The Lincoln Baseball Legend: Apotheosis

Abraham Lincoln is lying near death following the shooing at Ford's Theatre. With his closest advisers gathered around him, he calls over Major General Abner Doubleday. "Abner," whispers Lincoln, "don't...let...baseball...die." And with those final words, Lincoln goes down swinging.

-Baseball Anecdotes

To their credit, Daniel Okrent and Steve Wulf, the authors of Baseball Anecdotes, don't let the above story pass without noting that it has no basis in fact. Do I even need to debunk it for you?

Just for the record, Lincoln never spoke after being shot at Ford's Theatre. Doubleday was not at the Peterson House when Lincoln died. Case closed.

Interestingly, I believe that Doubleday was stationed in Washington at the time of the assassination and, while I read somewhere that Lincoln and Doubleday never met, Doubleday travelled with Lincoln to Gettysburg in November of 1863 and was at social events with Lincoln during the war years. Did they meet? Did they know each other? Maybe. Probably. But that's not exactly relevant. While there is some facts to support the possibility that the Lincoln/Doubleday deathbed legend could have occurred, there's more than enough evidence to show that it unquestionably did not happen.

The story, as far as I can tell, is attributed to Bill Stern, the sportscaster, and probably dates back to the late 1930s or 1940s. Stern was, to say the least, a fanciful storyteller with a vivid imagination and these traits made him a successful radio personality. Whether Stern made the story up himself or had heard it from someone else is unknown.

Another version of the story exists where Lincoln's last words are "Don't let them kill the great game, Abner."

Regardless of how the story came about or what version we're talking about, this is just extraordinary myth-making. It furthers both the image of Lincoln as man of the people as well as the image of baseball as America's game. Lincoln, who was despised by a large percentage of the country for most of the 19th century, loved the game that so many of us love. He was one of us. Baseball, a game whose purely American origins were questioned, was blessed by the Greatest of All Americans. It's our game, an American game. Lincoln loved the game so much, loved his country so much, that his last thoughts were of baseball. Baseball is so American, so wholesome and good, that St. Abraham was thinking of the game in his final moments. There simply is not a better example of the Lincoln baseball legend than the deathbed story. It encapsulates just about everything there is to know about both the Lincoln legend and the baseball origins legend. It's perfect and beautiful.

I could prattle on and on about Lincoln and baseball, fact and legend. But I want to get back to St. Louis baseball so I'll just recommend a few books. I've already mentioned David Herbert Donald's biography of Lincoln. It's an excellent book and if you're looking for a Lincoln biography, this is the one you should read. Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory by Barry Schwartz and Lincoln in American Memory by Merrill Peterson are probably the two best books on the Lincoln legend, how and why it was created, and what it all means. I'd also recommend a little book called Land of Lincoln by Andrew Ferguson. Not as heavy or serious as the Schwartz and Peterson books, it takes a look at how Lincoln is portrayed and thought of in modern America. It's actually kind of funny, as well as illuminating.

The Lincoln Baseball Legend: The Great Ball Player

Sometimes on sunny afternoons, such as those in early June [1856,] Ben McQueston, a clerk at J.W. Matheny's store, would call up the stairway to the law office, "Mr. Lincoln, we are going to play ball." Unless something very pressing was on the table, Lincoln gladly trotted down to a field with the others and played whatever game was on, often a version of "town ball" or rudimentary baseball. "Everybody played ball," McQuestion said. "There was nothing incongruous about a leading lawyer like Lincoln joining in with tradesmen, clerks, and professional men for an afternoon's amusement. Everyone had time for recreation and business did not suffer."

-The Case of Abraham Lincoln

The source for this story, which appears in a book about one of Lincoln's more interesting legal cases, was a newspaper article in the February 18, 1920 Weekly Kansas City Star that was entitled "Fought Fires with Lincoln Sixty-Five Years Ago." McQueston, a resident of Springfield, was a member of a volunteer fire company, serving with Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln Great Ball Player

Decatur, Ills., February 16.-That Abraham Lincoln was a great ball player as the game was played in those days, is the statement of Mrs. Rachel Billington, who on February 12 celebrated her ninetieth birthday. Mrs. Billington lived only a few doors away from the Lincoln family at Springfield and also knew the statesmen later as a lawyer in Decatur. "In those days," says Mrs. Billington, "the batter stood with his back to a wall and Lincoln could hit the ball every time it was pitched to him."

