Proceedings Of The Union Association Of Base-Ball Players

The first annual meeting of the Union Association of Professional Base-ball Clubs was begun at the Bingham House to-day, and after two long sessions an adjournment was had until to-morrow morning. The delegates were: From Baltimore-B.F. Matthews and J.W. Lowe; Chicago-A.H. Henderson and E.S. Henzel; Cincinnati-Justus Thorner; Philadelphia-Thomas J. Pratt; St. Louis-Henry V. Lucas and Theodore Benoist; Washington-A.B. Bennett and M.B. Scanlan. The first business was the election of the new Cincinnati Club as a member. Applications from Dayton, Ohio, Covington, Ky., and Kingston, N.Y., were referred to the Board of Directors. The remainder of the day and evening was spent by the convention in revising the constitution, by-laws, and playing rules of the American Association, which were first adopted as a whole. Among the changes made in the constitution was the rule on election of new members. A majority vote now elects. No exhibition games will be made with association clubs and managers will not hereafter be engaged by written contract. A player released by one club will not be eligible to contract with another club until 10 days have elapsed. The championship is to be decided by the greatest number of games won. An alliance clause was adopted and initiation fee was placed at $10. The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President-Henry Lucas, of St. Louis; Vice-President-Thomas J. Pratt, of Philadelphia; Secretary and Treasurer-William Warren White, of Washington, and A.H. Henderson, of Chicago. Messrs. Pratt, Thorner, and Henzel were appointed a Schedule Committee, to meet at Washington in March.

-New York Times, December 19, 1883

The 1884 Maroons: A New Athletic Club

Articles of incorporation of the St. Louis Athletic Association were filed in the office of the Recorder of Deeds yesterday. The capital stock of the Association is $15,000, divided in 600 shares of $25 each, held by the following parties: H.V. Lucas, 200, Theodore Benoist, 50, and Fred F. Epenschied, 350. The object of the association is stated to be to develop athletic sports. It is said the association proposes to start a base ball park.

-St. Louis Globe-Democrat, November 3, 1883

I think we've seen some rather interesting stuff so far as we begin our look at the 1884 Maroons and at some point, when the plans for the club and the UA solidify, I'll stop and go over all of that. But this is interesting for a few reasons. First, there's the matter of that photograph in the Spalding Collection of the 1886 Maroons. It just happens to be labeled as being a photo of the St. Louis Athletic Association and this article in the Globe tells us why that is. The St. Louis Athletic Association was Lucas' answer to the Sportsmans' Park and Club Association.

The other interesting thing here is that Lucas didn't own the majority of shares in the St. Louis Athletic Association, at least at the time it was incorporated. We'll see if that changes in the future. At the time of incorporation, the majority shareholder was Fred Epenschied, who I believe was Lucas' brother-in-law. After Lucas resigned as president of the Maroons in August of 1886, Epenschied took over his interest in the club. I also know of other investors, such as Ellis Wainwright and Adolphus Busch, but that's getting ahead of the story and we'll just see how this all works out.