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.        

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.

Wallace Delafield

Wallace Delafield, a member of the antebellum Commercial Base Ball Club of St. Louis, was born in Cincinnati on May 1, 1840. At some point his family moved to St. Louis and the young Delafield was educated at Edward Wyman's school. In 1854, he went to work as a clerk for F. A. Hunt & Company and then for William N. Newell & Company. By 1857, Delafield was working as a clerk for Pomeroy & Benton, a wholesale dry goods store, and after the Civil War he returned to work for William Benton until 1869. That year he entered the general insurance business with Lewis Snow and the company they formed, Delafield & Snow, was still operating in St. Louis at the time of Delafield's death on August 8, 1915.

The Commercial Club, according to Tobias, "was composed of young businessmen" and was among "the very first of regularly formed clubs in St. Louis..." While the club disbanded at the outbreak of the Civil War, several members went on to join other clubs. Edward Simmons was a member of the Union Club and Tobias was a member of the Empire Club. Edwin Fowler, another club member, had also been a member of the Morning Star Club.