-Sporting Life, February 21, 1914

The most interesting thing to me here is that the game that Mrs. Billington saw played had the batter standing against the wall. When I was a kid, many of the versions of ball that we played, most notably corkball, was played with the batter hitting in front of a wall. You didn't need a catcher that way and you could also chalk out the strike zone on the wall. In fact, the old Illinois Bell building in downtown Granite City, Illinois (in whose parking lot many a games of corkball were played) for a long time had a spray-painted strike zone on the wall (the work, I imagine, of some baseball-playing vandal; and, no, it wasn't me).

As I've mentioned before, Lincoln, when he moved to Illinois, arrived in a community that had a vibrant ballplaying culture. A baseball variant, that the locals specifically remembered as being called town ball, was played in central Illinois in the 1820s and 1830s. Other ball games that were played during the antebellum era included bullpen, cross out and long town. I mentioned in a previous post that Lincoln had a reputation as a being a good fives player. Ball playing was a large part of the culture of central Illinois and it would have been atypical of Lincoln not to take part in these games.

Lincoln was a large man, standing six foot four, and was uncommonly tall for his time. While thin, he was a solidly built man, having spent his youth as a farmer and laborer, and was known for having great strength. Andrew Kirk, who was interviewed by Herndon in 1887, remembered Lincoln picking up and throwing a cannon ball. There's a famous story about the young Lincoln arriving in New Salem and engaging in and winning a wrestling match with the strongest and toughest young man in the area. There are also plenty of stories about Lincoln winning foot races. What one has to take away from all the evidence is that Lincoln was a very good, natural athlete.

A good athlete and living in a community of ball players, it's almost unthinkable that Lincoln would not have played baseball and, as I've shown above, there is plenty of evidence that he did. Lincoln's friends and neighbors were unambiguous on that point:

I knew Lincoln as early as 1834...We played old fashioned town ball...Lincoln played town ball...Lincoln was a good player-could catch a ball...

-James Gourly, interviewed by William Herndon in 1865 and 1866

Did Lincoln play the New York version of baseball that became all the rage in the late 1850s? There is no evidence to suggest that he did and it's highly unlikely. It's possible that he saw the game played in Illinois in the late 1850s and likely that he saw the game when he lived in Washington but there is no evidence that he ever played the New York game. However, Lincoln did play a local version of baseball that the people of central Illinois called town ball. There is plenty of evidence that Lincoln was a ballplayer and that he was a rather good one.

One more thing I should mention: There's a great deal of evidence of ballplaying in Illinois before Lincoln arrived and while he was living there. Having looked at a lot of the sources, it's easy to speak intelligently about that. There is much less evidence of ballplaying in Indiana and Kentucky during Lincoln's youth. I've looked at some of the local histories and haven't found much and what little I did find was about southwestern Indiana. However, in 1866, Herndon interviewed Burnbry B. Lloyd, who appears to have known the Lincolns while they lived in Kentucky. Lloyd mentioned that people in Kentucky, during that time, played ball and specifically mentioned "corner ball, called bullpen, cat & town ball."

This is significant for two reasons. First, this is evidence that Lincoln was exposed to ball games from a very young age and may have participated in these games while a child in Kentucky. More importantly, if Lloyd is speaking about Kentucky during the time when Lincoln lived there, as he appears to be doing, then this is evidence of ballplaying in western Kentucky prior to 1816. This would be the earliest reference to baseball in the West that I've seen and, combined with the Gratiot reference, presents a portrait of a ballplaying culture in the West that goes back to the 18th century. I'll have to put up a specific post on this once I do some more digging. But I'm very intrigued by the Lloyd reference.

The Lincoln Baseball Legend: Postville

A fire in 1857 destroyed Logan County's records, so little is known about the cases Lincoln handled at Postville. Once, when Lincoln was absent from a court session, Judge Treat sent the sheriff, Dr. Deskins, to find him. Deskins finally found Lincoln in Postville Park, "playing town ball with the boys."

-In Lincoln's Footsteps

Postville, Illinois was the county seat of Logan County and was part of the Eighth Judicial Circuit that Lincoln travelled while practicing law. Riding the circuit, Lincoln would have been in Postville twice a year from 1839 to 1847. Among all the Lincoln baseball stories that have been collected, the Postville reference was new to me and, considering that I found it in a book published in 2002, I was rather skeptical about it.

