A Great Injustice

George Smith, a member of the Empire Club of St. Louis, Mo., writes as follows, under date of Sept. 25 [1874]:

Your article in this week's Clipper about the Empires being ungentlemanly at Louisville does the Empires great injustice.  They wanted the game played out, and it could have been, as it was only 6 o'clock when the umpire called the game.  The Eagles played their half of the ninth inning, making two runs.  The Empires then pitched in and made three runs, tieing the game, 16 to 16, with no man out on the Empire side, and one of the best batters (Wirth) the Empires have at the bat.  The Empires went to Louisville twice this season, and the Eagles have not returned the visit.  I was on the grounds, and saw nothing done whatever by the Empires that gentlemen would not do.  The Empires, being the visiting club, handed a dead ball to play with, which the Eagles objected to, as they said they were nt used to a dead ball, and the umpire, Capt. Seward, allowed them to furnish the ball, a live one.

-Mears Baseball Scrapbook, Volume 4, 1856-1907

The Nationals At St. Louis, Part Three

On Tuesday the Nationals played the Empire Club of St. Louis on the same grounds, at 10 A.M., the game being called thus early in consequence of the Nationals having to leave for Chicago in the 4:30 [train...]  The Empire Club was the champion club of the State last year.  Their first game with the Unions this season resulted in the success of the Union Club, and they now claim the championship honors, though the Empire do not lose the title until they have lost two games out of three played, providing they do not refuse to meet the Union Club.  At an early hour on Tuesday, President Fruin, of the Empire Club, with a committee of reception [was here] on hand with carriages to take their guests to the grounds, and at 10:30, all being in readiness to begin, play was called by Mr. Coon, who had been especially solicited to act as umpire by the Empire Club.  Far better order was observed on the occasion by the crowd than the day previous; the police, too, were more efficient in keeping the crowd back, the strictures in the Democrat evidently having had a good effect.  But few ladies were present in such numbers as marked the games in Cincinnati and Louisville.  Several ladies, however, occupied seats and some were in carriages.  The attendance of spectators was not generally as numerous as the day before, the early hour keeping many away.

The Nationals led off at the bat in the game, and in a decidedly better style than the day before, five runs being the result of their first innings' play.  The Empires for their share managed to secure two, the tally standing at 5 to 2 in favor of the Nationals.  Two things were apparent in the play of even the first innings, the one being that all "vim" had been taken out of the fielding of the Nationals by their day's hot work on Monday, and secondly, that they had a better trained nine against them than they had in the Union game, the Empires playing more in the New York style than any of the other nines.  In the second innings the result of the contest in favor of the Nationals was made a dead certainty by their scoring 21 runs.  But as the Empires followed the lead of their able captain, Jerry Fruin, by good batting, he leading off with a fine hit, no less than nine runs were scored, the fielding of the Nationals showing how totally unfitted they were for play, Fox fielding very loose in this inning; in fact, it looked as if he did not care about the game at all, and the Empires were not slow in taking advantage of it.  After four runs had been scored, Wright went in to pitch, Williams going to left field, and Parker at second.  The moment Parker touched second he began to feel at home, and, of course, fielded better.  Had all the chances offered off Wright's pitching been taken, not another run would have been scored, but three fly balls were dropped and four more runs were scored, the tally at the close leaving the Empire score at 11, while the Nationals stood at 26.  Barron took two balls well in this innings and Murphy one.

In the third innings the Nationals added 8 to their score, Worth capturing two prisoners at first, one ball being well picked up with one hand.  He will find that the one-hand business won't pay with swift throwing, and the sooner he gets out of the habit of it, the better.  He plays the base well, however, but he is not a Joe Start by any means.  On the Empire side but one run was scored, Duffy making a good hit.  In this innings the Nationals resumed their positions, with McLean playing behind well.

