On June 13, 1855, an unnamed reporter for the Newark Daily Advertiser received an unprecedented assignment. His task was to write a brief article about two baseball games. While that might seem like anything out of the ordinary today, it was a first not only for the reporter, but for all New Jersey newspapers because one of the games was the first match game between two New Jersey teams. “Brief,” in this case, was meant quite literally. Newspapers of the period consisted of four pages, most of which was absorbed by ads and public notices. Much of the remaining space was dedicated to paper’s primary mission, promoting the position of a specific political party. As a result, our unidentified journalist had only space for a few sentences to report on two games. To make things more difficult, there was a major difference between the two games that required explanation.
Newark Daily Advertiser – June 16, 1855
The reporter began by describing a seven-inning game between two New York teams, where the Empire Club defeated the Eagle Club 21-19. In order to prepare his readers for a very different second game, he noted that the New York game “consisted [of rules] of 21 aces, and 3 hands out, all out.” That is, there were three out per side each inning and the first team to score 21 aces or runs was the winner. The sentence was necessary because in the second match was very different. In the game between New Jersey teams, “The Newark Club … with nine players, made 23 aces in one inning” while the opposing Oriental Club (soon to become the Olympic Club) on “the following day, with six players, made 28 aces in one inning.” While the paper’s readers likely weren’t very knowledgeable about baseball, the difference between a 28-23 – one inning game and a 21-19 seven inning contest couldn’t left unexplained.
By adding the brief explanation of how the New York match was played, the writer, at least by implication, informed his readers that the two games weren’t played by the same rules. His omission of an explanation of the New Jersey game’s rules may be due to a lack of space or perhaps a knowledge of those rules. In any event, it’s clear this first opening day baseball game in New Jersey wasn’t played by the Knickerbocker rules used by the New York teams. While the New Jersey players were surely less proficient than their New York counterparts, that can’t explain why both Newark teams scored more runs in one inning than the two New York teams could score in seven. A far more likely explanation is the Newark game was played by rules where every player had to be put out for the side to be retired. If so, the Newark Club got only nine outs while the Oriental team had only six, which hardly seems fair, but it didn’t stop them from winning.
Newark’s first match baseball game was likely played to the right of this picture, near today’s railroad bridge over the Passaic River
This is fairly strong evidence that when the New York game was introduced in New Jersey, it didn’t enter a vacuum. Other bat and ball games, sometimes called town ball or even baseball, had been played in the state for some time. It’s understandable, therefore, that the first New Jersey baseball teams needed time to transition to the Knickerbocker rules. There was, after all, no standardized rule book they could consult. The Newark teams seem to have made the transition relatively quickly, but not so the first Jersey City teams. This is surprising since New York players attended early Jersey City match games and offered guidance and support to the first Hudson County teams.
The first newspaper accounts of Jersey City games describe the inter-club matches of the Jersey City club which became the Pioneer Club. On three different days between June 23 and July 12, 1855, the club played 10 games, all of which were won by a team that scored 21 runs. The number of players on a side varied, but there was always an equal number. The winning score of 21 complies with the Knickerbocker rules while the different number of players might be explained as equal sides of those present. It’s unlikely though that these games were in complete accordance with the Knickerbocker rules. On each day, the teams played multiple games, including five games on July 11. Playing that many games in one day suggests more than three outs an inning, significantly reducing the number of innings needed to reach 21.
Any remote possibility these games were played by the Knickerbocker Club’s rules was ruled out on August 15, 1855, when the Pioneers played their first match games against the Excelsior Club, Jersey City’s other leading team. In the first matches between two Jersey City teams, the Excelsiors prevailed twice 21-16 and 46-19. Obviously the second score does not follow the Knickerbocker rules nor does the use of 11 players on a side in that contest. That the clubs considered 11 the norm was confirmed by the Jersey City Daily Telegraph’s comment that there were only nine players on a side in the first game because the teams were shorthanded. A number of players from the New York clubs were present, but their efforts, if any, to get the local teams to change their ways bore little fruit. Less than a week later, the Pioneer and Excelsior Clubs met again in a 49-25 Excelsior victory in an 11-inning game, with 11 players on a side. Things got even more extreme on September 6 when the Excelsior crushed the Pavonia Club 83-18 in a “match [that] was to be 2 ½ hours, equal innings,” again with 11 on a side. As on August 15th, “many experienced players witnessed the game.”
Jersey City Daily Telegraph – August 16, 1855
Fortunately, by this time, the Jersey City teams had begun converting to the Knickerbocker rules. Just three days earlier, the Pioneer Club lost a 25-17, seven-inning, nine on a side game to the Columbia Club of East Brooklyn. As their horizons expanded beyond Jersey City, the Pioneer and Excelsior Clubs had to fall into line with what passed for standardized rules, like it or not. Why though did it take so long for the Jersey City teams to conform? Since New York club players were attending their games, a lack of knowledge of the rules is unlikely. There are, of course, many potential explanations, but one interesting possibility is they simply preferred the other version. After all, high scoring games, mean more times at bat, and what player ever felt he had too many chances to hit.
Newark Daily Advertiser – October 31, 1857
In 1855, the rules the New York clubs used at Elysian Fields weren’t widely known. And even if they were, new clubs were not in any way obligated to follow those rules unless they wanted to play New York or Brooklyn teams. It’s worth noting that the Antiquarian Knickerbocker Club of Newark, devoted to playing “the old style [of] the game,” began playing inter-club matches in 1857 and continued to do so sporadically through the 1870s. Captaining one side in the club’s early matches was Joseph Trawin who played for the Oriental/Olympic Club in 1855.Exactly why Trawin opted out of the New York game for “the old style” isn’t known, but he may simply have preferred it. This, is, of course, pure speculation, but if the opening of New Jersey’s first baseball season in 1855 was accompanied by a debate over what rules were better, it’s not a lot different than the beginning of the 2023 season. Another illustration of how baseball is ever changing, but eternally the same.
No comments:
Post a Comment