The earliest reference to Lincoln playing town ball in Postville that I've found occurs in a footnote in Honest Abe by Alonzo and John Rothschild, which was published in 1911. Supposedly, Lincoln was representing a client in Postville who, while testifying, was caught in lie. When his client was proven to have been untruthful, Lincoln got up and left the courtroom. When Judge Treat noticed Lincoln's absence, he sent the sheriff to go find him and bring him back. The sheriff, according to the main text of Honest Abe, found Lincoln in a tavern across the street from the courthouse, with his feet up on the stove. When informed that the judge wanted him back in the courtroom, Lincoln answered that he couldn't return. "My hands are dirty and I came over here to clean them," Lincoln was reported to have said.

This, of course, is an anecdote about Lincoln's character and honesty. The saintly Lincoln could not abide representing a client who would lie on the stand and he felt personally sullied by doing so. Another version of the story states that when Judge Treat heard what Lincoln had said, he exclaimed "Honest Abe" thus coining a nickname. The figure of speech that Lincoln used in responding to the sheriff may have been first attributed to Horace Binney, a prominent 19th century lawyer from Philadelphia, and then later incorporated into the Lincoln legend. In the notes, the story is attributed to Ward Lamon, one of Lincoln's law partners, and Francis F. Browne, whose Lincoln biography was published in 1914.

Also in the notes, however, it states that "According to [Stringer,] Lincoln was found, not at the tavern, but in the Postville Park, playing townball with the boys." "Stringer," although not mentioned in the bibliography, is most likely Lawrence Stringer, who wrote a history of Logan County that was published in 1911 and included a chapter on Lincoln. I haven't had an opportunity to check Stringer's history and can't say what his source is.

The Postville town ball story simply does not have the ring of truth about it. Abraham Lincoln walked out on a case because he was morally upset about his client's lack of veracity and then a short while later was found playing town ball. I don't buy it. The fact that there are multiple versions of the story that contradict each other also adds to my skepticism as does the fact that the entire story seems to have been constructed to support the image of the saintly Lincoln. The entire thing smells of Lincoln the legend rather than Lincoln the man.

However, I don't discount completely the possibility that Lincoln may have played town ball in Postville. It was not out of character for Lincoln, even after becoming a successful attorney, to do so. Tomorrow, I'll present some of the evidence that supports the idea that Lincoln played town ball. But as far as this specific Postville reference is concerned, I believe that it's a piece of myth-making.

The Lincoln Baseball Legend: Abe Goes To The Game

George Kirsch, in Baseball in Blue & Gray, tells the following tale:

Certainly as president, Lincoln had ample opportunity to see a baseball game. Before, during, and after the war baseball clubs competed on the President's Grounds near the White House in Washington, D.C...According to [Winfield Scott Larner,] Lincoln and his son Tad watched the contest from a spot along the first base line, cheering with their fellow fans and also receiving an ovation from the crowd.

This quote appears, unattributed, at Baseball Almanac:

At about six o'clock, the President, who was prevented from appearing earlier on account of the semi-weekly Cabinet meeting, came on the ground and remained until the close of the game (Washington 28 vs Brooklyn Excelsiors 33), an apparently interested spectator of the exciting contest.

There's also another version of this story that I have in my notes that gives the interesting detail of Lincoln and his son eating peanuts at the game and the ground around their feet being covered in peanut shells.

I'm inclined to give some credence to this story for a few reasons. First, Lincoln was a man who enjoyed athletics and athletic contests. He had a reputation as a good athlete and there are numerous accounts, told by people who knew him, of Lincoln participating in athletic contests, including town ball (which I'll cover in another post). He was also a man who enjoyed people. He enjoyed sitting around with people. He loved talking to people, telling and listening to stories. I believe that it would be in Lincoln's character to go to a baseball game and to enjoy himself while there.

Second, Lincoln certainly had the opportunity to go to a game. As Kirsch noted, there was a ballpark in his backyard. Also, while Lincoln was obviously under a great deal of pressure during his time in office and the crush of business was, at times, overwhelming, there were also periods when there was nothing going on. There were moments during the war when the armies were inactive and when Congress wasn't in session. During these times, Lincoln really had rather little to do. While I doubt that Lincoln went to a baseball game during the first few days of July in 1863 or when Republicans in Congress were trying to force various cabinet members from office or during one of the diplomatic crises with England, the Lincoln administration was not one crisis after another, twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. There were quiet moments when Lincoln was able to find time for rest and relaxation and I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that he could have taken his son to a baseball game.

