1855 - A First Look at the First New Jersey Clubs

The primary reason a blog seemed the best vehicle for writing about early New Jersey base ball is the fluid nature of the research.  While some historians, notably George Kirsch, have studied the game’s early days in our state, this part of New Jersey’s past remains largely "terra incognita."  I have to regularly modify my talk on New Jersey base ball during the Civil War era to take into account new material and insights.  All posts, therefore, are “subject to change” especially posts like this one that try to name the clubs playing in a specific season.

To date a total of 15 clubs have been identified from the inaugural 1855 season.  Not surprisingly almost half were in Newark followed by three from Jersey City.  As noted previously the Newark Club was New Jersey’s first base ball club followed shortly thereafter by the Orientals who quickly changed their name to the Olympic Club.  By season’s end Newarkers had also formed the Friendship, Newark Junior and Empire clubs.  Two other Newark clubs played at least once in 1855, but are so historically significant they will be discussed in the next post.

While the Newark teams may have gotten on the field first, they were not as competitive or proficient as their Hudson County neighbors.  Both of Jersey City’s first two teams, the Pioneer and Excelsior Clubs defeated out of town rivals and the Excelsior Club finished 1855 with a perfect 7-0 record.  The Newark teams, on the other hand, primarily played among themselves and had no success against outside competition. 

In spite of their superior performance, however, neither of the Jersey City teams survived the 1855 season at least partially because some of their best players moved on to the Eagle Club of New York City.  Both the Excelsior and Pioneer Clubs are the subject of essays in the forthcoming second volume of Base Ball Pioneers and will not receive much attention in this blog.

Hudson County had at least three other clubs in 1855 including the creatively named, “Fear Not” Club of Hudson City.  They were joined by a third Jersey City team, the Pavonia Club, and the Palisades Club of West Hoboken (today’s Union City).  A Newark Daily Advertiser article of August 6, 1855 also refers to unnamed clubs in Orange, Bloomfield and Paterson.  More specific identification of these teams and the search for others will be an ongoing process as I gradually work my way through contemporary newspapers.  It’s certainly not clear that all 15 clubs were playing the New York game, but whatever rules they used, the base ball club itself was here (New Jersey) to stay.