More Civil War-Era St. Louis Baseball Clubs

A match game of base ball came off on Thursday afternoon, between the Laclede and Young Commercial Base Ball Clubs, which resulted in a victory for the former.

A match game was also played yesterday afternoon on Gamble Lawn, between the St. Louis and Missouri Base Ball Clubs, which resulted in the defeat of the former.

-Missouri Republican, May 7, 1864


We continue to discover more baseball clubs that played in St. Louis during the Civil War.

I was aware that the Lacledes had organized in 1861 but this is the first evidence that I think I've ever seen of them playing a match during the war years.  The Young Commercials, I have always assumed, were the same club as the Commercial Juniors, who I knew were active during the war, but I should really look into that more.  And here we also find evidence of the existence, during the war, of the St. Louis and Missouri Clubs.

I should also point out that the St. Louis/Missouri match is more evidence of the popularity of Gamble Lawn as a site of games during the war.    

Tobias Was Holding Out On Us

At a meeting of the "Commercial Base Ball Club," the following gentlemen were elected officers for the ensuing year:

Wm. Bliss Clark, Esq., President.
A.W. Howe, Esq., Vice President.
Jno. W. Donaldson, Esq., Secretary and Treasurer.
Messrs. C.F. Gauss, Edwin Fowler and Hy. L. Clark, Directors; and Messrs. E.H. Tobias and E.C. Simmons, Field Captains.

-Missouri Republican, May 3, 1863

While he mentioned that he was a member of the Commercials, Edmund Tobias never bothered to mention that he was one of the captains of the club during the Civil War.  I also don't believe he ever mentioned the fact that the Commercials played during the war.  In fact, I believe that he specifically mentioned that the club broke up at the beginning of the war.  But I guess I can find it in my heart to forgive the Herodotus of 19th century St. Louis baseball. 

Captain Tobias' club was one of the most important pioneer-era baseball clubs in St. Louis and I regret not writing about them in Base Ball Pioneers.  When the publication of the book got pushed back, I mentioned to Peter Morris that I wanted to add something about the club to my chapter, which was already completed.  In the end, I choose not to do so even though Peter thought it was a good idea.  I liked my chapter as it was and while I had some information on the Commercials, I just didn't think I had enough to put together something interesting.  Of course, it's three years later and I know a lot more about the club.  I know that they were one of the two most active clubs in St. Louis during the Civil War.  I know about their role in developing Lafayette Park as a baseball grounds.  I know more about the members of the club.  I know that they had a junior club.  I know who their officers were in 1863.

The Commercials have been overlooked by baseball historians.  That's something I want to rectify.        

Tom Oran, Umpire

A game between the Enterprise and Young Commercial Clubs yesterday, for a ball, resulted in the success of the Enterprise, who scored twenty0two to the other's five, putting also six white-washes on the Young Commercial.  Field Captain for the Enterprise, John Berry; for the Young Commercial, Frank Ellis.  Umpire, T. Orann.

The Empire Club, on Wednesday next, play their annual match game between the married and single men of the Club.  The play comes off at two o'clock, on Gamble Lawn.

-Missouri Republican, April 17, 1864

On Empire Ground

A Match Game of Base Ball, between Excelsior and Commercial Juniors, will take place This Day, at 2 o'clock, P.M., on Empire ground.

-Missouri Republican, May 25, 1861

I'm pretty sure that "on Empire ground" means Gamble's Lawn. 

The Commercial's Club Room

Commercial Base Ball Club - There will be a meeting of the members of this Club at their room, (Gas Company's Building,) No. 31 Pine street on Thursday, 13th March, 1862.  A full attendance is requested, as business of importance will come before the meeting.  Wallace Delafield, Secretary.

-Missouri Republican, March 12, 1862


This is significant because it gives us the address of the Commercial's club room during the Civil War.  Also, I can't remember if I ever mentioned that Delafield was an officer of the club or not so let's pretend that this is new information.   