Lastly, and most importantly, there was Lincoln's relationship with his son Tad. Lincoln's love of children is well documented and, while his relationship with his oldest son Robert was rather strained, he was particularly found of his younger sons, Willie and Tad. A doating father, his younger sons were spoiled by Lincoln and his wife. Donald, in his biography of Lincoln, writes about the relationship between Lincoln and his son:

Lincoln drew much comfort from Tad, to whom he became even more attached after the death of Willie. He spent much time playing with the boy, and he helped him raise his kitten and train his dog...Because of his speech defect most people could not understand Tad, but his father always could-and he knew how frustrated the child became when he could not express himself...In turn, Tad adored his father, and he would often hang around the President's office until late at night, sometimes falling asleep on one of the couches or chairs. When Lincoln got ready to retire, he would pick the boy up and carry him off to his big bed, where Tad now mostly slept.

Given Lincoln's personality and the relationship between he and his son, I find it entirely believable that he would take his son to see a baseball game. If Lincoln had the time and inclination to see a game, it would be reasonable that he would take his son, to whom he was devoted, along with him (as he did most notably on his visit to Richmond in 1865). If the young boy was bitten by the baseball bug and wanted to see a game, I can easily imagine him begging his father to take him to see a game and Lincoln agreeing to his wishes.

However, it must be stated that there is no primary source evidence that Lincoln attended a baseball game in Washington while he was President. As I've argued, the accounts of Lincoln attending a game are reasonably believable and shouldn't be dismissed out of hand but all we can do is speculate. Personally, I'd like to know more about the baseball grounds in Washington, about the history of the game in Washington during the war years, and find a date for the Washington/Brooklyn game. I think that adding that information to what we already know about Lincoln would strengthen the argument that he attended a baseball game while President.

One more thing that I'll just throw out there without any evidence to support it and without really thinking it through: Lincoln visited the Army of the Potomac on numerous occasions, often staying overnight at the camp. Given all we now know about baseball during the Civil War and about specific instances of baseball activity among the troops, isn't it possible that Lincoln may have seen a baseball game being played during one of his visits? I have no idea if he did or did not or if the scenario is entirely realistic but the thought occurred to me and I figured I'd throw it out there.

The Lincoln Baseball Legend: The Notification Story

How Lincoln Received The Nomination.-When the news of Lincoln's nominations reached Springfield, his friends were greatly excited, and hastened to inform "Old Abe" of it. He could not be found at his office or at home, but after some minutes the messenger discovered him out in a field with a parcel of boys, having a pleasant game of town-ball. All his comrades immediately threw up their hats and commenced to hurrah. Abe grinned considerably, scratched his head and said, "Go on boys; don't let such nonsense spoil a good game." The boys did go on with their bawling, but not with the game of ball. They got out an old rusty cannon and made it ring, while the tall Sucker went home to think of his chances.

-Daily Evening Bulletin, June 16, 1860

During the sitting of the convention Lincoln had been trying, in one way and another, to keep down the excitement which was pent up within him, playing billiards a little, town ball a little, and story-telling a little.

-Life and Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume 1

A while back I picked up a copy of David Herbert Donald's biography of Abraham Lincoln. It was recommended to me as the best modern biography of our sixteenth president and I agree that it's a fine work. With my interest in 19th century baseball, I read the book with one eye on anything baseball related and while there is nothing specifically baseball related mentioned, there were a few things that I thought were of interest.

One of the more interesting things was Donald's description of the process by which Lincoln gained the 1860 Republican presidential nomination and what Lincoln was doing while the convention was in session:

While the Republican National Convention was in session, Lincoln went quietly about his business in Springfield, but he eagerly sought to learn what was going on in Chicago. Up early on Friday, May 18, the day when nominations were to be made, he passed some time playing "fives"-a variety of handball-with some other men in a vacant lot next to the Illinois State Journal office. Learning that James C. Conkling had unexpectedly returned from Chicago, he went over to his law office to hear the latest news from the convention. Stretched out on an old settee, so short that his feet stuck out over the end, he listened to Conkling's prediction that Seward could not be nominated and that the convention would choose Lincoln. Lincoln demurred, unwilling to tempt fate by being overoptimistic, and said that either Bates or Chase would probably be the choice. Getting up, he announced: "Well, Conkling, I believe I will go back to by office and practice law.

