Early baseball in Wisconsin/Club 8
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| Spread of baseball: Home -> Wisconsin -> Early baseball in Wisconsin/Club 8 |
| Location | Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Year | 1866 |
| Month | 6 |
| Note on date | Not Later Than June 1866 |
| City | Beloit |
| State | WI |
| Country | US |
| Nickname | Olympians (Beloit College) |
| Found by | Dennis Pajot |
The first mention of this base ball club is in the Semi-Weekly Wisconsin (out of Milwaukee) on June 23, 1866: "The base ball clubs of Madison and Beloit played a match game in the latter city, on Saturday last [June 16], which resulted in a victory for the Madison Club."
This club was the Olympian Base Ball Club of Beloit College.
The Janesville Gazette of October 11, 1866 reported that a week prior, 4,000 were on the Beloit grounds to witness a game between the Freeport and Beloit boys. It is unknown if this Beloit club was the Olympians or the Badgers of Beloit.
On October 11, 1866 the Janesville Gazette reported that the Badger Club of Janesville received a challenge from the Olympian club of Beloit to play on game on October 13 in Janesville. This was corrected to the Bower City Club of Janesville the next day. Bower City lost to the Olympians 61 to 8. The Beloit club wore white sourve pants with red strips down the outside, jackets, white regulation caps and shoes. (There is a detailed inning by inning description of the game and primitive box score in the Gazette of October 15, 1866).
Sources
- Janesville Gazette, October 2, 11, 12, 15, 17, 1866.
- Semi-Weekly Wisconsin, June 23, 1866.
