To Stop Base Ball On Sunday

Before I get to game two of the 1886 World Series, I thought I'd pass this along:

Two weeks ago a movement was commenced looking to the more proper observance of the Sabbath on the part of business men of [Edwardsville, Illinois,] and also to the abolition of Sunday games, especially base ball. The matter was undertaken by the W.C.T.U. and their friends. As soon as the first meeting was held the merchants of the city voluntarily signed an agreement to not keep open at all on Sundays, beginning next Sunday. At the meeting to-night in the Sunday school room of St. John's M.E. Church the matter was viewed in its legal status, and a committee was appointed to wait upon the Mayor to-morrow and ask his assistance in compelling saloons and all classes of business except drug stores and livery stables, to close. It was determined to endeavor by moral suasion to stop base ball on Sunday, and if that failed then legal process is to be adopted.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, September 15, 1886

Edwardsville, which is just across the river from St. Louis, had a baseball tradition that stretched back to at least to 1870 and, in the mid-1880s, the Madisons of Edwardsville were one of the best clubs in the area. It appears that they liked to play on Sundays and that some of their fellow citizens wished to put a stop to that.

This fits with some of my ideas about Sunday baseball in St. Louis in a couple of ways. The fact that Edwardsville clubs were playing baseball on Sunday fits with the general pattern of St. Louis Sunday baseball during this era. Also, the fact that there was a group trying to put an end to that practice is a bit unique in the region and shows the difference between the Creole/German/Irish Catholic influenced culture of St. Louis and the culture in Southern Illinois, an area settled by Americans from Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. While Edwardsville was a satellite of St. Louis, it was settled by a different group of people with a different culture and that produced a different outlook towards Sabbath observance.

Maybe It Was Something In The Water

A match game of base ball was played on Friday last, between the Kunstausstellungsgebaude and Magnolia clubs of this place, in which the former got beaten.  That name is enough to beat anything.

-The Edwardsville Intelligencer, May 19, 1870

So what's the deal with club names in Edwardsville.  First there was the Chargoggaggogmanchoggogogg and here's the Kunstausstellungsgebaude.  It's all fun and games until you have to type it out.  I will say that at least Kunstausstellungsgebaude appears to be a real word.  I played around with a German-English dictionary but couldn't figure out what it means.   

The Magnolia Club Celebrates Its Anniversary

On Thursday evening, Nov. 24, the Magnolia Base Ball club, of Edwardsville, will give their first annual ball at Kinder's Hall.  Tickets of admission, $1,50.

-The Edwardsville Intelligencer, November 17, 1870

The ball given last week at Kinder's hall, by the Magnolia Base Ball Club of this place, on the occasion of their first anniversary, was a pleasant affair, was well attended, and passed off quietly and to the satisfaction of all concerned.

-The Edwardsville Intelligencer, December 1, 1870

The Base Ball Nuisance

The base ball nuisance commenced here again on Sunday last.

-The Edwardsville Intelligencer, April 8, 1874

We hear several complaints about boys bathing in ponds near private dwellings in the city...It is as great a nuisance as base ball on Sundays, and ought to be stopped in some manner.  But it seems that it is not the duty of the city marshal nor has he any authority to make arrests in such cases, although he is an eye-witness to the offence.  Base-ballers may come here from all parts of the country every Sunday during the summer months and they can go through the streets singing ribald songs, swearing and even knocking the ministers' hats off with a ball as they go into church and yet the city police is invested with no power to make arrests...Fifteen years ago the people of Edwardsville would no more think of tolerating base ball in the town on Sunday than they would a circus.

-The Edwardsville Intelligencer, July 8, 1874

The Intelligencer has no particular objection to base ball playing but it objects to the manner in which it is done in this city.  Every Sunday the town is overrun with as rowdy a set of fellows as ever congregated together.  Base ball seems to be preeminently suited to this class of people.  When they retire from the field, they go through the streets yelling, cussing and singing to the great annoyance of law-abiding citizens.  A batch was here from Collinsville last Sunday and the way they conducted themselves was a disgrace...Where does our town police keep themselves on Sunday?

-The Edwardsville Intelligencer, October 21, 1874

I'm not sure how serious to take these accounts of the behavior of amateur clubs given the Intelligencer's anti-baseball editorial stance but, if accurate, they're rather colorful.  And it really is a shame that the Intelligencer took this anti-baseball stance because in the early 1870's they were covering baseball to a certain extent and it would have been nice if their coverage had grown and developed.  While they returned to a positive coverage of the game in the 1880's, it would have been nice to have had another source for baseball from this era.  