In the fourth innings the Nationals retired for thee runs, while the Empires scored five; in the fifth innings this order was reversed, the Nationals scoring double figures again, while the Empires secured but three, the tally at the close of the fifth innings standing at 50 to 20 in favor of the Nationals.  In the fifth inning Parker, when striking for the second time, hit a ball to Jerry Fruin, who sent it in hot to Worth, the latter taking it with one hand, but he did not hold it until it had rebounded in his hand, and before it was held the base was touched.  The umpire did not see the point, and Parker had to retire.  A ball must be held before the striker reaches the base, or he is not out.

In the sixth innings, the Nationals again had to retire for three, the fielding being quite sharp, while before the Empires retired they had placed six on their score book.  In this innings George Wright was at third base, dodging round, when a ball was thrown to the base man and not held.  George picked it up afterwards, and when he was off the base, and prevented the player from putting him out.  It was a clear case of obstruction, though doubtless not intentional; but a player on the in side has no right to touch a ball.  The tally at the close of the sixth innings stood at 53 to 26, and as it was now nearly half past one, and not time to play another innings out, the game was called, much to the annoyance of a party who had bet high on the Empires beating the score of the Union game, which they did not, though there is no doubt they would have done had the game been played out; but it should be taken into consideration that it is questionable whether the Empires would have made half the score they did had the Nationals played as strongly against them as they did against the Unions the day previous.

After cheers for the two clubs, the Nationals returned to their hotel, and after dinner took their departure for Chicago, being taken to the depot in carriages, escorted by both clubs, mutual cheers being given as the Nationals left the depot.

-The Ball Players Chronicle, August 1, 1867


Again, thanks to Richard for passing this along to me. 

The Empire Club Defeated

The Atlantics, State Champions.

The veteran Empires were taken into camp for the second time this season by the Atlantics, at the Stocks' Park on Sunday. The Atlantics outfielded and outbatted their opponents. After a long delay on the part of the Empires, who were short one man, they substituted Gleason, formerly of the professional Stocks. A. Blong umpired the game to the satisfaction of all. With the stick, Gleason, of the Empires, made three of the seven base hits, and Levis, Jones and Rippey, of the Atlantics, also did excellent work. The former made a trio of two-base hits and two singles. The fielding of the Atlantics was excellent throughout. The pitching of Levis was effective, while Rippey supported him in his old style, and Duke at short distinguished himself by his many fine stops and excellent throws to first. On the whole, the fielding of the Atlantics was as good as has been seen on any field this season, while the Empires did poorly, and still worse at the bat.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 11, 1876

My assumption is that this victory over the Empires gave the Atlantics the championship (hence the headline). If this is true than the amateurs had changed their championship series from a best of five back to a best of three, as it had been in the 1860s.

A couple of more thoughts:

-The Atlantics were the first club other than the Empires and Unions to win the Missouri state amateur baseball championship. They were also the first club to wrest the championship from the Empires since the Unions in 1868. The Empires had held the championship for seven years and nine of the previous eleven years.

-Adam Wirth was the last of the old guard. Wirth had been a mainstay of the Empires' first nine for their entire championship run and it's a bit sad to see him playing on losing club. I've written elsewhere that I believe Wirth was the best St. Louis baseball player of his generation.

-It's impossible to say which Gleason we have here, Bill or Jack, because I have no record of either of them playing for the Stocks or the Empires. I'm inclined to say Bill because he worked (at some unknown point) for the St. Louis Fire Department and the Empires had deep ties to the StLFD. But I'd really like it to be Jack. Jack Gleason, in the course of his career, played for NL Brown Stockings, the AA Browns, the UA Maroons, the post-NA Reds, the NL Maroons, and Ted Sullivan's Dubuque club. It would be nice to add the Empire Club to that list.

Adam Wirth Gets Some National Ink (Sort Of)

We present to our base ball readers in this week's issue, the third of our series of illustrations, and the second of the portraits of leading players of the country, the subject of our present sketch being Mr. Adam North, of the Empire Base Ball Club of St. Louis, Mo.

