Known Unknowns

John W. O'Connell...and J.D. Fitzgibbon...say the game was brought here by men who had played baseball in the East, but that the first game ever played here took place in what was then Northwest St. Louis and on the ground now occupied by Carr Square Park.

-The National Game



I can't tell you how many times I've read the above sentence but last night, as I looked at it again, it held new meaning for me.

With the discovery of new primary source material from the Missouri Republican, I've begun to re-evaluate some of the things I believe about the origins of the game in St. Louis and how the game developed in the city from 1859 to 1865.  I've found evidence that conflicts with some of the more important secondary sources and evidence that conflicts with some of the conclusions I've reach after years of research.  I think it's important for me to remember that there are a lot of things that I don't know with any degree of certainty about baseball in St. Louis in the antebellum and Civil War eras.  All I can do is gather all the evidence that I can, weigh that evidence and try to reach logical conclusions.

One of the things that I believed, up until the last week or so, was that the first baseball game was played by the Cyclone Club at Lafayette Park sometime during the summer of 1859.  The weight of the evidence that I had seen supported that idea.  Now, after looking through the Republican, I can say that there is evidence to suggest that the first game wasn't played at Lafayette Park.  O'Connell and Fitzgibbons, two pioneer era players, stated to Al Spink that the first game was played at Carr Park and that testimony is very important.  Why did I dismiss it?

Carr Park was the playing grounds of the Morning Star Club, who we believe were playing town ball at the park as early as 1857.  Richard Perry, a member of the Morning Stars, stated in 1887 that his club was the first to play baseball in St. Louis.  Interestingly, the earliest reference I have to a St. Louis baseball club comes from the St. Louis Daily Bulletin of June 6, 1860, and mentions the organization of the Morning Stars.  The Protoball Chronology has a reference to an unnamed club in September of 1859, that is neither the Cyclones nor the Morning Stars.  I have some problems with the sourcing of that reference but it comes from Craig Waff and therefore should be taken seriously.

My point is that if we just relied on the primary source material, we'd have to argue that either the Morning Stars or Waff's unnamed club was the first baseball team in St. Louis, rather than the Cyclones.  I've yet to find a reference to the Cyclone Club prior to August 1860 and believe me when I tell you that I've looked.  That doesn't mean that the evidence to support my conclusions doesn't exist or that I've exhausted every source but it does mean that I don't have a lot of evidence to support my conclusions other than some secondary sources and logic.  And now I'm finding primary source evidence that is poking holes in my logic.

Another thing: I believe that town ball was played in St. Louis in the 1840s, at the latest.  I have absolutely no primary source evidence of that.  The earliest town ball reference I have for St. Louis comes from 1860.  There are insinuations in the contemporary press and exertions in the secondary sources that support or imply that town ball was played much earlier.  Also, I have plenty of evidence to support the idea that town ball was played in the region as early as the 1820s, so it's not a great leap to believe that it was played in St. Louis at the same time.  But I can't prove it.

And there, as they say, is the rub.  There's a lot of stuff that I believe about the origins and development of the game in St. Louis that I can't prove.  I can argue for a certain conclusion and show you all the evidence that I have that leads me to reach such a conclusion but argument is not proof.  I can argue that O'Connell and Fitzgibbons, when they said baseball was first played at Carr Park, were talking about town ball and the Morning Star Club but I can't prove that.  Somebody else can look at their statement and conclude that they were talking about the New York game.  That argument would be just as valid as mine.  

What I have to accept is the fact that this is a process.  I can sit down right now and write a three volume history of 19th century baseball in St. Louis but the first volume would be out of date by the time I finished writing it.  The research is ongoing and continuing to bear fruit.  It doesn't matter to me that new evidence changes what I believe because my goal is to find the truth.  I will change my beliefs and conclusions to fit the facts that I discover, regardless of whether or not those changes conflict with previously held beliefs and conclusions.  My commitment is to the truth rather than to my own ego or to any historical school of thought.

