Early baseball in Wisconsin/Club 10
From SABR Encyclopedia
| Spread of baseball: Home -> Wisconsin -> Early baseball in Wisconsin/Club 10 |
| Location | Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Year | 1865 |
| City | Janesville |
| State | WI |
| Country | US |
| Nickname | Bower City Club |
| Found by | Dennis Pajot |
Baseball was played in Janesville in 1865, but it is not clear in this was the old-fashioned or the new game.
In a report on the history of baseball in Janesville published in 1905, Frank L. Smith reported he came home to Janesville in late summer 1866, and found hardware man W.J. Doolittle, who had come to Janesville from New York, had "brought along with him ideas of the new way of playing ball, and awakened an interest in the game." If Doolittle's awakening of interest occurred in 1865 or 1866 is not stated. A number of references to young men playing a game of base ball are found in 1865, but no clue which game–old-fashioned or new–took place.[1][2][3][4][5]
Again in the spring of 1866 we find a report of the players meeting for a baseball game.[6] The club playing these games was from the east side of town and in August a new baseball club formed on the west side of Janesville, selecting grounds a little northwest of the passenger depot. Frank Smith in his 1905 history told readers "It was certainly uphill work inducing a sufficient number of apt pupils to learn the game. Some promising players who had played the old high school game could not break themselves of the habit or resist the temptation to throw the ball at the base runner."[7]
What Smith does inform us is that "after a couple of months of indifferent practice" a club was formed under the name Bower City. The club also changed its base of operations to the area bounded by Milton Avenue, Prospect Avenue, Fifth Avenue and Glen Street.
This club arranged a game, under the new eastern rules, with the Olympian club of Beloit College on Saturday, October 13, 1866. A large crowd of ladies and gentlemen witnessed the game on the grounds of the Janesville club. The Janesville players were clad in black pantaloons, white dress shirts, cuffs and collars, black neckties, glassy black tarpaulin hats and boots shined to order. The clearly superior Olympians won the seven inning game 61 to 8, the first played In Janesville under the new rules. "After the ending of the game the boys formed the usual circle and gave here cheers each for the umpire and the respective clubs, when the Bower City escorted the Olympians to the Myers House, where they all partook of the hospitalities of mine host."
Box Score
| Bower City Club | O. | R. | Olympians | O. | R. | |
| J.W. St. John, c | 3 | 1 | H.M.Tuttle, c | 1 | 9 | |
| W.J. Doolittle, p | 1 | 2 | H. Cochrane, p | 0 | 10 | |
| E. Huggins, ss | 3 | 1 | C.R. Bicknell r., ss | 2 | 7 | |
| C. Keeler, 1b | 2 | 1 | A. Burrell, 1b | 2 | 8 | |
| C. Birge, 2b | 3 | 1 | R.M. Town, 2b | 4 | 5 | |
| W.L. Hart, 3b | 2 | 1 | M.A. Jones, 3b | 3 | 6 | |
| Sid. Smith, lf | 3 | 1 | H.C. Hammond, lf | 2 | 7 | |
| H. McKinzie, cf | 1 | 0 | E.S. Chadwick, cf | 2 | 5 | |
| C. Church, rf | 3 | 0 | L.S. Sweezy, rf | 5 | 4 | |
| 21 | 8 | 21 | 61 |
| Bower City | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Olympians | 5 | 9 | 1 | 7 | 13 | 6 | 20 | 61 |
- Home Runs: Cochrane, 3; Bicknell, 2; Town, 2; Jones 1.
- Passed Balls: St. John, 19; Tuttle, 4
Sources
- . Janesville Daily Gazette, 1866-10-01.