The Commercial Club At Gamble Lawn

The Commercial Base Ball Club have their regular field exercise on Gamble Lawn this Saturday afternoon.  Members are requested to be prompt in attendance, and Base Ball players generally are invited to the field.

-Missouri Republican, June 18, 1864


This is really interesting.  One of the last references to the Commercial Club in the Republican was in 1863 and it was in regards to their trying to get a clubhouse built at Lafayette Park.  That request was taken to the Common Council, where it was placed in the hands of a subcommittee who forwarded it to the Board of Improvements.  I'm not sure what happened after that.  However, here we find the club holding their practice days at Gamble Lawn and that leads me to believe that the club's request was turned down.  If they had been allowed to build a clubhouse at Lafayette Park, they would be playing at Lafayette Park.  But they're not.

Also of interest is the general invitation that the club extended to all ball players.  Why would they do that?  Was the club short players?  Was the war having a negative effect on the number of players in the city?  Or was it just courtesy?  Maybe they were just being nice but I'm not sure if I've ever seen an open invitation like that to a club's practice day.        

For The Purpose Of Securing Their Clothing While Playing Base Ball

Mr. Dailey presented a petition from members of the Commercial Base Ball Club, asking the passage of an ordinance granting them permission to erect a building at Lafayette Park for the purpose of securing their clothing while playing base ball.  Referred to special committee of three.

-Missouri Democrat, June 13, 1863


A couple of months ago, I posted a little something about this but this piece from the Missouri Democrat gives us the added details about the building the Commercials wanted to put up at the park.  Again, I have to point out that this is an unexpected expansion of baseball activity at a time when our general thinking about the effects of the Civil War on baseball activity would lead us to think that there would be a contraction in the number of clubs and games being played.  If the war had a negative effect on the health of the game, you wouldn't expect to see the Commercial Club wanting to build a clubhouse at Lafayette Park in 1863.

The question of what kind of effect the Civil War had on baseball is an interesting one and now is not really the time to get into it.  But the old conventional wisdom that the war helped spread the game is, to say the least, unsupported by evidence.  There is substantially more evidence that the growth of the game was hindered by the war.  However, the evidence that I'm finding for Civil War-era St. Louis doesn't seem to fit into either one of those two categories.  The war did not influence the spread of the game to St. Louis because it was already being played here before the war broke out.  On the other hand, the war doesn't seem to have hindered it's growth or popularity much.  Yes, there were clubs that broke up due to the war.  Yes, we see much more activity among junior clubs than senior clubs.  But it appears that there were more clubs active in St. Louis in any given year of the war than there were in 1859 or 1860.  The game continued to grow in St. Louis during the war.  And that is not what I expected to find when I started looking through the Civil War newspapers.

St. Louis certainly has a unique place in baseball history, as well as American history in general, so I don't think it's possible to say that what we find in St. Louis during the war applies to the rest of the nation.  However, what was taking place in St. Louis must be accounted for.  It's impossible to say now that the war had an overall negative effect on the spread and growth of the game because the war seemed to have little effect on the growth of the game in St. Louis, where it was new and had just taken root.  The only way to argue that the war had a negative effect on the growth of the game in St. Louis is to say that it would have grown more than it did from 1861 to 1865 if not for the war.  I think you may be able to argue that but then you're arguing hypotheticals and degrees and things that can never be proven.

The bottom line is that no currant interpretation of the effect of the Civil War on the spread and growth of baseball fits the evidence that we find in Civil War-era St. Louis.                     

July 4, 1863

There will be an interesting game of Base Ball during the afternoon of the 4th, on the grounds of the Commercial Club, in Lafayette Park.  We understand the game is to be composed of representatives from the various Clubs of the city, and will undoubtedly be an exciting one.  

-Missouri Democrat, July 3, 1863


I looked high and low for more information about this game but, sadly, couldn't find anything.  I really want the box score from this game.  I want to know who played in the game and what clubs were represented.  I want to know how big the crowd was.  I want to know everything there is to know about this game.

