Early baseball in Wisconsin/Club 5
From SABR Encyclopedia
| Spread of baseball: Home -> Wisconsin -> Early baseball in Wisconsin/Club 5 |
| Location | Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Year | 1860 |
| Note on date | No Later than April 1860 |
| City | Janesville |
| State | WI |
| Country | US |
| Found by | Dennis Pajot |
The first base ball club organized in Janesville in spring of 1860. The Janesville Daily Gazette of April 6, 1860 reported: "The Janesville base ball club will play a match game tomorrow afternoon, at 4 o'clock, on the court house hill."[1] The following week, the paper reported "The Janesville Base Ball Club is now fully organized and in good operations. The �boy's propose to have a good time with this American game...."[2]
The club met a number of times during the spring and summer[3][4][5][6], and issued a challenge to the Bower City Base Ball Club – also of Janesville – for a July 4th match, which was accepted.[7]
It appears certain both of these Janesville clubs played the old-fashioned game. The Janesville Daily Gazette of July 3, 1860, gave the results of the committee appointed to arrange the preliminaries of the game. Each club was entitled to 10 men, and were required to furnish a ball. Each club was to appoint an umpire, and then the two umpires chose a referee. "The game (old-fashioned-American) will be composed of three trials–best two in three–of 25 tallies each; the forfeit, a bat and ball."[8] The Milwaukee Sentinel of May 16, 1860 reported the Daily News had written the previous day: "Unfortunately, however the Janesville club plays the good old fashioned game of Base Ball, while our [Milwaukee] boys play under the new code."[9]
According to the Janesville Daily Gazette of July 5, 1860: "The Janesville club having the first innings, and winning the first game, and the Bower City club having the first innings of, and winning, the second and third games." The scores were 25 to 18, 25 to 7, 25 to 14. The three games occupied three hours, and the players runs scored and outs made totals are listed in the Gazette.[10]
When all members of one of the ball clubs (presumably Janesville and Bower City) did not appear for a match on August 10, both clubs "mixed in" and played a "social game". The sides played up to 50 tallies, having 30 innings.[11] Bower City and Janesville clubs met on August 31, again playing to 50 tallies, Bower City winning 50 to 38.[12]
Footnotes
- ↑ . Janesville Daily Gazette, 1860-04-06.
- ↑ . Janesville Daily Gazette, 1860-04-13.
- ↑ . Janesville Daily Gazette, 1860-04-13.
- ↑ . Janesville Daily Gazette, 1860-04-17.
- ↑ . Janesville Daily Gazette, 1860-05-11.
- ↑ . Janesville Daily Gazette, 1860-06-01.
- ↑ . Janesville Daily Gazette, 1860-06-29.
- ↑ . Janesville Daily Gazette, 1860-07-03.
- ↑ . Milwaukee Sentinel, 1860-05-16.
- ↑ . Janesville Daily Gazette, 1860-07-05.
- ↑ . Janesville Daily Gazette, 1860-08-11.
- ↑ . Janesville Daily Gazette, 1860-09-01.