The furore for base ball which existed in the Middle States in 1860 to such an extent, reached as far West as St. Louis, and in that year it led to the organization of the Empire Club of that city-then, as now, the champion club of the Western States. The war, however, affected the Empire Club, as it did all base ball clubs, and for four years, play was, in a measure, suspended. In 1865, however, the activity and enterprise which marked the action of the Empire Club in 1860 were resumed, and by several finely-contested games with leading organizations of sister States and cities, the Empires fully established their claim to the title of the Champion of the West, and it will, doubtless, be some time ere the laurels will be wrested from them; for this season they open play stronger and seem more enthusiastic than ever before.

In accordance with our request, we have to acknowledge a prompt reply to our circular from Mr. H.C. Sexton of the Empire Club, the first Vice-President of the National Association, who has sent us the name of Mr. Adam North, the first baseman of the Empire Club of St. Louis. Mr. North is of the typographical fraternity, and as such, as a matter of course, is "a gentleman and a scholar," and, moreover, a first-class ball-player. His strong points of play are his accuracy in throwing and his certainty in holding a ball, these two physical attributes making his services exceedingly useful in other positions besides the one he has made his specialty-viz., the first base of the nine. To these desirable qualifications he adds calmness and steadiness of play, and presence of mind and evenness of temper in exciting and critical positions of the game.

Mr. North is about twenty-two years of age, possesses a manly physique, and considerable power of endurance, and his strength of muscle is shown in his batting skill-his average play at the bat being of the best of his club. At present he is an employee in the office of the Missouri Democrat, and is highly esteemed by his companions and employers. Among the games in which Mr. North has conspicuously figured are the contests between his club and those of Freeport, Ill., Dubuque, Iowa, and with the Morning Star and Commercial Union Clubs of St. Louis.

-Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, August 4, 1866


This is a great piece and I have to give a hat tip to Richard Hershberger who was kind enough to send it to me. There's just one little problem with it though. The Empire Club never had a first baseman named Adam North. The guy they're talking about is the great Adam Wirth, first baseman extraordinaire and arguably the best player the Empires ever had. How would you like to be Adam Wirth in 1866? You get some serious national ink but they get your last name wrong. Such is life.

The Empires And The St. Louis Fire Department

It's obvious to me that there was some sort of relationship between the Empire Base Ball Club of St. Louis and the St. Louis Fire Department. When the city instituted an all-paid fire department in 1857, Henry Clay Sexton, the president of the Empires in 1864 and again from 1870 to 1873, was named chief. John Shockey, who would serve as team captain in 1869, was an assistant chief with the department. Other members of the club who were known to have worked as firemen were Adam Wirth, Tom Oran, and Joe Schimper. Both Shockey and Schimper were, according to Bill Kelsoe, "killed by a falling wall at a fire" and are on a list of firemen killed in the line of duty kept by the StLFD.

Certainly not all the members of the Empire Base Ball Club were members of the StLFD. Al Spink wrote in The National Game that the club "had in its ranks many wide-awake business men as well as some of the most influential mechanics and tradesmen. It had for its officers the most popular men in the community-men selected for their great heart, wide acquaintance and numerous following." The Empires were by no means an extension of the StLFD but the fire department had both a strong presence and influence on the club.

This is not unique in the history of 19th century baseball. According to Warren Goldstein in A History of Early Baseball, one of the "most fertile sources of baseball nines were volunteer fire companies..." The most famous example of this was the New York Mutuals who were "founded in 1857 by the Mutual Hook and Ladder Company No. 1." It's Goldstein's contention that the volunteer fire companies and the early fire departments played a vital role in the development of early baseball, "providing a cultural bridge between this new sport and the earlier, more rough-and-tumble world of working-class leisure." He goes on to list some of the similarities between the two institutions including their names, social activities, and uniforms.