At the Lincoln & Herndon office Baker, of the Illinois State Journal, came in with telegrams announcing that the names of the candidates had been placed in nomination and that Lincoln's was received with great enthusiasm. Shortly afterward, a new telegram announced the result of the first ballot...Giving no indication of his feelings, Lincoln went over to the telegraph office, where a report on the second ballot was just coming in...Lincoln then awaited the results of the third ballot in the Journal office. As he had anticipated this was the last ballot. Seward retained most of his strength, but nearly all the other delegates flocked to Lincoln...

"I knew this would come when I saw the second ballot," Lincoln remarked as he accepted the congratulations of his fellow townsmen. Emerging from the Journal office, he said jokingly to the ball players who broke off their game to congratulate him: "Gentlemen, you had better come up and shake my hand while you can-honors elevate some men." Then he headed for home, explaining: "Well Gentlemen there is a little woman at our house who is probably more interested in this dispatch than I am."

Donald's source for this information comes from Jess Weik's The Real Lincoln. Weik's was also the co-writer of Herndon's Lincoln or, as it's officially titled, Abraham Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life. William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner at the time of the nomination, did an extraordinary amount of research into Lincoln's life, beginning shortly after the assassination in 1865. Over a twenty year period, he conducted interviews with the people who knew Lincoln (including family, friends, neighbors, enemies, etc.) and it's this collection of primary source material that Weik's transformed into what is probably the most important biography of Lincoln ever written. So Donald, for his story of the Lincoln notification, went, in Weik, to probably the best source he could. While I haven't been able to ascertain whether or not Herndon was an eyewitness to any of this (he and Lincoln had had a bit of a falling out during the campaign), Herndon did know all the people who were with Lincoln on the day of the nomination and interviewed many of them. And Weik was working off of Herndon's notes as well as his own research.

I happen to have a copy of Weik's Lincoln biography. He described Lincoln, on May 18, as being, naturally enough, nervous and restless. He then gives E.L. Baker's account of that day. Baker was the editor of the "Springfield Journal" and was with Lincoln for a great deal of the day:

Met Lincoln and we went to ball alley to play at fives-alley was full-said it was pre-engaged; then went to excellent beer saloon near by to play game of billiards; table was full and we each drank a glass of beer; then went to Journal office expecting to hear result of ballot...

I can go on and on with accounts from people who were with Lincoln on May 18, 1860 and not one person mentions town ball. The Lincoln notification town ball story is simply not true. Lincoln was not playing town ball when he was notified that he had won the Republican nomination for president.

How and why that story developed and spread is rather interesting but is the subject for another time. I am absolutely fascinated by the legend that developed around Lincoln and how that merged with the legends about the origins of baseball. You have apotheosis and myth-making and nationalism and the bloody flag and economic interests all coming together at the same time to create a Lincoln baseball myth. One of the interesting things about it is that there is some reality behind the legend. It wasn't made up out of whole cloth. I'm finding it interesting to separate the facts from the legend and trace the development of the legend. But, again, that's a post another day.

As far as the notification story is concerned, the fact is that Lincoln was not playing town ball that day. He did appear to want to play fives, which he was rather good at, but was unable to because the court was already in use and did play some billiards. So Lincoln did play "ball" on the day of his nomination but it was billiards rather than baseball. Also, there was a delegation that came to Springfield to inform him officially of his nomination (a fact that plays a part in another version of the notification story). They arrived in Springfield on May 19 at seven o'clock in the evening and found Lincoln at his home, where he was officially notified that he was the Republican nominee for president. Again, he was not playing town ball when this happened.

The Lincoln notification story is a legend and did not happen. It appears that there are some facts surrounding the events of May 18, 1860 that were misconstrued and misinterpreted, leading to the creation of the legend. But we have more than sufficient primary source material to reconstruct what Lincoln was doing on the day he was nominated and the bottom line is that he was not playing town ball.

Note: The image at the top of the post comes from the Albert Spalding collection and shows Lincoln being notified of his nomination while playing town ball. Spalding, of course, had a large roll in the creation of the both the Lincoln baseball legend and the baseball origin legend.

Some Thoughts On Ball-Playing In The Illinois Country, Part Four

So here I am, still prattling on about ball-playing and the Illinois Country. But at least today, we're getting to the juicy stuff.

