Grasping At Straws

First grand Basket Pic-nic of the Hope Base Ball Club, to be given on August 4th, at Laclede Station, on the P.R.R.  Cars leave precisely at 8 o'clock A.M.  Tickets one dollar.

P.S. - An interesting game of base ball to be played on the occasion.

-Missouri Republican, August 2, 1864


This is a vital piece of information as far as tracing the first baseball game in Granite City, Illinois, is concerned.  Now, as I live in Granite City, this is rather interesting to me and I admit that it may be of interest only to me.

Several years ago, I posted about a picnic that the Resolute Club held somewhere around the area that would become Granite City.  I had to assume that baseball was played at the picnic and the above piece from the Republican supports that assumption.

I know I'm grasping at straws but I like the idea that a baseball game took place in 1865 just a few blocks from where I live.