It's doesn't appear, based on Spink's observations on the make-up of the club, that the Empires fit Goldstein's pattern exactly. But, under the leadership of Sexton, a relationship between the club and the StLFD was established and this relationship was used to the advantage of the club. This can be seen in Tom Oran's switch from the Union Club to the Empires. Peter Morris, in his essay on Oran for SABR's Biography Project, writes that "(on) June 5, 1869, the Empire Club defeated the Unions to regain local supremacy. Shortly afterward, the Empires lost their catcher to injuries and recruited Oran to take his place...Both clubs appear to have been amateurs, and it is unlikely that Oran was offered money to change clubs. It is, however, quite possible that he received another sort of inducement to join the Empires. Empire club president Henry Clay Sexton was the chief of the St. Louis fire department and Oran was soon working as a city fireman."

I think it's safe to assume that there were more members of the Empire Club who were also members of the StLFD than the five that I'm aware of. I'm currently searching for a list of members of the StLFD in the 19th century in order to compare it to known members of the Empire Club. When these two lists are cross-checked then the extent of the relationship between the two organizations should become clearer.

Note: The picture at the top of the post is of a funeral procession of a St. Louis fireman who lost his life in the line of duty in 1916. It's the earliest photograph of St. Louis firemen that I've been able to find and was taken from History's Time Portal to Old St. Louis.

Kelsoe On St. Louis Amateur Baseball In the 1860's

AMATEUR BASEBALL.

The death of Asa W. Smith, president of the Union Baseball Club of St. Louis, was reported in the papers of August 2 and 3 (1874). Asa, who was a son of Sol Smith, the actor, was accidentally drowned off the coast of Maine, at Biddeford Pool. The Keokuk Baseball Club had arrived in St. Louis, but the game scheduled with the Unions was abandoned. The visitors played the Empires, winning by 7 to 6.

The Unions were the principal competitors of the Empires for the city and state amateur baseball championship, the Reds being excluded from the contest, as some of their players were paid for their services. The Empires had held the championship two or three years and were again winners in 1874. The last president of the Unions, Judge C. Orrick Bishop, remembers that their winning championship team consisted of Eugene Greenleaf and Jim Freeman, pitcher and catcher; Joseph Charles ("Charley") Cabanne, E. C. Meacham and Rufus J. Lackland, Jr., on the bases; Bob Duncan, at short, and Asa W. Smith, Bill Duncan (Bob's brother) and Tom McCordell in the field. The last surviving member of that team, Mr. Cabanne, died in 1922 (March 17). Judge Bishop used to play occasionally, and so did W. C. Steigers (who died May 25, 1923), well known for over forty years as business manager of the Post-Dispatch; also Robert J. Lucas (died May 18, 1922). Judge Shepard Barclay, remembered as a crack pitcher in his college days, pitched for the Unions in a notable victory over the Nationals of Washington. Then there were Arthur Strong, Henry Berning, Harry Carr, Billy Yore and others who had won honors with the Olympics of Washington University or the Pickwicks of St. Louis University before joining the Unions. In their best days the Unions and Empires made a good showing against the best clubs of the country, including the famous Cincinnati Reds, the Forest Cities of Cleveland, the Rockfords and the Nationals, the Atlantics of Brooklyn, the Excelsiors of Chicago, the Unions of Morrisania, N. Y., and the Athletics of Philadelphia.

Among the local ball players of note in the sixties and who became prominent later in the industrial field were John D. Fitzgibbon, Jeremiah Fruin and John W. O'Connell. Mr. Fruin died in March, 1912, and Mr. O'Connell in August, 1918. Mr. Fitzgibbon is still with us. All three played with the Empires, Mr. Fitzgibbon being the club's captain and pitcher. When I called Capt. Fitzgibbon on the phone recently (in November,1923) he named, in addition to Fruin and O'Connell, already mentioned, most of their fellow players of fifty and more years ago-Pitcher Little, Tom Oran (catcher), John W. Shocky (later assistant chief of the St. Louis Fire Department and killed at a fire), Tom Murray, Tom Walsh, Charley Stevens, Adam Wirth, John Heath and Joe Schimper (a fireman who played ball under the name of Cambers, as stated elsewhere, and who, like Shocky, was killed by a falling wall at a fire). All these had passed away, said the veteran builder, except Stevens, one of the last to go being Fireman Wirth of Engine Company No. 14, a famous first baseman in amateur days.