Our understanding of what was happening in St. Louis during the pioneer era is much, much greater than it was just two years ago.  I've discovered all kinds of primary source evidence over the last few years that have really shed light on the subject and have enabled us to work with facts rather than supposition.  If I was writing the St. Louis chapter of the Base Ball Pioneer book today, it would be a bit different than the one I submitted two years ago.  And I think it would be different again if I was writing it two years from now.  The research is ongoing and my shifting of the evidence never stops.

In the end, I have to continuously remember what I know and what I know I don't know.  I have to remember that there is fact and there is supposition.  At the moment fact and truth are destroying some of my suppositions and assumptions.  And that is a good thing.  Does it mean that I have to go back and rewrite a bunch of stuff that I thought I was finished with?  Yes, it does.  But that's okay because I'm just trying to get the thing right.        

Giants On The Ball Field, Part Three

The insurance men were fond of relaxation and found it in baseball.  Wallace B. Delafield of Delafield & Snow was one of the best players in the Commercial Club, as was Edwin Fowler.  Martin Collins, an honorary member of the Empire Club was an enthusiast on ball play and offered the first prize in the shape of a championship belt, which is now in the possession of Walter S. Parr, one of the ex-presidents of the Empire Club.  A.W. Howe of the insurance firm of Howe & Capen played in the Union Club.

Among the most active players in early days was Fred W. Benteen, who joined the Union Army at the beginning of the Civil War, through which he served with such distinction that he won the shoulder straps of a Major in the regular army, gained further honors and promotion in Custer's famous cavalry fights on the frontier, and is now living at Atlanta, Ga., with the rank and pay of a retired Brevet Brigadier General, devoting much of his time to literary pursuits, being a contributor to Recreation, a New York magazine.  In his ball playing days in St. Louis he was a member of the Cyclone Club, to which also belonged the well-known Olive street druggist, Morris W. Alexander, who ranked as a first-class runner of bases and wielder of the bat, the latter quality being doubtless acquired by frequent handling of the pestle.  It was in those ball playing days of his youth that "Aleck" made a 'home run' by marrying the daughter of Mr. John Young, who was engaged in the saddlery business on Main street and a member of the Empire Club.  Mr. Young made no pretensions to being a player, but he was an acknowledged authority on the rules and in great demand as umpire, which position he sustained much more creditably and satisfactorily than many of his later day successors.  He is still living in St. Louis on Westmoreland place. 

Ferdinand L. Garesche, now connected with the Edison Electric Light Company, was originally a Cyclonist, and could make the bases as quickly as the best of sprinters.  He was what was then a rara avis, a left-hand batter, and played shortstop to the Queen's taste.  He later joined the Union Club.

The first regular field captain of the Empire Club was Jerry Fruin, late Police Commissioner.  He was a hard hitter, good manager and unsurpassed second baseman, a position which was then, as now, considered by many as the key of the field.  His firm of Fruin, Hambrick & Co. has some large contracts for paving the streets of New York City now under construction.

Robert J. Lucas was the effective left-handed twirler of the Union Club, and could fill any position with credit.

Justice Jas. J. Spaulding was one of the longest term active members of the Empire Club.  He was a fine fielder and superior second baseman, which position he filled after Jerry Fruin's retirement.

James H. Fitzgibbons, the architect and builder, pitched for the Empire Club during several seasons and proved of the greatest value to that organization.  He first began pitching while at Yale College and was one of the hardiest men ever on a ball field.  On one occasion when the success of the Empire Club was at a critical point, he persisted in pitching through four innings although his hand had been cut open and was bleeding.

-St. Louis Daily Republic, February 9, 1896

One thing that's becoming a problem with this series of posts is the tags.  Blogger gives me something like 200 key strokes to tag each post and with the number of players and clubs mentioned it's just not enough.  I'm simply unable to tag every player mentioned in each post and that will create problems when trying to find or retrieve information.  I've been thinking about putting links to some of my better posts in the sidebar and this little problem might force me to do it.  Of course, there's always the search function.  