Because this game took place on one of the most extraordinary days in the history of the United States.  Gettysburg ended with a Union victory the day before and Vicksburg surrendered that day.  Two days earlier, the outcome of the Civil War was still in doubt.  But, by the Fourth of July, 1863, as St. Louis celebrated the holiday by watching a baseball game in Lafayette Park, the war had reached its turning point and the Union would move surely, although slowly and with great cost, onward to victory.

What continues to amaze me about baseball in St. Louis during the Civil War is that these great and terrible events transpire in parallel to the commonplace.  It's things like this game taking place the day after Pickett's Charge and the day of the fall of Vicksburg.  It's the Empire Club having to postpone their anniversary game in 1865 because of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.  It's a game being played in St. Louis the day Stonewall Jackson died.  You study the Civil War and ready the histories and spend decades of your life trying to learn about and understand the events of the era but it's almost impossible to understand what life was truly like for the people who lived through it.  You can read the diaries and memoirs and still never come close to understanding what life was like during the Civil War.

For me, that's why the study of 19th century baseball is so important.  It's the common, everyday stuff of life that we can all relate to and understand.  We use baseball, something that we love and understand, as a conduit into the lives of people that are so far removed from us.  Baseball is the common ground and the common language that we can use to try, just a bit, to understand what life was like in 1863.  We really can't understand what people felt upon hearing the news about Gettysburg and Vicksburg but I know what it's like to play in a baseball game on the Fourth of July.  I know what it's like to watch a game on the Fourth.  And in that sense, I can put myself in the place of the people who played in and watched the game at Lafayette Park on July 4, 1863.  In that sense, I can get a bit closer in understanding what their life was like.  

Praying The Privilege

Lafayette Park

The Special Committee to whom was referred the petition of the Commercial Base Ball Club praying the privilege of erecting a building at Lafayette Park reported the same back and recommended that it be referred to the Board of Improvements of Lafayette Park.  Report adopted.

-Missouri Republican, June 27, 1863


Not only was the Commercial Club active during the war but they were in a position to attempt to make improvements to their grounds at Lafayette Park.  I think this speaks to the possibility that not only was a great deal of baseball being played in St. Louis during the Civil War but it was thriving and growing to the point were the Commercials wanted to build a permanent clubhouse on their grounds.  Also, the environment in St. Louis was such that this was possible.

I think it's interesting to compare this petition to the Common Council to the ones in 1861, when both the Cyclones and Commercials were presenting petitions for the use of Lafayette Park as a baseball ground and for permission to improve the grounds.  That was just before the war broke out.  Here we see pretty much the exact same process taking place at the height of the war.  This report was adopted a few days before Gettysburg and the fall of Vicksburg.  So, at a moment when the war was raging and still in doubt, the Commercials were looking to make improvements to the grounds at Lafayette Park.

Also, it should be noted that I thought Lafayette Park was not being used for baseball during the war.  The secondary sources stated that the park was seized by the military and used as an encampment for troops.  Now that did happen and the Union army was using the park by the summer of 1861.  But it also appears that the Commercials were also using the park in 1862 and 1863.  If you're looking for evidence that soldiers, unfamiliar with the Regulation game, was exposed to baseball during the war, here's a place you should look.  It seems very possible that both the army and the Commercials were using Lafayette Park at the same time.  If that's true, the Commercials must have been getting great crowds for their games, as I'm sure the soldiers, bored with camp life, were looking for any form of entertainment and wandered over to see some baseball.  While I'm still not particularly convinced that the war helped to spread the game (and by not particularly convinced, I mean not convinced at all), I can see the possibility here to gather evidence in support of that argument.    

Tom Oran During The Civil War

A match game of Base Ball was played yesterday afternoon, on Gamble's Lawn, between the Commercial, Jr., and Cyclone clubs...

