Early baseball in Maryland/Club 1
From SABR Encyclopedia
| Spread of baseball: Home -> Maryland -> Early baseball in Maryland/Club 1 |
| Location | Maryland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1858 |
| City | Baltimore |
| State | MD |
| Country | US |
| Nickname | Excelsior |
| First in Maryland | Yes |
From Protoball Entry #1858.46 – New York Game Arrives in Baltimore MD
"Mr. George Beam, of Orendorf, Beam and Co., Wholesale Grocers . . . visiting New York City in 1858, was invited by Mr. Joseph Leggett [a NYC grocer] to witness one of the games of the Old Excelsior Base Ball Club, of New York City. Mr. Beam became so much enthused, that on his return to Baltimore City . . . it resulted in the organization of the Excelsior B.B. Club. The first meeting was held in 1858. . . . The almost entire membership of the club was composed of business men. . . . [p 203/204] The score book of the club having been lost, and the old members having no recollection of any games played in 1859, except with the Potomac Club of Washington D.C., it is quite probable that the time was devoted to practice." In 1860 they played the NY Excelsiors along Madison Avenue in NY.
William Ridgely Griffith, "The Early History of Amateur Base Ball in the State of Maryland," Maryland Historical Magazine, Volume 87, number 2, Summer 1992), pages 201-208. Provided summer 2008 by Marty Payne. Griffith impels, but does not state, that this was the first Baltimore club to play by NY rules. This journal article appears to be an extract of pages 1-11 of Griffith's The Early History of Amateur Baseball in the State of Maryland 1858-1871 (John Cox's Sons, Baltimore, 1897).
The Excelsior Club is listed as an NABBP member in 1861.
Sources
Protoball Entry #1858.46
