Early baseball in Louisiana/Club 2

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Spread of baseball: Home -> Louisiana -> Early baseball in Louisiana/Club 2

Location	Louisiana
Year	1871
Modern address	Alexandria LA
City	Alexandria
State	LA
Nickname	Rapides
Found by	Bruce Allardice

In 1864 Union soldiers playing a game of baseball near Alexandria were attacked by Confederate cavalry. See George Putnam account at www.baseball-almanac.com, “Civil War Baseball: Baseball in Blue and Gray.” Baseball played by locals came later. The Alexandria Louisiana Democrat, May 31, 1871, said the Rapides baseball club of Alexandria is playing the Lone Star Club of Pineville, La, for the “Red River championship.” The first game was played “last Saturday in Pineville,” with Rapides winning. The same newspaper, May 10, 1871, runs a notice for a May 11th meeting of the Rapides club.

Alexandria LA (pop. 154,000) is about 175 miles NW of New Orleans and about 120 miles SE of Shreveport.

Sources

Alexandria Louisiana Democrat, May 31, 1871