-Missouri Republican, June 2, 1863


This is pretty neat.  I think that the earliest we had traced Oran's baseball career was to 1867, when he was playing with the Olympics.  But now we know that Oran, who around 16 years old in 1863, was not only in St. Louis during the Civil War but he was also playing baseball.

Oran, of course, was the first Native American to play in the major leagues.

Also, it should be noted that this Cyclone Club was not the same club that was founded by Merritt Griswold in 1859.  That club broke up sometime in 1861.  

A Great Piece Of Advertising

This is just a fantastic piece of baseball-related advertising from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 6, 1884:

Click on the thing to get a good look at it and see how big it was.  Also of note is that the owner of the Simons Hardware Company was E.C. Simons, a pioneer-era St. Louis baseball player who was a member of both the Commercials and the Unions.

Interesting To Many Of Our Citizens

There will be a friendly match of Base Ball between the Commercial and Cyclone Base Ball Clubs, on Wednesday, September 4th, at 4 o'clock, P.M., on the Empire's Ground.  The game will be according to the United States Convention rules, now so extensively played in all our principal cities, and will undoubtedly be very interesting to many of our citizens who have never seen the game.  Were there a suitable ground in some of our public parks, it would be much more agreeable to lady spectators, and it is to be hoped our Common Council, or Park Commissioners, will give this their early attention.  Players will take the market street cars at a quarter after three o'clock and go to Twenty fourth or Twenty sixth street, thence south five blocks.

-Missouri Republican, August 26, 1860


Why wasn't this game played at Lafayette Park?  If the Cyclones had been playing at the park since their inception, one would think that the game would have been played on their grounds.  Why did they play it on the Empires' ground?

As I talked about last week, there's the very real possibility that Lafayette Park was not used as a baseball grounds until 1861 and I think this supports that idea.  The Republican writes about the need for a suitable baseball grounds in the public parks and, if the Lafayette Grounds existed in 1860, wouldn't that have been suitable for the lady spectators?

At this point, I'm not sure what to think.      

A Empire/Commercials Match From 1860

The match game of Base Ball between the Commercial and Empire Club, resulted in favor of the Commercial.  Owing to the late hour at which the game was commenced, only five innings could be played, on which the game was decided.

-Missouri Republican, October 10, 1860


According to the St. Louis Daily Bulletin, this game was played on October 7, 1860.  Note that Merritt Griswold was the umpire.  

The Fourth Of July 1861

Married vs. Single.--This match which took place at Gamble Lawn, on the morning of the 4th, resulted in a decided victory for the married men.  The players were selected from all the senior organizations of the city, which fact imparted an unusual interest in the result of the game, as was shown by the large number of spectators present.  The play on both sides was highly commendable-in the field, as well as at the bat-and resulted in a score of 55 for the married and 32 for the single men...

-Missouri Republican, July 7, 1861


So much interesting stuff here.

First, there were a number of games played between the married and single club members in 1861.  There were at least three games played between the married and single members of the Cyclones, Commercials and Morning Star clubs and there was actually a bit of 19th century trash talking going on in the press after the single men won the first two games.  I think it's significant that the majority of games that I have a record for in 1861 were not games between senior clubs but either matches between junior clubs or a muffin game between a conglomeration of senior clubs.  I would imagine that, as May 1861 ended, the senior clubs had a difficult time finding enough men to stock their nine, as club members began going off to war.  The Civil War did not end baseball in St. Louis but there is no doubt that it made it more difficult to organize a senior club.

The second thing here is the mention that the Cyclones, Commercials, Morning Stars and Empires were the only senior clubs in St. Louis in the summer of 1861.  That's a very useful piece of information.  I have a list of about ten clubs that were competing in the summer of 1860 and the fact that there were only four in the summer of 1861 is again evidence of the negative effect of the war on baseball in St. Louis.  There were numerous junior clubs playing in 1861 but I think it's obvious that the older ballplayers had more important things to deal with in that summer.  Neither the Cyclones nor the Morning Stars survived the 1861 season.  