Also, I believe that this is the earliest reference to a Collinsville baseball club that I've come across.    

The Champions Of Madison County

This afternoon the champions of Madison County, Ill., are to put in an appearance at the Grand Avenue Park, where they will endeavor to trounce the crack club of St. Louis.  The Edwardsville Club gained its title by defeating the Alton cracks and other organizations of a like caliber, and their friends are not a bit uneasy as to the outcome of to-day's contest.  The Edwardsville Club plays a splendid game, both at the bat and in the field, and will undoubtedly make it warm for the St. Louis professionals.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 6, 1879

The game of base ball played yesterday afternoon, between the Edwardsville, Illinois, team and the St. Louis Browns, at the Grand Avenue Park, proved to be a one-sided affair, as at the end of the ninth round the Madison County Suckers had a whole nest full of goose eggs while the Browns had twenty-six runs on their side of the book.  A great many pretty plays were made by both sides, and the 300 spectators in attendance applauded them heartily.  The Browns batted splendidly.  Twenty-four safe hits were made by the Browns, while only one was got in by the Illinois crew...

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 7, 1879

Caught On The Fly, 1871 Style

Local Base Ball Notes

Last Saturday the Chargoggaggoggmanchoggogogg club, of this town, played the first of a series of three games with the Eureka club of Brighton, on the grounds of the latter club. The Edwardsvillians lost the game by 7 points. The next game will be played at Alton some time during the present month, and a third on the fair grounds at this place during the annual fair of the agricultural society.

On Monday evening last, those interested met at the court-house and formed a club, to be known as the Red Caps. The old Magnolias and the Chargog (&c., &c.,) are merged in the new club.

At the fair grounds, during the progress of the German Catholic picnic on the 4th, a game of base ball was attempted; but the excessive heat, etc., caused some of the players to wilt, and the game was abandoned.

There will be a practice game this afternoon on the grounds occupied by the Magnolias last season.

-Edwardsville Intelligencer, July 6, 1871

A couple of notes: The full name of the Chargog Club is not a typo. That's exactly as it appears in the Intelligencer. Also, for those who don't know, Brighton, Illinois is the home town of former Cardinal Jason Isringhausen.

An 1870 East Side Match

The Magnolia base ball club of Edwardsville visited Alton on Thursday last to play a match game of base ball with the Wide Awake club of that city. The day was very hot and the game lasted between four and five hours, and resulted in the defeat of the Wide Awakes. The score stood Magnolia, 50; Wide Awakes, 34. At the conclusion of the game the latter felt so mortified at being beaten that with but one exception they could not treat their opponents with common politeness.

-Edwardsville Intelligencer, June 9, 1870

A Victory For Edwardsville

From The Sporting News, October 25, 1886

The Southern Illinois League

From The Sporting News, March 17, 1886:

"Cairo, Ill., March 11.-Editor Sporting News:

The baseball season here will open up early in April. On April 26 there will be some eight thousand Odd Fellows in town. The Cairo manager will pay any two League or American Association Clubs a good big guarantee to come here and play on that day. As there will be any number of professional teams in the South at about this time, some of them will doubtless take up this offer. Duquoin wanted Cairo to join the contemplated Southern Illinois League, but the management here declined. Duquoin will have a good team this year, Moore of Cairo and other good players having gone there. Besides Duquoin the new association if formed will have Belleville, Nashville and East St. Louis in its ranks. The Paducah, Ky., Club which played such rattling games with Cairo a year ago, has gone under."

I'm still digging and trying to find out more information about the Southern Illinois League but I wanted to share this little article because it gives you a good sense of the state of baseball on the East Side and in Southern Illinois. It pretty much covers the major teams in the area except for Alton and Edwardsville and it's surprising that those two wouldn't be a part of an association of Southern Illinois clubs.

A 17 Strikeout Game On The East Side

"One of the most interesting games that may be expected this season was played (in Edwardsville, Illinois) last Sunday between the home team and the Eagles of St. Louis."

"The feature of the game was the battery of Dooms and Schultz of the Madisons, Dooms striking out 17 men."

"The home club could do nothing with the pitching of McGinniss, till the seventh inning, when they hit him so hard that they succeeded in scoring six runs, which they followed up in the eighth inning by securing two more and winning the game by 8-4."

"The McClean 'Green Diamonds' play here next Sunday."

-from The Sporting News, May 17, 1886