Eclipse Vs. Black Stockings: Game Three

The Eclipse and Black Sox, the local colored rivals, will play their third game to-day at Compton Avenue Park.  The Black Sox's regular pitcher, Davis, will be on hand to twirl for his club, who claim their defeat from the Eclipses was due to his absence.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 12, 1884

The game between the colored clubs at Compton Avenue Park yesterday afternoon resulted in favor of the Eclipse Club, who defeated the Black Sox by a score of 10 to 2.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 13, 1884

Champions Beyond Question

The Eclipse nine defeated the Black Stockings yesterday at Compton Avenue Park, and are now the colored champions beyond question.  The attendance was very large.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 15, 1884

Two Newly Organized Clubs Of This City

A match of base ball was played on Sunday afternoon, September 27th, between two newly organized clubs of this city - Hope and Eclipse - which was a decided victory of the former.  Umpire, David Coyle; Scorers, J. Fountain and J.H. Teahen...

-Missouri Republican, September 28, 1863

This goes to what I was talking about yesterday.  Here we have two new clubs forming in September 1863, at the height of the Civil War, when our general theory about the effect of the war on the growth of the game would lead us to believe that this wouldn't be happening.  Among the eighteen players in this game, which the Hope won 26-21, I don't recognize one name.  So these were not the pioneer players of the antebellum years or guys who were playing in the first few years of the war.  These look like new players taking up the game and forming new clubs while St. Louis is under martial law and millions of men are fighting on battlefields across the country.

Again, I have to say that the evidence supports the idea that the war had little or no effect on the growth of the game in St. Louis.  

Was That So Hard?

A large crowd witnessed the game at Compton Avenue Park yesterday afternoon, between the Eclipse and Black Sox, the two leading colored nines.  The Eclipse team won by a score of 7 to 5.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 4, 1884

See how easy that was?  Just give us the clubs, the score and a little information about the crowd.  That's all I want.  That and the box score.  How about a box score next time?

The Two Leading Local Colored Base Ball Organizations

The Black Sox and Eclipse nines, representing the two leading local colored base ball organizations, will play at Compton Avenue Park this afternoon, beginning at 4 o'clock.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 3, 1884

I've probably mentioned this before but I'm disappointed in the Globe's 1884 coverage of black baseball in St. Louis.  I know that, in general, their coverage of black baseball was poor, at best, but I expected much more than I've found.  My thinking was that, whenever baseball grew in popularity in St. Louis, the Globe expanded their baseball coverage and you'd have more coverage of the amateur clubs, the minor professional clubs and the black clubs.  Now, generally speaking, this is true and there is a great deal of information about the St. Louis amateur and minor professional clubs in the paper in 1884.  They just didn't cover the black clubs beyond the occasional blurb mentioning that a game was scheduled to be played.  There is hardly nothing on games themselves.  There are no game accounts and no box scores.  It's disappointing.

Asa Price's Obituary

While looking around for more information on the Price brothers, I found Asa Price's obituary.  It was a bit tough to read so I'm transcribing it the best I can.

On Thursday, July 31st, 1889, of [malarial] fever, in this city at the [illegible] Died, Acie Price, aged 23 years. 

Mr. Price was a native of St. Louis, Mo.  Four years ago he came to this city with the Eclipse Base Ball Club of that city and remained here until his death.  By his excellent manners he had gathered around him a host of friends and admirers.

 He was a prominent member of the champion Pinchback's...He was buried by the Pinchback Base Ball Club and his remains were followed to their last resting place by a number of friends.  May he rest in peace.

-Weekly Pelican, August 3, 1889

The Weekly Pelican was an African-American newspaper published in New Orleans from 1886 to 1889.

The words along the left margin of this article were distorted and difficult to read.  I'm reasonably certain that I have Price's cause of death, malarial fever, correct but it was a bit of an educated guess.  

The Price Brothers

After I put up this post about the Metropolitans the other day, I received an email from Dwayne Isgrig.  The post mentioned that A. Price and D. Price played for the Metropolitans and Dwayne, with an attention to detail that normally escapes me, noted that there was a gentleman named Price who played for the Pinchbacks of New Orleans in 1888.  This caused me to look into the matter a bit further and I discovered that Asa Price and  David Price were living together in a boarding house in St. Louis in 1880.  It was evident from the census data that I found that the two were brothers.

I did a bit more digging and a search lead me back to my own website (which it often does) and this comment from James Brunson:

Asa "Acie" Price the coacher for Walter L. Cohen's Pinchbacks came from St. Louis. In 1885, Acie and his brother, David, served as the St. Louis Eclipse Club battery. That same year, the Black Stockings and Eclipse Club put together a team that traveled to New Orleans and played all the local colored teams. Following this road tour, David Price returned to St. Louis and Acie stayed in New Orleans and played for Cohen.

In 1889 Price died of yellow fever and was buried in New Orleans. Only 23 years old, he was buried [in his] baseball uniform.

The information that I found in the census data stated that the Price brothers were born in Kentucky, David around 1863 and Asa around 1865.  It appears that they were working in some kind of mill, although I found it difficult to read their occupation information.

The Price brothers are also mentioned in Brunson's excellent piece on Henry Bridgewater and the Black Stockings:

Throughout the season [of 1884], the Black Stockings faced many challengers, including the Eclipse Club, its chief competitor for the title colored champion.  In late August, these colored clubs battled for the championship.  Managed by Charles Brooks, the Eclipse Club included the celebrated battery of Acie Price and Dave Price.  They beat Bridgewater's nine three straight games, the final contest witnessed by 2,000 spectators....

He also mentions that David Price played for Bridgewater's Black Stockings in 1887.

I have to thank Dwayne and James because, without them, I never would have seen how all of this information fit together.  I may not have a lot of readers but the ones I have are pretty smart.   

The Eclipse Base Ball Club

The Black Sox and Eclipse nines, representing the two leading local colored base ball organizations, will play at Compton Avenue Park this afternoon, beginning at 4 o'clock.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, August 3, 1884

At this point, I've identified seven 19th century African-American baseball clubs in the St. Louis: the Blue Stockings, the Sunsets, the Black Stockings, the Belleville, Illinois club, the Lebanon, Illinois club, the Nine Stars, and the Eclipse.