The last thing I want to point out is the significance of this game.  It was played on the Fourth of July 1861.  Fort Sumter was attacked on April 12, Camp Jackson fell on May 10 and, by early June, it was obvious that the war was going to be contested in Missouri.  The battle of Boonville was on June 17, the battle of Carthage would be fought on July 5 and the first battle of Bull Run would be fought in a few weeks.  It must have been a rather bittersweet holiday.  Clubs had already started to dissolve as political division and military recruitment and responsibilities began to take their toll.  I look at that box score and see men who would fight on both sides of the war.  But for one day, and possibly for the last time, they came together to celebrate the birth of their country and play the game they loved.                     

Choice Of Ground

Lafayette Park in 1859 or 1860

Mr. Chester presented the petition of the "Cyclone Base Ball Club," praying the Council to grant them the privilege of using for their playground the vacant space formerly reserved for the military at Lafayette Park, and also the right of leveling and smoothing the same for that purpose... 

[Mr. Wells] presented petition of C.L. Kretschmar, W. Delafield, et. al., members of the Commercial Base Ball Club, asking permission to use the grounds in Lafayette Park, as petitioned for by the Cyclone Club.

-Missouri Republican, March 5, 1861

Mr. Nelson from Special Committee, to whom was referred the petitions of certain Base Ball Clubs, asking permission to use Lafayette Park grounds for the purpose of playing, reported that the Cyclone have choice of ground and are permitted the first use of the ground, provided they make the improvements necessary for the game at their own expense.  The other club can have the second choice of ground.  Report accepted.

-Missouri Republican, March 9, 1861

Base Ball.--The Commercial and Cyclone Base Ball Clubs have, at a considerable expense, fitted up their play ground in Lafayette Park, and will commence playing the coming week.  The Commercials practice Mondays and Thursdays; the Cyclone Tuesdays and Fridays of each week, at 4 o'clock.  The first day of their season of the new ground (Monday) both clubs will be out and play a friendly game, to commence at half past three o'clock.

-Missouri Republican, April 28, 1861


It has always been my understanding that the Cyclones played in Lafayette Park starting in 1859 and that the park was most likely the site of the first Regulation game of baseball in St. Louis.  Obviously, other bat and ball games had been played in St. Louis prior to the advent of the Cyclones (the Morning Stars, for example, were playing town ball at Carr Park by 1858, at the latest, and town ball was most likely being played in the city by the 1840s) but the Cyclones were the first to play the New York game and, according to most sources, there grounds were located at Lafayette Park.  While they played a match game at the Fairgrounds, I've never seen a source mention that their home grounds were anywhere other than Lafayette Park.  The St. Louis Republic of April 21, 1895, quoting former Cyclone members, stated that "The grounds occupied by the club were in the center of Lafayette Park and something like $600 had been expended in putting them in order.  The grand stand was simply a tent which sheltered those who were awaiting their turn at bat or some of the many visitors who came out to see the game."  Several members of the club lived in the Lafayette Park neighborhood and it was a natural place for them to play.

However, the above information from the Republican makes me doubt the idea that the Cyclones always played at Lafayette Park.  My understanding of the source material is that the Cyclones organized in the summer of 1859 and they immediately petitioned for the use of Lafayette Park, making improvements to the grounds to make them suitable for baseball.  But we now know that the club did not petition the Common Council for use of the park until March of 1861.  It's entirely possible that the club used the park prior to this and that the source material confused the issue of when and why the club petitioned the council.  Or it means that baseball wasn't played at the park until 1861.  It's difficult to tell with the information I have at the moment.