Anyway, on to some of the things that I found interesting about the above information:

-I didn't know that Ferdinand Garesche and Robert Lucas were lefties.  While Lucas seems to fit into the pattern of the emergence of left-handed pitchers in the later part of the 1860's, I'm not sure what to think about Garesche.  I have no idea how much of a rare bird a left-handed batter was during the antebellum era.

-James Fitzgibbons (who, some may know, I've often confused with Gerald Fitzgibbon and James Fitzgerald) was a Yalie.  Somewhere (perhaps in The National Game) there's a reference to Yale coming to St. Louis to play baseball but I've never been able to run it down.  Fitzgibbons (not to be confused, remember, with Fitzgibbon or Fitzgerald) most likely played a role in bringing the Yale Club to St. Louis.    

James Fitzgibbon

Fitzgibbon, Jas., was born in the little town of Middleton, near Cork, Ireland, on June 28, 1843. His father, Daniel Fitzgibbon, died when James was four years old. His mother's maiden name was Hannah Crowley, and one year after her husband's death she decided to come with her children to America, settling upon Springfield, Massachusetts, as their home. It was in that city that James was reared, and there he received the rudiments of his education. He afterward attended school for several years in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and also in this latter city he was apprenticed and learned the trade of a machinist.

When nineteen years of age he went to Hartford, Connecticut, and entered the Phoenix Iron Works as a machinist. From the Phoenix he went to the Hartford and New Haven sops, where he remained four and a half years working at his trade. He came to St. Louis in April, 1868, and was appointed foreman and superintendent by his uncle, Morris H. Fitzgibbon. He acted in this capacity until 1873, when he set up in business for himself.

Mr. Fitzgibbon does a building and general contracting business, and among the important buildings he has constructed are C.H. Turner's building, Third street; Hoyle building, Sixth and Locust; Patrick Burns' building, Christy between Sixth and Seventh; Bannerman building, Sixth and Christy; J.S. Sullivan building, Seventh and Christy; H. Liggett building, Twentieth and Chestnut; Central Distillers' buildings and warehouses; Columbia building, Eighth and Locust; Puritan building on Locust; Channing Flats; Paramore Flats; D.R. Garrison, row of houses; Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, row of houses; Lackman School; Concordia Club Hall, and fine residences for the following named gentlemen: P.C. Murphy, Albert Mansur, Dr. Bronson, J.H. Tiernan and Marcus Bernheimer.

Mr. Fitzgibbon was married in April, 1874, to Miss Mary Jane Keating, daughter of Patrick Keating, at one time the first and most prominent real estate dealer of the city. He was a friend of many of the old real estate holders of the city, such as the Mullanphys, and as such had the management of their real estate. The couple have four children living: Francis Keating, Eugene, Edward and Louise.

Mr. Fitzgibbon's success in life is largely due to a sound business sense and the fact that he has never trusted important business to a subordinate, but has given all his work his personal supervision.

-Old and new St. Louis


James D. Fitzgibbon was a pitcher with the Empire Club and served as one of the club's field captains in 1870. According to Al Spink, he was playing with the club by 1868, shortly after arriving in St. Louis, and had previously been a member of the Charter Oak Club of Hartford, Connecticut.

In 1867 while Mr. Fitzgibbon was a member of the Charter Oaks he went with his team to the Capitoline grounds in Brooklyn to meet the Excelsiors of that city. The Charter Oaks in that game faced the pitching of...Arthur Cummings, the first man in America to use the curve ball and the real inventor of that sort of thing...

Mr. Fitzgibbon is now an old man but wonderfully alive and active. Two years ago he visited Hartford and while there asked about the Bunce brothers, Henry and Fred, who had played on the Charter Oaks with him. He found they had become bank presidents. Calling on one of the brothers, the president of the Phoenix Bank at Hartford, Mr. Fitzgibbons was recognized instantly, called by name and given a hearty reception by a fellow player who had seen him but twice in forty years.

-The National Game


I have information that was passed along to me that Fitzgibbon died in January of 1930 but I haven't been able to verify the date of death.