tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5985668569918053928.post5408874061366013042..comments2024-01-24T05:19:09.805-06:00Comments on This Game Of Games: Known 19th Century St. Louis Baseball Clubs, Part OneJeffrey Kittelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367989375750209078noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5985668569918053928.post-19996939251150616152008-08-13T13:24:00.000-05:002008-08-13T13:24:00.000-05:00Well, the statement is qualified to a certain exte...Well, the statement is qualified to a certain extent. I do think (in my own mind) that I was trying to limit my statement to clubs that had formed during the spread of the game in the immediate antebellum period-that would certainly mean the new western/southern teams. I was also trying to speak to what I think has to be a rather unique history of the Empires-being one of western teams founded in the flush of baseball expansion in the antebellum period which not only was active (to a certain extent) during the war but thrived after it.<BR/><BR/>How many clubs where there that existed from 1860-1876 and were active during the war? How many were not located in New York, Phil., Washington, or Boston? How many played at a (state) championship level during that entire period? I'm not sure. But I can't imagine it being that many and I'm fairly certain that the Empires were the only western club that fits the description.<BR/><BR/>I think you're right though, Richard, that I may be overstating the case. But I'm still in the process of trying to figure out where the Empires fit in the greater scheme of things and I do find their history to be rather unique.Jeffrey Kittelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02367989375750209078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5985668569918053928.post-87112662654182955362008-08-13T12:17:00.000-05:002008-08-13T12:17:00.000-05:00"That the Empires continued their baseball activit..."That the Empires continued their baseball activities during the war years is rather remarkable and generally unique in baseball history. There are very few clubs that had formed in the late 1850’s that not only survived the outbreak of the war but were active during and after it."<BR/><BR/>This overstates the case. Many eastern clubs played through the war, albeit at a lower level of activity. My sense is that western and southern clubs mostly disbanded, so the Empires stand out as an exception to that more limited rule.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com