A Reference To J.P. Freeman?

Mr. W.P. Freeman, a prominent wholesale liquor dealer of St. Louis, has been in the city a number of days, and leaves for Searcy this morning. Mr. Freeman is extensively known to the base ball fraternity, having been catcher in the famous St. Louis Union Base Ball club for some eight years.

-Daily Arkansas Gazette, May 24, 1873

While there is a W.P. Freeman in the census data living in St. Louis at the time and of an appropriate age, I'm assuming that this is actually James P. Freeman. J.P. Freeman is a known member of the Union Club and, according to Tobias, was a catcher with the first nine from 1867-1869.