My best guess is that the Cyclones played at Lafayette Park prior to 1861 and that the issue before the Common Council was about a dispute between the Cyclones and the Commercials over use of the park.  My reading of the material from the Republican makes me think that, with the growth of the popularity of the game in St. Louis in 1860 and the increase in the number of clubs, there was a conflict over the use of the best grounds.  Specifically, the Commercials wanted to use grounds that were, up to that time, the exclusive territory of the Cyclones.  That conflict was taken before the appropriate government agency and the dispute was settled in favor of the Cyclones, providing the club made certain improvements to the park.  Regardless of the significance of the dispute, it's obvious that it did not hurt the relationship between the two clubs, who played a friendly match at Lafayette Park in late April to open their season.

It should also be mentioned that the information found in the Republican helps us to date the military takeover of Lafayette Park in 1861.  We know that Union troops took over the park sometime in the summer of 1861 and baseball activities there ceased.  Obviously this did not take place prior to the end of April 1861.  The conflict at Camp Jackson didn't take place until May and things really didn't come to a head in Missouri until June.  There is evidence that games were played at Lafayette Park as late as June 7 but games in early July, that normally would have been played there, were being played at Gamble Lawn.  So, if I had to guess, I'd say that Union troops took control of Lafayette Park sometime in June of 1861.            

Let Us Cross Over The River And Rest Under The Shade Of The Trees

A match game of base ball was played at Gamble Lawn, Saturday evening, between the "Baltic" and "Young Commercial" base ball club, which was decided in favor of the latter (by a score of 34-25).

-Missouri Democrat, May 11, 1863

This is rather significant because, at the moment, this is the only record of a match game played in St. Louis during the Civil War (excluding the questionable April-June 1865 period). All other references are to intramural club games.

Not only was this game played during the war, it was played right in the middle of the war when things were as bad as they could be. The future of the Union, in May of 1863, was very much in doubt. To put it in context, the battle of Chancellorsville was fought during the first week of May and Lee launched his second invasion of the North on June 3. Gettysburg would be fought less then two months after this game was played. This game took place at the height of the war.

And just to add a bit more color, Stonewall Jackson (pictured above) died on May 10, the day before the game was played.

Another note of interest is the reference to the "Young Commercial" club. It's unknown if this is a reference to the Commercials, a junior auxiliary of the club or a completely unrelated club. One would imagine that the first or second option is most likely.

The Old And Well Known Commercial Base Ball Club

The old and well known Commercial Base Ball Club having completed their arrangements for the season, will resume their field exercises on Saturday, the 5th inst., at 4 o'clock P.M., on their beautiful grounds in Lafayette Park. Base ball players and all lovers of out-door sports are invited. Regular field days are Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. Below will be found a list of officers for the year:

President, E.H. Tobias

Vice President, A.W. Senter

Secretary and Treasurer, H.L. Clark

Directors, C.F. Gauss, P.H. Jacobs and Jas. S. Wilgus

Field Captains, Edwin Fowler, David Hutchinson

-Missouri Democrat, April 4, 1862

This puts the final nail in the idea that the Empire Club was the only active baseball club during the war years. The question remains, however, as to how active the baseball scene was in St. Louis during the 1861-1864 period. Certainly it was not as active as in 1860 or 1865 when there were about a dozen clubs in existence. Without looking through my notes for the period, I'd say that there were four or five clubs active each season. When I'm done posting all this new material, I'll go through it, post some general thoughts and put together a list of Civil War-era clubs.

So where did the idea come from that the Empires were the only active club in St. Louis during the Civil War. Obviously it wasn't Tobias, who probably would have remembered being the president of a war-era club. Looking back through the Tobias material, I found this: "It was in the latter years of the '50's that base ball found a permanent lodgement here and in 1860, 1861, and 1862 it became quite 'the craze...'" I'm sure I've read this before and must have ignored it because it didn't fit with my idea that the St. Louis Civil War-era baseball scene was a relatively barren one. So Tobias, while not giving much in the way of details, did give leave some clues about what was going on.

Al Spink? I just skimmed The National Game and don't see any reference to the Civil War. Spink did give a list of the Empire Club's officers and field captains for the era and this was certainly my basis for stating that the club was active during the war years. But I don't find a statement that the Empires were the only club active.