The second wave of Anglo-American settlement of the Illinois Country occurred immediately after Illinois became a state in 1818. It took place in the central part of the state and followed the Illinois River north. In the above map, we see the extent of the spread of settlement in 1840. We see the southern settlements in the American Bottoms and Wabash River areas as well as a new population center in the Sangamon River valley that was settled largely by Yankees from New England, New York and Pennsylvania. These new settlers brought a culture of ball-playing with them.

Their are numerous accounts of pioneer life in the Illinois Country in the decades before the Civil War and many of them contain references to ball-playing. In the histories of Menard County, Mason County, Fulton County, McLean County, and Henry County, there are several references to town-ball and bull-pen as favorite pastimes. All of these counties were in the Sangamon River valley, just north and west of Springfield, Illinois. But together, they describe a lively ball-playing culture existing among the Yankee settlers of central Illinois that began in the 1820s and continued into the Civil War era.

Before I pass along a few of these references, I want to make one observation. Evidence of this ball-playing culture in central Illinois lends a great deal of credence to the Abraham Lincoln town-ball stories. It is often difficult to separate truth from myth when it comes to Lincoln and this is true when it comes to the Lincoln ball-playing stories. They are often dismissed as apocryphal and having been created in an attempt to wrap baseball in the flag. While some of that may be accurate, the fact that a vigorous ball-playing culture existed in central Illinois at the time Lincoln lived there and that the men of the community were active ball-players supports the idea that Lincoln was a ball-player. Each Lincoln ball-playing reference has to be judged on its own merits but, in general, I think it's safe to say that Lincoln, like all the men in his community, played pre-modern baseball. It would have been an aberration if he hadn't.

The evidence of an active ball-playing community exists in the county histories of central Illinois. A series of these histories were written in the 1870s and, while they are not contemporary evidence of ball-playing in the area, they do present testimony from people who had lived during the pioneer era. All the caveats about the memory of human beings apply and much more research needs to be done but the fact that there are multiple accounts describing, in similar detail, ball-playing in central Illinois in the 1820-1840 era gives weight to the evidence. I offer some of the more interesting accounts below:

The principal game among the boys was "bullpen," a kind of ball. The party was equally divided. A field was laid out with as many corners, or bases, as there were men on a side. They tossed for choice, the winners' side taking the corners, or bases, the others going into the "pen." The game was this: The men on the bases, tossing the ball from one to another as rapidly as they could, threw and struck one in the "pen" whenever they could. If one threw and struck no one, he was out; but if he struck one, the men on the bases all ran away, and if the one struck first did not throw and hit one in return, he was out; though if he did, both kept their places. So the game went on till all on the "corners" were out; the others then took the bases. This was a rough, but lively and amusing game. Those in the "pen" often had their ribs sorely battered with the ball; but many became such adepts in the art of "dodging" the ball when thrown at them, that it was almost impossible to strike them. The game was, in time, abandoned for a game called "town ball;" the present base ball being town ball reduced to a science.

-The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois

Almost all sources agree that bullpen was a popular game in central Illinois during the pioneer era. A close reading of this source has town-ball growing in popularity in the 1820s.

Canton was incorporated as a town Feb. 10, 1837. Upon that day an election was held to vote for or against incorporation, resulting in the adoption of the measure by a majority of 34, there being 46 ballots cast. Immediately thereafter the following five Trustees were chosen: David Markley, Joel Wright, Thomas J. Little, William B. Cogswell and Franklin P. Offield. They held this first meeting March 27, 1837, "at Frederic Mennerts' inn..." Under by-laws adopted by this Board, revenue was to be raised by a tax on all real estate within the boundaries of the town, which, it was provided, should be assessed at its true value, and upon the assessment "an ad-valorem tax of not exceeding fifty cents on every one hundred dollars should be levied by the President and Trustees annually." Section 36 of the ordinances provided that "any person who shall on the Sabbath day play at bandy, cricket, cat, town-ball, corner-ball, over-ball, fives or any other game of ball, within the limits of the corporation, or shall engage in pitching dollars or quarters, or any other game, in any public place, shall, on conviction thereof, be fined the sum of one dollar."

