A Civil War-Era Muffin Game

A match came off yesterday afternoon between the Active and the Honorary members of the Empire Base Ball Club, with the following result:  We learn that our lymphatic friend Henry Clay Sexton, Counsellor W.V.N. Bay, Justice Wohlein, Deputy Sheriff George Stevens and others of the honorary department, "shed" their clothing only to come out of the contest losers - the "runs" being against them, 53 to 38.

-Missouri Republican, October 9, 1861


This was actually a fairly close game, with the "active" members only up by four runs after six innings.  Their margin of victory was padded by a ten-run ninth, although the "honorary" nine was helped out by the addition of James Yule to their side.  Sexton actually had a pretty good game, scoring seven runs - a tally that was only exceeded by James Fitzgerald and John Reynolds, two of the Empire Clubs best players.

Also, I think it should be noted that the Republican uses "active" and "honorary" while I believe the more accurate terms, based on what I know about Empire Club membership, would be "playing" and "non-playing" members.