The Second Anniversary

The Empire Base Ball Club will celebrate its second anniversary to-day, by a game and festivities at Gamble Lawn. At 2 1/2 P.M. the members, with numerous invited guests-ladies and gentlemen, are expected to meet at the above named spot, where ample preparations will be found to have been made for a joyous occasion. A match at base ball will first come off, between nine of the club's best players on one side, and nine more of them on the other. Refreshments and additional social delights will follow. We are authorized to extend a general invitation to our citizens and their ladies to be present.

-Missouri Democrat, April 16, 1862

The proposed game of base ball between the two select parties, nine in each, of the Empire Base Ball Club, was yesterday prevented by the storm, but will come off at 2 1/2 P.M. to-day, at Gamble Lawn, in the style heretofore announced.

-Missouri Democrat, April 17, 1862

The notice for this particular game, which at this point is only the second Civil War-era St. Louis baseball game that we know of, was easy to find. We know when the Empire Club generally held their anniversary game and it was a simple matter of looking through the April 1862 issues of the Missouri Democrat.

One thing that should be noted is that the Empire Club had unusually bad luck with their first few anniversary games. The first was broken up by the Home Guard and the second was postponed by rain. I have newspaper accounts for the fifth anniversary game (which I'll post tomorrow) and if you can know what was going on around the middle of April 1865 then you can imagine the difficulties that were involved in getting that game played.

Come back tomorrow for the story.