-History of Fulton County, Illinois

This is a fascinating reference that gives us a catalogue of ball-games that were being played in central Illinois in the 1830s. I find it significant that one of the first things that the Board of Trustees did upon incorporation of the city was to ban ball-playing on Sundays. This speaks, I believe, to the extent of ball-playing activity in the area. If there wasn't a great deal of ball-playing going on, there would have been no need to pass a law against it. Also, the fact that town-ball is specifically mentioned, separate from a number of other ball-games, suggests that this was a specific game played in central Illinois, rather than a catch-all term used to describe any number of pre-modern ball games. I believe that Larry either has this reference up at Protoball already or it will be up after the next update.

The boys didn't play base ball in 1835. It hadn't been invented. Where I lived..., we played "town ball." There was a pitcher and catcher. We ran in a circle, and being hit by the ball was out, or the man running the bases could be "crossed out," by throwing the ball across his path ahead of him as he ran. They also played "one-old-cat" and "two-old-cat" with ball and bat.

-History of Henry County, Illinois, Volume 1

That's a nice reference to a cross out and again distinguishes between town-ball and other forms of ball games.

We played games to a finish, such as long town; town ball, which was a kind of rudimentary football; [and] shinny in cold weather to keep all warm and going...

-Educational Review: Volume XL

An interesting reference that complicates things a bit with the reference to town-ball as a type of football game but the reference to long town makes up for it. The writer is speaking about his school days in Canton, Missouri in the early 1850s. While the reference is dated a bit late for our purposes, I'm really interested in the possibility of the Anglo-American culture of ball-playing spreading to the rest of the Illinois Country. Canton was just across the river from the Sangamon River valley ball-playing area and the ball-games they were playing should have been influenced by the games played just east of the Mississippi. Also, shinny was being played in St. Louis in the 1850s so, again, we may be looking at evidence of a specific game spreading throughout the region. I'll have more to say about that tomorrow.

In the general, the point I'm trying to make today is that we see a great deal of ball-playing in the Illinois Country after the Yankees arrive in the 1820s. While there is evidence of the French and Southerners playing ball, it is nothing like what we see once the Yankees arrive. Once the Yankees settle in central Illinois, we see an explosion of ball-playing and a vibrant ball-playing culture. It appears, at this point, that we can trace the origins of baseball in the Illinois Country to the Yankees who settled central Illinois between 1820 and 1840. There was ball-playing going on in the Illinois Country prior to that but pre-modern baseball was most likely brought to the area by the Yankees.

Abraham Lincoln And Baseball

Technically, Abraham Lincoln, having nothing to do with the history of 19th century St. Louis baseball, is outside the purview of this blog. But I live across the river from St. Louis in Illinois, Abe Lincoln is our favorite son, and I feel like posting on our boy. Since it's my blog, I guess I can do what I want.

The picture posted above is a drawing called "Lincoln's Notification" and when I saw it, I vaguely remembered the story that went with it. I had heard the apocryphal story of how Lincoln was notified of his election while in the middle of a baseball game and knew I had read something about it. So I started digging and found a long piece on Lincoln and baseball in Baseball in Blue & Gray.

"While there is precious little evidence that Lincoln actually played, watched, or even paid attention to baseball," George Kirsch wrote, "nevertheless there are several tales that connect him to the sport. Certainly as president, Lincoln had ample opportunity to see a baseball game. Before, during, and after the (Civil War) baseball clubs competed on the President's Grounds near the White House in Washington D. C. In June 1865, just two months after his assassination, the New York Herald announced that a feature match would be played there in August between the Atlantics of Brooklyn and the Athletics of Philadelphia. That journal added that the slain president had "expressed a wish to see a game of the kind." Albert G. Spalding also contributed to the folklore of Lincoln and baseball. A few years after spinning his yarn about Doubleday and Cooperstown, Spalding claimed that he had received a letter describing the visit of a Republican committee that traveled to Springfield, Illinois to notify Lincoln of his selection as the party's nominee for the presidency. According to Spalding, the men found him "engaged in a game of Base Ball." When a messenger alerted him to the imminent arrival of the delegation, he replied: "Tell the gentlemen that I am glad to know of their coming; but they'll have to wait a few minutes until I make another base hit.""

Kirsch also quotes stories by Winfield Scott Larner and Frank Blair. Larner claimed that Lincoln and his son Tad had watched games played in Washington , "cheering with their fellow fans". Blair tells a great story about how Lincoln, during visits to his family, "loved to play town ball with the youngsters on the lawn."

In his book, Kirsch stresses how Organized Baseball attempted to tie together the Lincoln legend, baseball mythology, and American nationalism in an attempt to further the popularity of the game.