The night of the conversation with Pitcher Fitzgibbon I had one also with Judge Shepard Barclay, referred to in a former paragraph as a crack pitcher of the Unions in his St. Louis college days. The judge had pitched for the Pickwicks of St. Louis University in their games with the Olympics of Washington University before he joined the Unions. He pitched the Unions to victory in one of their games with the Empires for the championship of Missouri and was their pitcher when the St. Louis Unions defeated the Nationals of Washington City. His fame as a pitcher for a college club continued with him after he left St. Louis University. This was the Barclay who pitched in the game that won for University of Virginia the championship of the South over the Washington and Lee University, the contest being reported by Chadwick for his publication. Nor was that all. Not content with his pitching victories in America, the St. Louisan crossed the ocean and pitched a winning game for "Columbia," a newly organized college club in the University of Berlin. The victory, however, dearest to his heart, the one this ex-member of the Missouri State Supreme Court loves to talk about most, was the one played in St. Louis, May 23, 1867, by the Olympics and the Pickwicks, a contest between the college clubs of, respectively, Washington University of St. Louis and St. Louis University, the latter winning with Barclay as the pitcher. The Judge remembers that Nat Hazard pitched for the Olympics and that the only player in that locally famous game still living, besides the two pitchers, is George A. Strong, now a New York lawyer,who played second base for Washington University. The umpire of the game was Adam Wirth, of the St. Louis Fire Department, as before stated, and nationally famous (because of the honor of having his picture in Harper's Weekly) as the first baseman of the old St. Louis Empire Club. The judge told of a game in which one side scored 127 runs, but I think that was another contest, perhaps one between the Unions and Nationals. Judge Barclay died November 17, 1925.

I have several letters somewhere from Henry Chadwick, but have mislaid them. In one he expressed a great desire that I try to locate a championship baseball won by the St. Louis Unions, rivals of the Empires, and have it presented to The Missouri Historical Society, but I have not been able to find it. The ball has gilt lettering and some reader of this page may know where it is.

-From A Newspaper Man's Motion-Picture Of The City

Note: This is a fascinating piece by Kelsoe on the St. Louis amateur baseball scene of the 1860's. The first thing that jumped out at me was Kelsoe's statement that the Union had defeated the Nationals which was simply not true. Also, there's obviously some connection between the St. Louis Fire Department and the Empire Club which I was only vaguely aware of and that needs further research. It's also interesting that Kelsoe states that the Reds were excluded from the amateur championship when I have other sources that say they not only competed for the championship but they actually won it in the early 1870's. Finally, the ball that Chadwick was looking for may have been the ball that was used in the game between the Morning Stars and the Cyclones in 1860, the first game played in St. Louis. Supposedly, the ball was gilded and used as a trophy ball in St. Louis for years. According to Merritt Griswold, the ball was last in the hands of the Empire Club.

"Chicago Is Sorry She Was Ever Rebuilt"

If I could choose one game in the history of baseball to attend, I would without hesitation choose the May 6, 1875 game between the St. Louis Brown Stockings and the Chicago White Stockings at the Grand Avenue Ballpark. While the game itself was not a great one, its significance was enormous.

Since its inception, the Chicago club had been coming down to St. Louis and having its way with the best teams the city had to offer. This was extraordinarily galling to the people of St. Louis for several reasons. First, they were proud of their baseball teams, players, and tradition and were not pleased to have outsiders come in and trounce their favorites. Second, and more importantly, the rivalry between St. Louis and Chicago was alive and very real by this time. The two cities were in a fight for the economic dominance of what would come to be called the Midwest. Both cities were experiencing tremendous growth in population and economic development and were, by 1870, the fourth (St. Louis) and fifth (Chicago) largest cities in the United States. This rivalry with Chicago, both on the baseball diamond and in general, was the major impetus for the creation of St. Louis professional teams that would compete in the NA for the championship.