I don't know where I came up with the idea or what the basis for my thinking was. There might be a record of it somewhere on this blog but I'm too lazy to look for it. The main point here, however, is that I was wrong and there were several clubs active in St. Louis during the Civil War. While the outbreak of war impeded the growth and development of the game in St. Louis, it didn't kill it and it didn't diminish the game to the extent that I had previously believed.

I should also point out the use of Lafayette Park by the Commercial Club. The Cyclones had been using the grounds in the antebellum era and, in 1861, the grounds were commandeered by Federal troops for use as an encampment. This is evidence that the park was being used as a baseball grounds during the war years.

Charles F. Gauss

Gauss, Charles Frederick, wholesale hats, caps, etc; born in St. Charles Co., Mo., May 30, 1838; son of Charles W. and Louisa A. (Fallenstein) Gauss; educated in public schools; married, St. Louis, 1861, Mary Lamoureux (now deceased); 2d, St. Louis, 1879, Ida H. Smith; children: Adele (Mrs. C.W. Bullen), Emma (Mrs. Samuel H. Young), Louisa (Mrs J.P. Annan), Sadie (Mrs. George S. Tenney).  Began business career as a clerk for Crow, McCreery & Co., wholesale dry goods, St. Louis, in 1855, and in fall of 1856 became clerk for Fallenstein & Gauss, wholesale boots and shoes.  In 1860 started wholesale hat business in a small way; associated with partners as Krausse, Hunecke & Gauss, later becoming Gauss, Hunecke & Co.; the firm subsequently incorporated as the Gauss-Shelton Hat Co., afterwards changing to present style of Gauss-Langenberg Hat Co., wholesale hats, caps, gloves, umbrellas, etc., of which is president.  Director Merchants-Laclede National Bank, American Central Insurance Co.  Was a member of Co. A, First Regiment, Missouri National Guard.  Mason (Blue Lodge).  Clubs: St. Louis Country, Noonday.  Recreation: golf.

 -The Book of St. Louisans

Gauss, according to the article in the St. Louis Daily Republic of February 9, 1896, was a member of the Commercial Club.

Some Friendly Matches

A friendly match was played on Saturday west of the Fair Grounds, between the Tiger and the Lone Star Clubs, resulting in the success of the latter Club.

-St. Louis Daily Bulletin, October, 1, 1860

A friendly match will be played, this afternoon, on the Empire grounds, between the "Union" and "Lone Star" clubs.

To-morrow afternoon a match will be played between the "Empire" and "Commercial" clubs.

-St. Louis Daily Bulletin, October 6, 1860

The Tiger Club was a new one to me.  Had never heard of them.  But including the Tigers, we now know of nine antebellum baseball clubs in St. Louis.  

This Fine Game

Base Ball.-This fine game we are pleased to see is becoming very popular in our city, and it is to be hoped the interest taken in it will continue unabated.  The young men here are very much confined by business, and some of them really need out of door exercise of some kind, and we know of no innocent sport which is healthier or more interesting than the game of base ball.  At present there are some five or six clubs in existence, each having from thirty to forty members, and it is understood two or three more clubs are now forming, and it is presumed others will be created from time to time, and the thousands of sickly looking young men and boys now to been around town will begin to look hale and hearty, something like the iron-nerved man of fifty years ago were wont to look.  And right here we will say to the ladies, that they can do much towards advancing their healthy exercise by encouraging the players with their divine presence.  They may go out to the play grounds and run no risk of having harsh or ungentlemanly language grate in their ears, for the rules of all clubs are very strict, and no one who does not know how to behave like a gentleman can be admitted.  It is currently reported around town that the Commercial will play the Empire Club during Fair week.  Should a match be made between the clubs, some extra playing may be expected.  The Empire's have thus far held the champion bat, but they will have to be on alert when they come in contact with the Commercial boys, or it will be taken from them.

-St. Louis Daily Bulletin, September 18, 1860