality, its opponents being the Elm Tree team. The first match games
in Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington were played in 1860. For
several years the Knickerbocker Club was alone in the field, but after a
while similar clubs began to organize, while in 1857 an association was
formed which the following year developed into the National Association.
The series of rules prepared by a committee of the principal clubs of
New York City governed all games prior to 1857, but on January 22d,
1857, a convention of clubs was held at which a new code of rules was
enacted. On March 10th, 1858, delegates from twenty-five clubs of New
York and Brooklyn met and organized the National Association of
Base-ball Players, which for thirteen successive seasons annually
revised the playing rules, and decided all disputes arising in base-ball.
The first series of contests for the championship took place during 1858
and 1859. At that time the Elysian Fields, Hoboken, N. J., were the
great center of base-ball playing, and here the Knickerbockers, Eagle,
Gotham and Empire Clubs of New York City ruled supreme.
A rival sprung up, however, in the Atlantic Club of Brooklyn, and its
success led to the arrangement of a series of games between selected
nines of the New York and Brooklyn Clubs in 1858. In these encounters
New York proved victorious, winning the first and third games by the
respective scores of 22 to 18, and 29 to 18, while Brooklyn won the
second contest by 29 to 8. In October, 1861, another contest took place
between the representative nines of New York and Brooklyn for the silver
ball presented by the New York Clipper, and Brooklyn easily won by a
score of 18 to 6. The Civil war materially affected the progress of the
game in 1861, '62 and '63 and but little base-ball was played, many
wielders of the bat having laid aside the ash to shoulder the musket.
The Atlantic and Eckford Clubs of Brooklyn were the chief contestants
for the championship in 1862, the Eckfords then wresting the
championship away from the Atlantics, and retaining it also during the
succeeding season, when they were credited with an unbroken succession
of victories. The champion nine of the Eckford Club in 1863 were
Sprague, pitcher; Beach, catcher; Roach, Wood and Duffy on the bases;
Devyr, shortstop; and Manolt, Swandell and Josh Snyder in the outfield.
The championship reverted back to the Atlantics in 1864, and they held
the nominal title until near the close of 1867, their chief competitors
being the Athletics of Philadelphia and the Mutuals of New York City.
The Athletics held the nominal championship longer than any other club,
and also claims the credit of not being defeated in any game played
during 1864 and 1865, the feat of going through two successive seasons
without a defeat being unprecedented at that time in base-ball history.
The Eckfords of Brooklyn, however, went through the season of 1863
without losing a game, and the Cincinnati Reds, under the management of
the late Harry Wright, accomplished a similar feat in 1869, the latter
at the time meeting all of the best teams in the country, both East and
West.
The Atlantic's champion nine in 1864 and 1865 were Pratt, pitcher;
Pearce, catcher; Stark, Crane and C. Smith, on the bases; Galvin,
shortstop; and Chapman, P. O'Brien and S. Smith in the outfield. Frank
Norton caught during the latter part of the season and Pearce played
shortstop.
The Athletics in 1866 played all of the strongest clubs in the country
and were only twice defeated, once by the Atlantics of Brooklyn, and
once by the Unions of Morrisania. The first game between the Atlantics
and Athletics for the championship took place October 1st, 1866, in
Philadelphia, the number of people present inside and outside the
inclosed grounds being estimated as high as 30,000, it being the largest
attendance known at the baseball game up to that time. Inside the
inclosure the crowd was immense, and packed so close there was no room
for the players to field. An attempt was made, however, to play the
game, but one inning was sufficient to show that it was impossible, and
after a vain attempt to clear the field both parties reluctantly
consented to a postponement.
The postponed game was played October 22d, in Philadelphia.
The price of tickets was placed at one dollar and upwards, and two
thousand people paid the "steep" price of admission, the highest ever
charged for mere admission to the grounds, while five or six thousand
more witnessed the game from the surrounding embankment. Rain and
darkness obliged the umpire to call the game at the end of the second
inning, the victory remaining with the Athletics, by the decisive totals
of 31 to 12. A dispute about the gate money prevented the playing of the
decisive game of the season.
The Unions of Morrisiana, by defeating the Atlantics in two out of three
games in the latter part of the season of 1867, became entitled to the
nominal championship, which during the next two seasons was shifted back
and forth between the leading clubs of New York and Brooklyn. The
Athletics in 1868, and the Cincinnatis in 1869, had, however, the best
records of their respective seasons, and were generally acknowledged as
the virtual champions.
The Athletics of Philadelphia in 1866 had McBride, pitcher; Dockney,
catcher; Berkenstock, Reach and Pike on the bases; Wilkins, shortstop;
and Sensenderfer, Fisler and Kleinfelder in the outfield. Their nine
presented few changes during the next two seasons, Dockney, Berkenstock
and Pike giving way to Radcliff, Cuthbert and Berry in 1867, and Schafer
taking Kleinfelder's place in 1868.
The Cincinnati nine in 1869 were Brainard, pitcher; Allison, catcher;
Gould, Sweasy and Waterman on the bases; George Wright, shortstop, and
Leonard, Harry Wright and McVey in the outfield.
In 1868 the late Frank Queen, proprietor and editor of the New York
Clipper, offered a series of prizes to be contested for by the leading
clubs of the country, a gold ball being offered for the champion club,
and a gold badge to the player in each position, from catcher to right
field, who had the best batting average. The official award gave the
majority of the prizes to the Athletic club. McBride, Radcliff, Fisler,
Reach and Sensenderfer, having excelled in their respective positions of
pitcher, catcher, first base, second base, and center field. Waterman,
Hatfield and Johnson, of the Cincinnatis, excelled in the positions of
third base, left field and right field, and George Wright of the Unions,
of Morrisiania as shortstop. The gold ball was also officially awarded
to the Athletics as the emblem of championship for the season of 1868.
The Atlantics of Brooklyn were virtually the champions of 1870, being
the first club to deprive the Cincinnati Reds of the prestige of
invincibility which had marked their career during the preceding season.
The inaugural contest between these clubs in 1870 took place June 14th
on the Capitoline grounds at Brooklyn, N. Y., the Atlantics then winning
by a score of 8 to 7 after an exciting struggle of eleven innings. The
return game was played September 2d, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and resulted
in a decisive victory for the Reds, by a score of 14 to 3.
This necessitated a third or decisive game, which was played in
Philadelphia October 6th, and this the Atlantics won by a score of 11 to
7.
The Atlantics in that year had Zettlein, pitcher; Ferguson, catcher;
Start, Pike and Smith on the bases; Pearce, shortstop, and Chapman, Hall
and McDonald on the outfield.
The newspapers throughout the country had by this time begun to pay
unusual attention to the game, and the craze was spreading like wildfire
all over the country, every little country town boasting of its nine,
and as these were for the greater part made up of home players, local
feeling ran high, and the doings of "our team" furnished the chief
subject of conversation at the corner grocery, and wherever else the
citizens were wont to congregate.
With the advent of the professional player the game in the larger towns
took on a new lease of life, but in the smaller places where they could
not afford the expense necessary to the keeping of a first-class team it
ceased to be the main attraction and interest was centered in the doings
of the teams of the larger places.
That the professional player improved the game itself goes without
saying as being a business with him instead of a pastime, and one upon
which his daily bread depended, he went into it with his whole soul,
developing its beauties in a way that was impossible to the amateur who
could only give to it the time that he could spare after the business
hours of the day.
This was the situation at the time that I first entered tile base-ball
arena, and, looking back, when I come to compare the games of those days
with the games of to-day and note the many changes that have taken
place, I cannot but marvel at the improvement made and at the interest
that the game has everywhere excited.