In A Newspaper Man's Motion-Picture of the City, W. A. Kelsoe has a nice account of the first meeting between the new St. Louis professional club and the hated White Stockings which is reproduced in full below.

DEDICATION OF SPORTSMAN'S PARK TO PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL

Under an announcement, May 6, that the Chicago Baseball Club would arrive in St. Louis from Keokuk at 8:30 that morning, the Times printed this item under the headline "Spicy Correspondence":

"A telegram was received from Chicago as follows: 'To W. C. Steigers, Times Office, St. Louis, Mo.-I am authorized to ask of you if the St. Louis club will bet $1,000 against the Chicago club on the result of the coming match. Money up. Answer. (signed), Ralph A. Ladd, Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago.' Mr. Steigers, vice-president and acting president of the St. Louis club, promptly replied: 'St. Louis, May 5. To Ralph A. Ladd, Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago. The St. Louis club will not gamble. I think individuals here will accommodate you in any amount from one to ten thousand dollars. (signed), W. C. Steigers.'"

The morning these telegrams were published (May 6) the famous Chicago White Stockings arrived in St. Louis and that afternoon the city's second professional baseball game was played, the first one for St. Louis in which another city was represented. It was the dedication of Grand Avenue Park, now called Sportsman's Park, to professional baseball. The contest ended in a victory for the Browns by the score of 10 to 0. Adam Wirth, a member of the St. Louis Fire Department and a member also of our crack amateur ball club, the Empires, umpired that historic game. It was a one-sided game and Adam had no close plays to decide. George Washington Bradley held the visitors to four hits, all of them singles, and only three Chicago men were left on base. St. Louis made 13 hits, with a total of twenty bases, and seven men were left on base. "The crowd was simply enormous," said the St. Louis Times next morning, and a little further on the paper continued: "A rope had to be extended across a portion of the right field (then on the northside of the park) to give relief to those who were packed like sardines in a box against the fence between the field and the seats (bleachers).

* * * A comical sight was when the occupants of the eastern tiers rose en masse to stretch, the effect being indescribably ludicrous * * *

When the surprise was over and the fact that the Whites had drawn a nest of goose-eggs was realized, the entire assemblage in the seats arose and shouted until they were hoarse. They danced and sang and threw their hats in the air. They kissed, wept and laughed over each other, embraced, shook hands, slapped each other's backs and ran to and fro like mad men. " When the Boston champions were here a little later another such scene occurred, but it hardly equalled this one as seen from the press seats. All the St. Louis papers made a big ado over our victory. The Globe's report (written by Wm. M. Spink), had a long head topped with the one word "Chicagoed," which was explained in the introduction in this way: "In 1870 when the Mutuals (of New York) defeated the Chicagos by the score of 10 to 0, the baseball term 'skunked' was changed to the less vulgar and equally suggestive expression 'Chicagoed,' which the Whites (Chicagos) now, more than ever, are fairly entitled to." How the Chicago papers took the defeat of the Whites in St. Louis may be inferred from one (the third) of ten "lines" in the head of the Chicago Tribune's report of the game: "The fate of the two cities decided by eighteen hired men. St. Louis no longer wants to be the national capital and Chicago is sorry she was ever rebuilt."

Kelsoe was not exaggerating about the reaction of the crowd to the victory. Other sources tell of the people streaming out of the ballpark and parading jubilantly through the streets of the city with the crowd growing and growing as news of the victory spread. The celebration lasted throughout the night, the next day, and carried over into the second game between the Brown Stockings and White Stockings on May 8th. When the home team won that game 4-3, the celebration again went well into the night.

With the victory on May 6th, coupled with that of May 8th, the baseball honor of St. Louis was restored, a blow was struck in the rivalry with Chicago, and professional baseball was established in the city on a firm foundation of popular support.