"We Hope They Will Not Be Disappointed"

Abstract

April-June: BeginningsTHE BASE BALL SEASON COMMENCED.-The ball was set in motion at the Elysian Fields, Hoboken, on the 11th inst., members of various clubs being present, and joining in the sport, which was of a spirited character. Many important matches are in process of being arranged. Enthusiasts in the game are looking forward to a brilliant season. We hope they will be disappointed.New York Clipper, April 20, 1861The version of the old game commenced in New York City in the 1840s by the Knickerbocker Club had achieved what may fairly be called exponential growth in 1860, and more such expansion was sought in 1861:The year 1860 has witnessed a wonderful progress in the popularity of out-door sports in general, and especially of the game of base ball. Our columns record the organization of upwards of two hundred new base ball clubs during the year, and also the scores of nearly six hundred matches that were played.... We anticipate a still further increase next year. passion for healthy out-door exercise is rapidly spreading throughout the country; and in its season there is no game so simple, and yet so interesting and attractive, as our National Game of Base Ball.1The spread noted by the New York Sunday Mercury reached to almost every corner of the country: in Minnesota, which had only qualified for statehood the previous year, a St. Paul club using the New York Rules played several intrasquad matches in 1859, and Wilkes' Spirit of the Times noted in April 1861 the formation of a club in Houston, Texas.2Meanwhile, the clubs in New York carried on with festive offseason balls and, combining the new baseball fever with the simultaneous surge in the popularity of skating, games of baseball on the ice. A game between the prominent Charter Oak and Atlantic clubs of Brooklyn was widely reported and attracted spectators in the thousands. New York Times, which reported on baseball events only infrequently, reported that not less than 15,000 persons were present, at least one-third of whom were women and children. 3The event of 1861 most portentous for today's game also occurred before the season started, when Henry Chadwick, in the 1861 edition of Beadle's Dime Base Ball Player, published 18 pages of summary statistics for 1860 covering nine of the most prominent clubs of Brooklyn and New York. Limited by the information collected by scorers and reporters, Chadwick's statistics reflected primarily runs scored and outs made, and included both individual and club totals.The ice had hardly become too thin for skating (a tempting metaphor for the condition of the approaching season) when Abner Doubleday and his comrades at Fort Sumter were fired upon, and President Lincoln called for volunteers. immediate effect on baseball in the New York City area was drastic. Sunday Mercury noted on April 21 that in addition to unfavorable weather, The excitement incident to the new and warlike attitude of our national affairs also monopolized the attention of everyone ... outdoor sports, like everything else, were for the time forgotten, and, on April 28, For the time being, base ball is almost entirely put aside. In the same period in 1860, the same paper, which prided itself (with justice) on reporting more games than its rivals in the sporting press, was reporting on an early match or two, listing the practice schedules of the clubs that crowded sites such as the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, and noting plans for tours.The effect of military enlistments on a few specific clubs was chronicled. In May, the Sunday Mercury noted that among the first-class senior clubs, only the Eckfords of Brooklyn had an intact first nine4; the Eckfords promptly wrote in, detailing their losses.5 Star and Exercise Clubs, also of Brooklyn, were reported to have had 40 members enlist between them.6 Sunday Mercury had observed on April 28 that, So many of the best players, belonging to the first nines of the more prominent base ball clubs, have enlisted and gone with different regiments to the seat of war, that there will be some difficulty in getting up any matches of special interest this summer. …