Friday, November 18, 2011

The Pleasure Of Your Company

The pleasure of your company is respectfully solicited to attend the Third Anniversary Ball, to be given by the members of the Empire Base Ball Club, at the Turners Hall, on Tuesday Evening, December 16, 1862.
-The Background of Professional Baseball in St. Louis


The October 1950 issue of the Missouri Historical Society Bulletin contains a great article about the early years of baseball in St. Louis, written by Anthony Lampe.  The above quote is taken from the Lampe article and comes from one of the actual invitations to the Empire Club Ball that is in the Missouri Historical Society's collection.  Last summer, when digging through some of the archives at the Missouri Historical Society, I came across that invitation and held it in my hands.  It was a really neat experience.

I've been meaning to post some stuff from Lampe's article for some time now and I guess there's no time like the present.  

 

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