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.    

The Lacledes In 1861

The Laclede Base Ball Club have a meeting this evening, at their rooms, to make preparations for the coming season. Members should be on hand.

-Missouri Democrat, April 4, 1861

The Laclede Base Ball Club was mentioned by Al Spink, in The National Game, as one of the early opponents of the Empire Club. E.H. Tobias stated that the club was made up of master mechanics, described them as one of the "early" clubs and noted that their grounds were located "on a lot one block north of Easton Avenue between Jefferson and Garrison." I was always unclear as to whether or not they were active during the antebellum era but I think that question has now been answered.

The most interesting thing to note here is that the club was making plans for the 1861 season. The conventional wisdom is that the only active club in St. Louis during the Civil War years was the Empire Club but this brief notice in the Missouri Democrat brings that into question. This, of course, is not conclusive evidence that the Lacledes were active during 1861 but it does raise the possibility. The club meeting was on April 4th and this was a good week before Fort Sumter and the beginning of the war. It's possible that the outbreak of hostilities forced a change in the plans of the Laclede Club. They may very well have broken and all their members may have joined the war effort (on whichever side). However, I think that the members of the club would have been very aware of the fact that war was eminent and that fact was most likely already taken into consideration before the meeting was called.

More research needs to be done to confirm whether or not the Laclede Club was active in 1861 but this is first evidence we have that a club other than the Empires was active in St. Louis during the war years. Because of that, it's rather significant.

The First Meeting Of The Empire Base Ball Club

According to Al Spink, "The Empire Club was organized in 1860 at a meeting held in the office of Justice Hequemberg on the south side of Vine, between Second and Third streets." Present at the meeting was B.J. Higgins, J.W. O'Connell, John F. Walton, Daniel Coyle, P.J. Cooney, H.G.D. Barklage, J.C. Adams, James Utley, P.H. Tobin, Jacob Ruppenthal, J. Schenck, James Fitzgerald, Thomas Cappell, Jacob Hollenbeck, Joseph Kinwiddy, and William Henley.

At the meeting, a constitution and set of by-laws, patterned after those of the Knickerbocker Club, was adopted and officers were elected. Kinwiddy was chosen as president, Hollenback was named secretary, and Barklage was selected as treasurer-a post he would hold for ten years.

"Under their administration," wrote Spink, "the club was gotten into good working order and played with varying fortunes against the other clubs of that day and among their opponents were the Morning Star, the Laclede, the Cyclone, the Commercial, and the Union clubs. At first the games were played at Lafayette Park, but the superior advantage of the Gamble street lawn ground soon became apparent, and the club played there for several years."